I slowly lowered myself in the water until the top of my head was completely submerged, then kicked off a large rock to quickly make me to shore. Once I could touch the rocky bottom with the entire palm of my hand, I slowly pushed myself up from the water, leaving my nose and lower half of my face under the surface. The wolf on the shore watched me with interest as he cocked his head to the side. His ears moved back and forth like he was torn between listening to me, and listening to the area. But for as long as I can remember, no one has ever trespassed onto the Alpha's land.
I slowly backed away until I couldn't touch the bottom and lowered myself back under the surface, nonverbally inviting him to join me. I waited until I heard slight splashing, and then saw his paws slowly paddling further into the river. When he was close enough I sprung out of the water, I splashed him several times and then took off swimming towards the water fall. Once I made it to the large rocks at the mouth of the falling water, I heard a loud masculine laugh behind me.
I looked over my shoulder with a smile to see a very handsome man. His body tanned and sculpted, dark hair, strong jawline, and a smile that would melt any girls heart, but it was his eyes that captured my soul and stole my breath away. The golden pools swirled, and watched me with so much curiosity that I could hardly stand it. I wanted to get to know him, but an animalistic part of me wanted more than that. As a werewolf, we choose our own mates. We want the strongest in the pack to be ours and we work very hard to keep that title and our mates. I'm the daughter of an Alpha, therefore my bloodline is strong, my reputation is what lifts me up even higher in ranking, which is why every male wolf who has a station wants to impress me. But this man standing in front of me, has no station, he is simply a guard, a warrior. If he wanted a station he would have to prove himself, he would have to challenge a lot of wolves to even be considered for the role of Beta or even Alpha. All sense of duty aside, if I wasn't already promised to mate with another, my eye would be on this male.
"Where are you going, Princess?" His voice was like honey, warm and sweet, he chuckled as he wiped water out of his face and eyes.
"Just because my father is the Alpha, it does not make me a princess."
"No, but you are locked away in a castle, with knights guarding you day and night. While you wear beautiful dresses, and go to magical places," He said all of this while slowly swimming towards me, he motioned with his hand and eyes as he looked around the waterfall.
"If this makes me a princess, then what does it make the man who was ordered to protect me?" I asked when he stopped three feet in front of me. The water did a great job of keeping everything below the surface invisible, and the tree's above us kept the harshness of the sun from beaming down on us. But even without all of that, I still noticed how attractive he was.
He smiled at me before he answered, "Knight Commander."
"You believe you are a Commander?" I replied as I laughed, his brows shot up as he smiled.
"I do, yes," he laughed, "I'm the highest ranking warrior in the pack, and if we're comparing other packs, I'm second against your mate."
"Impressive," I smiled but it was halfhearted.
"Sure, I'm Onyx," he smiled as he reached his hand out to me to shake. I reached out and took his hand, his handshake was strong, and his hand engulfed mine.
"Anastasia," We lingered there for a moment, my hand in his as he looked deeply into my eyes.
"You don't want to be mated to him, do you?"
"What I want doesn't matter, the pack needs this union in order to survive," as I spoke he let go of my hand. He looked thankful for a moment, and I watched as water droplets slowly ran down his chest just to disappear into the water.
"I understand what it means to fulfill a duty, and I know you think this is the only way to help our people. But don't let a sense of duty cloud your senses completely. You may be the first woman born in your family for generations, but that does not mean that your life is already declared forfeit because of your ancestors. They made the arrangement, not you."
"How do you know about that?" I asked hesitantly as I took a step away from him.
"I make it my business to know every detail about a job I'm assigned too."
"Then you know, I don't have a choice."
"Sure you do, just say no," He smiled like all of this had a simple solution. I couldn't back out of this, Aspen was here in my pack territory, I was leaving soon. There was no way I could just look at them both and tell them no. But instead of arguing with a man I had just met about the topic that is my life, I sighed and stepped under the steady stream off to the side of the waterfall. I tilted my head back and let the water pour over me like a shower. I ran my fingers through my hair and quietly hummed to myself. I could hear Onyx moving in the water and when I looked back at him he was swimming away from me, but stayed where he could easily reach me if anything were to happen, and I watched as his muscles glistened in the sun that peaked through the leaves above us as he swam away.