-keatens POV-
It's a normal morning, the females whining about not having food yet as the males scramble to make something to please them. I look to Yuki's place and wonder if I should try win her over with breakfast. What does she like? Oh! The elder would know. I stadt to look around for him and find him talking the chief. I over hear a bit.
"Yuki has to make a decision on who today, or else I'll be chosing one for her" he says. It's clear he is tired of Yuki not having made her mind up yet. This is either a good thing for me or a really bad one.
"Please chief, go easy on her. She hasn't spent time around anyone so it would make sense she's.. feeling shy" the elder says.
"Today, make her choose today. We need to add to our numbers here, especially as word is spreading about her. We already have a damn snake trying to take her, what next?"
"Yes, I understand chief"
With that their conversation ends and I wait a second to walk over to the elder. He seems a bit worried and I can't say I blame him. He has to push her for a decision and I know he doesn't want to push her to much. This is my last chance to win her over. Elder notices me and puts on a smile.
"Well if it isn't Keaten" he says "what's got you so cheerful this morning?"
"I want to surprise Yuki is breakfast but I don't know what she likes, I was hoping you knew and would tell me"
"Oh. Yes. Her favorite is fruits in the morning, I'll give you some fruits and help you chop them up for her so it's easier for her to eat"
"That would be great!" I smile and we head to his hut where he pulls out different fruits.
I watch and listen carefully how to do it and what fruits she likes the most. The elders cuts are straight and look about all the same size... well mine.. is a mess. How did I make it so uneven? Elder tells me not to worry and it comes with time. Once all the fruits are cut i head to hers with the bowl of cut fruits. I get a few looks from the other males of curiosity. While on the other hand the females were pretty much drooling at sight of all the cut fruit. I catch a few of their males glaring at me. I shake it off and make it to her place. Odd, her scent is weak i knock.
"Yuki, can I come in?" I wait for an answer but don't get one. "Yuki?" I wait and still nothing. I listen and not a sound of movement. "Yuki I'm coming in" I say, still nothing. I slowly open the door and peak in. I look around and it's empty. She's not here. Where could she be? She's not allowed out of here unless called i then remember the snake. He must have taken her! I drop the bowl and change to a wolf. I sniff. What?? There is no other scent here. I sniff the ground and follow her fait trail, I'm lead to the entrance of the village. I howl. Getting everyone's attention. As they gather I shift back to being a human form.
"What is the meaning of this?"
"What's going on?"
"What happened?"
"Keaten. What's the meaning of this?" The elder asks. I take a deep breath. I know this won't go over well but I can't go find her alone.
"It's hard to say this but" I take in a breath "Yuki is gone"
"How can that be, we had half the village on watch last night?"
"Yeah!"
"It can't be"
"He is lying!"
Lying?! Anger flares up inside me. Dare call me a lier! Who would say that so forwardly? I scan for who could have said that.
"Don't go accusing anyone of lying till you know they are" the chief speaks, silencing the crowd. "Why do you say this?" He questions.
"She's not in her home and I followed her scent here, it leads out the village" I say. The chief narrows his eyes.
"Mark, go check her house" the chief commands and off mark goes to her house, jogging. Everyone watches him open the door and step inside. He comes out a second later, shaking his head. A few males shift and smell the ground. The way they perked up when they smelled her scent. I watched the chiefs expression change.
"Keaten, you will lead a group to track her down" he says "let's hope she's alive and okay"
I nod and without me asking, Jace, Damian, Mark and Lee all stepped forward. The chief nods and waves us off. Without a second to lose we all shift and take off following her scent. We reach the lake and he scent mixes with that snakes. I growl. He better not have hurt her. We take off following the snakes scent. Hope he hasn't gotten to far with her yet. We run fast till we reach rocky hill. Mark and Lee go check the cave. I continue to sniff around and when they come out they have left. Jace finds a new scent trail, fresher and probably no more the 2 hours old. With that I howl to call out to continue this chase. Howls from home echo over the valley, cheering us on to bring her home safe. We have to bring her back safe!.
I stop in my tracks when I catch her scent on the wind. I don't smell that damn snake, with her but still. We make a slow approach, that snake is not someone we want to fight right now. We come to a river. Would they have crossed? It's moving quite fast so I doubt it but they might have. Snakes are pretty good in water. Especially this one. I send Jace and Damian to follow the river down stream to see if they get anything. I have my doubts they are that way and I want to keep them away from Yuki, the chief had picked both to be possible mates for Yuki. I want to be the one to save her. Lee,Mark and I all went up stream and we came to a tree right on the river Bank. Yuki's smell was all over. We searched for a trail. Her smell was strong. She was just here. Where did she go?! I looked up the tree and I had a weird feeling about it. It was a big tree and had a place where the trunk split and it would make a good place to rest.
I shift to my human body and climb the tree, I smell and her scent was really strong. Was she here? I turn and see her, wided eyed looking at me. Yuki!! I hug her and I smell the snake on her, not in a mating way, but he was definitely all over her. Jealousy grabbed hold of me and I wanted to kill that damn snake. He was touching her, hugging her, holding her.
"Come on, let's get you back home" I say with a smile. I hope you love me and make me you first mate. My smile dropped when I saw she didn't seem haply to hear home. "What's wrong?" I ask.
She looks away and I feel hurt she doesn't want to tell me. It's safe, she has her own place what could she want more? A Mate? Children?
"Please, tell me Yuki" I plea.
"I feel like it's just a cage" say whispers. "I'm stuck in that box" I see a tear fall from her eyes. I huge her tight to me. She just gives in and cries onto me. The other guys have stepped away as I hold her.
I guess I can't blame her for not wanting to go back. I can't blame her for leaving. She's been hurting all this time. Suffering alone. Feeling alone. My heart aches knowing how lonely and sad she must have felt. I know it will be the same bringing her back. No. No it will be different. I won't let her be alone,I'll take her out of that house so she can enjoy the day.
I pick her up and jump down from the tree, Lee howls to tell the other 2 we found her and are headed back. She fights us all the way back, once we meet up with Jace and Mark, Jace just throws her over his shoulder and all her struggling is pointless. By time we reach the village she has exhausted herself and just has given in.
Once back the chief is happy to have her safely back on the village and tells her she has to make a choice today on who is her mate. The changed her house a bit. Added more to the windows so she can't get out, and now will have a boating guard around her house at all times. The chief also said to build a gate to the village. She's put back in her house and I offer to help clean the fruit i had dropped earlier but the elder had cleaned it up, washed it all and said it sat in her house waiting for her return.
"Can i stay with Yuki for a bit?" I ask. The elder nods and I go into her house. It's.. boring in here. There really is nothing, I didn't notice earlier that her house looks like a jail cell. Just a bed and a place for her to bathe. I now feel really bad for us having dragged her back here. I'm even feeling depressed in here, and this is how she lived all this time.
"If your cold, I can turn to a wolf and you can lay on me" I say. She just nods and I shift, laying down on her nest and it's soft. She curls right into me and I curl up. It feels nice, and she's so small compared to me as a wolf. I'll save you Yuki, no one deserves to live like this. She soon falls asleep and I rest. I listen and I hear the elder approach and I know he is looing through the window, if you can all it that anymore, it looks more like a badly made wall then a window.
"I'll tell the chief Yuki made her mind up" he whispers and walks off. I don't want to wake Yuki so he has to let him go. Please don't hate me.