MATED TO THE NIGHT WOLF (MTTNW)

[22.1] DIANE

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"Don't you know that the forests died with the faerie folk? True Magic is not in these lands."
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[KAYOS]

The bird cawed loudly in its cage, and my eyes gleamed a sparkled ember as I watched it from the shadows of my study.

The light trails of magic coming off it in shimmering waves intrigued me for I had not seen something quite like it. So easy to miss and yet so irregular.

I studied the bird for a moment, before leaning forward into the candlelight. Inspecting it closely I confirmed a few things about the abnormalities of the bird. It was larger than a normal raven, it seemed to watch me as well, and its heart was racing the closer I got.

The bird blinked in my direction, growing quiet, and paused as if frozen at the mere sight of me.

It wasn't unusual for animals to behave this way toward me, I knew.

Each animal was born with an instinct. It was simply natural that they knew when a predator was in their midst.

It is why whenever my wolf forms, the birds take flight, the deer runs, and the bear gallops as fast as it can into its dark cave.

It is only a shame it does not understand that the darkness is my home too.

My gaze trailed the bird. It had a diamond-shaped mark on its forehead, watching as its feathers shivered under my heavy stare, dark beady eyes never leaving mine.

They say darkness is felt in the wind.

I opened its cage and it remained at the center of the far back, even as the door was left open wide for it.

A bird in terror should have taken flight unless it somehow understood that escape was futile.

Alchest gripped the bars, moving across each hissing at the bird perched in the center, before slipping off to a shadow at the corner of the table.

My hands slipped in, fingers wrapping around its silky body and it shivered once more under my touch but remained still and quiet though the very tips of my fingers could feel the steady pounding of its small heart.

Fast as a drum.

Getting up, I walked to the window that slowly swung open courtesy of Alchest. I placed the bird on the ledge stepping back, hands clasped behind my back as I stood before it.

The bird blinked in my direction, head bowed low, a shiver in its feathers.

"You have two options, Raven." I began, "You may reveal yourself now, in my presence, and disclose why you fly so freely in the borders of my sanctuary," I breathed.

"Or you can simply escape-" I suggested, my gaze drifting to the open window behind it, where the taste of freedom manifested as a gentle breeze that blew through its feather and into the darkness of the dark day behind it.

"— Knowing that every time the sun refuses to rise, or every time it sets, whenever you fly in utter darkness or may find rest in a presence of a lingering shadow no matter how small. Your life will be cut short, abruptly, painfully- " the words were blunt and stale across my tongue, "and your soul trapped within the claws of a demon, never to set flight again."