THERON (Book I In The Ancients Series) [SAMPLE]

SIX.

While Lucan and DeLoren drowned on and on and bored him to death, Theron laid with Lina in the grassy field between the forest and the cabin. He was positioned on his back, paws up to his chest as he wondered why he had never before taken the time to stare at the expansive sky above his head.

Oh, that's right—he was too busy consumed by his depression and desperation to notice much of the world around him.

He now realized what exactly he had been missing as he listened intently to Lina who was insistent upon making up stories about the clouds that floated above them against the background of the sapphire sky. "See that one, Theron? The flower?" She pointed out a cloud she claimed was a flower, though he thought it resembled more of a penis.

He would never correct her though.

"A prince thought she was the best flower," she threw her arms up, animatedly, "and loved her above all the rest so the flower grew strong and pretty. Other flowers were jealous but he promised her she was special." She clapped her hands together and raised her eyebrows in elation as she was about to reveal the flowers 'happy ending.' Theron, of course, knew there was no such thing as a happy ending but she was still young and not yet affected by the cruelties of the world. He had already succumbed to the fact that eventually, her pain would subsequently become his. "Oh! And one day—one day, she turned into a girl! They fell in love and had twenty thousand kids!"

Theron snickered.

Twenty thousand, huh?

Ouch.

Lina turned to him. Rising to her knees, she knelt in front of his huge head. Her hands gripped the sides of his jaws, pulling his snout close to her face. He froze as he felt her smooshing his cheeks together in earnesty. She stared him straight in the eyes, keeping him stunned with her sudden aggressiveness, "You're like the flower and I'm like the prince! Someday, you'll turn into a boy and we will fall in love and live happily ever after!" She grinned and kissed his marking.

He now thought that maybe she was a bit too optimistic. At this age, she wouldn't understand that the possibility of marrying him was out of the question. Ever. Though he did feel honored to have gained this adoration from her in such a short amount of time.

"Theron?" DeLoren linked him, "You need to hear this."

"I'm listening," he grumbled, regretfully, eyeing Lina as she drifted away from him towards the forest. She seemed to have a very short attention span.

He knew it wasn't a father or brother or lover kind of relationship that had formed between him and Lina—it was friendship. While he would consider DeLoren, Marius, and Kai his friends, they had never attempted to break down his walls. They always gave him space, keeping him at arm's length because they knew him. Lina, on the other hand, was aware of very little when it came to his personality; her youth and innocence not caring about the truth. Her admiration was unconditional and something he had never been granted the pleasure of experiencing.

"Elena was my mate," Lucan began as Theron sauntered over to them. "As is normal for mates, things spiraled quickly. We were married and Elena was pregnant. I followed her to the city... quite odd for a wolf, I know, but she preferred such chaos to the reverie of the woods." Lucan ran a hand through his blonde hair, his steely eyes trained on Lina by the tree line, chasing a butterfly. "She told me once she felt safer among thousands of nameless faces. At the time, it hadn't occurred to me that she was trying to blend in... Disappearing within the crowd. Maybe I was blinded by my love for her... so deep in, that I never realized she was running from something... someone..."