Bonded By Destiny

Chapter 1

My eyes swept over the dark green forest, with steady ancient majestic trees standing tall on the ground. The deep sea of dark green plant life had a calming effect on my eyes, mind and soul. It was always amazing to look at the green moss, engulfing the tree barks every time I came here. I always spent most of my free time in this particular part of the forest, away from the prying and judgemental eyes of my pack members. It was my perfect getaway from the busy life in the pack.

The tree tops swayed in the wind, crashing and bumping against each other. There was something peaceful about sitting on the crinkly forest floor, resting my back on a gnarled tree bark.

I lifted my face, staring at the canopy that only allowed afternoon scattered sun rays to filter through. The minimal mellow sun rays penetrated through the different shade of green leaves, lighting up the ground with polka dots.

The pack members avoided this part of the forest, but I loved it. It meant that I didn't have to deal with werewolves running or passing by and disturbing my peace. The werewolves were creatures of absolute freedom and suckers for nature, especially forests. While they enjoyed stretching by going for runs and hunting, they didn't like passing by here.

They knew where there was enough prey to satisfy their hunting thrill. Lucky for me, this wasn't one of the prey invested places. Most pack members didn't like me obviously because I was not of their kind. I was the only witch amongst them, and it had remained so since my parents passed away.

What the pack didn't know, was that I could tell each one of them what their hearts harboured. Their characters were made visible and clear only to me, by small clouds that hovered over each and every one heads.

Some pretended to be kind hearted and loving, but their clouds, which were grey in colour showed something different. Something more sinister and full of malice. Each colour of the clouds represented their characters traits.

I saw through each of their facades, but never once did I let them know. It was my secret, a secret that mum had begged me on her death bed to guard and protect. She had made it clear that my mate would be the only person that I could trust.

I had learnt how to block the clouds images over time. I had mastered the art of switching off the part of my mind that projected all these images.

I only switched it on once in a while, usually when I wanted to put my mind into work.

Seeing people's character wasn't the only gift I possessed. I had a lot more, like I could use my fingers to light up fire and put it off. I could move things with my mind but that always ended up draining energy from my body. Healing was also a gift I had, the side effects depended on the extend of the sickness.

I watched as birds twittered and flew from tree to tree, landing gracefully on the branches. I enjoyed listening to their dulcet songs, the melody always brought forth a smile on my face.

The woodsy smell of the forest floor was unique, obviously caused by the fallen rotting tree branches. I drew in a long breath, breathing in the earthly scent as I enjoyed the gentle caress of the cool breeze on my cheeks.

This was indeed satisfactory, away from the insults and the recurrent rude remarks. Goddess knew I needed this peaceful alone time once in a while. I had never wronged anyone in the pack, in fact I had only helped them. Time and time again I would help heal the injured pack members, especially the warriors.

But as the saying goes the gratitude of a donkey is a kick. It was of no use to think about them, when nature was capable of making me smile. Perhaps, their ill treatment towards me would some day come to an end, just like the leaves that fall on the ground and gradually rot, with new ones sprouting on the trees.