Predatory Marriage

Predatory Marriage — Chapter 225. Little Wolf (1)

Translator: Atlas / Editor: Regan

That little wolf was much stronger than she had expected. As badly wounded as it was, it had fought so valiantly to protect her, and that thought distressed her.

She should have protected it. She should have done something.

It had broken her heart to watch the baby wolf fighting against those chains, its small body streaming blood, fighting with its broken teeth and torn claws. If it had been possible, she would have gone back to that place. She didn’t want to leave the little wolf alone.

But she could not go back.

Leah came back to reality with a jolt.

“……”

Slowly, her eyes opened. She could feel tears sliding down her cheeks. The emotions of her dream had followed her. She blinked as her tears tapered off, and when her vision cleared, she found herself looking up into golden eyes.

Bright golden eyes the color of sand and sun. Eyes that were just the same as the eyes of the baby wolf in her dream.

Ishakan lay on his side beside her with his arms wrapped around her. It seemed as if he had been in that position for a long time. Even when he saw her awaken, he said nothing. His eyes were fixed on her, unblinking, and in an increasingly awkward silence, Leah gently looked away.

The room was dark. It looked like a bedroom, but she couldn’t even tell if it was day or night; every window was covered with thick curtains.

Suddenly, there was a soft kiss on her forehead. Ishakan stroked her hair, and then lifted her hand to tenderly kiss each finger. It sent such a tingle through her, it took a moment to realize that there was nothing on her ring finger. The engagement ring was gone.

She didn’t ask where. For now she would forget all of it: the suspicious intruders, the knights that imprisoned her in the villa, her ladies-in-waiting, and everything else. She would think only of the man in front of her.

A little awkwardly, she moved to embrace him. She had wanted to hug him earlier, but she had fainted. And after a moment, Ishakan sighed and hugged her back. Leah buried her face in his broad chest.

She wanted to trust this man. And she also wanted to protect him. It would have sounded ridiculous to anyone who knew what she was thinking, and Leah was well aware of her limitations; there was very little she could do for the King of another land, another race, from a place far across the desert.

If only she were as strong as a Kurkan. She was so weak. So frail. So useless.

And if she were stronger, she could have protected the baby wolf. That little golden-eyed cub.

“I had a dream…” She said slowly.

“What dream?” Ishakan asked. It felt as if it were the first time he had ever spoken. Listening to his voice, she felt as if she were still in a dream.

“It was a very strange dream…there was a little wolf…” His eyes narrowed at the words, and Leah gazed at his golden eyes, murmuring, “Its eyes were the same as yours…”

“……”

Leah gently ran a fingertip around the orbits of his eyes. They were exactly the same as the cub’s. And now that she thought of it, this man even looked a little bit like a wolf. Imagining Ishakan with wolf ears made her laugh inside. Where would he hide them?

“What color was its fur?” Ishakan asked.

“Silver,” she said, searching her memory. Even though the little wolf had been covered in blood, she had been able to tell the color of its fur. “Silver colored.”

“Silver fur?”

Leah hesitated a moment.

“The little wolf protected me,” she admitted, and told him how brave the baby wolf had been, in her dream. How even with its tiny body covered in blood, it had tried to fight the terrible chains that bound her.

How she had tried with all her might to fight the chains herself. And failed.