Adrian lifted her by the waist and placed her in the horse as if she weighed nothing.
"You will be riding with me, I will hold the reins."
He then swung himself up to sit behind her in one swift movement.
Arielle sat stiff as a rod not allowing herself to touch him. In fact, she bent her body in front to put as much distance between them as possible. She felt his hand around her waist while holding the reins of the horse, nudging it to keep moving forward with the group.
The weather was cold but there was so much heat passing between them that could not be ignored.
As the stiffness in her body increased, she tried to focus on the forest around them and the sound of the clouds rumbling.
"We found a cave, your majesty." Mason reported.
"We can spend the night there."
"Alright."
Minutes later, their horses were standing in front of the cave which had a large boulder covering the entrance. Drake and Jarred got down from their horses and pushed the boulder aside.
As soon as their horses entered inside, Arielle couldn't believe how warm it was.
The cave was huge and the ceiling was a bit high. While outside, it had started to rain heavily and the weather became increasingly cold, inside, the cave was warm and cozy.
When the group reached the center of the cave, they all got down from their horses. "Thank goodness we managed to find shelter in time." Drake said while patting his horse.
"Right, we would be stuck in the heavy rain otherwise." Ethan agreed. He helped Emma to get down from the horse.
"We should close the cave because of the wind." Jarred said already walking towards the cave's entrance.
"Not completely though." Ethan said behind them.
Jarred and Drake closed the cave to stop the wind from coming in.
"Don't you think this cave is weird?" Ethan asked Drake who was trying to make a fire with the sticks they had gotten earlier.
"In what sense?" Jarred was the one to ask.
"Normally, caves are usually cold but this cave is surprisingly warm." Drake replied.
"I guess we are lucky then." Jarred shrugged.
Arielle sat with her back against a rock, as her back was aching so much. She massaged it a bit but it did not help much.
"What's wrong with your back, Ari? You keep on touching it." Belle asked when she noticed Arielle constantly touching her back.
"It's nothing, just a little ache." Arielle replied.
"Should I help you massage it?" Anna asked.
"No, don't worry, Anna but thank you."
Emma looked at the three girls conversing and she clenched her fists.
This little movement did not escape Adrian, he turned his head away and didn't say anything.
"What are you doing standing there, Emma? Come sit." Arielle told her.
"You haven't told us all that happened, Emma." Anna said.
Emma rolled her eyes inwardly but smiled. "After the party, I got home but I was welcomed with a slap by my father. He asked why no man had chosen me, I told him it wasn't my fault. And as usual, he put all the blame on me and then told me I should get ready that he had found a husband for me." She paused.
"It was one of the ministers in the castle who was old enough to be my father and my father wanted me to get married to him just to fulfill his desires. I had to run away from home. The next morning, I decided to come and speak to Arielle but I was told you did not come home that night. I went to the palace, knowing you would be there but that was when I saw the three of you getting into the carriage. I didn't know what was going on, I just decided to follow you."
The three girls looked at Emma but didn't know what to say.
"We are sorry that we could not explain anything to you." Arielle said softly.
"Won't your father be looking for you already?" Belle asked.
"I don't care. He only wants to use me to fulfill his desire." Emma replied.
"What are you going to do when you get to the north?" Arielle asked.
"I'll figure something out." Emma replied with a smile.
"Here you go, Princess." Ethan gave Arielle a plate of meat.
"Thank you, Ethan." Arielle replied with a smile.
He also Belle and Anna a plate each and they both thanked him.
"You aren't calling me 'Mr.' anymore?" Ethan said with a smile.
"You said not to call you that or should…"
"No no, just kidding." Ethan interrupted Belle with a pout on his lips. And the girls smiled at his reaction.
"What of Emma's food?" Arielle asked when she noticed that Ethan did not bring a plate of food for Emma.
"Right! We didn't know she would be joining us, so…" Ethan said, leaving his words hanging as he knew they already understood him.
"Ohh, that's no problem." Emma replied. She was surprised at how her friends had bonded with the werewolf to the point that they were laughing freely with him. Weren't humans meant to be scared of werewolves? She asked herself.
She scoffed.
"We would just share ours with her then." Anna said.
"Are you sure?" Ethan asked.
Emma wanted to give this man a knock, she was famished but they had no food for her and her friends wanted to share theirs with her but he was asking if they were sure.
"There's no problem, Ethan." Arielle replied.
"Alright." He said and walked away from them.
It had become very dark outside but it still continued to rain heavily. The group finished their meal and then spread makeshift beds on the floor.
The girls lay down and talked for a while before drifting off to dreamland.
The men looked at the girls who had slept off. Brian walked towards them and bent down to lift Anna into his arms.
He got to his bed and placed her down, lying next to her immediately, covering them with the blanket. The sleeping girl didn't know what was going on but snuggled closer to the source of warmth.
"Way to go, Brian." Drake said in a hushed tone.
Gayle went ahead to do the same thing. He lay down next to Belle moving her closer to himself to further inhale her scent as it was intoxicating.
Mason and Drake lay down also, leaving Jarred on the lookout. They would take turns to guard the entrance of the cave.
Adrian walked towards where Arielle was sleeping and used his feet to push Emma to the other side, making sure that there was enough space between them.
He lay down next to Arielle, he didn't know what was wrong with him and he pulled her close to himself.
Arielle snuggled closer to him. Adrian looked at the girl through his mask.
"She's so beautiful right?" Kaelos asked proudly.
"You're such a killjoy." Kaelos commented.
Adrian didn't reply but he knew Kaelos was right. He dipped into her hair and inhaled. Her scent was really driving him crazy.
He felt as if he was betraying, Gina (the name of the girl he likes) but at the same time, he felt complete with this girl in his arms.
He sighed. Why did he feel that way?
"It's because she is your mate dummy. No matter how much you say that you love Ginger, your heart will still belong to your mate." Kaelos answered him.
"Her name is Gina."
"Sure sure, Ginger, in all what I said the only thing you could bring out." Kaelos mocked.
Adrian stopped talking, deciding not to argue with his wolf.