Forever Mine

FORTY ONE

The forestry of Saltwater Woods was different to the one of Moonlight Ridge. Here, the beech trees weren't as dense, allowing the sunlight to filter through their branches and pointed leaves. At Moonlight Ridge the pine trees knotted themselves together, making it feel like night time in the middle of a summer day. The floor would be constantly cushioned by pine needles but here the dirt was exposed, in autumn there would be a carpet of brown and decaying leaves. The air carried sprinkles of salt, blowing in from where the waves crashed against the jagged rocks of the coastline not far. The air of the Mountainous Region was fresh and crisp as it gently blew down to the valleys which lived beneath the mountain shadows.

This was the territory Roxy grew up on, the place she knew like the back of her paw. She could map the route to the hollow tree her and Cleo used to play in as children with her eyes closed. She knew how far she could run at breakneck speed before plummeting over the cliff face. The rolling of the waves had always been a second heartbeat to her, much like the rest of the pack. Except now it didn't feel like home, rather an important place in her past. A retreat where she could escape for a break, just as she was now. Moonlight Ridge had grown to be her new home, despite it witnessing her relentless heartache. It was where her newfound friends were; Tobias and Kayla. It was where her soulmate was...

Roxy shook herself. No. Moonlight Ridge wasn't home. This was her home. This was where wolves loved and cared for her. Isaac didn't want her and once all this rogue business had blown over she was due to return anyway. Moonlight Ridge was never permanent, she was fooling herself if she believed otherwise. The sooner her and her wolf accepted it, the better.

She continued pondering through the forest, her large paws dusting the dirt. Her wolf was happy with her nose in the air, re-establishing herself with the familiar scents and taking interest in any new ones. Every now and then she would take pleasure in scratching her back against the low-lying branches, relieving herself from the itchiness that came with a new coat for the looming autumn. Here, she could simply be. She wasn't on edge waiting for Isaac to barrel towards her, demanding she returned back to the house for it not being safe. Trent hadn't been keen on the idea of her going for a stroll alone, but he could see how much she'd suffered the past few days and had agreed on the strict term that she didn't go far from the houses.

Roxy gravitated towards the hollow trunk of a tree. When they were younger, her had believed it to be a magical faerie gateway. When they were a bit older, they pretended it was a magical teleportation gateway as they walked through it. It was by far the largest tree in the forest, wide and tall with its canopy reaching for the clouds. Roxy wondered how long it'd been here, how many of the Waters generations it'd witnessed.

It was bit of a squeeze, but Roxy managed to wriggle herself into the hollow tree before doing a spin and plonking herself down, her nose poking outside. She released a deep sigh, exhausted from carrying around a heaviness which never seemed to budge. It'd only been a few days since she'd left the Alpha meeting with Cleo and Trent much to Isaac's protests. After suffering the repercussions of his rejection two years ago, she knew it would be some time before she would feel herself again and she feared that her heart would never open up again.

A merry-go-round of emotions filled her, but it was embarrassment that seemed to stick with her the most. Despite swearing to him that she would wait for him, she hadn't. When she'd returned to Saltwater Woods with her heart in a sling, she'd felt like a failure. She wasn't sure why though. She'd given Isaac more chances than he deserved. She'd given herself to him all she could before he'd broken her. Crystal, a she-wolf he didn't share a bond with had been good enough to run his pack alongside him. Why hadn't she? It was humiliating. Except she couldn't blame Isaac, or Crystal. She couldn't blame the Moon Goddess for pairing them and she couldn't blame Cleo and Trent for sending her there. Because it had been her to stupidly believe she could change him and extend her battered heart to him multiple times.