Chapter 730 THE ENCOUNTER

I watched on in horror as the bird plummeted to the ground.

I gasped, my hands covering my mouth in absolute horror.

A voice could barely escape from my lips.

I watched as it came down, its wings spiraling through the air and its golden body clashing with the bright sun.

I continued to watch it go down until it eventually went down behind a hedge like wall.

My heart was beating so fast, and all I could think of was how much pain the poor bird was in.

Without thinking, I sprinted down the path.

I barely noticed if anyone was looking at me, and I frankly didn’t care.

I could still hear the bird in pain.

It was low, and from the way it cried, I could tell it was getting weaker and weaker.

I had hoped that the bird had fallen on the other side where I stood.

Alas, I was now standing in front of the wall, and there was no golden eagle.

Which meant it was over the hedge.

I looked around, wondering if I could ask for permission, but decided against it.

What would I tell them? I wanted to hit a bird that had probably been hit by one of the members of the pack for sport.

I most likely wouldn’t be allowed in.

So I looked over the hedge and gently set my basket aside before taking a step back to examine it well.

I noticed certain points where my fingers and feet would go in.

The plants would help me up, too.

I was very good at climbing anyway.

It was one of the things my mother wished I would unlearn.

I lifted the skirts of my dress enough for me to climb and prevent any interruptions.

I used my hands through the holes I had sighted initially, and when I didn’t feel or see any, I used the vines on the wall to climb.

I chewed on my bottom lip as I climbed, and in a matter of seconds, I was at the top of the wall.

I smartly turned my body to the other side and used my feet and hands to steady myself as I came down.

When I saw I was about five more steps, I simply jumped down to the ground.

I looked around, and the bright rays of the sun reflected against the dying bird.

I hurriedly rushed to it and gently picked it up.

“You poor thing,” I said to the bird as it lay in my arms, barely breathing.

My fingers traced the arrow that pierced its body, and the rage in me boiled.

The sick monsters who had done this to such an innocent creature.

And for what?

For fun? For sport?

Leaving the animal to suffer?

I sighed heavily, toning down my rage and focusing on saving this almost-extinct bird.

“This is going to hurt you just a bit,” I said as it blinked weakly at me.

My spare hand gently touched the arrow while I counted one to three.

At the mark of three, I pulled it out.

The bird cried, and I hurriedly cuddled it. “It’s okay. It’s over. I’m so sorry. I’ll get you all healed up, and you can fly away. I promise.”

All of a sudden, I felt a cold breeze against my neck and a wave of strange, tense energy.

Before I could confront this new presence, I heard a husky, cold, masculine voice.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

The hairs at the back of my neck stood, and I trembled.

I jolted and turned around only to face the most handsome creature I had ever seen.

For a second, my mind went completely blank.

He was tall. Much taller than any wolf I had ever met before.

Golden blonde hair fell carelessly across his forehead, catching the sunlight filtering through the trees. It looked almost unfair.

His face seemed carved by the gods themselves.

Sharp jaw.

High cheekbones.

Straight nose.

The kind of face painters would spend their entire lives trying to capture and still fail.

His eyes were the worst part.

A pale silver-grey that seemed almost unnatural.

Cold.

Piercing.

The sort of eyes that looked straight through a person and judged everything they found.

He was dressed far too well for someone wandering around a garden, and he carried himself with the sort of confidence that made me instantly dislike him.

The unfortunate thing was that he was beautiful enough to make a goddess stare twice.

Which only irritated me further.

I definitely knew his type

I glared at him, my fists unknowingly tightening around the arrow.

I noticed that he, too, was staring at me.

I looked him up and down and knew that he was a spoiled, self-serving person.

Probably a relative of Aston.

I shot him a look, and we made sharp contact.

Then he took his gaze off me, before becoming hostile again.

“I asked you. *What* are you doing here?” He snarled like a wild dog.

“None of your business.” I snapped back and started to stalk off, but he grabbed my wrists and pulled me back.

I gasped and jerked so aggressively that something fell.

I looked at the floor and, to my horror, I saw a bow I had barely noticed initially.

He had been holding it.

He had been holding it this entire time, and I didn’t notice.

He was the one who had shut down the bird.

I was burning with rage. “It was you!”

His face became blank in confusion.

“It was *you*” I emphasized. “You’re a monster!”

His face clouded like a rainstorm at those words

“What did you just say to me?” He asked, walking a step closer.

“You shot down the bird!” I sneered.

He looked confused, like I was crazy, and I decided to prove it to him.

Without thinking or caring, I flung the Arrow at his arrogant face.

It gave him a cut above his brow.

Blood dropped to the ground.