Cara’s POV
We were heading back from training, still laughing and catching our breath, when Emma’s eyes suddenly lit up with that familiar spark of mischief. “Hey! Before we go back, we should check on our trap in the forest!”
Emily groaned, shaking her head. “Emma, not now. We’ve been out long enough.”
“Oh, come on!” Emma whined, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “What if we caught something big this time? It’ll be fun!”
I raised an eyebrow. “Trap? What kind of trap?”
Emma beamed at me, clearly taking my curiosity as agreement. “It’s just a little hunting trap we set up a while ago. You never know what might stumble into it!”
Before I could protest, Emma looped her arm through mine, and Emily let out an exaggerated sigh, resigning herself to her sister’s antics. “Fine, but if we don’t find anything, we’re heading straight back, alright?”
And that’s how I found myself trudging deeper into the woods with the two sisters, the sunlight growing dimmer as the trees grew denser. I tried to keep my steps light, mimicking the way they moved, but it was clear they were far more skilled at this than I was.
The forest around us was thick and filled with trees filled with canopy. Birds chirped overhead, and the ground was soft with fallen leaves. Emma kept turning back to flash me a grin, clearly enjoying my discomfort.
“You’re moving too slow, Cara!” she teased, her voice echoing through the trees.
I huffed, picking up the pace. “Maybe because I wasn’t planning on doing this today.”
As we made our way through the forest, I couldn’t shake the eerie feeling that we were being watched. Every now and then, I would glance over my shoulder, scanning the shadows between the trees. But each time, there was nothing, just the quiet rustle of leaves and the occasional bird taking flight. ‘You’re just being paranoid, Cara’, I scolded myself, forcing the unease to the back of my mind.
“Hey, Cara,” Emma called out, snapping me out of my thoughts. “I’ve been meaning to ask you… What’s with the white hair? It’s not every day you see someone with hair like yours.”
I smirked, feeling the irony of the situation. “Oh, it’s just a family thing,” I replied casually. “We’ve always had white hair from an early age. It’s like… a tradition, I guess.” ‘Just like the Cupbearers,’ I thought but kept that detail to myself.
Emma laughed, her eyes shining with curiosity. “Well, it makes you look kinda cool. Like you’ve got some mysterious powers or something.”
“Maybe I do,” I teased, though I couldn’t help but feel a pang at the mention of powers. I quickly changed the subject. “What about you? What’s your story?” I said after a while, eager to learn more about them, “you mentioned your family before. What was it like growing up in your pack?”
Emily’s expression shifted, her usual calm expression faltering for a moment. She glanced at Emma, who gave a small, encouraging nod. “It was… different. We used to be part of a strong pack. Our father was the Alpha.”
“He was a great leader,” Emma added, her voice softer than usual. “Everyone respected him.”
Emily took a deep breath, her eyes distant. “One night, we were attacked. It happened so fast, wolves we’d never seen before, strangers. They tore through our pack, killing everyone in their path.” She paused, and I could hear the raw pain in her voice. “Our father… he fought them off long enough for the rest of us to escape.
“Few members escaped that night if it wasn’t for our father’s sacrifice, none of us would have made it out alive”
It happened right infront of our eyes, when we managed to escape, big brother continued to say that papa was coming but I know that it was a lie, he was not coming and will never come back” Emma said with a foreign tone, longing laced in her voice.
My heart ached for them. I knew what it was like to lose someone, to only have the last memories of your parents without being able to see them physically. to have your life turned upside down in a single moment and worst when you were so little. “I’m so sorry,” I said quietly.
Emma shrugged, but there was no lightness in her eyes now. “It’s just us now. Alexander, our brother, had to become Alpha before he was ready. And the rest of us… we just try to survive, in any way possible”.
“That’s why we train at a young age, everybody needs to have a way to survive even as rogues now”. Emily added quietly, looking at me with an accusatory gaze.
The feeling of having wronged someone fueled me with a bitter taste in my mouth, I had judged wrongly, I had judged alpha Alexander when I saw small pups learning how to fight at a tender age. Looking at the two girls, they were small but they experienced life in a hard way, causing them to toughen up and seek their survival.
We walked in silence for a while, the weight of their story hanging heavy in the air. I felt a pang of empathy for them, for the loss they had endured, and for the strength it took to keep moving forward.
I looked at Emily, catching her gaze, I gave her an apology nod, which she reciprocated by smiling at me. At that moment my heart lifted.
We continued on for another hour, tracking small animals and learning more about the land. The sisters spoke in code, using hand signals to communicate without a sound. I had to admit, they were impressive.
As we neared their trap, Emma perked up, clearly eager to change the subject. “Well, let’s see what we’ve got!” She moved ahead, excitement bubbling back to the surface, and I couldn’t help but smile at her resilience. Such an innocent girl, I thought.
Suddenly, Emily froze, her hand shooting out to stop me. “Did you hear that?”
I strained my ears, and there it was, a faint rustling sound, like something moving through the underbrush. My heart skipped a beat, and I instinctively took a step closer to the sisters.
Emma’s playful demeanor vanished in an instant, replaced by the sharp focus of a hunter. “Stay close,” she whispered, her eyes scanning the surroundings.
Emily pulled out a small dagger from her belt, her body tense, ready for whatever might come. “It could be just an animal,” she murmured. “But let’s be cautious.”
I felt a shiver run down my spine, my senses heightening as adrenaline kicked in. The three of us stood there, completely still, listening to the rustling that seemed to be getting closer. It was slow, deliberate, not the panicked movements of a frightened animal. Something, or someone, was out there.
“What do we do?” I whispered, my eyes darting around the dense forest.
The rustling grew louder, and then, without warning, it stopped. The silence that followed was deafening, and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Emma’s eyes met mine, wide and cautious, and I knew we were all thinking the same thing.
“What is it?” I whispered, trying to follow her gaze.
Emma grinned, holding the small knife in her little hand. “Looks like we’ve got company.”
“Rogues,” Emily replied, her voice barely audible.