Meeting Sarton

"But I never said that!" Chan exclaims in his mind as he converses with Sarton his wolf.

"But you thought of it." Sarton fires back.

Sighing, "A little, and am an Alpha male Sarton, we have been searching and hoping to find our mate, but never did I imagine that we will find her as a Doulo. Not a slave Sarton, but a Doulo, a slave to slaves!"

"You are ashame of her."

Chan sighs again, heavily this time. He drives his hand through his hair, this conversation has been happening for way longer than he can keep up with Sarton, and Sarton was still not ready to see reasons with him. For some reason, Sarton was already obsessed about his female. Not that he Chan didn't want her, he did, just that ... he was trying to see things on a more clearer ground than Sarton. "Look Sarton, at first, I thought I was, but ... I don't think I am, I am not ashame of her, and I don't really think I am really that bothered about her being a Doulo either."

"You are not?"

"I am not, Sarton. But now she believes I am, and I do not know what to do or how to tell her am not."

"Let's ask someone then."

"Who ?" Chan asks. And just at that moment, a slave, the one in charge of cleaning his room entered.

"Alpha Prince." She greets, her head bowed.

Chan turns to face her, Sarton urging him to speak out. "Sarah." He calls clearing his throat.

She turns to face him. "Alpha Prince."

He clears his throat again as he moves closer. "I ... it seems I need your help with ... ehm ... have you ... do you have a mate?"

Quite taken aback by the question, Sarah looks up at him, her brows furrowed.

"I mean, you have found your mate, right?" Chan asks his eyes on her.

Smiling, she nods. "Yes, Alpha Prince, I have. He is -

Moving closer, "So let's say he ... ehm," he looks up at her, deciding one last time if he should really ask her for help. Sarton nudges again and that was the last push he needed. "Something happens, and you assume he is ashame of you or -

"Victor would never be ashame -

"Just assume!" Chan cuts in. "Just assume you thought he was, what would you want him to do to assure you that he is not ashame of you?"

Sarah shrugs.

*

Number 28 was working beside other Doulos when someone walks over and grabs her by the hand. Looking up, she gasps and her eyes widen at the sight of who stood there. The Alpha Prince. There were gasps from all around them before they all went silent as if remembering that their head should be bowed.

Number 28 looks up again, trying to figure out what exactly was going on, but even before she could, he affirms his grip on her hand and then begins to walk away with her. She was too overwhelmed by the entire situation to even say a word as he took her along, walking out of the environs where she and the other Doulos had been working while every watched, pretending they were not watching.

"What have you done?" Number 28 finds herself asking as soon as he finally stops walking and lets go of her hand. "Do you -

"I am not ashame of you!" Chan blurts out, cutting her off the rest of her words.

"What!" Number 28 exclaims more like a question, her eyes widened even more.

He moves closer. "I am not ashame of you, I am not ashame that people will see us together, I am not ashame that you are a Doulo."

"Alpha Pri-

"Maybe I was the other day, maybe I thought I was, but am not. I am not ashame of people knowing you are my mate and that the mother goddess has paired me to you." He says smiling.

"Alpha Pri-

"Chan." He cuts in, moving closer and grabbing both her hands through the fabric of the gloves she was wearing. He watched, to see if she will pull away, he didn't want to do anything she did not want. And when she did not pull away or give an sign of displeasure at the act, he moved an inch closer, his eyes on her. "It's just Chan, to you."

Number 28 smiles, and her eyes lighted up as she did.

Sarton liked that, he liked the fact that his female was smiling, because of him. Chan did too. He could not see her face, but somehow he knew that smiling must have made her more beautiful. And then out of nowhere, she burst out laughing. It was his turn to be confused as he stares at her, trying to figure out why she had burst into laughter.

"And just to tell me that, you walked into a basement filled with Doulos, walked up to me, grabbed me by the hand and walked out of there with me?" She says more like a question.

Chan was speechless, he couldn't quite tell what he was supposed to say, so he just shrugs in response.

Number 28 chuckles. "I think your actions said it all." She says still smiling.

Chan watches the female in front of her. At first glance, one would think her a weak Doulo, weaker in fact, as he had first assumed her to be, but as he watched her now, he realizes there is nothing weak about the woman in front of him. Not the way she spoke to him, and certainly not the way she held herself right now. "I could not sleep, i have been restless since that day you walked out, Sarton too."

"Sarton?" Number 28 questions.

"My wolf, he's Sarton, and he likes you a lot. He would not let me think of anything else but that I made you feel terrible and that I was ashame of you, which I was not, I am not."

She nods, then smiles, "Sarton?" she nods at him. "Your wolf?"

He nods. "Yes, his name is Sarton." He nods at her, "What is her name?" He asks.

Number 28 needed no interpreter to know who he was asking of, and so she lost her smile. Shaking her head, "I don't..." She looks up at him. "I do not have a wolf." She states out.

"What!" He exclaims out loudly, a bit more louder than he would have wish to. "You do not?"

Number 28 looks down, "I do not."

"But why?" His question got her looking back up at him. "You are past the blooming age, right?"

"Right." She answers looking down again. "At first I thought it was just late blooming like it sometimes happens, but ... as the years go by, it seems the mother goddess may really not bless me with one."

"Do not say that!" He urges her. "It will come." He says.

"I never believed it would, but ... here you are, standing in front of me, my mate, from the mother goddess." She smiles "She really may not have forgotten me yet. I also believe it will come, in its due time I guess."

His grip on her tightens a bit as he nods. "It will."

~

"Everyone saw it, Number 28." Number 39 says in a failed attempt of a whisper.

"Saw what?" Number 28 asks as they headed for their sleeping corner.

"Must I state it out! Fine! We all saw the Alpha Prince enter our basement for the very first time ever, and he walked out with you. No one saw you two again, not until now, and ... we have been curious, I have been curious."

"About what?" Number 28 asks trying her best not to smile.

"About everything. Are you in trouble?" Number 39 asks.

"No!" Number 28 answers.

"Did he need something?"

"No!"

"So why then did he come for you? Are you -

Walking away in a rush. "No Number 39, so stop asking."

*

She was heading for the riverbank with some Doulos when she felt, more like smelled him around. Silently, she slips away from the rest and begins to head in a different direction with no one around. She had just walked up to a point when she stopped walking and turned around to face a direction.

"You can come out now, they're all gone." She says.

From behind a treeline, Chan pulls out, wearing a smile. "I thought you said ... how did you know it was me?" He asks beginning to work towards her.

Smiling, "I can smell when you are around." She says smiling even more.

"Smell me?" He asks, his brows furrowed.

She shrugs, "I cannot really explain, but when you are around or near, my nerves go completely calm, and somehow, the air around me changes to one that calms and ..." she shrugs, "That's how I know. It's how I found you that day."

He moves closer, until there was no space between them. "Tell me your name." He says more like a request. She was about to argue or give him reasons of why she shouldn't again, like she has for the past days, but he shakes his head. "I know you go by Number 28, I know everyone calls you that, but I do not want to call you that. I want to know your name. When I think of you, when am not around you, it's your name I want in my head, not a number." Eyes on her, he takes another step closer, some parts of their body touching. Then slowly, he raises his hand and begins to wrap it around her waist. He waited for her reaction or any hint to show she was not comfortable with that, but he saw none. He smiles, and she smiles back. "Tell me your name, please."

"Ianna." She says her voice breathy, sapphire blue eyes on him. "Ianna." She repeats.

He smiles. "Ianna." He says it slowly, as if testing the words on his lips. "Ianna." He says again, smiling more. Eyes on her, "You have a beautiful name, Ianna."

She smiles, "Thank you."

Her, so close to him like this, he did things to him. Sarton liked being this close to her, but he was beginning to want more than just that. He was beginning to entertain the idea of mere physical touch or brushing of skin, Sarton wants to claim this female completely and in every way possible. At first he had been silent after he learnt she had no wolf, the thought of never going to run wild with his mate must have hit him harder than the fact of her being a Doulo, but somehow, after some thinking, he had somehow convinced himself that her wolf was there.

Chan moved closer to her, more than just their thighs brushing. He gulps as that movement sent shocks through his entire body.

"Chan." She called when he had stared at her for longer minutes without uttering a single word.

He gulps again, snapping out of his thoughts. "Would you like to see Sarton?" He asks, his eyes on her.

Number 28 bats her eyes, as a slow smile graced her lips. "Can I?" She asks.

Chan smiles more as he begins to walk away, and then begins to run towards a direction, pulling off his shirt as he ran. He went behind a tree and minutes later, it wasn't him but a grey wolf that stepped out in his place. Sarton stood, staring at Number 28, as if waiting for her approval or disapproval.

Number 28 could not believe her eyes, he was beautiful. Sarton was beautiful, just as Chan was. She has had the opportunity of seeing few wolves in their real form before, from a distance though, but none was as beautiful as the one that was standing few feet away from her. Smiling, she begins to move towards him until finally she was standing an inch away from him. "Can I touch you?" She asks.

Sarton gave a slow nod of the head and that was all the approval she needed. Smiling, she moves even closer and begins to caress him with Sarton leaning into her touch. Number 28 smiles, caressing him more. "You are beautiful!" She says squatting down to Sarton's level.

Slowly, after a while, Chan had taken back control, shifting back into his human form, and they had walked over to the edge of the river when they were sure no one was there, and they had sat there together.

"I want to know more about you, Ianna." Chan says turning to face her. "I want to share everything with you, tell you everything, and I want you to do the same." He says, eyes on her.

They say like that for minutes without either of them saying or doing anything, then slowly, she raises her had and begins to loose the clothing that covered her face until her face was left open to his view. She stares up at him as he stared at her, not uttering a word.

Chan could not believe his eyes. He couldn't quite tell what he had been expecting, but certainly not the beautiful female that sat in front of him the moment her veil dropped to the floor. She was beautiful. Sapphire blue eyes, pitch black wavy long hair, and lips that called all attention to themselves. Chan gulps, trying his best to find words. "Ehm ... I -

Number 28 stares at him, not exactly knowing what to do. Aside her late mother, Number 39 was the next only person who has ever seen her with her veil down, and if she was unpleasant to look at, Number 39 has certainly never said that. She herself has never looked in the mirror, water waves, yes, but a sneaky peek when no one was watching, so even she could not really tell what she looked like.

Chan gulps again. "You are beautiful, Ianna." He says slowly, his eyes still drinking her in. Of their own accord, his right hand moves up and begins to caress her face as if tracing them, to smear them in his memory. He gulps again.

"Am I?" She asks, when he continued to study her face.

Her question pulled his attention away from her pretty lips, back to her face. When he saw the doubt on her face, he narrows his brows. "You have seen your face be-

"Doulos have no mirrors. I have never." She cuts in.

"Never?" He asks again, doubting that.

"Never." She says.

Chan begins to look around until at last he found the perfect thing. Standing up, he takes her hand, pulling her up along with him until they were both standing, then he begins to head for the river with her. "Look." He says, nodding her at the water. And she did.

Number 28 stares back at her reflection in the water, seeing herself for the first time for who she was.

"You are beautiful, Ianna. Your name is beautiful, and you are even more beautiful." He smiles at her and she smiles back. "And soon, you are going to be my mate, my Ianna, my future Luna." His words got her looking back up at him. He nods, "Yes Ianna, and soon, very soon."

*