The oldest angel in the group was the first one to start. She wasn't as old or experienced as Arden or Apollonia, but she was the biggest of us all. The warrior stepped aside, placing a hand on the warrior's shoulder before motioning for her to start.
The warrior nodded to her, stepping forward to where the large wolves were lying around or playing with one another. I could tell by the mini steps she took that she was nervous. The wolves had to pick us. That was the most challenging part about this, not knowing if the wolf would pick us.
I heard Apollonia let out a sigh, watching how shy and uncertain the warrior was walking around the lying wolves. She made no move, soon sitting down near a few wolves that gave her no mind. The warrior with dreads soon turned around to the rest of us, sliding an eye over in Arden's direction. "Should they all go at once?"
Arden was sitting with Juno and Becklewood, her arms relaxingly behind her head. She crooked her head to the side, thinking about it. "Why not? Just keep your eyes on all of them."
Apollonia smiled, turning back to us. "Well, you heard her. Get going!"
The young warriors didn't need to be told twice; they practically flew over to the wolves' den while some stayed outside, carefully stepping around the large beasts' paws. I could practically feel their hearts racing with excitement as we each took our turn to look around and find our partner.
I did have to give everyone a good look. They were really patient when it came to this. Most of them just sat down, watching the wolves yawning, or some continued to walk in circles until they managed to catch the eye of a wolf. I decided to walk around as well, trying to catch the attention of a wolf.
A pair of footsteps sounded behind me; they were timid but well-known. I stopped, turning my head to the warrior who froze on being caught. "Why are you following me?"
"I-I just thought we could look together?" Arthur tried to defend himself, his wings trembling when the wolves looked over him. He moved closer to me, gulping down a scared breath.
Oh, that made sense.
I turned around, my wings lightly grazing over his chest plate. "You're scared of them?"
The boy made a noise; his head nodding6 slightly. I felt somewhat bad. It was obvious this boy was much more scared of things. He was a great fighter but got nervous when close to the Heaven Wolves. He would have to get over this fear; he knew that, but being by my side made him feel better.
"You can stay with me; where do you want to go?" I stopped, turning to him.
Arthur's eyes sparkled, his body jumping in admiration with just my words. I held back an eye roll, moving over so he could stand beside me. "Maybe farther into the field… or the dens?"
I shrugged, "everyone is already over there. How about going farther down the field?" I pointed to the other end of the grassy field, feeling the boy let out a sharp intake of breath.
"That's far away from Apollonia and Arden's eyes! What if something happened?"
"You worry too much,'' I nudged him with my elbow, trying to ease his anxious mind. He was a bit unsure but didn't want to stand alone when near the beasts. "Come on, before anyone else follows our idea."
We jogged over and soon stopped near the other den on this side of the field. There were only a few wolves around, which gave both Arthur and me some time to bond without any competition. It was just the three of us: me, Arthur, and a little pup named Casper.
I stopped before going too close to the wolves, taking a turn to force Casper away. The pup tilted his head, unable to understand. "Wait there," I pointed to the trees. "Go on."
Casper whined but did as he was told. Arthur appeared beside me. "He listens to you well.."
"Only when he wants to.." I couldn't help but growl.
We turned around and walked back to the wolves now that the pup was no longer following us. Soon, we found a spot to sit and observe the wolves, who didn't seem to notice us at all. Arthur wasn't particularly eager to attract their attention, so we remained still and quiet, simply watching. I soaked in the warm sunlight, momentarily forgetting everything as the silence stretched on.
Arthur would talk off and on, saying things that I didn't bother to listen to. It was nice; I understood why these Heaven Wolves liked it over here, no trees to cover up the lovely sun. It was the perfect place to lay and be lazy.
That was shortly cut off with a short commotion. Arthur and I both turned in that direction, catching sight of a Warrior currently tackling a wolf. He managed to grapple them, grabbing onto their fur before the wolf sat down and did what the angel told them to do. Arthur and I watched as the angel put a collar on the beast, petting down its fur.
"Oh, that's Casey, isn't it?" I said while watching Arthur gaze at the warrior.
He soon shook off his thought, turning to me with a shy smile. "Yeah, he is pretty aggressive, so it's not a shock he got one first." He shrugged to himself, crossing his legs playfully.
"He doesn't have a lot of patience. Probably jumped the beast and forced a connection."
"M-Maybe that's a good thing? He earned its respect?" Arthur tried to defend the warriors' antics, but I brushed it off.
"Maybe. The wolf does look pretty chill now."
We both turned back to see the wolf Casey managed to lower itself onto its stomach. Casey didn't sit on them yet, only managing to see how the armor would fit. Apollonia motioned for him to move over and give room for the other angels who tried to follow his lead.
They weren't as good as him. Failing and making the wolves walk off with a bored expression. Arthur giggled, "Casey is pretty good."
"Sure he is. He's also pretty aggressive."
The boy turned to me, the light in his hazel eyes hitting the sun above. "Is he? He is good at fighting?"
"I didn't say he wasn't." I placed my arms behind me, holding my body so I could look up at the sun. "Every time I had a one-on-one with him, he always went so hard."
"That's because you like teasing everyone who doesn't pull their punches." The warrior tried to giggle it off, but I caught the small sparkle of blush across his cheeks.
"Right, but when he is with you, he doesn't go so hard."
The boy's face lit up, and he looked at me shocked. "Y-You noticed?"
"How do you always spend your time with him? How do you guys talk more than fight?" I raised a brow at the blushing boy. "Yeah, I noticed you two."
"Do you think everyone else does?"
"Yep."
He giggled, falling onto his back, his arm slightly touching my own. "We can't help it. It's so fun to talk with him and fight as well. He's gentle with me even if I don't want him to."
"That's what boyfriends do, I guess." I shrugged, leaning on my back beside him.
His head turned to me, a question forming in his eyes. "Have you had a boyfriend?"
I had to think about that because the answer was no. I have not had one, nor do I actually want one. It seemed like too much work and time to spend with a boy that I didn't want to do. Yeah, it seemed nice, but I'd rather not do all that work.
I found myself questioning whether my feelings were influenced by similarity. I liked a boy, but was it really love? Whenever I thought about Dawson, I felt a flutter of butterflies in my chest. I experienced the same feeling with Janus, so what was the difference? I knew I liked Janus, so did that mean I wanted Dawson as well?
I didn't even know the man anymore. He was only in my memories, the memories that both make me feel light and cause me pain.
All I knew was that I had felt something for the man. I just wished I knew what…
"Nope. Never."
Arthur looked back up at the sky, thinking for a moment. "Well, when you do, I hope you get one like Casey.."
On cue, the boy we were talking about made an appearance that startled both of us. Arthur let out a squeak, jolting up to the boy who was laughing down at him. "Talking about me, huh?"
"Oh yes, but only good things!"
Casey rolled his eyes playfully. "What else can you talk about besides good things?"
I let out a scoff while the taller angel sat down, crossed legs in front of us. To our surprise, the wolf he had just managed to tame came over to sit behind him. It pressed its back against his to face away from all of us, but it still sat close to the angel, though ignoring him in the process.
"Wanna tell us about that?" I motioned to the beast behind him.
The angel turned, his black curly afro moving around as he did so. The boy with dark chocolate skin then turned back to smirk at me. "What? Jealous I got one first?"
"Oh, please. Everyone would expect you to grab one first. You have NO patience."
"Yeah, I do!" He turned to Arthur, who was slightly trembling in the face of the wolf. "Tell her I do!"
Before he could speak, I cut in with a low eye in his direction. "Don't get your boyfriend in this."
That made the warrior stop for a second. He caught the eye of Arthur, who shrugged at him. The boy managed to pull himself together, coughing out while his face turned a shade darker. "You know?"
"Dude. It's obvious."
To that, the angel shrugged, dropping the topic to look at his boyfriend. The male in question was still slightly shaking near the beast. "Don't fear him, bae; he's actually pretty tame now."
Arthur gulped and scooted closer to where Casey sat beside him and the wolf. "What's his name?"
Casey held Arthur's hand while his other hand went behind him to pat the beast, who huffed. "I came up with the name Kingston."
"That's a horrible name." I let out a dry laugh, earning a glare from the angel with an afro.
He ignored me, placing his hand over Arthurs on Kindstons back. "He's gentle. Just a bit stubborn, is all." The warrior began to move his hand, letting the wolf's gray and brown dipped fur spread just under his tips along with Authors.
The shy warrior soon lit up, his eyes widening at the soft fur he must be feeling. "He.. is very soft."
"You will be there when you manage to tame one," he said, releasing the boy's hand and leaning back to put his weight into the wolves, which let out a huff in response. "But for now, they will have to make the first move. Once they do, you need to grapple them to the ground and prove your worth."
"I doubt that's gonna work on all of them."
Casey looked over to me, his eyebrows knitted in clear annoyance. "It might. You can't say anything; you haven't gotten one."
"That's because I'm patient," I sent him a smirk. "Unlike someone."
Before Casey could retort with something, Arthur moved to separate us. "Let not. We're all friends here?"
"Yeah.." Casey moved back down, taking Arthur's hand in his like I would snatch the buzz-cut boy away from him. "Friend."
A few minutes passed as the three of us sat and observed the wolves around us. We noticed more voices and wolf pups on the other side of the field. Several other warriors managed to capture wolves using different methods; not everyone took Casey's aggressive approach to taming a beast.
By the end of this session, at least three of the fifteen in our group managed to tame one. This was going to be more complex than we would have thought, but I knew we would have time to try the next session.
In the following sessions, neither Arthur nor I caught the attention of any wolves. We continued to go to the same spot in the field, with Casey practicing with Kingson while we sat and talked. We tried to keep our eyes open and our attention focused, hoping that a wolf would take an interest in either of us, but unfortunately, we had no luck.
In the next few ones, more angels tamed the wolves on the other side of the field. Of what I know, at least six more angels got a wolf. I didn't know who they were, but I did watch how they did it. They took different approaches, only making my self-esteem drop at my chances of having one.
That, along with Arthur having one before me.
The shy, skittish warrior had acquired one before me on our fifth encounter. I was with him when it happened. As we were talking, the boy suddenly sat up and made his way over to a small wolf lying outside of the den. The creature was staring back at him, its golden-brown fur shimmering in the sunlight. To my surprise, Arthur reached out and placed a hand on its snout, causing the wolf's eyes to widen at the contact.
It jumped in his lap, yipping excitedly at the angel, who giggled. He seemed to lose his fear of these things, grabbing onto the beast's neck, which was much too big for his arms to snake around. He was given a collar to provide the animal with his father took with him. It was one of the smallest in the pack, but it was still big.
Arthur named him Flint. The beast with soft yet rough fur and bright brown eyes chose the boy as soon as he made contact with him. The next session where Arthur would have to train instead of sit with me, I took time to ask him how it went.
The boy was petting the beast, Casey waiting for him so they could train together. But he took the time to explain it to me.
His answer did not help me at all. "I-I don't know how to explain it. I just had a buzzing feeling in my chest when I made eye contact with him." He looked at the wolf who was nuzzling his neck. "When I touched him, I had a light skip in my body. It just felt so right, like I already knew Flint like I knew myself.'' He looked at me, understanding that I had no idea what he was talking about. He let out a giggle, placing a hand on my shoulder. "It happens naturally, Vienna. Trust me, you will know when it happens. It will just feel right."
Needless to say, that did not help me.