Chapter 2

  Chemistry?

  “Well, well,” He found himself saying, walking up to Celeste from behind her. “Care to explain?” he gestured where the royal prince had just left. “Uhhh,” Celeste responded, looking up but not meeting his eyes. Typical of my sister, Koa thought, sighing internally. “Cmon, just tell me,” he said, already impatient, his interest in his sister’s new love growing. “It’s nothing!” Celeste said, flustered and kinda panicked. “Sureeee” Koa said, not buying it but amused. “Whatever!” she huffed, looking away and pouting in Koa’s opinion. “Imma go explore,” Koa said, noting the setting sun. “Okay, don’t get lost,” Celeste said, no longer in the teasing form. “Thanks, you too.” Koa said, setting off into the woods. He felt his large paws powering him forward, deeper into the forest with every step. Celeste decided to go explore and took off in the direction of the abandoned ranch, which is where Kane has been waiting every night hoping she would show up again. She arrived at the ranch, looking around. Kane perked up, seeing the princess after a while of waiting and carefully observed her. Her ears perked, moving around like satellites. “Come out, I can hear your loud paws so easily.” Celeste said, laughing softly. “Could not!” Kane tried to protest, peaking out from the roof of the ranch. “Sureeeee” she said, rolling her eyes playfully. He hopped down and she ruffled the fur on the top of his head teasingly. Kane laughed, smiling at her softly. “I heard the stars are great tonight, want to watch with me?” Celeste said, gesturing to the barn roof where he used to be. “Sure,” Kane smiled, following her lead as she hopped and flew to the top of the barn. Kane soon followed and found her laying down looking up into the now dark sky. “There’s not even any stars” she scoffed, gesturing her snout at the sky. Kane laughed slightly. “Oh! Theres…. One….” She muttered pointing her snout at one sparkling star. As more soon appeared she pointed, spotting more. “Now there’s….1…2…3…4..5..6….” He counted before pausing and glancing to the side, seeing Celeste watching him with barely contained laughter, almost daring him to say the next number. “Shut up,” He said, laughing and turning away as she finally laughed. “What? I didn’t say anything” she said, still laughing. He rolled his eyes but couldn’t help but smile. Over to Koa, he was running through the forest, hearing a familiar voice humming and following it. It led him to a medium sized lake, the moonlight reflecting off of the surface of the water as he arrived, seeing the dame by the lake shore holding something and humming to herself. “Hey beautiful, whatcha doing?” He said in a friendly voice, approaching slowly. Alexandra turned, facing him. Who's this? She thought to herself, confused. “Waiting for this to bloom.” She said, looking at the flower and remembering the kind dame from earlier. He scooted closer, “May I?” He asked, gesturing to the spot next to her. “Sure,” She said, smiling softly. Once he sat down she noted the size of his paws. “Woah your paws are massive…” She said quietly, her paws that she thought were large-ish (at least) now looked tiny compared to his. “Really?” He held up his paw, looking at it himself. Koa was a decent sized sire, he had his dad’s same build. Strong and tall, which caused him to have giant paws. “Yeah!” Alexandra held her paw up to his, hers looked definitely smaller but not as tiny as she thought. She felt the warmth on his paw and she froze, her heart beating in her ears. Do I pull away..? She thought, looking away but keeping her paw there. Koa stood there, unfazed but hadn't pulled back either. Uhhhhhhhh Alexandra thought, blushing heavily. Their paws stayed almost intertwined but parallel for almost a moment too long before her heart said to move away. She moved her paw, noting that he didn’t pull away himself. Maybe….he feels the same? She thought hopefully. WAIT AM I ALREADY FALLING FOR A rouge?! She caught herself thinking, panicked. He's kinda handsome though…. She thought, looking at him as he looked at the lake, admiring it while she admired him. He glanced her way and she darted her eyes away from him, trying to play it off but failing miserably. “You suck at this,” Kane’s voice is heard. “No I don’t!” Alexandra said, protesting. Koa waved at her, departing quietly because of her brother's arrival. She waved back, smiling like a weirdo. Kane smirked at her saying “Sooo holding hands with a rouge now are we?” he said, raising his eyebrow. “Wha-That-Wh-THAT WAS NOT HOLDING HANDS!!” She tried to protest, failing terribly. “IT WAS CUTE OKAY AND I'M PRETTY SURE I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO NOTICED BUT IDK.” Kane said as Alexandra blushed. She huffed but her attention got quickly snatched by the movement of the flower bud. “It’s happening!” she said excitedly, holding it carefully as if she held it too tight it would stop it from blooming. The white flower bud slowly moved, the top opening slightly revealing an array of colors. As more of the bud opened, the inside of the flower was clearly shown as a rainbow, not fully opened yet but almost there. “Woah!” Alexandra gasped, “Look at all the colors!” she said, still holding it as it unraveled even more. Finally it fully opened, each petal as if its own separate rainbow connected by magic. Alexandra looked amazed, looking at the flower excitedly and squealing. Kane tried to act nonchalant but failed miserably, finding himself looking at it in awe as well. “That rouge sure knows her flowers…” He muttered remembering Celeste giving it to his sister, secretly wishing that was him she gave it to and not his sister. “Isn’t it cool?” she asked, shoving the flower in Kane’s face. “Lovely,” he said sarcastically. “Oh come on” she said, groaning. “Pretend it’s the rouge princess,” she said with a fat and proud smirk on her face while Kane snapped his head up. “Excuse you?” he said, tilting his head at her. “You heard me, don’t even act like you wish that she gave you this instead of me.” she said, practically reading his mind. Uh… Kane thought, muttering something about how she was wrong and that he didn’t care about some stupid flower. Alexandra rolled her eyes, carrying the flower inside the cave. “Cmon lets hit the hay,” She said, heading to the cave. Kane soon followed in suit but not before pausing and thinking about the dame he was with earlier…. Koa arrived at the flower field, seeing Celeste asleep by the blossom tree, he sat by the river and fell asleep. Celeste peeked one eye out, seeing that her brother was asleep, and she took out her notebook, sketching Kane from her mind. She found herself sighing and daydreaming about him constantly. I can’t go five seconds without seeing that idiot! She said, scoffing at herself while flustered. I can’t believe this… She thought desperately, putting her head down and clutching it with her paws.

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  “ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE, KANE AND ALEXANDRA! YOU TWO ARE GROUNDED!” Evelyn yelled at her kids, “Yes, mother..” Alexandra said quietly, her head low. “YOU SHALL NOT FRATERNIZE WITH THE ROUGES ANY LONGER.” She continued. “That’s enough, mother.” Kane spoke up, placing himself in between Alexandra and Evelyn. Evelyn huffed, “Fine, you guys are still grounded though.” She snapped at her two children before walking into her section of the cave. “You okay?” Kane asked softly, turning to Alexandra. “I’m fine…” She said quietly, as if she spoke any louder the yelling would start again. Kane nuzzled her gently with his snout, “It’s okay,” he said quietly, matching her tone. Kane glanced over to the tunnel that their mother went down, which led to the bedroom caves. “Let’s sneak out,” Kane said, glancing behind where their mother went. “You sure?” Alexandra said nervously. “Yeah I’m sure, we can’t get into any more trouble, she's already grounded us.” Kane scoffed. “I suppose you’re right….” Alexandra said, after a while. “Then let's go!” Kane whispered to her, quickly exiting the cave. Alexandra fidgeted nervously before following him soon after. “I wanna go see a certain princess,” Kane said, heading for the ranch. “Alright, cya later!” Alexandra called. Why not see the other sire I met the other day…? Alexandra thought, heading towards the flower field. Kane saw the dame practicing her fighting As usual, he thought. He walked toward her slowly, “Hey, princess,” Kane said as he continued walking over to her. She scoffed, not taking her eyes off of the target. “What do you want?” She asked, going back to attacking her targets and panting. “Wowwwww, not even happy to see me?” Kane winked at her. She rolled her eyes but couldn’t hide the smile on her face. “Aww! See! You were happy to see me after all!” he shouted. “Whatever you loon!” She shouted back, laughing. Kane closed the distance, stopping right next to her as she finally stopped training, breathing hard. The air between them crackled with an energy that had nothing to do with fighting. "You really need to loosen up, you know," he said softly, his voice losing its teasing edge. He reached a paw out and gently wiped a smudge of dirt and sweat from her snout, right over the white scar. The contact sent a jolt through Celeste, her breath catching in her throat. The contact of the scar made her mind flash back to the memories. Kane saw this and immediately comforted her. “Hey, I’m sorry…..I didn’t mean to hurt you,” He said softly, looking at her. “It’s alright I know you didn’t. "I can't afford to be loose," she whispered, leaning into his touch almost imperceptibly before pulling back, the reality of her mission crashing down on her. "You have no idea what I've been through."

  "Tell me," Kane pressed, his gaze intense. "Share the load, Celeste. You don't have to carry it all by yourself."

  Before she could answer, the air shifted. A new scent hit them both—pine, and a deep, underlying current of rage.

  "Celeste!" Koa’s voice rang out, sharp and urgent. He burst from the tree line, his side a painful reminder of the last time he’d seen the source of that scent.

  Evelyn emerged from the shadows right behind him, her eyes narrowed to slits of pure malice. She hadn’t just grounded her children; she had followed them.

  "Fraternizing with the enemy, are we?" Evelyn snarled, her gaze fixed on the scene—Celeste, the rogue dame with the striking scars, and her son, Kane, standing close enough that their fur almost touched. The glowing moonflower in Alexandra's fur, who stood nervously behind her mother, was a beacon of their disobedience. Evelyn snarled at Celeste and stalked forward. "Mother, this isn't what it looks like," Kane started, stepping slightly in front of Celeste, shieldingly.

  "Don't lie to me!" Evelyn roared, lunging forward, not for her son, but for Celeste. She was the root of this corruption.

  Celeste didn't hesitate. The fire in her heart, which had been confused moments ago, now flared up once more, a protective instinct. She drew her mother's sword in a single, fluid motion, positioning herself to defend against the charging queen.

  Koa and Alexandra both cried out, their voices overlapping. The peaceful ranch is now tense as the queen charged. Once a sanctuary of memory and quiet moments, it had become a battleground. The second act had begun.

  *End of chapter 2*