The Lycan King's Fate Calling

Crystal's POV:

I was distracted by my ice cream, which I ate with gusto, when I suddenly felt a tug at my wrist.

Rufus was already standing beside me, my hand still firmly in his. "We should go and look around, dear. We finally got the chance to get out of the house. We shouldn't spend the entire day on this bench." No sooner had I nodded than I was being dragged forward by the man.

A booth caught my eye as we passed, and I stopped in my tracks, pulling Rufus to a halt as well. I gestured at the booth. "What do you suppose is going on over there? Why are there so many people?" Rufus took one glance at the booth and wordlessly led me there.

As we got closer, I realized that the people were crowding around a ring toss game. The booth keeper stood beside a mound of plushies, countless thin hoops adorning one of his arms. He bent over to retrieve the ring that had been successfully looped around one of the toys' head, and then handed the plushie to the eager customer.

It was a pretty simple and straightforward game, but everyone was inexplicable drawn to it.

My greedy eyes fell upon the two giant teddy bears sitting in the middle of the toy stash. Obviously, the booth keeper had put them on full display in order to attract more customers.

Both Arron and Beryl were fond of huge toys like these, and they would be thrilled if I gave them one each.

The other park goers seemed interested in the huge

bears as well, seeing as how they repeatedly tossed their hoops at them. Although several people just barely missed the bears' ears, no one was lucky enough to secure the toys.

I pursed my lips and grinned to myself, excitement already bubbling up inside me.

could speak to the booth keeper, however, I heard Rufus

to see him give some money to the booth keeper. Seemingly noticing my gaze, he flashed me a smile. "I'll help you with this. Arron and Beryl will definitely love them." Warmth blossomed in my heart. He was actually

keeper happily pocketed the cash before pulling a tall stack of hoops out of

head to the side and eyed Rufus. His shooting skills were excellent, and his sight had always been accurate. I wondered if that applied to a

suddenly threw a couple of hoops

it that I smirked. I was just about to make fun of him

a hoop spinning around the largest bear's ear, twirling twice before coming to a full

eyes instinctively darted around in search of the second hoop, and sure

blurted out,

embrace, and it felt like a bucket of cold

senses, I hastily stepped away and acted like nothing

to come up to us with the carefully wrapped

tall each. Rufus put down his remaining hoops

he glanced at me and asked,

of the bears and nuzzled against its furry face. When I looked up, I noticed the blase keeper's worried expression when he heard Rufus, so I just shook my head "No, thanks. This is plenty enough.

swr

and then out of the blue, he asked, "How did you meet

be a gross understatement. I paused as the realization hit me-I had never