Moonlit Beauty

Is it the beginning of love?

Chapter 8

“Will you please just shut up?” Dante snapped at Zhalia who was humming loudly.

“Hey I’m bored! There’s not much else to do is there?” Zhalia replied.

They had been travelling for the past two days. They left the village and the mission had started. It was going to take a week to get to the Black Bone mountains and Zhalia had a feeling that it was going to be a long week. She rolled her eyes at Dante’s back and stuck her tongue out childishly.

“I saw that!”

“What! How did you see that?” Zhalia exclaimed in surprise. He didn’t even turn around. Dante smirked over his shoulder at her before turning his gaze back forward. He continued running, conveniently ignoring Zhalia.

“Hey! I asked you a question!” Zhalia huffed. He was so irritating. He might be cute but his attitude was less than desirable. She glared as she ran. They were currently running through a desert and she felt too hot and sweaty. She panted as she struggled to keep up with Dante. How could he run so fast in this heat?

Her vision started to go slightly blurry and she was slowing down. Dante was getting further and further away. She stumbled before crashing to the ground making a cloud of sand rise. She gazed at Dante’s small figure in the distance through hazy eyes before she lost consciousness and everything went black.

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Dante paused as he realised that Zhalia was no longer following him. The annoying humming had stopped a while ago actually. He sniffed the air tentatively before rushing back where he had come from. He carried on running back and after a couple of minutes he noticed a black wolf on the ground ahead. Zhalia! With an extra burst of speed he made it to Zhalia’s side and hurriedly checked her over for any injuries. There wasn’t any. He looked a bit confused before he looked up at the sky.

It was a really hot day and they were running through a desert. He wasn’t bothered because he was used to the different habitats since he travelled a lot but Zhalia had never gone any further than the woods near her village. She wasn’t used to this and to make matters worse, she had black fur which absorbs heat and traps it. He had silver so the heat didn’t affect him as much. With a sigh he turned back into a human and picked Zhalia up. She was surprisingly light.

He shifted her around in his arms before he was satisfied that she was comfortable and not about to fall off. He looked at her; she looked so small and vulnerable. Her eyes were closed and her ears twitched occasionally. Her breaths were coming in quick, harsh pants so Dante started running, determined to get her to some place cooler.

After about an hour and a half the desert ended and greenery started to become apparent. After a few more minutes of running, Dante made it into a forest. He sighed in relief as a cool, breeze washed over him like a wave. It felt refreshing. He grinned as the black wolf in his arms stirred before blearily opening her eyes.

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Zhalia opened her eyes and tiredly looked around. Where was she? She started to struggle in panic against whoever was holding her.

“Hey it’s ok! Stay still or you’re going to fall out of my arms!” A familiar voice shouted.

Zhalia looked up at Dante before relaxing. He must have carried her here when she had passed out. They were in a cool forest that had lots of trees blocking the heat from the sun. She sighed in bliss as the wind ruffled her fur.

Dante chuckled before walking deeper into the forest. Zhalia blushed as she realised that she had been snuggling into Dante’s muscular chest. With a yelp, she pushed away from him and promptly fell onto the floor with a thud.

She winced before pouting as Dante laughed. He bent down and scooped her back up into his arms.

“Stay still and you won’t fall again. I’m trying to find some water for you. You’ll feel better when you have a nice, cool drink.”

 Zhalia hid her face in Dante’s arm and stayed silent…and still. They travelled in a comfortable silence before Dante spotted a stream.  He smiled as he rushed over to the stream and gently placed Zhalia down near the edge. She immediately dunked her head in the cold water and drank the pure water. After a few minutes she pulled back and shook her head sending droplets of water at Dante who was lounging next to her lazily.

“Hey!” Dante shouted in indignation. Zhalia giggled.

“Thanks! I’m feeling a lot better now.” Zhalia mumble shyly.

Dante’s glare softened. “Don’t mention it” he replied gruffly. “I think we should camp in the forest, it’s getting late.”

Zhalia nodded in agreement and gazed up at the tall, handsome man in front of her. “I’ll set up camp and you go hunt.”

They both separated to complete their task. Zhalia walked into the forest looking for a suitable campsite. She smiled as she saw a cave. It was perfect! There was a cluster of trees that hid the entrance and it was a good place to stay for the night. She bounded into the cave and checked for the scent of other animals. There were none so it seemed like it had been abandoned which was good. She circled the cave. It was quite small but it was cosy so it would have to do.

Zhalia went back outside and started to make a camp fire. She collected twigs and dry leaves, piling them up in the middle of a circle of dry stones. She then shifted back into a human and grabbed two dry sticks. She rubbed them together and after a couple of seconds a spark of light could be seen and it was followed by more. Zhalia grinned before rubbing the sticks together vigorously creating a small flame. She threw the sticks into the pile of twigs and leaves, watching as they were set alight. A roaring fire crackled in front of her. Zhalia smiled victoriously. She actually did it!

She fed the fire some more dry twigs and leaves before sitting down and waiting for Dante to come back with the food. He came back after half an hour with two dead rabbits in his mouth. He shifted back into a human and handed the rabbits to Zhalia who skinned them and stabbed a sharp stick through both of them. She left them to roast over to the fire.

Zhalia peeked at Dante from under her eyelashes. He was gazing into the fire with a thoughtful expression. She nudged him in the ribs, startling him.

“What?”

Zhalia gazed at him curiously.  “What were you thinking about?” She tilted her head to the side as Dante looked at her impassively.

“It’s nothing to do with you!”

She scowled at his blunt reply before angrily grabbing the cooked food and shoving one stick at Dante who grabbed it in surprise. Zhalia turned her back on Dante and went inside the cave to eat the meat in peace without any arrogant wolves nearby to snap at her for asking a totally innocent question. She growled in anger. How dare he? She was only asking a question, he didn’t have to get so defensive. She sighed. Maybe she was over reacting…oh well.

With a shrug she bit into the meat and chewed in content. It was delicious!

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Dante stared at the cave where Zhalia had gone into a few minutes earlier with a stupefied expression on his face. What did he do? He shrugged before biting into the delicious meat in his hands. Zhalia was quite good at cooking meat. He glanced back at the cave before sighing. Girls, you can never understand them!

He went back to eating the food in his hands. He quickly finished it and threw the stick away before throwing some dirt over the fire, successfully extinguishing it. He ran a hand through his hair before shoving his hands into his pockets and making his way into the cave. It was really dark and he felt quite tired. He bent down at the entrance of the cave since he was too tall and crawled next to Zhalia who had fallen asleep. He chuckled softly at her innocent expression. She looked cute while she was sleeping.

He noticed that she had started shivering so he scooted closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders pulling her closer towards him. She turned over and snuggled into his chest mumbling incoherently. He blushed before smiling softly. He rested his chin on her head and closed his eyes, falling asleep instantly. Maybe she wasn’t as bad as he thought she was…but the humming had to stop!