Moonlit Beauty

Troubled times

(A:N Picture of Taro, Dante's father. Enjoy the chapter! ^-^)

Chapter 14

Zhalia collapsed behind a rock and tried to catch her breath as Hana slid off her back. They had finally made it to the Black Bone Mountains but she had to rest to regain her strength. She had been running all morning and it was already past four in the afternoon.

Zhalia quickly shifted back to her human form and motioned for Hana to do the same. Both girls took a moment to prepare themselves for what they were about to find out.

After a minute Zhalia peeked out from behind the rock and looked around. She could see a couple of rogues lounging about in front of a cave entrance. She couldn’t see inside since it was really dark but she could hear the wolves inside. It was hard not to. The occasional snarls and howls could be heard but laughter and speech drowned most of it out. What was going on? Zhalia couldn’t help but feel curious and worried. She couldn’t see Dante but there were splatters of crimson blood staining the dry ground in front of the cave, evidence of a battle. It had dried which meant that the battle had been a while ago.

Worry started to build up inside of her. What happened to Dante? Was he alright? Was he hurt? Was he-

She was cut off from her worrying when a curious Hana nudged her. “What’s going on?” Hana whispered.

Zhalia gave her a strained smile. “I’m not sure, we need to get closer.”

Hana gave her a reassuring smile before shifting and silently crawling closer to the cave, making sure to stay hidden behind the rocks and shadows of the trees. Her golden fur coat didn’t really help. Zhalia sighed before making her way over to Hana. She shifted and arranged herself at Hana’s side so that her golden fur would be hidden behind her raven black fur.

Hana smiled sheepishly before continuing her crawl towards the cave entrance. Zhalia glanced at the sleeping rogues cautiously before doing a double take. They were dead! She couldn’t see it before but blood pooled around their bodies, dripping from various wounds. She gulped and hoped that Dante was alright.

It was strange knowing she cared so much for that jerk. He was rude, insensitive, sarcastic and arrogant but he was also sweet, caring, kind, protective and loyal. She didn’t even know him for long but she yearned to find out more about him. She didn’t even know his favourite colour!. It was slightly scary but it seemed like she had developed a slight crush on the silver wolf. What would she do if something happened to him?

It was official. She, Zhalia Hunter, had a crush on Dante Walker. Oh God, she had it bad.

Zhalia shook her head and was glad she was in her wolf form or her face would put a tomato to shame.

Hana gave her a weird look, wondering why she was randomly shaking her head like a lunatic, but brushed it off and stopped as she reached the cave entrance. Zhalia looked inside but it was really dark. They both waited for their eyes to adjust before looking in again. This time round it was easier to see inside. The cave split off into different tunnels that led to different rooms but the thing that caught their eyes was the trail of blood that led to the tunnel at the back.

They both gave each other a worried glance as they realised it was Dante’s blood. His scent was unmistakeable. That fresh pine and mint blended together to form an intoxicating scent that only seemed to highlight the coppery smell of blood. It was worrying to know that Dante had lost so much blood.

Zhalia immediately went in and headed for the tunnel that the blood led to. The other tunnels she passed seemed to have wolves in because the sound of laughter reached her ears. She quickly passed them and waited for Hana to catch up. Once she did they both took a deep breath before glancing into the tunnel. It seemed to go on for a while and there were no wolves so Zhalia and Hana stepped in and followed the winding tunnel to the end.

They had reached the end after a couple of minutes and there were overhanging ferns covering the entrance to a small room. A scream rang out from behind the ferns. Zhalia’s heart started racing as she recognised the voice of the person who screamed. It was…Dante.

----

Daemon stood still, gaping at the man before him. The man rolled his eyes before sighing. “I guess some wolves never change.” He muttered dryly before stepping closer to the frozen alpha. Quickly he lifted his hand and slapped the idiot up the head. That seemed to snap him out of his stupor.

“What was that for Taro?” Daemon sputtered out indignantly, rubbing the back of his head and pouting childishly.

Taro smirked. “How else was I supposed to snap you out of your awe at seeing me?”

Daemon huffed. “It wasn’t awe, it was…disappointment! I thought I finally got rid of you!”  He nodded earnestly after his little stumble but stuck his tongue out at Taro who raised an eyebrow at his friend’s antics.

“It’s good to see you after all these years Daemon. Unfortunately I’m not here for a friendly visit.” Taro looked seriously at Daemon who nodded.

“I thought as much. Come, we have much to discuss so let’s go to my office.” Daemon snapped to his ‘alpha’ mode.

Taro smiled grimly and followed his raven haired friend back into the midnight village.

This was going to take some time.