Moonspell (1) Werewolf Romance

31. Counting the losses - M.

Kiril's fur was soft and immaculately white. His beast form was painfully beautiful and Mila felt her heartbeats accelerating from the proximity.

The fear and the cold made her hug his back and neck even tighter.

It was dark and the atmosphere was somber when they arrived in a small forest on the slopes of the mountain. It looked like they were going to meet in the clearing close by.

Kiril stopped and signaled her to get down; he would be going alone from that point on. Mila obeyed and hid behind a tree. She followed him with her gaze, a white dot in the pitch-black surroundings, till he disappeared in the darkness.

She waited for some minutes but it felt wrong; she wanted to see what was happening so she marched slowly and carefully in the direction where Kiril disappeared. After some time, she reached the clearing.

On a silver throne in the middle of everything sat the Moon Goddess. Her beauty, if something, got even more astonishing. She was radiating, besides light, sublime happiness. But Mila was disregarding her completely; her whole attention was captured by the man sitting on the adjoined throne holding her hand.

Erik was looking into the darkness. His features seemed even more handsome than she had in memory. He was dressed in white and a simple, spiked silver crown was resting on the top of his head. It was him, but his gaze was empty. He was looking into the void with a blank expression.  Then he blinked and his eyes filled with an ardent, foreign passion.

For seconds Mila forgot how to breathe and dizziness clouded her brain.

She inhaled sharply. Lucius didn't have a body; there was only his soul that needed to be bound to one, to Erik's body. Kiril told her that, but somehow it didn't click in her head. For what felt like a long time she just stood there looking at his face and feeling how a thousand daggers were piercing her heart.

She wanted to run to him and sink into his arms but that was madness and that man was not him. She had to repeat that to herself over and over again to not succumb to her pain and do something stupid.

A wolf emerged from the darkness. Mila didn't recognize him. He was neither of the alphas she knew. That meant that one of them had died. The question was which.

The brown wolf bowed his head in front of Erik and the Moon Goddess.
The goddess greeted him with a smile and a nod, but Erik didn't move; he did not even as much as look in his direction.

Next, Kiril emerged from behind the trees, his white fur unmistakable against the darkness.

Same as the first wolf, he bowed in front of them. This time Erik moved his head and frowned at him slightly.

Lucius and Kiril had met before. If Lucius took over Rasputin's body, he and Kiril must certainly not have been friends. Or was the sixteen-year-old Kiril smart enough to not let his hate shine through? Mila doubted that. What sixteen-year-old would be?

They waited several minutes but nobody came. After yet another while Michael made his way out of the forest. He was limping slightly and when he arrived he bared his fangs at Kiril before lowering his head in front of the goddess and Erik.

Michael was alive. That was good.

Light as the wind itself, Nodin came forth. He was missing an eye and a slight howl escaped his chest before he bowed his head, looking utterly broken.

With twigs cracking under his paws, Amaru came along shortly after. Michael bared his fangs again and growled. Those two would never be friends, rather one the death of the other.

Mila counted and noticed they probably came following the order from east to west, judging by the ones she knew. That meant a few things. Cohen was dead and was replaced by the unknown wolf. Michael was indeed the European Alpha as Erik predicted and Africa... the African Alpha was totally missing.