A Changed World - Book II | The Awakening of Darkness

Chapter 5: What Remains

"Do you think Skye and the others are okay?" Ren questioned with dread behind her tone.

The question made John stiffen up, and he had to fight back the urge to tear up. "I hope so." He said quietly, "come on, let's get packing."

"John... would it hurt to spend the night here? We would all benefit from some rest before we head out." Bill suggested, gesturing out the window to show the sun was already going down.

John was very clearly conflicted by that, he didn't want to risk staying at the cabin any longer, but Bill was right. They would need some rest. "Alright, I'll keep watch." He said with a nod.

"Hey, maybe Luna will come back during the night." Ren suggested with a small, loving smile as she gently took the man's hand.

John slowly gripped Ren's hand in response, sighing quietly. "Yeah... maybe." He said softly.

The man left the kitchen after a moment and headed into the living room, where Aya was asleep in her crib. He smiled slightly as he leant down to scoop his daughter up, holding her closely while he headed out onto the cabin porch and took a seat on a rocking chair. He cuddled Aya close to him as he surveyed the surrounding woods, and ignored the multiple dead bodies littered around the cabin. Hours into the night, Aura had since joined him on the porch and was sat next to him, her head rested on his lap with Aya still fast asleep.

"She saved my life y'know... I don't know how she was able to stop Luna like that, but she did." John said quietly having one of his usual one sided conversations with Aura, showing how baffled he was with what happened.

Aura only responded with a small whimper, and glanced up at him through the corner of her eye.

"Oh yeah, she's special alright." John quietly chuckled, gently stroking the feathers on the back of Aya's head.

Suddenly, Aura's ears flicked up and her head darted to the surrounding woods, her teeth baring slightly. John heard it too though, the snapping of twigs a short distance away. It only sounded like one person though, so he doubted it was F.E.O.

"Someone's watching us." John whispered, and caught a glimpse of someone moving from behind one tree to another. That short glimpse told him that it was a fur, due to the long black tail he saw following behind them.

He was eased knowing it was a fur, and simply waited to see if they would show themselves. Minutes went by in silence, and he wasn't even sure if they were still there anymore.

"Everything okay?" Asked the sudden voice of Ren, making the man flinch slightly and glance behind him.

"Yeah we're good." He replied with a small chuckle, seeing that Mia was stood at the doorway too.

"Why don't you come inside for some rest, John?" Mia asked with a small grin, suggesting that they would do a bit more than just rest.

John rolled his eyes with amusement, knowing exactly what the two wolf girls actually wanted. "Sorry, someone has to keep watch out here."

Ren and Mia glanced at each other, almost like they were disappointed. But it was clear that a new idea formulated their minds.

"Okay then, we'll take care of you out here~" Ren said quietly, her grin growing with excitement as she leant down and picked Aya up from John's lap. "Aura, come keep an eye on Aya for us."

John watched as Aura metaphorically rolled her eyes and followed Ren inside. "You're serious about this Huh? You really wanna do this out here on the porch?" The man snickered.

"Mhm, you've been through a lot the passed few days, let us take care of our man the best way we know how~" the white wolf cooed, taking a seat on the man's lap as she began to gently rub the growing bulge in his pants. "Someone's excited~" she teased while beginning to loosen his belt.