Beneath The Crescent Moon {TMT #3}

Chapter 16

His pained expression killed me. It was at that point that I actually witnessed the true person that lay behind all that rude and insufferable façade.

My father.

I just couldn't believe that I was staring at the man who fathered me.

"Maera," he said over again, reaching out with his left hand to graze it against my cheek.

I wanted to say something, but the amount of emotion boiling up inside my chest made it difficult for me to speak. At that point, I had so many questions. So many feelings I wanted to express. From one point of view, I wanted to know where Cleo was, since Mik wasn't out to hurt me as I'd originally thought. But on another view, I just wanted to ask why I was abandoned or if he ever tried to look for me.

When I actually did manage to open my mouth to say something, Micaiah immediately let go of my hand stood up, his entire body tense.

With the contact no longer there, the agony subsided, but a new sensation came in; one that I hadn't noticed before. It was the feeling of being watched.

The shadows. They were now making themselves known.

And not only them, but their rotten master as well. Et Kar. He was also here. I could damn near feel it. Every bone in my body quaked, but I fought to keep still. If he was here then that meant he was going to act on his threat. The threat to make me one of his witch slaves, permanently.

I rose from my kneeling position and stood beside Mik, waiting and watching for them to show themselves. But something kept on nagging me; a tinge feeling at the back of my mind. Like my subconscious was trying to tell me something.

Lucifer groaned and upon instinct, I moved downwards to crouch beside him once more.

"I'm fine," he assured me as he carefully struggled to get on his feet. His voice sounded croaked and his balance staggered a bit, but he still managed to rise before I got the chance to even touch the ground with my knees.

"I thought wolf-men couldn't get hurt?"

He shrugged gently and cast a sideways glance at Mik. "I was just taking a nap."

I wasn't stupid. That look obviously meant something and there was more to the story, but I couldn't dwell on it. Not now. The presence that was behind those bushes was beginning to trouble me. Lucifer, however, took it upon himself to clear the suspicions and doubts in my mind.

"She's here," Lucifer said with conviction, and I could already guess who he meant. "They're all here."

"We already know that," Micaiah hissed, his eyes still affixed on the bushes before us, waiting for the moment they would finally come out.

Though before that could happen, Mik suddenly looked at me with an expression filled with regret. He lifted his hand with the intent of grazing his fingers along my cheek.

Lucifer growled softly behind me but I paid no heed. I had never felt the need to feel someone's fingers on my skin like the way I expected Mik's in that very instant.

I was anxious because I knew it wasn't going to be a sensual touch like Lucifer's, or a friendly one like Ellie's. This was going to be a father's touch, something I'd never experienced but had unknowingly craved for a long time.

Micaiah looked into my eyes and smiled wryly, "You look like you're expecting the world from this."

My heart twisted at those words, but I ignored it.

"Maybe I am," I responded, then added with my own sad smile, "even though I know that this isn't the time and the place."

At those words, he retracted his hand and looked back into the darkness before us. "No, it's not."