The sunlight broke through the half-open curtains, casting its golden blessing on Jerr and me. Our peaceful forms were still close together, snuggled up in each other.
His fingers twirled around my arms, leaving a trail of tingles and shivers wherever they touched.
I wanted to stay here, safe in his arms. Encircled by his warm grasp, his chest humming against my back.
He nuzzled his face in my hair, refusing to give in to the morning.
But we had to leave. We had to reach Hidden Moon as fast as we could. We had to, to escape Beckett-
My heart began speeding up at the thought of seeing those haunting eyes, smelling his ashy scent.
I could've sworn I smelled it here, in this room, but as Jerr pulled me even closer to him, the soul-stirring smell got replaced by his warm and spicy wood, overpowering me entirely and melting me away.
His soft words calmed my heart instantly. "Beckett won't lay another finger on you," he said softly. "Not while I'm here. And I'm not leaving."
I wanted to believe him. A part of me longed to trust those words, and see truth in them. But even if he had every intention to defend me, Agni's gift was a danger that was too real.
"It is not impossible for a wolf like me, to kill a wolf like Beckett," Jerr murmured. "He won't touch you, ever again."
I turned around and let my lips find his. The kiss was soft and gentle, but still, his grip intensified on my back.
"We do have to get moving," he grumbled against my lips, his voice laced with objection. And then he quickly got up and left me in the bed, pulling his clothes back on.
We both knew, if he had stayed in bed a bit longer, we wouldn't have left.
I sighed, and followed his lead, gathering my clothes from all over the room and putting them back on.
I let Jerr check us out of the room, and then followed him outside, where we soon reached another forest to cross.
"We'll reach Strong Moon by midday," Jerr warned me.
My heart dropped in my chest, as this sinking feeling of Fire Moon leering close kept trying to surface.
But every time my mind strayed, Jerr was there to distract me, often with the most ridiculous things one could think of.
I was thankful for his presence. For him.
So as Jerr kept walking into the trees, so did I.
The Sun warmed my skin, just past its peak. She would soon begin her fast descent, but now she was still dancing above us.
We crossed the border a while ago. We had decided not to train the sword fighting again, so we wouldn't lose any ground, and I could keep my sanity as much as I could.
"We might reach our destination in three days," Jerr said.
"That's not too long," I answered, relieved.
"It would have been longer if we still paused to train," he explained. "But I agree it's best to keep that on hold. I don't want to spend any more time here than I have to."
"Have you ever been to Strong Moon or Swift Moon before? For a diplomatic mission or something?"
Jerr glanced at me over his shoulder. "Swift Moon, yes. But we didn't succeed. We didn't even attempt with Strong Moon. Their alliance is too strong and has existed for far too long."
My brow raised, seeking clarification. "And it hasn't with Swift Moon?"
"No," he said, shaking his head. "That alliance is still relatively new. And not the strongest, either. We were almost able to get them to switch sides."
"What happened?"
"Beckett found out."
"Oh." Nothing more needed to be said.
"Their Alpha, Joanna, is still young, though. I'm not sure she will want to follow crazed men like Beckett and Mika into war. She might still switch at the last minute."
"Is that something that we're hoping for?" I asked. "I'm not sure I'd switch if I were her. I'd rather have two powerful, crazed men fighting on my side and defending me, than standing opposed to them."
Jerr chuckled. "We have two crazed men, too. Or has it been so long that you've forgotten about Aven and Cailean?"
"Aven isn't crazed," I disagreed. "Sure, he's powerful and dangerous, and he may have a short temper, but so far, he hasn't acted out without good reason. I wouldn't call that crazed."
"And Cailean?" he asked, his brows raised in playful challenge.
"The only crazed man I can think of would be you," I teased.
"After last night, I can't say that I disagree," he whistled.
"Hey!" I said, punching his arm.
He laughed, his eyes twinkling with enjoyment, but his joy suddenly halted, and we stopped in our tracks as his face turn stoic and stern.
I saw his pupils dilate, and his posture altered to one of a wolf on edge.
"What-" I started, but I was immediately halted by Jerr's hand silencing me. He raised one finger over to his lips, signaling me to keep quiet.
I nodded, my heart slightly speeding up at whatever it was that got him so riled up.
He slowly undressed himself. Not slowly, I realized. Quietly. What was going on? He buried his pile of clothes and bag under some ground and leaves, making as little sound as he could.
"Stay here," he ordered me, whispering as quietly as possible. I could do nothing but nod. Before I had even finished the movement of my head, his body twisted into that of his brown beast, and he sneakily marched off.
He disappeared between trees and bushes until I could see nothing left of him, not even a shadow. Until his scent disappeared, and he was completely gone.
I kept waiting and waiting, frozen in fear, alone in these woods that I didn't know. Why did he leave? What happened?
Had he heard something? Smelled something?
It couldn't be. I would have caught on to it, too.
Did he leave me here? Were my eyes correct yesterday, when they recognized that bend? Was this somehow all part of Aven's plot, to deliver me back to Beckett? Did he regret taking me in?
I could feel my breathing fasten, and my heart quicken, but there was nothing I could do to keep the panic at bay.
I was alone. I had no idea where Jerr had wandered off to, or when he was coming back. If he was coming back.
A snapping twig made my head turn at such a speed, it caused a little wave of dizziness to spook me.
I looked to see Jerr, but instead, my eyes met with a strange man.
"Who are you?" he asked, his voice rough.
I had been so caught up in my panic, I hadn't heard him. Or smelled him.
But I smelled him now. He reeked of sweat and mist. His scent was vague and soft, but sharp at the same time. And it had that animalistic edge I had gotten to recognize.
He was a wolf.
I saw his nostrils flare, and I knew he recognized my scent, too. And by the twinkles in his eyes, I could pinpoint the exact moment when he realized my fear.
"You're not from here, are you?" he asked, stepping closer to me. A dangerous grin appeared on his face, his blue eyes toying with menace.
His hair had started greying already, indicating he was an older man. What if he possessed Ayatti's powers? I wouldn't stand a chance.
I was too paralyzed with fear to answer his question, but my silence gave him all the answers he needed.
Where was Jerr?
He stepped closer and closer to me, that grin widening at every quickening beat of my heart.
When he was dangerously close - within distance to reach me with his arms, my legs finally dared to move. I stumbled backward, nearly tripping over Jerr's buried pile of clothes.
"Where are you from?" he asked, his voice filled with menace and threat. He kept on closing in, forcing me backward.
"You're a quiet little thing, are you?" he asked again, keeping that big smile. "You won't be so quiet when I get my hands on you and deliver you to my boss. We don't like intruders, we don't. And that wooden stick won't help you one bit."
I gulped, as my legs kept staggering backward. I didn't dare to remove my eyes off my foe or run. It would be foolish to run. I didn't know where I was, or where I would be heading.
My only option was to fight, but my body was too paralyzed to do anything.
And then my back met with something hard, blocking my path. I looked up, staring at the trunk of the tree I had just bumped into, but that lost second was all the man needed to catch up to me.
He stood right in front of me, his venomous blue eyes parallel to mine. The first thing he did was rip the wooden sword from my bag, and throw it in nearby bushes.
"Thought you could get away, huh?" he said, his hand slowly reaching for me. "You little bi-"
He didn't get to finish his sentence when a sudden brown glaze of fur appeared out of thin air. Jerr's teeth locked on the man's throat, ripping it apart as he dragged him away from me.
The man's hands desperately grabbed for his throat, trying to salvage the damage, but he could only manage to get out a few more gurgling sounds before his panicked eyes went dull, and the blood stopped splattering out of his neck.
A dark pool of blood formed beneath him, leaking out of his arteries when Jerr switched back to his human form and unburied his clothes.
"I'm sorry it took me so long," he apologized, pulling his trousers over his legs. "I had to make sure to catch him completely off guard so I could kill him without him alerting potential allies nearby."
"I-," I stammered, but I didn't know what to say. My heart was still beating like crazy, trying to process what had just happened.
My eyes glued themselves to the still-warm corpse, that pool of blood only growing.
"Sari," Jerr said, his hands cupping my cheeks and forcing my eyes to turn to him, instead of the wolf on the ground. "Are you okay?"
"Am I-," I faltered. "Am I okay?" Was he truly asking me this?
Concern and guilt cornered his eyes, as he brought my face closer to his. "I would have never let him touch you, Sari. I promise. I'm sorry I had to wait so long."
"Couldn't... Couldn't you have given me a heads-up?"
I felt him shaking his head against mine. "I heard his thoughts. He was an experienced hunter of some sort, knowing well enough how to keep his scent and sound masked from us. He was still far away enough not to realize there were two of us, so I had to act quickly. I couldn't risk making any more sound than I had to. I'm so sorry."
Jerr stepped back, looking over the dead body next to us. "We have to bury his body," he said.
"And his blood," I pointed out.
"That, too," he sighed, as he began digging a hole.
"Wouldn't this go faster as a wolf?" I asked, finally finding the courage to leave the tree, bend down next to Jerr and aid him with digging.
"No," he explained. "My scent as a wolf is too strong. I've already risked too much with this shift. If anyone is near, they'll catch on to us more easily. Especially if they can smell the blood, mixed with the scent of a strange wolf."
My trembling hands kept digging and digging until my arms were sore.
Finally, when sweat was dripping off my forehead and pooling on the ground below me, Jerr announced the hole we dug was deep enough to mask the corpse. "We're in luck he already masked his scent beforehand," he explained, "so it doesn't need to be too deep."
We buried the blood with the man, careful not to stain our clothes, our hands covered in the red substance by the time we had been able to gather all the blood-stained soil. Jerr took a water flask, and we cleaned our hands over the corpse, making sure the washed-off blood landed in this grave, as well.
Before we closed the grave, Jerr bent down and closed the dull, blue eyes, softly whispering, "Nidhatos."
And then we silently began covering the pit with soil and leaves. Jerr even added two dead rodents he had found or killed, in an attempt to mask the smell of the blood.
By the time the pit was entirely covered, the Sun was halfway through her descent, and my arms were straining against themselves.
"Let's move," Jerr said quietly as soon as the guy was covered.
He bent down again, and picked up some rocks he began placing in seemingly random places around the grave.
"What are you doing?" I asked him, confused.
"If any of the stones are moved, that will let us know if anyone found him."
"Or anything," I countered. "An animal could move some of these stones, too."
"Yes, but an animal wouldn't cover the grave back up. A human trying to trap us would, and if any of these stones are moved, we'll know the grave has been located by a foe."
I noticed he did place the small rocks on top of the grave and around it, but in places so random, it looked like the forest itself had planted the rocks there.
He emptied his flask on the little stones, washing his scent off it.
And then, Jerr and I left the scene in a hurry, a weary feeling surrounding us.
"Do you think he was alone?" I asked.
"Yes," he nodded. "Maybe he was a rogue or something. I don't know. But I don't want to exclude that others might come looking for him."
A trembling sigh escaped my lips. Jerr seemed uneasy, too. Was it because he had just killed someone? Or was there something else going on?
I kept my thoughts quiet, not wanting to trouble him any more than he already was.
"What was that word you said?" I finally asked, after a dreaded silence that made me feel even more uneasy.
"Nidhatos?" he asked.
"Uhu," I hummed. I had heard him and Aven say it before a few times. The first time, was on our way back to Rahas when we found Willis' dead wolf on the side of the road.
"It's a word that remains of our ancient tongue," he explained, shifting his green stare to me, his eyes touched by emotions I couldn't quite place. "It means 'Until Death'."