"What do you mean?" Luna frowned.
"This doesn't seem to leave me be," Alphard groaned.
"What exactly are you talking about?"
He rolled his eyes and sighed in frustration making her worry with every passing moment.
What has he seen that's making him feel uncomfortable?
"This," He kicked his feet, still lying on the floor.
"What? Your feet?" Her frown deepened.
"Argh, no! This blanket!" He exclaimed.
"Stupid, dirty minded beast! I was worried sick!" Alphard started laughing at her reaction. "Get up and get dressed, idiot." She got up after pushing her bag to him which was still here in her cabin from when she'd brought the weapons hidden in it.
"Leaving already?" He continued to laugh. Luna just glared at him and ran out of the cabin. He laughed to himself then got up, pulling clothes from the bag to put on. Once dressed, he came out and found Luna standing from across the cabin door. "Is this look acceptable?"
"Jerk," She snorted and leaned in towards him. "You know how much I was scared?" She whispered after pulling away.
She wasn't talking about what just happened and he knew it.
"To be honest, I can't even imagine. I still remember that accident from the white continent and how you were scared even with me still breathing by your side. I cannot imagine what you'd have gone through thinking that I was dead." He hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head, stroking her hair.
She just buried her face in his chest and clutched his shirt as if afraid to let go of him. He felt worse feeling how she did. He pushed her back a little and wiped her face.
"Thank you, Alphard. For being with me, for loving me this much and above all, for making me feel safe."
"And for making you cry every now and then," He said making her snort. "Let's get down to Greg." She nodded and they made their way down.
"So soon? I told you to take your time," He said as soon as Alphard and Luna entered the cell.
"You want me to beat you like how I beat Alphard the other day?" Luna raised an eyebrow.
"I'm your senior, you wouldn't do that to me," He confidently said.
"You never know, Greg. She didn't hesitate to do it with her mate, we don't have to mention that she did it while going through the pain I did at the moment," Alphard smirked.
"In that case, you can very well stick a tape over my mouth," Greg said and Alphard laughed along with Luna.
"Fine, it's time we leave." Luna uncuffed Greg.
Then the three of them made their way through the forest in search of her father, making sure they don't get caught as Alphard was dead for the world to believe and no lie will come for their aid if someone sees him alive and walking on the lands.
"Where can they possibly take him to?" Greg asked once they stepped into the forest.
"We'd have to think about it so we've a place we're supposed to go, we can't keep wandering aimlessly in search for him, it'll only mean wasting our time." Luna said, trying to think of a place where her father could be held captive.
Suddenly she felt as if she'd solved the entire mystery. She turned to look at Alphard and found him looking the same as her.
"What?" Greg asked.
"The Chinchilla valley!" The both of them exclaimed in unison.
"You two sure?"
"Entirely sure!" Luna said and they almost sprinted towards to place.
"You know the way?" Greg interrupted.
"Can't you think positive for just once this evening, Greg!" Alphard groaned.
"She's got no map!" Greg reasoned.
"Maybe she's been there before?" Alphard said.
"Will you two stop arguing? Greg, I know the way." Luna said, then added. "And so does Alphard, just follow."
Greg gave Alphard a look saying 'you should've told me before' to which Alphard just shrugged and continued.
You know the way, or do you feel the way? Alphard thought.
Yes, I feel it. That's why I surely said that you knew it too, because if feel it then you'd too. Luna thought.
Yeah, I do. And my mark, it feels like it's dragging me there.
Same here, I'm trusting the instincts.
They continued on the path and came to stop under a tree to catch their breaths. The tree which turned out to be the same one they'd stopped at before when they were going in search for the weapon. Alphard looked at Luna; reminded of his lesson on mind connections and the moment they shared after.
"I'm getting old," Greg said to himself, but out loud for all to hear. "Already tired, ugh."
Though he said it loud, these two were busy, good that he didn't notice it. Luna bit the inside of her cheeks and stepped away from Alphard to go sit beside Greg, but he grabbed her by her waist and pulled her close, making her hands rest over his chest and head over his left shoulder, she pursed her lips to keep from yelping out in surprise.
And Greg was still mumbling about getting old to notice them.
Alphard turned them around, so his back was now facing Greg and bent his head down to hers.
"Alphard, please sto___" And she was effectively shut.
Though she opposed, she found herself giving into it. Her hands tightly held him from over his upper arms and his moved from caressing her neck to cupping her face. They were lost and forgot they'd company, but not for long.
"Aaarrrggghhh!!" Greg yelled. They immediately put distance between them. "Ants, ants, aaants!"
"Ugh Greg, f*c___" Alphard muttered under his breath in frustration. Luna clasped her hand over his mouth to stop him from swearing.
"Greg, stop." Luna went to him, he was jumping and dancing to get the ants off of him. "Greg! Stop!" She pulled his right arm, bringing him to a stop.
"Ants, an___"
"Shut up! Look at those." She pointed below. "Black ants. They won't bite even if you ask them to!"
"Phew!" He sighed and then noticed Alphard giving him a death glare. Greg shook his head, asking what was wrong.
Luna left them be and went a little into the forest to find something to use as a weapon if needed.
"Thank you, Greg." Alphard sighed, sarcasm dripping from his sentence, then went to sit.
"What did I do?" Greg asked.
"You ruined our moment is what you did,"
"What!?" Greg exclaimed, then added. "Good that I did, you shouldn't be doing all that out in the open, get a room."
"Shut up, or else I'll kill you." Alphard groaned. Greg stifled a laugh and got beside Alphard.
Luna found a long stick and since she couldn't find anything sharp to have tied to its tip, she shaved one end of the stick with a stone and made it pointed, she then decided to scare the two sitting under the tree.
She got some leaves that were big and covered herself from head to toe leaving only her eyes open. She grabbed hold of the stick and walked to them. A few feet away from them she hid herself behind a tree and threw the stick towards them and it stuck on the ground just between them, they flinched.
"Who's there?" Greg yelled. Jumping up on his feet and acquiring a combat position with Alphard beside him.
"It came from there," Alphard said and they took tentative steps in the direction from where it'd come from.
When they were close enough, Luna jumped out of her hiding in front of them, making them scream in horror. She kept walking towards them and they kept backing away from her.
"We mean no harm," Greg started. "We're not here to ___" She got close to Alphard and grabbed his neck. "You let go of him!"
"Don't I act very well?" She let go of Alphard and took the leaves from over her face.
"Luna?" Alphard raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Weren't you able to sense me?" She asked, laughing.
"I do now, I guess I was too scared to sense anything else." He admitted.
"Greg, weren't you able to?"
"I wasn't any different than him." He narrowed his eyes. "Not to mention that I'm still a prisoner and have silver coursing through my veins,"
"Oh, I forgot 'bout that." She said and laughed more, then got away to discard the leaves.
"I blame you, she wasn't like this before." Greg poked Alphard's cheek, playfully.
"I take it without any arguments. I brought so many problems into her life that she tries to smile and be happy by doing things like this." Alphard sighed.
"I didn't mean to upset you, Alphard."
"No Greg, you didn't, it's just the truth. Since I returned back, all she's ever been doing is protect me. You remember how she hurt herself when the approval to go on a mission to the white continent wasn't granted?" Greg nodded. "She knew I was her mate and those men were after me and so wanted it done as soon as possible,"
"I now understand the reason for her outburst," Greg pondered.
"I'd to remove the broken pieces of glass from her hands, every time I think of it and that I was the reason, it makes me want to kill myself,"
"I'll kill you myself if you ever think of doing it!" Luna yelled walking in time to hear him say what he did.
"I wasn't done speaking. It makes me want to kill myself, but I live with the thought that I've got my Luna, my Cocoa for my mate, I'd live for her."
"Flatterer," Greg grinned.
"That wasn't," Both Luna and Alphard said.
"If you say so," Greg shrugged, still grinning. "Who's Cocoa, by the way?"
"He calls me that," Luna answered.
"And you?"
"I'm her Marshmallow." Alphard smiled.
"Oh, my tooth!" Greg placed his right hand over his cheek.
"What's wrong?" Alphard frowned.
"He's got no sweet tooth and feels like, you know those sensitivity feelings? He gets like that whenever someone mentions sweets in bulk to him." Luna explained.
"That's...um...a weird disorder," Alphard gave Greg a confused look.
"Greg is weird," Luna laughed, so did Alphard. "Let's continue our search."
"Yeah, that's more better than pulling your senior's leg," Greg huffed in annoyance and followed them.
"Keep your eyes in front and ears on the back," Luna reminded.
They walked past tall trees and thick bushes as the night fell and owls began hooting. The moon was shining brightly, helping them to find their path in the dark, they even heard wolves howling.
"It's full moon, soon your transformation will begin. I suggest you two calm your senses down before that happens." Greg said, Alphard now understood why the streets were all empty from when he got to agency in his wolf skin.
He doesn't know?
No one knows except for our parents and let's keep it that way for at least till we breathe. Luna responded.
"Silver effects haven't worn out," Luna said to Greg.
"Why did you two take it?"
"To avoid wasting time, maybe?" Alphard said.
"You were right about him, he's good at annoying someone." Greg groaned making the two with him laugh. "How was it then that you sensed her after she scared us earlier?"
"This man has a pot pouring out with questions, they never seem to end!" Alphard complained. Luna laughed.
"Changing my statement will clear his confusion, it'd be clear to say that silver has just started to show its effects than to say that its effects haven't worn out," Luna said.
"I forget I've two shifters marked with the Eight Armed Flake walking beside me, of course it'd take longer than usual for any chemical to react with them." Greg mumbled.
They continued on their way and stopped when they reached a valley. It resembled the one Luna and Alphard had been to a couple days before. There they sensed a familiar energy and looked at each other, unsure of how it was present here at the mirage and not where it should've been.
Luna gave Alphard a slight, but firm nod without Greg noticing it and went ahead with the two men following behind. She stopped when the energy felt intense, she felt it stronger than ever and had no doubt that it was them here. Alphard sensed it too.
"No bad guys here," She said.
"How do you know?" Greg asked.
"Because I think I just saw something and with that present here, the bad guys can't be."
"And what exactly is th___" Greg didn't get to finish as something suddenly pounced on and in front of him. "That's...run!" He yelled in horror and even turned around to sprint from there, but stopped on realising that Luna and Alphard weren't with him. He turned back to face them and saw them crouched down beside the thing and playing with it. "What the...lions!?"
"Relax, Gregie." Alphard said. "You seeing this? They're connected to us." He pointed at the mark on the lions.
Luna stiffened at that. Not only Alphard, but Greg noticed it too.
"What's wrong?" Greg asked.
"They're connected to us and not to dad. If he's here, then..." He might as well be dead. She wanted to add, but dreaded.
"No Luna, your mother retains the mark. Have hope," Alphard said and got up to walk into the cave the lions had come out from.
Luna and Greg followed with the lions. Further into it, they found that it looked very similar to the one the weapons were in. They easily got through the maze this time, but unlike that time when the smell of nitrogen had hit their noses, now they were greeted with bones and skulls.
"This place is...grave," Luna muttered.
"That's what happens when wrong people try to get their hands on what's not theirs," Alphard said, referring to bad guys who might've tried to get the weapon for themselves, the reference understood by Luna, while Greg just thought of it to be a general saying.
At the end of the cave they found a similar altar, which was shaped like the inside of a dome; curved inwards in a concave structure. Luna got close to it and checked the circle around the altar for any openings to reveal a pool of acid, but found none.
She got to the back of it and found steps to climb up and into the upside down dome. A rodent jumped on her from its inside; a Chinchilla. She caught on the edge of the dome, preventing herself from falling back down. Luna then peeked inside and gasped when she saw what was in there.
"What's in there?" Greg whispered to Alphard.
Luna lifted her head up and looked at Alphard. He saw her expression change from fear to worry and was confused on not being able to hear her thoughts for the moment. He got worried thinking that she'd found her father, but not how they'd wished to.
He dreaded that Will was dead and rushed to Luna's side, only to find his insides crumbling. As much as he wanted this, he wished he didn't have to. He wished he hadn't ran to Luna's side and see what he was seeing now. Luna placed an assuring hand over his back and stroked him.
"How can someone be this cruel?" He mumbled, voice shaking and eyes filled with tears.
Luna pulled him into a hug and whispered in his left ear the words that gave him hope and lifted his broken spirits up.
"This is the beginning of our victory; we haven't lost, Alphard."
__________
Author's Note:
...I didn't tell you all my secrets just to pull my heart out
I didn't take you to my family just to show you their house
I didn't work this hard to get this far then leave it so soon
I didn't love to lose somebody like you... *LOL*
Don't mind me. This is what happens when you're writing/editing and listening to music while singing out loud, hehe! You know what song these lines are from and by whom? Lemme know in the comments ;-)
Alphard and Luna have got some really heavy emotions to confront now, what do you think the reason is, or maybe who? Yep, stay tuned!
Read my other stories on Wattpad #Crowded Silence (completed) #Holding On to Silence Until; You Came Along (ongoing)
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Hope you enjoy :-)