Seth and his beta, Ian, a man who looked so similar to Seth that he must've been his brother, led us towards two huge trees that grew over the fence of an old-looking mansion.
"This is our pack house. You can rest, have some food, a shower, probably sleep for the afternoon and then we'll take you to the border."
"Are the Elder species aware that we're coming? " I asked as we entered the pack house and walked through a corridor filled with werewolves bustling around.
"They're aware of everything. Sometimes it feels like we have a mole amongst us but our pack members are loyal to death, they'd never rat us out but there are some exceptions, they live down, though....In the dungeons."
The word itself made me shiver. "Because they weren't loyal enough? " Alexei questions.
"No. That's a lame excuse to put someone in a dungeon. It's because they're criminals. Every pack has its fair shade of do-gooders and do-badders. You know, murder, theft...We have one guy that tried to rape a two year old. "
"Oh gods, shouldn't he be put to death?" I asked, horrified.
"And give him an easy escape to the underworld? He has to suffer in the darkness, not knowing when it's day and when it's night." The beta said.
"Boy, do I know that feeling." I whispered, shivering again.
So ,of course, it was Nikolai who changed the subject. "Why are we being stared at?"
Ian looked around at wolves that had stopped to stare, he then sends them a sharp glare that has them them scuttling away.
"Yeah..We've not had much contact with...elves. Not every day you have a living, breathing legend walking among you. "
His words made me realise that they were actually staring at me. I looked around more and smiled at some of them. They blushed and hid, some smiled back.
Alexei snorted. "Wouldn't blame you. Elves are not exactly sociable creatures. And let them enjoy the sight of a living, breathing and walking torch light."
I flipped him off, he guffawed, bringing more attention to us. Nikolai shook his head.
"We'll take you up on the offer of a shower and food. Got one man handling our rides, give him some comfort if you can. "
"Please." I added, giving Nikolai a pointed look.
"Please." He repeated after me in a mocking voice. Alexei snorted.
"As you wish." Seth grinned.
---
I had a shower while Nikolai slept. It was a small but comfy bed, Nikolai's large frame took much of the space, seeing him sleep made me feel like sleeping too buy I took in the daylight and imagined staying up at night like an owl but given our journey to the place, the journey from here back home was going to be the same.
Wait...Dinhae is not my home.
Bad Lunia. Dinhae is enemy grounds. Nikolai is my enemy. I looked at his sleeping face. Instead of a mean thought, all I could think was, Can I sleep ,too?
So I listened to my brain (It was playing a lullaby Hanes used to sing to me) and hopped in next to Nikolai, stealing some of his soft blanket and wrapping my damp body, snugly.
Immediately, Nikolai's arm came and wrapped around my waist and he snuggled closer. I patted his cheek, that rested on my shoulder and fell asleep.
---
I woke up to Nikolai's face again. He smiled as I blinked the sleep out of my eyes. Then suddenly he buried his head into the side of my neck, kissing and biting.
I moaned, arched and put my hands in his hair. Heat filled my body, desire making me forget where we were, his manly scent filled my nose and the hard panes of his body pressed against me.
His lips were on mine, quickly, the bathrobe I wore was ripped away. I heard the sound of a zipper and then I felt his head nudge my entrance. He groaned in relief when he was fully seated.
"We've gone to long without. I've got no patience for slow loving."
"Who says anything about going slow?"
He grinned and fucked me hard.
We exited our room, still in post-coital bliss, holding hands and faces stretched in secret smiles. I felt a weird warming in my heart that I had felt that one time I'd made eye contact with Nikolai. It was like finding a heater in Antarctica, I would know, I'd been there.
My smile doused when Alexei grinned at me. "Had fun? Could hear you both fucking from my bathroom. Walls are paper thin." He laughed. Nikolai kicked his shin and dragged me ahead. We had breakfast in the large cafeteria like dinning room, surrounded by our party, stared at by other werewolves eating food.
As I was having dessert, which was some kind of triangle shaped Indian sweet that tasted awesome, we were approached by a short and beautiful female, her scent was weird but her smile friendly.
"Hi, I'm Monica Stern, I'm...uh...Seth's..uh..to be mate?" She didn't sound sure herself.
I stood up to share her hand. "I'm Lunia Gre-"
"Lunia Shizkov." Nikolai cut in.
I nodded but sent him a sharp glance."Lunia Shizkov. I keep forgetting that I'm married, now. Anyway..I thought Seth's mate was dead..."
"Yeah...The Luna is dead but we've got no male heir to the Alpha so I was chosen to mate him."
"Okay..He has a daughter ,though?"
"Betty Blackmane. She's at high school. She really wanted to meet you by the way. Seth insisted she goes because...you know you guys are gonna go meet the hostiles so most of the young were sent away so that if theres an attack then casualties will be less."
Woah, they were expecting an attack from the Elder Species? They must think that our plan was going to be a flop.
"So, you guys have frequent attacks?" I asked as Nikolai pulled me down to sit beside him.
Alexei shifted a bit to give the petite female a place to sit. She ended up standing, wise choice, Alexei would devoured her.
"We had one last week. A few months ago, the only female in the Elder clan died giving birth to a little girl. Ever since then, the Elders have been attacking almost every week. There's a border you know...They can't cross that to come onto our side and we can't cross to go to theirs, we don't go on theirs but they come on our land, sometimes we manage to subdue them but sometime we have wounds to show that we tried." She shrugged.
"I'm a half breed, they don't let me fight much, I try to convice Seth but he never listens."
"What happens to them when the werewolves manage to subdue them?"
"Oh, we keep them in the lockup for three months or until they show submission to Seth's authority but they always come back to attack us. There's this one weird guy who really smells and looks like a female, but we're pretty sure is a male and one guy who dances around with flowers in his hair and beats teenagers with a wooden stick, he's our most famous lockup guy cause he's always crossing the boundary. He's harmless though, still in lockup maybe...If you want to see him."
"Must be the shaman." Nikolai commented.
Alexei agreed. I wanted to see this shaman guy. Maybe I'd get some clues on the Soul Shredder. Nikolai spoke up just as I was about to ask her to take me to the dungeon.
"We should leave now. We've eaten, slept and showered-"
"And fucked." Alexei added in.
"-Summon your Alpha, Monica Stern."
"No need, I'm already here." Seth said, walking up to our table.
Nikokai got on a grave expression. "It's time."
---
"This is the boundary line." Seth said pointing at the red line drawn in front of the end of the clearing. Beyond the line were tress and bushes as far as the eye could see.
"Once you cross the line, your destiny lies in the hands of the goddess."
"We've heard of this teenager abusing flower guy." Alexei questioned.
"Oh, Storm Caller? Yes, he's harmless, he keeps wandering into the village and offering advice for scraps of clothing, which he never actually wears. He's in the dungeon. We had to arrest him, sadly, we can't let them think that we've gone soft of them or something."
"Soul Shredder, Storm Caller, Dirt....they've gone the weirdest names I've ever heard." I muttered. Werewolf hearing, of course picked it up.
Seth chuckled. "There's also Quicksilver, Heart crusher, Road kill and one guys even called Meatchop. I've heard he's their cook."
"No Bill's and Robert's for them, huh?"
"Yeah, they name themselves and their kids on the significant matters of life. Like Soul Shredder, he likes to shred his enemies to bits but some say he can suck the souls out of people, you gotta be careful, Demon King. I know what you've got in that cage of yours-" he pointed at the cloth covered cage that was being dragged by two degnites.
"- I can smell it. These guys take what they want. They don't care about rules and orders. They might not even care about your bargain, they might just kill you and be done with it. You have to be careful."
"Don't worry about us. We'll be back in an hour or so, if we're not...then send a missive to Dimitri Shizkov." Nikolai said, stepping over the border.
Alexei and the guards followed.
I looked back at Seth, he smiled lightly. "Take care, shining one."
I grinned. "You too, hot piece of ass." And I stepped over the line.
I felt like I wasn't going to see him again.