Raphael's presence behind me snapped me out of my reverie. He was dressed in his black as usual.
"Ready to go ?" He asked huskily, sending shivers down my spine. I was ready to snap at myself. Why was I reacting this way towards him? Not trusting myself to speak I nodded. We strolled across camp towards Deregu forest. As soon as we entered Raphael immediately began taking off his clothes. My cheeks heated up.
"You're doing this just to make me uncomfortable, aren't you?!" I exclaimed, quickly turning my back to him. I could practically feel his smirk on my neck. What felt like an eternity, me closing my eyes even though I couldn't see him, and trying to block my thoughts with nonsense, soon a voice protruded my mind.
'You can turn around now.' It said deeply. Slowly, I turned, my hands over my face. Instantly, a deeply amused bark came from the wolf. I peeked through my fingers seeing a marvellelous wolf. My fingers quickly left my face. Now I knew why they were called angelwolves. They were absolutely gorgeous.
'You can stop gushing over me and actually climb on?' Came his voice again. I gave the wolf...a look.
"Seriously. You are not a horse. I don't like doing this." I complained hesitantly. He groaned.
'Would you rather chase after me?' He replied. Knowing it was impossible to match his speed and thinking of no other alternative I reluctantly climbed onto his back. Gripping his long, thick fur, I buried my face into his furry neck as he began to run. Extremely fast. I knew from experience that it was probably not in my best interests to watch the way in which trees flew past my eyes. I didn't scream, thank God, but I did close my eyes.
The journey from camp to wolvenpraire took a total of five seconds. I had been counting. Coming to an abrupt halt, I stayed cowered like that for a minute. My legs still felt shaky. Then slowly, and reluctantly, I lifted one leg over his wolf body before landing on the ground. I let out a breath I had been holding before collapsing and closing my eyes. That had been epic. I heard when Raphael ventured a little ways back into the forest to change back to his human form.
I didn't move from my position. I was still trying to catch my breath. I breathed in, and out, in and out, in and out, until finally my heartbeat had settled back to its regular pace. I figured Raphael had finished by now, so sitting up, I opened my eyes.
Only to get the shock of my life. He was still freaking naked! My eyes widened and I quickly looked away, mortified beyond comprehension. I stumbled backwards onto the metal gate that led into wolvenpraire. I sighed.
"You are so, so..." I muttered incomprehensibly. The image of his bare chest was still in my mind. He was really toned.
"So what?" He asked amusedly, startling me out of my boots. To my relief, fully clothed. In black. With a leather jacket. My eyes flashed.
"So..so..." I continued, knowing the word on the tip of my tongue, until suddenly he grabbed my wrists and trapped me against the iron bars. His face was inches away from mine. Suddenly, I couldn't think anymore. My mind was completely dazed. I could only think about one thing and that was close proximity between us. His clear green eyes were looking straight into mine, wide and completely trained on me. Our chests heaved up and down as he gripped my wrists tighter, stepping closer to me, as if that was even possible. Slowly he brought his lips to my ear. My body tensed up at the feeling of his breath on my skin.
"I think...you were going to say...how I'm so incredibly and fanatically...amazingly...sexy." He whispered into my ears, leaving me frozen...until, it actually dawned on me what he had actually said. I struggled to get my wrists out of his hands, but he wouldn't budge. I narrowed my eyes.
"I was gonna say, I hate you." I replied heatedly. I could feel the humiliation colouring my cheeks. Again. He tried to keep his expression neutral, I could tell, before letting go of my wrists. I remember feeling really cold before, but now I could literally feel the heat radiating off his body. Scowling, I stepped backwards.
A rumbling chuckle escaped his throat. As he began to type in some code so we could enter wolvenpraire. Right now a dark haze hung behind the gates, hiding it from static eyes.
"You sounded disappointed." He spoke up innocently. I narrowed my eyes still scowling. The image of him and Aleara kissing was right on the brim of my letting a comment escape. Somehow I restrained myself.
"You know what, Raphael, I'm going to pretend none of that happened." I muttered. Beside me he chuckled but didn't respond. Finally the iron gates came apart with a loud creak allowing the dark mist to gradually fade away. We stepped inside only to have them come together with a bang again. I jumped in surprise, allowing Raphael to again, laugh at me.
On my second coming to Wolvenpraire I noticed that no one was really outside like before. In this small community the little houses were all closed up but most of the lights were on. I couldn't help looking at everything again, even as we walked towards the main building.
"Werewolves don't actually live here. Well, the Ancient One and the Knights are the only ones that do, along with some wolves that don't have a home or don't know how to adjust to human society.
Wolvenpraire is like a communal meeting place for werewolves to come together and bond. To know what happens in the werewolf society. Each season there's a festival to celebrate the phases of the moon so during this spring solstice is why wolvenpraire is so crowded." Raphael informed me, just before coming to a halt at the entrance. He rapped the hardwood door just before a little window opened to reveal a man asking for the password. It was quickly recited by Raphael as the door was pulled open and we entered.
The narrow hall was dimly lit by candles as we entered walking along a series of descending steps before entering a wide, open drawing room. It had a very medieval quality about it, libraries of books and simple brown desks. Pictures of loup-garou-werewolves, lined the walls and the only other people inside wore hooded cloaks buried over books.
Nervously, I followed Raphael to an empty desk before taking a seat the same time he did. He sighed, running his hands through his hair, before he began to speak.
"There are some more things you should know, Peyton. What you heard in the forest today was very strange, and why that's strange involves a very long story. So-listen carefully." He told me, glancing up hesitantly. I nodded, waiting for him to continue.
"You already heard the Asija tribe story. How the magic of their people helped to create the werewolves. However...there is another myth that exists. A myth that explains exactly where Angelwolves came from. There is a greek myth that speaks of the god lyacon wanting to test the god Zeus's omnipotence by killing and barbecuing one of Zeus' guests. As a punishment for Lyacon's brazen behaviour Zeus transformed him into a wolf." He started. I nodded as he spoke. I'd heard this story in my literature class.
"That's where the word, lycanthropy came from. Of course the myth that says werewolves bite humans to transform them...isn't exactly true. What was not included in the myth, was that Lyacon was exiled to earth. Deregu forest, to be exact and fell in love with the princess of the Asija tribe. Princess Amoura was known also to be a shape-shifter in her clan and so when the two met...they created a new race. Amoura became pregnant with lyacon's child, who would be a werewolf, as in, part werewolf, part god, and part human, thereby creating angelwolves.
I told you before that angelwolves were chosen within a pack. This isn't exactly true. The only angelwolves that exist in the entire world are me, faye and the others. We are directly descended from lyacon and amoura's children : Zapphrite, Endon, Deschcu, Taitu and Lauralite. These children were angelwolves, and so majestic were they, that the humans began to refer to them as giants. They spread out and made fammilies with Asija, European and Native American Indian women." Raphael continued to speak deeply.
"Now, because Lyacon, technically was a god, we know he'd been turned into a wolf by Zeus. However this gradually turned into him being turned into a werewolf, every night there was a crescent moon in the sky. On any other day or night, Lyacon remained an immortal god. Then he met the the dreaded vampires that tormented the humans. How they came to exist, is a story for another time.
What's important for you to know is, Lyacon had the power to make these creatures...become extinct. He hated them with all his being. However, what he didn't know, was that these creatures were also immortal. The code of Zeus says that to kill another immortal immediately infers mortality on the killer. So lyacon would have to kill himself if he wanted to get rid of these creatures, but they didn't know that.
Therefore, Amoura came up with a plan that would keep the vampires away. She told him that she could create a spell to bound the vampires to a treaty, and if they went against it, they would become human.
Lyacon agreed and he went and met with the leader of the vampire clan and had him sign the agreement. The agreement said that these vampires could not enter Asija territory, which was the entire Deregu forest. They were not allowed to attack their people or humans. Therefore the only way vampires could survive, was by animal blood.
The vampires hated it, but they had no choice. They knew Lyacon had the power to kill them all. This is the way the supernatural world has been forever. Vampires hiding in the shadows, leaving humans alone, and staying away from Deregu..." Raphael paused as I waited in anxiety.
"Until now. Only a few months ago there have been mysterious attacks on wolvenpraire. Unblossomeds going missing, only to be found drained of blood days later. Then...Zaurus' attack on you. What you've heard in the forest." Raphael finished. My brows crinkled up in thought.
"Then...they found a loophole somewhere, Amoura must have left something out when she created that spell. " I concurred. Raphael nodded solemnly. I swallowed.
"So, do you have a plan?" I asked. Raphael nodded.
"Yeah. We do."