THE LOVE OF A LYCAN

109 METANOIA 5

The strength to overcome fear because of love…

You can't comprehend anything about them…

-Chiyuki; from: "Kurokami no onna" (death parade)-

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After she tidied up the living room and made sure the dining table and the kitchen were clean, Raine was about to go upstairs and waited for Lydia inside the room that she had prepared for her, when she heard someone knocking on the door.

Raine froze.

Lydia didn't say anything about a guest. Right at that moment, she couldn't help but wonder if she should open the door or not.

Raine waited until the knocking sound stopped, hoping whoever it was, they would think no one inside the house and left.

After some time, the knocking sound stopped, but instead the person behind pushed opened the door instead.

Raine was halfway to the second floor when a man in a thick cloak made of wool stepped inside the room, he was so big and tall with his head almost reached the door frame.

"Lydia, are you home?" The man scoured the living room as he took off his leather boots. "Why did you leave the door unlocked?"

After he put aside his boots and stood up to look for Lydia, he spotted Raine was on the last step of the stairs, staring at him.

"Who are you!?" His voice was hoarse and demanding as he strode across the room.

Only in five large steps, he had stood in front of Raine while holding her collar sweater. "Who are you?! Where is Lydia?!" He was glaring at Raine and shook her body violently. "Answer me!"

Raine really wanted to answer him, but his tight grip around her collar made her hard to breath.

"Lydia went out…" Raine forced her voice out of her throat that sounded so weak and pitiful.

"What is she doing out of the house at this hour!?" That man sounded angrier now when he heard that. His nostril flaring when his green eyes assessed Raine's small frame, and after he decided that Raine wasn't a threat, he just released her body to drop to the ground.

The moment she was released from his grip, Raine backed away, put the distance between them while rubbing her neck.

"Where is she going!?" There was no apologies from him for what he did when he asked Raine with the same tone like before.

"Lydia said she will report about me to the authority—" Raine gulped hard. "—that I will stay here—"

"You?" That man frowned. "What are you?"

That question sounded wrong, but Raine answered him anyway. "I am Raine."

"I don't ask your name! I asked, what you are!?" That man looked impatient now as he glanced at the door a couple of times, pacing back and forth in front of Raine as if she was a prey. One wrong move from her, he would tear her apart.

They said she was a guardian angel, and Raine just went along with their assumption.

Fortunately that man didn't say anything again, as his tensed muscles evidently relaxed. He sat down on the sofa while glanced at Raine intermittently, who was standing at the kitchen door.

The time was ticking so slowly while they were waiting for Lydia, that man didn't offer Raine to sit and would let out a dangerous grunt if she moved from where she stood.

Finally the door swung open and Lydia's figure that was wrapped under a long brown overcoat came inside the room.

"Dorian, you have returned?" Her face beamed brightly while she got rid of the remaining snow from outside from her long black curly hair.

The man named Dorian didn't waste any second when he scooped Lydia in his arms. "Why are you going outside at this hour!?" He reprimanded her, but the concern in his voice couldn't be concealed.

"Lucas accompanied me, I am not alone." Lydia chuckled and patted the man's shoulder. "I just registered her as the new member of guardian angels."

"Are you sure she is a guardian angel?" Dorian stared at Raine sharply.

Only then Lydia realized that Raine was there.

"Raine what are you doing there? Come here." Lydia waved her hand towards the girl, but she stayed still, and didn't dare to look at Dorian. "What did you do to her?" She frowned and swatted his upper hand lightly before she sauntered the room and approached Raine.

"It's alright Raine, he is Dorian Torres, my husband." Lydia introduced that man. "He was probably slightly rude, but he didn't mean it." She whispered at her ear apologetically.

More or less she could imagine how Dorian reacted when he saw Raine inside their house.

"You are home early, what happened???? Dorian was supposed to come back in two days, which was why she was also surprised to see him now.

There was no divider between the dining room, and the living room.So when Lydia and Raine were sitting there, Lydia could still see her husband was warming himself in front of the fireplace.

"Those Wizard Hunters crossed the border again." Dorian spoke without averting his eyes from the dancing fire in the fireplace.

"We had made an agreement with them, right?" Lydia was angry when she heard that. Raine could see her shoulders tensed.

"An agreement like that is only a piece of paper for them." Dorian remarked begrudgingly, he removed his gauntlet and put it aside. "And those lycanthropes are really a pain in the ass!"

Seeing this conversation was a serious matter, Lydia patted Raine's shoulder. "I will show you your room." She pointed her finger to the second floor.

Raine nodded gratefully, she wanted to be alone now to discern this sudden situation, and this strange place. Perhaps if she thought about it again she could find the answer.

Maybe she had made a forbidden move or pushed a wrong button, which resulted in her being thrown into this place.

Lydia led the way to the second floor and showed Raine her room.

"Go inside, I will get clean clothes for you, and tomorrow we will go buy everything that you need." Lydia said cheerfully as she went inside the other room, which Raine assumed was her room and Dorian.

Raine pushed open the door and stepped inside.

The moment she was inside the bedroom, the smell of citrus greeted her nose, its scent wasn't strong enough to make her dizzy, but it felt warm and welcoming.

The room that Lydia prepared for her couldn't be considered as a big room, but it was enough to fit only a small bed near the window and a small wooden cabinet next to the bed.

Raine sat on the edge of the bed because there was no chair inside the room, she looked at the heaps of snow on the windowsill, but couldn't see the street due to the glass being dewy.

Lydia came in a few minutes later, brought a warm purple dress in her arms and an extra blanket. With Raine's frail frame, she was concerned if Raine would freeze in the next morning.

"Here, try this." Lydia put the purple dress on Raine's laps and the extra blanket beside her. "Keep yourself warm, the night will be very cold."

"Thank you Lydia." Raine smiled softly, she was still not used to receiving other people's kindness, but she definitely liked it. After what she had gone through, even a little bit of generosity was able to warm her heart. "You are so kind."

Lydia shook her head. "Don't say something like that, there are not many of our kind that's left.It is a good thing that we have you here." She smiled brightly, but before Raine could ask a question to her, Lydia stopped her. "You have questions, ask me tomorrow, this is already late and you have just recovered, you need more rest."

Now that Lydia mentioned it, Raine felt her body was getting heavy, she was tired. "Alright." She agreed. "Thank you Lydia."

Regardless she didn't want Raine to mention it, she still had to say it.

Lydia chuckled and stood up. "If you need anything I will be in the next room, understand?"

Raine nodded, but of course she wouldn't go to her room, Dorian probably would kill her for disturbing his wife and his sleeping time.

"Good night." Lydia said before she closed the door.

"Good night." Raine replied.

After she was alone inside the room, she locked the door and started to take off her clothes to change into the warm purple sleeping dress.

She shuddered when a cold breeze blew through a crack beneath the wall.

Hurriedly she put on her sleeping dress and folded her old clothes, before she jumped into the bed and pulled the blanket up to her head.

This was still very cold, thus Raine used the extra blanket that Lydia had given her.She was right after all, Raine would need that.

Now that she felt warm enough, her mind drifted to her last memory when she was in the apartment, and then, out of the blue, she was already in the desert.

What she had done?

Raine tried to think about that, but she had done nothing in particular either.She met a strange creature that threw her miles away from where she was.

But, speaking of creatures, Raine remembered something when she almost lost her consciousness.

Something dark engulfed her, but it wasn't the darkness from her unconsciousness, it was something else entirely. Something that felt alive…

Before Raine could proceed further about the information, the tiredness that washed over her body put her mind into a deep slumber.