Chapter 691: Inside the woods
Chapter 691: Inside the woods
"No, there is someone there! There is someone there!" Suddenly Hope was getting frantic, and this was the first time ever he saw her acting like this.
"Hope!" He said, while holding her face between his palms. Never had he thought that this would happen. He watched the way her anxious eyes focused on the dense trees. Those eyes were refusing to look at him, no matter how hard he tried to calm her with his touch. "Just tell me who is there!?"
Hope shifted her attention back to her mate. Her brows wrinkled as she bit her lips, she seemed hesitant to answer him. "I don't know… but, she is calling for me."
"Why is she calling you?" Kace failed to understand the mystery behind Hope's sudden outburst. It didn't make any sense at all. They were sleeping, and all of a sudden she woke up. On top of that, she was immediately behaving so strangely, and talking nonsensical things like this.
"Because she is alone there. Afraid, and vulnerable…" Even Raine was confused when she listened to her own answer. As strange as it may sounded, but it was how she felt. She called for her, and she must answer to her call. In fact she felt that she must come around herself.
Kace gazed at the dense trees. It seemed that the commotion that the two had caused in the middle of the night was attracting the centaurs to approach them. And then he saw Chiron was approaching them, along with the other centaurs from all around.
"What is she?" Kace asked.
Hope seemed to be drowned deep in her own thoughts, trying to identify what she actually was. Once she found her answer, "Human…?" said Hope while sounding uncertain with her answer.
"A human? A human could never be able to get here on their own. There could never be!" Kace shook his head in disbelief of what his mate just said. Whatever it would be out there inside the dense trees, it could be anything, but not a human. That was for sure. Except for the people who were with them, the villagers, there was no other human living there among them.
"What is going on? What happened here?" Chiron asked them once his presence was close enough to them.
"Hope heard someone out there somewhere in the dense of the trees." Kace answered him.
"You heard someone out there, somewhere between the trees?" With the issue being said, now Chiron was also confused. How could she hear a voice of someone coming from out there, when none of the centaurs, nor shifters around could hear any of this sound?—he thought.
Hope was getting even more anxious in every passing seconds while being held down, unable to move. "Kace, please…" she pleaded, her eyes begging to her mate to let her be. She was frustrated after failing to deliver the message behind the strange thing that she felt.
Kace sighed deeply. "Alright, I'll go out there to check on it. But, you should not be anywhere near those trees. Do not come near, do not move closer. Am I making myself clear to you? Stay here. Understood?"
It was better than nothing at all, in fact, she didn't have any other choice. "Understood." After all it was her who made a fuss in the middle of the night, and failed to explain herself.
"But, if ever what I found, whatever it is, turned out to be something dangerous, there will be no negotiation."
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Raine didn't know how long it had been since she woke up. But now that she was fully conscious, she could feel her surroundings. It didn't seem right to her. The comfortable bed inside the tent where she slept, was no more. It somehow turned into rough grass that was scratching her skin.
The air wasn't warm, and sweet like it was before. It was now cold and eerie. She then moved her body slowly. But now, she could sense the change of her environment, and was sure about her foreign surroundings. She immediately sat up. Her big obsidian eyes were wide open, analyzing the different scenes around her, taking it in into her vision.
"Torak?" Raine whispered, calling her mate. Then, she realized that she was all alone. No one seemed to be around. Suddenly, her fear emerged, and tainted her heart. She whimpered and stood up, while desperately trying to pull herself together in alertness.
Raine was now in the middle of the woods. She didn't have any idea of how she could end up being there, all alone. The last thing she remembered was lying down beside Torak, and then falling asleep.
Raine pressed her back against a tree behind her. She tilted her head to see the huge, nearly full moon up in the sky. She tried to calm herself by breathing evenly. Because once she was calm, and centered, only then, something helpful might come up to her.
After all, it was not her first time being in this kind of situation. She had jumped from one place to another before. Not only two different places, even she had gone back and forth between two different times. Past, and present.
From the look of it, this time she just teleported herself to a different place. She sighed in relief for this revelation. Thus the next thing that she had to do was to figure out where she was now, and how to get back to Torak.
After a brief consideration, she decided that the plan was good enough for her. But, the sun was sunken down already. Though the moon was shining up above the sky, it was not enough to help her find her way back to Torak. It wouldn't be wise to keep roaming around, and carry on when it was dark. She realized that it would be better to wait until the sun came in the morning.
Although she couldn't lie that the stillness of her surroundings scared her. It made her even more aware that she was completely all alone.
[Torak…] Raine tried to reach him through the mind link, but there was no response. She thought that it might be because of the distance between them. Am I that far away from him that he can't hear me?—she thought. Although she failed on reaching him through the mind-link, it was only her first try. Then, she tried it again. [Torak where are you?]
Raine swung herself to calm herself, while pressing her legs against her chest, and resting her chin on her knees. The quietness was not the only thing that frightened her. It apparently didn't stop there. Because now Raine started to hear rustling from the bushes on her left side.
Something was definitely there, approaching her. And whatever it was, this thing was speeding to her direction.
With her heart beating fast, Raine was considering the options at hand. If she should stay, or should she run away? Would she be in advantage if she hid herself behind the trees? But then, she watched a white furred lycan emerging from the bushes. With its white fur shining under the moonlight magnificently, it was such a regal looking lycan.
Raine froze, relief coursed through her body. But then her relief state didn't last for long, because the moment her eyes met with the beast's dark eyes, she knew right away that the white beast was not Torak.
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"What do you mean? Kace was hurt?" Jedrek asked Killian, he just couldn't believe the news that he just heard for the first time. Apparently, the mind reader forgot to mention this information during his mission report the last time he saw his king.
"I am not really sure if this is true, but from the look of it, he was injured even after nearly beating me to death." Killian complained, "But, I heard a rumour about Maximus. From what I heard, he asked a favour from a fae to create poison to weaken Kace. But, I don't know what kind of poison that was."
"Do you think he did have a chance to use it on him?" Eaton asked, he was standing beside Jedrek in his study room. There were only the three of them left inside the room after the meeting with the other six generals, and Beta Lyrus.
"I think there was a fight because Maximus was injured, and I believe that he stayed away from your younger sibling for some time." Killian tried to remember that piece of information.
Eaton raised his brows and commented. "Wow! I thought Kace had the softest heart of all three of you, but I guess I was wrong. As expected of Donovans." Eaton looked at Jedrek, who was deep in his thoughts. "You should call him back. Maximus I meant. Now Torak is going to meet Kace, he will not stand a chance against the two of them. This will only create misunderstanding on your part."