Chapter 21: Chapter 21

Zaira's POV

We've been on the road for hours. We stopped briefly, where I had already fallen dead tired, but as soon as the sun came up we moved on again. With a small sigh, I made an effort to move quickly, because with his considerable size he clearly had an advantage, apart from the fact that he was in top form anyway.

We hadn't exchanged a word since the conversation in my - or rather, in the one that used to be mine - hut, which I wasn't really sad about either. My emotions had been on a thousand roller coasters since Aramis got back and I needed some time to myself to digest and think about it all.

The thought of saying goodbye to Samantha was the hardest for me and made me sigh again. I still felt her arms wrapped around me and her words assuring me that I would always be a part of the Silverstorm pack and could always come back.

My heart ached again and tears burned my eyes. I hadn't told her about the threat Aramis had made because I knew she would never let me go and I had to go. At least that way I had a chance to get revenge for everything she had given me in those few days. And who knows, maybe I'd come back if I got out of this whole thing.

The sun didn't come out today, hiding behind the clouds, nevertheless it was pleasantly warm and I wasn't freezing with my light sweater. Last night Aramis had given me his blanket again, which he apparently always carried in his backpack, which I kept thinking about. I wondered why he sometimes acted nice to me and then suddenly turned into a cold block of ice. He confused me so much I was never sure what happened next.

This morning we had crossed the national border and were now officially in Anifeira.

If I had to guess, I'd say it was mid-afternoon, and my legs weren't thanking me in the slightest for walking so long. They ached from the long march and grew heavier with every step. I gritted my teeth and ignored the growing fatigue as best I could.

Aramis showed no signs of exhaustion, however. I cocked my head and imagined what his torso would look like without all that black clothing covering it. He was quite broad, and images popped up in my mind of how his muscles must have flexed with every movement. I let my gaze wander over his gorgeous body as he spasmed and his steps quickened.

Did he notice my stare?

Instantly my cheeks turned red and I suddenly found the ground in front of me extremely interesting. That was pathetic, he could throw the ugliest words at me and I still raved about him. That had to stop, mate or not!

My wolf growled at me, she wasn't at all happy with my decision, couldn't understand why we didn't finally mark each other and bond once and for all.

If only it were that easy, I thought sadly, and went back to my thoughts. Questions kept popping up in my head, which I couldn't possibly silence, yesterday's conversation was just too confusing, I didn't understand his reasons, didn't understand what was actually going on here.

I knew he needed me to "awaken" Luna and Gaia, whatever that meant exactly. But that didn't explain nearly everything, in fact it only raised more questions.

Why did he need me? If we're not mates, or at least he thinks we aren't, then why am I of any use to him? Why would Serdas create our mate band? What reason did he have for this? Why did one have to help goddess Luna and Gaia? What happened? Why did we go west?

I didn't want to give anyone full control of my life ever again, so I took courage and decided to get some clarity now.

"Why are we going south?" He slowed his pace but didn't turn to face me.

"Because there's something I need there." Very curtly.

"And what would that be?" I asked, not really understanding his answer.

“Omorphien."

What? What on earth were the omorphies? I frowned as my head rattled, but I couldn't find a solution.

Without thinking much about it, my next words already gushed out. It was as if his quick responses reassured me that it was okay to ask him questions, that he wouldn't punish me for it. "What are omorphies?"

He let out an annoyed snort when I tried to catch up to him. "Do you always ask so many questions?"

I looked at him sideways. His striking face looked stunning, I couldn't imagine anything more beautiful. Completely lost in my adoration, I forgot to answer his question. My heart tingled, as did my fingers, urging me to touch him, run his fingers through his soft dark brown hair and ruffle it even more than it already was. I imagined pulling his head down towards me and putting my lips on his. My she-wolf excitedly pushed against the walls, found my thoughts fine.

"Hello?" His cold voice startled me and I jumped in surprise.

Oh Gott!

He raised an eyebrow at me, fully aware that I was staring at him. I wanted to vanish into thin air right now! Heat shot up my cheeks and I bowed my head in embarrassment, trying to avoid his gaze.

"It might be a good thing if you didn't faint and pull yourself together at the sight of me, because otherwise you'd be getting on my nerves."

And again he killed my budding feelings of happiness in the bud and showed me who he really was.

Why does he always have to destroy everything?

"Omorphies are extremely rare flowers, they are also called the divine flower." He paused, waiting to see if I knew what he was talking about or not. From my unsuspecting expression, he probably concluded that she didn't I thought he wouldn't bother to describe them to me any further, but he surprised me: "They were once the best hope of werewolves and gi's. They had the ability to destroy everything and everyone However, not everyone could invoke and use the power of omorphy, except for healer werewolveshad that quality." His pace slowed and I now walked beside him. In a deep voice he continued, "They could channel the powers of the flower and use them consciously. The catch, however, was that this gift did not work without something in return , each healer werewolf also added its own life energy and thus could not heal innumerable severely wounded diseases and injuries without dying of it itself." His hands closed and opened while I listened spellbound to his next words. "Not everyone cared, however, and over time they were hunted down, imprisoned and forced to use their powers. They slowly died out and the remaining ones went into hiding and never touched an omorphy again.

My blood froze when I thought about what the healer werewolves had to go through, how scared they must have been. How could anyone be so heartless and cause pain to such a creature?

I shook the dark thoughts away and focused on my actual question.

"So you need them for the moon and earth goddess.", this time it wasn't a question, but more of a statement. Even though I knew that was the reason, I wondered how he was going to do it. Either he was a healer himself, though I highly doubt it, or he knew someone who had those skills.

He just nodded and then, after a moment's hesitation, pulled his backpack forward. He took out a small glass that was sealed with a lid and handed it to me.

I took the glass with trembling hands, our fingers touching. A bolt of lightning shot through me, leaving tingling sensations throughout my body. With weak knees, I eyed the contents of the glass very closely and deliberately ignored it, wanting to avoid further embarrassment at all costs, something I couldn't do if I lost control again with his presence.

With my mouth open, I marveled at the two most beautiful flowers I had ever seen. Her flowers were large and beautifully adorned with dots, which stood out even more as they were all different colors. Wow, how beautiful Omorphies were!

I smiled as an intoxicating feeling ran through me and made me shudder. The longer I immersed myself in the sight of these flowers, the more I sank into myself. I forgot everything around me, forgot the faint breeze rustling through the trees, didn't realize I was stopping, and didn't even notice Aramis anymore. All of my presence was focused on these omorphies. The exhilarating feeling increased and intensified by the second as my grip on the glass tightened and my palms grew warm. I saw the dots brighten and slowly begin to glow.

My already hot hands were grabbed by something cool and the glass was roughly removed.

Still embarrassed, I stared at the flowers as I slowly came back to reality. I opened my hands and stared at her in bewilderment. What the hell..?

Did I just imagine that?

Am I completely insane now?

Without realizing that Aramis had put the glass away again, I let out my held breath.

"That's exactly why I need you!" His green eyes shone fiery and a slightly smug facial expression spread.

"Excuse me?" I said sheepishly, lowering my hands and peering up at him blankly.

How on earth could he think I could do anything for her?

Glowing eyes looked at me closely. "You really don't know."

The intoxicating feeling gradually disappeared. I was getting fed up with this ignorance, didn't want to be kept behind the light anymore.

"What is it?" I almost urged him. My inner wolf growled slightly and shook her head, neither she nor I really liked to urge a dominant wolf, even if it was our mate, or at least felt like it. Yes I just had to.

With the speed of a werewolf, he suddenly stood right in front of me, searing my gaze with his blazing flames. His thumb gently stroked my skin below my eye. I trembled with desire.

"Some of the healer werewolves had purple eyes."

My breathing quickened and I tried hard to construct a coherent thought, to no avail. I could only look into his green burning eyes and sink into them. His head lowered even further towards me while I felt his hot breath on my skin.

"What color are your eyes, wolfie, hmm?"

"I..." His words swirled in my head and I tried to get hold of them.

Which eyes? Of course purple.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

What was it about?

My head rattled as I sucked in air with a hiss. "No, impossible." I kept shaking my head in disbelief.

Never.

One corner of his mouth turned up. "Oh but."

Still distraught, I stood there, staring at him, when suddenly I was thrown roughly away. I still saw the panicked look that briefly flickered on Arami's face when I hit the ground hard.