"If we meet again, we will be enemies. Is that what you want?" Gael asked Vanesha, sadness evident in his voice.
Gael didn't raise her, but they met when she was only three years old, probably she forgot that night already, but he remembered that innocent girl, who stared at him curiously and smiled toothily when he bought her and her big brother dinner.
But, the woman before his eyes, was a grown up woman, who could decide what she wanted and she wanted to be with the man that had imprisoned his daughter for years, separating them.
"I don't want to be your enemy, but this is the path that I will walk." Vanesha lowered her head, she stared at her shoes. "I thank you for everything that you have done for me and I am sorry for what I will do in the future."
Vanesha had made a decision for herself and there was nothing that Gael could do to change her mind, thus he could only wish her the best and hope she wouldn't have any regrets.
"I hope I will not regret this decision."
This was? the conversation that Gael and Vanesha had just a week after Lise died and she chose to leave him and River for Sol. She wanted to return to him.
And right now, they were standing in different paths.
They met again after six years for the first time.
"I wish I didn't see you here," Vanesha said, as she stood up and closed the distance between them, while from the two doors behind her came dozens of shifters, in their beast form and in their human form alike, ready to protect her.
"Yes, I wish for the same thing." Gael's easy going demeanor disappeared in the blink of an eye. He looked serious and dangerous to see that they fell straight into a trap.
This was not the place where they held Norbeat. Their informant was mistaken.
"How do you know?" Gael asked Vanesha. He didn't care about the fact that they were surrounded, nor did Knox care much about their current situation.
"I had worked for you for years, of course I learned how your information network works." Vanesha didn't show any pride, there was only sadness. Even when they were standing in different paths, she didn't want to be the one who confronted him like this.
But, Sol didn't believe that she was truly on his side, until she proved it otherwise.
"I know from the beginning that you are a fast learner. I should have been more careful." All the information that they got was coming from Gael, thus if his network had been infiltrated it was a bad sign for them.
Beside Gael, Skylar clicked her tongue. "Can you stop being melodramatic at this moment?" She then shifted her attention toward Gael. "Do you want to say that your information is mistaken?"
"I am afraid, yes," Gael said lightly.
Skylar scoffed. "To think that you talk so highly about the skill that you have and how greats your information network is..."
"Well, people make a mistake or two, I am just one of them." Gael shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and this made Skylar speechless.
"I will give you a clue." Vanesha intervened. "Norbeat is held in one of the doors behind me. You can find him if you can get through me." And then she added when she saw distrust in Skylar's eyes. "You can trust me this time."
"Trusting an enemy? I am sorry, I don't have that weird habit." Skylar scrunched her nose, as if the thought alone disgusted her.
But, without warning, Knox started to attack the shifters in front of him, he moved so fast that five beasts died immediately in a single attack.
Knox glanced at Vanesha's shocked expression, their eyes met for a brief moment. He could kill her, just like how he killed those beasts, but he didn't do it, he only rushed past her as if she was nothing and then chose the door on the left, leaving Skylar and Gael to deal with the rest of the shifters and the second door on their right to check.
"Damn it, Knox! Aren't we a team?!" Gael cursed under his breath. "At least, kill more!" He shouted in frustration, because there were around three dozen beasts targeting them right now.
"Gael, you know right, I don't really know how to fight..." Skylar muttered.
Close combat was not her specialty, since she was good at deceiving her enemies, but she was not a fighter, nor did she have any defensive power.
========================
"I feel like we have walked for days," Zuri grumbled.
"We have only walked for five hours," Chaos corrected her, he grabbed Zuri's hand tightly, just in case she would fall or she would run away because she had been complaining about meeting the members of the white wolf pack.
"Yeah, you know that, but you still force me to continue."
They had been bickering about this since the very beginning and Zuri was exceptionally difficult and sullen during this journey.
"You know, you can teleport us directly to the alpha, but no, you actually want me to walk for hours in this thick snow." Zuri could literally find anything to complain about at this point, just to show Chaos how displeased she was about his one sided decision. "You can teleport us to the alpha and then we can talk and be done with it quickly, so we can return to a warmer place."
"You don't feel cold, do you?" Chaos held her hand and she was protected from the cold, there was no way she would complain about it, but still, Zuri grumbled incoherently under her breath.
"Why don't we take the easy way? Do you have a grudge against me for making me walk like this?" All of a sudden, Chaos stopped walking and Zuri bumped onto his back. "What now?"
Zuri rubbed her face and then lifted her head to look at Chaos. "What is it?" She asked sheepishly, she knew that she had been trying to get on his nerves, did he finally snap at her?
"We can't do that because the place is protected by a strong protection barrier." Chaos could break it, but he was saving energy, just in case he couldn't control the darkness inside of him later, since he was in a critical condition. "Now, you can stop complaining, we are here." Chaos tucked the few strands of loose hair behind her ear and kissed her forehead.
"Where?" Zuri looked around, but all she could see was a vast land that was covered by white snow, as white as her fur.
"They are coming." Chaos made Zuri stand next to him.
Zuri tried to sniff the air, but she couldn't catch any scent, because all she could smell was Chaos's scent. Was it probably because she was surrounded by his power which was keeping her warm?
Maybe that was the reason why she couldn't smell the bunch of white wolves that came running toward them. It looked like a small force, probably around fifty or less than that.
Zuri's body stiffened when one of them walked closer to them, without any fear in her hazel eyes. This was the first time for her to see another white wolf, but surely this one was bigger than her. n-/OveLb1n
And all of a sudden, the wolf shifted into its human's form.
Zuri thought she would see a naked man or woman, but who was standing before her eyes was an old lady in white dress that reached her ankles and white hair, just like her, standing tall and proud.
This was the first time as well for Zuri to see someone shifting back into their beast without losing their clothes. The clothes were intact on her body.
The old lady looked graceful, but at the same time callous to her surroundings.
"Tia," Chaos greeted the old lady.
"Lord Chaos." The old lady named Tia only nodded politely at Chaos to greet him and then the interest in her eyes shifted to Zuri. "Zuri. You look like your mother."
Zuri couldn't tell if it was true, since she didn't know what her mother looked like.
"Thank you for bringing my granddaughter here, you can leave now, Lord Chaos." Tia extended her hand toward Zuri, waiting for her to take it. She would bring her away from there.
But, of course, Zuri didn't take it, instead, she stared at the hand with a frown.
=========================
"Go inside, Skylar," Gael said grimly, he created a wall of fire between them and the ferocious beasts, as the alarms were blaring deafeningly. There was no way they could get out of this place quietly at this point when the fight blew out of proportion. "I will hold them back."
"No, I will go with you!" Skylar tugged hard on Gael's sleeve, but the man didn't budge.
Knox took the other door and if she was unfortunate and took the wrong door, who could tell, what was behind it? She could die having no ability to fight back, thus leaving Gael behind was not an option.
"Don't be ridiculous, if I go inside with you, who will hold back these bloodthirsty beasts?! Go inside and come back immediately! Quick!" Gael used his other hand that was not controlling the wall of fire in front of him to push Skylar inside the second door and then closed it. "Hurry! Make it fast, girl!" He shouted at the closed door.