Erick was lying on his back on the floor inside the lounge room at the packhouse. The lounge room was one of the rooms in the packhouse, not open to most shifters. It was actually a room where the Luna usually rested and waited for the Alpha if he had something to do in the packhouse. It was near the mess hall just before the offices.
He was exhausted after his journey to the Kraken Forest. Hamish was sitting on one of the lounge chairs, watching the television. Although he was also tired, he did not show it.
As for Noaz, he immediately went out to meet with the Alpha, wanting to update him about Erick and Dane.
The inside of the room was quiet, other than the light snores from Erick and the voices coming out from the television. It was a quiet late afternoon, to say the least. Peaceful and tranquil.
However, the peaceful atmosphere soon was broken by the slamming of the door to the lounge room. The two young shifters were relaxing inside so that they did not notice anyone heading towards the room. And when the noise occurred, they were startled back to reality where Erick immediately sat up straight and Hamish quickly turned to look where the noise originated.
At the doorway, stood Jeayan with her hands on her hips. And looking behind her, Erick was pleasantly surprised to see Amber peeking in, with her wide eyes. He immediately jumped and nonchalantly pushed Jeayan aside to hug Amber. "You're here!"
Amber pitifully tried to break free from Erick's arms since she was a bit sulky but failed. In the end, she let him just hug her, though, she was pouting.
Noticing that there was no reaction from her, Erick looked down in his arms and saw her pouting face, looking away from him. He placed a finger under her chin and forced her to look at her. "What's wrong?"
"What's wrong? You're the one who is wrong!" Jeayan answered for her, pointing accusingly at Erick.
Erick glared, displeased at Jeayan's accusation. "And what are you doing here?" he asked.
Jeayan rolled her eyes, not at all intimidated in facing the glare of Erick as she replied, "I brought her here. She has been waiting for you and you don't have the heart to tell her how you've been and what you've been doing. And did you know how troubled my mate was when he saw her walking around on the road, trying to look for the packhouse?"
Erick looked down at the young woman in his arms with eyes widened in surprise. "Did you really walk alone on the road?" he asked in disbelief.
She looked down at her feet with guilt on her face.
Erick rubbed his face with his hand, feeling a bit perturbed. He really did not expect her to walk all the way, just to look for him. He felt like he did something very bad for not telling her about what he had been doing.
He then pulled her gently towards one of the sofas and made her sit down. "I'm sorry," he said, scratching the back of his head.
Amber let out a sigh and apologized as well.
Jeayan glanced at them and then walked over to Hamish, who was still watching the television, unconcerned with what was happening around him. "Should we go out and give them privacy?" she asked with uncertainty.
Hamish looked up at her and back again at the television. "Why should we? Doesn't concern us at all," he replied.
Jeayan rolled her eyes but she also sat down next to Hamish.
Erick glared at them for spoiling his time alone moment with Amber but his two friends pretended not to see him as they continued to watch the television.
He turned back to Amber, who was looking at him with wide eyes and sighed. He sat down next to her, placing his arm around her shoulders.
He leaned his head back and let out another sigh.
"So, want to talk about it?" Amber asked.
Erick gave her a weak smile. "There isn't much to tell, to be honest. It's just something to do with my wolf," he admitted.
"Your wolf?" she repeated.
He nodded. "These past couple of days, my wolf has been encountering some trouble. There were times that I blacked out due to my wolf. Since my soul is merged with the wolf's, so any problems that he ran into, I too experienced it as well."
"What happened to him?"
"His soul was broken to pieces. So because of that, it wasn't a full soul. And since it wasn't a full soul, it has an impact on him, making us black out and whatnot. For now, we've found only one part of his soul."
"Do you have any idea where the other soul is?"
Erick shook his head. "Not a clue," he admitted.
"Oh dear."
He just gave her a weak smile. He then cleared his throat and said, "Anyway, do you want to join me for dinner at home? Mom would love it if you would come."
"Does she know I'm coming?" Amber asked, confused.
Erick grinned. "She knows now."
"Thanks, Erick! I was getting hungry too!" Jeayan said as she stretched her arms up, standing up from the chair. Hamish also stood up.
Erick frowned at them while Amber shot a quick message to her parents, telling them that she was having dinner at Erick's. "Who invited you two?" he asked.
"We invited ourselves, of course!" Jeayan said while Hamish nodded beside her. "Besides, it has been awhile since I've talked to the Lu--- Aunt Luella."
And before Erick could protest, both Jeayan and Hamish had rushed out of the room and out of the packhouse. Amber just smiled as she followed behind them. Erick could only lament.
Few minutes later, the house of the Alpha became so lively and animated as happy voices could be heard from there. Sounds of happy growling and barking could also be heard.
Though, Luella had spent a few minutes lecturing Amber earlier on the consequences of walking alone on the road, without any awareness and such. Amber could only sit down and listened to the well-advice of Erick's mom.
After she was done lecturing Amber since she could not bear seeing the sadness and guilt on her son's mate's face, she shooed her to the kitchen, where the others were waiting.
However, she did not forget to call Amber's parents on what had happened as that was what a parent should do. Being concerned about their loved ones and aware of what they did.
Now, looking around her, the Luna beamed with happiness as she watched the happy people around her at the dining table. She loved having guests around, especially the younger shifters since she likes to pamper them.
Lachlan was working late that night and has been for a couple of nights. So, she was feeling a bit lonely, sometimes eating alone or with Erick.
Before they had arrived, Erick had already told her via a mindlink that they were coming over for dinner. It was fortunate that she had gone to the grocery store to stock up on food. Now, she could at least cook more. Especially since the two big eaters were here, as in Erick and Hamish.
As she watched the four young ones eating their dinner, Luella prayed to the Moon Goddess in her heart, 'Please protect our future generations. Please don't let anything happen to these children.'
-----
Swirling the liquid inside his wine glass, he looked out the window out of his study room, ignoring the sombre looking man standing respectfully behind him.
Few minutes ago, the man, Rehan, came in to report his findings where he presented on the failure of Zant on capturing the one that they had suspected to be the human counterpart of Dane as well as his failure to detain Roel.
The man was quiet as he listened on until Rehan had finished. Although, one might think that the man was not furious, they would think twice if they were to notice the twitch on the scar on his face.
Just then, the stem of his wine glass snapped, breaking into half. The top of the wine glass fell to the floor, shattering into pieces, spilling the liquid all over. Taking no notice of the broken wine glass, the man turned around to face Rehan.
Rehan inwardly gulped in fear but he did not show it on his face.
Rage and anger painted on the man's face as he roared, "What the feck is that incompetent b*tard doing?"
Rehan just kept quiet as he looked down, a bit fearful to look at the man in the eye.
"Get rid of him. Quietly."
Rehan bowed his head in respect as he said, "Yes, my lord."
"What became of Dane's soul? Is it a complete soul already?" the man asked again, as he turned around to look out the window again.
Rehan shook his head. "There's still one more until he is a complete soul."
"Did you find it?"
"Yes, my lord. My subordinates found it once near the Cairin Oaks. It should still be there."
"Disintegrate it. We cannot allow Dane to be complete."
"Yes, my lord," Rehan said again as he bowed his head in respect.
"What about that female shifter?"
Knowing that his lord was talking about Makena, Rehan immediately answered, "She is currently still being dripped out."
"Good. We need more of her blood. Be on a lookout for the other one."
"The other one?"
"Yes, one of the Lycan's descendants who can control time."
I know some of you might be mad at Amber from the previous chapter because of her carelessness and kinda stupidity. But I'd like to point out that sometimes, not everyone is perfect. There are times that human beings makes stupid mistakes and Amber did one. I'd like my characters to have that silly mistakes, even if its really bad. Just to show that they are not really perfect and kinda like us, still human being.
Thank you! And I hope you enjoy reading this chapter! Stay with you throughout the journey of His Human Mate!