Sonel

Chapter 12

Author's Note:
When either Sonel or Richard refers to their kind, they don't use terms such as man or woman which are widely used in most werewolf stories. They are not humans after all.

ALIA'S POV

Although Sonel is holding my hand, I can't stop from being scared about this tunnel. "Sonel. Are you sure it's safe here? What if there's a cave in?" "Shush Alia!" Gloria scolded me. "Now you making me scared. Richard." Did Gloria's voice sounded softer when she said Richard's name? "Can you move closer to us? You won't be able to see where you're going if you keep your distance from us. It's so dark in here." Sonel chuckled. I heard Richard mumbled something. "It's safe ladies and I can see very well. Thank you for worrying about me Gloria." He is a little weird, isn't he? Sonel chuckled again before saying, "I personally inspects this tunnel every month and over the years, I have made it more solid. There are air pipes at strategic spots to make this place breathable. There's only soft ground on top of this tunnel and we will not go under a mountain. Treat this walk as an adventure."

After walking for about 20 minutes inside the cold and damp stone brickwork tunnel, we arrived to a tunnel fork. The left tunnel is big and wide enough for a four wheel drive to drive through but the right tunnel is just wide enough for two person to walk side by side.

"We will be taking the right tunnel," and Sonel kept on walking towards the right tunnel. "Where do the other tunnel leads to?" "That one leads to the main hall and we are not going there. I think most of the adults are there right now and I don't think you two are ready to meet them just yet. We are almost there. Richard. Do remind me to install lights in this tunnel." "Yes my Ki... Sure." Up ahead I can see a red brickwall and once again, Sonel pushed a brick on the top right corner. I think it was the seventh brick down again. A large portion of the brick wall that resembles a door swung slowly towards us. "Whatever happens after this, I'm willing to believe anything." "Ladies first." I hesitated a bit but there's a bright light on the other side so I went though the brick door.

A study room? A very  luxurious study room with a high ceiling. Did we break into somebody's mansion? "Sonel? Are we not trespassing? Are you sure that was the right door?" Sonel and Richard looked at each other. Why do they always do that? "Alia. Calm down. We are not trespassing and this is "my" study room. Welcome to Second Valley. My second home." I knew he had money but I didn't expect him to be this rich.

"Richard. I think it's best you put their bags in our rooms for safety sake." "What do you mean by that Sonel?" "Well.... We never had outsiders visit us before and the other thing is, you and Gloria are not like us." Gloria stood in front of Sonel with her arms on her waist. "What's that supposed to mean?" "You will soon find out." Right on cue, a knock sounded on the door. "Come in." A big man with a stern expression appeared and he sniffed the air? He looked questioningly at Sonel without blinking and left without saying anything. It was kind of rude of him when he didn't even acknowledge our presence. A weird man. "Sorry about him. He is Gamma Anton and chief security around here. Now let's get you both settled in. Richard. You show Gloria her room and I do the same for Alia. Once again ladies, please follow us."

When we went out from the study room, I was right when I guessed Sonel was a rich man. A very rich man indeed. The size of the hallway, the height of the ceilings and all the furnishings along the way to his room upstairs confirms to me that this is a very big mansion fit for a king. How come I never heard the town's people mention anything about this place. Oh yes... Sonel said they never had visitors to his property. I remember Sonel once mentioned to me that he have a big family but where's everyone? Gloria didn't bother to hide her apparent gawking to everything around us and I had to remind myself not to do the same.

Sonel stopped in front of an elegant and shiny black double door. Opening the door, "Alia. You will be sleeping in my room. Please don't be awkward and rest assure, I will not do anything to you unless..." He winked at me, "you want me to." Sonel slowly put his warm palm on my right cheek with his thumb rubbing underneath my right eye and said, "I do really hope that you can trust me and maybe love me like I love you." This is too good to be true that I want to pinch myself. Gazing into his beautiful dark eyes, I can see genuine sincerity and warmth in them. There's seems to be an invisible pull into those black pool of his eyes that I can't deny. The need to be in his arms, the constant want to taste those sweet lips of his and not to mention his amazing scent.

I tried to make myself say that I do have feelings for him but nothing came out from my mouth. I felt those words seems like a foreign language to me. Sonel scrunched his brows together and seemed to understand my current dilemma. Putting a finger on my lips, "Shhh... I realised now that he really did hurt you very much. Take your time Alia and I'm sure all your feelings will come out naturally soon. Why don't you freshen up. The bathroom is through that door and you can find all you need inside a side cabinet. I need to contact someone about the riot in town. There's something fishy about the whole thing and I don't like it at all. It's our town they're messing with." "I was thinking about the same thing because I can't believe a riot would just popped up in our small town without any early signs." "Now that you mentioned it, there wasn't any."