𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐬

Chapter 33

So far, I've got nothing.

I've been walking alone for about three hours now and I've not sensed nor seen anything out of the ordinary. Frankly, I never realized that this would be such a tedious task when done alone. Then again, it didn't bother me much as I was already used to this, to scouting the kingdom alone, but I've also gotten used to the ruckus around me every time my mates were here.

It's silly, but I missed them. Gaia's playful teasing, and her protective yet soft aura, paired with Mallory's adorable bashfulness, and her silent yet calming aura. Their differences, their similarities, how Mallory would blush at every kiss, how Gaia would get annoying with each taunt, and how they looked at each other, and at me. Fuck, I missed them already. Gaia's lips... How much they felt like marshmallows against mine, so plump, and so soft. Mallory's lips, how sweet they tasted, like gently biting into a strawberry. The little noise Mallory would make when I'd bump into her while sleeping, and Gaia's hands around my waist as she unconsciously pulls me closer. The signature smirk of my demigoddess, and the small smile of my hybrid, I missed it.

The joy in Gaia's eyes whenever she'd look at either Mallory, me, or both of us. The safety Mallory feels whenever we embrace her in our arms... The love I'm feeling for them... Oh my fuck, I'm falling in love.

None of us have ever said it, not even Gaia, no one has made a mention of love, of those tiny yet significant three words. However, that didn't mean none of us were feeling it. Hell, there's no denying it, I'm fucking falling in love with them, and the mate bond was only speeding up the process. Gaia, I had no doubt she felt the same way, her eyes, the way they stared at us, she's falling in love, or she's already in love. Mallory, although I was a bit skeptical since the mate bond wasn't as extreme with her, I still felt that she's at least beginning to fall in love, I knew she was.

Fuck, those two... Even when they weren't here with me physically, they still invaded my every thought, and remained the reason behind my smile. I must have looked so stupid, walking around the forest with a big goofy smile on my face with no one beside me... So fucking stupid.

Though, stupidity aside, I wondered what they were doing... Gaia hasn't exactly reached out through mind-link and Mallory didn't have that power. I mean, it was fine with me, I knew I could handle myself, but I was still concerned about Weiss and Mallory together. For all I knew, my mate could be left alone, stranded in a magical island with nothing to aid her. Then Weiss would be laughing like the maniac that she was. The scenario was unlikely, but the chances of it happening were never zero, never.

Ah, fuck, what was I even thinking of? I must stayed focused!

I cleared my throat as I narrowed my eyes and looked straight ahead. But as I continued walking, nothing was particularly catching my attention. There were animals around me, yes, but none of them felt unnatural. There were plenty of trees around me as well, but none of them seemed to have an unusual amount of magic inside.

However, I haven't exactly scouted the whole forest yet, I think I'm not even close to halfway, thus I couldn't conclude that the base wasn't here, not until I've reached the end of the forest. If I were to speed up the process of locating that base, I would need to use most of my magic to analyze the whole forest, but doing so will make me weak in battle, thus I decided not to speed up the search.

I sighed as I gently slapped my cheeks. I probably shouldn't have thought about Mallory and Gaia too much... Because now, I just wanted to cast a portal to them.

But nope! I'm definitely not doing that. Since when have I gotten so clingy? Ugh, stop that, Willow, fuck's sake.

As I continued walking, and walking for about ten miles, I started to notice something. This particular area of the forest was vastly different somehow. It looked the same, but the magic was lower, not higher? How absurd... I initially thought finding that base meant sensing a higher magic source, I hadn't thought about the possibility of the magic source being low. Therefore, I should probably ignore this since it didn't exactly line up with my logic but... No, something's definitely wrong. It's too low, it shouldn't be this low, the magic source across the forest should have been spread fairly.