Blood

Chapter Seventeen: Disorented

I wake up and gently num my fingers over my scalp where I feel a sharp pain. I must have blacked out and hit my head. But the real question is where am I?

I look around as my limbs begin to shiver. Rubbing my arms, I stand up and attempt to get a better look around. Definitely a library, of some sort. There are no windows, and both the ceiling and walls are made out of stone. Some of the wall looks like it was carved out of the ground directly. There is only one book out. It's on the floor so I pick it up. I turn it over and can't read the language of the title. Great.

I set the book on the nearby table and continue inspecting my surroundings. The place looks completely undisturbed, excluding my own presence. The shelves are covered in cobwebs, though no live spiders appear to be around.

"Where the hell is my mate?!" Rings though the room. Ah so Zev's back. For now at least. A few mumbled responses come through which I can't make out.

It's a while later when I hear Zev and Derryl speaking. Interesting, I had come to the impression that they didn't talk, "Luna Cas disappeared after speaking to rouges. Her wolf took over and she disappeared into the house. We've yet to track her whereabouts."

"Wow," I say. Either they are being complete failures, or no one else knows of this place.

I search myself for my phone and when I find it, it's naturally dead. Looking around I spot a blanket piled up next to a lantern. I wrap myself in the blanket and luckily find a box of matches. I strike a match. It doesn't light. I curse under my breath about how everything possible is going wrong. I strike the next match and am about to give up with it when it sparks on the second try. Then the lantern doesn't light. I curse under my breath again and try the third and final match. And the lantern lights. One strike, one try. Why couldn't I have picked this one up first? I roll my eyes at my internal dialogue.

Keeping the blanket secured around me and I hold out the lantern, the natural lighting in the room dimming, considerably so in comparison to how it was when I awoke. As I walk I look through the shelves. Yet I am unable to find a book in a language which I posses the ability to read.

I can feel the ground gently sloping downward and start wondering whether I should turn back. Then my eyes catch on a book that's out on a pedestal type table. The words of the title have an almost eerie green glow to them. It's the same language as the book from earlier, a language that doesn't seem all that common in here based on what I can tell of the alphabet used.

Without realizing it I'm over to the book and opening it. I open to the very last page and my eyes scan the page, backwards of how I typically would. I have no idea what it says, but I get a feeling of understanding from my wolf. I haven't scanned much when the compulsion stops. I slowly turn to the next page. There's a warning, written in a way I can read. Don't read past here, you'll forever regret.

"Well that not ominous or anything," I say.

"Where did that come from?" I hear Zev's voice reverberate.

"I've no idea," who I think to be the beta, Ronan, responds. His voice far more submissive than normal.

I really ought to get back, Zev probably went commando on the pack in search of me. Seriously, it's not like I'm bleeding out or anything. Although I bet Zev hasn't ruled out that possibility, considering my condition.

I make slow progress back. I get my first feeling of being truly lost as I follow the path. There are branches off to the sides and winding bookshelves, but I keep heading straight. Getting to that book again is probably impossible. I see a few familiar looking cobwebs and hold up my hope, I'm not completely off course.

It feels like hours have passed by the time I find the area from before, where I'd found the lantern and blanket. Reluctantly I go over to the book I'd set on the table and crack it open. On the inside cover is an image of a beautiful woman, porcelain skin, light eyes and stark white hair. Her hair the only thing covering her bare body. But it reaches the floor, covering all of her essentials. The image draws me in. I examine every stroke of her. I have to tear my eyes away, closing the book.

When I close my eyes I can see her still. Her unparalleled beauty captivating. I slowly open my eyes, dispersing the vision from the forefront of my mind. I take a deep breath and attempt to locate the direction of the exit. To my advantage my scent still lingers from before. I follow it and can feel the air lighten as I get closer and closer to the surface.

When I see light streaming in from above I blow out the lantern and set it and the blanket down on the floor. I look up at the exactly square hole in the ceiling and sigh. Of course there isn't a latter. Why would one ever wish to use a latter when getting up a vertical surface? I roll my eyes at myself and then jump up. I barely catch myself. My feet on the edges of the opening, I wobble forward and catch my self with my hands. I slowly, and carefully, stand up and glance around.

I burst out with laughter. Like if you were going to hide the entrance to a secret library, where better than the library itself. I move away from the hole and then close the trap door over it. It's almost completely seamless. No wonder no one knows about this place, at least not to the extent that they might think of checking it.

I stretch out my tired muscles and then make my way out of the library. As soon as I've stepped out of the doors I see Zev round the corner. His eyes narrow at me and I smirk, "Don't even know your own pack secrets, huh?"

He scowls and then and then slowly approaches. What a typical Alpha, mad as soon as he's even mildly challenged. When he reaches me, I'm completely relaxed and unfazed by his extra stereotypical reaction to finding his lost mate. I might have felt lost coming back, but I was still in the pack house, not like I went off and got kidnaped.

"Cas," he mutters wrapping his arms around me.

"Yes Zev? Thought you were off conducting important fighting things," I say, simplifying down that he's waging war for very little reason.

"I'm here for a while longer. Then I'll be gone for a long time," Zev says.

"What happened?" I as suspicious.

"There's a problem coming from the east. Alpha Dai and I are under agreement to stay peaceful while we look into this new force," Zev says.

"I see," I say.

What can I say, I may not love my mate, but my wolf, and his, will feel the separation. Since we haven't completed our mating the effect will be exponentially worse than if we had. Zev picks me up and walks me back to our room. He makes sure to call off the search for me and then heads straight there. He sets me down and then pulls the blanket over me. I'm out like a light.

I wake in the morning to the door closing. My wolf is already feeling it. Zev just had to make it worse by leaving without a word. I can still feel the warmth from where he had been. I'm about to start mumbling curses at him under my breath when a mewl cuts the silence. I bolt up and am over to the kittens in an instant. Once they're taken care of, fed and all, I head out of the room.

I find myself walking into the library and slowly head over to the trap door. I sit down next to it and run my hands over the invisible seam. As much as I want to go back down there, to that book, and see that woman again, I stop myself. I feel like I'm not ready for whatever is on the next page, something I desire to know. So instead I settle for staring at the trap door as her image haunts the back of my mind.

"Luna Cas?" I hear from the other end of isle.

My head snaps up and my eyes go wide.

/// AN ///
Image: not the "secret library" but it looked cool.
O: does that count as a cliffhanger?

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Edited. 1489 words.