Trip To The Inferno [OLD VERSION]

Part 56

Next morning I woke up feeling a lot better and refreshed. Just as Orna said, my body had a small ache and no breath stopping pain. I couldn't find out where she and her family spent the night as I hogged the bed, but I hoped somewhere warm and dry.

'Good morning, twin' Allan greeted me with first morning rays and a warm smile. I answered him with my own smile.

'Good morning, handsome' I yawned as I stood up with a small frown from the ache. It felt more like stretched muscles after hard work now.

Allan grinned at my greeting and walked up to me.

'Already switching teams?' He winked and giggled.

'You wish' I playfully hit him on his arm as I began stretching, hopping it would relieve at least a little bit of pain.

A calm silence stood between us as I continued to stretch. My ears caught the sounds of voices from men, most likely rebuilding

'I have news about Anna' Allan finally dropped the bomb and I froze. Fear instantly gripped my chest as the worst case scenarios flashed in my mind.

'Go on'

'She is alive, so there is no need to worry for now. They hold her in a prison where Jack and I were held, and is being watched carefully. Ogden said that if the killings continue, then they will release her'

'And if it stops?' I asked, already seeing the hole in this decision.

'She is dead'

'That's bullshit! What is Laird thinking! The killer obviously knows that Anna is behind bars, do you really think the killer will continue? It's an easy way for him to get rid of another person!' I began shouting, my hands frantically running through my hair. With already burning scalp from hair pulling, I left the tent quickly, ready to try and talk some sense into Laird's thick wolf skull before he does more damage. Again.

On my way to Laird's lair, I stopped by the group of men who were rebuilding the bonfire. It was almost finished, only a couple touches left, showing how quickly these people can work. Guilt surfaced out as my mind reminded that I destroyed the bonfire with my fall. I bit my lower lip as I slowly walked towards men that were chatting among themselves.  I didn't have to get their attention because they quickly turned to me, probably hearing me from a mile away.

'Luna' one of the men greeted me, surprise obvious in his voice.

'I hope you are feeling alright. Alpha was a little bit rough with you yesterday' the second man inquired. I opened my mouth to answer, but I was cut off by the third man scoffing.

'A little bit? She flew half the sacrificial clearing and was buried with firewood' the man turned to me, amusement clear on his face. 'While it was fun to see you, Luna, fly, please be more careful. Losing you so quickly would be most inconvenient'

I rubbed my neck, laughing awkwardly with my face flushed from embarrassment.

'Yeah, sorry about destroying your work. I didn't expect Laird to react like that to some new information'

I noticed that they all glanced at each other when I said Laird's name, but ignored it. It seemed that not all of the tribe people knew that I found their secret.

'Talking about Alpha, you should probably go meet him. He came back yesterday furious and we are steering clear of him for now' the first man said and I frowned.

'Yeah, I have some things to talk about with him'

With that I waved my goodbye to them and walked to the stairs. Climbing quickly up them by skipping every second step, I was at the entrance in a few seconds. I could feel my body ache with dull pain, but I ignored it with a small frown.

Walking inside I was met with familiarity of the room and warmth from a fire that crackled in the middle of the cave. Looking around the living room, I could see that nothing changed during the night. My eyes quickly landed on the figure of the man that I had a fight with yesterday. Laird was standing sideways to me by the table full with weapons, leaning on his arms and looking at something very seriously. Just as any man or woman in this place, he must have heard or smelled me from a mile away, because the moment my eyes landed on him, he slowly turned his head to me. Our eyes met and I froze. It seemed the word furious was a light word to describe the man before me. His eyes were completely black, swirling with emotions that were not happy. His face features looked sharper than usual, with a frown prominent on his forehead and a snarl pulling his lips, showing his canines to anybody with eyes. The aura around him was cold and suppressing, dominating the room and forcing you to look only at him while wanting to disappear in the ground underneath me. That was exactly how I felt right now. All thoughts about trying to talk some sense into Laird's mind was whisked away as my eyes finally lost the staring contest and I looked away. My attention was moved to the entrance of the bathroom.

Yeah, the bath sounds greeeeeaaat right now.

With all my willpower I moved my legs towards the crates where the spare clothes were kept. Quickly looking around, I pulled one of the deer pelts with some leather strip from the crate and bolted for the bath, ignoring Laird. Once I was away from his gaze, a sigh escaped my lips. Only now I noticed how intense the atmosphere was in the living quarters.

Placing the pelt with leather strips on the stone table, I quickly discarded my dirty clothes. Picking some nettle oil and salve, I dived into warm water and sighed in content, my body already relaxing. The dull ache slowly disappeared from my muscles. Taking the oil and salve, I slowly cleaned myself of all the dust and dirt I was covered. Once I was squeaky clean, I just sat in the water and relaxed until I was beginning to fall asleep. Not wanting to drown, I quickly pulled myself out of the pool and covered my naked body with a clean cloth.

Walking towards my clean clothes, I frowned. The room was darker than usual. Or did I already forgot how the bathroom looked like? I just shrugged and took my clothes. My eyes wondered absentmindedly around the room until it landed on Laird. It took a moment for my mind to register that Laird was in the bathroom with me, his body blocking one of the metal fire bowls and dimming the room. My hand gripping my clothes froze mid air as I froze and stared at Laird. Because of the fire behind him, his front was covered in shadow, making him look menacing before me. Like a predator stalking his prey.

And he was stalking me.

Oh crap....