Chapter 103 - Howl at the moon?

HADRIAN

I didn’t know what to expect when they told me they had to run a fourteen-mile circuit. But around an abandoned factory was definitely not it. This is not a straight run. There are pitfalls and obstacles. My brain registers all the dangers around and it makes the hair on my skin rise. There are dark tunnels and broken walls. This place is hazardous.

“What is this?” I ask as I look around and my words echo around the space. The place gives me an odd chill. *Strange.*

“It used to be an old mining factory,” Dex says as he rummages in a leather backpack beside me. He looks up from what he’s doing to see what I’m seeing. “We found it by accident when we tried to find a good place to settle. Also found a lot of silver lying around.”

Dex calls in victory when he pulls a leather-wrapped dagger from the bag. The scent of silver is prominent and I don’t have to see Dex pulling the cover to know it’s a sharp silver blade. “You’re not afraid of silver are you?” The silver gleams as he points the blade towards me.

I don’t flinch away like most werewolves would do, but I don’t take it from him either. “I just don’t appreciate someone swinging daggers my way.”

Dex chuckles and throws the dagger in the air to spin it around. “Fair enough.” He hands me the dagger again, this time holding the blade and offering the handle. I take it even though my body repels at the proximity of silver.

“This place is dangerous.” My mind still registers new threats around. The need to protect Emma is always at the forefront.

“The whole mission is dangerous. We need to be prepared.” Dex hangs the backpack on one shoulder. He rolls up the sleeves of his flannel shirt, revealing the black marks on his arm. They cover many scars disfiguring his skin.

“The girls start from here…” Dex points to a dark tunnel in the distance. Within the marking of a phoenix, I find the Latin words *‘Solum mors pacem.’*

Only death brings peace.

“Then go through the building, around the perimeter and eventually end up back there.” He swings his arm around to the entrance where we came in.

“Steel pipes are running through the whole building and outside too. If you bang on them the sound will reverberate.” Dex knocks on exposed steel pipes next to him and the sound travels towards the tunnel and echoes from the walls. “We’ll know that something is wrong and will find you.”

The fact that they have an alarm system created has me even more worried. I think I’m going crazy with the uncertainty. I’ve never felt this uncertain before. Nero always can sense more than me and I feel like I’m walking around blind without him.

*Maybe it’s just all the silver around.*

I slide the silver dagger in its cover and hide it in the waistband at my back.

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We’re about three hours into the training. Drops of sweat coat her skin as she pulls herself up on the broken rung ladder. Sharp metal edges stick out everywhere.

I scale the wall beside her, placing my feet in the cracks in the wall structure. Emma is focused on the placement of her feet and I notice the last two rungs are missing. “Watch out for…”

Emma lets out an exasperated breath and lifts her head. “I know.” Her breathing is heaving and her movements slow as she reaches high for the edge.

I watch how she puts all her strength in lifting her body over the edge. “Do you want me to help you with…”

“No.” She croaks, not allowing me to finish the sentence.

I climb over the edge and I’m met with a bright open sky with the sun hanging hot and high above me.

She drags her body over the edge and slices her hand along the broken metal just when I think she made it. Blood builds slowly from the cut. She closes her hand before I can get a good look.

“Are you okay?”

Emma ignores me at first and walks a few unsteady steps before she lets herself sink onto the concrete ground. “Do I look okay?”

Her arms hang at her side and her face is drained of energy. Loose pieces of hair stick to her skin. I sink down on the ground and wrap my arms around her. I touch as much of her exposed skin and try to share my energy. “You look tired…”

There is nobody around to see or hear us. There are no heartbeats or living beings around. The deadly quietness feels unnatural.

“I should be able to do this.” She tries to push me away but I don’t let her. I pull her closer to me and kiss her bare shoulder.

“I have been training for five months day in and day out.” Tears are collecting in her eyes. She uses her uninjured palm to wipe the tears away. “I should be better at this than when I first started.”

“You are better.” I place more kisses on her shoulder and the side of her head when she doesn’t repel from my touch. “You didn’t trip once. You pulled your own weight. We already crossed eight miles.”

If it's up to me I would carry her anywhere she needed to be. I would carry her all the way to Sanguinem if I had to.

“Do you see this?” Emma opens her palm and reveals flawless skin, no injury, no scar.

I take her hand in mine to get a closer look. “You’re healed.” I place a kiss on her open palm.

I already knew that she healed from the severe injuries that Gaia caused, but I didn’t know for sure if it was just a one-time thing. Her wolf is dormant, it’s always a surprise what one is and isn’t able to do. Especially when it comes to higher abilities granted by the Moon Goddess.

Lucas bled for fifteen minutes from a paper cut the other day, but then he doesn’t experience a hangover like humans. Every wolf is different, even dormant.

Emma closes her fists and grits her teeth. “Yes, because my mother is a werewolf with super strong healing blood, which I inherited.”

She’s upset and it breaks through in waves. “Shouldn’t I be at least as fast and strong as Alex and Kelsey?” The hurt and confusion is evident in her red strained eyes. “They are humans, I should outperform them, not fight every day to just be two minutes faster than I was last time.” She places her head against my chest and I place my hand on the back of her head.

“Have you tried connecting with the Moon goddess?”

Emma lifts her head to look at me. “The Moon goddess? I don’t have a wolf.”

I run my thumb over the streaks of tears on her cheek. Her skin is so soft under my hand. “Your wolf is dormant, not non-existent.”

“What should I do, howl at the moon?” She asks with a raised eyebrow.

“We don’t howl at the moon. We howl when we're in pain or when we want to signal others.” I keep my hand cupped around her face and neck and embrace the reinvigorating energy from the touch. “But I do feel the strongest connection during the night.”

I remove my hand and reach for my torso. “It flows here…” I draw a circle from my solar plexus to my stomach and back up. “Like a heat stirring inside me.”

Emma places a hand over my solar plexus and I cover her hand with mine. “It fuels my strength, my wolf and any other abilities.”

“Do you think I have it too?”

I lift my shoulders because I don’t know for sure. “If you want I could help try to distinguish it tomorrow night.”

I don’t dare to hope, because it might very well not work. There have been stories about dormant wolves appearing later, but most live their life without connecting with their wolf. I barely dare to even think about the slight possibility that connecting to the Moon Goddess will also connect her to her wolf.