Chapter 18

When Lumae and Sera finally made it to the Casablanca quarters, she was instantly amazed. It looked like a palace right out of a fairytale. It was surrounded by the beautiful forest, giving it a type of serenity that Lumae had never felt before.

"I can prepare your things to go rest in the hot springs if you'd like Luna?"
Lumae was surprised, "There are hot springs here as well?"

Sera smiled, "Yes, Luna, one of the main reasons our previous Alpha desperately wanted this area specifically, it was our previous Luna's favourite place to be."

Lumae smiled, "We'll no wonder, this place is amazing."

Lumae then headed inside. It was surprisingly even more stunning on the inside than on the outside. It's skylight gave off a soothing ray of sun and it had a really homey feel. On the wall there was a huge piece of paper with the paw prints of all the previous Lunas before her. Sera then walked ahead of Lumae, "There's a room just up ahead, to your right, just after you've passed the sliding doors, Luna. There should be a towel that you can cover yourself up with whilst I prepare the rose petals and tea for the hot springs. Which type of tea do you prefer, Luna? We have oolong, green tea, black tea, white tea, rooibos tea, basically anything you desire, we have it, Luna."

Lumae smiled, "Rooibos tea sounds lovely, Sera."

Sera smiled, "Then if you'd excuse me, Luna, I'm going to prepare everything."
"Alright." Lumae smiled and headed towards the room that Sera spoke of, passing the huge, glass sliding doors, looking out at the beautiful forest with a tiny stream flowing through it. She was stunned by the beauty as she walked by.

When she reached the room, she slowly got undressed, out of her now dirty clothes, put her hair up into a messy bun and covered herself with a towel. When she was finished, Sera was waiting for her, just outside the door. "This way, Luna."

She followed Sera into the backyard of the Casablanca quarters where she was met with an even more serene view than before. The hot springs were completely embedded in the forest, wildflowers growing all around the spring. A natural rock path leads to the springs, making it all the more livelier. The hot springs were covered with a few fresh rose petals and a freshly brewed pot of tea stood on a little table at the side of the spring.

As Lumae approached the hot springs, Sera came up to her. "Allow me to take your towel, Luna." Lumae then took off her towel and handed it over to Sera, stepping into the nice, warm delight that nature has blessed the earth with and she let out a relieved sigh as she sank down into the spring. The spring was so large that it could basically accompany almost 20 people, yet Lumae was enjoying it by herself. Something she never thought she'd ever experience. She then took a cup of tea and enjoyed it whilst looking out at the scenery.

Dominic and Jurian, were on their way out in a haste as Dominic quickly handed Jurian the file. "Make sure this is safe, and I'll need to get back to Mortiferum to figure out more. I'm sure you'll be able to handle the pack as always. Lumae will be coming with me for her own safety as well. I can't let her be by herself, not yet at least." He then started walking off towards the Casablanca quarters.
Only moments later, he barged in and was met by a worried Sera. "O-Oh, good day, Alpha."

"Where's Lumae, Sera? We need to get going. We've got business to attend to in Mortiferum."

"She's in the hot springs, Alpha. I'll quickly go get her."

"Very well."

Sera hurriedly approached Lumae, "Luna, the Alpha is here, he said that you guys need to return to Mortiferum as quickly as possible."

Lumae turned to her stomach, "How come? What's happened?"

"I'm not sure, Luna, but I've prepared you some fresh clothing beforehand, so you should quickly get dressed. Alpha seems quite rushed right now."

"Alright, Sera." Lumae then climbs out of the hot spring and instantly gets wrapped in her towel by Sera.

Sera then tried to escort Lumae to the dressing room. Covering Lumae, so that Dominic wouldn't be able to see anything, but his back was turned to them anyway. When Lumae entered the dressing room, a beautiful white dress was set on a hanger.

It somehow perfectly fit her, falling just above her ankles. It actually quite suited her. There was a pair of brown sandals on the floor, next to where the dress was. Lumae then looked at herself in the mirror and felt that something was missing. She then let down her long, lustrous, beautiful dark hair, instantly falling over her eyes, but it completed the look.
When she stepped out a clear expression of surprise fell onto Dominic's face. "Wow, just, wow. You look amazing."

Lumae blushingly smiled, "Thanks."

Dominic then extended his hand in order to take hers in a very gentleman-like manner and lead her through the door. They said their goodbyes to the pack and started to walk in the direction of Moonshaddow.
"So why do we need to return to Mortiferum so quickly?"

"There's some business I have to deal with there. I don't really want to get you involved, but I also know that I wouldn't be able to hide from you for long, so I'll explain more when we get there."

Lumae smiled at his honesty, "Alright then."

They eventually made it to the Moonshaddow town, where Lumae instantly went to Grandpa Will to say her goodbyes. Dominic was waiting just outside in order not to disturb them.
When Lumae finally came out with her bag, Dominic took the liberty of taking it from her and put it into the car. This time there wasn't a driver. It was just Lumae and Dominic.

"You can rest up on our way there, it's going to be very busy once we get to Mortiferum."

They both then jumped into the car and prepared for the extremely long car ride. It hardly even took Lumae five minutes to doze off. When Dominic noticed that she was fast asleep, he reached for his jacket on the back seat and covered her with it, stroking her cheek as he retracted his hand.

Dominic knew that Lumae would probably be scared off by their conversation, and he dreaded every second that he got closer to Mortiferum, but he knew that if he kept this secret, it'd only make things worse.