Prince Meliorn

CHAPTER SIX

Meliorns’s POV

I looked at my mother, who seemed totally weird. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rowen approach Reyna and put an arm protectively around her shoulders.

“Uhm, hi mom what's up,” I tried to sound as casual as possible.

“I could ask you the same. I just heard from some guards that you're back. Where have you been for the last three days?” she asked me. Yea, the way she sounded more like interrogating me than sounding worried was another thing that didn't sit well with her. What was going on here? Upon closer inspection, I saw that her normally honey-brown eyes flickered with amethyst hues. It was so short that I wasn't sure if I just imagined it. Anyway, her aura that she radiated became more and more unpleasant and strange. I got a queasy feeling. I had an inkling of what was going on, but I neither dared nor wanted to think about it.

“I think the same as you. Something is wrong. We need to get rid of her somehow so we can have a quiet talk with Rowen and Reyna about it,” Atlas suggested.

“Okay I'll try,” I said. “It's a long story. I'll tell about it later at dinner,” I tried to brush off. I should come up with a plausible explanation later because I didn't know if telling her about the portal would be a good idea. She seemed suspicious but said “okay see you later” and left the room.

“Do you understand now what I meant?”Reyna broke the silence first.

“You said that Darius Hubble's mate has the ability to take on someone else's form. I don't want to believe it, but I don't think that was our mother. Is it possible that it is Cortana who took the form of our mother?” I decided to get straight to the point. Reyna and Rowen looked shocked. “Yes, she is a witch who has the ability to shape-shift. But if that's true then where is your real mother? Come to think of it, apart from just now, I haven't seen her in days,” Rowen piped up.

“I don't know but I'm very worried. We urgently need to find out what's going on here,” I said firmly.

“If your assumption is correct, we urgently need to find out where mom is. I mean her real form. Damn what did they do to her?” Reyna exclaimed.

“We will. Don't worry.” I promised her. “Yeah, better sooner than later. Who knows if she's being held somewhere. But now back to the other matter. You have found your mate? What is she like. And how come she's in the mortal world?” Reyna brought the subject back to Layla.

“She’s lovely and as I said Logan and I suspect that she's half werewolf and half witch. And most likely she doesn't know anything about Idris and the magical beings. She comes from a foster family and if they are humans she must have been raised as a mortal,” I explained.

“When are you seeing her again?” Rowen asked.

“Probably in a few days. Once I've found out where our mother is and what's up with Darius and Cortana, and also gotten an overview of the situation with Gregor and his accusations against me, I will ask Milo to open a portal to New York City for me,” I replied. The young warlock Milo was a good friend of mine. He was still an apprentice, but he was already a pretty good warlock. He reminded me of a younger version of Logan.

“I can't wait for you to bring her here,” Reyna said excitedly.

“Yes, be prepared that it will take a while to come to it,” I said, smiling. I couldn't wait to see Layla again.

********

Layla’s POV

The week has been stressful, so I decided to visit my grandma, who lives in a rural area in Nebraska, over the weekend. I was not blood related to Grandma Paula, who I lovingly called Grams. She is my foster mother's mother. I've always loved being with her. My foster brother Tim and I experienced many adventures here as children. Besides, it was always funny with Grams. She had a lot of humor. We were just sitting in her cozy little kitchen and had dinner.

“How's your art studies going so far”Grams asked me.

“It's going very well so far. Emely and I have fun and have settled in well in our new apartment,” I replied.

“I'm glad to hear that. Emely is a little crazy chicken. It's definitely never boring with her,” she said with a smile. I laughed. “No, definitely not.”

“Is there anything new? Are you meeting someone?” Grams asked. I rolled my eyes. She was always curious about my love life. “No not really,” I answered. I had to think of Meliorn. Almost five days have passed since our date. I haven't heard from him since. I didn't know what was wrong with me. Was it normal to miss someone you hardly know so much? I've been dreaming of his blue-green eyes since our last encounter and missed his smell of pine and fresh raindrops. Also, I couldn't get our kiss out of my head. A warm feeling came over me and something in my stomach pulled together when I thought about it. No one had ever kissed me that way. So passionate. Get a grip, Layla. You hardly know the man! Also, he didn't call you. I admonished myself in my thoughts. Still, I couldn't avoid being disappointed because I haven't heard from him since. I've never met a man who had such an effect on me. Meliorn looked like someone from the books I always read. I never thought of meeting someone like that in real life.

“Wait. You're still not with this rascal, are you?” Grams brought me back from my thoughts. I sighed. By rascal she probably meant Chad. She's never really liked him. “ “No, I'm not with him anymore. Hasn't been for almost six months now,” I replied.

“Oh, thank God. Sorry if I say so but he was an i***t,” she promptly blurted out. I had to laugh.

“But you're keeping something silent. Have you met someone new?” Grams didn't give up the topic.

“Yes, very fleeting in a club and there was a date afterwards. But I haven't heard from him since then,” I told her.

“You will soon,” she encouraged me. Later in my room I wrote briefly with my brother, who also wanted to visit Grams tomorrow. When I then lay down on the bed with a book, I suddenly felt restless. I suddenly had the urge to go outside. It was ten o'clock in the evening. I never went for walks that late. “I have to walk,” suddenly a female voice rang out in my head, sounding soft and sensual. I was so shocked that I almost fell off bed. “Who was that?” I asked panicked. Am I slowly going crazy?

“Calm down, Layla. It’s just me. Your wolf,” the voice came again.

“My what?” I asked, totally confused.

“I'm your wolf. My name is Amber. I am very pleased to finally get to know you and communicate with you officially, Layla,” the voice said again.

“What, what's going on here?” I asked. I'm starting to get really panicked. The voice in my head sighed.

“I've almost suppressed it that you don't know you're a werewolf. We have to start from scratch. So you're not a human. At least not a normal one. You didn't know your birth parents, but I can tell you that your father was a werewolf and your mother was a witch. But the part of you that is a werewolf is the key why I can talk to you. I am your wolf counterpart,” the voice tried to tell me. “Is that a joke?” I asked bitingly.

“Not at all. Even if you grew up like a human being, you are not an earthly one and originally come not from this world but from Idris. This is a kind of parallel world in which werewolves, vampires, witchcraft and fairy beings live together. I know that's probably a lot at once, but it's the truth,” explained the voice who called herself Amber. Something led me to believe this madness and not to go crazy.

“I'm not schizophrenic, right,” I asked.

“No, dummy. Listen. I'll tell you more about it soon, but at the moment I'm very restless. I have to transform myself and run,” Amber said.

“I don't know how to do that,” I told her. “There's a forest nearby, isn't it? Go there and leave the rest to me. I'll guide you,” she instructed me.

“Okay, give me a minute,” I told her. Grams was already sleeping. I crept out of the house as best I could without waking her and was five minutes later in the nearby forest.

“Good. The first time gets a little uncomfortable but it doesn't hurt. Relax and imagine handing over control to someone else,” Amber told me. I did what she said and shortly afterwards felt my limbs change. I saw my hands turning into paws with claws and finally stood there in the shape of a wolf. I saw the world from Amber's eyes and my senses felt sharpened.

“Now it's going to be fun,” I heard Amber in my head before she started running. The air was whipping in my face and the fresh forest scent hit my nose. I felt free.