DARK DAYS

CHAPTER NINETEEN

A few hours later, Micah found himself asking Dante, “Are you sure it was here?” 

Dante pointed it out, “you can see it, where things are disturbed, I told you No scent!” 

Ana was simply standing there with her arms wrapped around herself, “A very wise man once told me, that you don’t hunt a ghost by smell, you hunt by the very lack of one.” She said absently, wandering in the direction she knew he was in.

“How can you hunt for a lack of smell?” Dante asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

Ana didn’t glance at him, “You follow the power, power has no smell, but it leave a feeling behind it, one that makes your skin tingle. If you are trained for it.” She paused, and turned left suddenly. Micah put his hand on her shoulder when she stopped under a tree, “He’s here.”

Micah shook his head, “there’s no one here Ana, you’re just letting your nerves get the better of you.” 

She held her hand up to silence him  then smiled slightly, “Ghost.” She said quietly.

Micah glanced at Dante, thinking she had finally snapped when he heard a deep chuckle, he followed her finger to where she was pointing. Up near the top of the tree crouched a lethal looking man, dark hair, ice blue eyes that looked almost white. He was crouching on the branch staring down at them like he was waiting to pounce. “Lolita.” He rumbled. 

The man leaped down, seeing him stand there in his full six five two hundred and forty pound glory had Micah believing in the hand of death all over again. He had landed inches from Ana, and gave Micah a look that made him back up instinctively, “No one touches Lo.” He admonished with a dark smile. 

“Where does your loyalty lie today Ghost?” she asked finally, looking him over. He had added a tribal tattoo that covered his entire shoulder and half his arm, since the last time she had seen him. 

Ghost tilted his head thinking about it, everything about him screamed menace; “I made an oath to your father and the Keller clan when you were still in diapers.”

 “I took no oath to the new alpha Regis, his mistake, arrogance.” Ghost said shaking his head in disbelief. He smiled his dangerous smile again, “My favorite little lolita.” He growled grabbing her.

Micah stiffened ready to rip his arms off before he realized Ana was hugging him back. “I missed you.” He heard her whisper. 

Ghost was sniffing her, taking him her scent again, “You smell like you.” He said quietly.

She laughed pulling back a bit, “And as usual you smell like fresh fallen snow.” 

He frowned, “I never understood how you came up with that.”

“Ghost, this is Micah, the alpha here, Dante his second. Guys this is Madds 'Ghost' Wulffson,.” Ana introduced, smoothly.

Dante nodded at the guy, half expecting the tree to wilt at any minute, he was the hand of death after all. Micah shook his hand warily, feeling his power cling to Micah’s skin long after Ghost had let go. “Seems like the first thing I’d do if I were a new alpha is get you to swear loyalty to me… I wouldn’t want a man like you roaming free.” Miah announced not quite believing him.

Ghost kept his arms around Ana, “the new Alpha Regis is an i***t, he assumed because I worked for the pack I worked for him. So he didn’t think any oath was necessary.” Ghost bit the side of Ana’s neck gently.  

Dante shifted uncomfortably, “How old are you?” he asked seeing the bite, it looked awfully intimate to him.

“Thirty four.” He answered absently.

“How far behind is Ulrich?” Ana asked, knowing that loyalty or not Ghost had been tracking her for him.

Ghost blinked, “Two days,” he calculated. “I’ve been leading him in circles for months, finally he started getting suspicious…I made sure I was far enough ahead that I could come find you and warn you.” 

Christiana started walking “We have a lot to discuss, lets go home.” Micah stepped in front of her and Ghost, not liking the thought of this guy on his property, never mind in one of his homes. Ana simply walked around him giving him a look that made him wonder all over again just what her position had been in her old pack.  The fact that it was followed by a menacing look from ghost didn’t help matters. 

“They’ve been neglecting you.” He heard Ghost mutter, seeing ghosts hand slide up the back of her sweatshirt.

Micah frowned not understanding, “No, they just didn’t understand. They’ve been good to me Ghost.” She responded looking up at him.

Dante nudged Micah to get him walking; he looked as confused as Micah felt. “What’s to understand, Lolita’s must be touched, held, cherished. It’s common sense, your body is starved for touch Keller, and I can feel that much.” Ghost countered. 

“I was treated like a normal kid here.” She said like it explained everything, and apparently it did.

Ghost stopped her, “Well that’s just stupid. You aren’t a normal kid, you are a catalyst.”  He wrapped his arms around her again, kissing her forehead, and Micah finally understood. He cursed, knowing he had been treating her like a kid because that’s what she looked like didn’t make it any better. She had needed more, she just hadn’t had anyone to give it to her, or at least anyone who was willing to. 

“Come on big fella, we got a hike ahead of us.” She said playfully. She glanced behind, “You okay?” she asked seeing Micah expression.

“you should have told me I was making it worse.” Micah offered, and he knew that he had, what he saw as being protective had caused literal discomfort for her.

Ana shrugged, “Dante smells like Ric” Ghost said suddenly frowning..

Ana laughed, “I know, it threw me too at first.”

“Tired?” Ghost asked watching her.

Christiana shook her head, knowing her denial wasn’t going to appease his worry. She was tired, just not in the way he was asking. Nevertheless Ghost picked her up, giving her a piggy back ride for the next hour of their hike. All of them were silent, not knowing what else to say.