The Luna Sage

Chapter Four: The Escape

I gathered myself. Not realising what else to say, I just started rambling.

"I was sick of it. They kept me like an animal for years. I was unnamed, and they beat me nearly every day for something or another I did wrong. Whether it was a client who wasn't happy about a prediction, I couldn't do what they asked or the guard was interrupted."

His eyes flashed a violent black and a growl ripped from his chest.

I flinched but kept talking.

"They mostly beat me. The Grounds have too many cameras, and I was a no-go-zone for that kind of violence." I whispered quickly, almost thanking my time was mostly filled with violence. The threats of more were constant, but I was never alone or unwatched long enough for them to act.

"How did you escape?" He didn't let me look away.

"I stole a Teleporter potion." I started, my words rushed. "The clients usually want to leave quickly after their sessions. I'm not much conversation afterwards since they like to take my blood and give me a sedative before moving." I was denied a chuckle when he snarled again. "They usually don't leave the potions in the room, I guess someone's already dead for that mistake." Another rumble and his hand clutching my back tightens again.

"When they turned to sort another booking, I used some magic to push the effects of the sedative away enough to grab the potion and swallow it, thinking of a place I saw once in a dream. It was either a fake place or the brewer was f*****g bad, but I was thrown just outside the Grounds and I started running. I managed to sneak onto a passing train, and then I think I crossed state lines or something when I finally fell asleep, but I started stealing food out of bins in towns the trains stopped at, trying to change which one I was on every so often, but the Hunters found me in the last town and chased me into the forest." I swallowed hard and I watched his eyes glaze over for a second in an odd way before they returned to focus on me, a brow raising to continue.

"I followed a dirt road until I was deep in the mountains, I think it was about two days ago." I shook my head slightly, trying to count the moons I'd seen but the days and nights had blurred. "Maybe it was longer. I found the road again, but they must have followed it, knowing what I was doing. I ran into the forest again until I fell down that hill." I tried to chew my bottom lip, but my chin was still held in the man's grip.

"Do you have a name?" The question almost shocked me. I wasn't expecting his voice to be so soft.

"I told you, I'm unnamed! Unless you count Seer, Sage, b***h, who-" My face was shaken, cutting off my words. It wasn't as violent as I thought it was going to be, he could snap my neck if he wanted. It was gentle, like a slight disagreeance to the words. He growled softly.

"Give yourself a name then." He finally released my jaw and leaned back, his hand still resting on my back like he'd forgotten about it.

I didn't mind.

The warmth from it radiated into my core. Tingling and I could feel the slight sting of new cuts but under his touch, they hummed.

"That's not really how it works. We have to have a Celebration for it to mean anything." I felt a twinge in my soul at the missing piece of access I had to my void, the one that connected me to Witch and Mother.

"Well, I have to call you something," he stated simply.

He was right.

I had to take a moment to think, and when nothing came to mind, I ended up looking around the room and found a pot of flowers I hadn't registered before.

Maybe because I'd never seen that kind of flower before?

"What are they called?" I asked, pointing to the flowers with my left hand. I found my right hand had fallen onto the arm of the chair and just lightly brushed his chest.

The warmth oozed from it, daring me to get closer.

I didn't move anything else as he looked at me, another tug at his lips made me curious.

"They're called orchids. Not a very suitable name." He said softly, scrunching his nose up adorably and the gold in his eyes danced with the brown.

I giggled without warning and forced myself to be silent when his eyes blacked again.

"I'm sorry." I ducked my eyes. I had no reason to fear him as he'd given me none, but I knew enough about his kind and had seen enough in visions, and with my own eyes now I guess, to know what that meant.

He sighed, his breath warming my face sweetly.

"What was your next option? What did the Coven call you?" He asked, his fingers started tracing a circle on my back, and his hand returned to normal and human-looking.

"I didn't have one. The Coven only called us by Acolyte, which I think is the name of something, not a person. We don't get named until our Celebration, but I was never given mine, so I was never named. The Groundkeepers called-" I cut myself off, remembering the scolding growl from my last retelling. Finally, giving in to a sensation that stirred inside me, I pouted and found myself looking up at him through my lashes, unable to fully meet his gaze. "Any suggestions?"

I saw his breath hitch, and he swallowed hard, his eyes danced, and the gold sparkled so brightly I thought I was dreaming.

"Miranda," he said proudly, a smile almost spreading across his face if he hadn't kept it in check.

The name swam in my head, swirled around my frontal lobe and soothed the headache I'd had for days. I felt a sudden bloom of belonging when I heard it.

I smiled at him and nodded, agreeing with his choice.

The smile on him finally broke and spread, revealing a wonderful sight as he smiled, the pride growing as his chest expanded, pressing further against my arm on the chair.

The warmth.

I hummed.

A snarl snapped me out of it. I hadn't realised I'd closed my eyes or leant closer to the heat source.

He leaned his head back but didn't break the contact like I thought he would.

Something occurred to me as I stared at him.

"You have a name, right?" His laughter almost scared me if it hadn't been so heartwarming and soft.

"My name is Adam." His warmth disappeared as he stood up, stretching his back. I looked away, realising the level my head was compared.

He stepped to the desk across from me and leaned against it, arms crossing.

"Do you have an idea of where you are?" He asked, sighing.

I shook my head.

He looked back for a moment, his eyes glazing again before he sighed once more and met my gaze.

A knock came lightly at the door and Bev waltzed in, smiling brightly.

"So, guess we can turn the guard down on, Sleeping Beauty?" She asked, coming to a stop beside me and holding out a white tray.

On it sat a plate with a cut-in-half ham and lettuce sandwich, some chocolate cookies and a large glass of orange-coloured liquid. I reached to take it, wincing when my right arm protested.

Noticing, she ducked around my arms and placed the tray on my lap, patted my head despite my grumble of thanks and protest and looked at the man named Adam.

He stuffed his hands into his black jeans pants pockets and leaned back casually, he pulled out a hand to gesture for me to introduce myself.

I was halfway through the sandwich I was given when he did it.

Smiling and swallowing quickly, I turned to Bev and held out my hand.

"I'm Miranda." I introduced myself, taking another bite of my sandwich, enjoying the safe feeling inside my void they both gave.

Bev smiled at me, shook my hand and patted my head again before she left, closing the door silently behind her.

I looked at Adam curiously.

He cleared his throat and straightened.

"You're pretty far north. There are no human civilizations around here, mostly," he looked at me through his lashes. "Moon Children."

I glared at him playfully around my sandwich and continued to listen.

"You're in an area of land, pretty deep in the mountains designated for my Pack." He looked stern but he blazed with fierce pride and the Gold Dust swirled around him.

"Your Pack?" I swallowed my bite before asking, not wanting to appear too distracted by the light display he was oblivious danced around him.

"I am the Alpha of these lands," he said firmly. He crossed one leg over the other and stared at me for a second before continuing. "When you stumbled across our border, we thought you were a lost traveler and the Hunters were a search party. No one relayed your condition, else I would have investigated myself." There was a glint of shame in his eye, I wanted to touch his cheek, try to wipe it away. It was gone before I could consider moving.

"Must have been running a bit longer than a few days. I have records spanning the last seven." He pulled a file from behind him, flicked through it and threw it back on the table, almost as if he wanted to hand it to me, then second-guessed it.

He cleared his throat and resumed his stoic composure.

"I heard you scream and came out to see who was dumb enough to step into our home." He laughed viciously to himself. "When I realised it was a small woman, trying to get me to run away, save me even, I was pretty confused." The laugh this time was different. It lifted the air around me and I felt light, it was a different kind of warmth that filled me. "You threw that vial at me and, I'd met Witches before, but after your other magic failed, I couldn't be sure what you were just looking at you. You were covered in filth."

His eyes caught mine, and he saw the slight hurt that wasn't from his words, but the memory that flashed at my feeble attempt to make him leave. If he wasn't what he was, he would have died, and I would have been tortured before being taken back to my captures at the Grounds.

I stared at the beautiful man before me.

"You don't seem like you are here to hurt anyone."

"I'm not. I promise." I snapped quickly, fear rising.

Those that hurt any of Mother's creatures were evil. Witches that enjoyed the magic of pain and suffering - learned spells that could rip the skin off a man's flesh and keep him awake and alive until you removed his heart.

They partook in body-snatching to prolong a Witches already long life, taking the body of another and casting their soul into endless darkness, never to be at peace.

Becoming hideous beings hidden behind the most beautiful of faces and elegant frames, becoming their true haggard form when they were finally put down.

I was short, reached Adam's shoulder at least, and from what I remembered about my last reflection, with light blue eyes, a slightly crooked nose, plump lips and pale skin that had not had proper sun exposure in years. I knew when I arrived I had looked horrible, but I didn't think I was haggard. I wasn't even that old!

I came to stare at him again.

A small smile pulled at his lips.

"You don't smell like that kind of trouble, plus I've never met such a pretty little Witch with silver hair," he mentioned, stepping forward to steal a loose curl and caress it between his fingers. His knuckle brushed my cheek and I sighed at the warmth that was expelled from it.

He thought I was pretty.

I blushed and looked away, hoping he wouldn't notice.

He had saved me, I had brought trouble to his doorstep. He and his Pack watched and nursed me back to health, even though they didn't know if I was there to hurt them. I knew the Hunters had to have sent more after me. My stomach churned against the thought of his Pack being hurt because of me.

"Did anyone get hurt?" I asked. I went to take another bite of my sandwich only to realise I'd finished it already. I munched on a cookie and forced back a smile at the sweet flavour I'd all but forgotten.

Adam raised a brow at me, pulling back to stand and letting my strand of hair fall, crossing his arms across his chest.

"No, I set up an additional perimeter and made sure any tracking devices were destroyed and IDs were returned to the border. Human authorities will deal with them if they're found. We only dealt with a handful." He brushed it off, but the cookie stuck in my throat, unraveling what his words meant.

No one was hurt, but they had killed a handful, not including the three I had dragged into their town with me.

"I'm sorry. That must be why Bev doesn't like me," I muttered to myself.

Adam laughed.

"Oh no, she's just weary of newcomers and a bit busy with the Infirmary." He regarded me with an expression I couldn't decipher before it shifted to a serious one.

"You will stay here for now," before I could protest, he held up a hand. "You aren't a prisoner anymore, but you have no idea where you are. If you choose to leave, we will help you, else you can stay in our town."

"Can't I go back to my Coven?" I asked, feeling something dark swell inside.

His eyes fell with sadness. "There are no Covens in Partos. They were all killed."