Apocalypse: The Huntress Luna

Chapter 18

(Magnus)

We had retired for the day to the barracks and as the sun went down, I decided to check the perimeter wall to see what improvements could be made.

I figured I should do this now before we left in a few days so I knew where we could assist Tectum. 

We really needed their medical expertise as that was where we lacked most back home and the least we could do was share what defensive knowledge we had. 

I made it up and let them know my intentions before I began observing from a distance. They were pretty decent from what I could see minus a few tweaks here and there but overall, they had a solid foundation. 

The sun had finally set and I felt Amicus begin to stir beneath my skin. I stopped and turned my gaze out towards the vast empty space over the wall, searching for anything unusual but to no avail. It did seem a little strange that the night was so quiet. I'm not sure about here but back home, the Vargul made appearances every night.

I was about to leave when the next shift arrived to take over which was led by the same guy that stood up Andy. Then I remembered what she referred to him as. Her ‘pairing’.

I watched as he walked into the lookout office and settled in without a second glance my way. 

Hmph, not the bigger man I see, I said to myself, not impressed.

I stepped forward and opened my mouth to introduce myself but he beat me to it without looking up from the desk.

"Are you here for something? The repairs to the eastern gate were completed yesterday so you are not needed."

Huh…he thinks I'm with the help. Interesting. Let's change that.

"I am Magnus. I came with the Archivio group a few days ago. How do you do?" and I stuck out my hand.

He looked back at me with raised brows then slowly stood and returned the gesture. 

"Saleem. What brings you up here Magnus?"

"I'm sure you have heard the arrangement our Councils have come to? I came by to see where we could assist with your defenses as a whole."

Saleem looked me up and down almost as if he looked bored and shook his head. "Thank you but we are good here. My team and I know what we are doing. I'm sure you can show yourself out."

I almost had to hold in my laugh because this guy was a clown. Was he really going to let his ego get in the way of protecting his settlement? His people?

"Look Saleem, we only want to help. There are a few gaps in the defence that I'm sure we can rectify. Your people are our people," I reasoned calmly.

"YOUR people are not our people," he spat back. My guess was that he knew what I was- not that it mattered.

I stepped forward, not the least intimidated by him and kept my voice dangerously low. 

"Saleem. You're a smart guy so I know you know what I meant. Now I'm gonna let that slide just this once and leave you to your business. But sooner or later, you are going to need our help and I rather it is before people get hurt." 

I pushed past him before he pissed me off even more and made my way to the stairs. Just before I began descending, I remembered something I forgot to mention. "By the way, you should double the patrols for a few days. The Vargul are behaving suspiciously from what I have gathered tonight and I have a bad feeling about it."

“Keep your feelings to yourself. I have it under control, Lycan.”

Okay, I was ready to tear this guy's arms off now. 

I turned to storm towards him as he walked away but was stopped in my tracks by the strangest sensation. 

Foreign emotions were swirling through my head but I couldn't point out what they were. On top of that, there was the beginnings of a mild headache tingling at the back of my mind. 

But what was strangest of all was… that it all felt like it didn't belong to me? 

That these weren’t my emotions or pain? 

I had begun to slowly descend the steps still unsure of what was happening until the faintest smell of roses hit my nose.

Why the hell am I smelling roses at this time of the night?

It was either someone was waving open roses into the wind or…

Wait. 

Could it be Andy??

But why would she be out here at this time? 

As I continued to descend, my mind clouded over with those strange but strong emotions again. Then a wave of pain came over me as I inhaled yet another whiff of her scent.

I could almost hear the cogs click into place in my mind as I realised that these weren’t my feelings but hers! I must be feeling her through our Animus bond!

I began to take the steps down two by two until a much stronger wave of nausea and pain ran through my mind making me leap down to the very end.

I had no idea what was going on but I needed to find her and quickly.

I ran out into the night past the farm animals and barracks until I spotted a hunched figure standing a few meters away, crying out in pain. I was in front of her within seconds and I reached down to take her head in my hands. 

My stomach immediately did backflips at the contact but I pushed it aside to focus on her and her pain. I let my cool hands gently massage her temples as we straightened and kept doing so until her face finally relaxed. I watched as her tear stained cheeks glistened under the lit lanterns by the path and a slight wind ruffled her soft hair up and around us.

Her scent of sweet flowers enveloped me and I momentarily lost control of Amicus. I let my eyes roll back as he pushed to the surface to see her with his own eyes and just as he opened our lids, she did the same.

I yanked Amicus back as fast as I could into myself but it was too late- she had seen his golden irises. 

With lightning speed, she grabbed my right arm, swung me around and pinned it up behind me.

I felt a cold blade press against my throat as she tried to hold me down at her height. I was so dazed, I barely registered that she was talking.

"Huh?"

"I said, who are YOU??"

I've never felt more shocked and turned on in my life.

I am not your average Joe and not easily bested let alone by a human female! How the hell did she do that??

I could have broken out of her grip by now but I didn't want to startle her further so I raised my left hand and turned my face to the right so I could look into hers. 

"Andy. It's okay, it's just me. It's Magnus?"

She looked down into my eyes and for a second, we were both vividly aware of how close our mouths were to each other's. My eyes watched as hers darted to my lips and then slowly up to meet mine. We held our gaze for a few seconds before she released me and covered her face with her hands.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?", she squealed. She frantically put her boot knife away and fussed over my shoulder and wrist as I was trying to tell her I was fine. Her small hand darted to my chin and tilted it slightly to inspect the area as she stepped even closer to me. 

"Andy, seriously I'm fine," I laughed and gently pried her fingers away. I held onto her hand relishing the feeling before letting it go. 

Already I missed the feeling of her skin on mine and I had to wonder... did she feel anything when our bodies touched?

I dropped the thought as she awkwardly coughed and stood back a little.

"Gosh, I'm so embarrassed. What are you doing out here in the middle of the night? And why the hell were your eyes yellow!"

"I could ask you the same," I said as I rubbed and swung my arm to loosen it up. 

Before she could apologise again, I quickly beat her to it. "I'm sorry. It's my fault - I should have said it was me before touching you earlier. How about we take a seat over there and I'll explain?", and I gestured to the farm animal fence. She nodded and we walked over in silence. 

I helped her up in case she was still dizzy and then jumped up beside her. We watched the crescent moon float in the cold, darkened night before I decided to speak.

"So, what you saw back there…" and I gingerly turned my head towards her, "those were my Lycans eyes. He sometimes pushes through when we are feeling strong emotions or when I allow him to. I'm not like a ticking time bomb or anything and he isn't rabid so if he does come through one day, he won't attack like a Vargul," I said quickly.

I felt the need to explain and reassure her that I wasn't a threat to her or her son. I would hate to think that she feared being around me.

 "I've been around Lycan before Magnus so you don't need to explain yourself. It's okay, I'm not afraid of you," and she turned and gave me a weak smile. She still looked quite pale and she shivered under a small gust of wind. 

Without thinking, I scooted closer to her and wrapped my arm around her shoulders so that my jacket was covering both her and me. I felt her stiffen as she turned to look at me. "What are you doing?"

Ah, crap.

"You're freezing and still a little weak from before. I'm just being a gentleman and making sure you don't fall off." I tried to sound casual but I don't know if she bought it. It wasn't like I was lying to her. 

She grumbled a little but gave in and snuggled against my heat. I couldn't help but close my eyes in response while inhaling her sweet scent.

Creepy, I know.

"Hey, you know how you said your Lycan's eyes are yellow?", she called out from under the jacket. 

"Gold not yellow."

"Gold then. But all the Lycans I have met had black eyes. I've never seen one with golden eyes before?"

Argh, I knew this was eventually going to come up…but I'll just tell her what she needs to know and nothing more.

"Uhh yeah, we are a different race of Lycan. The Vargul have a deep blood red, most others have black but we...we have gold."

"We?"

"My brothers and I," I stated. She must have heard the tension in my voice so she dropped it, much to my relief and went back to watching the stars. I will eventually tell her who we are but I didn't think now was a good time.

"Now it's your turn. What happened back there? And why were you out by yourself?"

It was her turn to look tense and she stared grimly into the nothingness.

"I honestly don't know. I started getting these weird headaches a few days ago and they just hit me out of the blue. They started off as a dull drum and then it became so sharp that I couldn't see. I honestly don't know how you got it to stop back there. Thank you by the way."

"There's no need to thank me," I said quietly as I waited for her to continue because I vividly remembered feeling other things before the headaches got worse.

She didn't say anything for a few seconds but then turned to face me. I faced her but kept my arm firmly in place. She was searching my eyes as if wondering whether she could trust me or not. 

She must have decided that she could because she opened her mouth to speak. 

"I know we don't know each other well but I guess confiding in a stranger might give me the insight that I need."

"I wouldn't say we were complete strangers but whatever," I mumbled, feigning annoyance.

She just grinned and continued.

"The Council has asked me to go with the team to the Archivio in a few days, as you know, but I don't know whether I should. They also extended the invitation to Yann as well but I'm not sure if it is a good idea dragging my son along into a strange place where I could potentially put him in danger. Also- there is the case of the break-in into my office and whether it will happen again and I don't know how safe Tectum is anymore and I'm just... having a hard time, personally at the moment. There's a lot going on and it's overwhelming" she breathed out and I could see how tired and run-down she looked. 

I wanted to lean over and kiss her lids and let her fall asleep on my chest but I was definitely getting ahead of myself. She doesn't even know who I am or who she is to me and I didn't plan on telling her until much later. I wanted to woo her without her thinking that it was some bond that MADE her fall for me. I wanted it to be 100% me that wins her heart and nothing else.

So instead I gently squeezed her shoulders and asked what she meant. 

She began to quietly unpack her feelings of inadequacy and loneliness that stemmed from being a young mum and that she would give anything to bring her parents back. She reiterated that it had nothing to do with her boy but more so how being a single parent had it's trials. I listened intently until she stopped and began laughing sarcastically. 

"Wow, I must sound so pathetic right now. Please just ignore everything I've said,'' she mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

I felt anger bubble below the surface and I made her look me in the eye. "Andy. Don't ever say that again. You are not pathetic. You are one amazing mom who has made the best of her situation. What you have been feeling is real and I'm glad you had the courage to talk about it." 

She was quiet and looking at me with raised brows now because I may have raised my voice a little. 

"What? I'm not sorry because you needed to hear it. And I think you and Yann should take the offer." 

"Why do you say that?" 

"Well from what I could gather, it almost sounds like you don't feel safe here at Tectum at the moment and it might all blow over while you are both away. Also with what you have been feeling, I think a change in scenery and something new will add to your morale. The Archivio is a wonder and has so much beauty that I know you both will enjoy. Now I'm not saying this because I had invited you but I am saying this as a friend. And if you are worried about yours and Yann's safety, I will keep you both safe. I swear on my life."

She studied my face a little before answering and I could see a silent battle behind her eyes.

"Thank you for the chat, Magnus and for helping me back there but I should really be getting back." And she gently slid out from under my arm and swung over the fence.

Great. I might have overdone it.