I hid the letter in my pocket and helped the old man; with one jug on my right shoulder and the carrier on my left. I could carry more than one jug even with the carrier yet my supernatural strength might alarm them. I tried to ignore some of the Moon's Order pack werewolves who were cleaning the whole bar. Trouble shall surely arise when they figured out I am where I shouldn't be! The old man has been joyfully thanking me while tapping my shoulder.
"I think I'll need an employee now!" he said.
"Huh? Me? Well... that's..." I'm hoping for a better plan yet I felt I shouldn't turn down an opportunity! Adulting is not exciting!
"I think he's a full-time father," Matheo came into the picture, "and he's the one in need of an employee, don't you think?"
"..."
The old man responds, "This newbie should be treated well by the villagers, not by thieves. Hahaha!" And he left after receiving Matheo's payment.
Then he asks me to have a drink. So while Hedwelch and Danteleon are having their own drink, I have mine too with Matheo. The werewolves are nonchalant with my presence but that might be because of him. "I'll go straight to the point," he initiates, "I was a lone wolf. You have no idea how many hunters I had encountered outside the region of Plandreas and those cities in other regions have professional hunters that slaughtered thousands of werewolves. I demand you to stay here... and live."
"... Why are you doing this?"
"I don't want your kids to see the world without their father."
They were the ones I almost lost! "Won't that be similar if we stay near our forbidden zone?"
"Look, you have loyalists among the Moon's Order pack. The truth is most of them are still looking at you as their Alpha. You saved and liberated us twice. We agreed with the majority's decision to exile you to keep the oath of peace between the two packs. You can make us your relief while you live here and we agreed this will be highly confidential."
"Mr. Matheo, you're betraying the oath."
"I do not betray anyone for bad reasons."
"..."
"I hope you understand why I did it. And you have my apology. We also want to spare the lives of the endangered breed. We don't see you as dangerous after all you've done. It was only your image that was tainted."
Receiving apologies in a row is uncomfortable. It seems that several people have wronged me. "I don't have plans to be an Alpha again," I declared.
"I won't push into it. I just want you to live here where we can keep your family safe. I won't buy your forgiveness for free."
"Mr. Matheo, how heartless do you think I am?"
"... I don't." He offers me a hand. "Then we're not strangers anymore, aren't we?"
I laid the mug of juice and did not just reach for his hand but embraced him with the table in our middle whilst wailing, "Mr. Matheo, you're like a father to me! And I don't want that to change!"
"You're too humble," he said and whispered his gratitude with a clear throat from guilt. It feels light on one's chest when the ill feeling was released. We had a celebration of the reopening that night together with the loyal customers and loyalists of silver wolves, united as one. Or could be because of the excitement of every participant to the wine than the faces of the customers. That was when I found some residents who could help me build my new home.
I have met carpenters, an engineer, and charitable builders that offered help with pay. I chose an empty lot away from households to make our undercover werewolf life more private, and to make it similar to my previous home! While stretching muscles for building, some women willingly offer guardians for Hedwelch and Danteleon, one of them is Dayana, a child lover, and aspiring teacher.
I've met new friends and adults I can treat as my second parents. The village itself may be dull but the people aren't. This would make my relationship with them easier, but the more I connect with them, the more it'll be choking for me. "Hessuel! It's summer! Aren't you removing that coat for once?" one of my helpers inquired while we were building the house.
"Uuuh... It's a part of my skin! My skin has a rare type of sensitivity to different weathers...!"
"I hope it's not because you feel ashamed of your skin. We never had a record of slavery here! Feel free!"
They all know me as a dark citizen who once suffered slavery. "Thank you," is all I said in silent sincerity. We stay in Matheo's inn upstairs from his bar whilst my house is unfinished. Sometimes, the white werewolves visit me to sustain any necessities we were missing, especially the daily milk for my little ones. They offer help with building my house while I process every documental requirement to have ownership here.
But their consistent visit ceased one night.
Locking the doors of the bar after the heavy work, I quickly stripped my coat and squealed! The construction duties aren't the challenge for me but to work under the sun with a coat shedding while hiding my sweat! Acro served the pitcher and mug on the table. I refilled the mug and gave it to her and I drank the water in the pitcher instead whilst she drank the water on the mug. "I can't imagine I have to hide like this for the rest of my life..." I complained and she beaked my pate.
I was preparing the quill on the table to send a message to Ophelia about our whereabouts, but as I lit up the lamp, I was startled by the blinding light that dominated the whole room! I dropped the match and stared at it on the floor. But the light from the sky brightens the nighttime. The murmurings outside are clear to my hearing. It wasn't just me! I was about to rush outside and see what was going on when Acro pulled my cloth from behind, then slapped my head several times because I almost forgot the coat!
I put my coat on and beheld the light shining in the night sky. Everyone thought it was a miracle or sign from heaven. The strong rumbling of thunder followed and frightened humanity. I hurried inside the bar to keep an eye on my little ones, making sure my arms were about them whatever disaster might happen. But then the light and the thunder disappeared in a second.
That sound was enough to shake the ground, the murmurings and screams outside disappeared along with that mysterious light, and the only sound I heard afterward was the fall of the mug on the floor. No one knows what was the meaning of that for the next few days. But the only changes I recognized is the stoppage of the white werewolves' visitation and rumors across the cities about the sudden disappearance of werewolves.
"So they finally left without us..." I'm talking to Acro again whilst she's cleaning herself. "But that means I can go anywhere again since the werewolves are gone, don't you think?" It should be exciting but I can't feel it at the moment. There is little to no happiness in being left behind. Nevertheless, our life must go on here. I closed the bar since Matheo never visited again and we're finally in our official home!
I own the yard in front of our house too. The road to our property wasn't paved. The structure of the house is like a dome. The facade wall is made of tinted glass and behind is the thick wall. On the right corner are the rooms for sleeping and wardrobe; below is the bedroom and on the upper floor is for our things.
The center is the dining table—deliberately not putting the living room inside. The floor is lowered to the left corner and the doorway is arched. That's where I settled my garden for my business! It's also the living room for visitors. At the end of that room is another exit to my yard, a way to the trees for my little ones to love nature.
The total interior makes me feel at home anyhow! "I'll still love this home," I told Acro. And when I checked my wallet, I unconsciously uttered, "I'm not gonna die with a full stomach." I've been through a lot but this is only the beginning of our new life, in this home where Hedwelch and Danteleon will meet. It was the first night we'll sleep in this house but I couldn't sleep on my swing bed!
I've been swinging their bed to be as peaceful as the night yet that doesn't work! ["Lullaby,"] Acro suggested.
"Lullaby? You're right, I haven't sung a lullaby to them ever since." But I don't know what Dandeline used to sing with them before. Therefore, I shifted into my wolf and howl very gently. I put tone to my howl with the same melody of my mother's lullaby. I stopped when I noticed they were tamed and remained silent whilst staring at me with wide eyes. My tail waggles. I shift into my pup wolf and lie down beside them to continue my howl lullaby, "Arwooo~ Rwarwarwaaar~ Wowoorwar~ Rwarowooo~"
I sang to them until I felt sleepy too, after all, they couldn't let go of my fur so I slept beside them.
...
...
(Dandeline's POV)
Another species was added to my spellbooks. "Let's call it a day!" I collapsed my back into the space with no gravity. My books and blueprints have been floating in the air as well.
"It's already dawn," Haiban said. In his snap, my mess and I dropped on the floor of my house and that was when I woke up! "You should sleep genuinely instead of enchanting your dream and sleepwalk all night, my child."
Indeed a few seconds ago was only my dream. "At least I'm productive even when asleep." I closed the spellbook where I imprinted the species I created while I'm asleep. In my swipe of enchast, all my mess on the floor and couch fixed themselves on the table. Haiban hasn't done anything more than teaching me—demonstrating creation when necessary, and taking care of the dogs ever since I started the project.
"You can do it often to finish the world on your own but~" he raises a finger, "that will not hasten the work. You need help from other Eldars or professional mages to finish it. Let's calculate that this will take you more than ten years, if you have more hands, this work will last less than ten years!"
"What's the difference!? It still lasts a year!"
"Shorter than ten years~"
"Ugh!"
"... You're probably worried about the effect of the bite mark when two mates miss each other... and the longer you're separated from one another, the more difficult your suffering will be. The best solution is to cut the mate-bond for the meantime—"
"No. We've both made this choice." I could hear my adamant voice. I stared at my engagement ring, smiling on my own.
"Oooh~ love makes pain pleasurable!"
I heard the crack from the furnace Haiban didn't notice. Immediately, I approached the furnace and enchanted it to see the message. It shows me an airship on top of the city that drops a destructive bomb and destroys the land into ashes! Then carcasses of werewolves are all over the place. "The war... between humans and werewolves," I deciphered. "It's here."