Chapter 27 Twenty-Seven
It was well after dark when Mason finally woke up, allowing Danica the opportunity to get up and stretch. Since he had been sleeping so well, she just couldn't bring herself to move, so she had spent the entire time laying there just staring at the roof while being lost in her head.
"Morning," Danica said as Mason sat up and yawned.
"Mooorrning," Mason replied while yawning again. "How long did you let me sleep?"
"No idea," Danica wasn't sure how long it had been; she had been so engrossed in her thoughts that she hadn't paid attention to the time.
Getting up, Mason walked over to the dresser and checked his phone. "Eight."
"So, like eight hours?" Danica confirmed, no wonder she felt so stiff.
Standing, she did a few basic stretches to loosen up her muscles. As she did so, her stomach grumbled. Blushing, she tried not to look at Mason, who was eyeing her.
"Should I feed you?" Mason chuckled as he walked over to where Danica was.
"No, it's fine..." Danica mumbled.
Laughing Mason walked over to the small kitchen that was attached to his room while Danica tried to push aside the embarrassment she was suddenly feeling.
"Are you a picky eater?"
"No, anything is fine," Danica responded, making her way over.
Jumping up on the counter, Danica allowed her feet to hang as she swung them back and forth while watching Mason begin frying up some eggs for them.
"You cook?" Danica asked, raising an eyebrow.
Mason gave her a rueful smile. "I'm full of surprises, sweetheart."
Feeling herself blush again, Danica ducked her head.
"Don't call me that."
"What?" Mason asked, smiling. "Sweetheart? I think it has a nice ring to it."
"Could you not?" Danica asked more forcefully.
She had begun to realize that Mason had a teasing streak, and she didn't want to be the one receiving the teasing.
"Ok, ok..." Mason laughed as he flipped the egg he was working on. "I apologize; forgive me?"
"Only if you swear," Danica muttered, crossing her arms across her chest.
"I can't swear to anything," Mason said with a shrug. "You're just too much fun to pick on."
Huffing Danica swatted out at Mason's shoulder, causing him to laugh harder. She had to admit to herself that the sound of his laugh was nice. It gave her comfortable tingles throughout her whole body when she heard it.
"Ready to eat?" Mason asked, handing a plate over to Danica.
"Famished."
After they had finished eating, Mason insisted on them heading to see Nigel and Ash. Even though they were supposed to be quarantining, they couldn't miss out on this appointment, and since neither of the men were werewolves, the chances of them catching the virus were slim to none.
All the lights in the little hut were ablaze when they arrived, and Ash was impatiently standing in the window. Upon seeing them, he hurriedly rushed out the door and towards where they stood.
"Good to see you again!" He beamed, grabbing Danica's hand.
Growling, Mason pulled Danica away from him. "Hands off!" he warned.
Laughing Ash awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.
"I keep forgetting how possessive wolves are over their mates."
Nigel, who had appeared beside Ash, smacked him in the back of the head. "Try to use your head for something other than an ornament for your shoulders."
"Sorry, sorry," Ash said before shoving his hands in his pockets.
"Now, what did you come here for again?" Nigel asked, focusing his attention on Mason.
"Can we talk inside?" Mason asked, looking around nervously.
Nodding, Nigel turned and motioned for everyone to follow him. Inside was a mess, with papers and books strewn all around. Looking around, Danica could have sworn that a tornado had ripped through the room.
"Ash has been preoccupied with his research," Nigel explained, catching Danica's gaze. "Recently, the rogues have been on the rise, and they've been using dirty means."
"You know about that?" Danica blurted, her eyes widening.
"Of course we know about it." Ash responded proudly.
"Even though they don't really fall into any of the six creature groupings as friends of us wolves, they are kept up to date on everything that is going on around the area." Mason explained.
"Then maybe they would be able to help us with properly diagnosing your pack members!" Danica said excitedly.
"What's this about his pack members?" Nigel asked, raising an eyebrow.
Danica looked at Mason, who looked uncomfortable. "I didn't want to bother you with my pack issues, but some of my warriors have developed serious illnesses."
"What are the symptoms?" Nigel pushed, fixing his gaze on Mason.
"Bleeding from gums and eyes; loss of sanity; inability to turn back human." Mason ticked off.
"Hmmmm." Nigel stroked his beard as he took in what Mason had said. "When did this start?"
"After some rogues attacked," Danica answered for Mason.
Ashes and Nigel's eyes grew wide.
"The rogues attacked your pack?" Nigel sounded like he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Yes, while I was holding a welcome banquet for my pack members, ten or so rogues broke into the meeting hall." Mason confirmed.
"This is much more serious than we thought, old man." Ash muttered, looking at Nigel.
"What do you mean?" It was hard for Danica to miss the tone of panic in Ashes voice. "What is more serious?"
Nigel looked from Danica to Mason before sighing. "There has been a prophecy that has been passed down among my people for generations." He began walking over to his desk. "That one day the dark creatures of our world would band together to try to flip the power."
"What are you talking about?" Mason seemed to be having a hard time understanding what was coming out of Nigel's mouth.
"Sit down!" Nigel huffed. "This prophecy was written by my great, great, great-grandfather," he continued. "He foresaw the war of the light and the dark coming. That's why we always insisted on being kept up to date on everything that was going on, so we could know when the prophecy would come to pass."
"So, you're saying that it's happening now?" Danica wanted to clarify what the old man was saying.
Nodding grimly, Nigel let out another sigh: "It seems that that is very likely."
"Did it say what would happen when it came?" Danica pushed as her heart began to pick up speed.
"Now calm down," Nigel said, holding up a hand. "We can't be absolutely certain that this is what is going on."
"How are we supposed to know, then, old man?" Mason demanded, narrowing his gaze.
"We must wait for the major signs to appear," Nigel said.
The room around Danica felt like it dropped at least twenty degrees as Nigel's ominous words fell on everyone's ears. It seemed that Danica had one more thing to add to her rapidly growing list of problems.