Chapter 91 Extra cautious

Chapter 91 Extra cautious
~ Tyra ~

Zaran finally took the fruits from me and began to eat, much to my relief. At least he was finally listening to me, even if I had practically had to argue with him before getting him to do something as simple as eat.

So as not to annoy him further, I decided not to say anything for the moment. Instead, I fixed my eyes on him, allowing myself to quietly feast on his gorgeous physique while pretending that I was only observing my surroundings.

It was difficult not to look. He was a really attractive man, one who would effortlessly steal everyone's attention if he walked into a crowded room.

My eyes eventually settled on the markings on his neck again.

Now that I looked closely, I realized there was something strange about them. They did not look like ordinary tattoos. They seemed to have a faint life of their own, with tiny flashes running through them, almost like electricity was passing beneath his skin.

I stared for a little longer, completely fascinated.

Before I could stop myself, my hand was already reaching toward his neck.

I didn't even realize how close I had gotten until his hand suddenly caught mine before my fingers could make contact with the markings.

Again, the moment his hand touched mine, I felt those sparks.

They raced through my skin in an instant, leaving me momentarily frozen. It was the same strange sensation I had felt before, only this time I was more aware of it.

Zaran shot me a questioning frown, and I immediately switched into defense mode.

"What? There's dirt under your ear, and I wanted to help you dust it out," I twisted my lips in annoyance, hoping my expression would make the excuse sound convincing. "You took out dirt from my hair yesterday, and I didn't react like a goddamn fly trap."

His brow rose as he stared at me with a bored, disbelieving look.

"There isn't any dirt under my ear. You were going for my tattoos."

My eyes stretched instantly. For one brief second, I was caught completely off guard, but I quickly masked my surprise with annoyance.

"What?! How can you even come to such a conclusion? Are you a mind reader?" I shot the question at him, my tone obviously laced with all the unpleasantness I could muster.

"You've been staring at them for a while."

His answer came without the slightest hint of uncertainty.

I opened my mouth, then closed it again. I had been staring at them, but I had no idea how he had noticed. He had barely even looked at me while eating, so I had assumed I was getting away with it.

Then again, he was a witch. There was no telling what he could sense or what strange abilities he possessed.

I decided not to ask how he managed to know. Instead, I shot him a scowl and twisted my lips in annoyance.

"What's so special about them that makes you think they're worthy of my stare?" I asked, trying to sound completely uninterested even though my curiosity was doing the exact opposite.

"They don't have to be special to get you to stare."

Before I could come up with another sarcastic reply, his gaze finally moved from my face to our joined hands. The playful amusement that had been in his expression faded slightly as he studied the point where our skin touched.

"Why does your hand feel this way?" He asked, his voice quieter now. "I know this feeling is associated with mates, but you have no wolf, which means you don't get to have a mate. So why this feeling?"

I looked down at our hands. Only then did I realize he was still holding me.

I quickly withdrew my hand from his grip, suddenly aware that I was beginning to enjoy the feeling a little too much.

"I don't know. Probably an abnormality associated with my condition of being the odd one out."

"It does feel good, though. Does it happen with everyone you touch?"

His expression had changed from the frown he had been wearing initially into genuine curiosity.

"Nope. It has only ever happened with one person."

The answer slipped out before I could stop it, and almost immediately, the image of Alpha Evander surfaced in my mind.

I pushed the memories away before they could settle.

"Who?" Zaran asked.

I looked away from him, suddenly finding the ground much more interesting.

"Someone I'm trying to forget," I responded without thinking.

"Why?" Zaran asked. "Is your experience with the person traumatic?"

"Not really," I waved it off, not wanting to give the subject any more attention than it deserved.

"Romantic?" Another question flew out of his lips, and that one immediately made me frown because how the hell had he managed to guess that right?

"Stop guessing. I said I'm trying to forget," I snapped at him, my annoyance returning before I could stop it.

"Okay..." He backed off immediately, obviously not expecting such a sharp reaction from me.

Silence settled between us once again, but this time it didn't feel comfortable. I could feel the awkwardness sitting between us, and the more I became aware of it, the worse I felt about snapping at him.

He hadn't even done anything wrong. He had simply asked a question, and somehow I had managed to turn it into another uncomfortable moment.

"There don't seem to be people inhabiting whatever this place is." I finally broke the silence, needing something else to focus on and desperately wanting to get rid of the awkward feeling gathering in my chest. "Is that how all the portals you explore are?"

"Yeah. All of them are without people except one where I met child prisoners. All werewolves, females, between ages eight to ten."

I blinked in shock, his words catching me completely off guard. "What?!"

He nodded, his expression becoming more serious. "I was a lot more shocked than you are right now," he admitted. "They were eight in number. One of them had managed to escape the prison, and she was wandering around looking for help. When I found her, she took me back to the prison to help the others. What I saw there was horrible. They were connected to some kind of device that fed them and drained their blood in return, transporting it somewhere I didn't get to find out."

His voice wavered slightly as his gaze drifted away from me, becoming distant for a moment as if he could still see the place he was describing. Whatever he had witnessed there had clearly stayed with him.

My mind immediately began painting the picture of what he described, and what I imagined was even more horrible than what he had managed to put into words.

I could almost picture those helpless girls trapped there, connected to machines they couldn't escape from, their bodies being used for something they probably didn't even understand.

For a moment, I wondered if Blazing Moon had anything to do with it, but I quickly dismissed the thought because I had never heard of anyone having the ability to open portals in Blazing Moon.

But then again, I don't think there are any other werewolf packs or lands apart from blazing moon. To the best of my knowledge, Blazing Moon was the only land housing werewolves.

"I only managed to free one of them before we were forcefully ejected by a kind of force I couldn't comprehend." Zaran's voice cut through my thoughts, dragging me back to the present.

"Were you ejected with the girls?" I asked, concern immediately tightening inside me.

"Yes. The two of them. I have tried to reopen that same portal, but it has proved impossible time and time again."

"Where are the girls?" I asked, concern and curiosity filling my chest as I waited for his answer.

"Receiving appropriate care."

Before I could ask anything else, Kosi returned with different varieties of fruits, carrying as much as he could manage in his arms.

His return interrupted the conversation, and Zaran immediately went ahead to examine what he had brought, selecting some of the fruits while discarding a few others.

We spent a little more time eating the fruits, and for a while, the conversation about the trapped girls faded into the background. I still couldn't stop thinking about them, though.

The image my mind had created refused to disappear completely, and I found myself wondering about the kind of people who could do something like that to innocent children.

Eventually, Zaran pushed himself to his feet and dusted his clothes.

"Time to go. I have rested enough," he said, turning toward me and waiting for me to get up.

I got to my feet, but when he started moving, I didn't follow him. I remained standing in the same spot until he eventually noticed that I wasn't behind him and stopped.

When he turned around, confusion settled across his face.

"What are you still waiting for?" he asked.

"Keep going. I'll catch up in a minute. I need to be sure you've lost the drunken master vibe," I answered, forcing myself to keep the amusement off my face.

His expression died instantly.

The sight of his face was too much for me to handle, and I finally burst out laughing.

"What? It doesn't hurt to be extra cautious," I added, still struggling to control my laughter before finally moving to join them.