793 BIRTHMARK
"From the look of it, I don’t think the alpha managed to convince alpha Derick to take our side," Aliana said to Ethan, both of them were talking about the ration and saw Cane and Jace just returned from his meeting with alpha Derick.
The two of them went to the main tent and Cedric came inside not long after.
"I think I have guessed it," Ethan replied.
He glanced at Aliana. She looked a lot better now her shoulder was healed, but she needed to stay in the campsite, instead of going to the frontline like before, which made Ethan and Jace felt a little bit relief.
At the very least, she could stay away from danger for the meantime.
"The alpha is very stubborn to say the least and from what I remember, he adored the prince so much. "
Aliana nodded, agreeing with him. "If you were with the alpha, tell him to take some rest. I am afraid he will collapse," she said in worried tone.
Ethan clicked his tongue. "I told him that so many time, I think Cane and I got so bored to hear that, but he didn’t heed any of my word." He touched his chin, contemplating. "Do you think the lycan in him is the reason why he has a lot of energy to deal with a lot of things without any rest?"
There was some point where Ethan had explained this to her, of course with the permission from Cane, since she would be around very often. Aliana remembered how they could fight back the Blue Moon pack and got their revenge within six months.
"Yes, I think that can be the reason how the alpha can have an abundant energy." Aliana felt worried for the alpha. After all, if he went down, everything would go down with him too. Cane was the only pillar they had to support them and lead them through this whole thing.
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"Zale?" Iris was surprised to see the young shifter here.
"I caught him sneaking around the area when I looked for game!" Eron looked beyond annoyed when he found him.
"I look for something to eat too!" Zale flailed his arms and legs, trying to get away from Eron’s grip on the hood of his cloak. "Let me go!"
"What are you doing here?" Iris came closer to them and saw how disheveled Zale was. He looked as messy as the first time she met him. "Eron, put him down."
Upset, Eron simply let out of his grip on Zale’s hood, caused him to fall on the ground.
"Eron!" Iris immediately approached Zale to check whether he was fine. The road here was not easy and because he didn’t come riding horse, he must have shifted into his beast to be able to catch up with them.
"Sorry, luna," Eron apologized, but he didn’t sound apologetic at all.
"What are you doing here, Zale?" It would be too late if they sent him back and it would be dangerous for him to go back alone, even though he came here without them knowing it. "Are you hurt somewhere?" Iris looked worried.
"I am fine, luna," Zale replied in small voice.
"Luna, you spoiled him too much," Dyne said. "You need to reprimand him because he didn’t listen to your order."
Zale growled at Dyne, but Iris called his name sternly, which made him lowered his head timidly. "Answer me, why are you here?"
"I want to go with you," Zale said. A simple answer that Iris should have guessed already.
"I gave you an order to stay, why didn’t you listen to me?" Iris didn’t raise her voice, but you could tell she was a little bit angry right now and this made Zale lowered his head even more.
Just like Dyne and Eron, Iris was also upset because Zale didn’t listen to her and put himself in dangerous situation. What if something happened to him and they didn’t even have any idea that he was in danger, because they didn’t know he came to follow them?
Yet, Iris needed to curb her anger when he saw how pitiful he was and how his head hung so low, especially when she heard how his stomach was growling. He was hungry and this ached her heart.
"Have you eaten?" Iris asked, this time her voice was gentler.
Zale shook his head. "I was looking for game when he caught me," Zale said, he glanced at Eron, but didn’t dare to look at the warrior a second longer. Eron was nice to be around, but he could look very scary when he was angry, he was a warrior after all.
Iris sighed deeply. Now it came to this, they didn’t have any other choice, but to take him with them.
"Eron, can you find extra game for him too?" Iris asked, which she knew there was no way Eron would refuse her request.
"I will," Eron replied tersely, he threw a dagger look at Zale before he left, while Dyne would be with them.
"Now, you need to clean yourself first before you ate something," Iris said, she helped Zale to stand up, but he flinched. "What is it? Are you hurt?"
"I am fine, luna. I think I twisted my ankle only," Zale replied in small voice.
"Let me, luna," Dyne said quickly when he saw Iris was about to bend her body and check on Zale’s legs. He had witnessed how Iris healed Joel’s leg and his luna didn’t even have any scrupulous to touch someone, who was lower in status than her at all.
"You need to save your energy, luna. It’s a long journey, it must be so tiring for you to use your power to heal him.
If he twisted his ankle, I can do it. Warriors twisted their ankle all the time, we know how to fix this. "
Iris wanted to say that she was not tired and she could heal him faster, but Dyne gave Zale a look, prompting him not to let luna waste her power on him.
"It’s okay, luna. Dyne can do it! It will be fine. I twisted my ankle before and he fixed it!" Zale quickly said. He was not lying, but that was not a good experience. He would rather to have the luna’s healing power, but his guilty conscience didn’t allow him to do so.
"Okay, I will be inside the tent," Iris said. She wanted to lay down for a while before their dinner, her back was killing her because she rode horse for a whole day.
"Okay." Both of them replied in unison.
But the moment Iris was out of their sight, Dyne glared at Zale. "Here, stuff it into your mouth and don’t scream."
Zale took the fabric and stuffed it into his mouth, as he willed his strength not to make a peep when Dyne started to ’fix’ him.
It was painful!!! This warrior was going to kill him!
Half an hour later, they finally enjoyed their dinner. Eron brought back a stag and this was enough for them to eat until they reached their destination, which would save them time.
After eating, they would take rest. Eron and Dyne would take turn to watch.
"Zale, you need to clean yourself first, you can’t sleep like that." Iris pointed his wet cloak and dirty clothes. "Eron, can you lend him your clothes?"
"His clothes must be very big for me, luna," Zale protested. He didn’t like to smell other people’s scent on him. "I used to sleep like this before, I will be fine."
"It looks uncomfortable."
"No, this is comfortable," Zale said.
"Zale, go and clean yourself in the river and change your clothes," Iris said sternly this time, because this young boy kept denying her order.
"Yes, luna," Zale finally agreed timidly.
As much as possible, if they had to spend the night in the open area like this in their travel, they would stay near the source of water, because it would make things easier for them.
After finishing his meal, Zale went to the river and dipped himself there, he rubbed his dirty skin because he thought the luna didn’t like to see something dirty, that’s why she insisted for him to clean himself.
The water was very cold at first, but then when he had adjusted with the temperature, it was actually pretty nice, it was refreshing. The sky was clear and the moon was shining and his stomach was full, it was a good night to say the least.
After Zale finished, he went out of the water and found Iris was waiting for him at the riverbank, she was holding clean clothes for him.
Zale was only wearing his pants, leaving his upper body exposed, but he felt shy when the luna saw him.
"Luna, you don’t need to..." Zale said in small voice.
However, Iris gestured for him to sit on the rock and check on his ankle. "Is it still hurt?" she asked with concern.
"No." His ankle was hurt because Dyne pressed it so hard, but he knew he would be fine tomorrow.
Yet, Iris still used her power to heal it faster, making it felt very comfortable, though Zale told her not to do that.
"Now, put on this clothes," Iris said, as he handed the clean clothes to him.
"Yes, luna," Zale said obediently, he put on his clothes and Iris was about to leave, but then she caught something on his back.
"Do you have birthmark?" Iris asked, coming closer.