LYKOS

Once she was gone I ran for a while before shifting into my dragon form and going airborne. This way I could cover more distance and faster. All my forms whined loudly the more distance I put between me and the mystery girl. I can't believe she called me Wolfy! Made me sound like a pet.

"I'll be her pet any day," Aniketos growled lightly and I chuckled.

"Relax Romeo, we don't even know her name," I teased.

"Yeah, and whose fault is that?" My wolf growled back at me.

"How do you think she'd have reacted if I just shifted and asked her name while standing completely naked in fron of her?" I tried to reason with him.

"Maybe you shouldn't have shifted at all. You could've just approached her in your human form!" Aniketos growled again in frustration.

"Really? And how do you think that would have gone for us? Just a random guy following a girl in the woods and casually walking up to her and asking her name," I replied sarcastically.

"Kael, Leon, back me up here," I pleaded with my dragon and my lion spirits.

"I mean, she did seem kind of angry and on edge already," Kael said.

"Yeah, and the way she moved with those creatures, who knows what she would have done with us if she found us suspicious enough?!" Leon added.

"Exactly!" I said out loud. "At least we got close to her and spent some time with her. And we got to watch her fight instead of being on the receiving end of her wrath," I added trying to cheer Aniketos up, and myself in the process.

"And we know where she lives now!" Kael added with a little too much excitement.

"We are not going to stalk her!" I said firmly. Last thing we needed was to be creepy.

"We're not stalking, we're just keeping an eye on her. Maybe bump into her again!" Kael replied trying to sound innocent.

Dammit! That was a good point. I had to see her again, get close to her, introduce myself. I also needed to look out for her. This monster thing seemed to be norm for her, she was way too casual about it and I didn't like that. Of course she could take care of herself but I didn't want her to have to deal with it alone. Plus, it was pretty hot watching her toy with those gnarly creatures and take them down so easily. Just as the thought crossed my mind all my forms growled in agreement.

"Hey! Where you been?!" Xanthos greets me as soon as I walk through the treeline into the clearing where our den stood.

"Out. Why?" I ask, not bothering to elaborate.

Xanthos raises his brow and regards me silently for a minute before he shrugs. "Just... I'm used to Eryx and Orfeas pulling disappearing acts. You, not so much," he says.

"What are you doing out here?" I ask, eager to change the subject. Playful as Xanthos tends to be, he's also extremely observant, too observant.

"Catching a breather. Just finished my training."

"Right. Do we have any food ready? I'm starving," I say as I walk to the den.

"Actually yeah. Orfeas and Sofoklis got up early this morning and made a lot of food before they went hunting. Even made dessert," Xanthos chuckled, catching up to me.

"Heyy! Guess who I found!" Xanthos yells as we walk in and I shake my head. Always so dramatic.

"Kid! Where'd you go? Never pegged you for the solo disappearing acts!" Eryx greets me as soon as I'm in the kitchen.

"Don't you dare say anything! We're keeping her to ourselves until we at least know her name!" My wolf growls the moment I open my mouth to respond and I sigh. He's right.

"Out. Exploring," is all I say as I sit across Eryx with a steaming bowl.

Eryx simply raises his brow at me in response, almost surprised. He and Xanthos share a look and I ignore them and dig in, too hungry to care about whatever silent conversation they're having about me with their eyes.

"You know if this is going to be a habit, you better start coming up with better excuses. Believable ones," my dragon, Kael, grunts.

Once my little brunch is done I head to my room for a couple hours before I join Eryx for training in the backyard. I can't help but notice I didn't see Daedalus around but that thought quickly gets drowned out by images of my mystery girl. I'm sure there's some profound reason why I met her but I can't help but think about how drawn I am to her. How connected I feel to her. Her scent, her perfect hands, her piercing gaze and those wild locs.

Knock knock! "Kid!" Knock! "Kid! Come on, we gotta go train!" Eryx's muffled yells and knocks startle me awake.

"Yeah! Just give me a few minutes and I'll be with you!" I yell as I sit up in my bed.

Dammit! How did I fall asleep?! When I look down at myself I groan out loud. Fuck! I curse internally when I realize I have a raging hard-on. Cold shower it is.

Training goes surprisingly well. I find myself more energetic and focused than ever no matter what Eryx throws at me. Eryx seems eager to test my limits today. The more I pass his little tests the more he amps it up. I'm in the middle of my sprints when suddenly I get a sharp pain in my head snd my vision goes black. The scene that appears makes my blood run cold. In front of me I see my mystery girl surrounded by Rumarark monsters. The monsters that killed my family. Suddenly I feel like I'm ten years old again, watching my family getting attacked again yet powerless to save them. I open my mouth to scream when figures in red hooded cloaks appear from behind the monsters, the leader holding a mysterious box. The monsters hold my mystery girl as the figure opens the mystery box and suddenly multicoloured mists come from my girl's body and into the box as if it's sucking out her magic. The more she loses the weaker she becomes, sagging into the monsters' arms and I scream for her, trying to reach her but finding myself held back by an invisible force. I feel a sharp sting across my cheek and the scene fades and my vision blurs.

"Kid! Kid! Wake up, dammit!" I hear Eryx's voice growl as I struggle to focus my sight.

Finally my vision clears and I find myself in Sybella's cave with Eryx hovering over me, gripping my shirt tightly and Sybella kneeling next to him with her hand on his shoulder.

"E-Eryx! What happened? How did we get here?" I ask and Eryx's head snaps up, his eyes red.

"Don't ever do that again, kid. You're the only family I have left, you can't go scaring me like that!" Eryx rasps, still holding fistfuls of my shirt.

"W-what? I don't... What happened?" I ask officially confused.

"You fainted. Y-you wouldn't wake up and then your h-heart stopped. I thought I lost you!" Eryx voice shakes, his eyes screwing shut as if he's in pain and his hands shaking. My chest tightens as I look him over.

"No way would I leave you behind. It's okay, I'm okay," I manage to get out as I wrap my arms around Eryx, my eyes welling up as Eryx's body shakes lightly and I hear soft sobs.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm here, I'm not going anywhere," I reassure him, ruffling his hair the way he often does with mine.

When Eryx finally pulls away and stands up he runs his huge calloused hand down his face before driving it through his dark curls, letting out a loud sigh before he sits down on one of Sybella's rocks. Sybella on the other hand is still kneeling beside me, her eyes searching my face intently.

"What did you see?" She asks firmly.

Once I'm done reiterating my vision to her, she shakily stands up and goes to sit at her usual spot while Eryx curses quietly but still loud enough for us to hear.

"It seems you have a special connection with this mystery girl," Sybella says cryptically before turning to face me.

"Seems you just had a vision of the future, a premonition," she adds, her gaze boring into mine.

"How do I stop it? How do I keep her safe?" I ask, feeling myself starting to panic at the thought of my mystery girl in the hands of the same monsters that killed my family and the cloaked figures that almost killed her in my vision.

"I'm not entirely sure you can stop it. But you can prepare, you can tell her about it, be there for her," Sybella pauses before she continues, "Of course you'd have to find her first. Unless you already have," she finished with a knowing smirk.

Eryx's eyes go wide as his gaze flicks from Sybella to me and finds my face flushed. So much for keeping our little meeting a secret. Eryx's mouth opens and closes a few times before he snaps it shut and clenches his jaw.

"That's where you were, isn't it?" He asks quietly and I nod.

"She's your mate!" He says again, his eyes widening. It's not a question. It's a statement. One that makes my skin erupt in shivers. A mate who's in danger. Fuck! I have to get to her.

"How did you meet her exactly?" Eryx asks, leaning forward, his curiosity and excitement palpable.

By the time I'm done narrating how I met my mysterious girl Eryx has his fist covering his mouth and his shoulders are shaking. Sybella looks like she's watching the most entertaining play, her eyes twinkling in amusement.

"So that's why you told me to go to the market and to take him with me!" Eryx says turning towards Sybella with his thumb jutted at me.

One look at her face and suddenly it makes sense. Crafty old woman! She suddenly chuckles as if she heard what I thought.

"And you! That's why you were acting so strange when we were at the market! And Wolfy?! Really?!" Eryx can barely keep it together.

"Of course that's the one detail that stands out to you!" I grumble under my breath.

"Alright you two! Off you pop! You have work to do!" Sybella says as she claps her hands.

"Okay! Okay! We'll get out of your hair! Thank you for all your help, Sy. You know I appreciate you," Eryx says as he stands and wraps an arm around Sybella, kissing her temple before he walks towards me and pulls me out of the cave with him.

By the time we make it out I realize it's close to sunset.

"Come on, we've gotta hurry! I have somewhere to be after dinner!" I sputter as I rush to take off my clothes and shift into my wolf, picking up my clothes in my mouth and taking off towards the den.

Eryx catches up to me while I dress up just inside the treeline near the den and we go in for dinner. We find the guys at the dinner table laughing and chatting, joining them once we've served our share.

"You two seem to be pulling a lot of mysterious disappearing acts lately!" Xanthos exclaims, his eyes narrowed in playful suspicion.

"Mind your business!" Eryx bites out lowly and the guys laugh.

"You should've seen that one coming, especially with this one," Daedalus laughs as he motions towards Eryx.

"What have you been up to all day? Besides nosing around of course," Eryx changes the subject before anyone says anything else about our little trips.

I'm guessing Eryx took me to Sybella before any of the guys noticed my little fainting spell. Great. Less questions to answer, less work finding excuses to cover up whatever's been going on. A pang of guilt hits my chest. Later, I tell myself. I'll tell them later, once I know more. I finish my dinner before the guys and rush to clean my bowls.

"I'm going hunting tonight. I'll see you guys tomorrow," I announce and quickly disappear to my room to gather a change of clothes, a sleeping bag and a warm coat before any of the guys could answer. I know Eryx isn't going to stop me, he understands how important this is to me. Once I'm out I shift into my dragon and fly to where I left my mysterious girl, fully prepared to camp outside her home and watch over her, making sure she's safe.