Lovers' Oath Ch. 02

-"Thanks Kiel." Rohan tried to find words to express the gratitude he felt.

-"That's fine, Ro. Let's get back and get some rest. That was some work out with these Demons tonight." Flashing Rohan a mischievous smile, he added, "And you owe me a dinner for saving your butt tonight, well, at least before you got kicked anyway." he grinned innocently, listening to Rohan's grumbles, trying his best to take his, and his wolf's, mind off of the girl.

*****

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The next morning, The Den...

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As he ate breakfast, Kiel decided to check up on the girl before leaving the manor. They usually called it The Den, since most of his pack stayed here. Some, who like to keep away from the bustle, stay in their own houses, but within reasonable distance.

As Kiel made his way downstairs, he felt really thankful for having such a wonderful healer in his pack. The healer, Kendra, had told him last night that the girl was healing fast. Even for a Were, her healing rate was accelerated. Entering the medical room, he saw the healer going through some paperworks, her back to the door. He had an idea. As he crept along towards her, moments away from pouncing, Kendra just turned and grabbed hold of his nose,

-"Ou, ou ou ou ou... That hurts that hurts that hurts..." Kiel barely kept from shouting. Him shouting would bring down the whole pack down here and he was feeling humiliated enough without the whole pack knowing it. Kendra snorted, then released her hold on his nose. He sprang back, gingerly holding onto his nose.

-"Ki, when would you stop behaving like a pup around me? I could hear you down the corridor entrance. You really thought you could sneak up on an Elder?" she chuckled, seeing him pouting. Despite being the alpha known for his reserved manner around others, he was still mischievous as a puppy around a few people. She should know, being one of those people. She knew why Kiel kept up the cold disposition in front of others. She reached at his nose again. He promptly backpedaled with wary eyes.

-"Oh stop being a kid, Kiel. I only want to make sure I didn't break your nose." she lightly reprimanded him.

-"You didn't." he replied grousily, still hiding his nose.

-"I still want to make sure. Now remove you hand, or I will." That got his both hands down and away from his nose. Kendra checked his nose for swelling, she knew it wasn't broken, but a swollen nose won't put a very good impression of him in his pack. Once she was sure it was alright, she went back to the papers.

-"What are those? Her reports?" Kiel asked.

-"Yeah. She has healed nicely. Right now she is still asleep from the sedative I had injected into her last night. She would be out till this evening. That way, when she comes around, she won't be in as much pain. How is Rohan doing?" Kendra was very curious to know what exactly had caused him to heal so rapidly. She had an inkling that it had to do something with that girl. But she could not think what would establish such a connection. And she was dying to know.

-"He is keeping fine. Preparing for the pack meeting I guess. I want to see her, where is she?" His curiosity was getting the better of him. And of his beast, too.

-"In that room." she replied, pointing to a door to the left. Just as he started for the door, she added," I think Sam and Preeyal are still inside. See what they can tell you. I'll be there in a minute."

Listening to her, he suddenly felt a pang of jealousy. Why are the other people there before him? Without realizing, his beast growled in frustration. He still wanted to smell her, and he was not gonna get the chance, again. Shaking his head, he entered the room. Preeyal was leaning over the girl, sniffing at her. He frowned. What was going on? Preeyal was a special one in his pack. Her talent was something he could not give a name to. She was simply extra sensitive to supernatural and magical cues. That, coupled with her knowledge, often helped to provide useful insight into situations that they otherwise would have missed. But, being extra sensitive, she almost never tried to stimulate her senses. And sniffing was out of the question. Yet, she had her nose almost glued to the girl's neck. Seeing that, before he could control, his beast let out a growl, making Preeyal jump and step back from the cot on which the girl was lying. Preeyal looked up at him, then at the girl, and then blushed furiously.

-"What were you doing?" he asked, keeping his tone as calm as possible.

-"Umm... I was taking a whiff... To... To decipher what she is..." Preeyal was stammering.

-"That was not taking a whiff. You were drowning your nose in her scent." Kiel pointed out.

-"Yeah... Her smell... It's... It's delicious... Addicting. I couldn't pull out of it." Preeyal managed to answer before burying her face in her mate Sam's chest, embarrassed. Sam chuckled. Then looking at Kiel, who was standing next to the girl's cot, he supplied,

-"We couldn't understand what her fourth part is. It's not of our world. That part is keeping the two beasts together, binding them. We don't understand from where did the beasts came. Since she is not mated..." Sam stopped at Kiel's questioning look, then added, "Preeyal checked," then continued, "we're assuming from her parents. And probably at their joining, this magic was imparted to bind them. At her conception, it became a part of her. That's our assumption." as Sam stopped, he saw some of the other Pack Council members file inside.

Nodding at Sam, Kiel was trying to understand it all. Magic to bind a Black panther and a Wolf? Bonding between them happened, only, the offspring showed dominant features of one beast, with some of the qualities of the other. But this woman had two distinct beasts. 'Would she then have two beast form as well? And how would her hybrid look like?' he wondered silently, gazing down at the beauty. She had long, beautifully curling black and blue hair fanned around her perfect milk and roses skin in stark contrast. Only, where the sun touched her hair, it looked like... Almost silver... 'No, that's not right,' he frowned. Then without noticing what he was doing, he buried his fingers in her hair and ran them through, marveling at the soft, smooth feeling. As he held a bunch of her locks to the sun, he found the perfect comparison. 'They're like glistening river in a moonlit night.' he thought, quite pleased with himself at finding the perfect analogy. As he continued to gaze down at her, he realized that the healer had taken off the woman's cloths last night. Right now, a small part above her right breast was exposed. At the thought of someone seeing her like this, he felt jealous. To pull up the sheet covering her, he leaned in, and then noticed something. There was a sign, right where her breast had begun. It was almost like some kind of a written symbol. To get a good look, he leaned across her, slowly tracing the curves of the symbol with his finger. As he did, Sam suddenly started,

-"Careful Ki... She is gonna..."

BAM!

"...Hit you." Kiel caught the end of the sentence from where he had fallen on the floor. Her punch had sent him flying a good two feet back. He glared at Sam,

-"Thanks for the warning,soothsayer!" he said, gently massaging his jaw where she had hit, pulling himself up.

-"Any time, man." Sam answered with a chuckle. Then, a gentle squeak brought their attention back to the girl. She was now clutching to the sheets, trying to scoot back on the bed, as far from the people as possible. Noting her bewildered look, and a hint of fear in her eyes, Kiel turned toward the others,

-"Everyone, out." As he saw them silently file out of the room, he turned and started towards the frightened girl. He instinctively wanted to sooth her, calm her. He wanted to tell her it was alright, that she was safe, while cradling her in his arms... As his thought reached that point, two things brought him up short. First, he had no idea from where that last thought had come from, and secondly, her eyes were still wide with fear.

Hearing a footstep, he turned to see the healer just enter the room.

-"Call Rohan. He might be able to calm her down." Then, seeing Kendra gesture toward the girl, he turned and saw her huddle at one end of the bed, still clutching the cover to her chest. He sighed and turned towards to door, mumbling to Kendra,

-"Forget it. I'll get him myself." Then he left the room, hoping Kendra would be able to calm her down somewhat. As he drew away from the room, his heart was saddened, his wolf lying down, burying his nose within its front paws. He didn't understand why she was scared of him. 'I didn't hurt her by touching that symbol, did I?' he tried to figure it out as he tried to find out where Rohan was.

*****

She was feeling weightless, like when she was fully immersed in a pool. The only difference was, it was real dark here. She tried to think where she was. She couldn't remember. Was she drowning? She wondered. She tried to swim, but her limbs would not move. They were almost non-existent. She could not feel them. She tried to move again. And again she failed. She started to panic. What was happening to her? Am I dying? As she thought that, something flashed in her mind - a big, bulky creature, slowly stalking towards her. It went away as soon as it had came. She tried to think what it was. Slowly, very slowly, she was feeling as if swimming towards the surface of a calm sea. There was a hint of light above. She heard voices... Garbled... But voices. That reminded her of a particular garbling sound. She couldn't place it, but the memory triggered a defensive emotion. As if she had to protect herself from whatever made that noise. As she finally surfaced, she almost forcefully opened her eyes. It was all a blur.

But even through the blur, she made out the outline of someone leaning over her, reaching towards her. The defensive reflex came into action. She pulled away her right hand from her side and let it fly. As the man flew backwards, she scrambled up, intent upon jumping to her feet and fleeing, but stopped short as she realized she had nothing on her body except a sheet, and the room was full with people. Clutching the sheet to her chest, she scrambled back towards the headboard, squeaking loudly when she saw the man she had hit pull himself to his feet and again start forward, towards her.

'Where am I?' she wondered, watching the men surrounding the bed she was lying on. She had heard of some groups of criminals who would kidnap young women and trade them as slaves. 'Are these people one of those groups?' she couldn't decide. Then she heard the deep voice again. She looked at the man who owned it. He was the one she had hit. He was ordering everyone out.

'Crap, he is the leader. And I had to hurt him, of all people. Crap!' she thought, still watching him through wide eyes, wondering if he is going to hurt him back. A small voice in the back of her head hoped he won't. 'He is so handsome.' the small voice mused, ' and his voice sounds so soothing. It would be a pity if he turned out to be so bad.' the small voice decided.

She saw the man coming towards her. She thought of scooting further away, then realized she was pressed up against the headboard. Besides, it was meaningless anyway. As she observed him coming, she became curious. She could plainly see the rippling muscles beneath the shirt he was wearing. She wanted to know if those muscles would feel just as good beneath her questing fingers as they looked despite being hidden beneath the smooth fabric of his shirt. But she didn't get much time to pursue that line of thought. She saw a woman enter the room. As they talked, her eyes traveled down his body, stopping as they reached his buttocks.

'What a beautifully firm butt. It will be fun to knead them. They look so deliciously soft.' as soon as she realized what she was thinking, she was horrified. She had no idea where those thoughts were coming from. She never thought of any man like that. She simply froze in mortification, her wide eyes still fixed at him. Then she saw him turn, and after a glance at her, he left the room. She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. She hadn't realized she was holding her breath.

Hearing approaching footfalls, she looked up, opening her eyes. The woman who had just entered was smiling at her, holding out a shirt and a pair of sweatpants at her. In response to her questioning looks at the cloths, the woman said,

-"Get into these cloths before the boys come back here. Then you have a lot of story telling to do." as she handed over the cloths to Rayn, she went back to the clipboard she was clutching in her other hand, scribbling something. As Rayn changed into the cloths, she wondered what the woman was writing. Once she had finished, the woman turned towards her and smiled,

-"There you go. I knew you'd look cute in those. A little over sized, but never mind. They make you look like a kid." Noting her embarrassed expression, she offered her hand, "Hi, I'm Kendra. And you look really pretty." Rayn shook the offered hand, and giving a tentative smile, said

-"Hey, I'm Rayn, and really embarrassed."

It seemed that the tentative smile was all what was need to win Kendra's heart. Giving her a bright smile, Kendra mused,

-"Rayn! Hmm... Interesting..." she was eying Rayn curiously and speculatively.

Tucking away a wayward lock of hair, Rayn smiled,

-"Yeah. My mom gave that name to me. Because I would only stop screaming at the top of my lungs when it was raining." she explained.

-"Oh... I can imagine that..." Kendra chuckled.

-"Umm... Kendra, where am I? And why? What happened to me?" Rayn asked directly.

-"That's what even we want to hear from you. Last night, we found you lying in a pool of blood... Injured... Very very injured. We'd like to know how you were there. Don't you remember anything?" Kendra asked, very confused. Surely, she'd remember events like that?

Rayn shook her head, hesitatingly. She was still trying to remember.

-"No. I don't recall anything." She sighed. Rubbing her head, she tried to think. Snippets of a face came to her, but incomplete. They went away as soon as they came. Only one snippet held a little longer. A pair of warm, brown eyes, surrounded by thick eyelashes, and eyebrows like the wings of an eagle... They were... Intense... Looking at her... Rayn frowned. Where had that come from? She was trying to remember who those eyes belonged to. As she tried to concentrate, something happened. A sharp tone hit her ears, instantly giving her a throbbing headache. She gasped and pressed her hands tightly around her head. She heard Kendra approaching.

-"What is it Rayn? What's wrong?" Kendra's voice almost soothed her. But it lacked something. A memory came to her, a deep yet soothing voice. It had a seductive touch to it. Almost like an aphrodisiac. Rayn shook her head, gasping as her head throbbed again,

-"Headache... Sudden... Oh..." she whispered, not trusting herself to speak any louder.

Then she heard Kendra move closer and place her palms at the front- top and the back-bottom of her head, applying a little pressure. The headache was gone almost as soon as it had came. She opened her eyes and blinked.

-"What did you just do?" she blurted out. Then something distracted her. Footsteps. But something was strange in the sound. The footsteps weren't close enough to be outside this door. She didn't notice as she took a few steps towards the door. Where were those footsteps coming from?

She cocked her head, trying to concentrate on the location of the origin of the sound. It felt like, the sound was traveling down a long corridor, after coming down a huge hall. She frowned. How could it be possible to hear sounds from that far? She turned towards the other woman to find her staring at her with a confused expression.

-"What?" she asked, instantly self-aware.

Kendra just shook her head. She had seen something, she just didn't know what. It had seemed... Her ears had somewhat elongated for a few moments. Then they became normal again as the girl had turned at her. Noting Rayn's questioning stare, she decided to tell the truth, only not the whole truth,

-"I'm just finding you hard to figure, that's all." she confessed.

-"Oh..." a slight blush crept up Rayn's face. Then an awkward silence ensued. Well, awkward for her since the other woman simply stared at her, watching her movements. Then suddenly someone gave a shout of joy behind her.

She turned and instantly found herself caught in a bear hug. She simply blinked. Who was this? The grip the person was holding her into reminded her of something... Something furry... She tried to disentangle herself from the man. After several gentle pushes, she managed, and looked up to find a pair of warm brown eyes looking down at her. She frowned. She knew them... But from where? Then the man spoke,

-"Hey, how are you doing? I thought you won't be conscious until this evening? Oh, I'm so happy to see you. You saved my life out there..." he trailed off, seeing her confused look.

-"What?" she asked.

-"Rohan, she doesn't remember last night's events. Go slow." Kendra supplied in that soothing voice.

Then she saw the flash in those eyes. Anger... No, fury... Something nudged at her memory. Something very important. She looked at his face. She knew him. And he said she had saved his life last night. As she tried to recall, she heard him growl in rage. He still had one hand on her shoulder. It clenched as he growled and said,

-"If anything happens to her, I will do my best to obliterate those demons from the face of the world."

She heard him. Then something clicked. As if a middle part of a bridge clicked into place. And then the flood gate opened. She remembered... Everything... The rain, the man -thisman, the fight, the demons, everything. As she remembered the demon throwing her, she visibly flinched away.

-"Oh... Oh... Oh... Oh..." she gasped. It felt as if the world was tilting around her. She clung to the man holding her, using his hard stature to keep herself standing. Then she felt someone... Someone else... gently picking her up and placing her on the bed.

-"Hey, you o.k? What happened?" The man still held her draping one arm around her shoulder. She had kept her eyes tightly shut and breath held this far, afraid she may cry out otherwise. And she didn't want to cry in front of someone she had saved so bravely just a few hours ago. As she drew her breath slowly a new smell assailed her nose. It was so rich... Spicy... Sensual... Soothing... Calming... Something very very... Edible? Something stirred in her mind. A kind of hunger. No. A mix of hunger and lust. She wanted to bite into it. She wanted it to flood her senses.

Instinctively she turned her head and buried her nose into the source, never realizing that she had just buried her nose into the crook of the neck of the man she had just hit sometime ago. She drew her breath slowly, deeply. It was so... addictive.

*****

As Kiel entered the room a little after Rohan, he saw the girl fainting, barely holding on to his arm as Rohan tried to steady her. It only took him a few long steps, and then as he cradled the barely conscious girl in his arms, he shot a questioning look at Rohan. He shrugged, confusion and worry written all over her face.

'I was just thanking her for last night, then Kendra said she didn't remember anything. Then as I mentioned the demons, she gasped and started to faint. I think mentioning the demons brought back the memories of last night and it was too much for her to take.' Rohan supplied over their mental connection.' I also noticed something, Kiel,'he continued.