20

"You two fought. Didn't you?" Ronan asked snapping me out of my thoughts. He walked into my office carrying a file. I took it from him and gave him another one which I had completed reviewing. He was waiting for me to reply but I was trying to ignore his presence.

Adrian and I had a pretty bad argument last night. He wanted to confront my father and get everything out and I wanted to be the one to do it, but not right now. He accused me of being a coward - which is true, but I was not going to admit it to him- and told that it was better for everyone not to procrastinate things. I knew that he was concerned for my safety but seeking out truth had consequences, emotional ones. I was not sure if I was ready to handle them. I asked him to leave me alone which he was reluctant to do. I in turn accused him of stalking me, choking me and eating my space. I'm pretty sure I hurt him with that. He shut down the mind-link after that. I didn't try contacting him and he didn't either.

I wanted to cool down a little before apologizing to him. I knew Adrian was right and I knew I hurt him. I was awake the whole night telling myself not to be a coward and talk to my parents. Today, after office I had decided to do that. I wanted Adrian to be with me when that happened. Not his physical presence but through our mind-link. My parents may not be forthcoming with him being there.

"I know you can talk. I have heard you talk you know." Ronan joked when I still didn't answer.

"Yes," I sighed and replied.

"We need to get you upset more often." He smilingly stated to which I frowned.

"What? You got a lot of work done in just-," he glanced at his watch, "-four hours. On a normal day you would have been a little slower. But I prefer you on a normal day than being angry. Talk to him and sort it out."

I scowled at him. He lifted his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Okay, I won't interfere. Come on. Take a break now. It's lunch time anyway." His reminder of the time and food did make me hungry but I didn't feel like eating. I wanted to eat with Adrian. I wanted to see Adrian. I wanted to talk to Adrian. I wanted Adrian period. I guess that had to wait. Maybe he would be there at the lunch house.

I shutdown my laptop and joined Ronan. Together we went to the lunch house. I was expecting Adrian to be there but even before entering I knew that that was not the case. I could feel his absence. We settled down at an empty table. My attention immediately caught to the old man and his grandson sitting at the adjoining table. The boy was throwing a tantrum to eat like the other day and the grandfather was trying his best to make him eat.

"Okay if you promise to be a good boy and finish your meal I shall tell you a story." The old man pushed the plate towards his grandson.

"Yes, yes yes." The boy hopped up and down in his seat with excitement and took a bite and then another.

"Like there is light and dark, in this world there are good people and bad people." The grandfather started. The boy had forgotten about eating and was looking at his grandfather with full attention. I was also intrigued.

"Bad wolves want power and do all sorts of bad things like eating children who don't eat their meals." The kid gave a gasp at that and started eating. The old man gave a hearty laugh. I smiled at that. Just when I thought of striking a conversation with Ronan the old man continued.

"Long time ago there was a pack of bad wolves. They used to mercilessly kill people. But moon-goddess is there to protect us from the bad wolves. She kept a watch on us from above. The elders used to warn them that she is watching them. That scared the bad wolves. They kept their activities in check."

"What about on those days when the moon is sleeping?" The kid innocently asked his question.

"Yes, on the new moon day when the moon is absent, the bad wolves used to resume their activities. The power hungry wolves became uncontrollable. So, the elders and the other pack members decided to pray and invoke the moon-goddess asking her for a more permanent solution. They prayed continuously for three days and on the third day the moon-goddess made an appearance. It seems she killed all the bad wolves."

"What if bad wolves are born again?" The kid asked with his mouth full of food.

"If that happens then the moon-goddess promised to be born on this Earth and take care of us."

"When will she be born?" The kid sure did have a lot of questions.

"I'll tell the rest only if you finish eating." The kid obediently finished the rest of his meal.

"Interesting story?" Ronan asked and I nodded.

"You know I have heard a different version of the same story", Ronan told me.

"There are many versions Ronan, but the ending is always the same," Eric spoke. I was so engrossed that I didn't realize that he had joined at our table for lunch. I was about to ask what the ending was when the kid asked in a loud voice.

"When will she be born?"

"It is believed that a female wolf born on a new moon day, the day the moon is not present, is the incarnation of the moon-goddess." The grandfather replied and they both got up to discard their plates.

"Is that the ending?" I wanted to confirm.

"Yes, no matter what the story, that is the ending. A female wolf born on a new moon day is believed to be the incarnation of the moon-goddess. According to the lore the she-wolf is believed to be extremely powerful with extraordinary skill at fighting." Eric replied. By now Nina, Sam, Paul had settled around the table. Alexa came with her plate. Eric was about to continue when Alexa interrupted him. I was curious as to what else Eric had to add.

"What's up?" Alexa asked everyone.

"When is your birthday and year?" Paul asked Alexa. He took out his phone and typed something in the search engine.

"What are you doing?" Nina asked him.

"Just checking if there is a moon-goddess sitting amongst us", he joked.

"That's some werewolf folk lore. It's not true", Ronan told him. But Paul was not dissuaded. He asked all of us our birthdays and checked if that day happened to be a new moon day. He proceeded to ask even the guys.

"Very funny Paul. Stop it now." Paul paid no attention to Ronan's words.

"You just don't want people to get to know your age." Paul retorted.

"So, nobody here is born on a new moon day." He concluded. Looking at Eric's face I knew he had more to add to the story. I opened my mouth to ask him to continue when Ronan's faraway look stopped me. He frowned a bit and schooled his expression. I would have ignored the whole thing if not for the look he gave my way before he put on the calm expression on his face. That got me curious.

"Is it Adrian?" I asked him to which he nodded.

"What is it?" I prodded further. He just shrugged.

"What is it? Where is he?" I asked again. He hesitated to reply.

"Tell me where he is right now." I told him in a stern voice. He dropped his head a little and nodded. That was weird. He bowed as though I was his master and he had to obey me. I looked around and everyone had their heads bowed down. Not completely but it was there.

"What happened?" I asked to no one in particular.

"You used your Luna voice , Luna," Ronan answered and added, "without you realizing."

"I'm sorry?!!" I didn't know what else to say.

"There is nothing to apologize." Eric piped in.

"Okay, everyone stop being so formal. Now, Ronan tell me where Adrian is."

"I'm sorry but he ordered me not to tell you." Ronan looked like he wanted to run away from here. He didn't want to disobey his alpha. I still didn't understand how the whole disobeying thing worked. It sure was not the same as disobeying an order from your parents.

"Hmm. Fine. But you can nod and confirm my guesses?" He nodded.

"His cabin?" He shook his head.

"Training area?" Negative. "In the forest?" Negative.

"Your parents house?" Nope. This continued for a while. I had guessed almost all the places where I thought he could be when a nagging thought took up my mind. It explained why Adrian had told Ronan not to inform me about his whereabouts. If my suspicions are confirmed then I would become a raging monster. I would kick his ass for going behind my back.

"My house?" Please say no. He nodded in affirmative. I let out a frustrated sigh and started walking towards my house. I opened my mind-link to Adrian and sent out a warning.

'You better watch out Mister.' He didn't waste any time replying.

'YOU and your safety is always my priority and I'm not going to apologize for that.'

I started running. I ran at a full speed and in no time I was at my house. The front door was open and I could see Adrian standing there with his hands on his hips.

"Where are they? What did you tell them?" I asked angrily.

"Relax. They are not here. I searched the whole house. They seem to have gone out." He calmly replied. I let out a relieved sigh and faced him. I scowled at him and he returned the same expression. We stared at each other for a full minute before we started walking towards each other. Within seconds I was in his arms and we started kissing like there was no tomorrow.

'I'm sorry.' I told him through our mind-link. We were still kissing and it was awkward communicating through our mind-link at the same time.

'No, I'm sorry.'

And, just like that I was not angry with him anymore. In fact I felt stupid to keep him worrying about me so. If our roles were reversed I would also be concerned about his safety.

"Okay, lovers time out." Ronan cheerfully interrupted us. We broke apart and Adrian took his keys from his pocket and threw at him. Ronan caught it without blinking an eye.

"What is this for?" He asked innocently.

"I had nothing better to throw at you at the moment." Adrian replied which made me laugh. I was still laughing when my phone vibrated indicating a message. It was from my dad. The smile froze on my face on reading the message. Adrian was next to me in a second.

"What happened?"

"I think my parents are in some kind of trouble." I answered.

"What makes you think so?" Ronan asked and I could see Adrian also having the same question.

"Because my dad sent a text warning me that I was in danger and I had to watch out." My phone was clutched tightly in my hands. Adrian gently pried it away from my hands and looked at the text. There was confusion all over his face. Ronan stepped forward and he also read the text. He had the same confused expression as his brother.

"I don't understand." Adrian spoke.

"Me neither." Ronan added. Of course it was a simple text. Nobody was supposed to understand the message behind the text. It was our code.

Daddy: Hey Al. Me and mom out for a while. We will be back soon. Once back, I'm gonna make you an ice-cream you can't refuse.