Chapter 27: Master Dante

   Dante, who stood in the water had a frown on his face as he stared at Nathan and the others from afar. He knew Nathan, but that was several hundred of years ago; when Nathan was still a destructive teenager. He hadn't seen Nathan since then and didn't know what Nathan would look like when he grew up, but did know, that Nathan would become a handsome young man.

Dante simply stood there looking at each one of their faces but his eyes lingered on the girls that were with the boys. His trail of thought ended when Allen and the other boys covered the girls' eyes

"What the hell, dude" Jerald shouted at Dante in the water "How can you be having your bath in a public place in front of women and children?" He asked while still covering Fernanda's eyes

  Allen frowned while looking at Dante as he covered Brianna and Alexa's eyes. Sloane was covering her eyes with her hands and so were Nathan's sisters. Clark covered Mary's eyes and Christian covered Josey's. Rosco had built up courage to run to Mackenzie's side and cover her eyes.

"I don't know who you people are but, didn't your parents ever teach you to not be rude to your elders?" Dante asked with a frown and Allen was about to yell when Nathan raised up his hand and stopped him

"You people should leave if you want to cause trouble" Dante said and turned his head away from them

"Do you seriously not remember me?" Nathan asked and Dante's eyes widened

'That voice' He turned around and looked at Nathan. Dante saw a younger version of Nathan when he stared at the current Nathan

"I wonder how could forget me. That's a bit unfair" Nathan said before turning around and pulling Sloane and Mackenzie with him "I'll see you at your place, Master Dante" he said and they all left.

Dante just looked at Nathan's retreating back and chuckled before smiling

"You're still an arrogant little brat" he murmured as he got out of the water and picked up his clothes from a rock.

*****

Meanwhile, the girls were blushing furiously as they walked beside the boys. The air felt heavy and nobody knew what to say.

"Sloane, are you alright?" Nathan asked as he stared at her rosy cheeks

"I'm fine" she said and some strands of hair fell to cover her face. Although Nathan was carrying Mackenzie on his back, he had used his hand to move away the strand of hair covering her face and had tucked it behind her ear

"Dante is very harmless" Nathan said paused a bit "Well, harmlessly powerful. What anyone needs to worry about, is when you become his enemy, you anger him, or when he starts displaying public nudity" he said and Sloane chuckled while he dropped Mackenzie on the ground

"At least, that explains why he was naked" the other boys said while the girls made a mental note

'Beware of public nudity from Dante'

   Currently, they all stood in front of a shabby looking house. It had green vines running up along the stone walls and wooden frames.

"Wait. Are you seriously telling me that this is the home of the man that could make any tribe elder shudder at his name?" Jerald asked the question on everyone, except Nathan's, head

"I should have known it would be too good to be true" Allen sighed and Mackenzie looked up at Nathan

"Dad, did that weird, naked man at the river really train you?" Mackenzie asked "If so, he looked so ordinarily plain..." she said while pointing at the house "....Kind of like this shabby rundown house"

"Watch your mouth, brat" someone said and they all turned their heads only to see Dante fully dressed. He wore a pair of denim trousers with a jacket and white shirt. He leaned against a tree with his arms folded and legs crossed. "Although it looks like that on the outside, people always seem to fall in love with the inside" he said and Mackenzie hugged Nathan's leg to stop the man from glaring at her.

   It seemed to work is her favor, as Dante stopped glaring at her and was staring intently at Nathan. His face seemed to soften up when he stared at him

"Nathan, is that really you?" Dante asked and Nathan sighed

"It's been a while, Dante" Nathan said

"How many years has it been since I last saw you?" Dante said with a large grin "If I remember correctly, the last time I saw you....was when you were eighteen" he said before looking at Mackenzie "The alpha kid that had once slept in my house just because he didn't want to attend the mating festival.....is now a man, gracing me with his presence and his daughter's" he laughed "What's your name, kid?"

"Mackenzie" Mackenzie said

"Named after Marcus? But he isn't dead yet" Dante said as he looked at Sloane "And this lovely lady must be your wife. How interesting" he laughed and Nathan sighed

"Still jumping to conclusions" Nathan murmured before saying out in an audible voice "For starters, Mackenzie's not my daughter" he said and Dante's laughter ended "And secondly, Sloane isn't my wife" at this, Dante's face had changed once again and it displayed shock as he dropped his folded arms

"Nathan, are you still"

"Single? Yes" Nathan completed Dante's words and the man was mouthing some words

"Is your seed still preventing you from-"

"No. It's not. I just...don't feel like it" Nathan said before pinching between his brows "Can we can the topic?" He asked and Dante cleared his throat

"So, why are you out here?" Dante asked "All of you"

"We need you to train us" Sloane said in a polite tone which he didn't expect

"In what, exactly?" He asked

"If possible, we want you to teach us everything you know" Nathan said and Dante frowned

"Are you preparing for war? And if so, against what?" Dante asked

"We-" Nathan was about to say, but Sloane beat him to it

"We want to go to war with the northern tribe" she said and Dante stroked his jaw

"You want to go against King Reese?" Dante said "I'm sorry but if that's the case, I-"

"We're going to war against King Reese's brother. The new King Alpha" Allen interrupted

"What happened to Reese?" Dante asked

"You've probably never left these parts before. That's why you have no idea what's going on" Clark said as the whites of his eyes turned black and he pointed at Dante "Let me fill you in" he said and he disappeared.

   The next moment, Clark was in front of Dante about to place his pointed finger on his head. But, Dante instantly grabbed his wrist and held it in place while shaking his head

"Listen, kid, I don't like your kind touching me" Dante said before placing his hand on Clark's head "I'll search your head for the information I need, by myself" he added and half of his hand turned black. After some time, Dante's eyes widened as he let go of Clark and Clark instantly disappeared - appearing back in his former position.

"I can't believe it" Dante said

"But it's as you saw" Clark said "We wouldn't be here if all of that never happened" he added and Dante looked up at them before he stopped leaning on the tree and walked towards his house

"Are you going to help us?" Nathan asked as Dante walked passed him and opened the door to the house

"Do you all need an invitation before you get in?" Dante asked as he ended the house while leaving the door open.

   They all let out a sigh of relief as they walked towards the house and entered inside