Chapter 6: Long night

Elliot’s Point of view

It's not possible. This is a nightmare. 

I am pacing in my room, trying to put my thoughts in order. But I am interrupted again by Leo who unlike me is crazy with joy.

"She is so beautiful" He says, almost drooling. "She's glowing, it's incredible. And her smell, Goddess, we have to smell her again!"

"Hey-oh! Wake up! We will never be with her! She's a Blue, the future Alpha to be! We're destined to hate each other."

"That's not what the Moon Goddess seems to think since she's destined for us. I wonder what  she tastes like..."

"We'll never know. If we don't reject her, she will."

"No! We won't let her. This war is useless, not all the Blues are bad. Look at Saphira. We're friends, right?"

I can't help but smile at the mention of her name. After all those nights hunting with her, we indeed got very close but it was far from being won at the beginning. 

I must admit that I miss it. I miss her. Her humor, her courage, and especially her madness. I'm pretty sure she's completely crazy. 

Leo growls. "Don't think of her that way!"

"I thought you loved hunting with her too."

"Yes, but she's not Alice. Ah, Alice." He says, drooling again. "Now that I think about it, we never saw her."

I search my memory but can't find her face even though I've known her name forever.

Sighing, I walk to the window and look out towards the Blue territory.

All my life I dreamed of the moment I would find my mate, my better half, but I never imagined that she would be an enemy, least of all the future leader of my enemies.

I try to hate her but I already miss her and I don't even know her. Stupid bond! 

"Do you think she thinks about us too?" I ask in a small voice.

"I'm sure she does! I felt her wolf calling me. She wants us, that's for sure." 

He then begins to imagine running with her, playing chase, lazing cross-legged by the lake where I like to go when I want to be alone, little pups running around. He tries to imagine her in human form, her smile, her look but he can't.

"We have to see her."

I feel him struggling to gain control to get to her. 

"Stop! You know we can't. The minute we step foot on her territory, the guards will be at our throat. Just be patient, she'll be in college on Monday."

"But that's in three days!" He complains.

I think that's too long too. But I would never admit it.  

"Right now it's not the priority." I bring him back to reality. "The rogues were gone and here we are, a week later, under the biggest attack we've ever had. Something must have happened. I think we're going to have to go hunting again."

I grabbed my phone and d******d the dating app through which I communicate with Saphira. As we were not going to hunt anymore, we agreed to delete the application and consequently the evidence.

As planned, I change my nickname but keep the same profile picture so that she could recognize me.

I spent almost an hour looking for her profile but nothing. No yellow flower. She must not have created a new account.

A part of me is a little offended. Maybe she doesn't want to hunt with me anymore. Or maybe she is still sleeping.

Or maybe she was here tonight. I wouldn't know since I don't know her name or her smell and I never saw her wolf.

But if she was, she would have had the same thought like me and tried to contact me.

"What do you think Leo?"

But he doesn't listen to me, he only thinks about Alice, or at least her wolf, and imagines himself with her.

I sigh and shake my head. I won't get anything out of him and decide to go to bed, hoping that we won't have another attack that night.

The next morning, I see that I have a notification.

LAPIS-LAZULI: Cop you're not serious?

I'm relieved to see that she has reloaded the application and that she has managed to find me.

HANDSOME_4: So what? You chose another bluestone for your name, that's smart. We'll have to call each other by our new nicknames now :)

LAPIS-LAZULI: Never!

HANDSOME_4: What? I think it sounds good, Lapis and Handsome!

LAPIS-LAZULI: I'm going to stick my HAND in your face, you'll be less HANDsome I guarantee.

I laugh at her joke.

LAPIS-LAZULI: Why is there a 4?

HANDSOME_4: Apparently I'm not the only one who is handsome ;)

LAPIS-LAZULI: lol

HANDSOME_4: Are we going to have pizza tonight?

We always speak in code to make sure no one will ever know what we're doing.

LAPIS-LAZULI: Sure. Meet me at 11 pm where we first met.

HANDSOME_4: It's a date then. 

*****

As agreed, we meet again and we start hunting but the atmosphere is tense. We remain cordial but we joke less than usual. 

I don't know why she is so quiet but it doesn't bother me because all my thoughts are for Alice and that makes me very angry. I can't think of anything else.

Is she thinking about me? Is she going to reject me on Monday? 

"She's not going to reject us." Leo assures me.

"I'm sure she will. We've hated each other for decades. If we hadn't met Saphira, we would have rejected her immediately. But our relationship is proof that Red and Blue can get along. But Alice doesn't know that and she won't give us a chance." I tell him sadly. 

My heart sinks at the thought. I dreamed of the day when I will finally meet my mate with whom I will share the rest of my life. And it will never happen.

Saphira interrupts my thoughts. "I don't understand. There were so many of them during the attack. They have to be somewhere." 

"Maybe they're not staying in town now. We cleaned up last time. Maybe they went back to the hideout we found but didn't have time to do."

She nods and leaves in the direction of the abandoned building on the edge of town that we had seen during our last hunt.

Arrived there, we hide on top of a hill, 200 meters from the building. We observe no movement for almost 30 min. 

"Should we go to check? At least approach to see if it is squatted."

But before I can answer her, she abruptly moves away from me.

I am then pulled backward by four people who tackle me to the ground and hold me down.

Helplessly, I watch as Saphira struggles with a large wolf, which she easily gets rid of, but I see a group of people coming towards her at great speed. 

"Saphira!"

Her gaze falls on me and then she turns around without hesitation and heads for the nearest forest, followed closely by three men.

I try to struggle but it's useless. Here I am, alone in front of these rogues. 

"Well, well, well. Look who it is." Say one of them in a bad tone. "I recognize you and your sword."

I turn my gaze towards him and recognize the rogue who had escaped us the last time and called for backup, forcing us to run away. 

"The boss has some questions for you." He says, taking my sword from me.

They lift me brutally and take me to the building for an interrogation that I imagine will be tough. 

But after ten steps, the rogue on my right lets out a scream and collapses at my feet. I then see a dagger stuck in his back.

Taking advantage of the confusion, I struggle and manage to free myself enough to grab the dagger and kill the one in front of me while Saphira takes care of the other two.

But as soon as the fight starts, it's already over and I find myself again tackled to the ground by the reinforcements. 

They are very numerous but Saphira fights like hell. She fights as much as she can, receives punches and returns them immediately.

But a particularly strong rogue manages to give her a violent kick in the jaw, tearing off her scarf in the process. She falls flat next to me, grunting. 

With the tip of his foot, the one who hit her turns her on her back and his acolytes tie her up, just like me.

It's over. We're dead.

"I thought you had abandoned me." I simply say.

She turns her head towards me and for the first time, I see her. 

Her hair is as black as night and she has a delicate face. Her full lips make me want to run my thumb over them. 

She is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. 

But it is her luminous blue eyes that captivate me. I look right into her soul and feel the connection we share. 

"Alice!" Leo sighs.

She smiles sadly at me.

"I couldn't leave you behind."

Then I blackout.