Kevin’s POV
“Where have you been?” Ella said as soon as she saw me walk into the bedroom.
I had been worried about waking her up for the trip and disturbing her sleep but I shouldn’t have worried. I was relieved I wouldn’t be disturbing her though seeing her awake already didn’t make me happy. It meant that she had barely slept again.
“Another nightmare?” I asked, afraid of what the answer was.
She smiled as she shook her head. “No. I woke up when I couldn’t find you beside me.”
“I’m here now.” I smiled as I moved forward to give her a kiss on the head.
“Yes, you are.” She smiled. “You don’t have to make us stay here because of me. I’m sure I can deal with the nightmares. The men who want to be home shouldn’t have to suffer and kept waiting because the mate of their alpha is going through a phase. I will be stronger, Kevin, for myself and everyone else.”
That was my girl. I smiled at the strength and spirit in her.
“I know you are strong, mate, and I would be a fool to doubt that but this is not something you can deal with on your own.”
“What do you mean?” She asked, sitting up in bed.
Someone knocked on the door.
“Come in.” I called out, knowing it was Liam.
“You called for me.” He said as he walked in.
“It’s good that you came in now. I don’t have to repeat myself.”
I told the two of them of what Grimley had told me. Ella had her mouth open when I was done.
“It wasn’t a future premonition?” She asked.
“It wasn’t.” I confirmed.
She exhaled. “I’m glad. I’ve been worried sick I might be used to make you miserable.”
“Nothing of such will happen, Ella.” I assured her. “You are my strength and joy.”
“Alpha Kevin!” Grimley called from outside.
“We have to go.” I said and walked out with the two of them by my sides.
“He will take you there.” Grimley said the minute we were out, pointing down at the boy who had taken us to our rooms that night we had arrived.
I was tempted to ask if the boy was the official messenger but kept quiet. The walk was silent as we walked after the boy. Thirty minutes later, we got to a wide clearing where an only hut stood there.
For a moment, I thought of the consequences Grimley had talked about and wondered if the man was a leper as he lived alone and no one wanted to take the risks he took.
I was worried Ella was going to have to deal with such dire consequences and thought of going back without seeing the old man. She had had to deal with criticism before from the pack because she was mute. She didn’t have to go back a leper and earn another level of their disdain.
“Master Tory, you have visitors.” The boy peeked into the hut and shouted.
“Let them in.” He replied from inside.
I sighed. We couldn’t leave now. That would be rude.
“You can go in.” The boy said, bowed and walked away, leaving us to our fate.
The first thing I saw when I got in was the huge and deep scars on the old man’s face. It explained why he lived alone and far away from the others. It would be uncomfortable to have people stare at him anytime they see him with the way I was doing.
I broke my gaze away from him and cleared my throat. “I’m sorry.”
He smiled and waved my apology away. “I’m used to it. It’s the price I had to pay to not see the horrible slave mark on my skin. I can see the lady has it. Is that why you are here?”
He was intuitive. “Yes.” I nodded.
“Sit.”
We sat down on the chairs he pointed to and waited for him to speak when he was ready.
“You can only get the mark off your skin when you rub the leaves of the Arok tree on it and the tree only grows in the Guchemba jungle.”
“How far is it to here?”
“It’s not far from here but the jungle is forbidden. That is why we are camped here because we expect no one to travel in this direction. The story of the Guchemba jungle and its surroundings mountains and rivers is told to everyone in the utopia town that no one thinks of leaving town and coming close to this place. I bet the men were shocked to see you.”
They had been but I wasn’t in the mood to recount the story. I only nodded.
He continued. “I used to think that the story was being told to keep people away from going in search of the potion to rub off the slave marks but had a change of mind when I went inside and almost died, coming back with these scars as trophies of the battles I fought in there.”
“Which battles?” Liam spoke up.
“You will know when you get in there.” He smiled. “Do you still want to go? A year is actually short if you think of it. The nightmares would be done with if you are patient.”
Do I still want to go? Yes. I looked at Ella to know what her thought was.
“Ella?”
She nodded. “Yes, I want to go. I hate the sight of this mark.” She hissed, glaring at her wrist.
The old man’s smile became wider. “Good. You will need this.” He said, checking through the drawer at his side and handed us a map.