3.EH Ghost

I howled from the bottom of my lungs and then jumped down from the boulder I was standing at. I landed in front of Donghae protectively and growled. The woman in long dress screamed in fear. I barked twice at her, which made her run away. She dipped her feet into the rill, I heard the water splash on her. I smelled blood too, she could have cut her bare legs or arms, I wanted to follow her but Donghae called my name.

“Don´t follow the ghost!” He told me with fright in his eyes. Ghost?

“That was no ghost, Donghae,” I snorted. Is he serious?

“If she was only a woman, why would you snarl at her?” He argued. Good point.

What can I say, although I was quite disappointed by this new Donghae, it was still Donghae. The only human I would risk my life for, the only human I allowed to pet me, the only human I ever called a treasure. I didn´t care if it was a wild beast or a wild woman, nobody would touch my Donghae. But I was too embarrassed to tell him that, I didn´t know how to cope with that rough side of him. Therefore, I chose to sweep the issue with a joke.

“Her dress was really unfashionable,” I shook my head, the silver fur bristling. But Donghae didn´t laugh and I sighed. Whatever.

“Where have you been? I thought you went hunting but you came empty-handed,” Donghae whined. I saw he was putting something into his bag, it was the silver axe I bought him at Yesung´s. Partially I felt happy that he still had it, but I was also worried. Did he pull it out because he was afraid? I shouldn´t have left his side. I made a mistake right at the beginning.

“I only went to scoop. I don´t know these lands that well, so I wanted to look around a little,” I told him, settling in front of the fire in my human form. I left out the fact that I wanted to clear my head. Some time for myself to understand Donghae´s behaviour. I think it could be described as feeling sulky for being rejected last night. We used to sleep together all the time, I felt calmer when I had Donghae on my fur. I guess this issue won´t leave my mind that easily.

“Don´t be careless, Eunhyuk,” Donghae only remarked, refusing to look at me. I stayed silent, it was just unbelievably awkward between us. It seems that three years apart were too long of a break. I couldn´t but feel that this time around, Donghae only wanted to find the city of gods, this time he wasn´t interested in adventures or in me. Perhaps, I shouldn´t have been looking forward to the journey so bad.

Even with the ghost incident, Donghae didn´t ask me to sleep next to him. I swallowed my pride and curled against the boulder. The next morning, we began walking toward the borders, we cut it short through the country we were currently in and headed for the capital of the richest country on the Middle. I had an acquaintance there that I wanted to visit. His help could be crucial for our next steps.

“He will be waiting there?” Donghae asked the moment we crossed the borders.

“Yeah, or he might arrive shortly after,” I told him, scanning his expression. Is he asking because he doesn´t want to be alone with me?

“Great!” Donghae grinned, I only scrunched my nose.

This small country might have felt very foreign to Donghae. It wasn´t too far from his own home, therefore there were things he knew, animals and trees or flowers. Yet, everything looked like from a picture book. Clean, perfectly cropped and shining. Even farmers were dressed in blue cotton shirts with black buttons as if they weren´t on their way to the stable but rather to church. Okay, that was a little exaggerated, but you understand the picture. It was just this obvious that the country was rich.

Of course, before we entered the main gate to the capital city, I straightened my clothes and shifted my belt so the silver would be more visible. I didn´t have to feel embarrassed since I paid a great amount for those clothes at Yesung´s. The main purpose of my leather coat, though, wasn´t showing off here but looking good in front of the people I knew. Whatever, I sighed for myself, let it go, Eunhyuk.

The market place was crowded and I felt uncomfortable because it was just so easy to lose Donghae in a place like this. In past, I used to hold his hand but now I was hesitating, he wouldn´t let me hold his hand. While walking, I kept turning around and checking for the brown mop behind me. But as expected, before we reached the end of the square, Donghae disappeared.

“Donghae?” I panicked. Right, left, right, left. He was nowhere to be seen.

“Hey, Ruminant!” All of a sudden someone called and I felt like it was about me.

“Kyuhyun?” I began looking for the tall man that, indeed, was present on the market place. But to my delight, next to the rude hunter was standing my Donghae. Thanks god.

“Donghae, I was worried,” I told him quietly, ignoring the hunter.

“About what?” Kyuhyun laughed. “Donghae seems to be a hitman of his own. Look at those arms!” The hunter was also surprised by the new Donghae but compared to me, he got used to it quickly.

“Still,” I muttered. Still, it was just Donghae.

“Sungmin is not coming?” Kyuhyun then asked. “I thought it would be just like the old times.”

“No, he got married,” I answered, “I also hoped he would come.”

“I didn´t congratulate him,” Donghae whined, “we should have bought him a present or something.”

“I did,” I said. Two pairs of angry eyes glared at me. “I wrote that it was from us all,” I quickly added, looking down at my shoes. I thought I would feel comfortable with these people, but I didn´t feel any less disregarded as when I was travelling with merchants.

“What´s with that face,” Kyuhyun snorted, “since when is the great morpheles a pushover?”

“What did you say?” I barked. But quickly turned away, not here in the market, not here in front of Donghae. Keep calm.

“The great silver wolf, was it?” Kyuhyun continued, jabbing Donghae´s ribs. I gritted my teeth. I swear if Donghae laughs at me too, I´m going to bite. “Ah, it´s because Donghae is now bulkier than you? No wonder, I would be afraid too in your place. Even before he had you on the leash.”

“Kyu,” Donghae scolded but not really sternly.

“Shut up, Sprinter,” I snarled, reminding him of the incident in North.

“Are you mad? Donghae, you should put a muzzle on that snout,” Kyuhyun smirked. At that point I was about to lash out, Donghae would want to stop me. I was afraid he would say something cold to me but I was the great silver wolf no matter what and I couldn´t let a kid like that joke around with me.

“Hyuk!” Donghae called and I froze in my place. But then I looked into those deep eyes that were smiling at me. “Don´t let him bother you, we all know, who is the strongest.” And then he rubbed me behind my ear and I closed my eyes at the blissful feeling. Finally, I felt comfortable. Not even minding that I was in my human form.

Asa! I decided to update this week twice. I´m not sure if I can manage on Monday, tho. It depends on the wifi... So, Kyuhyun joined the group like in the past. I will let you in for a spoiler: the members that didn´t appear during the first journeywill appear now :P Are you ready? Also, is there any Taiwanese reader here? Thank you for reading, commenting and take care!!- PandaHero