Leah's POV
They had halls, more like cathedrals, and the town was like a marketplace, always busy, but quiet.
Their busy activities couldn't defeat the serenity of the environment. It was strange, wasn't it?
"The mage we're going to meet stays in that hall." Cristine pointed at a hall at our left, one of the biggest.
Some of the men and women had transformed into their wolf form, and were walking in and out of the building as though it was part of a process. I had noticed some of them walked down the stairs, walked back up, and sometimes strolled around without doing anything meaningful.
Cristine held my hand, walking in high spirits. She almost tripped down the stairs as her eyes had barely been focused on our path.
"You aren't watching!" My voice was almost a scream.
"I can't hold it in! You will get to understand why it's like this…" She placed her legs to cover three steps all at once.
My words hadn't gotten to her.
Some girls, perhaps of the same age range as Cristine and I, were carrying plates of food in trays to each door we could see, along the stairs. Cristine was salivating to the meal they carried past us, and she didn't hide it.
And then came the door of the mage we needed to meet.
"He is behind this door…" Cristine had taken up some amount of composure, staring at the door as though a god was inside.
"What's his name?"
It had just occurred to me to ask for his name, and my breathing seemed to be taking up pace, bit by bit. Who was I going to meet behind the door? What was so special about him?
"Logan… His name is Logan, but don't call it out. Calling him sir would be perfect, trust me." She cleaned her sweaty palms on her dress, the jovial look she had on her face seemed to have gone on break.
She wanted to turn the doorknob, but I held her hand. "Wait… What is the first thing we should expect of him?"
Was this anxiousness on my part? The urge to know everything that there was to know was starting to take over me.
"Do you want me to tell you how he looks? Or maybe tell you what he's going to say like I have seen it all?"
It was obvious I had asked a stupid question, and she was getting back at me.
"Sorry," I said.
"Leah… Just chill, we will go inside. We aren't expecting anything bad to happen." She rubbed her palms against my left hand such that my hand was in-between hers. "I understand, it's tension, and it's not the same as fear."
We were still outside the door. The mage must have heard us from inside, so I thought. It was awkward that we were standing so close to the door without going inside.
"Take deep breaths," she said.
She was also taking deep breaths. We were in the same state after all.
"Could you excuse me?" One of the girls who were carrying a tray of food came beside us.
"Sorry," we chorused, taking two steps away from the door.
"Please help me open it," she said.
And we were forced to do what had seemed hard to us. Cristine looked at me, urging me to open it, and at the same time I was asking her to open it. I thought she was brazing me up to open it, how come she couldn't?
"It doesn't bite," the girl said.
I had to open it.
Boom!
We followed her inside like we were matching to take part in a special ritual. We hadn't set our eyes on the mage. The girl carrying the tray of food kept it on the table, and just then our eyes caught sight of him just like he just appeared.
He was sitting cross legged on the floor with closed eyes, his hands touching each other. He was in a meditative state.
"I have guests?" He opened his eyes.
By then, the girl had gone to stand behind us.
"I think so, they entered with me, but I'm not sure what they want."
"Whatever, they should eat."
The girl left with the tray, locking the door behind her, and leaving us alone with the mage. My eyes first took a quick scan of the large room that looked like a hall. The walls had drawings on them, the drawings of wolves and humans.
I didn't quite understand what they meant.
The far end of the room had a large mirror that was large enough to give me a full view of my body.
The room was just too quiet due to the kind of walls it had.
"You came to see me?" He asked us, taking a full spoon of grain and porridge into his mouth.
We nodded, we didn't speak.
"Come on, sit."
He looked young, and his features were similar to Gerald's. They were about the same height, tall. But their hair color was different. Gerald had brown hair, while his hair was grey. That gave him the vibe of an old man even though it was obvious he wasn't. Maybe he was, and I couldn't tell at that point.
"You would have to eat first before we talk," he said.
I would have loved to ask him about the drawings on the wall, how the wolves' drawings and that of humans flowed along, but I didn't. That could only be something strange about mages.
The door opened, and the girl who had brought food to him came inside. She has carried the same tray, but this time, the food was for two.
"Enjoy." The girl smiled at us.
The smile was too creepy.
"Thanks, but I wouldn't be eating," I said.
Cristine was already eating, not minding that I wasn't.
Thirty minutes had passed and nothing had happened. It was feeling tense within me. The mage's eyes were to the mirror, not paying attention to us, and for the first moments, we weren't sure if to go straight to the point or wait for him to ask us.
"Mage?" I called him.
He turned to face me. "I'm Logan, call me Logan and nothing more."
I nodded, trying to slow down my breathing. His aura had filled the room at this point.
"I have come because of Alpha Gerald… I feel there's a lot to know about him… So many secrets that I need to know…"
His face twitched, and didn't seem as friendly as before.
He got closer to me, his fingers pointing directly at me, and a piercing gaze. "Are you Alpha Roshan's daughter? The girl who recently became Alpha Gerald's mate?"
"Yes… Yess… That's me…"
I had begun to feel that something was wrong, but I wasn't sure what it was. Was it because I mentioned Gerald?
"Are you sure you want to do this?" He walked away from me, going to stand before the mirror.
My eyes met Cristine's, and she was gesturing for me to say "yes". My whole body was starting to sweat as though I was about to sign a contract that involved everything about my life.
"Yes…" I forced myself to say, suppressing all the thoughts I had in mind. "I'm sure about this?"
Logan turned his face away from the mirror to look at me. A sinister smile formed on his face.
"What about the process of it? Can you go through it?"