Fur vs Skin | on hold

11.

↠C h a p t e r   E l e v e n↞
GREETINGS

❝Your eyes show the strength of your soul.❞

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       These 'elders' didn't look very elderly to me. They looked more of a group of early forty-year-olds, yet their eyes differed from what their looks gave off. I couldn't help the returned feeling of uneasiness as I was scrutinized beneath their gazes, unaware of their thoughts about me.

Marcus watches my reaction for a short moment before he turns back to the 'elders', and brings his attention to the first woman: Maarika. She still holds my gaze in an observing manner, trying to figure me out through the depths of my eyes, it didn't take much for me to avert my own and focus on the snow beneath my feet before finding someplace else to look.

The weight of her stare finally leaving my body causes me to sigh. Her stare unnerved me, it felt as if she was trying to tear into my insides and figure out what makes me what I am—looking around, the curious gazes of others betrothing in my place didn't help a single bit. The quietest of growls rumbles through the air from Arsen, the heat of his body passing through the layer of clothes as he moves to shield me as much as he could from the sight of the others. Once successful, he releases a small gruff.

I look over my shoulder and capture his gaze that looks down at me in a perplexed manner. The expression brought the space between his brows together.

'Adorable,' I thought, turning away.

I come to the sight of Marcus leaning to speak with Maarika.

"Η αύρα της μου βγάζει κάτι περίεργο," the woman speaks first, her tongue gliding effortlessly over their language.

Her aura confuses me, the words translate within my head without effort, somewhat startling me. I've sort of forgotten this "technique" of mine but quickly school my features when she cuts her gaze toward me again.

"Πως και?" Marcus responds.

'How so?'

"Δεν αξίζει να μπούμε σε λεπτομέρειες. Θα την προσέχω."

'It's not worth going into detail about. I'll be keeping an eye on her.'

I force myself not to break out into a cold sweat of nerves, my irises trembling with the notion of being watched, simply by the fact that I seemed unusual.

'Is it my face?' I couldn't help but think insecurely.

"Για ποιο λόγο βρίσκεσαι εδώ?"

'What's your purpose in bringing her here?'

"Ο Arsen την βρήκε μέσα στο δάσος, όχι πολύ μακριά από την καμπίνα μου." Marcus replies back, compassion etched on his face as if thinking deep into his thoughts.

'Arsen found her within the forest, not too far from my cabin.'

At his response, a scoff fills the slight silence beside the occasional chatter from the other beings around us. The noise belonged to the male adjacent to Maarika with the pepper and salt colored beard: a scowl marred his features as he studied me with a twinge of disgust.

"Ο άγριος βρήκε ένα αδέσποτο. . . Η παραμονή της δεν θα πρέπει να είναι μεγάλη, έχουμε αρκετά προβλήματα έτσι και αλλιώς."