The Skin Walker

14 | Et Skin Walker

"Saw the dark side of the moon to get to you."

Wolves Selena Gomez, Marshmello

R U T H

Crete Point was beautiful. Just like the rest of the land, trees stretched out for miles, reaching into the sky as if trying to escape the grounds. The autumn leaves were beginning to shed, indicating the start of winter. Still, flowers of multiple colours bloomed in the grass and hedges surrounding the road Ander drove through.

"Crete is an island in Greece," I uttered as we drove higher up the mountain. "I only remembered a few minutes ago. In Greek Mythology, it was the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis."

"Rueben would be impressed you know so much about his heritage," Ander sounded amused.

"Is it not your heritage, too?"

"On my father's side, it is. But my mum is Middle Eastern, and I take pride in that part of my heritage, too," Ander replied.

"What part of the Middle East?" I asked, holding a hand to unlock my seatbelt as we came to a stop.

"She's half Lebanese and half Egyptian," He answered briefly before getting out of the car.

I followed, remembering his words from half an hour ago. Ganymede used to reside in Egypt. His mother must've been part of Ganymede before coming here with her mate, Ander's father. Since Ganymede was practically gone now, I knew it troubled Ander to have half his family missing.

"Rueben wants to be alone with you today," He mumbled as we walked to the highest point of the mountain.

There was a clearing ahead, and I knew Rueben would be waiting there.

"Are you okay with that?" Ander made sure to look at me, most likely to make sure I wasn't lying when I replied, "Yeah."

We walked further into the clearing until I spotted Rueben standing with his back to us. He was peering over the mountain, to the view of his entire pack. Land surrounded the town, and I knew it spread out for acres and acres. He owned every bit of land visible, and beyond.

My eyes landed on Rueben's back and the black sweater he wore stretched around his back when I stared for too long. He knew I was here, but I continued looking anyway. Rueben's sleeves were rolled up to his forearms, revealing the various lines of veins trailing up his arms. A simple black band tied around his wrist along with a gold watch. He kept his hands tucked into the pockets of his jeans as he turned around.

The sun did wonders on his face, glowing the tan undertone of his skin. His hair was lighter, and his eyes seemed to have stolen some brightness from the sun as they gleamed at the sight of me.

"I have some business to attend to," Ander told me. I knew he meant he had more warriors to torture information out of. "You'll be okay?"

"Yes," I told him, keeping my eyes on Rueben.

The sound of Ander walking away prompted me to move closer to Rueben. He said nothing as I neared. I was still unsure of how to feel when I developed a tingling sensation at the pit of my stomach from the intensity of his stare as he studied me from beneath his lashes.

"Nice to see you clothed," I had no control of the words that escaped my mouth, and pursed my lips to stop myself from saying anything else.

Rueben sighed deeply as he gave me his back to look at the view over the mountain. I inspected his form again. His wolf was injured yesterday. I remembered the way Theodoros had limped, and the dry blood that coated his fur. Rueben's human form would've been hurt, too.