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He shouldn’t need to run anymore and saw no other reason to stay in his four-legged form. She’d never stated it, so it was just an assumption, but he changed for her comfort.

“Your name is Ingram, yes?” Magnar asked. When he nodded, Magnar’s skull drifted over the forest behind them. “Where is your twin? The bat-skulled Mavka.”

The blue shift of his orbs was so swift and sudden that it cut down his spine like a blade of ice. He didn’t know why he averted his gaze down to the pretty female in his arms, but he just couldn’t look at anyone else right then.

“He is gone,” he stated, his tone so cold with sadness that it burned.

“Gone?” Magnar asked.

“A horde of Demons came,” he answered, looking down at icy eyes that crinkled into sorrow – for him. “I could not save him, and the Witch Owl would not let me. She protected me to stop us both from having our skulls destroyed.”

When Ingram did look up, he noticed both their orbs had turned the same blue as the one that filled his sight. Even the gazes of the three females around him shone with sorrow and perhaps... sympathy.

The one who looked the most saddened by that knowledge was the one who stood by Magnar.

He didn’t understand why any of the humans here, other than Emerie, would feel anything for Aleron’s loss. They did not know him, to know the world was less bright and beautiful without him.

“Faunus told me about you two,” Mayumi said, right before he felt her delicate and gentle touch on the rounded joint of his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I know you were inseparable, and that you must miss him greatly.”

This was the first time Ingram had properly spoken to Orpheus and Magnar, but he and Aleron had spent many days and hours with Faunus. He was their favourite Mavka because he’d always been willing to play with them and teach them new things. He’d always been patient with them and, on the odd occasion, had chosen to rest with his back against the outside of their kindred cuddle.

Faunus had been an outsider to them, but they’d never known that he’d truly... cared. Not enough to detail them to another like this female.

Was this the bond the Witch Owl had tried to explain to him? That, although he did not know them and did not stay by their sides, there was room for fondness between all Mavka because of who and what they were?

It was too much for his mind to take in right now. He had questions, but he didn’t know where to start or what they truly were.

“It is why we are here,” Ingram said as he slightly lifted Emerie.

He wouldn’t say it was fine or brush it off, when his chest always ached at Aleron’s disappearance.

“Before we get into that,” Mayumi said as she stepped back and removed her unfamiliar touch from him. “I need to go to Faunus. There is too much of Emerie’s blood here right now for us to stay, even if we’ve removed most of it.”

“She could probably use an actual bath,” Delora added, curling into Magnar’s side as she gestured to Emerie with her hand. “And some rest. She looks like she’s been running for days.”

“We have a spare bed,” Reia offered. “However, she’ll need to have a scent-cloaking bath. We don’t have a ward at our home, since Orpheus can’t place one down for another eight years. The salt circle is being broken a lot these days because of the number of Demons scouting, so we try to avoid bringing more upon us if we can.”

“Scent-cloaking bath?” Emerie asked, her brows furrowing.

Reia averted her green eyes as she rubbed at the side of her neck. “One of the Duskwalkers will have to wash you in order to push their magic into your skin and hide that you’re a human. But, I’m guessing all of us would be pretty uncomfortable with that. So, if Ingram would be will–”

“No,” Emerie quickly cut in. “I... can’t do that, sorry.”

Reia lowered her hand to shrug with it. “Then you won’t be able to stay with us, and no one else’s home has a spare bed.”

Ingram noticed that Emerie’s cheeks reddened as she squirmed slightly in his arms. He knew why she was against this. As much as he would have been delighted to do the spell on her, after learning if he could even do it, he didn’t argue with her.

“I can just sleep outside.” She gave a grin he knew was false. “I’ve been roughing and toughing it with Ingram for over two weeks. A few more days won’t do me any harm, so long as you give me a blanket. I’m a Demonslayer, so I’m used to sleeping outside in the elements.”

“There’s no need for that,” Mayumi said with a sigh, pushing back a few strands of hair from her face. She clicked her tongue. “We have a ward. Although our home won’t fit another Duskwalker, I do have the war tent I stole from Colt’s Outpost that we used while we were building. You can stay in there.”

It was like they knew Ingram would put up a fight if they tried to separate Emerie from him. Maybe it was the way he was currently holding her, or something they knew that he didn’t. Other than Mayumi, who was standing by herself, the other two Mavka were holding their females rather closely.

And they were definitely their females. He could tell by the marking scents that lay upon them.

Emerie’s eyes brightened as her lips curled more genuinely. She turned to Mayumi. “Really? I’d appreciate that.”

“Yeah, but you’ll still need a bath before you come over.”