Ever since we entered the mine, something is definitely wrong with Ghost, though he managed to carry me in his arms carefully, he had a distant look in his eyes and answered inaudibly when I asked him if he's okay.
He began muttering all sorts of stuff which I don't understand and soon he started to stagger while walking.
Um.
I should probably get down.
Good thing that he stopped when I told him to place me down on the ground.
He suddenly collapsed in which I managed to catch his head, preventing it from hitting the ground.
What's wrong with him??!!!
He doesn't seem to have a concussion and the bleeding on his head isn't that much as it turns out it was just a minor wound.
If only I have my stuff around here!
I don't remember who carried my bag but Ghost definitely is not the one who carried it as we don't have any bags here.
But looking at Ghost, he seems to be in some sort of nightmare.
He began tossing and turning, sweating rapidly and crying out all sorts of stuff that doesn't make any sense at all.
His nightmare seems like he is relieving a traumatic memory of his.
Soon he began punching the air, almost hitting me on the face in which I nearly slapped him but I managed to control myself. I tried waking him up to no avail.
Wait.
Don't tell me.....
Some demonic beings use nightmares to trap, feed on or capture creatures. There's a huge chance that there is a demonic entity being around me as I already saw some remains earlier while we were on our way here.
Despite the fact that I can't see them, seeing Ghost suffering from a nightmare is a sign of their presence. Lucky or unlucky for me that the pain from my wounds and legs kept me from being influenced by their power.
While I was trying to calm down, Ghost started to yell some things in which I eventually realized that he is dreaming about the time when he was forced to fight for his life back then.
Soon he began crying as he mentioned my name, telling all sorts of things that he wanted someone to kill him instead as he doesn't want to fight me.
He clutched his chest, breathing rapidly in which I realized that the demon entity is trying to kill him inside his nightmare.
My legs hurt as it was broken and not yet healed but Ghost's life is much more important which is why I crawled closer towards him as he is a bit distant from me due to him being restless while having a nightmare.
It is at this time I began praying all sorts of prayers that the heavens will give me adrenaline as the pain in my legs is starting to get unbearable. It doesn't help that a lot of my wounds are opening due to my movement though I can bear the pain from my wounds.
As Ghost's life is at stake here, I gritted my teeth and tore off more of my dress as I tied up some parts of my legs and ankles. Since I can't walk, crawling will be my means of moving around so I wrapped up my elbows and knees with the cloth and continued crawling towards Ghost.
I reached him just in time as he began to clutch his throat and tried to choke himself. With great effort, I pulled his hands away from him and placed it on his chest then sat on it.
Despite my discomfort, I concentrated instead on comforting him, caressing his hair and nuzzled his cheek, coaxing him to open his eyes while telling him that he is safe, it was just a bad dream and that I'm here with him.
Desperate, I began nuzzling and caressing his face as I felt that he is trying to remove his hands.
After a few moments of struggling and me whispering words of comfort in his ear, he started to calm down and breathe normally.
I caressed his hair as I gently told him to rest in which he has a soft smile on his face as he whispered that he doesn't mind having a dream like this.
His hand reached out towards me in which I held it with my hands as he murmured words that I can't understand but my name is mentioned more often.
I wish I could understand him as I'm curious to know why he kept mentioning my name.
But soon he fell asleep. I can feel that he has a good dream this time as he has a happy look on his face.
Ow.
Now I'm the one who doesn't have a happy look on the face as the pain in my legs are getting intense.
....
As I was contemplating on what to do next, I heard the sound of shuffling footsteps nearing towards us.
What should I do if it's a monster?
I can't walk and Ghost cannot fight for now.
It turns out that it's Alpha.
I was about to happily greet him when I saw his eyes having the same look like Ghost earlier.
Not again!
To my dismay, he collapsed on the ground farther from me.
At this point, my legs are in bad shape but I have to help him. I don't want anyone to die in front of me especially if they are dear to my heart.
I crawled towards him in which I noticed him growling angrily.
Good grief.
I hope he doesn't attack me as I'm trying to save him.
Finally, I managed to reach him and started to comfort him. His eyes are closed though he kept talking about all sorts of things.
Like Ghost, his nightmare is a traumatic experience of his past though I'm not familiar with it.
He kept calling out several names, many of which made him cry out bitterly.
I listened to him as he began to apologize to them, telling them that he couldn't save them though he promised to take revenge.
Okay, now I'm getting invested in his story.
I regretted that I haven't spent much time with him as despite him being my secondary mate, I don't know much about him even though he kept telling me how beloved I am to him and how he already fell for me before becoming part of the pack.
Curiously, I don't remember how we first met even though I kept trying to recall all the memories I have with him. I just remembered him being with me exploring the territory while I was in my werewolf form.
Before that, nada. I also can't understand why he recognized me when we first met at the palace when he hasn't seen my human form as we were together in my werewolf form.
I kept thinking about these things until I soon forgot about it eventually.
But now, I'm reminded about it once more as I'm more curious about Alpha as he didn't tell me much about him or I just didn't ask.
Stupid me.
I should treat him better. He is very kind and patient to me, always seems to know what I'm thinking though the expression on my face usually gives it away.
I caressed his hair and his face, noticing that he is starting to relax then eventually began whining.
He is like a dog.
And it doesn't help that his tail soon began to wag slowly.
I giggled as I continued to caressed his face, speaking words of comfort in his ear and nuzzling on his neck in which tears started to fall on his cheeks.
Oh.
I wondered what happened to him in the past before we met each other.
He murmured all sorts of things most of which I can't understand but one thing that stood out is when he mentioned the Chieftain Monarch.
Despite the fact that he is the heir, he isn't the offspring of the Chieftain Monarch though I'm curious to know why he mentioned him and snarled after.
I hope that it's not some sort of horrible story.
As I'm curious to know, I tried to embrace him with great difficulty as he is bigger than me in size and holding his upper body made me grimace as he is quite heavy that at the end, I just placed his head on my lap.
How tall is he exactly?
Now I'm not really sure but he is way taller than Lion. He is the tallest among the pack which made a lot of creatures shocked upon knowing that he isn't the Alpha in the pack though after learning that Lion is the Alpha, they aren't shocked anymore.
It goes to show that being bigger or taller isn't everything.
I felt the hair on the back of my neck standing up when Alpha suddenly mentioned about how he wanted to kill the Chieftain Monarch after the Chieftain Monarch conquered his former territory, forcing him to submit and try to move up the ranks.
Shush!
Someone might hear us!
That's treason!
I guess I have no choice.
I held his face as I kissed him gently, speaking reassurances to him despite me sweating profusely after his shocking confession.
Good thing he started to calm down and after I sang a short comforting song to him, managed to fall asleep with a relaxed look on his face.
Now I felt like my head is about to burst.
All sorts of thoughts are in my mind right now as after hearing Alpha's unexpected confession made me want to learn about his past. I don't want to ask him directly as I might trigger his trauma as it took quite a while to calm him down.
Arggghh!
Now I have so many things to think about.
The conspiracy in the palace, the demons, high council, the thing the demons are looking for, my safety, everyone's safety and now Alpha's confession.
As Alpha and Ghost are safe for now, I hope that I might not hear more unexpected confessions as Orm, Sly and Lion are still not here.
If only I can see the demonic entity who caused this nightmares as I will really whack them in the face.
....
While I was busy contemplating how Alpha looked different when I was with him in my werewolf form, Orm finally showed up.
Like Ghost and Alpha, he soon became like them, trapped in a nightmare.
At this point, I wanted to scream obscene words towards the demonic entity as I have to crawl towards Orm.
I don't want to look at my legs anymore.
My body is covered in dirt, especially my arms and knees. There are several cuts and bruises on my arms, making it look more horrible as I already have wounds all over it because of what happened to me at the pleasure house.
Still, their lives are more important to me than my appearance.
I can worry about my appearance later.
Thankfully, Orm didn't need much comfort as he tried to fight back in his nightmare, making his tail swishing all over like he's trying to hit somebody. But when ice shards started to appear on his hands, I immediately kissed him on his cheek, instantly calming him that he soon began chuckling and calling out my name in a teasing voice.
I'm not in the mood for teasing as I'm exhausted and in pain.
He loves hearing me singing so I sang to him while caressing his hair, making him hum the tune along though he seems to be still in a dream.
As long as it isn't a nightmare then it's fine.
....
It took quite some time before Lion and Sly appeared at the same time.
I'm getting irritated at this point as my body felt too painful to crawl.
Good thing that they didn't end up like the others as Sly is a dragon, having immunity against situations like this and Lion has already several immunities that he placed on himself.
They looked aghast upon seeing me in which I told them about everything what happened except for Alpha's confession and what Ghost and Orm said during their nightmare as I don't want any further discussion for now.
Sly instantly held me in his arms while Lion performed some kind of spell around us that we soon heard an ear splitting shriek then silence.
After much fussing from Lion and Sly about the sorry state of my body, especially my legs, Lion used his magic to make some sort of a pool.
I insisted that I can bathe myself when I saw them removing their clothes yet they kept on telling me that they will help me bathe. I can feel myself turning red as all sorts of perverted thoughts began to fill my mind.
This is so erotic.
But right now is not a good time!
I tried not to look at their bodies as I concentrated on removing my own clothes by myself, speaking the sutras inside my mind in another language while a small part of my thoughts are recalling the reverse harem smut novels that I read a long time ago back in my previous world.
Turns out that I was just too perverted in my thoughts. Sly washed my hair while Lion gently washed away the dirt that is on my body, tenderly scolding me that I made a lot of my wounds dirty and worse.
After that, Sly combed and braided my hair while Lion is busy putting all sorts of stuff on my wounds and bandaged them, asking me if it's not too tight in which I reassured him that it's not, making him kiss my forehead and saying all sorts of comforting things as he used his magic to make a new dress for me.
After that, Sly carried me in his arms while Lion performed a spell that woke Orm, Alpha and Ghost up.
They learned what happened to them though I didn't tell them what they said in their nightmares.
After thanking me, they tried to check the current state of my wounds and legs in which I told them that Sly and Lion already took care of me, making them sigh in relief.
We continued exploring the inside of the mine, making Lion and Orm use their magic from time to time as they don't want something like what happened earlier to repeat again.
I snuggled against Sly, making him nuzzle my head as he asked me if I'm in pain. I told him that I experienced discomfort in my legs in which he told me to drink his blood despite the fact that we know that my wounds won't heal. Still he bit his forearm, making me drink his blood as he told me that there's no harm in trying again.
As expected, my wounds didn't heal after drinking his blood. I comforted him after seeing him about to cry, telling him that I'm thankful that he tried to heal me despite knowing that it will fail again.
I nuzzled on his chest and listened to his heartbeat as he started to hum a tune softly.
Then suddenly, I heard everyone stopping in their tracks and gasping in surprise that instantly, I looked towards where they are staring at in which I saw numerous amounts of fire crystals and all sorts of treasures scattered all over the walls, ceiling and on the ground.
Oh my goodness!