Adrian had been searching endlessly for the scent and the goddess his sister had spoken about. Her name was Luna. What a nice name she had! He had not expected to scent his mate before the mating season; he had thought he was different from the rest of the other crowned alphas, who found their mates pretty fast. His mate had a nice scent; the scent had been unbearable, but now he could not smell any bit of it. The scent was gone, and he wondered where she had gone.
He was in the woods now, walking towards a tree. He stopped. His wolf was growling lowly inside him, blaming him for missing the chance of getting their mate. Adrian glared at it; he knew the wolf was only trying to find their mate, like he was too. He wanted to know what she looked like; he wanted to mark her. Adrian cursed under his breath. What if she turned out not to be his mate? His wolf was great at perceiving, and the urge he had was too overwhelming to be ignored.
She was his mate, alright.
He glanced around the place; the scent had taken him into the woods. He still couldn’t find her anywhere, so he turned around to leave. He knew they were all going to be waiting for him at the festival. The side of his eyes caught a little clearing in the woods. He walked towards the clearing, bending over and kneeling on one knee. He scooped the sand into his hand and sniffed it. He returned the sand to the ground and looked forward to the pathway. He was glad the moon did a lot of good, making light for him to see through.
A footprint in the sand caught his attention, and his lips curled into a smile. Since the scent had brought him here and there was a footprint on the sand, that means his little mate had walked right through this path. He stood up and took the path. He looked around, trying not to miss a detail of the place. He wondered what she was doing in the woods; the Beta house was not located in the direction she was heading.
He kept on walking until he found himself in front of a lake. His jaw dropped in astonishment as he looked at the lake in front of him. There was a flower bed lying on the lake, and the moon was shining into the lake, making the water glow. The view was so beautiful that Adrian looked down on the ground and saw the same footsteps heading in the direction of the lake. He followed it until he was standing on the flower bed. His eyes kept scanning around the place for any sight of her.
The lake looks so intrusive that Adrian bent to take a peek. He saw something silver in the lake and stretched his hand to grab it. He held it in his hands and stared at it. It was the hem of a ripped dress, and she had been there. It was just a matter of time before he found her.
⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕
"That is impossible!" She shrugged after a long silence. "I don’t know you; you can’t be my mate."
He smiled at her, his lips curling up into a sneer. "Nice try, little kitten; mates don’t have to know each other before getting mated."
Luna glared at him in the darkness. She hadn’t expected to find her mate. Her father had said that she would find her mate, and it actually happened. Luna wondered why he had called her soul mate instead of her mate and why he hadn’t grabbed her by the throat and made her his by marking her. She was not sure what he really was since she could only see his eyes.
She hated the thought of someone digging their teeth into her skin and giving her a scar, all in the name of marking. Luna's crest pack also hosted a marking festival, but Luna was not interested in any part of the marking festival.
"You are not going to grab me and leave a huge scar on the side of my neck or shoulder?" She inquired, taking one step back.
"Marking you?" The words sounded like a statement instead of a question, and there was a glint of amusement in his voice.
"Yes."
A soft laugh echoed into the night. Luna wondered why he was laughing. She had not said anything funny, and he was finding it hilarious.
"If you are thinking about me marking you..." He leaned in. "You would be so disappointed, kitten, because I do not need to mark you to make you mine."
She could feel his breath on her face as he leaned in. "That is every werewolf tradition."
"Who said I was a werewolf?" He questioned himself, leaning even closer.
Luna's eyes widened. "What are you?"
"I am a vampire." He answered.
A vampire? She was mated to a vampire? Luna's head began spinning; she had always wanted to belong to the werewolf pack, and now she was mated to a vampire. She gulped down nothing in particular, and he leaned even closer, his eyes boring into hers. Luna could slightly see the shape of his face as he leaned closer. She could feel her heartbeat increasing as she stared at him.
‘Why are his eyes so attractive?’ She pouted.
He grinned at her. "My eyes had always been attractive, and why wouldn't they be when the owner..." He sighed. "Forget it; you said your father was going to be worried about you."
Wait! What? Realization suddenly hit her. How did he know what she was thinking about?
"I never said your eyes were attractive." She denied.
He stopped leaning, ignoring her question. He stood straight. "It is not safe in the woods; you have to leave."
As soon as the words had left his lips, his eyes darkened, and Luna felt the cold aura around him. It was like he had been angered by something. She stepped back, five steps away from him. He had gotten strange without anything happening, and she felt like she had done something wrong even though she clearly did not do anything. He turned away from her and took a step forward. He was going to leave. Just like that? A frown appeared on her face in a fast movement. Luna lurched at him, grabbing his hand. She spun him around to face her.
"You cannot leave me all alone in the woods, and I haven’t gotten your name. You are my mate, and you cannot leave without saying goodbye. You have to walk away properly." She snarled, her fingers slowly digging into his skin.
His eyes widened in astonishment as he stared at her. She had an angry look on her face, and he could feel her fingers on his skin. He wasn’t walking away from her; he was only leaving.
"I have the right to leave whenever I want to."
She smiled sourly. "Really? Fine, I am also leaving."
"I thought you didn’t want me to leave."
She ignored him. "It’s going to be hard being mated to a vampire."
"I thought so too." He agreed. "We aren’t on good terms with the werewolf."
"Yes."
"Do you plan to keep it a secret?" He asked.
"No. I am going to tell my father."
"I thought so too."
"Excuse me?"
"I guessed you were going to tell your father."
"Are you going to keep it a secret?" She asked.
He waved his head. "I don’t have to hide anything."
"We will meet again, right?"
"That is, if you do not kill me before then." He remarked.
"I am not..."
"You have your claws in my arm."
She stared at his arm and retrieved her hand.
"Sorry."
He rubbed his arm, feeling the injury her claws had left. Blood dripped out of it, slowly dropping to the floor.
"If there is nothing more to say, I have to leave."
"We will meet again, right?" She repeated her previous question.
"Yes," he answered.
She slowly backed away from him, saying, "Till then."
"You are not going to ask for my name?"
"What is your name?" She asked.
"Ashford, my name is Ashford."
"Ashford?"
The sound of a boot on the dried grass caught her attention.
"Luna? What are you doing there all alone?"
She glanced back and came into contact with her father. She smiled at him. Happy that he had actually shown up at the right time, now she could introduce her mate to her father.
"Father, I found my mate like you said."
"You found your mate?" He asked, not convinced.
She turned around to stare at Ashford. "He is standing right..." Her words came short when she could not find him anywhere.
"He was right here before you came." She muttered, glancing back at her father. "We were talking before you came."
Bartram looked horrified. "Luna?"
"I am serious; I found him. He was right here. With me. He was telling me his name."
Bartram glanced around the place, checking for anyone. He could not find the person his daughter was talking about."Luna, I can’t find anyone there.""Father…""You found him; that is what you said.""Yes, he was here."Luna watched the expression on her father’s face change to one of concern. She knew that with the way he was looking at her, he probably didn’t believe her."We have to leave now." Bartram urged. "I don’t want you to stay here any longer."Luna stepped closer to him. "You don’t believe me, do you?""I never said that." He defended. "We will talk about this later when we get to the pack.""Father…""You shouldn’t have come here. This is the border between werewolves and vampires.""I was…""No arguments; come with me."He grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him. Luna did not try to struggle. She tried to keep up with his pace as she glanced over her shoulders. She had not hallucinated him; she had touched him. She felt his skin and spoke to him; he was real. Rig
Luna glanced at her father. "He can’t be my mate." "Luna." He gave her a signal to keep quiet. "This is not possible." She whispered. "I can’t have two mates." Her father shot her a grin. "That means the probability that you imagined your first mate is high." He leaned in and whispered into her ear. "Now. Should I say I told you so?" No, you can’t; Ashford is real." Adrian watched the two dark heads argue; he could not hear what they were saying because they were talking so low, and the only sound he was hearing was like a bee buzz. Bartram was saying something, and his daughter was not agreeing to it. "You can’t say I imagined Ashford." Bartram ignored her words and placed a gentle arm on her shoulder. "This is the opportunity you have been waiting for, Luna. To be among the pack. To feel among them since you are Adrian’s mate. You will be Luna, and you are going to be accepted. Isn’t that what you always wanted?" "That’s what I want. Fine, but I am not going to throw Ashford
"Father doesn't want Adrian to make decisions just yet until he finds his mate. And now he already did," she answered. They stepped into a dark passageway, and Phoebe walked to the wall, turning on the light. Luna glanced around as Phoebe continued to lead the way. The house seemed to come back to life as they walked into it. "Do you want to see Adrian's room?" Phoebe asked. "No..." Phoebe pulled her away, cutting off her words, and dragged her along with her. Luna let herself be dragged as they were running into a tight passageway. It was dark, and Luna could barely see anything. She wondered why Adrian's room was going to be in such a place. Phoebe came to a halt when they reached the front of a large door. Luna glanced around the place and then at the door. "Here we are," Phoebe announced. "Adrian's room." Luna raised her brows. "Okay?" "We leave." "Excuse me?" "We leave," Phoebe repeated. "You brought me here so we could look at a door and leave?" "Yes and no. Adrian let
"You can't ask me to leave." Evelyn hushed. "You have no right to say that to me. Yes. Your Father was a pathetic loser, always supporting you when you did the wrong thing. That was what led him to his death, ignorance."Ashford's eyes turned dark; his father had been the only one who understood him and took good care of him. His father had listened to all he had to say and let him do whatever he wanted as long as it made him happy."He was better than you, even though you call him a pathetic loser."She smiled. "I know that, right?""What do you mean?" Ashford asked, his confusion evident.He had just said she was not as good as his father, and he agreed to it without saying a word about it."I agree with you; he was better than me, but I am smarter than him." She said."No. He was something you will never be.""No matter what you say, you are still going to get married to Diana. I don't care if you have found your soul mate or not. You still have to marry the woman I chose for you,
"You really know nothing about the werewolf traditions," Phoebe stated, glancing at Luna from head to toe.Luna gulped down nothing. Phoebe was really acting smart, as she had bragged. After scanning and visiting every room in the building, Phoebe decided to stay at the building's top and watch the view.She began talking about the traditions of werewolves, and Luna was only nodding to what she was saying. Until she finally noticed, Luna might not have known what she was talking about."Maybe. It's just a tradition; I don't usually keep those things in mind, and my father is always too busy to tell me all of it.""I was only kidding!" Phoebe laughed. "A werewolf has to know about all the traditions, and the marking season is near. You are going to be marked by my brother."Luna cringed at the word. She hated the fact that she was marked, and now that she had found Adrian to be her mate, she was going to be marked. She had found Ashford, and he said he wasn't going to mark her. She had
"I thought I was going to die from that fall. I never expected her to push me off the roof. I mean, we just met. I never did anything to her." Luna complained.Ashford's frown became harder. "Who exactly is she?"Luna opened her mouth to speak but paused. She wondered if she could tell Ashford about her having another mate apart from him. Telling him was going to cause trouble, and she would not be able to explain how she was mated to both a vampire and a werewolf. She waved her head. She didn’t want to tell him the truth now; it was too early, and she did not know what his reaction would be."A girl who is jealous of me." She lied.Ashford stared at her, his eyes locked on hers. "I think you are lying.""No. I am not." She denied."You are.""And how can you tell I am lying?" She questioned.He didn’t smile when he responded. "I just know.""You guessed?" She pouted. "Your guess was wrong."Ashford walked back to her, got on his knees, and held her leg in his hand. She yelled before
"Luna is missing!" Phoebe yelled, running toward the festival and holding her gown up. Alexa was slowly trailing behind her with a smug look on her face. She was glad Luna could not be found and hoped she was not going to ever come back. "She went missing after falling off the roof," Phoebe said. Bartram turned at the mention of Luna falling off the roof. Adrian stopped talking and glanced at Phoebe. "What do you mean by she fell off the roof?" Bartram asked, jumping to his feet. Phoebe rubbed her eyes; tears were threatening to fall from her eyes. "We were having a chat on the rooftop, and Alexa showed up. She pushed Luna off the roof." Alexa frowned. "I didn’t push her; she slipped." "You pushed her!" Phoebe yelled. "You did it intentionally." Alexa walked toward Adrian. "You don’t believe her, do you? I never did anything to Luna; she slipped." Adrian stared at Alexa, not knowing what to say. Everyone who could hear what was happening began murmuring. Bartram was on the e
Adrian stared at her, a shocked expression written all over his face. He wondered what he had done wrong. She showed up and claimed she was going to reject him."You can’t do that!" He yelled. "You can’t reject me."Bartram grabbed Luna by her wrist and excused himself. "I want to have a word with her."Adrian nodded, but Alexa was smirking. Phoebe looked horrified that Luna had said she was going to reject her brother. The T brothers, on the other hand, were only watching out for what was going to happen. Bartram dragged Luna to a corner, and before he could start talking, Luna began."I don’t think I can accept him as my mate; he never believed me or his sister when I told him his girlfriend pushed me off the roof.""His girlfriend?" Bartram was taken aback. "You mean Alexa?""Yes." She answered. "I am not willing to fight for a man; if she wants him, let her have him. She dares push me off the roof to kill me; I feel like casting a spell on her and making her ugly and disfigured."