"Looks like your dogs can't tame you whenever this happens," he provokes. All of them are barking at us.
Slowly, I bend on my knees and he follows. He pulls me to recline on him, still locking me in his arms, while he's leaning his back on the door. His breathing is tickling my nape as he carefully pulls my sleeve down.
"What are you doing!?"
"The same old sedative." My berserk reduces as he freezes my bite mark. "You should pay me for this job."
All I could do was cover my face under my hair. "I want this to be over... This..."
"I know right, it's killing you." He smears his thumb on my cheek and expands his hand in front of my face. "It's bleeding this time."
I smeared my blood on his palm and upon doing so, I found my hand partially wrinkled. The curiosity automatically made my hand grope my face resulting in my sigh. When Afvshaganifs notices I'm not resisting, he loosens his arm. I'm still surprised as he lifts me in his arms and lays me down on the bed. Impatiently tapping his toe on the floor on his seat, he spins the cigarette in his fingers.
My Chihuahua licks my pale fingers as I raise my face. The aching bite mark may be diminished but the strength it drained from me cannot be retrieved in an instant, leaving me like a bedridden adult lady!
"So let me ask you, lady. You came here to heal with your mate but you never talked about him ever since you flounced your way here."
"Hessuel is not here in this town. My son told me he left to find a doctor... probably for his bite mark, too."
"The worst bad timing of all time."
"It's... It's my children whom I saw this time. They can supply my strength again, however, from what happened in our reunion, the bitemark reacts negatively. I need them but that won't be met unless they... accept me. I don't want them to hate me! It wasn't my intention to freak them out—"
He inserts the cigarette into my mouth. My Chihuahua bites his wrist but he traps the poor dog in his arms to cuddle back on his seat. "You don't need ears to yell at them how much you care. All you need is to show it. You have all the chances from now on to prove that and they are not adults yet that will throw you their grownup grudges, young ones are bendable. Don't sweat it and get drunk to boost your audacity."
"..." I plucked the cigarette and blew smoke. "I can't believe I'm hearing that from you."
"Because that's what I show you, right?"
"Thanks... for always taking care of me."
"..." He stares at me as a response and I'm returning that glance. "And? Don't you have first aid for an aching bite mark?"
"What? This is not a common injury."
"What will tame the undying desire?"
"Satisfaction, of course."
"That's all that has to be done?"
"Yes."
"Wouldn't it be half satisfying if someone else filled the empty space?"
"Wow. You're surprisingly cooperative."
"Gladly. But don't act a fool."
I sighed. "I hate to say this but yes, a werewolf can be taken away from its mate if a third party constantly supplies the shortcomings of its partner. On the other hand, if a werewolf's mate died, the bitemark will kill their sexual urges—turning them into asexual beings 'til death unless the moon will mate the werewolf into another worthy werewolf. The moon draws fate as always."
"I heard enough." He removes his coat and loosens his shirt. I knew this would happen anyway. He positions himself above me. "I'll gladly supply you with the lack of your mate."
I blew smoke at his face, snapped, and uttered the signal, "Children." My 7 dogs enlarge into regal humans, yanking Afvshaganifs back to his seat, and surround him—Five leads them.
"Ah, of course, you have bodyguards."
"And what kind of woman do you think I am? an additional accessory among your other accessories? I'm not a man's collection. I am more than a ruby to be touched by another woman's," I glanced at him from head to toe, "paramour. It's a shame to disgust myself that way."
"You think I will? You are the very first woman who put me out of my ship. And you may be my only Queen."
"I am engaged. I have a mate. Do not invest such a fragile feeling in the hand who shall shatter it."
"I do like you anyway," he confides confidently. "Having a wolfy claim on you doesn't mean I should stop pursuing you."
I tapped my forehead. "Oh, goddess, save my mind."
...
...
(Hessuel's POV)
We followed the point where Acro landed. On top of a hill, we beheld the beautiful and empty city of Plandreas. The sky may be nice... but the silence whispering in the atmosphere of Plandreas turns off every ounce of excitement within me. All my hopes of crossing my limit went down as we walked in the middle of the dead city, although such hopes can be made possible by bad news but never had I expected as bad news as this.
The two pishnies accompanying us are the only noise coming from our company. After all, we cannot understand what they're saying.
"Over there," Hrista points at the abandoned construction of the palace. "I remember a bomb fell there during the incident. Most of us left the city after that tragedy. I never knew what happened next, all I know is we were hunted."
"And the people here?"
"I know not, Alpha."
I look at the empty scenic of the road and how pitiful it is for a beautiful city to be tangled with forsaken plants residents used to flourish. "It's reasonable to leave the place of our painful memories. It's a natural part of moving on. But..." I looked up at the clear sky with my eyes closed. I suddenly shrank before her for suspecting her now that she was telling the truth! "But if this city is emptied, where did Dandeline go...?" I whispered to the wind.
I looked in the direction of Dachologie Vil. before I heard Hrista say, "It was so sudden that many people died. To think that she vanished that day may lead us to a conclusion that she was among them... although there was no news about her. She probably goes somewhere else, to make it optimistic."
I walked toward the scent of her house, however scant that smell is.
"Where are you going?" she asks—with a stuttering voice of impatience.
I looked at her over my shoulder whilst keeping my pace. "She will leave a note if she truly had a plan of going somewhere else," I determined and I caught her stiff nod as a response. I kept my face in front of me when I almost bumped into a street pole! I saw Acro inside an abandoned house coincidentally and she was digging into cookies on the table. The pishnies came to feast with her.
"How mysterious... As if the people forsook this city in a snap." I perceived it while looking around the messy house. An attempt to recover was evident with the constructions but... even the useful appliances they could take for migration were abandoned, nor did they ever budge their properties before they left. I pulled Hrista out of the house immediately and proceeded to the island of Dandeline's house.
No one is inside judging from what I saw through the window. I shove the door, booted, and shook it but it won't open. Acro is walking with the pishnies when she says ["Knock. Pervert."]
I knocked thrice, we first heard the click of the doorknob from the inside, then the door opened on itself. I glanced at Acro with confusion. "How did you know?" I questioned and she idly hooted at me. I almost forgot that this house is magical even from the moment we stepped inside. This house isn't dusty compared to the other houses.
"Is this where you lived with her?"
"No. This is her home... where we're supposed to..." I failed to finish my sentence as my sight crossed the rooms and picture frames. It became a bitter scenic. I search throughout the house with their help to find any helpful letter to find her. But it seems she never thought to do that. My search ended in her room wherein I propped my hands on the bed and dramatically lied down, diving into her sweet scent.
"Alpha?" I heard Hrista after two knocks. "I can't find anything."
"There's no way she wouldn't leave anything for me."
"By all means, unless she can't?"
"What are you implying?"
"Alpha, accept it! There's a higher chance that she's dead."
I jerked up and walked toward her whilst confronting her. "But what if she's not dead?"
"Then she probably appeared and saved us for the past 5 years! Did she ever appear to thee!? Did she ever come to thy home? You should consider that her disappearance is similar to her being dead."
"No. She can't be dead. I know it!" I rushed down the stairs and kept stating her opinion—an inkling fact I cannot accept.
"Alpha! If thou are still doubting then look at thy bite mark."
"That's why I have to see her before this bitemark could kill me! What else can I do? Nothing! But to find her in every island of this world." And then I walked out of the house. I stopped midway to look at the sky again, pressing my left arm while making loud breathing.
She can't be dead. Our last moment here can't be the last... even though the only traces of her lead me to her grave. I breathe aloud once more.
I stared at the ponytail on my left wrist, never had I thought that this will one day turn into a doleful relic. I sensed Hrista approaching behind me, behaving around me before she speaks, "I admit my imprudence, Alpha. I didn't mean to goad thee. What... should we do now?"
"I can't conclude with a plan for now. Let's just go back..." We rode the boat again going to the other side. Part of her apology is to volunteer for paddling no matter how much I insist on doing the role. We're in the middle of the lake when I asked her, "What do you know about the bite mark?"
"It's a sanctimonious claim on your beloved, a symbol of your love."
"That's all I know, too."
"Moreover, it can be a curse once the demands of the bitemark were betrayed."
"Am I betraying the bitemark?"
"Thy case might be different. The deterioration of thy wounds caused by the bitemark may also mean the death of your mate. I've seen victims like thee and died eventually due to depression or lassitude."
I sighed. "I can't die. I have kids."
"Some survived."
"How?"
"They find a new mate."
"..." A momentary silence along with the processing of my brain happened in the next scene. I just find it difficult to believe that werewolf love is more deadly and complicated! And to think I had a sensual past with Hrista... makes me uncomfortable with this conversation.
"I'll take it..." I volunteered for paddling again but the second I stood on my feet, the world swirled whilst every sound coming into my ears was jumbled with the gushing sound of water!
"Leave this to me, Alpha. I'm stronger than women— What's wrong?" I saw her coming to me but my vision is spinning. I can't tell if I'm still on my feet! I winced my eyes and removed the coat. That was when I found Hrista kneeling in front of me while I'm sitting, gripping the side of the boat. I pressed my bitemark in hopes to reduce the pain again. Hrista is cheering my breathing until I come back to normal. "Are you feeling dizzy? You can't stay like this any longer."
"I-I know. But I... I have to make sure if my mate is dead." I wiped my face with my bare hands. "I don't want to give up on her that easily."
"Of course."
My keen senses were unleashed again which made me hear a click of a metallic object behind the houses ahead, other than that is the smell of powder. "Uh, shoot. I knew it," I murmured.
"What is i—" I pushed her down under me when I saw in a split second a man in the distance, then bullets showered upon our boat!
"Someone is secluding here!"
"H-Hunters!?"
The pishnies are making noises until those tiny noises grow bigger. "No no! Wait! Not yet—!" I stopped but they expanded into giant Lycans which resulted in the crashing and sinking of the boat. I couldn't lift myself with one arm and the other was injured but I felt a big arm grasping my waist and afloat us to the surface. The other Lycan leaps toward the location of the attacker whilst this Lycan with us leaps to the land and drops us safely.
"We should go after them." I moved with haste for the gunshot and crashing noise from afar is alarming. She's still kneeling on the ground, too much tremble couldn't lift her legs up, and says,
"A moment, Alpha! It's too dangerous!"
"This is my chance to know what happened. Stay here." And she exchanges glances with the Lycan before I sprint to the location—holding the coat with my right hand. I saw a man thrown outside from a house on my way there and another man was coiled up in the arm of the Lycan, brutally smashing with its foot the rifles on the ground. I whistled with my finger. "Stop!" The Lycan looked at me. "Put them down," I command and it obeys.
Two men are lying on the ground in front of me. "I'm really sorry, sirs. We mean no harm but you ambushed us first. Who are you? And why are you violent!?"
"Werewolf!" One of them attacked me with a dagger and all I did was evade his every sway until I caught his wrist; slapped his arm to drop the weapon, push his arm down, and spin him around to toss him back to his companion. Apparently, he smells as salty as the sea.
"Sir, I'm a former resident of this city," I introduced myself. "Will you be generous enough to tell me what happened with the people here? Where did they go?"
He spits on the road first. "Resident? I've never seen you before."
"Right, with a coat... Maybe you can recognize me with a coat." I wore my coat again.
"Still a no."
"Ugh, alright. I'm not a resident here. I'm just a visitor."
"Me neither." He smirks.
"I figured." My response erased his smirk.
But unfortunately, a magic circle glows on his hand and points it at the Lycan. "No..." The Lycan was tamed by him and it tackled me with its jaw. I held it tight and stopped it from pushing me, grabbed its fur behind, and hurled it away. I shrank into a pup to sprint toward the man holding a revolver. He misses a shot against me and I shift into my human to smite his arm upward, yanked the gun, and punched him on his stomach.
The mage man blows a punch at me too, but he misses and I nudged his face after a spin to dodge his attack. I kicked him on his stomach for the conclusion. But again, I removed my coat the second I caught a glimpse of the Lycan's motion. I used the coat to catch it, it resisted until the coat took effect on it: shrinking into a tiny pishney. I struggled to knot the coat on this frisky creature.
"Snap out of it, boy."
["Alpha!"] When I looked behind, the man is about to slash me with an ax but a white wolf attacks him. I bowed a little as they cross above me. The other Lycan throws the enchanter inside a house through the window. Acro is in the sky when I looked up, but she was not alone, an air balloon is approaching. ["There are too many of them! We should escape!"]
"Many?" I automatically covered my head as the bullets were fired at us! "Hold him!" I tossed the tied pishney to the Lycan and ran into the alleys, following Acro's lead as usual. The bullets are piercing through the roofs so we have to glide on the walls. Acro was shot and tumbles on the road. I didn't waste a minute picking her up and hiding beside a wall with the others. Bullets are still landing near us randomly.
I disassembled the window and instructed them to come inside the house. "Acro!" She does not bleed but is unconscious.
["Should we split up?"]
"We already did and 'twas a bad idea. I can't leave this place yet without an answer," I persisted. I found the scent of gas in a tank and I unplugged it. "Lycan," I order it to "divert their target. Run on the other side of the alley, we'll catch up in the end." One nod and it proceeds to the plan. The hunters in the air balloon are shooting at the Lycan, meanwhile, I rushed to the upper floor onto the balcony and cast the tank at them... but I fell short of strength.
"Whaaat?" The tank may not reach them but I'm lucky they have an idiotic gunman among them that shot at the tank. It exploded midair but the shockwave pushed me down from the balcony as I lost balance because of the fence! Although I landed properly, the moment my soles hit the ground the world sagged and spun again! Sounds and voices are jumbled even worse than earlier but as I see Hrista—hazily—running while calling me, I follow nevertheless.
Every step I make is uncertain. I feel like I'm running in the sky ready to fall anytime. I closed my eyes and followed Hrista by smell, it worked at first but I later found myself tumbling on the basins and cluttered with them! "Alpha! What's going on!?" The sky was before my view when Hrista appeared. I forced myself up but this spinning vision isn't helpful! I felt a hand grasping my leg and I was dragged somewhere! I had to cover my head from anything that hits me.
"If you will, shift into a pup so I could carry you around— Ah!" A gunshot resounds, I felt the bullet on the wall beside my head. The salty smell surrounded my nose. Hrista is embracing me and Acro from the gunmen surrounding us. Their host is pointing a revolver against us.
He says, "Great timing! The target is ailing."
"Me?" I questioned. "What do you want from me?"
"Turn you into a rug, pull out your fangs and make it an amulet, or make your grandeur eyes one of our collections; just as how beast should be."
He fires the gun at us afterward, and I'm startled as Hrista covers me! The Lycan lands from the roof and catches the bullets eventually. Then it sways its mighty arm to throw the men away. I filled myself with air, then howl, as a result, their ears bleed, and are shivering on the floor. I tore the first button of my shirt, pulled out the necklace, and used it as a key to open the door of the house behind us. I had to pull the others to the inside before I shut the door from the hunters.
I complacently lie down on the soft grasses, chasing my breath! The group of pishnies attended to our needs immediately, I passed them the two wounded pishnies and Acro. I'm still having a hard time standing on my own as Hrista puts my arm around her shoulder to assist me to the medic room: a house inside a glowing giant tree. The glowing flowers inside provide the relaxation I need and the mattresses available on the wooden floor are perfect for my size.
Hrista asks in amazement, "What is this place?"
"Refuge," my short answer. I removed my drenched shirt and lay down, carefully stretching my injured arm. I murmur as I massage my forehead, "Why is this happening to me..." This room doesn't have a ceiling but the actual inside of the glowing tree is as if I'm at the bottom of a tower and it's making me more dizzy. I closed my eyes to help. "What do you think? Are they hunters?"
I know she's sitting on the side of the mattress. "You heard them, Alpha. Their ambition is to splinter our parts and make them a collection. That's what hunters sound like."
"But they all smell like the sea. There are no nearby seas in Plandreas."
"..."
On top of that, Hrista was telling the truth about the hunters. I squint at her under my palm with one eye and she's looking dismal at the floor. "Don't do that again. Silver bullets won't work on me but with you, it will," I said.
"I-It came naturally..."
"..."
"Alpha, thy bitemark is the center of concern here. It's killing thee already."
"What can I do...?" I uttered hopelessly.
"Allow me to help thee."
"What?" She pulls the blanket to the bottom and covers us underneath it, but her heavy kiss on my lips is unexpected! She's pinning my right arm and my hand flinches when her rubbing kisses are burning with passion already! I pushed her, enough to pull myself away from her backward. "Hrista, what are you doing!?"