She leans her hand on my shoulder, taking the spot above me immediately. I did touch her cheeks as our lips partially slid to each other until I lifted her on her waist to set her aside. "The kids are here, too," I said wryly. I turned my back on her after my teasing.
"Seriously? Why would you design this house with one room? Rooms for parents and children should be separated!"
"I had to keep an eye on them when they were babies."
"Then that should be their crib space, not their bed. And look at this bed? Swing!? Do you want us to swing here all night? what if this severs!?"
"That means we're having a good time."
"Shake this bed yourself." She pulls the pillow and storms out of the room! I toss the blanket just to chase her, press her on her navel from behind, and lift her back to the room—she's swinging her legs and pillow to resist me. It profits her nothing and I drop her on the bed for the second time.
"You'll sleep here with me."
"What's the point—!"
I pull one of her knees to my waist before I lie down on her. She's disappointed that I only lean my head on her chest. "Let's just cuddle for tonight."
"They're sleeping."
"We can't tell. They are little devils. I don't want them to write down in their homework what they might see here."
"Why didn't you consider privacy before!?"
"Because they were babies~"
She was striving to push me so I pinned her hands and sink my face into her neck. Her scent is overflowing into my mind and her skin reminds me of how soft she is— "You can't resist, too," when she said that, I realized I've been sucking her neck! She's throwing me her teasing smirk and then I roll on the bed, put her above me to lock her in my arms under the blanket! Her giggle is everything.
I feel my arms loosening on her on their own before I notice the magic surrounding controlling my arms. In that advantage, she crawls above me to reach for my face and smacks me with twisting kisses that I can't object to. One thing I noticed for the second time was her dry lips, and she felt light in weight. She's the one pinning my hands now and that seems cute, not until I realized that I can't free myself!
She really wants to do it judging from her deep kiss but I know I can't give my all in here—that would be exciting! So I shift into a big wolf and howl. ["Just a cuddle tonight,"] I commanded. She's still clingy to me and sinks her face into my fur afterward. This will be my safest move for tonight, but unexpectedly, the kids hop on the bed to hug me too. This incident brought us to our very first night of sleeping altogether.
I slowly shift into my human again, extending my arms for them—my definition of heaven.
☪ ✧ ✧
The three of them are busy sketching something on the table before school. It's a typical drawing of children: inscrutable. Yet the kids seem serious about it whilst Dandeline is having fun watching them. I reminded Hedwelch and Danteleon when their chaperone arrived. Their usual complaint never changes, or maybe a little bit when Dandeline says she'll come with them.
At the front door notwithstanding, I stopped Dandeline from coming with them by trapping her waist in my arm. Dayana is doing her daily approach to tame Danteleon. "Dad, you're so boring!" he yells and then cries. Dandeline agrees by laughing so after the carriage left, I dragged her inside and pinned her behind the door.
"Now, what do you want?" I said. She pulls my nape to answer me with a kiss, I slip my hand under her skirt to her waist to lift her while pressing her at the rattling door—this will not suffer my neck! She hung up my urge to say,
"Look what we've planned first!" She clings to my arm, grabs the children's blueprint, and takes me into the bedroom. She's excited to present the blueprint in front of my face—while all I see is a messy sketch. I lowered the paper when she lent it to me but she raised the paper higher, blocking my view of the bedroom. "This is what the twins suggested for the new setup of our bedroom."
"This?" I speak slowly as I describe the sketch. "Are these some sort of snakes hanging in the doorway...?"
"No!" She snatches the blueprint of my view and I behold the sudden changes in the bedroom that matches the drawing, shaping my eyes in awe. "There! What do you think about 'privacy'?"
There are two rooms with one division; the doorway for the kids' room has drooping beads glowing in the dark and the other room is ours. She said that she doesn't like doors for her children's room as a parent, whilst our room has. I entered our room and in here, my bed didn't change except for the drooping thin curtains above that glow in the dark too, making it look romantic. "How'd... How did you do this?"
"Have you forgotten I'm an enchantress?"
"Without the help of carpenters? expenses? materials?"
"No! I have mastered the spells of creation Haiban taught me. Enchantment is everything~"
I stare at her fancy demeanor when bragging about her magic and then I smirk. "That is why I was so enchanted when I met you," I said. I lift her the way she wants to lay her on my bed and she asks,
"Can we sway your bed now?"
"Until you can't walk anymore."
I initiated the kiss in the middle of her chuckle. Her crawling nails on my nape stimulate my urge, and I slip my hand under her skirt again, caressing her skin and tickling her flank. The laugh she's making in the middle of our kisses is contagious and then she lets out a breathy moan when I kiss her weakness. My hands are craving for domination and control over her softness, pulling her sleeve to expose her neck more and kiss her bite mark.
My urge was hung up again when someone knocked on the door outside. My shoulders fell and I sighed. "Hessuel? Is anyone in there?" Ophelia's voice prevails. I fixed Dandeline's dress before facing Ophelia with her. "Hessuel! I need to talk to you," she demands. She was surprised when she saw Dandeline with me as we let her in. We conduct the discussion in the small living room.
"Do you know each other? Actually, she's the friend I was talking about who can help you with your bite mark. She's a professional Moon Priestess."
"Yes, I do know her a lot," I said.
"I knew him before we met," Dandeline added.
"In fact, we've been through a lot together."
"He's like the back of my hand."
Ophelia suggests, "Can we cease going around the bush?"
"She's my mate."
Her mouth gradually circles without saying anything.
"'Oh'?"
"Oh!" she finally uttered. "I've been in the middle of this couple all these years? Now it's understandable why the little devils grew up without a mother. It's phenomenal to see the very first female Eldar and the endangered silver wolf in one picture as a family!"
"But, Madam Ophelia, why didn't you tell me you've been working with her?"
"The mission was confidential."
Dandeline asks, "Why didn't you tell me you're friends with my boys?"
"Because the project was confidential." We were both stunned by her answer—which makes sense, too. "Back to my commendation, have you healed each other?"
"..."
"..."
"You had all the time last night!"
"..."
"..."
"And you both have what it takes to cure the toxin of the bite mark!"
I glanced at my mate.
"... You haven't!? Are you both waiting for your death—!? Oh, my bad. I understand if it's a confidential matter~"
"Actually, w-were about to—"
Dandeline pinches my thigh beside her! "Apparently, my mate is conservative when it comes to privacy..."
"Conservative?" I muttered.
"... so we can't do it whenever the children are around."
"Oooh, right, of course." Ophelia chuckles. "Privacy is elusive once you add more members in the house. Anyway, I'm happy about your reunion! I'm ready to sign the contract for the investment if you have better plans with your family now."
"Really!?" My eyes twinkle in excitement.
"You've got a lot to tell me," Dandeline said.
"Hessuel, don't expect investors from this time. It will be better to build entrepreneurship outside your homeland."
"But... why?" I asked. The other prospect I mentioned to her lives here. It'll be laggard to start a business without acquaintances.
"Didn't you hear? You are the topic of gossip all around the town. That's the challenge when you're eminent."
"Because of the bar incident?"
"Other than that, people see you as a philanderer. They all thought that Hrista is your wife and now they think you're having sexual affair with Dandeline which will cause another downfall of your relationship with Hrista."
"H-How... I don't even know I'm a womanizer..."
"Those are the itchiest words my ears have ever heard," Dandeline murmured. "Don't be bothered about what they talk behind you—"
"Malodorant reputation will push potential partnership, unfortunately," Ophelia added.
"... Right, unless they inflict your life. I should've reported that stray dog to Lanasia yesterday before this happened! I'm confident she fooled these people!" Dandeline strides on her way out.
"No— Dan, wait!"
"I'm going after her for real!!" and she storms out of the house, ignoring me. I'm afraid this will cause another gossip and another predicament might arise if they meet. Immediately, I put on my coat in preparation for leaving. I said,
"The contract will have to wait. You can stay here and feel at home." And then I left the house too, seeking Dandeline.
...
...
(Dandeline's POV)
Eyes, speaking a disgusting issue, are glancing upon me as I walk in the town. Although unsettling, I maintained my arrogance going to the bar but as I came across the sewing shop, I halted and threw a suspicious gaze at it. This was where the gossip about Hrista's delusional spouse started and probably the hideout of that stray dog. Returning the glances at the people around me, I stood in the middle of them until some started murmuring.
I cracked my neck to activate the magic without using my hands: making their voices resonate in my ear.
"She's the whore?"
"How dense to show herself in public."
"Hrista is more beautiful."
"This woman has her own consort, right?"
"Precisely. And she's shoving herself into another woman's consort."
"Impressive..." I uttered while listening to their babbling from a distance. It's unbelievable to encounter a wolf's capability like this—just like a cute dog: who's pricking the crowd's sympathy to adopt her along with her lies. That's probably how she victimized my Hessuel. As much as I want to slap every single one of these jackass gossipers, I shouldn't for the sake of Hessuel's good name.
I canceled my prior destination and came inside the sewing shop.
"Good morning! How may I help you with your desired dress?" a welcoming fat seamstress greeted. She moves her glance to my dress and then to my eyes again.
"Good day! Perhaps you recognized it. I'm not here for new dresses, I'm here to look for Hrista. Is she here?"
"The young lady is not here. Would you like to try our brand-new dresses instead~?"
Looking around the store, I say, "I will buy some of the dresses I like if you inform me where she is, for your kindness."
"Uuuh, if you don't mind... may I ask why are you looking for her?"
"Her spreading of false information is an abomination and the root of this hearsay about Hessuel must be plucked. My twins might be affected negatively if I don't eliminate the issue. In exchange, I'd like to buy your brand-new dresses!"
"Your twins...? I'm really sorry but I can't help you."
"..." All my negotiation was for nothing, but I kept my gut smile. I pulled out an eyeglass from my pocket, wore it, and then scanned the whole shop without the seamstress's knowledge. Every wall became transparent from my perspective. Unfortunately for her, I detected her lies by catching Hrista silently sitting on the bed upstairs. Putting back my glasses, I approach that room without permission.
"Ma'am, customers are restricted there. Please don't trespass—"
"I can't blame you if you're protecting this woman, so please don't blame me if I'm protecting my boys from her lies."
"Please don't cause any trouble!" she pleads while keeps on nagging me.
"No need to be frightened. If anything wrong happens, then that's because of her." I entered the room nevertheless, Hrista was not surprised when I came as if she was cornered and had nowhere else to hide but to confront me. I converse with her appropriately, "Enough with hiding. I'll take you to Linevr." She avoids my hand.
"Do not touch me. Go back to your playground and never come back here. Isn't that what you made Hessuel feel?"
"So you can stay here and flirt with my mate? Please stop fantasizing, that won't make you defeat me."
"I already did. We were happy before you came! They don't need you."
"... You," I groaned while stepping forward to her, "'You' were happy before I came. And you dared inject those words into my firstborn? You permeated an epidemic in this town with your lies."
"I won't lie if I say you are not enough for Hessuel. You love your ambition far greater than him. I made him whole when he needed you! I can please him. I can give him all until he forgets about your body!"
"How stupid of you to think that he is that kind of man!"
"What I'm telling you is what you can't give to him! Didn't he tell you that he lay down with me and spared his life? Your man cheated on you because you're not enough for him!"
"Please don't brag to me that he used you. Cheating takes two parties to make it happen and in your case, you're the only one pursuing him. Which means you are just trying to break us apart. You made him feel he's turning into a person he never wanted to be, and I cannot allow his trauma to make him suffer again! You have no idea how fragile he can be sometimes. I know him more than you do, so I can take care of him better than you can."
"The—"
"Including my twins!" I pointed a finger at her and the action also enchanted her tongue. Now she cannot speak a word, however, she can scream like a victim again as I grab her wrist. The seamstress came to the rescue, trying to unlink my hold from Hrista as she pacifies me,
"Stop hurting her! I will call the civil knights!!"
"I'm not hurting her," I defended, and then politely, I enchanted her to float to the ceiling. Closing the door and opening it again made the trick into opening a passage to Linevr, but as I was about to drag Hrista there, she shoved me to the wall—not holding back her werewolf strength! My head bumped and bled! Furthermore, she presses me to the wall while gripping my throat and my defensive response is to kick her away powerfully—infusing an enchast on my sole.
I had no choice but to control her like a puppet with my fingers... until I was ambushed again from behind by a woman waving a pan! There are two other women with her, and because I collapse on the floor, Hrista strangles me from behind! I nudged her and she overreacted a scream again. The seamstress has been yelling and pleading above us to stop messing around in her store together with the noise of these women.
"GET OUT OF OUR TOWN!"
"WHORE!"
"TAKE HER TO THE KNIGHT!"
These nosy women drag me downstairs by tweaking my hair and ripping my clothes. We stumble on the rack of dresses and I enchant those dresses to stand on their own and defend me. Panting, I flipped my hair and fixed my clothes with enchantment. I did not train to be an enchantress for a cat fight!
"The audacity to meddle while relying on fake stories!? You don't know anything!! That white woman you deemed beautiful is fooling the whole town! I am the legal wife!" I show them my engagement ring. "She's the whore, and she's trying to win against me by winning through your stupidity! I can't believe I have to explain this..." My wounded head hurts after my yelling. Meanwhile, they are all speechless.
When I saw Hrista running away to the exit, I made the dresses catch her and am greatly surprised as she rips every single one of the dresses. "Enough!" I shouted and gripped her wrist. I received a slap from her and I slapped her back as my patience ran out. She was attempting to claw me when Hessuel appeared to push her away from me and intervened in the middle.
"Stop it, Hrista." All of a sudden, I want to puke when she shrinks in the presence of Hessuel. "I-I'm really sorry for interrupting, ladies, but..." he consults privately to me, "Are you alright?" He saw the bleeding on my head so I wiped it with my bare hand.
"I'll be fine once I get rid of this stray dog."
"Leave that to me," that familiar voice of Lanasia relieved me, and the opposite for Hrista. "I'm responsible for her. No need to add her to your wrinkles," she teased. It's fate finally turning on my side. I was a bit guilty of complacency when the stray dog slipped through our guard and escaped!
"Hey!!" I came after her outside immediately and met even greater news.
"I can't believe it... How'd you get out of our realm?" said Phatinni, the Beta of the Moon's Order pack and together with omegas who're holding Hrista. However, their color is quite stealing attention here. Phatinni pays respect to me and to Hessuel. "I-It's an honor to meet thee again," she said. Her distraught makes me wonder.
"Let's take her with us immediately. It's not a comfortable place for you..." Lanasia orders. Perhaps this is their first time outside Asfara and in the middle of the humans watching us.
"But what will happen to her—"
"The rumors have tainted your image badly, Hessuel," she cut Hessuel's question. "Only you have the influential advantage to clean up that mess. Show them the truth, we'll take care of the rest."
He did not hesitate anything about what Lanasia advised as he nodded and held my hand to pull me out of the situation. Hrista has been glaring at me—pitiful that she couldn't yell lest she'll embarrass herself after locking her tongue. Such an attitude presses my pride and so I raise my ring finger at her, boasting about my ring while being taken by my man.
☪ ✧ ✧
"I came looking for you at the bar but Mrs. Lanasia said you never came. I happened to tell her about Hrista and then she ordered the white wolves from the world right away. I hunted your scent throughout the town until we came across the people crowding around the sewing shop," he said.
Caressing my dog while sitting on the rug, he's sitting on the couch behind me as he covers my forehead with a bandage. "Well, everything happened with a purpose after all."
"What happened there?"
"She picked a fight with me. I was trying to take her back to their world but she's not just a flirt, she feels so entitled to you too. She's the intruder of someone else's relationship and she has the incredible audacity to confront me! Well, I should blame your charming eyes. This is the challenge of having a handsome man."
"You think I'm handsome~?"
Smirking, I turn around and lean my elbows on his knee. "As cute as my dogs."
"... I can't tell if that's a compliment or an insult."
"Have you talked to her?"
"Talk?"
"Did Hrista ever confess to you?"
"The truth is she did, and I thought that I made myself clear that I can't repay her love."
"You cannot make it clear to someone desperate." I turn my back on him again to cuddle my dog. "And because you're too kind to her... to everyone."
"It's not that I care too much about her." He lifts me to the couch beside him, leaving my thighs above his one thigh. "I've been meaning to ask... Can the moon servants give her a mate? That might be an effective solution."
"That's not a bad idea! But let's just leave that to Lanasia as she said."
He didn't say anything afterward. Observing his reaction, Hrista's words came into my mind. She successfully dug a space in my boys' hearts which means she could be a great person anyhow. I removed my thighs from him—distancing myself as I plead,
"Hessuel, I know I tend to be a burden to you often. I might hurt you even when not intended. There may be times that I cannot handle my own emotions when depression strikes. But when those happen, please don't leave me."
"... Dan?"
I looked at him.
"I'm sorry if I let you feel that way!"
"..." He's so humble! The thump in my chest invigorates when he lifts my knees to kiss me there, pulls them to his sides which lay me down also, and cuddles to my chest above me!
"I won't do that."
Scrubbing his hair with my nails, I said, "I can't fulfill my promise too. Migrating to Linevr is the best way to free you from the stigma Hrista caused, but I couldn't find a way to redeem you. The decision still relies on the Moon Goddesses' children and I find it... unfair... that she can't treat you like her child. I worked so hard to make that world wonderful, that the kids will love it at first glance, and we can live peacefully, but circumstances won't allow it. I'm sorry..."
"We don't need to be there to be whole and happy. Just you and the kids in this home, that's plenty. We don't have to make it complicated to drown the rumors about me, we can simply tell them the truth... that I am yours."
"But... you don't belong here, I mean, you're a werewolf."
"I lived most of my years as a human. That won't be a problem~"
"... Then I'll live here with you." I heard the breath of his smile. "I almost forgot, where's Ophelia?"
"She already left with, uh, a note."
"What's with the note?"
He pulls it out from his pocket and gives it to me. Ophelia noted that she will take the kids to a beach overnight so that Hessuel and I can be alone tonight.
"How thoughtful of her! That means..." Hessuel was blushing when I looked at him. "Don't tell me you're quiet because of this?"
He moves away from me. "It's awkward when others know our plans..."
I laugh at his reason! "You're so conservative when it comes to this, huh? So, shall we?" I tickled his arm and then he lifted me to the bed.