Chapter 42

"Very well. Now, I need a room big enough for a hundred people. Is there something like that here?" asked Lady Xinxia.

Marcus and I exchanged surprised looks before he replied to her. "A hundred? For what purpose is this, may I ask?"

Lady Xinxia looked like she already expected that this was our reaction. "Don't worry, it won't involve a hundred people. Only a wide space that can fit that huge crowd."

"We have a function hall here that can fit two hundred. It's that building," Marcus said, pointing at the tall building at a distance in front of us. Then after she glanced at the building we proceeded to walk to the house that we were actually heading to. This was the guest house where Lady Xinxia would stay while she was here with us at Gloverstone. Marcus' men were behind us carrying her luggage which was surprisingly a lot, giving us the impression that she was going to stay for at least a month.

"I don't think it's a good idea to do the ritual there since there's a lot of houses around this place,” Lady Xinxia suddenly said after taking a seat on the sofa.

"But why not?" I asked curiously.

"The ritual will force you to wolf out, Miss Milena," she said with a sad smile. "And in that state, you will need a lot of space for you to move around. You'll probably attack anyone you'll see as a result of the mating bond being cut. And since you're the Purple-Eyed Werewolf you'll become extremely dangerous in your wolf form."

Marcus was quick to reply to that. "I see. This is a neighborhood, so the people living around the function hall are in danger if Milena manages to get out of the building and go on a rampage. Is that what you're saying?"

"Exactly. We have to do the ritual in a much safer place where no innocent lives will be put in mortal peril."

"Then let's go to the Atrium. The rooftop of my mall is wide enough for Milena to wolf out and there's no people in there at these hours."

"That would be great, Mister Marcus. Then, let's go and get this done over with. I don't want to prolong this matter any longer because your wolf might sense my powers and that could become a problem too if it realizes who I am and what I am about to do."

"Okay. Let's go then..." I said nervously, but Marcus saw my face and took my hand and squeezed it tight.

"So where's the mate you want to remove your bond with?" Lady Xinxia asked us, looking at us one by one because we got caught off guard by her question.

"What do you mean 'mate?' Do you mean Darren, my mate? Do we need him here?"

This time Lady Xinxia looked shocked that we didn't think about Darren. "Well, of course! How can I break the mating bond if one of you is not here? Oh no... Did you assume that I can break the bond with just you here? That's not possible—"

"You didn’t tell me that when we talked on the phone," said Marcus, now annoyed.

"I'm sorry. I should have told you about it. It's my mistake. I didn't realize that you don't know about that. I just assumed that you already know."

"So there's no other way then? We really have to bring him here?"

"Yes, Miss Milena. I can only cut the bond between two people if they are both present, otherwise, we're just going to waste our time." I looked at Marcus, worried that this deal with Lady Xinxia will fall apart since it needed to include Darren's presence. And I was sure Darren won't like it.

"Marcus, what are we going to do?"

Marcus hugged me again to comfort me. "If we have to get him back here, we should. I'll be the one to handle this, Milena, because he'll just use this opportunity to get close to you again."

I nodded. "Alright. But how are you going to contact him? I just realized that we don't even have a way to contact him."

"I'll ask Devon's help with that," he said before turning to Lady Xinxia. "Can we reschedule the ritual, Lady Xinxia? Maybe give us two days?"

"Of course. Then I'll be waiting."

***

It only took a day and a half. Marcus miraculously convinced Darren to show up at the Atrium, which made me a little bit suspicious. We were already at the rooftop of the Atrium at dusk, only waiting for Darren to arrive to start the ritual. Lady Xinxia was dressed in some Asian traditional garment that I had never seen before, but it looked breathtaking in its pure white silk and pearl ornaments. She had tied her hair in a braid and she had red paint on her forehead, which reminded me of a Rune.

I was nervous, and even if Marcus tried to hide it, I knew that he was too. One of the indications that he was worried about the outcome of this event was that he brought more of his men here than he usually did. They were all stationed at the perimeter of the rooftop which was wide enough to become an arena. It was freezing out here but Lady Xinxia preferred that we do this outdoors.

"I am a shaman, which is a human capable of becoming a vessel to spirits," she said as she lit incense around me and made a circle out of it. "Technically, a werewolf's inner wolf is a spirit of nature, which makes me able to contact them. The mating bond between two werewolves is one of the supernatural world's wonders, so I often don't want to break them. It's a marvel of this world, which is why I think it's such a waste that we have to cut it."

"I don't want this bond anymore," I told her, sitting on the cold floor while waiting for Darren who told us that he was already on his way. "I need to be free from it, Lady Xinxia."

She nodded. "Yes, sometimes these bonds turn into chains. Cutting or breaking it is the only way to live in some cases. But upon doing this, you'll be angering your wolf."

"That's okay. I can live with that if that's the catch to this."

"You really don't love me anymore," said a voice and I turned around and saw Darren standing on the edge of the rooftop. He was wearing his mercenary clothes, which baffled us. "I already knew that, but I was still hoping that you'll still give me another chance if I just show you how sincere I am, Milena."

I stood up and faced him. "We already talked about this, Darren. Let's just break our mating bond."

He nodded, which was the last thing that I expected him to do. "Alright. If that's what you really want. But your husband and I had an agreement. I'll participate in this cruel ritual in exchange for something."

"What? You want something in return? And what is it?"

"I want a full DNA test on your son, Milena, because mother already told me what you were talking about the last time we talked. She told me that according to her source, I am Zenith's father."