Chapter 17 17
Third Person POV
Hazel backed away from Noah; she looked at the broken window, then back at Noah, "You're joking, right?" She stuttered, refusing to believe it.
"That can't be; you're joking, aren't you?" she asked in disbelief. Noah shook his head slowly before he stood up; he seemed a bit pale as the moonlight reflected his skin, giving him an ethereal appearance.
"Shall we? I shall explain everything in your room," he said gently. He understood that she was in a state of shock and disbelief; who wouldn't be, especially if the man who asked you to marry him tried to kill you on the same day.
"What happened to him? How didn't he know it was me or you?" Hazel asked; she didn't know how long Noah had been with Draven, but she knew it was long enough, yet he couldn't even recognise his own friend, much less her.
The scene played out in her head; she would have been dead if Noah hadn't come and out of nowhere to save her, for once she was happy for him constantly always being around her.
Although she wondered how he came out of her shadow; it was something she had never expected. "How did you do it?" She asked him, and Noah cocked his head sideways, slightly confused.
"Me? Do what?" He asked her back. "That thing where you came out of my shadows; how did you do it?" She was curious and really wanted to know; he gazed at her for a few moments then shrugged.
"I guess there's no point keeping it from you since you'll eventually become the Luna," he said, shifting his weight from one foot to another before continuing.
"It's called Shadow Step, an innate ability that I possess; the same way different werewolves have unique abilities to them, I also have mine," he said. She noticed his colour had returned to normal.
"So you just lurk in shadows and pop out whenever you're needed?" She asked him as she carefully observed him.
"Not exactly, I am a shadow wolf, so obviously the darkness is my territory, but it was passed down from my lineage; everyone in my family has similar traits," he finished. He ended the sentence like he didn't want to say anything else about it.
"Then what about the thing you did when you healed yourself?" she said. Noah simply shook his head. "Even the Alpha doesn't know about that," he said with a smile.
She understood what that meant and decided to stop asking questions about him, although the more she observed him, the more she wanted to know. He walked towards the stairs leading up and gestured for me to follow him.
Hazel turned back, looking at the broken panels of glass once more. "Is he going to..." She said, not sure how to finish her statement, Noah shook his head.
"Don't worry, he won't be coming close; the priestess used certain enchantments; he'll be fine," he responded. "Priestess?" She asked; she never heard anything about a priestess.
"The woman you and the Master will soon visit," he replied after seeing her confusion. "Ooohh," she said, feeling a little stupid.
Noah began walking up the stairs, and Hazel followed after him; she watched him walk to her room and opened the door once more.
"I urge you not to repeat the mistake you just made; the consequences may be dire," he said as she entered the room. He closed the door and stood right by it.
Hazel sat on her plush bed and looked at Noah. "So tell me, what's wrong with the Alpha? Why is he a bloodlusted wolf ready to kill anyone?" she asked.
"I can't give you all the details as it isn't my right, but the Alpha has been cursed," he said quietly. He let the words sink in because being cursed wasn't a usual occurrence.
"Someone cursed Draven? Was it some witch or another priestess that did this to him? Why hasn't he broken the curse yet?" She said and realised she had asked too many questions too fast.
"He was cursed by the Moon goddess herself, and as for why, even I don't know the reason," he said.
"The moon goddess..." She said slowly; she couldn't comprehend it. Never in all her years of being alive had she heard that a wolf was cursed by the Moon goddess herself.
"How..."
"What did he do?"
Words flowed from her mouth, and she understood how sure the situation was. She tried to imagine something she could do to make the moon goddess curse her and one as ruthless as this, for they all knew that the moon goddess was merciful.
"The cure; how can he break it?"
"Can he even break it? Is it possible?" She asked dejectedly, knowing that she was getting married to a man who was cursed by the moon goddess herself; it was a bad omen, completely bad luck.
She wondered why her life had to be so complicated. "That's why he wants you so badly; you are the key to his freedom," Noah said carefully.
She looked at him doubtful; surely he didn't believe what he was saying. "I don't think I can help him break curses, especially one given by the moon goddess," she replied.
Noah stood at the door, but for some reason the shadows surrounding him seem thicker, or was it darker? She wasn't very sure.
"Do you know your origins, Hazel?" Noah asked her. She looked at him surprised. She knew her origins; she knew her parents and wanted nothing but to see them suffer.
She also knew that there was nothing special about them, which made her doubt Draven so much. But even more importantly, Noah called her by her name; it was something that bothered her, but she got used to it.
And now hearing him call out her name made her feel uncomfortable. A shiver ran down the base of her spine as goose bumps etched themselves into her skin.
"I think I do; we aren't anything so special," she responded. At this point, she could barely see Noah; she felt he was doing one of his shadow moves again.
"Time will tell," he said finally. His voice sounded like it was fleeting. She focused her eyes on where he had been standing in the room and he wasn't there.
"Noah?"
"Are you there?" She called out. "At least use the door so I know when you're gone," she said with a bit of annoyance.
She turned on her bed, lying down with her head facing the ceiling, lost in thought and completely confused.
She didn't know what to do or how to react to this new development, but she was sure about one thing, and that was that Draven really needed her; she wasn't just lying to use her then dump her; he actually needed her.
It made her feel special; a sense of understanding sparked within her. She felt she understood him better, even if only for a little bit. She stood up and went to stand by the window.
She remembered what Noah had said about her leaving the room again, and she didn't want to push her luck trying to see if he'd come to his senses or not. The thought of Draven almost chopping off her head made her shiver.
But now that she had seen him for what exactly he was, she felt she could be more comfortable around him and she could trust him better, but she definitely wasn't looking forward to the meeting with the witch.
She placed her hand on her windows, trying to see if she could find him out then in the forest. She looked and searched for a little over a minute before she crawled back to her bed.
"Positive thoughts, Hazel," she thought to herself before falling asleep.
Draven stood half naked with his shirt ripped off and claws slowly retracting. He looked up at the sky and saw that the moon was gone. He licked his mouth searching for the taste of blood; luckily, he tasted nothing.
Leaving the forest, he began walking his way back to the mansion. Upon getting there, he saw the shards of glass that lay on the ground. He looked up, remembering how much he had held his wolf in before breaking the glass to escape and turn into a wolf.
Just as he was about to take the entrance, his nose caught the scent of a different wolf, one that he had never seen before. The scent was coming from one of the rooms up; his mind immediately went to Hazel.
He looked down and saw another shattered window, different from the one he made. Draven burst into the mansion from the window and ran towards Hazel's room.
He opened the door immediately and saw a white-furred wolf calmly asleep in bed. He paused for a moment in confusion, looking around for Hazel.
But the scent coming from the wolf seemed desirable to him; he looked at the wolf once more and realised it was Hazel.