Elope

Chapter 75

Upon hearing his words, my eyes widened in shock as the realization hit me. "Elope?" My voice echoed throughout the hallway, struggling to keep up with his pace because I was wearing some heels. "What do you mean by elope? How about our kids?"

At that moment, we passed by the parlor room where Charity was currently situated. To my surprise, I noticed Charity stepping outside and witnessing us running with a completely shocked expression.

"Elijah will bring them to Atticus first." My head turned at Alucard, smiling from ear to ear as he glanced at me. "Trust me, alright?"

Before I could fully grasp the implications of his words, the reality struck me-we were outside, beyond the confines of his castle. In the rush of the moment, I had paid no attention to Charity, oblivious to the expression she might have worn as we hurried past her.

"Hop on."

In an instant, Alucard transformed into his majestic, elephantine white pristine lycan form and gestured his head, pointing his back. I looked at him in disbelief, shaking my head.

"Where are we going first?" I knew that my response should be an annoyed one since that was how I interacted with him. Still, ever since that night when I bestowed him the apology gift and not only that, we exchanged some hot, fiery kisses, our relationship... improved.

'You said that you trust me, right?'

His emerald green eyes were glowing in amusement. He approached me with his gigantic paws and lowered his head to poke my face with his snout.

I was hesitant when our eyes met. But my heart fluttered at this moment since it felt like I was returned to the day when Alucard used to tag me along somewhere, and the only thing I could do was trust him.

"Fine... But we should be quick. I don't want our pups to worry. Alright?" With a sigh, my hand touched his snout, hinting a realization that this was the first time that I would get to touch his wolf form.

Alucard leaned in my touch, purring while closing his eyes. Right at this moment, I could tell his wolf still liked me. He never showed any signs of aggressiveness, perhaps because I was his mate before who wanted to reconnect with me.

As I mounted on his back, I glanced at his castle, worried for my pups before Alucard began to run somewhere. I was enjoying the breeze that brushed my skin as my attention poured on the back of his head.

For some reason, I felt... delighted being with him. It was the same feeling from years ago, and I couldn't deny it.

Unable to contain my emotions, I embraced him tightly, making Alucard flinch briefly, but he pressed on. The barriers I had erected between us seemed to vanish, and in that moment, I found myself putting complete trust in him. Unlike the past few months when his presence irritated me, my heart felt at ease being by his side.

"Pudding..." I murmured, hugging him so tight, seeping the warmth he was emitting.

I didn't know how long we were on a trip, and I just noticed that Alucard brought me to an unfamiliar mountain. I kept questioning why we were there, but he remained silent. Sighing, I used my fingers to gently comb his white fur, feeling how soft it was. I entertained myself while smelling the scent of fresh pine trees.

When he came to a halt, I saw that we stopped at a gate with a mansion behind it. Bewildered, I dismounted myself, trying to comprehend why we were here.

"Um... So, what are we supposed to do here?" I asked, eyeing how grandiose the mansion was.

It was full of plants and trees, but what stood out the most was a garden of iris flowers. Awed, my heart skipped a beat before flinching when Alucard touched my shoulders.

"Our love nest," he whispered huskily, making my cl!t tingle as I looked at him. He winked at me and said, "I mean, this is my vacation house. This is Prospera Manor. This will be the venue of our pups' birthday party."

My eyes widened in shock at what I just heard. "What do you mean this is the venue? I thought it was supposed to be in the royal palace..." In disbelief, my eyes set on the mansion again.

It was almost the same size as his castle but not as far from the size of the royal palace.

"That was the plan, but I think it would be better to hold their birthday here." When he looked at me, he saw that I was still confused, but he took my hand and gently tugged me. "Come. I'll show you the inside. You will certainly like it."

Alucard led me inside after he used some keys to open it. My jaw dropped more when we were inside as I felt nostalgic upon seeing that all of the furniture might seem luxurious, but the ambiance felt like I was back when I was living with Edison, Samantha, and Jaromir. My heart wouldn't stop beating so fast before I turned to Alucard, who had just opened more curtains to lighten up the whole area before facing me.

"What can you say? Did you like it?" He wriggled his eyebrows to emphasize if I would respond immediately or not.

I roamed my eyes around one more time. "Y-Yes..." I was unsure of my reply since this place felt uncertainty. "It feels like... I'm still living with my foster parents..." There, I finally uttered the truth.

Because, first, it was unusual that he would ask me this. Second, how come this would be the venue of the birthday party of our pups?

And that question popped out of my mouth.

"Because I really made it that way."

My eyebrow arched, puzzled at his words.

"This mansion... I have built this for you a long time ago." He approached me with a smile on his handsome face.

I was astonished, immobilized to my ground. "What...? You built this for me...?" Alucard nodded, making my eyes widen in surprise.

This time, I appreciated my surroundings, ignoring him for a moment. When he told me that he made it this way because he built this mansion for me, my heart was fluttering before returning my attention at him.

"Why?" I had something on my mind right now, and this was not the word I wanted to come out from my mouth. "Why would you do this just for me?"

I already knew the answer for this, but still I wanted to hear it from him. It had been so long since I last heard those words because I had already drawn the line between us.

I didn't distance myself when he took my hand to intertwine with his. My wolf was delighted at the contact our skin while we were looking into each other's eyes.

"Because I was planning to demote myself as the crown prince of our kingdom and called off my engagement with Charity years ago, Faustina." I softly gasped and was about to step back, but Alucard was holding tightly of my hand.

"W-Why are you telling me this? You know that it's over between us..." I tried to take back my hand, but it was futile.

Alucard heaved out a sigh and looked earnestly into my eyes. "Listen, Faustina. I want you to hear everything as to why I need to break our mate bond at that time."

As soon as he said that, the memories of his rejection flooded my mind. That was the time when my wolf helped me to be in a fight or flight mode.

"N-No. I do not want to listen to your explanations." I began growling, showing how uncomfortable I was. "Alucard... I do not wish to learn—"

"For fuck sake, can you ever listen to me once, Faustina?!"

I was taken aback from his sudden raising of his tone. For the second time, I had seen his angry expression that supposed to make my knees weak, but I found it interesting and... adorable?

Should that be the right term for it?

And hold on! Why was I baffled from him? Why couldn't I bark back? Was it because it was rare to see him getting mad at me?