"Fifty more laps!" Ark shouted.

I heard exhausted groans coming from the rookies including me.

Ark had doubled the difficulty of our training menu from the upcoming battle. We only had four days left before we engage the Fiery wolf pack. We also had to travel a day before to Africa and the travel time from the US to Africa was 15.98 hours. Yes, I researched it in Google. Come to think of it...if Ark was from Antarctica how the hell did he end up in New York when he was still a puppy? Did some witch take him? If so, then why didn't they just hand Ark over to the Fiery Prince and take him hostage?

The part where how Ark ended up in my arms was still buried under a mystery. I looked at my mate who was standing just in front of the huge tree with a lollipop in his mouth. He was watching us with his arms crossed. He looked deep in thought. I wonder what he was thinking?

At our twentieth lap, Ark ordered us to rest. Some wolves fainted; others were down on their knees or lying down. We were all soaked with sweat and I could feel my knees getting numb.

"I can feel my dick getting numb. It's not fair that me and Icius can't get more action," Cerberus complained.

"We are going to war in the next few days and you think about sex now?!"

"Hey, it's not only for my benefit! I want to give much cum to my pups."

I flinched in disgust. "That sounded so wrong you fucker."

"What the fuck did I say now?"

I ignored my wolf and forced myself up to walk towards my mate. He was leaning against a tree with a hand grabbing his chin. When he saw me, he smiled and waved. "Tired?"

"You are just cruel," I protested making him chuckle at me.

"It is for your own good. You will be facing one of the strongest packs and considering that we won't be bringing veteran warriors, we really need to make the rookies strong."

I knew that. I just wanted to complain but even if I always nag my frustrations I will do anything for Ark even if it was against my will. "What are you thinking?" I asked him.

Ark shrugged and slid down against the tree. I sat down beside him and he began to massage my leg that was next to him. I can feel my eyes getting sleepy from how good his hand was. "I need a blueprint..."

I looked at him curiously. "A blueprint?"

"A blueprint of the volcano...I need one to plan out a strategy," he mumbled.

This was another one of Ark's problems that I can never solve. I sat there quietly and let Ark think while I beat myself emotionally for being useless to my husband. I was snapped out from spacing when Ark yawned loudly and stretched his upper limbs. He took my hand and intertwined our fingers.

"You know, when I turned into a puppy, I remember this man who picked me up just by the entrance of the castle. I don't know who he was but something about him made me feel safe just like what you are making me feel," he stated and blushed.

"He took me in for a night but the next day, he surrendered me to a pet shop that is exporting pet animals to America; before he left me though...he apologized first saying that he can't keep me because he is still searching for his mate who is lost in time. He looks really sad, I could see it in his eyes and with that I realize how lucky I am that I am with my mate now. I can't thank that man enough for what he did. If he isn't the one that took me, I won't be with you now."

Well that explained my confusion.

"Do you know his name?" I asked Ark.

Ark nibbled his bottom lip. "Well...umm this being that suddenly rose up from the floor when I was still in his apartment called him Caleb. I..I wonder if he was the legendary Caleb who lost his mate? I mean, he could be...the guy who called him Caleb was a devil. Wait...does this mean that dragons exist too?"

Caleb huh? Damn, he was our ancestor. How can he still live after all these years and here I thought werewolves only lasted up to two centuries.

Whatever...Whoever this guy was and if ever our paths crossed, I will thank him and I will help him find his mate as a token of thanks for helping me find my own mate. "I will thank him once we meet, I love you my little wolf puppy," I told Ark. Don't ask me why I called him that because it felt so right. My mate smiled at me and pecked my lips.

"Me too...I love you Luka...I love you very much..." Ark murmured and cupped my cheek. I thought he was going to kiss me again but to my dismay, he only whispered to me. "Rest time is over Luka...Time for you to fill your gauge and exercise control."

My mate was evil...

He was just pure evil...

Even with that innocent smile of his, I know how my mate was as evil as a teacher.

"Yas! That's what makes teacher Ark so smexxxxyyyy!" Cerberus groaned making my eyes roll. Ark ordered the rookies to attack me using their special powers altogether and I can't help but to palm my face from how dubious he was.

Does he really love me?

Why Ark? Why?

Rogers, the loser, attacked me first with his irritating scream. He was clearly trying to show that he was better than everyone else when all he could do was fucking scream and destroy our eardrums. I swear, if I had the chance, I would strangle all those people who irritated me.

Kade, the motherfucker, used his eagles to peck the shit out of me. I don't even know why he was here when I can't even absorb his power. I felt the thunder, the water, the earth, the winds, and other powers of the pack getting absorbed. I tried to dodge every single one and it was fucking exhausting. When I dodge flying objects towards me, I get a black belter squirrel at my face. I think that Kade was only there to piss the living hell out of me. After a while, Ark signaled us all to stop. He sent off the rookies to rest leaving me and him alone in the training grounds. I plopped down on the ground while panting.

"Are we done yet?" I asked.

"Not yet..." he murmured. "You still haven't faced me yet. I'll just fetch some food from the mansion, stay here okay?" He bent down and took me to a deep yet short kiss that left me wanting for more.

Damn tease. I sighed and looked around the area. I was the only one here. The guards were having a meeting with dad for some missing guards and so he left all the training to Ark so I can't really complain. Ark had a lot of problems in his hands already and me complaining will only stress him out. Another sigh escaped my lips and as I waited for Ark, a caught a whiff of a combined scent of werewolves and witches. I was immediately alerted; I whirled up and looked around. My body dashed to find the source.

"Kid, don't just rush into action!" my wolf scolded.

"This is no time to be a pussy!"

"Fuck you! We have five future pups to feed and I can't have you ruining the moment where I can be called dada!"

"Is that supposed to be your fucking life goals now?" I snorted.

Cerberus wasn't able to answer me when I was suddenly bashed at my head during my run. I fell on the ground while I held my head.

"Shit!" I groaned in pain.

I pushed myself up only to be kicked at the stomach. I felt myself getting hauled up from the ground with two persons holding my arms. I greeted my teeth when I felt another kick from behind. I opened one eye and saw a man with a pointy beard and a mustache. He had tanned skin and a built body much like mine. He was wearing clothing like that from pirate movies with that bandanna on his head.

Fuck, he looked uglier than what I've seen in Google and Ark was supposed to marry this guy?! I saw familiar werewolves standing behind him. Traitors? Wait, these were the missing guards! Where were the witches?

"Hello there!" the bearded man greeted. "I see you have fallen for the smell of witches," he laughed. "Well you're not wrong. These two over here are witches; they just copied some of your pack members who were on guard last night. Their scents are masked so one of them had to draw you out with some blood." One of the witches showed me her arm that was gashed a little bit.

"You are just stupid!" Cerberus growled at me. "Why won't you listen to me?"

"Anyway, I came here to claim what is mine in the first place. My original plan of manipulating a mere dog is a failure seeing that he grew a dog tail and dog ears last night. Now then, surrender Alaster to me and never speak about this."

Anger boiled inside of me. Ark was never his. Ark was mine ever since he was created! I spat blood at his face and Drake simply returned a punch at my face. Fuck, he can punch. I looked back at him and found that he was wiping the blood off his face.

"Ark is never yours. We are already married and there is nothing you can do about it!" I growled at him and gave him a kick to his stomach. Drake was taken aback and a frown formed on his face.

"I see...this is quite a disaster...You even nicknamed the royal Prince...That is...disgusting..." he murmured.

He was in deep thought for a second until he snapped his fingers. "Witch, copy this fool and bring Alaster to me."

The witch standing behind him came in front and swiped the blood dripping down my mouth with her fake thumb. Her fake body started to glow green as a pentagon formed beneath her.

"Copy your eyes, copy your lips, copy your hair and copy your scent. Your body ouch!-" she screeched when I kicked her fake balls.

See that? I hope a day comes when all females grow balls so that they'll know the feeling of getting their balls kicked and feel hell. One of the men holding me punched me at the stomach making me cough.

The witch cleared her fake throat and glared at me with her fake eyes. Geez, I'm like describing an actress who had too much surgery done to her body. "As I was saying...Your body is mine, your-"

I kicked her once again and struggled against the hold of these men. It didn't help that I was weak at the moment. Ark's training really took a toll on me and I can't link any wolves since that will cause a bloodshed in the town. I hate to admit it but...I can feel the intensity of this fucker's power. He was not even using it yet but...he was definitely strong.

"Let us weaken him first..." Drake sighed. "I'll do the pleasure..." He slammed his knuckles at the spot where my sternum was and I heard it crack.

The two men just held me while the Fiery prince broke every rib in my body. It fucking hurt and I could hear Cerberus whining but I forbid him to take my place. It sounded weird but...it was alright for me to be the one to feel the pain, it was alright for me to be the one in a fifty-fifty situation but it was definitely not alright for me to see my family and friends get hurt. The injuries he inflicted on me will heal a day or two and thus for now...

I was simply a broken wolf....

I was dropped to the ground but Drake did not stop there. He continued to kick me until he was satisfied and until he got tired. He spit on my face and straightened his shirt.

I hate myself for being weak.

This was my fault...

"Let me out kid! Let me fucking rip him to shreds!" Cerberus growled angrily.

"No...He's too strong..."I panted. Every part of my body was all unusable. For all the times he would show up he chose the day when Ark drained me.

Drake chuckled. "Now then, that is a nice view. You look like garbage since well...you are garbage. You are never meant to be with my Alaster. Just continue to live in this trash of a town and leave the Prince to me. I'll make sure to take good care of him since you clearly can't. He will never be happy with the likes of you, just accept it and move on."

His words were kinda unacceptable to me. I know Ark was happy with me. I know that he can be himself when he is with me. I know that he was stronger than me but even so...I have done my very best to protect him...but I guess I can only make him happy...I can't even protect him...

Why was I...Why was I so useless?

The witch continued her chant. I had no bones to use for her now. "Your body is mine, your voice is fine, I am now you and you are now me..." she chanted and licked the blood from her thumb. Her face began to change into my own figure and looks. I was pissed off at how her nose was not as sharp as mine. Jesus, if she was going to steal my face the least she could do was do my nose properly!

"Good, now get me Alaster," Drake stated with a smirk.

The clone nodded and walked back to the training grounds only to come back with a melted form of her real face. Ark was dragging her by her white hair with a deadpan face. He didn't look surprised at all when he saw Drake rather...when he saw me, I saw a flicker of anger in his eyes and he masked that immediately with a smile.

"This is a surprise, I didn't expect to see you here," Ark stated happily. I saw him clench his fist as he bypassed me and hugged Drake.

"Ahh, my beautiful Alaster, you are not mad for what I did were you? I was only playing a game and I didn't think that you would run away and end up here."

"No...of course not, if It was you then it was fine. What can I do for you?" Ark asked.

What was he playing? Shit Ark, run away from here. I tried to call out to him but I only ended up groaning. My eyes wandered around and I spotted Sciath hiding behind a bush. He placed a finger in front of his lips to signal me that I should stay quiet.

Yeah right...like I could speak.

"Are you alright kid? Damn this, I wish you would faint already so I can break my way through and rip that ugly ass motherfucker to shreds!"

"Shut up..." I muttered. I was worried about Ark. He should not have come here and why was Sciath not doing anything?!

"So then...what do you say? Let us get married for peace," I heard Drake say.

Was he nuts?

We were already married and if he tried to bite Ark, he will fucking die.

"I will bite you not too hard so that I won't get poisoned and we can live together as a loving couple for peace. You know how important you are to me Alaster. I won't surrender you to this garbage."

I clenched my eyes and prayed that Ark would just get away from here. Never mind the insults thrown at me, I just want Ark to be safe but what was Ark doing?

I can feel the anxiety in my stomach. I wanted to get on my knees and just beg Ark to run. I was so scared for him and for our pups. This Drake guy won't hesitate to kill him if he said no.

"I will...of course come with you. This is for the better. For peace, we must get married," Ark stated and I felt my whole world crumbling apart.

The pain in my heart was severe and I could feel the tears flowing down my eyes and to the dirt. I heard them walk away with Drake laughing. My vision was blurry as I bled to death. Sciath came out of his hiding spot and bent towards me. He smiled at me but I also see the worry and pain in his eyes.

"Can you still hear me Luka? Don't die okay? The Prince loves you. He really loves you and right now he wants you to be strong. I felt his hand on my back as I willed myself to believe him.

"He loves us, kid, be strong Luka!" Cerberus cheered.

If that was the case then why did he said yes? My heart won't stop hurting. I thought of positive things. If that Drake guy bit him too hard, he will die from the poison. Yes, that was it. Maybe that was Ark's plan.

But what if he did die and Ark gets killed inside that volcano?

No...No no no no no!

I pictured Ark inside of my head and remembered our time together. I can't lose him now. I just found him, we just got married and we were having our kids. I can't....Shit...I saw my dad and Kade running towards us. Everything felt like it was in slow motion. My eyes won't stop tearing up and I shouted in pain when they tried to stand me on my feet.

"We need a stretcher, we need a stretcher!" my dad shouted. Kade was gently tapping my cheek and I couldn't make out the words coming out from his mouth. I was zoned out now.

And the tears won't stop...

Fuck Ark...Why do you make me feel this pain so much? Please...please be careful. Please just wait for me. I will come for you no matter what it takes. Please keep our pups safe. I won't be able to forgive myself if I lose you all. Please...I fucking love you and right now...I'm fucking hurting.