The trees, the villagers, the pups playing, the dry muddy path— everything was shaking.

"What happened between you and him, last night?"

My eyes closed mildly as Amelia patted the head, forcefully rubbing the oil against my scalp.

"Are you my best friend?" I taunted while glancing far at Natasha and Alvena who were bathing the lamb they were about to eat at the lunch.

"Friend?" Amelia asked, massaging the space above my ears. "I didn't drag you to the mountains by your hair for how you broke the rule, yesterday. Broke the crown too. Now, what does that makes me?"

"A woman who minds her business."

A squeeze came upon my ear, I winced slightly. "Oww!"

She hummed and kept massaging my scalp. "I am trying to be someone between your mother-in-law and your sister-in-law. Wait. What is business?"

I rolled my eyes. "How do I explain that to you?" I said while thinking slowly. "It means occupation. Like what you do. Your own work. Like you have a family and you take care of it. That's your business. Your trade. But if you look over me and interfere in my life, I will tell you to. . ."

"I am the Luna. Each female here is my business."

I blinked, staring at the lamb. Natasha was now wiping it with a cloth.

"We had an argument. We fought and we. . . We kissed," I said, pouting in feeling awkward. Her massaging stopped. "More like he forced his kisses on me. I got carried away by the night. He just cannot dance like that when he claims to be my mate."

The massaging continued.

"No female likes to share her mate. I would rip out her spine and whip her dead body with it."

My lips curled in amazement. "I didn't mean that. I mean, he can't do that when he claims to be my mate. . ."

"I get it. . . there was this one female claiming to fuck Robin, when Nysa came here. She was fiesty in the beginning. Nysa ripped her throat the moment she announced that she would love to offer her service on every full moon."

I gulped slowly. "Why would girls fight over a caveman?" I mumbled absentmindedly. 

"You'll know if you happen to fight for your caveman some day," she said, chuckling to herself.

Never.

"The full moon is closer. The moonlight happens to charm all of us. The love turns intense. So does the lust, Foxy. Those were the widowed and mateless females."

"Why aren't they with Lucine then?" I asked, my voice vibrating as she started shaking my head with her aggressive massage. It was soothing.

"They are not virgins."

My eyebrows raised and I watched the lamb and the girls shaking. Alvena picked it up and followed Natasha who was coming towards us.

"Take him to my kitchen!" Amelia yelled while Alvena nodded, passing me a smile when I opened my eyes from in between the amazing massage.

I glanced at the door of Karam's room. "Where does he go all this time? He never tells me about it."

She rolled my hair into a tight bun on the top. "To work with the rest of the males. To build, to labour, to hunt, to pluck fruits for you. . . There are many things they have to do."

I turned quiet while she started massaging my shoulder. I closed my eyes and relaxed. "Ah. Thanks for this. . ." I breathed slowly.

"I am preparing your little human body for the climb," she said, while my eyebrows furrowed. "To meet Lucine. Karam will take you there, tomorrow."

She patted my shoulders and said, "Turn around. Your legs, now."

I slid around on the wooden stool and faced her amused face. "Is it necessary to visit her?" I asked, scrunching my nose.

"Why? She scares you?" Amelia teased while dipping her fingers into oil bowl.

"No. I am just not thrilled to meet her."

"The females would be happy to see their Uncle and Aunt," she said, making me sigh.

I blinked while looking at her tanned hands rubbing my legs effectively.

"I wonder if you have done this to every female of your family?"

She smirked while looking up at me. Her Kohl was dark and iconic. That purple bandana was fiery. Her nose ring looked like the perfect finishing to her pretty face. But God protect her scalp from those tight braids.

"All the pups. But you are the only bride. For Nysa, my mother-in-law was there. Alvena and Natasha have gotten their share from their mates' mothers. I am filling your share," she said while looking at me.

"My Gran used to do this every weekend, you know. But after I grew up, I was all stupid for neglecting her massages. The high school, it's tough. The peer pressure is so much. You just have to keep those hair oil free to be ever ready to go out," I muttered while remembering those days. "In last two months, Mom did my oiling twice. The moments I could afford in whole of my life."

She stared at me while squeezing my hanging muscles of the legs. "Your mother seems like an ungrateful bitch."

"I never said that," I said while looking at her in shock.

"What kind of a mother throws her pup away?" She asked while giving me a raise of eyebrows.

"She was helpless. It was her mate who took her away. Thank Goodness, Mom married my father and then I was born. I could only imagine the worst of scenarios, had been I a bastard." I muttered while glancing at her.

She stopped massaging in confusion as if concentrating on my words.

"But Gran would have taken care of me anyway, I know. I am the last mark of her son, after all."

Amelia lowered her eyes and focused on rubbing my heels with oil. "Your mother's mate never tried to kill you?"

I nodded. "For Mom, he couldn't. I bet he would have if she wasn't attached to me. But this doesn't mean, he is kind. He never adopted me. He just hated me." I said while chewing on my lips. "I don't know. The night I was thrown here, he helped me. He was being kind. He is maybe a good man, just not to me."

"I pity him. I would have killed you if I had been in his place," she said truthfully.

My heart drowned in hurt.

"No one likes to see their mate birthing a pup with another male. Someone else's blood. It ruins the legacy," she said while pressing her finger tips at points behind my ankles.

"But what's my fault in all of this? I didn't ask to be born," I said, lowly.

She halted and rubbed her palms in thought. "But asking your mother's mate to become a father to you, which must be painful for him to even think of, is your bad. You ask for him to hurt himself."

I lowered my eyes in thought, wondering if that was the scene with Gilbert.

"Does it even matter anymore?" I mumbled, chuckling humorlessly. "It's not like I will be meeting him again. He must be living peacefully with my mother now."

"Would he be wanting to meet you again?" She asked with a raise of eyebrow.

"I don't know."

Holding my hand, she massaged my palms and said, "Now, you have a family here. Thinking of the life across the border will only lower your spirits. Look around and see how many are delighted to have you here."

I looked up in her icy blue eyes.

"Lucine would be delighted?" I asked, hesitantly.

Amelia sucked in a long breathe. "She will. No one goes there but the virgin daughters with no mates and the two Aunts. King went there five years ago when Tara fainted inside the temple. His mother saw her in the dream and ordered for him to bring her back. Lucine hadn't allowed it. At last, Tara woke up and confessed that she had lusted over a man. She was thrown out with spits and curses. Maybe, the burden of that insult stayed with her and killed her."

I stiffened.

"Lucine hadn't left her twin sister without the rules," she said while shaking her head. "Miggy was the complete opposite of her. It is a mess how Lucine of all her pups inherited their mother's mysticism and her mother wouldn't even be proud of how she is using it."

Amelia glanced at the street behind my shoulders. "Karam was dearest to Miggy and Tara. I wonder sometimes, if deep inside he is happy that they are gone above to meet their mates. Maybe, it's their blessings that this year, you found him."

I let out a heavy sigh, feeling too tired to correct her that I was literally thrown to this side.

He had been quiet the whole time when we returned to the room. Maybe, it was the guilt. Maybe, it was the silence that settled after we ended our kiss. Maybe, he was just satisfied inside that he found me disturbed by his dance with those women. Maybe, he was pondering over his act of molesting me against the wall.

"And he is here," muttered Amelia while smiling in amusement. "Go to your room. Looks like he wants to talk to you."

I shook my head awkwardly. "He must have come to take something. To change clothes maybe."

"By clothes I remember  Nysa is washing both of yours' clothes," she said, looking at me. "Just the meet with Lucine and from the next day, you will wash your clothes responsibly."

I blinked. Ah! Fuck!

But then, I remembered. I could meet Chelsea easily that way daily.

"Go, now." She said, observing my face. "I swear, I would make you lick all the dirt on my floor if you break that crown again. Alvena stitched it again. It's on your bed."

I nodded and got up quietly.

Walking towards the room, my heart started drowning.

After he was gone, I had spent hours thinking about last night.

I realized that I had been overwhelmed by the burden of Chelsea's action points. Her confidence and sincerity had restricted me from even enjoying eating the apples in my room. All these little things.

On top of it, Karam's actions had riled me up. I didn't know what took over me. Maybe, it was the moonlight like Amelia said. I must have gotten worked up by the atmosphere.

I felt conflicted in understanding him.

I felt angry at myself for even trying to understand him.

I felt upset that he had been trying to play with me like that.

He was trying to be in my life forcefully. He already had.

I felt defeated for giving up and kissing him back just like that. I was exhausted and let the pleasure my body felt, sink in. It was an enjoyment till the time it happened.

Since then. I was only feeling exposed to him.

I still couldn't comprehend why I behaved like that last night.

I wasn't a cry baby. Maybe, a little. But repeating those things was just a way to rant out frustration.

I just wanted to exempt myself from Chelsea's plans. I didn't want to live like a spy and risk my life. I didn't want to fear every breathe.

Chelsea had simply told to fool him with tricks.

The full moon was closer and the kisses from last night were like playing with fire.

I just had to be smart and careful at the time. Even when I didn't want to.

He had entered my personal space and was now trying to rule it.

I had to do the same to him before he could manage to get successful.

.

.

.

_____

.

.

.

Shutting the door after me, I looked at him sitting on the bed and finishing wearing his shirt.

It was only the faint flash of his tanned skin of his torso that I could catch in the mere blink.

"Wear your cloak."

My eyebrows raised and narrowed at the rough grumble.

Last night, after returning from the ground, after that stupid moment when I had let myself loose into the unwanted desire—we didn't talk. I didn't. I kept the distance on the bed and he didn't bother me anymore. The silence continued and we had soon fallen asleep.

It felt awkward now just to talk with him. He was gone before I could even wake up.

"Why?" I asked, shifting my weight on one leg.

He looked at me, observing me from head to toe. "You are not going out like this."

I looked down at my maroon top and skirt. "Out?" I asked, my eyebrows twitching in blankness. "My hair is oiled. I am all oily. I am not going anywhere."

"Wear the hood," he said while taking his used shirt to the bathroom. He would always dump it into a wooden tub for Nysa to grab those clothes next morning.

While he returned from bathroom, I was staring at the flowery crown on the bed. It looked enhanced and prettier. Alvena had added new roses and leaves along with those colored feathers.

All of a sudden, I felt bad for throwing it away like that, last night.

"You don't have to wear it," he said while sitting on the chair, spreading his legs and putting his elbow on the table. "It's not like the value of that crown matters to you. No need to wear it then."

I blinked, flaring my nostrils. "No. I am not looking presentable and I don't want to go anywhere with you."

His finger tips were tipping against the table, and now they had stopped.

His face turned to look at me and showing extreme blankness. "What did you say?" He asked while I saw his claws protruding and prickling the table.

Chill ran down my spine.

My heart shivered in fear as the glimpses from the first ever night on this territory came to my mind. The black fur, the saliva dripping off his sharp canines, the red eyes, the talons— my eyes turned glossy.

The painful howls of mother echoed as the background while I could hear the heavy rain and thunder. Lightning struck and I saw the beast he was.

I had crawled on the mud. I had fallen.

He had hovered over me.

That scary wolf-face with spine-chilling canines inside, I was dying.

Mine

I shuddered visibly as the lightning struck again.

He groaned and got up from the chair.

That's when I started to realize how my heart had started pounding loudly in my chest.

My lips trembled and a hiccup escaped my mouth.

He reached me, wrapped his arms around my shaking form and rubbed my back.

More hiccups escaped as his warmth engulfed me immediately. His large arms crushed my form while he brought his mouth closer to my ear.

"Did I scare my mate?" He whispered hurriedly while rubbing his palm against my back.

Pulling away, he cupped my cheeks and looked in my eyes. His amber ones showed a sudden concern. "Take a long breathe," he said while palming my heart.

I hiccuped and gasped, shivering slightly from the sudden suffocation I had started to feel. My whole weight leaned on him while he nodded at me, removing his hand to palm my back. "Do it, my mate."

I did as he told, my hands palming his forearms. Breathing slowly, I let out another hiccup while he hugged me again.

"I terrified you. Didn't I?" He grimaced while palming my back and breathing into my neck. "I want you to meet some people. Someone you would like to see."

I cleared my throat and breathed slowly. He left my arms and walked towards the table, pouring the water into the metal glass. Bringing it to me, he gave it to me.

"Who are they?" I said hoarsely, sitting back on the bed while he sat beside me with guilt glinting in his amber orbs. I gulped the water hurriedly and breathed out loudly.

"I'll show you," he said while rubbing his forehead slowly.

I blinked, bending ahead to put the glass down and straightening up with fear still crawling over my heart. "Do you not like me talking back to you?" I asked quietly. "Enough to hit me if I do it."

He didn't move and sat with his elbows resting against his knees. He looked so big, sitting beside me like that.

"You know how to provoke the beast in me. The full moon is close. It gets hard to tolerate your stubbornness."

I zigzagged my jaws and gulped slowly. "Can we make a deal?"

He glanced at me, looking disturbed. "What about it?" He asked curiously.

I gulped. "I'll behave," I said while looking at the floor, remembering Chelsea's words. "I'll be nice. If you respect my beliefs from my world. My freedom of speech, of travelling, of doing what I want, of what I wear. . ."

"You need to follow some rules for your own good," he said while looking ahead at the floor. "I have a family to respect and shower love on. They expect from my bride. I cannot let you upset them again and again."

"I upset no one."

He gave me the dead eye. "You upset me. I have a standing as an Alpha Lycan in front of the pack. I won't tolerate your continuous disrespect towards me. All I asked for you to wear that cloak and come with me."

I leaned against the pillar of the bed and pulled my legs up. "And you didn't upset me?" I asked in a low voice.

He grunted hard and got up. Walking from left to right and right to left within just two steps, he kept mumbling things angrily.

All of a sudden, he stomped his foot and kneeled in front of me on the floor. I removed my head from the pillar to watch him looking at me intensely.

"The deal will stay until you obey me," he said, flaring his nostrils and giving me the determined look. "If you don't behave nice to my family and me, I will forget that you are a human."

I sucked in my cheeks, blinking in awkwardness. "Fine. Done—"

"And you will give me kisses."

I widened my eyes, gasping in horror. "No," I said, getting off the bed diagonally to not touch him. "What kisses? I am not your girlfriend or what! The last night was stupid. You forced me, manipulated my emotions."

He stood up tall while I took the cloak from the cupboard and started wearing it.

"Fine. There is no deal. Behave nice or not. I will do what my heart says. I will shamelessly force my mate if this is how I will have to calm my thirsting beast," he said angrily, letting out a low growl.

My eyes widened while I wore the cloak slowly, not being able to say anything.

Silence settled while he walked around the bed to stand behind me. I closed my eyes in sudden fear.

"Karam, I am a child inside. I have never been with a man like this," I said, pouring my true thoughts out. "I am not the grown up woman you think I am. . . that can satisfy you or love you like a wife. I am. . ." I sucked in a breathe and released it heavily.

"You wore the cloak? Fine. Let's go," he said while I turned around to face him.

He looked furious behind those calm amber eyes. His face wasn't even moving. As if he wasn't breathing.

I blinked fearfully. "What about the deal?" I asked lowly.

"Forget the deal." He said calmly. It sounded dangerous.

"Will you shave off that beard? It brushes against my mouth roughly."

He gave me an offended look. He looked hurt. He didn't like the joke.

Turning around, he started walking towards the door.

"Karam, stop." I stomped behind him, twitching my lips. "Fine. Fine. Calm down."

He walked around the large bed. "Don't want your kisses!" He growled angrily.

I touched his back to stop him and it riled him up more.

He turned around angrily and gave me a blank look. "You saw those women. Didn't you? Do I look like I would be lacking women's advances in my life?"

My eyes squinted at his over confidence.

His eyes turned glossy and red rays started showing up in them. "I am trapped in this as much as you are. How I wish it could have been easy like King! Just someone from my own pack. She would have loved me. She would have cared for me." He said coldly while flaring his nostrils.

"You want to leave this place? I wish I could let you go and free myself of your bitterness! Of your cruelty!" He said angrily, while giving me a hurtful look. "Of your childishness!"

My mouth parted at the sudden jolt I felt in my heart.

"But the beast starts eating me up from inside at the mere thought of you going away from me. It aches inside." He said, clenching his jaws and punching the door angrily, making me jump in shock. "I wish, someone else could have been my mate. I didn't choose you. The Moon Goddess did."

His face turned cold and he stepped closer, towering me against the fence of the bed.

"My brothers call me a wimp for not ravishing you the night I got you," he said in a straight echoing tone, making my eyes widen. "In that rainy night. The thunders were loud. The lightning was striking hard. Everything was perfect. Except for your human heart. It was beating hard against your chest. You were petrified."

The lump formed in my throat while he flared his nostrils.

"Nothing will be able to stop me from violating you forcefully," he said coldly. "But King tells me that the five packs fought together against your family to save you. A War broke for the sake of you. You are important. I felt as if I have been gifted a fairy by the Moon Goddess. I valued you like your family did. King called you precious. I didn't break your preciousness. I didn't violate that angel. I did something that has been costing me my aura in this pack. My beast is dying inside of the ignorance it feels from his mate. The males of this pack laugh at me behind my back."

He blinked and gulped hard, his Adam's apple popping out.

His jaw ticked and he shook his head at me, giving me a blank look.

"I wish it had been someone else," he said softly. "I wish, I could just let you go. I don't want this too, Misty."

My name sounded so foreign and weird from his mouth, in that deep rough voice. That even when he sounded so hurt and angry.

I realized how much rarely he would take my name. Like he valued the chances of when he would called me by name to emphasize his emotions.

My vision turned blurry while he backed away slowly.

"You are a spirit killer," he said, pointing back at me. "I was taking you to Savina, your cousin sister. So, you could feel at home somehow. Guess, you do not deserve these nice ways of mine anymore."

I gasped when he opened the door.

"Karam, where are you going?" I asked hurriedly while reaching the door. Looking at him, I shook my head desperately. "Please, hear me out."

He gave me the dead eye.

"I won't get called the wimp anymore," he said through clenched jaws and flared his nostrils. "Prepare for the thunders and lightning I will give you tonight, my mate. Human or not, I will push my cock in you hard until you end up chanting yourself—that you are mine."

The door shut harshly.

While I stood there alone in the room, stunned for whatever was coming next.

_______

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