The faint echoes of aggressive winds were playing at the back of my mind.

Because the continuous voices of someone writhing in pain were in the front.

I opened my eyes slowly. My eyebrows narrowed at seeing the darkness in the room. Only a candle in the corner near the bathroom was lit and about to go off. Because of the faint wind coming from the little space beneath the closed windows.

Turning my head to the right, my eyes squinted in the sudden nervousness.

Raising my head up, I palmed Karam's sweaty face. Continuous restless sighs were escaping him while his hand holding mine had been shaking.

"Karam," I cooed while caressing his bearded cheek. "Wake up. It's a bad dream."

Patting it gently, I moved my hand up to run fingers through his hair silkier and wavy than mine. "Karam, get up." I whispered while lowering down my hand to shake his shoulder.

More sighs escaped him as he took fast breaths. His eyes opened while I moved myself back slowly.

"Hey," I whispered softly. "A nightmare?"

His eyes widened and he started breathing harsher. For the first time, I saw an unknown fear on his face.

Looking around, he pushed away the silk curtain of the canopy hurriedly.

"Karam?" I called out loud worriedly.

He hurriedly rushed for his boots near the wall and wore them even without socks. He didn't even tied the belts on it.

I sat up on the bed, quickly. "Karam!" I asked in fear as he started walking towards the door. "What's wrong?"

He halted and turned around to look at me. Walking fast towards the bed, he bent downwards to grab my face with his large hands.

I stared at him worriedly, cupping his hand. "What's wrong, Karam? Where are you going?" I asked desperately, my voice lowering in uncertainty. "You have caught a fever? You are shaking?"

He gulped hard and breathed heavily. "I need to go," he whispered restlessly.

"Go where?" I gasped, widening my eyes. "Don't leave me alone," I said, looking around. There was no light coming from under the door or window. "It's still the night."

"I will come back soon before you even wake up. Just go back to sleep," he requested softly.

"Is it the full moon hurting you?" I asked worriedly, observing the sweat appearing on his forehead. "Karam, I am scared. Can I come too?"

He left my face, straightening up and shaking his head instantly. "No! I must go! Sleep. I will send Nysa to watch over for you to not feel alone."

I pushed the furs away. "No!" Raising on my knees, I shook my head. "No! I want to come too! I can't sleep alone here!"

"It's windy, outside." He said, rushing to the door.

I gasped nervously as he opened it and walked out. Peeking inside before shutting the door, he gave me a serious look.

"Is it the full moon?" I asked slowly.

He blinked. The candle light was able to show only half of his sweating face. "Sleep, my mate."

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______

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"He was gone. Just like that?"

I nodded, my heart still being concerned and curious over why Karam didn't return whole night and even in the morning. I hadn't seen him since that moment.

We had chosen to walk around the banks of the lake and reach the Waterfall, today. As there weren't much clothes to wash except for the pairs Karam and I had worn yesterday. Chelsea too had few pairs. We had done our tasks early.

So, now the real one had began early too. The talk.

The rock we were sitting on wasn't slippery at all. The water was freezing four steps away on our right side. We had walked underneath it to reach the inside of the lake to not be audible to any passerby. It was risky to sit here as by the force of the water, we could slip. Thus, we were alert too. At least, it was better than trying to keep floating in the water to have a long conversation.

I was glad that this river was spread around, forming a little delta and giving private spaces for all.

"Just like that. He was sweating and looked worried about something," I said while staring at the water sparkling because of the faint sunlight.

"I have never seen any of them looking worried," she said, shaking her head with a sad sigh. "They always look so proud. Must be the full moon then. Or why would he leave you alone?"

I nodded slightly, glancing at her for confirmation. But her smile seemed so fake.

Though, I didn't push on it.

"Maybe, he was thinking upon your offer of letting you cross the border for a fuck." She said, making me stiffen.

I gulped before looking around.

"Don't look suspicious," she said, laughing sarcastically. "Misty, how could you put yourself on a bid like that to him?"

The sudden guilt mixed with nervousness started filling my chest.

"I thought you were stone about it. Your virginity. Not being a wolf, only that purity in you is power. Because that is the key to reach Severa," she said, her eyebrows furrowing in disturbance. "You are trying to play with fire. You just don't give yourself out to your Lycan mate like that."

She raised her skirt to unstick it from her legs as we both were getting drenched from the sprinkles of the water. My eyes caught the scars on her legs and they were going up to her thighs. Claw marks.

"I am very much disappointed in you. This was a very close mistake," she complained, her voice shaking as she breathed hard to calm herself. "What if he had agreed?" She asked, looking at me angrily. "Huh? What would you have done? Completed your end of the deal?"

My lips parted and stomach churned. "I don't even want to think about it," I muttered, looking at my lap. "It was more like a tongue slip, Chelsea. I swear, I feel scared after realizing the speed with which I am letting us touch each other. Maybe, it's mate bond. But yeah, that deal was me. I was faking confidence to know what would he answer."

"And?"

"He denied," I muttered, observing the water. "He has the control. He was more of disappointed that I thought so low of him."

She turned quiet.

Looking at her, she had tears in those dark eyes. "He loves you," she whispered, looking at me with conflicted expressions. "How would we be able to spy and do things if he is being so kind to you?"

I gulped hard. "Why? I ain't lying to him or anything? All I am doing is telling you the important things."

She lowered her eyes and looked at the front. Taking a long breathe, she shook her head. "But the upcoming days would involve things that would mean, betraying him."

My heart dropped.

"This is why, I am asking you, Misty. Again and again. Set your mind. If you want to be here forever, like Nysa and Alvena. Savina. Or. . ."

My nostrils flared as I hurriedly nodded. "Obviously, I don't want to be stuck here for whole of my life. I want to leave this territory. Be out of that border."

Her eyes turned blank and she gave me the dead look. "Then, be ready to make your heart stone. For Karam's love will make you weak. He will stop you from following your heart because he is trying to capture it slowly."

I chewed on my lip, remembering the last night. His surprise.

"But he took me to the brother," I said, looking at her in confusion. "He was trying to be nice and thoughtful."

"Because you are his mate and you were missing home," she said, giving me the desperate eyes. "I never saw men with normal ears here, before. This is why, I always kept wondering why they wouldn't allow us to go the colony that smells. They are given the most degraded tasks. Leather making, butchering, Cleaning and burry the bones of the cattle they butcher."

I looked away, my mind going to the direction she was taking me to.

"If they were that respectful, they hadn't been so secretive about it to the brides of common wolves. Gorudo makes sure that I am never reaching that colony," she said, breathing heavily. "Or his threats would come truer than they already are."

My eyes fell down on her scars.

"So, now what?"

She nodded seriously. "Today, tomorrow and day after tomorrow. The night will be of full moon. I am a wolf, I wouldn't be able to control. The Lycans would be out guarding the pack, getting entertained by the brides."

"That's why, I always thought why some growls were so manly." She said, shaking her head. "I can't stop wondering how many of them are alive of the males who had crossed borders."

I moved my wet hair back, shuddering as soft wind reached us. Though, the continuous flow of water had busied my body from fluctuating temperature.

"I won't be able to meet you tomorrow or the day after that," she said, giving me the serious look. "Thus, it is all upon you to keep your mind focused and control on your anger. No more harsh words to Karam or any of the family members. You want them to trust you blindly."

I gulped while saying, "Karam will take me to the temple soon. What about that?"

"You will have to go," said Chelsea while glancing at me. "If you really want to get back to your world. If you understand Severa truthfully, you might get help from her. She blesses her followers."

That made me laugh in mockery. "What help? I am religious but I am not crazy, Chelsea. I don't believe in miracles. They don't happen to everyone. Especially, to someone like me." I said, blinking in hatred for my fate. "What more miracles would happen then being pulled centuries back like this? While my friends must be roaming places and upgrading their dreams. She was just a human like us."

"When we believe in something or someone, we make it or that person powerful, Misty. If you believe in yourself, you will feel powerful. Lucine is powerful, because she has worshipped her Goddess, made her feel powerful too. This is a cycle. The belief is the fuel." She said while looking at me. "The faith."

I kept thinking quietly.

"Ask him to take you on the full moon night."

My eyes widened. "Woah!" I chuckled in nervousness. "The night when the whole territory would be full of blood lusted monsters roaming. I can't. I will postpone it. The late I will make it, the longer I will be the virgin."

Chelsea gave me a long look. "That's the actual reason you are hesitating to go?"

I looked away and gulped slowly.

She licked her lips and explained, "The whole family is desperate to have a heir and you think, they won't know you are postponing it knowingly. Amelia will send you two days after this full moon. The week will end that day and like always, Lucine will allow the girls to return back home for two days."

My mouth parted in blankness.

"But if you go there on the full moon, you will be able to know the deepest secrets of this land. The land of Alpha Ruth and now, of his daughter, Severa. You hear more of her name than of Ronyn, Misty. For a reason. Go, find out why they close the doors. What they do inside the temple," she said, chilling up my spine. "They don't allow the guests. But you are a virgin. There is no reason for her to push you away. No other bride has visited her temple but you are getting the chance. Make the most of it."

I blinked as the sudden suspense and thrill started filling up my veins.

"Karam won't be allowed inside. I-I-I can't. . . spend the night inside the temple alone. It must be spooky." I said slowly.

She chuckled while swinging her legs in fake happiness. "It will get spooky only if you take Rucus' name." She said, giving me a confident look.

She hummed slightly while stretching her arms and smiling widely, keeping the show on to not look suspicious.

I gulped, wiping my face and letting out a fake mocking laughter. "I hate this plan."

"You will have to do this for your own protection too. You will be saved in the temple, if anyhow Karam changes his mind and pounces on you."

My eyes turned blank and I shuddered in the terror. "Okay, no. I will do it. But how am I going to talk about this to him? He was so worried, last night."

She stared at the water in thought. "There's something that you are yet to be introduced to. The Lycans are not boring like us wolves. They don't create bonfires for the sake of some picnic evening or story telling night or to beat the cold. They do it every night they feel like dancing and celebrating happiness."

I blinked in curiosity.

"These two days, there will be bonfires. To give the single male Lycans opportunities to dance and have fun with females of the pack who are widowed and. . ."

"And?" I asked quickly.

She hesitated, making my eyebrows furrow. "Um, you will know it on your own. If I do, you will be shocked all day and you still don't have control on your emotions. Thus, wait for the night."

"Okay," I whispered, agreeing to her words secretly. I had to face Amelia and Nysa, of course. They'd know whatever secret she was about to tell me.

"During these bonfires, you'll behave good with Karam, enough to lure him to agreeing for full moon night trip." She said, making me gasp.

"Lure him?" I whispered while looking at the front in blankness. "How will I do that?"

"You know how," she said, humming to herself in agreement. "Though, the environment will be like such. You will end up doing that on your own."

I shook my head, remembering the night he had danced with those women.

"But where the hell is he? He never tells me where he goes," I said, sighing heavily. "The particulars. Like going to the fields today, to meet this one colleague, or to pluck fruits, or to make some new furniture. No, he just goes away like that."

She didn't reply.

I blinked, staring at the water. "Do you want Gorudo to love you?" I asked, looking at her. "If he starts changing after giving all those bad days and nights to you."

Chelsea stared at the forest, smiling sadly. "I don't know, Misty. Maybe, yes. I'll forgive him. Suffering so much hatred and bitterness from him, I yearn for a single smile from him. That he doesn't think, I deserve," she choked out, her eyes filling up instantly.

I grabbed her hand while she bit her upper lip. "Maybe, I will stop spying and be a loyal mate to him. A loyal member to this pack too."

"So, this is all a vengeance." I asked looking at her.

She shook her head, gulping slowly and wiping her wet cheeks. "If he doesn't need my love, then my pack does. So, I will just do my duty. I will go proudly to the Moon."

I gulped shakily as my throat filled up. "Hey, don't say that. Talking about going to the moon, is last thing I want to hear at this place."

She quietened and looked at me blankly. "There are so many things to do. To send the message of the wolf males being alive to the packs. But the full moon is here. With this one, comes more trouble. I just want us to not break and only share each other's thoughts, Misty. This is why, I have been weeping often in front of you. Otherwise, my eyes were out of tears."

My heart squeezed.

"You know, your truthfulness to your morales is your biggest power. People get insecure when our devotion to follow our principles are higher than them." She said, while showing me her emotional eyes. "Thus, be focused. Take each step slowly. You can wrap all of them around your finger if you put some control on your anger and bluntness. Some thoughts are just meant to be ours. For people take advantage of knowing them. It doesn't works in our favour then."

I nodded slowly.

"We will meet after the full moon night." She said, while I looked away.

"The last thing," she whispered, making me look back at her. She was giving me this blank, pitiful and then, determined look. "Why would a Lycan who have just been offered a fuck, that even two days ahead of the full moon will sweat in his sleep? Why will he run away from you so suddenly and won't return even in the morning?"

My lips parted while she smirked knowingly.

"Keep an eye on your mate, Misty."

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_____

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Lighting up the sixth candle in the room near the bed, I heard the door bursting open.

Putting it properly on the wooden stand, I turned around to cross arms across my chest.

He was breathing calmly as he entered the room and shut the door after him. Ruffling his hair, he straightened his tired back and hummed slowly.

I kept my stern gaze on, holding blank expressions on my face.

He observed me and turned amused.

Walking towards me, he smiled warmly, narrowing my eyes.

"My mate looks delicious today."

My right eyebrow raised when I saw his dry hair. "You didn't take your evening bathe, today?"

His mouth parted in suddenness of my question. "Oh."

"Where were you the whole night? The whole day?" I asked calmly, moving my tongue inside my cheeks, counting my patience.

His eyebrows raised as he observed my frilly frock from head to toe. "This is the dress this Lycan in me has been jumping inside to see on you and tear it apart afterwards, my mate." He whispered, walking closer, making me alert.

"And those braids," he said. observing the flicks Nysa had left apart from my braided half bun and rest of the hair down. His eyes observed the light blue dress with royal blue corset over it. "My. . . My. . . My mate looks ravishing."

"Stop with the compliments. I can't breathe in this corset. I just wanted to try, I never wore one before ," I said sternly. "And I know, you are trying to distract me."

He smirked cockily, reaching a step away. Towering me, he grabbed my waist all of a sudden, making my arms unfold and gasp loudly.

"Karam, stop!" I said, looking up at him in frustration. "Do you think I am stupid? You are wrong if you feel, I am letting this go. I want to know what happened last night."

"I knew, you too like to enjoy and dance. Don't you, my mate?" He mumbled while lowering his face and squeezing my waist. His gaze looked so intoxicated as if he just wanted to talk these things endlessly for his own refuge.

My jaws clenched and I gave him a hurtful look. "Karam, this is the last time I am asking you!" I said, gritting my teeth, flaring my nostrils. "As your mate, I am supposed to know where you were!"

"I wanted to bathe last night," he said in boredom.

"Shut up!" I said, grabbing his wrist and trying to move them off my waist. "Fine. I don't want to talk to you! God knows where were you, last night! Why would you even hide about it? Unless it is something bad or wrong. Yeah, maybe you just went to quench thirst to a whore—"

The loud growl shook the whole of the room.

I gasped with my mouth wide open. I stared up at him in shock.

A whimper escaped me when he tightened his hold around me and taunted, "A whore? Do I need a one when my own mate offers herself to me for a mere walk across the border?"

My heart felt like it was stabbed. "Did you just—" I gasped angrily.

"Fine," I said shakily, feeling my eyes getting glossy. "Do what you want. Go where you want. All I wanted was to know about how your day was gone. What made you so worried last night," I said, my voice cracking while he halted and loosened his hold around me.

"In my world, the partners share everything with each other. But you are so mean," I said, my lips trembling while he blinked in blankness. "You asked me to give this a chance. Didn't you? Now when I care, you push me away like this. It's true. Had it been a human, he would have been open and not kept things to himself!"

He clenched his jaws while I lowered my eyes, sniffling softly. "Let me go," I whispered, looking away towards the table.

"Is it a dream or my mate really cares about me?" He whispered, making me sniffle in hurt.

"Fuck you," I choked out, covering my face with my hands in exhaustion.

"Hey." He whispered, removing hands from my face and taking them back behind my waist to lock me.

I felt vulnerable when he roamed his eyes all over my face, down to off shoulders, to the little cleavage the dress was forcefully showing up.

He looked back at me and I saw the pupils dilating.

"I want to tell my mate, everything." He murmured, staring in my eyes. "The fear of losing her stops me. For I will be damned if she gets angry and hurt. Or furious if she doesn't get affected in the first place."

My eyes turned blank in sudden nervousness. He looked serious.

"Karam, what did you do?" I whispered, staring at him in concern and fear. "Is it another woman?"

His eyebrows raised immediately.

"Do you love someone else?" I asked shakily, my heart being lit with a spark that would turn into a fire if he'd say yes.

My jaws clenched when he didn't even move.

"I swear," I whispered, gritting my teeth. "If you are in love with someone else when all this time you kept calling me your mate. . ."

My eyes widened when I suddenly remembered all of our kisses and our moments.

My heart started beating faster in agony.

"Karam, tell me what it is?" I asked while observing the circles under his eyes. He hadn't slept all night. And neither did he enjoy his day with the way he hadn't even had his evening dip in the lake. "Do you love someone else?"

Those amber eyes were now showing some hidden guilt.

"I have been lying, my mate." He whispered while my heart jolted with the sudden shock. My legs started shaking while my blood turned cold.

"About what?" I squeaked out.

He blinked in blankness while his mouth parted to pour the words out.

My heart raced with suspense while eyes were filling up with tears of hurt I would feel.

"Myself." He whispered, making me freeze on the spot.

"What?" I whispered absentmindedly.

His long lashes brushed against his cheeks as he blinked and looked back in my eyes.

"I don't want to lose my mate," he said, observing my reaction. "I. . . I have been—"

The door burst opened. Amelia's voice came loud and clear.

"Foxy, give me a hand on preparing the dinner table. Will you?"

Karam flared his nostrils while I kept waiting for him to continue. He left my waist and stepped back. Turning around, he left the room.

My eyes caught Amelia shaking her head secretly in relief.

________

"What do you think?"

Please vote and comment.

_____

Last three days were so ruthless to me. I barely crossed them with my fading strength to smile. I felt mentally dull.

Maybe, it's the quarantine thing taking its on toll on me. Someimes, we are just hanging by a thread. But thank God, there is Wattpad.

I just wanted to say that I really really cherish all my Wattpad moments. Each second on this app is my refuge. To talk to you all, to read a story, to write one, to comment or read one, to get fascinated in contacting someone who is from a country I have only read about in books.

After so many years, I can't say where I will be. But I know for sure, that whenever I will feel depressed, I will remember Wattpad, my readers and their love for me. You guys mean a lot to me. I have realized that too. It's like a grown love that happened again today because I realized what actually makes me happy.

Thank you for everything.

I'll cherish this forever.

And so many more stories to come. I won't stop. Because this is our world, free of any nuisance that the mean people in real world hold.

Love you all.

P.S. No, I am not sad or moody. I am just on a spiritual journey during this quarantine days and it has many phases. That's what I have named it. I hope, you are all safe and healthy.