He entered the room slowly.

The air turned so heavy, it was hard to breathe.

I couldn't look up or down. Eyes were stuck on the pillar of the canopy bed. The sunlight was falling it with slowly taking a turn as the time passed.

He walked around the large bed, just like last night.

I gulped slowly and collected my legs.

He reached my side of the bed and kneeled again.

I blinked, listening to him clearing his throat and breathing heavily.

"My mate was forced to leave her human world, her pack, her dreams and luxuries for me," he began in his deep voice. He sounded firm yet so sad. "I was on the verge of breaking. My sisters died in longing for their mates. I thought I would die too and then, I smelled you."

My eyes started burning and throat was shaking. I controlled. I tried to and I failed. The tears slid down softly on my cheeks.

He watched.

"You are gifted to me after years of pain and longing, my mate. My hope was fading. My life didn't hold a meaning. I was just living for my family. For my pup."

I sniffled, chewing my lip while staring at the foot of the bed.

"But now, you are here. I have never seen a human before. I do not belong to the world you have grown in. I just know that one thing must definitely in common in every world. The love."

I clutched the skirt in my fists. My anger and pain rising slowly.

"I have hurt my mate and I will heal her pain. I will do anything she will ask of me. Anything. Except for her to cross the border. It will kill us. Except for letting go of my pup that I love as much as I would love our pups, my mate."

I cringed and clenched my jaws. "I just want one thing from you," I said, revising the words in my mind that I had thought after processing everything that had happened.

In the end, I had to be logical and clever. I had survive this mess and get out of this pack. And I had to control my heartbeats from skipping whenever I'd lie.

He sucked in a huge breathe before releasing it with a hum.

Looking at him, I watched him trying not to blink. His nostrils flared in longing while expressions stayed firm and confident.

The circles under his eyes were pink and deep, telling me that he hadn't slept the night. His hair were entangled and tied into a messy bun on the top.

I blinked, lowering my eyes and wiping my cheeks. "I want to go the temple," I said, looking up at him.

He blinked while thinking deeply. "The second day after full moon, we were about to go there only. The females are allowed to come back home-"

"I want us to leave tomorrow." I said, my voice shaking slightly.

His whole face was drowning me in guilt of whatever mess he himself was in. But I had not taken the duty of handling the burden of people's mistakes on my head. I had been bitter to him.

My tongue felt sour for being so mean to him. But in the end, I was the one stuck here, away from home and family. I was the one suffering more.

"Tomorrow?" He kept his face calm, eyebrows twitching slightly.

I nodded, remembering Chelsea's words. "So, we can reach there on the full moon."

His eyebrows narrowed and mouth parted in confusion. He seemed innocent and blank. "Sister won't allow us to be there. We can't go there on full moon night. She will be angry."

"This is what I was trying to show you," I said, looking at him in hurt. "You can't stick up to your words. You cannot fulfill a single wish of mine. Your words are empty. You are a liar, Karam. You are just a talker."

His mouth closed at the sudden accusations.

I sniffled softly while looking away, feeling his gaze on me. "I want to talk to her. She is your sister, not some devil. She won't hurt you for just wanting to visit her."

"Why do you want to visit her, my mate?" He asked calmly, curiosity and guilt lacing his voice. "You want to know what really happened. So, you do not trust a word I say. You want me to say the same words in front a being you trust. May I call Savina or Valeria here? You will trust them if they say I am not lying."

I breathed slowly, staring at the wooden fence of the bed.

"When I get drunk, I dance. I have the power enough to not let the wine conquer me wholly. That night was different. Something happened and the thought of it shakes my senses. If I have touched her, then it wasn't me. My soul wouldn't go for a female like that. If I had to fuck females before you only, I would have had so many pups and hundred wives since the day I started understanding everything. And I still had been shameless then. But I am not. I am ashamed."

"You miss the point," I said in my cracking voice. "You hid the information from me."

"I did what I had to do to keep you sane. You were disheartening everything we were offering. You were sad, my mate." He said, desperately.

I clenched my jaws. "You danced with the women."

"I won't, again. I will never dance again in my life. Ever," he said lowly, making me feel his heated gaze.

I breathed angrily. "I don't want to listen any truth from Lucine. I would have done, had I been in love with you and thought of a future," I said through gritted teeth. "I do not feel good here. I need someone who hasn't hurt me yet. I need to see a face that won't bring anger to my eyes. I want to meet Lucine and get myself sorted. Amelia said, she has inherited your mother's mysticism. I want to meet her to make myself good, Karam. That's all."

My heartbeats were calm and yet so heavy, I could feel the thumps in my chest.

Moments passed and he didn't say a word. He was thinking.

"Would my mate forgive me if sister Lucine tells her the truth about my pup too?" He asked slowly, squeezing my heart.

"I won't give a fuck," I whispered blankly.

He didn't reply and got up slowly.

I gulped when he walked around the bed, but stopped at the foot to stare back at me longingly.

The sunlight in the room was allowing me to see the red marks on his knuckles that were healing. Some red patches were on his forehead and thick neck too.

Anton must have fought back.

My eyes lowered and stopped to observe the faint rays of skin beginning from the chest that was hardly exposed beneath the V-neck. He hadn't closed his buttons today and the edges of the collar were falling, giving me the view of those rays that I hadn't noticed before so eagerly because of his long hair. They were the color lighter than his fair complexion of the neck.

"I don't know what I can do to prove you that I am not the kind of male you have started to think of me," he said, making me look up in these amber orbs. His nostrils flared as he gave me the depressed look frustratingly. "Yes. I dance heartily. Yes, I dance around. This is the way I have been raised. This is what my elders would do. My aunts won't deny Robin the dancers until Nysa had arrived. King let us drink and ask females to woo us so we feel like the male we are."

He breathed restlessly and clenched his jaws. Looking at me, he nodded slowly. "Why would I fuck a woman when I know my mate will have to see after getting my mark?" He asked roughly.

His voice turned deeper and angrier. "You should be free of worries for you won't have to see it. I don't remember it!" He said, sighing heavily. "Maybe, you would. I don't know. I didn't have a mate before. It happens once and it's you."

I flinched as his voice had raised slightly.

A sniffle escaped me and our eyes met again.

"I have tried to be soft to you, my mate." He said tiredly. "It only gave me more pain that I do not deserve. King, Robin, Anton, Virion. They have it easy. They are prideful. While my sisters' deaths made me humble. I fear a female's pain. A female's scream doesn't make me male enough. All my nieces look up to me."

He gulped hard.

"I wonder sometimes what would happen if I had let Amelia kill the pup. So, my mate who could be the from the so-called advanced world, won't be happy with a bastard. Before she kills my pup on her own, let Amelia do it. But then, the scent reached me," he said slowly, his eyes going blank as if he was remembering the scene. "The sweet one. The hair. The eye. The nose. The tiny feet of my pup. The tiny fingers. And I stopped her."

His eyes turned glossy and he looked back at me.

"I will take you to Lucine," he said coldly, giving me the hurtful look. "I will do everything in my power to provide you."

His eyes narrowed and he threw such an intimidating glance, my hand reached my heart in sudden terror.

A growl escaped him lowly, his eyes turned glassy.

"But I will not let you overpower me, my mate. The Lycan inside me wants his mate. He claws inside for me to have you. Mate you endlessly. I control. I push my monster back. But you challenge me. It is a matter of time."

He gave me a cold stare.

"I tried to be human to you and all I received in return were monstrous words. My heart has been choked and clawed at. The Lycan doesn't accepts it. I won't have to ask you to claim you, my mate. It won't be in my hands anymore." He warned, chilling up my spine.

My mouth parted in blankness.

"A time will come when my patience will break. The monster will take over. The grounds will shake. You will beg me to be the Karam, you will value then. The one who tried to be as good as you deserved. The one who understood your past and cherished you. The one who tried to hold back his domination. His intimidation. His monstrosity."

My lips trembled and tears escaped.

A wave of fear crawled my heart while he passed me a sinister smile.

"You will be left begging. You won't be heard. A roar will follow and I shall claim you, my mate. In front of everyone."

I sucked in a breathe in shock.

"My mother is gone. My sisters too. No one else to be a good pup too. Their obedient Karam is being killed by hurtful taunts. What is left will only be one of the Lycans your packs sing bad stories about," he said in a dangerously calm tone, chilling all of my spine. He didn't blink.

My eyes lowered in the fright.

"Be read, my mate. For we have mountains to climb, tomorrow."

Footsteps occurred and the door was closed.

While I cupped my mouth, my heart pounding hard in trepidation.

Sobs escaped me while his words rang through my ears.

I squeezed my eyes shut, not being able to digest everything he had said.

.

.

.

______

.

.

.

"You are leaving now, which means you will reach there tomorrow morning. If you keep walking the whole night," said Kingston, sitting on the chair with his broad form spread on it like the Alpha he was.

His long beard was covering all of his neck. He caressed while saying, "Our Aunts will accompany you on the way, you will have to take care of the females. All of them."

Karam nodded. "I will."

Amelia passed a blanket full of things to him. She had made a tight knot of the two ends to create a large pocket. "Your meals for two days," she said while smiling up at him. "Tea is there too. One little blanket for the Foxy too."

I flared my nostrils when she stood in front of me and placed finger tips on my braids, checking them. "Take blessings from their Goddess. Ask for a heir of the pack. All the unnecessary worries will go," she said, narrowing her eyes at Karam who had clenched his jaws and was standing quiet.

She looked back at me and smiled. Cupping my cheeks, she whispered, "I have put one more pair of clothes. I know how clean you always stay. I baked two breads. Eat them before the sunlight falls on them. When you get tired, ask him to carry you or just rest. We can't afford those humans legs to get more weak and ache. Ha! Wear that crown when you reach the temple. Lucine likes it when her brother's brides are happy."

I bit my lip, stopping myself from muttering something that might offend all of them.

"Show her cliffs, brother. Until she manages to forget humans and their world," said Anton, winking at him.

Karam turned around robotically while I glared at the idiot laughing at his own words.

"Be safe," Natasha said while waving at me. Salome nodded at me, passing a soft smile.

"Keep Reveka on the front," said Nysa while passing us an amused smile. King and Robin rolled their eyes as she explained, "She manages to get away all the time."

Amelia nodded with disappointment shining on her face. "Tell Lucine, no misses her!" She yelled when we started walking away and had turned towards the street that would soon end up in the official way to the high mountains.

"Bring the dry nuts from me!" Lysar yelled while Karam raised his hand and waved back to them.

I didn't glance back for the way ahead was scaring me. If I did, I might not collect the courage to trek.

Yesterday was a blank memory with no more word from Karam after he gave me that ultimatum. Since then, only the girls were visiting the room, giving me food, asking me to rest for this busy day.

Now, the sun was on the rise. Though, it wasn't that harsh. I hoped, it won't rain as J needed to reach there before the full moon night. I had to enter the temple by any means.

But a journey to the mountain peaks with Karam all alone, I was freaking out inside.

It was already awkward with the way the shopkeepers with pointed ears were nodding their head at him and watching us leave.

The attention was too much and so was the silence.

It was so deafening, I felt nostalgic of the night we had walked close and sleepily before reaching Uncle Joran's house.

I wondered how full moon would be like for them. For Chelsea. For everyone here.

For Karam. For me.

Full moons had always been eventful.

This time, all I wanted was a successful journey.

"This way," the deep voice came from him, making me follow the direction where his finger was pointing at.

Almost half an hour had passed. We had crossed the right turn that would take me to intersection that would come before the way to the lake.

We had crossed the next right turn that would take us to Beta Barald's house too.

We were ahead of all these turns, at the edge of the downtown.

The stones were stuck to each other naturally, making a staircase. With one side going steep to mix with the green ground and the other side, a dangerous cliff.

My legs shook while I gulped hard.

I had done the trekking before but with my classmates and a team of guides. Those mountains were not as high as these were. There were official pathways constructed while here, the naturally entangled tree roots, the grass, herbs and different kinds of stone tiles were making the way.

I was scared and depressed.

I wanted to swap my life with a lucky human.

A hand snaked down my cloak's sleeve to embrace my own.

I bit my lip while looking at him and realized, my vision had gone blurry from feeling overwhelmed.

"We shall walk, my mate." He said, giving me a warm look.

I cupped his hand, removing it from mine. He let me do it silently.

"Enough of your acts," I said, while his eyebrows straightened.

Picking up my cloak with one hand, I took careful steps on the stones and started the journey.

While he kept following, observing me all the time.

.

.

.

______

.

.

.

The path was so long. All I could see was a big mountain in front of me getting bigger and bigger like a crazy illusion. It was full of pine and cedar trees. There were red patches, mountains lowers at some places. Some fruits too far away when I glanced down at the cliff.

The path was broad enough for only two to walk together. But we were following each other. Sometimes, he would ahead. Sometimes, I was. Most of the time, he had been the one leading.

Because he was tall and a Lycan.

While. . . I . . . was a human and right now, breathless.

All the fast food I had eaten whole of my life, especially in the last year was now making me cry. It was hard to go against the gravity and keep moving upwards.

The slope was going straight and straight.

I wondered if this was the end point if the earth.

The sunlight couldn't reach this area for we were walking around the group of mountains. Slowly, we will enter between them.

The wind was faint but chilling.

My throat felt peeled off breathing and the coldness.

A cry escaped me when I stumbled upon a root and lost my balance.

Before I could roll to either of the two deadly sides, he grabbed my elbows and kept me stable.

I gasped hard while looking up at him in shock.

Even after straightening up, I couldn't walk because of the tiredness and terror I felt.

"We will rest for some time," he announced while pulling his head and one arm out of the loop of the makeshift blanket bundle.

Pulling my hand, he helped me reach a big stone. All I could see were pine trees all around. A group of massive jungles on both sides.

"Water?" He asked while picking out an old bamboo bottle, making me raise eyebrows.

But I needed the water. So I didn't think much. Snatching it from his hands, I took two large gulps and breathed out loud.

He watched while I wiped my mouth and closed my eyes. My thighs ached from the trek while chest was heaving up and down.

Wiping my forehead, my fingertips touched the braids and my jaws clenched.

Half of my head would go crazy because if this tightness of my scalp. Ripping open the ribbons, I pulled the two braids loose hurriedly.

Running fingers through my hair, I winced while massaging my scalp.

"You want me to do it?" He asked, making me stiffen.

"Jump off one of these cliffs, please." I muttered while flaring my nostrils.

Glancing at him, he was smiling in light amusement. It seemed sad because those eyes were tired and full of red rays. The pink circles were fresh and deeper. "Then, who will take you to the high temple?"

"I can go anywhere without you," I said through gritted teeth while glaring at him.

His smile faded slowly. "I will follow you."

I blinked and looked away, taking breaths and resting my aching legs. "I will push you off the cliff."

"You can't. You love me," he said, boiling whole of my blood.

Looking at him, I observed the sincerity and seriousness on his face. My jaws clenched and I shook my head.

"You are underestimating me, Karam." I said while leaning closer and looking in his eyes. "Even if you are innocent by any means, I wouldn't care. Because I have been forced into a bond with you that I never needed."

He blinked, staring down at me. "We mustn't fight for we still have to complete the journey."

"You are bound to take me to that temple. I will fight with you throughout the whole journey!" I said angrily. But then all of my courage broke as I remembered his anger from yesterday.

My eyes filled up and voice broke. "Or maybe, I can't. Because you think, me asking for my rights and wishes mean I am overpowering you."

He stared at me tiredly. His eyes holding so many answers yet he stayed quiet.

I looked away in disgust and wiped my cheeks.

"We will be laughing at all these moments later when, you will realize how much time we had wasted fighting for something that never happened." He said, his voice firm and loud in between the mountains.

We were alone and isolated. The voices wouldn't echo until we scream. But we were loud enough to cut the deafening silence.

"You are failing to realize that if I hid the truth of my pup, it was to not hurt you. You had the same fate as that pup had-"

"I was conceived after a marriage. With love," I cut him off angrily. "Not drinks and lust."

Anger flickered in his eyes for a second and then, he nodded. "Same fate of not being able to live with your family. I didn't want to deepen your sorrow. I didn't want to scare you more. If only I can find that woman, I will kill her with my bare hands." He said with clenched jaws.

I released a heavy breathe and tried to calm myself.

"I don't want to talk to you anymore." I said, while getting up shakily.

He stood up hurriedly to guard me as I stabled my balance and started walking ahead. "We will have to talk. We are the only ones here."

"Shut up!"

"We can argue if that is how only you will talk to me," he said while I climbed over the edgy stones.

"You have no guilt. Do you?" I whispered absentmindedly.

"I only have guilt of not giving the luxuries you ask from the human world."

"About being a father?" I asked, breaking up.

I sniffled while he caught up to me and grabbed my hand, watching me taking harsh breaths.

"I cannot sing the bad night again and again. The pup happened just like you did. As a father, I will not keep calling my pup a source of guilt."

I gulped hard and glared at him.

"Do you want to rest more?" He asked while watching my weak condition.

I was struggling to move up.

"No!" I said while not taking long breaks and continue walking.

"Well then," he said while turning his head to the front, trekking smoothly. He kept pulling me with him, so I could step up on the stones ahead. "Let's keep walking."

"How far the temple is?" I asked reluctantly.

He chuckled while smooth walking, pulling me effortlessly with him.

My eyes fell on our joined hands.

"It's close," he said, shifting the blanket loop around his chest. "Tell me when you will want to rest again."

I didn't say anything and kept following me. More like, contributing the twenty percent of the effort. Because the rest was his doing.

I tilted my head that struggled breaths and looked ahead.

There was no temple. No peak.

Just an endless trek going upwards, cutting a mountain and going inside between the two, in the shadow region.

I reminded myself again.

I had to reach there before they could close the temple for the full moon night.

I had to take less breaks.

______

"What do you think?"

Please vote and comment.