When I woke up, I felt an unnatural warmth under my cheek, to which I hugged myself tighter. Suddenly this object began to vibrate, and I heard a hoarse voice above my head:
- Comfortable? - my eyes snapped wide open, and I jumped away from that voice, moving as far away as possible. I calmed my raging heart and looked at the person I had made myself a pillow from. Adrian. I quickly turned my gaze towards the window to avoid staring. At that gesture my wolf half began to growl. We are two different things, yet one.

**********

Stupid little puppy. I never wanted or want this candy romance. Everyone raves about how the goddess chose someone "compatible" for them, but this tale is not for me. Destiny? Ridiculous joke. If destiny and fate favored everyone then why did my life take such a cruel path? We are the masters of our own destiny and no gods have the right to interfere in our existence. Although I am not sure if they even exist, because so far most of my life consists of suffering or wounds that have not healed. And I'm not talking about the external ones, because there are only scars left from them. The only plus in the situation is that he hasn't looked into my real eyes under the lenses or smelled me. He can only suspect that we are meant for each other. I never take my lenses off, even to sleep. Another advantage of the royal family is the green color of our eyes, we are easily recognized because no werewolf has any color other than shades of brown and black. When omegas existed they had blue colored ones, but since they were wiped out in my pack all those hundreds of years ago they are gone for good. I'm not sure if anyone but me and possibly Dan is aware that omegas ever existed. To change my eye color I wear red lenses which when mixed with green gives a light brown effect.

**********

I don't even know when he moved, but all of a sudden his hand landed on mine. I dropped it and walked over to the window.
- Why are you avoiding my touch? I feel this connection between us. You are my mate. Even though you're human, surely you know about werewolves and the fated bond, because you wouldn't be friends with them. - His voice was smooth as velvet with a deep note in it. He is well built, I can see the outline of his muscles under his shirt, but not as exaggerated as if he were a bodybuilder, more of an athlete of sorts. His hair contrasts a bit in color as to his eyes, as they are chestnut. To the eye, he is about one meter eighty, which, with my modest one hundred and sixty-five centimeters, makes a clear difference in height. And his jaw, which was covered with a few days' stubble... If I ran my finger over it, I would probably get a cut. I guess I wasn't listening to what I was thinking a moment ago, about not getting into this shit.
- Stay back! - I hissed as he stood up and started walking towards me. I have to avoid him for miles. At my words, he stood in a half-step, not expecting such behavior from me. Without thinking twice, I passed him and rushed to the exit. I ran out into the corridor and then headed towards the place where the voices were coming from. I passed several pairs of doors until I hit the stairwell and elevators. I was at the huge stairs at the entrance to the house, so I must be on the second floor. I went down and turned left landing in the same room where Raf was lying barely alive. The room was bustling, which I took a moment to get used to. After a moment I felt the presence of the black eyed man behind me so I went deeper patting Daniel on the back. He shifted so I could see Rafael in all his glory. I walked up to him and hugged him tightly to me almost crushing his ribs, but at the moment I didn't care. The important thing was that he was alive. A growl came from somewhere behind us, but we didn't break from our bear hug. - Raf... Lia... - we started at the same time, when we finally broke away from each other. We just shook our heads with laughter and sat down at a huge table that could accommodate at least twenty people, if not more. A bunch of people in the room joined us. The pack I had met at school, except for Alex, and by the looks of it, the parents and the rest of Em's siblings, who had yet to be introduced to me. I suspect that Rafael was waiting for me to tell us his story, because he began to speak directing his words to everyone present:
- I honestly don't know what actually happened myself, but starting from the beginning. About five or six years ago I found a nice place in Brazil, in Rio De Janeiro. I got to do some things there and think about even more things in private. I was living peacefully until about a month ago when everything came crashing down. I started finding pieces of paper at my door in a completely foreign language that I had never seen before, and when I asked about it at the library and a friend who works with old languages, they looked at me as if I had played a joke on them. I was told that no such language exists and never did. - He threw the crumpled pieces of paper on the table so hard that they bounced off it and fell to the ground. - I concluded that someone wanted to have fun at my expense and I ignored it. About a week ago, I received a text message telling me to run away from my apartment. It contained a text along the lines of "If you don't come out and believe it, you will end up a pile of ashes." My instincts took over. I was already standing on the sidewalk when flames began to burst from the windows of my apartment. It alarmed me, so it was time to flee. A few days later I had all the things I needed and the day before yesterday I landed at a nearby airport. I was exhausted from all the travel and paperwork, so I grabbed a cab. It's about less than sixty kilometers from the airport here, so I got into the first better one because I wouldn't go bankrupt over a fare that far. I gave the guy the address and we set off. About halfway there I realized that something was wrong. I wanted to react, but within a second I was lying unconscious on the back seat of the car. When I woke up I found myself in a strange position. I was dangling from a tree upside down. No one was around me. I also felt small cuts around my chest and abdomen. I struggled to free my body, but it was no use. Darkness began to fall as I saw a figure in the distance who spoke to me, "You are a message to all abominations. The hunt is about to begin." The next thing I remember was an arrow sticking out of my stomach. The second one hit the ropes and I fell to the ground with a thud. Ignoring the pain, I began to run towards what I thought was our territory. As I crossed the border, some werewolf jumped on me. I tried to fight back, but I was too weakened by the heavy blood loss. The last thing I remember was a few other wolves coming to his aid at his howling. - After the content of the message, Dan looked at me significantly. I know what he meant by that. It all ties in with Mikaela's case. That's what I thought when Raf said, "He's back." I sighed and nodded slightly, letting him know that we needed to talk face to face. When Raf finished his story, Dan left the room, and when everyone had found something to do, I followed his scent. I got on the elevator and went all the way up to what turned out to be the rooftop garden. That's what I thought, he wouldn't want to talk in the building because the walls have ears. Plants? Not necessarily. My friend was leaning against one of the railings waiting for me to arrive.
- How long was I unconscious? - I asked to start a conversation somehow.
- Since yesterday afternoon. - he said and immediately added: - I know that you are hiding something. - He said and handed me a paper with notes from Rafael. When I saw the notes, my face paled. They were written in Old Norse with a special dialect that only supernatural beings born at that time could understand. I thought that only the two of us fell into that category. I guess I was wrong, though.
There will be no trace left of Rosa Rike.
Your werewolf princess will no longer exist.
I will take away your last chance at royalty.
Your girl had the misfortune of knowing someone she shouldn't have...
- This is the secret I intended to take with me to my grave. - I said when I read the last message. It must have made him guess who I was.