-HER-

His lips crashed on mine and the tent exploded. That's what I thought for a moment because as soon as our lips touched, the sparks that emanated from the kiss felt nothing less than an explosion. My body stiffened under him while I felt him grown heavier on me. His chest vibrated with a growl as his hungry mouth claimed me and his greedy hands pinned mine above my head.

No matter how much I had trained to discipline myself and have control over myself so that I don't get influenced by the mate bond, the kiss and the sparks made me forget everything for a moment and just give into it.

He deepened the kiss, raging a war with my tongue. His mouth was set to concur mine as if it was hiding hold and for a moment I let him because my wolf had pushed me back. I soon found myself kissing him back with the same intensity, getting lost in the rage of passion and desire that had now plagued my rationality but for that moment I couldn't have cared less because my wolf was in control and we were too deep into the kiss.

At one point his lips burned against mine as if he wanted to leave a mark behind, to declare to the whole world that I was his but I knew that he had no plans for that. He was a wicked son of a bitch who didn't care about anyone other than himself.

It was a great reminder for me because this was what allowed me to pull back from the kiss— which wasn't easy because he didn't seem to be in the mood to let me go. I growled in his mouth and my claws were literally digging into his skin. Any normal wolf would have taken this as a cue to get off me but again, this scheming bastard was born with his brain in his dick because he deepened the kiss in response to my protest.

This made me snap again. I teleported behind him. His angry growl ripped through the night before he turned to face me with the possessiveness, hunger, and greed still dripping from his face. His eyes were burning into me as I glared back at him, heaving for breath.

The tension in my small tent was now at its all-time peak as we glared at each other.

"Get out!" I gritted at him, having done with him already. I needed to sleep instead of wasting time with this fool. His eyes blazed into me for a couple of moments before he finally decided to leave me alone. My wolf was disappointed at this but I was relieved. Even though he was gon for now, I knew that he'd do something stupid tomorrow and also on the trip. It was in his nature.

This trip was going to be full of challenges and I knew that Ezekiel wasn't going to make this personally easier for me. I needed to be a lot more prepared. I ended up going to sleep after that without wasting any time.

It was a very dreamless night. I woke up very early in the morning, even before any other wolf from the camp could wake up. Even Lua was asleep but I didn't care. It was my habit of waking up so early.

I instantly revised all the plans for the day before going out on a quick run because my wolf was starting to trouble me slightly because of Ezekiel. I needed to be very much in control and have composure while dealing with that idiot. I wasn't going to let him win this time.

I went for the quickest run and when I returned, I found Pax in front of my tent. Markos must have sent him and I was happy to see him and vice-versa. After a lot of thinking I had decided to take him on this trip with me. We were inseparable either way. He was my second shadow.

My wolves were now starting to wake up as I started to wrap up my tent. After wrapping up the whole camp, we finally headed toward the Lycan's camp to see what they were up to. Their men were already prepared.

It didn't take me long to spot Ezekiel among the crowd. Our eyes locked instantly and the tension from last night sizzled in the air but I choose to ignore it and do my work.

"Did you smell that?" Lua asked all of a sudden. This made me stop and sniff the air around me. At first, I got nothing until the gentle breeze brought a very bad smell, making me scrunch my nose.

"It's really bad," She commented, "but where's is it coming from?" She asked, making me look around. I spotted Ezekiel again who was now headed in our direction. His eyes were solely set on me as he stalked towards us. The answer to Lua's question was walking behind him. It was a creature I was seeing for the first time.

It was the most ugliest and disgusting thing I'd seen in my life. It had the body of a human but its skin was dark green and scaly. Instead of hair, that thing had small snakes on its head. The creature looked like Medusa but with legs and we weren't frozen to death as soon as it laid its eyes on us. The closer the creature got, the more the bad smell increased. It got so strong for a moment that it made my headache. I wondered what that creature was and what it was doing with Ezekiel.

Ezekiel stopped in front of me and declared, "We are ready to leave,"

"So are we," I told him, eyeing the creature who was glaring back at me as if I had set its house on fire. The snakes in its head also hissed at me. When the hissing got louder, Ezekiel growled at it over his shoulder. She instantly dropped her gaze and the snakes on her head got silent.

"This is Nuessa," Ezekiel spoke while tugging at a chain that he was holding. It was then I noticed that the creator's hands were chained and Ezekiel was holding the other end of it. The creature stepped forward with her head hanging low but this didn't stop her from glaring at me from under her eyelashes. I didn't know what the matter with this creature. "She will be guarding you," He told me.

This made me cock an eyebrow at him. I was finding it hard to believe it for a moment because this creature called Nuessa was looking at me as if she wanted to kill me and eat my mortal remains.

"I wouldn't be needing her," I told him.

"She'll be going with you whether you like it or not," He gritted at me, taking a step closer. The fire in his eyes from last night burned even stronger, leaving no room for discussion and any further debate on this matter would do nothing but only waste our time so I decided to oblige for now but there was still a very big problem.

"She smells very bad. I don't think it would help us hide from the enemies there," I told him. At this, Ezekiel tugged at the chains bounded to her hands again, this time even harder, making the creature hiss in pain due to the small spikes from the chain digging into her flesh.

"That would be taken care of," Ezekiel told me, "But if there's any threatening situation, you'd let her act in your place,"

"I am not promising anything," I told him adamantly while eyeing the creature who was still busy glaring at me from underneath her eyelashes. I was very unsure about Nuessa. I didn't know what to make of her.

"Remember what I told you last night," He gritted at me before leaving me with Nuessa. Now that Ezekiel was gone, she glared at me openly.

"What's the matter with you?" I asked her.

"I don't like you,"

"Me neither but you must learn to not glare so much at me,"

"I'll try," She spat nastily, making me feel disgusted. "As long as you give me food,"

I opened my mouth to speak when a very loud gong interrupted us. It was a sign for people in the camp to take their positions because we were ready to leave. I glared at Nuessa for the last time before I marched to the very front of the Lycan's camp where everyone was already gathered. I found Lua bickering with Tryfon while Ezekiel sat very still on his horse with his eyes fixed in the eastern direction.

He seemed to be very deep into his thoughts which were snapped as soon as I mounted on my horse beside him. Pax lingered right beside me. Ezekiel glanced at me briefly as another gong rang behind us, alerting all the Lycans and the wolves. On the third gong, Ezekile's horse neighed and stood on its hind legs before charging towards East.

The rest of the convoy followed after him. It took us some moments to completely cross the military campground before we reached the edge of the Hemlock woods of Thastonia. From the outside, the woods looked like normal woods but I knew better than to fall into that illusion.

Nothing in Thastonia was normal or safe, including its ruler who was riding in front of everyone with his eyes focused in front of him.

Today we are supposed to cross one-third of the forest and camp near the Hemlock river— which was one of the deadliest rivers in Thastonia. I knew it wasn't going to be easy. Nothing about Ezekiel or anything related to him was easy.

As we entered the woods, we were riding at our full speed but we soon had to slow down considerably as the trees started to thicken around us. The convoy which was marching behind us spread out throughout the woods to navigate easily. I remained very close behind Ezekiel. Lua and Tryfon rode beside me for a time before we had to be separated slightly because the woods were getting thicker.

Our horses were now simply walking through the woods at this point. I stuck with Lua and my men while Ezekiel still remained at the front with Tryfon. Both of them seemed to be in this hurry to reach the eastern mountains already. I could understand their urgency but we needed to follow a certain pace otherwise our men would be very tired and our resources would be exhausted before we reach the eastern mountains.

We rode till noon. Around noon, we had to stop briefly to have lunch and let our horses rest.

"I would need more than that," Nuessa told me nastily while she was being given some food from our stock. I couldn't help but frown at that creature. She had been very rude to me, Lua, and my men so far. I didn't even want to talk about the stench from her which was making my headache so badly. It was starting to get harder and harder for me to stand her.

"I think that's more than enough for you," I told her. She had already eaten the food of two people till now but still, her hunger didn't seem to be satisfied.

"I need more," she demanded. Our exchange was causing a stir among the people. I wasn't pleased with where it was heading. It was also wasting our precious time.

"You cannot have more," Was all I told her but she shook her head and demanded, "I am not going to protect you if you don't give me more,"

"I don't need your protection either way. I am just tolerating you here. You are not needed here," I told her very grimly, earning a very nasty glare from her.

"What's the matter?" Ezekiel interrupted. I felt his eyes on me but I didn't look at him. I was going to dismiss this but then he noticed the bowl in Nuessa's hands and growled, "Did you give her food?"

"Yes," I breathed.

"She's a slave! We cannot waste our ration on people like her," He gritted.

"I already told you that we didn't need her," I shot back at him, receiving a very dangerous glare from him.

"This is my land. My word is the law here,"

_

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