by Rasi K
“There will be no fight of any sort. Also, don’t worry I will be taking charge as the alpha this evening and announce her as the Luna officially. And the first thing I will do is to throw you out of the pack.”
“Noah, stop it. You are telling words that you will regret soon.”, uncle said.
“Noah, what the heck do you think you are doing? Carol is your mate.”, she gasped beside him, “How can that bitch be the Luna?”, Tah said.
She should have come after me, while all this was happening.
“So what if she was my mate?”, emphasizing the word was, “I already told you all that I rejected her.”
All looked at me not knowing how to console me but I paid no heed to them. My whole concentration was on the person in front of me.
I stood straight and looked at him in the eye.
“Fine, let’s finish this off cleanly. I, Caroline Liza Dunbar, accept Noah Aiden Jones’ rejection and reject him as my mate.”
I felt the bond break completely. Liza howled inside me.
All gasped except me and her, who stood there not having much of a reaction about what was happening.
Noah was the first one to recover.
“Now, that’s the best thing you ever did.”, he said smiling.
“Both of you are going against the Moon Goddess.”, uncle shouted.
“She doesn’t get to choose whom I should be with. Only I get to decide and I choose Kira as the one. She will be the Luna of this pack.”
Kira had wavy brown hair with blonde streaks in it. She had gray eyes.
He called out for one of the pack members and told him to inform about the gathering that is to be held that evening.
With that he left to his room along with her.
Unknown person’s POV
All this hatred was getting to me. I get that I wasn’t wanted here, but they needn’t rub it on my face.
Ever heard too much of anything can turn evil?
Chapter 11
Attack
Tah came to comfort me but I shook my head at her and left to the forest to let out Liza.
I know that I was dealing the wrong way, and that even others were shocked and hurt, but I couldn’t stand there any longer. Even though Liza didn’t like my decision she understood where I came from. Once I reached the forest, I changed into my wolf and gave Liza control.
She let out a howl of pain before running through the forest.
Here on, he is free to do whatever he wants without me having to get hurt.
Liza let out another cry before giving back control.
~Ceremony~
All were gathered at, what we called the disclosure area. It was a bit away from the pack house.
The area was more of ditch with a huge stone in center, shaped into a long flooring; a level up from the surface, for the pack leaders to inform or make announcements.
All the others stood around the stone.
Uncle, mother, dad and Tah stood on the stone flooring along with him and her. It was notable that no one was happy other than the pair, despite their smiles.
Noting a new presence, new rumors went around. A few reached my ears.
Is she his mate?
Wasn’t Caroline his mate?
Where is she?
Was she trying to nobble him?
They didn’t have the decency to quiet down despite our wolf hearing.
But one look from the alpha had everyone shut their mouths.
Uncle came upon front and raised his hand. Immediately all the attention was on him.
“We have gathered here for you all to witness my son, Noah Jones, take charge as the alpha of this pack.”, he said calling for him to the front.
Next round of whispers started before he started again.
“I, Orion Jones, Alpha of Red Moon pack, rightfully pass my position as the alpha to my son, Noah Jones.”
“I, Noah Jones, son of Orion Jones, accept the position as the Alpha of Red Moon pack and will act up to the rank.”
Before they could move on with the blood ritual, everything came to a stop, by a scream that split through the air.
“Alpha! Vampires!”
Chapter 12
Mate?
My body ached in all the parts. I opened my eyes to see that I was in an unfamiliar place. It smelt of the leeches, the vampires. That is when it hit me, the vampires had attacked us. Was I their captive now? I looked down to see that I was lying down on a bed with no chains to restrain me. I called out for Liza but she didn’t respond. My suspicion was proved right when I saw the syringe mark down my arm. They had used wolfsbane to neutralize my wolf.
I was settling down on the bed when a guy, a vampire, no older than Noah, came in.
He had blonde hair with orange eyes.
“I see that you have woken up.”, he said sitting down on the chair that I had failed to notice before.
“You leech, stay away from me. What do you think you are doing holding me hostage?”, I sneered at him.
“Shush, baby. Is that the way you talk to your mate?”
“What mate?”, I asked him, oblivious to what he was getting at.
“What? Isn’t that what you mutts call your betrothed?”, he asked me back.
“And what does that have to do anything here?”, still confused about him calling himself my mate. As if one rejected mate wasn’t enough.
“You, my beautiful, are betrothed to me.”, he said.
I couldn’t help but gasp at it, when he said that. And him? Well he was smirking at me, enjoying my reaction.
“What kind of sick joke is this?”, I said backing up against the wall. I had to keep myself at a safer distance, with Liza still blocked I can’t risk a fight with a leech.
“This is no joke Caroline. You are my mate.”, he said getting up.
The way my name rolled out of his tongue casually made me get tingles throughout my body which made me uncomfortable at the same time feel pleasant.
“You are a vampire and I am a werewolf, Moon goddess wouldn’t have paired us together.”, I said before mentally adding, I already have a mate who rejected me for another woman.
“And when did I say that it was that moon who destined us?”, he said smirking even though the hostility did not go amiss.
“It is the vampire king who brought us together.”
Chapter 13
Who is he?
“It is the vampire king who brought us together.”, he said shrugging.
“Care to explain?”, I asked getting more confused.
“Though I would love to, I came here to fetch you to meet the vampire king. He wanted to see you once you woke up.”, he said, asking me to stand up.
“Who is this vampire king? Why does he want to see me? And moreover who are you?”
“Dear, aren’t you asking one too many questions? Maybe you will get the answers from the one you are curious about, if you could step out of this room. And for your last question, I am the prince of vampires.”
“So, he is your father?”, I asked, relieved that I was finally getting a lead to move forward with.
“If you don’t shut that mouth of yours I shall have to gag you, which might not be very good.”, he said, signaling me to follow him.
That shut me up. It was the only thing that is helping me remain sane amidst all these confusion. The more you question, the more you understand, isn’t it? I stood up and straightened my dress before following him out.
It was the same dress I wore on the day of gathering, just a casual t-shirt and track pants. Now that I think about it, how many days has it been since then? Was anyone out there searching for me? Did anyone notice at all?
I left all those thoughts to the back of my mind when I exited the room. The room gave an immediate opening to the hallway. The building was not any extraordinary. It was lacking of any kind of furniture except for the minimum. It was void of any windows except for the occasional one or two in the whole floor. It was as if the human belief
of them being hypersensitive to sunlight was true.
All along the way I never saw anyone except for one, who opened the door to the secret stairway, through which we went.
Once we were on top of the stairs, the prince went to talk with the two vamps standing there, while I stood rooted to my place, looking around. Though they gave him their approval, they looked at me with suspicion when I passed them.
At the end of the narrow hallway we once again reached a door, this time with no one around it.
He was looking down and doing something next to the knob. I peered above him just in time to see him scanning his thumb before the door opened.
Inside, the room was dark. Dark, that was the only word to describe the atmosphere. Whoever stayed here was a dark soul. I could sense it in the air.
We moved further into the room until he finally came to halt. I looked around trying to figure out what kind of room it was, when light filled the corners.
“And we finally meet, princess. I see that you have been asking around about me?”
Chapter 14
Meet the Vampire King
“And we finally meet, princess. I see that you have been asking around for me. Now that you have seen the old man himself, what do you think?”, a voice boomed behind me.
I swirled around to face the so called old man. Even though vampire facial age was not reliable, he could very well pass for a forty. He had black hair with a French beard. He had black eyes similar to his hair.
He signaled me to sit on the couch behind me.
I raised my eyebrows at him.
“Asher, could you leave us for a moment? I will call you when needed.”, he told the vampire prince.
So, Asher was his name. It suited his pale face well. Now that I think about it, I never asked for his name all this time. How stupid of me to not even ask the name of the person who happened to know things about me, who also happened to be my mate.
Mate?! Did my traitorous mind really think that now? I really need some serious run to clear my mind of unwanted thoughts. I need to stop this before Liza starts entertaining this idea too much.
By the time I was done with my pondering, Asher had left and the man, now known as vampire king, was looking at me as if I was crazy to have had thoughts like that.
Wait did I say them out loud?
As if answering me, he shook his head before looking at me in the eye.
“You look just like her.”, he stated, continuing to analyze me as if I was a piece of art.
His statement was simple but it weighed quite a lot for me.
“Who are you talking about?”, I asked him, not bothering to shut my curiosity.
He merely ignored my question as if he couldn’t hear from the little distance between us.
Next question from him had me on hunches.
“You are stronger than the alpha blood, aren’t you? -”
“How do you know that?”, I asked, shocked. Only Tah and I knew about this, maybe uncle, but he was the alpha, so it was inevitable. How did this man in front of me know all these?
“Now, Carol, I guess Asher forgot to remind you. I am a very irritable person and I don’t like anyone disrespecting me. And I definitely don’t like to be cut when I am talking. So talk only when you are asked for and don’t try to question me.”
Even though I wanted to protest him I knew better than to provoke a vampire who might as well have experience double my age.
“So, have you ever wondered about it?”
“Tah never took training seriously while I, being a beta’s daughter who trained everyone, had to train hard. So, obviously I have more strength than her, which neither of us have a problem with.”, I said shrugging.
I didn’t hesitate to mention Tah’s name, because I was sure that he knew about her too, if he knew this much.
“I never thought you were as dumb as the others.”, he said shaking his head, “Training has nothing to do with how powerful you are. It is just a median to sharpen your skills. It has to be in you by birth. You have it enough to beat that old alpha’s son.”
“But how is it possible? He is an alpha blood while I am a beta’s daughter. Tah you say? Yeah I might believe it to some extent. But an alpha is no cakewalk. You are spouting shit.”
“If I was you, I would watch my language, reminding myself whom I am talking to. Also whatever I told you was true, because you are my blood.”
Chapter 15
Door to truth?
I was on my way back to the room I woke up in, with a gloomy Asher. It looked like he was having many things on his mind.
I thought of asking him what secrets his father held and how he knew so much about me and my family, but decided against it for the time being.
All this time, I was thinking about all these things, that I didn’t notice that he had come to a stop before I dashed onto his back. He turned back and caught hold of me just in time before I could fall.
Once he made sure I had my footing right, he signaled me to follow him. That was when I noticed that we had come past the room and was heading down the stairs. After two flights of stairs we came to the ground floor.
I looked around to see that no one was there, other than the one who stood at the door. Asher was talking to him when I reached them after my inspection.
“Tell him that we have gone outside.”, he said to him. He was not very happy with what he was witnessing. Regardless, he nodded his head and moved aside so that he wasn’t blocking our way.
Asher was leading the way, with me following him behind. Once we reached wherever he wanted us to, he motioned for me to sit on the tree log. It was an open area with two to three dry and half blown away trees.
He settled down nearby and stared at the ground, deep in thought.
Not wanting to disturb him for awhile, I decided to ponder about the pressing thoughts of the conversation from earlier.
The vampire king was a cryptic in disguise.
Flashback
“…because you are my blood.”
“This is complete bull. I am my dad’s daughter. I am not your daughter.”
What kind of shit is he talking? I am his blood it seems.
“Quiet down there. I never said that you were my daughter, did I?”
I gave myself a mental slap for assuming things without waiting for the person to explain, for the second time that day.
“Have you ever wondered why your mother was covered in blood when she finally came back?”
“She? Covered in blood? I have no idea about what you are talking about. If you had done your research properly, you would have known that my mom died just after giving birth to me, so how do you think I would know any such thing?”, I said deciding to play a fool. I know I was risking it by stalling, but I couldn’t let him bring up my mom into his ploy.
“Think carefully before telling anything. I can tell when a person lies, so I advice you not to.”, he said in calm tone. The tone which sends chills down your spine.
“I heard from my dad, that when she had come back she was covered in blood and was in pain.”, I said knowing that I lost in the battle.
“Ever wondered the reason behind it?”
I simply shook my head because dad had told me that she died before they could do anything.
This man is getting more mysterious with each of his question. How does he know all these? Was he responsible for my mother’s death?
“Wait, are you related to my mother’s death?”
Chapter 16
Decrypting the encrypt
“He is watching us.”
“What?”, I asked looking at him confused.
“The vampire king, he is watching on us.”, Asher said.
I looked around pretending to be dazed to see if anyone was around.
“I don’t see anyone around.”, I said having checked all corners.
“You can’t locate the spy, but with my vampire skills I can tell when a person is within my locality. That is my
specialty.”
“Does every vampire have a skill?”, I asked, shocked by the fact.
We might have fought many vampires and been to many wars but we never knew such facts. At least I never knew.
“We can’t talk too much, we will look suspicious.”, he said.
Even though he was right, I needed answers. If not by talk, then how will I get my answers?
“Once we go into your room I will give you a letter, read that only after you have safely escaped this place. Hide it securely so that no one sees it.”, he said, as if answering my question.
I seriously feel like these people can read my mind.
“What does this letter you speak of has?”
“Answers to your questions.”
I nodded not really knowing what to do.
“But why are doing all this? Aren’t you afraid that you might go against your father?”
“He is not my father.”
Third person’s POV
The guard made sure that the pair had gone back inside the house before going to report to the king.
“Your Majesty.”, he bowed to the vampire king who was at his table writing something.
“Report.”
“The prince and the girl went outside to the barren land.”
“Did you find anything suspicious?”
“No, my lord, they merely had any conversation except for a few, which seemed like he was telling about the place.”
“Keep a close watch on them. Don’t let them slip away from your eyes.”, he said motioning for him to leave.
What they didn’t know was that they already had someone turning their back to them finally getting the chance to seek revenge.
But what they didn’t know didn’t hurt them, right?
Chapter 17
Escape home
The sun was about to rise now. I don’t know where I am, but I can track back to my pack somehow once I get out of this land.