Chapter 3

DIMITRI VALEQUEZ

I chugged down the remaining whiskey in my glass as I leaned back into the sofa, my gaze not moving from Adriana who was still asleep on the bed. She has been sleeping for many hours now since she fell unconscious last night after drinking from the wine the head witch Agatha had prepared.

I ran my thumb across my bottom lip, pulling up from the sofa, and ambling to the bed. I pulled back the strands of hair that covered her face, trailing my fingers on her smooth pristine skin. She was helplessly beautiful.

My fingers moved down to her arm which the pack doctor had covered with some bandages. Because of the bonding ritual last night, Adriana now bore the mark of the crescent moon on her arm just like every member of my pack. She was human and couldn't heal as wolves did, so in the meantime, it would feel like a deep wound until her body healed up at its human pace.

I knew she would have a lot of questions when she woke up. Last night, after she had fallen unconscious from Agatha's concoction, we had completed the necessary rites to bind her to our pack as my mate.

I had binded Adriana to us without her consent. I had no choice, it was necessary for the survival of my people. And now we were bound together by the moon. I could feel her emotions and whatever I had felt for her had strongly intensified.

I knew this was the effect of the mate bond and with what happened last night, our bond just got stronger.

Oh goddess, I hated feeling this way.

This marriage was supposed to be a win-win. I got what I wanted, and she got what she wanted. Money for her sister's surgery. I shouldn't feel this way but I did.

Even though I hated doing any of these to her, I had no choice. I was responsible for the survival of the entire werewolf kind. We had to break the curse before the next blood moon or we would all die.

Last night was also Adriana's Luna ceremony, and she wasn't even aware. With the bonding ritual, she was now linked to me and my pack. It was necessary for the Blood Moon ritual to break the curse Asula placed on us.

Asula was a dark witch, and once a member of the circle of witches. All Asula wanted was more dark magic, death, and chaos. She had wanted to be the Luna Queen of the werewolf kind, but Alpha King Magnus, my grandfather and head of the Council, had refused her.

It hurt Asula, and suddenly, she vanished, only to be back a few years later with a drive for vengeance. She had killed Alpha King Magnus' mate and placed a curse on my grandfather and the entire wolf kind. A curse that can only be attempted to be broken on the day of the blood moon.

Over the years my father attempted to break the curse with the help of some witches after finding his mate, but there was no witch strong enough to anchor the ritual except the Halo clan of witches. They were direct descendants of the goddess herself, and for many years, everyone thought they were extinct, but my father found one, Esther Blackrose.

Only a Halo witch with the mark of the goddess could break the curse. Esther had agreed to help us, but on the night of the ritual, the vampire king, Nikola Vladimir had waged war on the entire supernatural kind. It was a massacre, he wanted to eradicate every one of us. He had attacked the fae, elven, and the dragon kingdom. Including the witches, and the demon realm.

He attacked every supernatural kind. He also had help from dark witches. That night we weren't prepared for what hit us. I was just fourteen and had lost not only my parents but almost the entire wolf kind.

Every supernatural kind was forced into hiding. I had to live like I didn't exist for fourteen years until I could find wolves that had survived the massacre by Nikola and rebuild our pack again. I also reached out to other supernatural kinds that survived and wanted to join me and my people to take revenge on Nikola.

But through it all, the witches and I couldn't find the last living Halo witch from the Blackrose bloodline. Esther had died during the attack saving me. The witches and I also found out Nikola had attacked the Blackrose coven as well. Esther's husband, who was also a wolf, her sister, and her eldest daughter had died that night as well, but her youngest daughter survived.

We had searched for her for years, not only because I needed her to break the curse before we could battle Nikola but because I promised Esther I would since Nikola was desperately searching for her too. And I had a feeling we'd find her soon.

This morning, the head witch Agatha had left to meet one of her witch friends who had Esther's belongings, and with that, the witches could do a location spell to find the last living Halo witch.

My thoughts were cut off as Adriana stirred on the bed, her perfect long lashes pulled apart and her eyes fell on me.

She jerked up from the bed, suddenly wincing from the pain coming from her arm.

“What happened to me last night?” She brought her hand to her arm as I took in a deep breath.

Even though I hated what I was doing to her, I couldn't tell her the truth. Adriana was human and I didn't know how she'd react if she knew about the existence of a world of the supernatural completely different from hers.

Besides, it was best she didn't know anything. That way, it would be a lot easier for her to walk away from all of this when it finally came to an end. Even though my wolf, Ryker, was completely against the idea, I was glad we didn't have to mark her, otherwise there was no way she'd walk out of this mess even after the curse was broken.

Adriana's blue eyes pierced into mine, and I read every emotion on her beautiful face. I could tell from her face she knew something was wrong, but it didn't matter, Agatha used magic to ensure she never remembered what happened last night, and I wanted it to stay that way.

For her sake, and mine as well, because she was starting to make me feel all the things I shouldn't.

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