My heart stopped and started again.
Kaison stood there like nature was constructed around him. He had his hands at his back, his lightning eyes already looking my way. He looksd like he was made for this, his confidence and aura just screamed it.
He was dressed in all black, a large black cape trailing behind him. He looked like the night. The thing they warn you about, the stuff of nightmares.
It was a little intimidating and not doing well for the nerves fighting for space in my stomach currently, but when he put out a hand, I immediately step forward. It was not a conscious decision, my legs seemed to have taken a hold of my mature brain.
I couldn't stop myself from moving in his direction and even though Elion and Xerxes materialized from the woods, adjusting their clothes, it's like I couldn't see anybody else. I didn't understand this feeling, and I didn't like it. It's like I didn't have any choice but to be in his arms.
Did he cast a spell on me? I wouldn't put it past him to do that to make sure I didn't jilt him. Because something wasn't right. I took his hand and Kaison wrapped his entire huge palm around mine, interlocking our fingers. The nerve devil moths began again in full force.
"It's the mate bond." Kaison leaned in to whisper into my ear. And I suspected I wasn't as calm and collected at keeping my confusion in check like I thought.
"What? I thought that was just a werewolf thing."
"It isn't. Mating with a werewolf brings all sorts of feelings to surface and in the full moon like tonight, those feelings get a lot stronger." Kaison murmurs, sneaking a glance at me, that cold expression never leaving his eyes. His gaze dipped down to my lips and down again and I blushed like I had a candle up my dress.
I focused my attention on the old man in front of me. He's definitely the priest who's going to be marrying me to Kaison, a man—sorry, werewolf— I met a few days ago. If I think it enough, it might start to seem normal to me.
Despite myself, I looked around me in case of an exit I knew was impossible. When I looked back at Kaison, he was already staring at me with an unreadable expression, the corner of his jaw ticking.
I knew he'd rather do anything else than marry me today, since there's the whole werewolf and humans taboo thing, yet he was going along with it anyway. I wondered if it had anything to do with his human mother. Now that I knew that, the similarities between me and Kaison were adding up.
All around me, more people were coming out of the trees, all with different varying expression of indifference. I met Dawn's eyes and I was glad to see the grin and the thumbs up she'd promised.
"Hold your hands out and together." The elder intoned.
Kaison gripped my other hand and he held them out in front of us. His blue eyes flickered with anger, resentment and something I was certain was plain as day on my face as well, need.
The moon had come out, full and heavy and now bathing us in moonlight. I looked down and my dress was literally shimmering. Trust Dawn to not make it normal.
"Kaison," The elder boomed, voice ancient and intimidating. "Alpha of the Whitebane pack, do you choose this human to be your Luna? Do you choose to abide with her in courage and unity till death do you part?"
Kaison looked away then, like he couldn't bear it again and his jaw tightened. "I do."
My chest sunk.
"And you, Amara of human blood, do you accept this bond fate has placed on you? Do you choose to abide with him in strength and love till death do you part?"
I didn't. I didn't choose this. And I absorbed as much as I could of this man I couldn't leave until I died, and I hated him for not giving me a choice. But the pull growing in my chest, the ache that was threatening to bring me to my knees, grew stronger. My lips were moving before I could stop them. "I do."
"Then by moonlight and the magic that runs in our veins, you are bound by fate."
Kaison dragged me closer until our bodies were flush against each other. I felt lightheaded and weak, and I cursed whatever magic was making me fell this way when I should be angry. I should push him away and scream at him but all I wanted to do was pull him closer, even though there wasn't any space left between our bodies.
I watched in horror as Kaison dipped his head and his mouth grazed my neck. This was a man who was just looking at me like he hated me. Wait— was he smelling me?
"Your scent haunts me, you know that?" He murmured, his words causing goosebumps to rise on my neck. "It's maddening because I never think of anything else. You're maddening."
I don't know what to say in response to that, I'm frozen in the spot. Before I can gather my thoughts however, Kaison lets me go and I stumbled back. I hear a few chuckles from behind us and I'm brutally reminded that we're not alone. I'm such an idiot.
And if anything it makes me hate Kaison more, embarrassing me in front of people who already hate me. If I die, it's his fault.
"Run, Amara." He says, his voice loud and clear.
I met his gaze with my shocked one. Then I remembered the tradition Dawn was telling me about. How the Lunas run into the forest and try to make it back to the pack house without the Alpha finding them. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to outrun the Alpha in his own forest, but I would at least try.
I turned around and ran, the howls of the wolves chasing me into the forest.
KAISON
I watched her run into the forest, the white dress trailing behind her. She was so small and frail. Pathetic really, any one of my pack could break her into two at any moment. Even those who hadn't gotten their wolf yet.
My wolf growled as she disappeared from my sight. He was becoming very impatient when it came to Amara. Where I felt a certain type of way when it came to Amara's humanity, my wolf didn't care. It just wanted her. That was a problem.
Elion clapped a hand on my shoulder. "Congratulations, Alpha."
I made a non committal sound. It didn't feel like something worth celebrating. My pack started diversing around me, they were headed back to the castle for the festivities and I wasn't in the mood for any of that right now.
I turned and started making my way for the forest, my wolf howling insistently inside me. I shifted mud stride, bones snapping and muscles tearing, turning into a big black wolf and sped into the forest.
I could smell her, that annoying scent of human and something just— Amara. I ran through the forest, following not insisct. But her.
Amara.
I could hear her breathing slower now, and I slowed down too. It wasn't really fair to her, I was a wolf and all my senses had been heightened even before shifting. And she was a human. So human.
It seemed at every turn, fate insisted on showing me how normal she was. Was this atonement? For my past deeds? Or a curse after what I did to my mother?
I didn't know. But whatever it was, it was working. I was miserable and my wolf was restless. Hungry to make her mine, put my mark on her. But I couldn't.
She had said 'I do', she had looked me in my eyes and chosen me. Not because of love or desire. But because fate willed it so. She hated me more than I hated her kind. There was no way whatever this was would work out.
But it wasn't a matter of it working out. I needed to fulfill my obligation to my pack as their Alpha, and she was my only hope. She just didn't know it yet.
I heard her heart pounding, small and frail, and then I saw her. In the thick of the trees, her dress ripped in several places. The moonlight bathed her in its warm glow and right there and then she looked like an angel.
I circled her, she couldn't see me yet but I could tell she knew I was here. She stopped and faced exactly where I was standing still, holding my breath and she seemed to look in my eyes when she said, "Come out."
I didn't move. She was trying to be brave but I could practically taste her fear. Whether she was afraid of me, I wouldn't know. She was right the first time we met, when she called me a monster.
I was one. I came out, teeth bared in a snarl. She backed up, almost tripping on her dress. My wolf was big, bigger than others and I watched as her eyes widened in surprise then narrowed in defiance.
"I'm not scared of you." She said and I almost laughed out loud.
Trust her to not do the normal thing and run.
"Change back."
My wolf whined in protest but I could already feel myself growing weak. It wasn't as easy as it was staying in wolf form, and it was getting harder everyday. I shifted back and she continued staring me down. I was standing there, naked, and we were almost close enough to touch.
"You found me."
"I found you."
"I didn't want this."
I didn't move.
She looked down, her voice cracking on the next word. "I can't be your Luna. I'm not your Luna, Kaison. Everyone knows it, Clarisse, even Elion. Only you, you don't want to accept it."
I stepped forward now and her breath hitched. Her eyes were red rimmed but I didn't see any tears. Typical. "You are mine, venefica. You are my Luna. Whether you like it or not. And I will destroy anyone who dares think otherwise, even if that person is you."
One thing was for sure, I wasn't letting her go. She could run, and I'd bring her right back.
Because this wasn't a fairytale. I wasn't the knight in shining armor and she was the princess who needed saving.
No, I was the villian in this story, and the villian never got a happy ending.