Julia was a human girl living alone in the woods when she stumbled upon an injured man, or so she thought. She brought this man into her home and treated and fed him not knowing that this man was not a human and was imprisoned away for a reason. Ezekiel is a monster, a beast. He who lives for bloodthirst and war. He has never loved and never will but as days and months pass by, he starts to become more tamed, less agile. The human girl does not know that she had freed something that should never be freed. How will Julia react when she discovers his real identity? How will Ezekiel handle if the human girl he's mated to discovers what a monster he is?
Lihat lebih banyakA small stream wended through grass and into the rocks. It rippled through the mossy stones and fishes bubbled in the river near it.
It was another day and the sun was high in the sky and the sound of cicadas buzzed through the trees. The sunlight felt warm to the touch yet turned cool under the shade. The grass and soil are still damp from the dew and the birds chirped calling out to one another to make sure the others are safe.
Everything around her had something by their side, something that won’t make them feel alone and yet here she is, alone in the forest with no one but herself. But this didn’t bother her, in fact, it was peaceful and serene. She could do anything she wants and she is free on her own.
Julia lived in a small hut made of sticks, dried leaves, and planks that she had a hard time cutting. By braiding dried vines together, she managed to create ropes that held the pieces of her home together. Sometimes one side of the house breaks down out of nowhere and somethings the strong winds blow her house away, but there is nothing that a quick fix can’t do.
Living in the forest was fun, most times, but it was extra difficult sometimes. Things don’t go the way she plans and she would starve on most days. It was hard for her to hunt and kill and the wind always seemed to stop her from creating fire. She would be lucky if she could find berries on some days and even luckier if there were a lot of fish around.
It was difficult and she’s not used to this. She has no idea where she is and she has no memories of her past. She just woke up two months ago in this forest with only a notebook, a pencil, and a small knife. It’s like somebody purposely threw her out here and left her with a small knife and let her know that ‘Hey, I’ll abandon you here, take a knife.’
She has no idea where she came from or who she was before. All she remembers is that her name was Julia, a twenty-year-old female, and—and—that’s all she remembers. She knows that there are other humans like her in a civilization.
The first few weeks were especially hard on her. She had no idea about to do or where to find food or where to sleep. She would just walk in the forest for hours and yet it seems that she never found the end of the forest, or even a small village or town.
She laid down on the grass. “I can’t keep on living on like this, I’ll die of hunger,” she groaned.
Her black hair needed some extra washing because plain water from the stream isn’t enough to make her feel squeaky clean and her only clothes—which is a white short-sleeved nightdress that reaches down to her knees—is not that white anymore.
Julia’s palms reached down to her stomach when she felt a rumble. She’s hungry but she has no food on her plate. Even though her body was heavy, she forced herself to stand up and gather the tools she needed to hunt. A long stick that has a sharpened stone at the top was good enough for a spear and her small knife.
She ventured out to the forest nearby and looked for fruits or berries that she could take with her. Today, she wanted to at least hunt a deer or at least a rabbit. She was sick of eating fish all the time and she feels like she was going to develop gills if she eats one more.
Hunting was never for her. She was weak and would fall down all the time. She had no luck in hunting like she had no luck in looking for a family that she thinks doesn’t exist. Because if she had a family, why would she be out here in the wilderness looking for scraps of berries to eat. And even if she had a family, she would hate them. She would hate them for abandoning her out here and not even trying to look for her.
“Oh”
It seems that her wish has been heard when a small wild rabbit landed right in front of her. Her eyes sparkled in joy as she licked her lips imagining the tender taste of meat inside her mouth. She could imagine herself roasting the meat and eating it for dinner and she gets hungrier as every second passes.
She carefully aimed her spear at the rabbit keeping herself steady so she doesn’t scare it. Her concentration and determination are at their peak when suddenly, she felt an itch on her nose. She tried to hold her breath and concentrate to the point that her eyes were watering. She begged herself not to sneeze for what it feels like an eternity when finally, she couldn’t hold it in.
She sneezed.
And the rabbit heard it and ran away.
Julia could never let the opportunity pass and started running as fast as she could to chase the rabbit. They passed through trees, crossed streams, and finally entered an area that she’s never been to before. The area started to turn darker and silent. The place was heavy with fog and she could barely keep her eyes on the rabbit. Air was cold and humid and the trees grew tall that sunlight could not enter their canopies.
She was put to an abrupt stop when the rabbit jumped down into a cliff at the entrance of a large cave. She almost fell down to her death on large spikes of rocks if she hadn’t noticed that it was already a cliff.
“That was close!” she gasped, holding on to the truck of a small tree that randomly grew outside of the large cave.
Looking around, she noticed that this was the first time she’s been to this area. She just now realized how creepy the place is. It was awfully silent and only the dripping of water echoed throughout the entire cave. What’s even more surprising is that there are red threads surrounding the cave forming a web-like spiral in the center.
Julia immediately thought that it was a bad idea to enter the cave. The cave shouted danger, and the air was filled with tension. Something was inside this cave and she didn’t want to risk being eaten alive by a monster that lurks inside it.
She was about to turn her back and return to her home when she heard the sound of heavy chains being dragged around on the ground. The air whispered something in her ear and immediately, she was hypnotized by it. Something inside the cave was calling out to her and every step she takes outside the cave became heavier and heavier as if something inside was tugging on her and begging her to go back in.
She couldn’t let it pass. She knew that even if she were to leave, she wouldn’t be able to sleep thinking about what was inside this cave. She decided to take a quick look and run outside as fast as she can.
The rocks were steep to climb down and some of them were mossy and slippery. She didn’t have a torch or any source of light but she could see what was in the cave and the red threads seemed to glow and gave the cave some of its light. The sound of chains bothered her again and as she walked into the narrow pathway of the cave, the sound became louder.
The narrow pathway led into a much larger room in the cave. Julia stumbled when she saw a large circle with different lines etched onto the ground. The circle had stars and unfamiliar symbols drawn inside of it. She was sure that someone came here and drew it and hung the red threads.
Her eyes narrowed into a darker area of the cave, the sound of the chains sounded like it came from that area. She was too scared to step into the large room so she stayed at the narrow entrance, keeping her distance from the unknown being lurking in the darkness.
“Mate.”
She heard a whisper but couldn’t understand what it was. A human being emerged from the darkness wearing nothing but trousers. Julia gasped when a man trudge forward, his upper body full of scars and fresh wounds. Thick metal cuffs were chained to both of his wrists and his ankles and heavy chains that looked like they could anchor a boat dragged behind him.
Julia couldn’t clearly see his face but she was sure that the man’s eyes glowed bright red, contrasting against the darkness. The stranger raised his hand as if to reach her but immediately lost consciousness and his body fell forward.
Before the man hit the ground, Julia ran towards him and caught him midway. The man was two times bigger than she was and she was already tall for an average girl. She slowly laid him down on her lap since he was heavy for her to support.
She stared at him, not knowing what to do. This was the first time she ever made contact with another human ever since she lost her memories.
She blinked.
What now?
--
END
JULIA What was I supposed to do in a room full of men? They all wore smug expressions and their auras screamed ‘danger!’. None of them looked friendly, especially the last one on the line. He was tall, the tallest among any of us. His body was big and wide, like all he did was weightlift all his life. His face was in a permanent scowl and his fists were the size of my head. He could crush my head like a grape if he wanted to. “These are my men,” Zeke walked forward and slightly pushed my back, guiding me towards the sofa. As soon as we seated, they followed. Amir remained standing beside Zeke. “Amir is my beta and these men will have their own specialties in the pack.” I looked at Zeke, wanting to ask what I had to do with all of these. But his face remained calm and expressionless. I guess that was better than having him violent. Amir cleared his throat and gestured to the first one who had a burned scar on his face, he was the one who had a permanent scowl on his face. “The fi
JULIA Run. Run. Run, little girl. I will find and kill you anyways. The forest was dark, heavy raindrops formed puddles on the path I was running in. Shadows of the tall trees amidst the lightning were like big monsters reaching their arms out to catch me. I kept on running, somewhere far from what’s chasing me. The fear in my chest grew as I felt the thing chasing me closing in our distance. He’s going to kill me. They’re going to kill me. After everything I did for them, they’re going to kill me. I fell on the ground, sharp rocks piercing my skin. The next thing I knew was that I was staring at the open sky, droplets of rain falling on my face. I don’t remember what happened, I don’t remember their faces. My eyes just felt heavy, and my body grew tired. If I die now, at least I won’t suffer any more. At least I won’t be in pain, and I won’t be alone anymore. “You can’t die,” the voice whispered. It was warm, serene, and gentle. It was coming from inside of my head. “I will
JULIA “Who are you?” I cautiously stepped back. Looking around, no one else was there. I remembered Lyla saying that there were people on patrol, is he one of them? “Do you live here?” I ask again. The man, who looked only a year or two older than me, smiled. He wore the same black shirt that everyone else wore and had brown curly hair. He was tall and was more on the slender side, he was still muscular like the other men here, but he wasn’t big. Maybe that was a good thing, he was less scary. “I’m Milo,” he introduced himself. He offered his hand to me for a shake, but I didn’t reach out. After everything that happened, I wanted to be careful about the people I interact with. After noticing that I wasn’t going to shake his hand, he retrieved it and shrugged. His eyes wandered to the large carved pattern on the wall and sighed. “It’s a shame that this wall had to become like this. They don’t make walls like this anymore.” I also turned to the art on the wall. He was right, the
JULIA Lyla prepared ample food for both Zeke and I in the kitchen. Fried eggs, bacon, rice, fruits, and other stuff. I should be jumping in joy because of it but I didn’t find the appetite within me to eat. I was still bothered by the commotion earlier this morning, and I wasn’t used to this kind of treatment. It felt strange being served like this. I absentmindedly poked around the grape on my plate until it bounced outside of it and landed in front of Zeke. I gasped and immediately picked it up from his plate and popped it in my mouth chewing it down, its juice immediately settling on my tastebuds. Zeke paused from slicing his steak to look up at me, and down at my plate. “Are you not hungry?” he asked, looking down on my partially empty plate that only has at least four pieces of grapefruit and a half-eaten omelet. I shook my head, “Maybe I’m just not used to it yet.” Zeke placed his utensils down and rested his elbows on the table and leaned on his hand as if he was examinin
JULIA I woke up gasping for air. It was a dark dream that involved being trapped in a room with Zeke. His bloodshot red eyes and snarling lips hovering over me. I was applying pressure on my neck, where blood was gushing out. Zeke had bit me, and he looked amused. “Why do you look so scared, little human?” My hands immediately flew to my neck, fortunately, there was no bite, and no blood. The room was also empty. The sunlight had entered the room through the glass window and the sky looked bright as ever. I stood up after calming myself down and looked over the window. It was already dark when we arrived last night so I didn’t see or notice anything about the place we’re staying in, but now that it’s day, I could clearly see it. And it was amazing. The house was up a hill, surrounded by a forest but it overlooks the town and the sea in the distance. The house was surrounded by tall steel fences and men, who wore the same black shirts surrounded it as if they were patrolling the
JULIA Another group of people came to fetch us after the incident. We were all silent on the way during the next following hours of traveling. Zeke was still beside me, but he was silent the whole time, looking out the window with his elbow resting on the frame. He felt like a different person. I wanted to talk to him, ask about what had happened, but I didn’t have the strength nor energy to do so. Things happened fast and we were almost killed as soon as we left the forest. I suddenly remember his two brothers. Were they the ones who did this? Did they really send people to hunt Zeke? Maybe it was because I was tired, but I felt my lids getting heavier by the second. I wanted to stay awake in case something happens again, I wanted to talk to Zeke. But I was so tired and drifted into the darkness. But before I felt my body drop, warm arms encircled me, and I felt safe. I woke up to the voice of people talking in hushed voices. I also felt my body sway, and as I opened my eyes,
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