04

04

~~~~

Despite the sudden change in the atmosphere, her scrutinizing gaze remained fixed on him, then turned into disbelief when Darkness said nothing, anger crossed Greta's features. She gritted her teeth. “Are you that desperate to find a mate? Just because you have searched all the pack around the country to no avail, now, you are delusional enough to believe it's that human trash? Didn't you once say you didn't need a mate? Why this? What went wrong?”

Darkness remained silent, not granting her the honor of his gaze, this infuriated Greta further, her black nails digged into the oak desk, causing claw marks on it. “If you won't kill her then I will.” She growled, it was then Darkness reacted, he swiftly stood from his feet and grabbed her neck, her eyes widened and and desperately tried to prive his back away but his grip only increased.

Her fighting skill was the best in the Kingdom, yet no one was able to defeat Darkness. “A- Alpha?” She croaked. Sadness filling her heart.

“Do I need to spell it out for you?” His voice was dangerously low. “I will not kill her, she will live just like the many humans we have pardoned. I am the Alpha here and I decide what is final, do you understand?”

Greta laughed bitterly. “You… you will kill your high priestess for a human.”

“I will kill whoever gets in my way. You have been warned, do not touch the human, and never question my authority again or I will let you experience what it's like to be haunted by Darkness.” Greta nodded her head meekly, only then did Darkness let go of her, leaving her to stumble back to the ground, while coughing violently. It took a bit to regain her bearing, and when she did, Greta did not cry nor was she dejected, instead, she stood to her feet, dusted her cloth, Head held high.

“Since you have chosen the girl over your people's safety, you need to be prepared for what's to come.” The word itself tasted bitter in her mouth, and Darkness knew that. He said nothing as Greta left the room, shoes clicking. Darkness knew Greta, there was more to what she was saying, and her action didn't match her words. Greta would never have left like that if Vanilla was truly what he claimed her to be. His brow lifted.

“ Interesting, what is she trying to hide?” Darkness remained sitting, his gaze distant as he twirled the glass of whiskey in his hand. His thoughts crossed to a day ago, he had been busy discussing how to deal with the rogues causing issues at the Lost shroud.

They were once human, but they ventured into the Lost Shroud through the demon's pull. The power of the demon king locked in the Cold Moon tower was getting stronger and stronger as years passed, he even managed to bypass the Moon gate and entice humans into the Lost Shroud so that he could capture their soul in order to gain more followers. The demonic power turned them into crazy fanatics who only listened to Lucain, the demon king's command.

Sometimes wolves would turn rogue and lose their minds too, this was a constant worry for Darkness, and he was busy discussing with Darren and Xavier when he heard the jingle of the Lost Shrouds portal. “Another human has entered the portal.” He turned to the two. “Take Ethan with you, make sure it's discreet, and do not let the human escape.”

“Yes Alpha.” The two bowed to him and left. Darkness had thought this human would be like the others, however, he was compelled to you after the human himself, he had ignored the thought at first, however, his wolf, Red had also urged him to go,so he went, but he only watched from afar. The moment he saw her, he felt something, something that felt both right and wrong at the same time. She had not screamed for help or cried her eyes out, instead, she had ran, fought and tried finding a way out.

He had known at that moment that she had a close possibility of being his mate, but she didn't deserve it. A weak human could never bear his child. He had been told that only his mate could bear him a child. Darkness could have killed her immediately, because even he felt that something was wrong with her, she had been in the Lost Shrouds for days, hovering around and digging in places girl like her shouldn't, yet she never turned into a rogue, neither did she have a smell, except the sweet smell of Vanilla.

But he couldn't let her die, at least not until she bore him a child. “She can't be Luna, but she can be useful.” He muttered. Though lost in thought, his ears caught footsteps. The door to his office opened and Darren walked in, he bowed his head. “I have sent men to inspect, the Rogues are indeed hovering around the Moon tower gate, do you need me to lead the men there.” Darkness massaged his temples.

“No, no one must know about the rogues or the Cold Moon tower, I will go there myself.”

“Yes Alpha.” Darren stood still, not saying a word as Darkness got back to leaning against the chair, his action earned him a lift of the eyebrow from Darkness.

“Anything else.”

Darren hesitated, but then he thought of it again and decided to speak his mind. “The human, what should we do with her?” Darkness continued swirling the glass in his hand. “Greta has spoken, the human is a danger to you, perhaps it is a mistake that she feels like your mate.”

“Have I ever made a mistake?” Darren lowered his head. “Even if she was my mate, I would never take a human as my Luna. Red wants her.” He claimed. “ And Moon Guards Pack needs her, her womb will bear my heir.”

Darren frowned. “Alpha, a human heir is–”

“My father mated with a demon, why can't I mate with a human?”

“Humans are weak.”

“And me? My genes will strengthen my pup.” Darren bowed, still unconvinced.

“ The human is strange, she has no scent, I couldn't detect if she is human or not, what if she has taken the masking potion. She could be a spy, or worse, she could be a demon.”

Darkness frowned, his mind filled with thoughts, then he nodded. “You have spoken well, let her go tomorrow, I will personally go after her myself.”

“Your work is important, you don't have to chase after a mere human.”

“Indeed.” Darkness intertwined his hands. “ I enjoy watching the show, but this time, I will participate in the chase myself.”

“Yes Alpha.”

“Leave.” Darren said nothing else as he left the room– The moment he was out of the room, he picked up his pace and headed out of the mansion, he made his way through a path in the garden, where a pond was located, there, waiting for him was Greta.

“What did he say?” She probed her back still facing the pond.

“He wants her to hear his pup.” Greta's eyes widened in horror, her stomach twisting till she felt nauseous. “What should we do? Darkness never goes back on his words, neither has he allowed danger befall the pack. I believe he has a plan.” Darren stood beside Greta, his scar twitching slightly. “He needs a pup, the pack has been waiting for a happy occasion since he became Alpha twenty years ago. If he bears a pup, it will calm the mind of the masses.”

“No, even if he wants a pup, it shouldn't be with that human.” Greta insisted, her eyes glowing in fury, but Darren remained unmoved, he was after all the Betta of the pack and he had as much power as Greta.

“The Alpha will decide that.” Seeing her resentment filled eyes, Darren closed his eyes slightly. “No one can bear a child for Darkness except the chosen one, it's been twenty years already, if he feels the human is the chosen one, it isn't too late to try, and she isn't, the human can always be taken care of.”

“No, she must die now, her existence is a danger to the Moon Guards Pack, we have to do something about this.”

“I don't believe you, the Greta I know would have killed the human the moment you felt her, but you waited a whole day to hear of her before you came.” Greta averted her gaze from his, Darren shook his head, arms akimbo. “Tell me, why do you want the human dead? Is it because she could indeed be Darkness's mate?”

“No! She is not! She has no right to be his mate!” Greta growled, it was then Darren confirmed his truth.

“Do not do anything reckless, or you will not end well.” He warned, then he turned his back and left. As she stood there, Greta could not contain her hate and anger, her eyes glowed and the vision she had seen repeated itself over and over again in her mind.

“Who does she think she is? No one has the right to claim Darkness, no one… and it definitely cannot be that human.” She roared so loud, the ground shook. Then she closed her eyes to calm herself down, when her eyes opened again, malice glowed in them. “He wants a child? I will make sure she cannot bear one.” Then she immediately left the pond and made her way out of the garden.

Only then did two figures emerge from the shadows. The first person's eyes shone with glee and mischief. “Darkness has a mate.” He told his partner, the latter had a nonchalant air around him.

“I heard that.” His voice was sweet and gentle, almost like the caress of the wind.

“It seems Greta is not too happy with that.” The first person noted, lips tilted up in a smirk. “This should be interesting, we have been staying in this hidden mountain for centuries, it's about time something new happened, hey, how do you think this will work out?”

“What do you think?” The other person played with his gold locks.

“I think the human will be killed by Greta, that girl has enough anger to kill top tier demons like us, what should we do? Should I fan the flames or help the human.”

“That depends on what happens next.”

The first person jumped, his face bright.“Then what do you think will happen next?”

~P-Lia~