Chapter 4

Eden

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The next morning, I settled on one of the benches that lined the long hallway of the large parliament building. The elders and members had already sat inside the parliament as they awaited Lev’s arrival.

The meeting was supposed to start by 8 am. It was already 9am and Lev was nowhere to be found. I bit my thumb nail as I leaned my head on the light coral walls. My heart thrummed. Was he being sly with me, because I didn’t return to his room last night? He couldn’t be that petty?

Lev’s tall figure appeared in the hallway as he strutted towards me, looking like the king of hell in his all black attire—a black long overcoat. A black dress shirt beneath a black Victorian vest that underscored his broad chest. His black gloved hands dipped into his black suit trousers that hung on his narrow waist.

The confidence that clung onto him, the predatory look that burned in his hunter’s eyes—they spawned a heat in my stomach. It should have stung, yet it fluttered, like a rebellious butterfly.

Folding my arms, I scoffed. “Do you think you were coming for a fashion show?” I averted my gaze from his eyes that threatened to suck me up like a black hole.

“Don’t you think it’s too early to be grumpy?” Lev rubbed his eyes, tousling long lashes—one that could leave any woman envious. Opening the door next to us, he trod inside.

And he shut it with a soft thud, I stepped outside the building to wait for him. Big unhealthy knots formed in my stomach. This meeting had to be successful.

An hour went by and murmurs of the people filled the air as they exited the building. I peered over the hedge by the side of the building I was hiding. If the elders were to see a non member of the parliament around, they might accuse them of spying.

My eyes fell on Troy and Lev as they stepped out of the building indulging in a conversation. My chest tightened. Troy’s betrayal rang in my head. A bitter taste seared my tongue as I saw both men I hate with my very being together.

Once Troy left, I brisked towards Lev. “How did it go?”

“Just as planned. Troy suggested I take you as my mistress.” Lev’s eyes met with mine, the amusement from before lost into thin air.

I snorted with a satisfied smile. I guess reality had finally dawned on him that he's going to pretend to be in love with a woman he hates so much.

“And your mating ceremony?” I questioned.

“Still going to be held tonight.” He dipped his hand in his pocket. “I’m going back to my quarters. I need sleep.” His voice tightened as he tried to school his facial expression.

My eyes traced over him as I observed him. In the previous timeline, Lev had suffered from serious headaches.

“Because of your headache?” I blurted out.

His eyes widened and his hand flew out of his pocket. Gripping me, he pulled me closer, almost crashing me into his hard body. “How do you know about my headache?”

I winced as his grip shot a pain through me. I craned my neck and latched my eyes onto his. “The way you charge, one might think you are going rabid.”

His eyes—very pissed off eyes—glared down at me. “With the way you blab, one might think you are a parrot.” Lev leaned in, his face a mere inches away from mine. His grip tightened. “Now how do you know about my headaches?”

“Three months from now, your headache will worsen, and the elders will find out about it. That’s what happened in the previous timeline,” I explained. “Now, let me go.”

Freeing me, his hands returned back to his pocket. “Do you remember the medication and how to make it?” A wince escaped him. “Your father was a herbalist genius, you should have learnt one or two things from him.”

“Yes, I know how to make it.” Being the wolf less, I had always felt useless. So to fill the emptiness, I spent all my time studying herbs. I was also with my father when he treated sick wolves. “But there’s a key ingredient you can’t find here, but in the forbidden land. If you get the head of epsilon to escort me in the evening, I can get it.”

Letting out a sharp exhale, Lev ran his hand through his hair. “If this gets out, this can become a threat to reign. It has to be you and I.”

“You and who?” My body tightened. “The forbidden land is the most dangerous place, swamping with Nightgales.” Of course he knew that. “Do you think only you and I can survive an attack from those beasts?” Also what if he abandons me to die there?

Ignoring all my words, he said, “My mating ceremony is by 10pm, we leave by 6.” His tone sounded more like a command than a suggestion. Lev turned around and headed towards his quarters.

******

The sun hung low, casting shades of the eerie towering trees on the floor of the Forbidden forest. I trailed behind Lev, who was sauntering like he owned the damn place.

I wrapped my hands around myself. The cold breeze licked my skin. Memories of the night this land tasted my blood resurfaced, birthing an ache in my chest. Although I went back in time, it was as though my body remembered every pain.

The dry leaves that carpeted the forest floor crunched beneath our feet.

“Are you sure you know what the plants look like?” Lev shoved aside the branches.

I rolled my eyes as it felt like the one hundredth time he was asking the question. “If you’re just going to keep complaining, you should have stayed behind.” My eyes darted around in search of the plant.

A sharp crack robbed the forest of its silence briefly. With a sudden shift in the ground, a hole opened up, plunging Lev downward.

My eyes widened as his body disappeared, swallowed by the hungry wide dark hole. I took out a torchlight from my satchel bag, where I had kept portions and other items.

Turning the torch on and edging closer, I pointed down into the hole. But as greedy as it was, it swallowed the light too.

About to shout his name, when the ground shifted. The hole widened and gulped me down.

My heart thundered and my breath hung at the back of my throat. I crashed down, the lower part of the body on the floor and the upper part of my body onto Lev. My cleavages pressed into his abdomen. The hardness of his body seeped into me and his warmth threaded in, sinking into the depth of my skin.

Something throbbed beneath my palm as I attempted to push myself up. As my hand lingered on it, it got harder. Longer. Warmer. I gasped as I realized what it was…his dick. I should have let go, yet the brave bastard of a hand squished it once more.

“Do you really enjoy touching it that much?”A subtle frown formed on his face. Rising to a sitting position, his face drew closer to mine. Every fleck of blue in his eyes glistened even in the darkness wrapped around us. While the brown in them faded.

Heat washed over my face and a disgusting feeling lingered as I quickly took my hands off and picked up the torch light. “There’s nothing to enjoy there, I didn’t even notice I was holding…” I cleared my throat as I sprouted to my feet. “Your whatever that was.” My voice wobbled as my cheeks burnt red.

Rising to his feet, he dusted the debris that cleaved into his chromatic outfit. “So you are saying, I was too small for you to notice?” His tongue knew no restrain.

“Exactly,” I responded. Oh blessed moon, the length, the girth—was that even humanly possible? Are you sure his beast form wasn’t a horse rather than a wolf?

Lev’s luxurious deep chuckle echoed off the ragged walls of the underground crave. “I have dickmatized a lot of ladies with this.”

A series of unholy images flashed through my mind and a traitorous warmth grew between my thighs. “Whatever.”

Pushing the thoughts aside, I scanned across the cave. The torchlight swallowed the darkness.

My eyes fell on the plant, fifteen inches high. “Found it.” Pulling out my knife, I dropped to my knees and skillfully cut them before placing them in my bag.

After a fifteen minute walk and several turns, we finally came out of the cave.

“Fin….” My words ran back my throat as my eyes fell on the Nightgales that had surrounded the exit of the caves.

Unlike other cane-wolves that, when transformed, stood on four legs like normal wolves, the Nightgales stood on their hind legs. Their canine heads rested on nearly ten-foot, humanoid bodies covered in fur.

My eyes widened as Alpha Lev appeared before me, blocking a blow. With swift movements, he drew his claws and exchanged clashes with one of the the creatures. Slash! The creature’s head fell, and I screamed as it bounced on the ground, its black blood raining down on us. Gasping for air, I saw his eyes gleamed bright yellow in the dark, meeting the red, menacing gaze of the creatures surrounding us. Ready to fight, Lev slipped his hair back, and it obeyed.