Chapter 5

Eden

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“Run and find a place to hide,” Lev stated.

Say no more…I darted and hid behind a trunk of a large tree. My heart pounded in my chest and my hand stifled my mouth.

One of the nightgale lunged at him. Lev side stepped quickly, causing the beast to miss. Gripping it by its tail, Lev grunted as swung it into another.

My eyes bulged out; is this the strength of a lycan? Unlike cane wolves, Lycan were a hundred times stronger and their senses were more heightened. It was said they were once cane wolves, who sacrificed something of great importance to Nyctaris, the moon goddess of the underworld, for powers.

I could only wonder what he had sacrificed.

Their screech tore through the air of the forest before lingering as they kept coming, each taking turns to attack. But like an unforgiving beast he was, he took them down, their heads thudding to the floor.

The last nightgale was remarkably swift and precise as it dashed at Lev. It pinned Lev to the ground with its heavy body. A hiss escaped him as its claws dug into Lev’s flesh.

Its gnashes and snarls pervaded through the forest as it attempted to bite.

Despite wishing to watch Lev suffer, I still couldn’t stand and do nothing. If he were to die here, my chances of surviving would drop to zero.

Managing the twist in my stomachs, I picked up stones. “Hey!” I hurled the stone at it.

It snapped its head towards me, a low growl saw from its throat as it bared its sharp teeth, saliva dripping from its maw.

In that window of distraction, Lev ripped out its heart. It howled in pain, its red eyes turning white as it slammed to the ground.

“I thought I told you to hide.” He lifted himself off the floor.

I rolled my eyes. “You are welcome.” Sarcasm crawled up my tone.

My eyes swept across the lifeless bodis of the nightgales, Disbelief still glued in my eyes.

“Shhh.” Lev placed his index fingers on his lips, as he strained his ears.

With a quick movement, he scooped me into his arms.

My eyes widened and my pulse hiked to above three hundred, if that was medically possible. “What are you doing?”

“More are coming. You’ll slow me down if I don’t carry you,” Lev said, before dashing towards the exit of the wood.

Crease formed on my eyelids as I shut them. His speed caused a whirl in my stomach.

“Brace yourself, I’m tossing you up.”

“You can just….” Before the rest of the words left my lips, Before I could brace myself, he hurled me into the sky.

“Fuck you, Lev!” I screamed. My heart stilled as I soared high above the towering canopies of the trees. My frame silhouetted against the dark sky.

As gravity pulled me back, Lev ran up a tree and leapt to catch me, grabbing me back into his arms.

My eyes were frozen wide and my mouth was too stunned to speak as I nestled in his arms.

After a few minutes we were out of the forbidden lands.

“You can put me down.” I furrowed my brows.

Lev lowered me and approached the car waiting, holding his hands over his wounds.

Slipping into the car, I folded my hands and tapped my foot against the floor. “You didn’t have to throw me up like that. You could have just dropped me.” My jaw tightened.

A lazy side smile outlined his lips. “Where’s the fun in that?” He winced as he straightened his spine against the seat of the car.

My eyes fell to his abdomen, where the beast had clawed him. The black ripped shirt had drowned in his blood.

“We need to stop your bleeding.”

“Don’t worry I will heal.”

A bitter chuckle bubbled out of my throat at his cockiness. “Wounds from the Nightgales don’t just heal.” Opening my bag, I took out a knife and ripped out a piece from my gown, exposing my thighs. “Wrap this around your wounds.” I handed it to him.

“I don’t want anything of you touching my skin.”

I scoffed. “If you want to bleed to death, can you do it when I’m not anywhere around you?”

Uncorking a bottle of herb, it’s pungent smell lined the air of the car. “Drink this.”

Lev shot me a glacial look. “Get that stuff away from me.”

"You have to drink it, or you could get a bad infection,” I pressed.

“No.” He shoved my hand away, causing a little to spill on my dress. “There’s no way the disgusting thing is going down my throat.”

It’s not like I cared about his health. But if he were to die, they might accuse me of luring him into the forbidden lands to kill him.

I wasn’t going to allow his arrogant behavior to endanger my life.

Quickly I straddled him, my thighs brushing against his as my knees pinned his hands to the chair.

“What are you doing?” His eyes widened.

Lev was far more powerful than I am. He could easily throw me away, yet he felt weak beneath my grip. Our breaths came in shallow and slowed as they intertwined. Our gaze darkened as they clung onto each other.

The air charged with tension.

Pinning him by his cheek, like a mother forcing her infant to take medication, poured the potion in his mouth. “I am not letting you get any infection.” I narrowed my eyes. I tossed the bottle aside, its content pouring on the foot mat and I pinched his nose.

Effortlessly Lev slipped his hand from under my knees. His fingers dug into thighs, inflicting a mild pain on me. I hated the feel of his hands on me, the way our warmth intertwined as though they were friends.

But beneath that pain and gnawing hatred, came a feeling I couldn’t dare acknowledge. One I shouldn’t have.

His throat bobbed as it journeyed down. A manic smile traced his lips. “For someone who hates me, you are really bent on saving me.” His voice dropped dangerously low, dragging me to the depth of hell as it stirred a feeling that tortured every cell I was made of.

The image of him that night was burnt to my memory. I could see him no other way but a monster. Even as my heart pounded, I tilted my neck to keep our eyes locked.

“Hate is an understatement. I despise you. I loathe you. You disgust me.” My voice quivered as heat surged through me like a wild fire.

Lev’s finger dug further into my skin. The taunting smile persisted on his lips. “Aren’t we too close for enemies? One might mistake us for lovers.”

My body tightened at his words. I gripped him by the collar of shirt and yanked him closer.His scent sharp in my nostrils. “Make no mistake, Lev Xander we might be working together, but I won’t hesitate to kill you.” My pulse skittered. I hated how my voice trembled. “You don’t deserve to roam the earth why parents walk no more.” My grip on his shirt tightened.

“I love your eyes.”

My heart froze.

“They look like mine—hatred and pain burning in them.” Our eyes were still glued to each other, not a blink to interrupt the intense gaze. “Your goal is to kill me, mine is to keep you alive. To make sure your parents watch you suffer from hell as I do.”

My body trembled with a throbbing ache as I nearly sank into him. My hand rested on his sturdy chest as I pushed myself back up, while the other still on his collar. “My parents were innocent, you bastard.” My voice tightened.

Lev’s brows furrowed and his voice deepened. “They weren’t.” His seething breath poured down my hands lingering on his shirt. “Let’s set a wager; you are free to investigate it. If your parents were innocent, I would kill myslef in front of the kingdom. And if they were guilty, you spend the rest of your life in poena.”

Poena was a dark cage created by dark magic created to torture its prisoners. Many said it was worse than hell.

“Deal,” I accepted, before returning to my seat.

The air hung, with a heavy silence as we drove back to the palace.

*****

Few minutes to 10 pm, we arrived at the palace. Without uttering a word to each other, we both went our separate ways. Lev went to prepare for his mating ceremony while I headed to my room to change before going to the sacrarium.

Opening the large doors of the building, I trudged down the long aisle and knelt before the altar.

My eyes were fixed on the statue of a big wolf that represented Lunaris.

I clasped my hand. “I know you hate me and the sight of me appalls you.” My chest tightened and acrid taste charred my tongue. “But I will force my love on you till you have no choice but to accept me.”

Thirty minutes of muttering prayers to her. Thirty minutes of wailing my pain into her ears, I finally rose to my feet.

“I know you won’t help me in my revenge. But don’t get in my way,” I whispered.

I turned around and headed towards the exit. Opening the doors, my eyes fell on Lev.

His eyes glowed yellow, his chest heaved with heavy pants. It was as though he was being controlled by his wolf. “Mate,” he growled.

My face turned pale and my breath hitched. This couldn’t be. I wasn’t his mate in the previous timeline. How much could have changed?

A chilling realization struck me: If I was his mate now, would I inherit the gruesome death of the third elder’s daughter— the one meant to be his mate?

I collapsed to the floor, my knees no longer controlled by my will, too weak to hold my burdened heart. I stared back at the statue on the altar. It felt like the moon goddess had placed my blood on her menu.