Awestrucked, I couldn’t even move when the man was just a closer distance to me. His hand gripped mine as I tried to absorb his words.
Mate? Bearing his child? Me?
“How could that be?” Father Gossep intervened. “We, the Hatiists, have been shunned in the eyes of the Moon goddess! Only those who had left the church can find their mates,” he said as he glanced in my direction. “Rosaria continued serving the church therefore, she isn’t supposed to receive her mate!”
“But not ordained, I assumed?”
Father was ready to refute but stopped as the thoughts started to sink in.
“N-No, n-not yet…”
His hand hadn't released mine. A large, firm hand that could easily break mine like a piece of wood, and I…all I ever wanted was to get away from him.
“I d-don’t understand.” After recovering from my shock I stared him in the eye. “I am going to be ordained tonight. I am going to be an official nun and y-yet, the moon goddess suddenly deemed me as your mate?”
“But you are not an official of this…” His expression darkened. “...this abomination you cultists called a church.”
That struck me as my brows furrowed. I abruptly pulled my hand from his while he wasn’t using his brute strength as I tried to compose myself. “Perhaps the seer misunderstood, my lord. Clearly, you are aware that you and I have different views.”
The mating system chosen by the moon goddess is often accurate in terms of compatibility. Why would she have chosen me, a Hatiist believer, to be the Alpha leader’s mate?
Varick, who detested the Hatiist teachings since day one?
“Are you saying that you defy the moon goddess’s judgment?”
“No! Of course not!” I shook my head. “It’s j-just that, I was stating it logically that I—”
The Alpha Leader gave a loud scoff and I flinched. He gave me the “look” that frightened me to the core.
He didn’t say anything as his eyes scanned until they stopped what was behind us.
He walked passed by until he was in front of the image of Hati.
Usually, the ones who entered looked at his image with high regard…
...but he showed an expression of disgust.“I see that you still have the picture of the devil,” he growled as he continued to glare daggers at the painting.
“This is just a guise to fool all of you to think that he had saved us all.”
With those words, I was about to snap, but a hand was placed on my shoulder and my fierce expression softened as Father Gossep reassured me with a smile.
Then, he turned his attention to the Alpha Leader.
“I understand your anger and the survival of our pack relies on your raw strength and leadership. You have seen more things—questionable things, even at your age than I could imagine. And now this is an opportunity for me to give my gratitude for protecting our pack, Alpha Leader.”
“If you do this to flatter me, it is futile, priest,” he said. And for the first time I’d seen him in this room, his lips curved into a wide grin.
A grin while his onyx blue eyes flickered bright and his disheveled dark hair made my hair strands stand.
I had never seen a face of a devil.
“I’d rather see you grovel while licking the dark blood stains of my foot.”
This made Anette cry. “Our king, how could you say that to our—”
“Sister Anette, please!” Father Gossep cut her off. I have never heard him raise his tone like that.
“Lord Varick, if it means to keep you happy and change your mind, so be it.” And without any hesitation, Father dropped to his knees as he reached for the leader’s sollerets.
“Father!” I gasped, rushing to his aid, and kneeled on the ground next to him. “Please, if anything! I should be the one to do it!”
“No, Rosaria! His resentment is directed at me!” He exclaimed and I recoiled back.
“I didn’t expect you to stoop so low, Wise Gossep.” Without warning, Lord Varick raised his leg and stomped on Father’s back, pushing him onto the floor.
The strength he pulled made Father spit out saliva as he started coughing.
“FATHER!” I shrieked. Anette stood there, mortified as she covered her scream.
I kneeled before Varick. “Please, my lord! Don’t hurt our priest!” Tears kept falling from my eyes as I wailed.
His icy, cold cobalt blue eyes darted in my direction but he didn’t say a word before releasing his leg.
“My father didn’t destroy this church because you were friends with my grandfather. So we allowed this wasted space for all of you.” He kneeled down and grabbed his hair and pulled him up.
“But now, your ungrateful self won’t dare provide us any in return?”
Flinching from the pain, Father Gossep pleaded. “I’ll do anything for Rosaria’s happiness. Please don’t take it away from her.”
“I’m in a foul mood.” He threw Father aside and he fell on the floor. Sister Anette shrieked as she aided next to Father. She pulled him up as he groaned in pain.
My eyes widened, tears streaming endlessly as I was stricken with grief. I didn’t get the chance to speak as my guimpe was forcibly pulled, dragging me off my knees.
At that moment when I was in the air, mortified as the lord I now deemed a monster continued to glare at me. His grip tightened so I won’t fall down and I wouldn’t dare to resist as I finally witnessed his brute strength.
“Church maid, I will give you a choice. Continue with your laughable church, be content living the rest of your life with your followers… but we would burn this place down and all of you shall be exiled away from the pack.”
My eyes widened. No, he wouldn’t DARE such a thing! Deeming us rogues would put us more in danger for other packs to slaughter us at sight!
“Or be my mate, just bear me a child, inheriting my lineage and your church is free to stay.”
He lowered his arm, finally placing me back on my floor like a marionette without resistance, and released me.
“You have to answer now.”
“I…” Rationality had left my system as I tried to convey my thoughts. Earlier, we were just chatting idly about my future as a nun. And this…this happened.“How could you give her THAT choice, Lord Varick!” Father Gossep bellowed as he held firmly the stinging pain of his waist. He stood up, ignoring the worrisome look of Sister Anette. “I am the one you should despise! Rosaria’s whole life is in the church!”“Time’s ticking, church maid.” He coerced with gritted teeth, my Father’s words were now in deaf ears. “I don’t have time.” “I…” Tears continued to fall and I looked down, biting my lower lip. I should be a nun by now. But h-he arrived to take it away. Why now? Why did it have to happen before my ordination?!“LORD VARICK!” The voice that once sounded like Father Gossep changed into a monstrous seething growl. A large white wolf, thrice as big as most werewolves in the pack, pounced straight to the alpha leader in a blink of an eye. It growled as its large nails pierced all
It had been a month since my marriage and my husband hadn’t returned from the war. From what I had heard from my now habit of eavesdropping, especially from gossipy women on the streets and the maids who didn't notice my presence lurking by, our pack had been outnumbered by the enemy and their so-called “alliance”. “They brought the Elves to slaughter the Alpha Leader! The messenger had stopped coming back here since that announcement,” one of the vendors exclaimed to her friend as I passed by their direction. “Who knows if the Alpha Leader has already perished!” Another voice, was it Ella, the florist? “If we lose our alpha leader, what will happen to this pack? For he still didn’t have any offspring to take over his position?” “If the Alpha Leader dies, I sure hope he had impregnated that cultist whore!” It was loud enough for everyone to hear. It seemed they had noticed me passing by. I turned to them and gave them a small, awkward smile. Despite their cries of mockery, I pain
My eyes widened at Alpha Leader, Varick, in the flesh and not another case of hallucination. I felt my throat dry, my heart raced faster than normal as I started to experience another dose of an incoming attack.‘Deep breath, deep breath… you knew he would be coming back soon.’ I glanced at him carefully. Dark hair grew longer, unwashed and scruffy from the lack of care. He fashioned a beard, unsurprisingly untamed and his dark gray eyes observed the area. He was wearing his signature armor and it was more worn than it used to be. Once again, he was tainted by vermillion blood.Blood of the other wolves he had slain while he was away.His eyebrows furrowed, seeing my lack of response ticked him off as he tightened his grip, bringing me back to my senses.It stung. The grip made me flinch as I tried to wiggle my hand away from his tight lock.“I hate repeating myself. Why are you here?”“I…” I should think quickly or else I would only rouse his anger. My eyes wandered elsewhere, try
Okay, calm down, Rosaria. It’s impossible for him to die with a shove like mine. He had been through a lot from this endless war and it would be…laughable if he would have died from a measly push from a lower ranking luna. I tried to calm down and now I was eyeing him carefully. I took a deep breath before placing my trembling hand on his wrist, ignoring my hallucinations of the hands around my waists as I tried to check his pulse. It was faintly weak. Weak but not dead! I sighed once more but more relieved than earlier as I tried to decipher what really happened. His face is pale, giving off an impression of a lifeless body that I assumed earlier. And he…wasn’t breathing at all. ‘They brought the Elves to slaughter the Alpha Leader! The messenger had stopped coming back here since that announcement.’ I recalled Naureen mentioning them and a realization came to my mind. Now with his dark gambeson, I muttered an apology and pulled out his heavy garment from his head. I turned re
A long time ago before wolves ever landed on earth, there was the Moon Goddess, an unknown entity residing on the moon, and her brother, the Sun God. Two mythical wolf gods were formed after Fenrir, the first recorded wolf, left them on Earth. These were moon wolf, Skoll, and sun wolf, Hati. Skoll was attracted to the sun and chased after it whereas Hati, whose motives were unknown till this day, chased after the moon. When Hati finally caught the moon, he swallowed it whole, making the chosen wolves lose their ability to transform. “What?” I interrupted and I gave a skeptical look at the image of Hati. “Why would the sun god do that, Father Gossep?” I was five years old when Father Gossep told me this story. Father Gossep chuckled as he patted my head. “Hati only wanted to cleanse the Moon. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have the moon now if he would have eaten it.” “Why did the sun god need to cleanse the moon?” “Some recorded stories stated that the moon had been corrupted and Hati
When I woke up, it was already dark. The discomfort I felt came from the hard concrete floor where my body lay after I fainted, which had brought me back from my sleep. Another was experiencing a different kind of pain, rather it was more of discomfort, that was spent from the magic I used beyond my limit. Oh right, I thought to myself. I turned to see the Alpha leader sleeping on the floor next to me, I should bring him to bed. It was the least I could do after he fought the war for our pack. However, when I tried to lift my body, I couldn’t move. Perhaps this was the consequence of using an advanced spell. It was a miracle that I successfully extracted the poison without fainting midway. I was glad that I secretly practiced the Lycan scrolls during my youth. I sighed as I relaxed on the floor and I felt awkward being next to the man who was responsible for this. Speaking of which, what was that earlier? I was mixed with a lot of emotions that overwhelmed every ounce of logic.
I continued to sob as I laid in a fetal position on the other side of the bed. I attempted to hide my despair yet my body continued to shake from the feeling of his essence still inside of me. Anger and humiliation only roused these tears as I wiped them, feverishly. A woolen blanket was placed on top of my bare, defiled body and I grimaced. “I don’t need your pity, Lord Varick.” “Ah, so you do have some backbone left. I thought you church maids were like lambs, blind followers of a deceitful shepherd.” I didn’t answer as I was overwhelmed with the tears flowing once more. “Crying is for the weak, what do you gain from it, woman?” “WHOSE FAULT IS IT THAT I FELT LIKE THIS?!” I yelled but the effect only made my swollen cheek hurt. “You cried over a trifle deed,” he says, coldly. “This pain wouldn’t be nothing compared to childbirth.” Words of mockery only sparked more anger as I gritted my teeth. I was certain he had no idea what childbirth felt and he had no right to lect
“Shall I wash your hair, Lady Rosaria?” Lenalee asked as she caressed the strands of my hair. “Ah, n-no, I can do it my-myself,” I stammered and I quickly pursed my lips before I uttered another humiliating word. She had a look of a small, whimpering dog after my response. “I understand, my lady.” And I felt my heart being torn from seeing her expression. But then again, I allowed her to bathe me and that alone was humiliating enough. Since coming here, I thought I was fine doing what I needed to do as I was capable of cooking and cleaning on my own. The maids were silently glad that they didn’t need to attend to my needs. After all, we the noviates are capable of doing them and independence was one thing we were taught growing up. But now, the Alpha leader sent them home and was replaced by one young maid. I didn’t understand his way of thinking anymore. She used a warm towel to wipe the dampness of my arm. I caught sight of her staring longingly with admiration before she