TRISTAN: I had no time to spare. If the prince and his men were here, then the fight would be soon be finished, and Samalah wouldn’t even stand a chance. As a water fairy, Samalah was very cunning and powerful, but as a wolf, she’s not that skilled. If only Samalah did not resent the wolf part of her, she wouldn’t have neglected her training so much. If so, I wouldn’t be in the position that I needed to rescue her nor will she be in a position where she needed someone to come to her side… Despite the strong history of friendship between Samalah and I, there was one thing we had kept an oath not to do – that is to never fall in love with each other. Samalah’s heart was frigid. She was also quite unforgiving and liked to make things even for every small inconvenience she was put into. There were days in the past when she and I had given to bouts of heat, but she had clearly drawn a line between us, telling me that we were nothing more th

DAHLIA:“Tell me the truth, Albus…. You and that black wolf, you are both no ordinary wolves… You are from the Shadow Rune Pack, aren’t you?”The fur in the great white wolf’s body shook as if it was hit by an invisible arrow in the chest. He whimpered a bit in front of us, but he didn’t say anything more.Before Eva and I could repeat our question and hear the answer we longed to hear, a series of loud thumping sounds pulled us away from the Animal Spirit World and back into our human consciousness.“Countess Abell,” I heard Lina’s voice together with the incessant knocks from our bedroom door. “Countess, are you awake? Can I go in?”“Go ahead… Lina,” I groaned towards her, still half-asleep and a bit upset about the interruption of our time with Albus.“What is it,” I asked as soon as Lina went inside my room.She eyed the empty

DAHLIA:How can I be so naïve? All the signs were there… That sudden encounter in Hildt, the way that he seduced me and pursued me… They were all there, so why did I not see it?“Dahlia, don’t cry… Don’t cry… Tell me properly, hmm,” my father said, drying my tears with his hand despite the amount that was streaming down my face. “What do you mean by that? Where did you see that Shadow wolf?”Before I could even speak, there was an urgent rap by the door.“Countess… The prince and his men are here,” Lina said, a look of fear written all over her face.I quickly dried my tears and smoothened my dress and hair.“Did they say why,” I asked Lina.She shook her head. “They said it’s urgent.”“Papa, let’s see them first,” I said to my father who had already composed himself as if nothing had happened.

TRISTAN:“Prince Kaist and his men are here. They are asking for you.”I slowly turned the knob from the shower and dried my body. Despite the present situation, I didn’t have the slightest inclination to hurry…I was more deathly afraid to face Dahlia and confirm the cold stare that accompanied the icy tone she just used to call me.Is it really true? Did she already know the truth?If so, then, is everything over between us?...Suddenly, the bathroom door burst open.“Tristan, hurry up. Let’s not make them wait.”Dahlia held my hand and led me outside of the bathroom. He snatched the towel from my hand and dried my hair with it, tiptoeing just to reach the top of my head.“Dry yourself well, and wear that.”I looked at the set of clothes at the bed. It was a red and silver suit – the colors that Dahlia liked a lot…This is the first time

DAHLIA:My feet had no strength in them, but I needed to get away. I forced myself to continue walking despite the torrents of tears that came rushing from my eyes.When I reached the bedroom, I slammed the door shut. I went in front of the mirror and brought down the neckline of my dress even lower.As expected, the silver wolf head that had been my mark was not there anymore…I slumped at the floor and wailed even louder.I wanted to believe his words that not everything was a lie… I wanted to believe that at least his love for me or the fact that we were fated mates was something he had not concocted.  Here I was, however, confronted with the truth, and it hurts like hell!We weren’t even mates to begin with… There’s no use staying here then…I didn’t think twice. I fetched a small suitcase from the dressing room and started packing some essential items and clothes.In about