The

question takes Heaven by surprise. She remains calm, nevertheless.

“Nothing,” she lies, “why?”

“It’s

just… I heard when you said

‘as long as he’s not an Alpha’.

You might have said it beneath your breath, but my wolf ears picked

it up, you know. Does it have to do with you being a dormant wolf,

and envying those with stronger abilities?”

Heaven’s

eyes widen a bit at the last question. “You discovered that too?”

“I

did. It’s the very first thing I noticed about you.”

“I’m

not ashamed of that.” Heaven shrugs. “My rogue father with a

dormant wolf married my rogue mother with a dormant wolf. Together,

they had a dormant wolf, though my mom’s advantage is that her

lineage has an amazing skill of healing people.”

“So

you are a healer of some sort?”

“Not

really. The ability never passed down to me.”

“So,

basically, the only thing you know how to do is dance.”

Heaven

looks away with a nod.

“How

about fuck?” Ziason suddenly asks again, earning a sharp glare from

the girl. He doesn’t mind her glower as he continues, “every

woman should, at least, know the basics of pleasing a man.”

“I

have no intention to please any man,” Heaven nearly snaps, “and

please add it in the contract that on no account should both parties

cross the boundaries of the other. My boundaries are not to talk to

me about anything relating to sex, and do not try to sexualize me in

any way.”

Ziason

looks out the window. “No worries. I have no interest in women

either.”

“Good.”

But…

If

he isn’t interested in women, what else would he have an interest

in when he’s looking so hot?

.

.

.

______

Wolf

Kingdom.

Moon’s

Wrath Pack.

The

car soon stops after a long journey.

Between

Ziason and Heaven, it has been absolutely silent after that talk of

sex. Both seem to enjoy the quietude too.

Someone

opens the door from outside the car. Since it’s his side, Ziason

steps out first without bothering to help Heaven.

She

follows slowly behind him while dwelling more on checking out her

surrounding—a large compound floored with old bricks, rounded by a

great fence that looks like it could fall at any minute, and

harboring a round tower of dark stone walls that rises in uneven

layers, several narrow slits in the walls serving as windows.

A

cool air of damp limestone and old iron whizzes past Heaven’s nose,

and—due to the silence within the vicinity—she suspects there may

be fewer or no souls living around the area.

Glancing

up, there aren’t any electric wire crossings either, which means

Ziason wasn’t kidding when he told her to forfeit her phone. He

really was bringing her to an uncivilized area.

“Just

out of curiosity, Mr. Father,” Heaven starts while jogging to catch

up with Ziason’s long strides, “would I be allowed the liberty to

use a TV, at least? I cant be dancing everyday all year long, and

I’ll certainly grow bored.”

The

man

doesn’t respond. Instead, he pushes open the heavy, iron, double

doors of the tower that usher them into a large abandoned-looking

hall.

Heaven

gasps as she takes in the view of the hall as musky air clouds her

smell. Since it’s empty, she can’t help but envision the looks of

it when there were still people living in the tower.

Gazing

up, she notices that the dim lit building rises in tiers, the view as

if staring at a coiled snake of balustrade.

With

no ceiling in sight, the top looks unending, the whole structure

winding up in a spiral pattern with open floors—as in inner

balconies—protected by balustrades, each floor topping another like

an atrium.

Across

the double doors is the start of a stairway, where stands a

nervous-looking man in brown suit.

Heaven

catches him bowing to Ziason, who casually hands him the contract

while halting in his front and mumbling, “Satisfactory?”

The

way Ziason looks at the man seems to intimidate him. The latter dares

not return the gaze, so he just mopes at the contract.

“Uh…

Yes— yes, sir,” he stutters.

Heaven

is confused, and doesn’t seem to figure out what’s going on as

Ziason fakes a smile at the man before going up the stairs.

She

she trails behind him, she has the urge to ask of the man’s

identity, and why he looked so scared of Ziason. But she couldn’t

find the courage to, so she simply drops the questions.

“This

building looks really old from outside, yet how is it so refined on

the inside?” she queries instead, trailing her fingers along the

rough balustrade edges as they slowly climb up the unending flights

of stairs.

“Maintenance,”

Ziason simply utters.

“Isn’t

it dangerous to stay in it? I mean, it could crumble at any time.”

“It

has been standing for nearly a century, Heaven. It will not fall on

your head, I promise.”

When

they reach the uppermost floor of the tower, they walk through the

dark and chilly inner balcony that has several closed doors, which

probably belong to rooms.

Ziason

uses his phone torchlight to lead the way, as one could barely tell

daytime from nighttime from up here.

At

a point, he opens one of the doors and stands aside for Heaven to

enter the room. The girl hesitates before doing so.

“This

will be your room,” he tells her.

“Not

bad.” She shrugs.

The

room would be exactly her type had she ever had a private one—big

enough to her taste, aged walls that pull the faint scent of autumn,

a four-post bed at the center that’s encircled by a black mosquito

net draping from its canopy, and about four candle sconces on each

wall with lighted candles casting warm glows across the room.

One

small uncovered window lets in fresh air and some light that chases

musk and darkness. And the fireplace doesn’t seem to have been used

for ages, telling from how cold the room is. But it’s well-kept

anyways.

“I

love the dark aesthetics of the place,” Heaven begins after some

moments of silent appreciation, “but what about the kid?”

Ziason

gestures for her to come out of the room. When she does, he closes

the door and continues walking through the floor.

Heaven

counts the doors they walk pass until the seventeenth door after

hers. That’s where Ziason stops, opening the door.

The

room’s décor isn’t any different from Heaven’s. Except,

there’s a little girl clad in a silk white robe sitting

cross-legged on the bed, her wavy hair cascading down her shoulders

to favor the bed sheet.

She

jumps out of the bed with a smile the moment she sights Ziason,

running to the duo and clasping her little body around Ziason’s

left leg.

The

man pats her head while crouching down.

“How

have you been, my little lamb?” he coos, even though his deep voice

betrays him.

The

child nods in response.

“What’s

her name?” Heaven asks.

“Kaicha.”

Ziason rises to his full height. “Do not bother asking her

anything, though. She would not respond.”

“Seriously,

why?”

No

response.

Kaicha

looks up at Heaven, jamming gazes with the latter’s.

She’s

a redhead like Heaven, though hers is a little darker—as in

burgundy.

And her eyes are so sharp that for some reason Heaven starts to feel

like she’s staring directly into her mother’s orbs.

She

quickly shakes the feeling off with a question, “Does she listen to

instructions?”

Ziason

nods. “Very well.”

“And

her mother?”

“She

left me with Kaicha and left.”

“She

wasn’t prepared for motherhood, eh?”

Ziason

shrugs. “I will have her maid bring food for you as well. The maid

will also prepare your bath and every other thing you may need.”

“So,

will you show me where the dance practice room is?” Heaven

asks while moving out of the room.

“The

ballroom, you mean?” Ziason

follows suit. “It’s

on the floor before the ground floor. Come.”

The

two adults board the stairs again. When they reach the second floor,

Ziason brings Heaven to a hall introduced through the very first door

in the floor. It’s smaller than the bottom hall, yet Heaven can

already feel her feet itching to slide on its appropriately slick

floors.

“It’s

my first time seeing a medieval ballroom,” she giggles.

Ziason

huffs while leaning against the wall. “It is empty, Heaven, and the

floors were modified recently to fit your practice. You do not think

these floors existed back then, do you?”

“Well,

what do I know?”

“Besides,

most content of this tower have either been destroyed or given away.

If this room still had its matters, you would have been absolutely

astonished by its whole look.”

“Why

did you give away the ones that weren’t destroyed, then?”

Ziason

pushes himself from the wall and leaves the hall, heading for the

stairs. “To forget past memories.”

Heaven

jogs to catch up with him. “I won’t ask about the memories, so

how about the kind of dance you want me to teach Kaicha? We haven’t

clarified that.”

“Any

type that speaks to the soul.”

“Oh…”

Heaven stops at the stair

landing

and watches Ziason hurry down the remaining steps

to the bottom hall.

“As

this has been settled, sir, is it okay for you release my family

now?” the man in brown suit, still standing close to the stairs,

asks Ziason who has

already rushed past him.

“Oh,

right! How could I have forgotten that?” Ziason mutters as he

suddenly turns back and approaches the man. “You were such a

patient lawyer, David, and a good one. It will be so sad to lose

you.”

“What?”

Panic strikes across David’s expression that instant, confusing

Heaven again as he raps breathlessly, “I swear, I don’t know this

lady or why you need her! I don’t know a single thing and neither

does my family! Please, let us go, I’m begging you!”

Ziason

nonchalantly pauses in front of David, his hands resting in his pants

pockets as he tilts his head down to stare intently at the lawyer. “I

WILL… let your family go,” he whispers with a tight smile.

David

doesn’t seem to buy it. “Alpha, pleas—”

Ziason

waves his right hand closely across the man’s neck with a sharp

movement. Heaven would swear she saw the long nail of Ziason’s

index finger slice through the man’s throat right before blood

gushes out. But, even at that moment, she’s gobsmacked at David’s

last words.

“You—

you’re an Alpha?” she whispers to Ziason, who merely glances up

at her before making for the door again.

Heaven

dashes after him. However, before she could fully clear the stairs,

Ziason was already out.

She

tries to open the door and discovers it’s locked. Banging on it

doesn’t even solve a thing.

It

dawns on her only then that she really is a captive in this tower for

five freaking years. But, also, Ziason is an Alpha. And he killed the

lawyer without even batting an eyelid.

How

can she be certain he would not kill her as well?

“Oh

my god…” she mutters while leaning against the door and sliding

down to a crouch.

Deceit.

That’s what this is.

All

this while, Ziason deceived her. He made her believe this job offer

wall full of roses, but now she’s seeing all the dark patches in

it.

She

should have known it would amount to no good when he bought her

freedom. Killing the lawyer, then being an Alpha, is what opened her

senses to the stink of true danger.

How

come she didn’t smell that in his essence—wasn’t an Alpha’s

aura supposed to be heady? Or is it true what the books say that an

Alpha can mask his aura?

Heaven

can’t help but retract her thoughts to when she first met Ziason at

the bridge. If only she had looked closer or listened to the quiet

voice that tried to defy her decision, she would not have fallen into

this trap.

Now,

recalling his absolute gentleness to Kaicha earlier feels weird to

her. Because how on earth can a person swiftly switch from

softhearted to hardhearted in such a small period of time?

Who

knows what he’ll do next—not paying her for the entire five

years, and then killing her? And the girl, why’s he taking so much

measures just to teach her dance? Why would he kill the lawyer, or

even capture the lawyer’s family?

Unless…

Ziason did not plan to follow the contract, which could have been a

ploy to lure Heaven into compliance. Since he succeeded in bringing

her here, he then had to kill the lawyer, who was the only other

person who seemed to know about the contract.

Speaking

of the contract, it’s there in the pool of the lawyer’s blood.

Sinking in the fluid. Reduced to a mere paper.

And

Heaven wonders, what if this man’s fate ends up being hers?

.

.

.

.

_________

Heaven’s

eyes gradually open to the blurry view of a wooden ceiling rippling

in twos and threes.

She

feels a solid barrier at her back that tells her she’s lying

directly on the floor instead of a woolen blanket. And when a cold,

smooth touch grazes her arm, she could tell it’s her mother even

before the woman’s blurry face lingers over hers.

She

wants to lift her hand to reciprocate the woman’s touch. But she

realizes she can’t move.

“Mom…

why— why can’t I move?” she stutters.

“Shh…”

her mother hushes as that ever-loving cold touch reaches Heaven’s

jaw.

“Why

are you crying?” Heaven asks again when the blur clears a bit to

reveal the tears on her mother’s smiling face.

“They

are here,” her father’s voice comes.

“Who’s

here?” Heaven queries in panic, still struggling to move but can’t.

“Heaven,

listen to me. An Alpha is trying to kill us all,” her mother raps

while cupping Heaven’s cheeks. “I fed you with Death’s Look

pills so that you’d seem dead, but you should be fine in the next

twenty-four hours.” The woman sniffles before her next words come

out amidst tears, her voice croaking. “Please leave this place as

soon as you can move. Go somewhere far away—the human world should

suffice—and never return to this world. Please, avoid as many

Alphas as you can. Do not come back here, Heaven. Heed my warning.”

The

woman disappears from her sight in a flash. Heaven tries to speak

again, to call her back, but even her tongue has stopped moving.

Soon,

her brain becomes an absolute hazy mess. And she can’t seem to

think straight as she slowly blacks out.

Heaven

doesn’t know for how long she stayed unconscious. When next she

opens her eyes, she hears muffled clashing noises that urges her to

turn to her right.

It’s

still a strain to move, very painful too, but Heaven grasps all she

needs to see with a short look—two sets of feet facing each other;

one belonging to her father, the other unknown. Blood spilling to the

floor. Her father’s wounded body slumping to the same floor as the

owner of the other feet crouches down while reaching to her father’s

neck with a crimson-coated dagger, thereby revealing the scar

slashing diagonally from the index knuckle to the wrist of that hand.

Seeing

her father that helpless and dying makes her scream. Even as the

scenery suddenly changes to reveal the wooden roof of a fourposter

bed, Heaven continues shouting at the top of her voice.

She

only calms down some seconds later, when she realizes it was a

nightmare. A damn nightmare… which actually isn’t just a

nightmare.

Seven

years ago, it happened. Since then, it has been haunting her.

She

hasn’t had the nightmare for quite a while, though. But now it’s

back. It tends to return whenever she’s scared; whenever her fear

for herself triggers. That’s when she sees the bloody, horrid

images.

Now

it only reminds her of her plight—The tower, Ziason, him being an

Alpha.

Heaven

suddenly sits up to realize she has been lying in bed all this time.

Last she could recall, she was in the ground hall, sitting against

the door. Did she sleep off? Did someone bring her here?

The

faint breeze sipping through the only window in the room draws her

attention to it. It’s small. Really small. But it doesn’t mean it

can’t fit a human who can pull enough bravery to climb the tower

walls—particularly why Heaven, as she notices it now, does not like

the fact that the window is open and without protection.

She

quickly gets out of the bed and makes for Kaicha’s room. The little

girl is tucked in her bed, sleeping. It makes Heaven wonder for how

long she herself has been asleep.

With

cautious steps, she walks across Kaicha’s room to window, which is

identical to Heaven’s. Except, the view outside it is entirely

different from hers.

Beyond

the huge old fence, there are arrays of buildings portrayed on that

side of the tower; rows of bungalows, and a crowd within the linear

building arrangement. Those must be his pack.

Far,

far beyond the houses are mountains covered in fog. But Heaven can’t

fathom much of that due to the approaching dusk.

Aside

from the main gate, there’s a small single gate crafted in the

tower’s fence, which leads directly into the pack’s streets. And

it’s from that gate Heaven sees Ziason now stepping through into

the compound, locking it thoroughly with a chain before entering the

tower.

Heaven

quickly gets out of the room and hurries downstairs. However, Ziason

had already entered the building by the time she reached the last

floor.

She

notices the gruesome sight of his lawyer was gone, as well as the

contract. But then some noises coming from the hall next to the

ground hall draw Heaven’s attention to it.

She

finds Ziason running on a treadmill, his back turned to her.

Now

it’s no surprise why he said he came by often, seeing as there are

modern gym equipment inside a bloody old tower.

One

major distraction of the view in front of her would be the ripples of

Ziason’s wide back that matches the veins and ridges of his heavy

limbs. But something else pulls Heaven’s stare—a tattoo inked

over every inch of his back.

However,

she later notices it looks more natural than a tattoo, or…

something sort of strange to be on a person’s skin.

The

only reason an art would feel that way is if it had an otherworldly

meaning, as in linked to extreme dark magic.

Like…

a curse?

Heaven

may not know much about the wolf world, but she certainly has read

some things; like how the mark of a cursed wolf is a tattoo that

drives down a bizarre feeling.

The

tattoo could be anything. It could be random dots. It could be the

full-on image of a person. In all, it signifies a state of revulsion.

Being

cursed is usually an abominable thing in the lupine world. But that

certainly has nothing to do with Heaven now.

“You

didn’t tell me you were an Alpha,” she utters instead, fear

threading through her heart despite her show of bravery.

When

Ziason cranes his neck to glance at her direction, she nearly

swallows her throat, strange ropes knotting in her belly.

“Do

you hear me, Ziason?” she summons the courage to ask again. When

the man still doesn’t respond, Heaven proceeds to scream. “You

cheated the contract!”

Ziason

presses some buttons on the treadmill to reduce its pace

until it finally stops. Then he gradually steps down from it while

grabbing a small towel from its handle bar.

Turning

around, he approaches Heaven with deliberate movements, wiping his

face and neck with the towel.

Heaven

fights to resist the temptation of staring hungrily at his

moisture-laden

abs,

each step Ziason takes striking her heart like a drum.

And

the nearer he comes to her, the louder and faster her heart pounds.

Ziason

halts in front of Heaven, lazily looking down at her.

This

time, his eyes are dark red, and his wet hair falling flat over his

forehead and lashes does something overwhelming beneath Heaven’s

stomach.

It’s

not fear. Heaven can’t decipher what the hell it is either. All she

knows is it isn’t a good feeling.

“In

case of next time, Heaven, remember to say Alpha,”

he notes in disgruntlement.

“Besides, I would like to know how I cheated you. The content of

that contract has no business with whether I reveal my identity or

not, especially if I pretend I don’t know the things I do about

you.” Ziason’s one step covers the gap between he and Heaven. Now

he gives her no breathing space as brings his face down to hers with

a whisper. “If I should sue you for refusing to adhere the

contract, your life would be totally ruined on the outside world, and

to hell will I make sure you do not have a place in this world

either.”

Stunned,

Heaven blinks rapidly, her chest and shoulders rising with each

second she holds her breath. When she realizes herself, she suddenly

stumbles backward, puffing out air.

“Wow,”

she huffs with a smile of disbelief, “nice to see you shedding your

skin, Alpha. So killing your lawyer was part of the contract?”

Ziason

rises to his full height, slinging his towel on his left shoulder as

he retracts into the gym to sit down on the bench

press machine.

“In

case you haven’t noticed, you are a secret. David has seen you,”

he mutters while looking at Heaven. “Besides, plainly abducting and

making you do my bidding was my first choice. I was considerate

enough to accept his ‘solid’

idea. He made me waste my time and energy.”

“If

I’m a secret, then I know you can’t sue me. That’ll be exposing

yourself, right?” Heaven turns and runs across the ground hall,

making for the main entrance. “I’m leaving this shit.”

She

tries the handles of the double doors several times to find it’s

locked again. Even analyzing the keyhole doesn’t help. Because even

if she could pick locks, this one wouldn’t be one of those.

Next,

she tries violence, banging hard on the metal door while still

pulling the handles to no avail.

“Those

doors have a password mechanism, Heaven,” Ziason mutters from the

gym. “I’m the only one around who can open them.”

“Then

open the damn door!” Heaven shrieks. “I’m going to walk out of

here, and I know you can’t sue me! You wouldn’t want to expose

your secret now, would you?”

“Exactly.

You really think I value that contract, Heaven, don’t you? You are

not so important to me, my dear. Leave or not, so much more talent

lies out there. I only picked you because you looked miserable and in

absolute need of help. Without the contract, my own way of doing

things would be to threaten and force you.”

“Is

that why you checked my background; to see if I had a family to

threaten me with?” Heaven blurts out, her eyes stinging with tears

that refuse to fall. “You found nothing, so you went for a contract

instead. There must be a reason you were hellbent on picking me

despite knowing nothing that could force submission out of me.”

Ziason

comes out of the gym, revealing his smirk to Heaven as he inclines

against the wall.

“Interest?”

he whispers, “I just had this slightest interest in you all because

I hated that I could not discover core things about you. Yet, as much

as my curiosity peaked, it could easily sink as well. And, just like

I killed that lawyer, I could end you right here and now.”

“You

wouldn’t,” Heaven challenges as she hides the shiver in her

voice.

“Do

you want to try?” Ziason responds with a dangerous depth in his

voice. “Me being open with you, Heaven, should tell you cannot walk

out of here now. You know my two utmost secrets already—Kaicha and

my curse. Now you are bound here with me for half a decade. By the

fifth year, those would not be a secret anymore, and you will be

free. That is why I warn you to stay put. If you repeatedly try to

escape, I would just get rid of you. And being rid of you means you

would not walk out of here alive. Understood?”

Heaven

doesn’t know what it is—the force that pushes her to nod. Is it

respect, or cowardice, or fear, or… a mysterious liking to this

man? It’s definitely not the first option.

However,

it’s clear now—this situation she finds herself. This is just a

dreaded threshold to death. It’s as if her fear of death has

tangled with her fate and brought her here.

The

world indeed is at it again. Yet, she won’t let it watch her fail.

She’ll endure; five years isn’t so small as long as she gets to

live.

“Will

you still pay me though?” she asks, fighting the urge to bite her

nails.

“Money

is not an issue to me. I won’t hold that back.”

Ziason

returns to the gym, leaving Heaven alone in the ground hall. She

looks up at the cylindrical rising of floors, and wonders if she can

ever reach the climax of her existence.

She

just hopes it isn’t a bad climax. Hopefully, in five years, she’ll

get there.

And

once she walks out of here with her payment, she’s no longer

stepping foot in the wolf world ever again. She won’t even peek.

After all, her mother warned her and she ignored that warning.

Heaven

thought she was Ziason’s secret. But when he mentioned it, she

realized who it is. Kaicha.

The

real question is: why is she a secret? And why would he go to such a

length as killing his lawyer just to maintain that secret?

Also,

she doesn’t exactly understand what the second secret is. Sure, she

knows he’s cursed. A cursed Alpha wouldn’t survive a day in a

pack, as all other packs would come rushing to try and dethrone the

Alpha, since it’s in the law that a cursed Alpha shall not rule.

But she doesn’t know what the curse is.

If

only she could decipher what exactly is Ziason’s curse, and if only

she knew why Kaicha is a secret, then Heaven would have understood

why she has to go through this for five years.

>>>>>>>>

As

it’s a new day, Heaven is scheduled to teach Kaicha, so she makes

for the child’s room.

Entering

the room, she finds Kaicha standing in front of a floor-length mirror

as a young woman, who looks to be in her middle twenties, fixes the

child’s hair into a bun.

Heaven

sits on Kaicha’s bed as the young woman bows to her.

Watching

the standing duo from the mirror, Heaven concludes that the young

woman must be Kaicha’s maid, whom Ziason mentioned would serve her

as well.

“Do

you remember how you got here, Kaicha?” Heaven asks all of a

sudden. Even she doesn’t know where the question came from. It just

resonated in her ears as she watched the child.

Kaicha

glances at her through the mirror, but says nothing.

“I’m

sorry for being straight up,” Heaven continues as more questions

pop in, “but… were you captured? Do you recall what your mom

looks like? Was your family threatened?”

She

stops for a moment to question why she would be asking the girl these

things. Even if anything of such happened, would she even remember?

“Forget

I said anything,” she mutters, waving her hand in dismissal.

However,

Kaicha suddenly opens her mouth wide. And, as Heaven looks at the

child through the mirror, she realizes something.

Kaicha’s

tongue has been cut off!