CELESTINA VILLARAMA’s POV
I lost count just how long has it been since the last time that I was thrown out of the pack house which I believed would completely accept me, despite having the loss of the presence of my wolf. It’s really devastating how I can hear the voice of Celeste, my wolf, but am still unable to transform myself to its form.
There must be some kind of missing formula.
Before Kristoffer and I parted ways, he gave me a warning that I shouldn’t cross paths with the alpha even though we’re not in his territories. The scene back at the first time that I stumbled upon Siege flashbacked through my mind as I held tightly on the necklace that I wore.
“Does Goddess Sarina have a connection with the alpha of Crimson Moon Pack?” I murmured to myself, knowing that no one other than either one of them would be able to give me an answer. “If we’re really mates, then I guess that I’d soon figure out their relationship.”
My brain received a static shock at some point as I tried to recall the image of my parents. Their faces were kind of blurred and I couldn’t even properly see what their physical appearance was like. It’s like they never existed and I was born without them right from the start.
“Are you alright?” a tiny voice of a boy asked from behind.
Turning around, I saw a kid who seemed to be concerned with me as I was about to pass out. He was wearing a checkered polo shirt. He wore eyeglasses that made him appear like a genius one, adding up the fact that he’s holding onto his books. This kid might have been lost in the woods after going back from his academy or having self-study somewhere.
“Y-yeah, thanks.” If I didn’t hear him speak, I would’ve totally lost my conscience back there. “It’s a miracle how you’re not using honorifics this time. Is it because we’re outside the Crimson Moon Pack’s territories?” I asked him, removing my grip on the necklace.
The boy raised one of his eyebrows to give me a confused look. “What are you talking about? I have no connection with that pack, I live on the opposite side of this country,” he replied.
“Aren’t you the same kid who kept on entertaining me back at the mansion?” I asked again, trying to gain the assurance that I needed. However, I saw that he was about to turn to the other side so I immediately changed the topic. “Can you bring me over to your place? I don’t have a home that I can go back to…” I stretched out my arm to his side and waited for him to take hold of my hand.
Anyone would be hesitant if they would actually trust someone they recently met, but for this guy… He hurriedly curled his pinky finger onto mine without any second thoughts.
***
For some unknown reason, the aura of this boy was glowing red in a manner that wasn’t related with the intention to kill. It was rather pleasant and it’s somehow similar to an aura of a person who emits romantic behaviors with their loved ones.
It would actually be kind of weird if this boy were to have a lovey-dovey feeling towards me, right?
“I can sense how wary you are of me, lady,” he suddenly spoke, which terribly disrupted my inner thoughts. “How can you have doubts while walking beside me, knowing that I have trust in you even though this was our first meeting?” he continued, adding more salt to the open wound of mine.
I let out a soft laughter. “Sorry. We just kind of possess opposite traits — I’m not that fond of strangers.”
Silence lurked our surroundings as we finally entered his pack house.
“Shall I set a schedule of your appointment with the alpha?” he questioned, then placed all of his belongings on top of the closest desk.
I shook my head twice, same with both of my hands. “That’s a bit… overboard. I don’t have anything to offer your pack’s alpha. And besides, I’m just a mere wolf who was thrown away by the Crimson Moon Pack’s almighty alpha; I’m a rogue,” I muttered with a soft voice.
The fact that I’m a rogue still doesn’t sink in. I still can’t believe how fast the days have gone by.
“Your rank doesn’t matter here though,” he whispered to himself before facing me up front. “I’m Ice, the Delta of the Silver Moon Pack… and you seemed to gaze upon me like I was a child who knew nothing of this realm.” He smirked to tease me and to lighten up the mood. He might have noticed that I was getting a bit too emotional based on the recent statement that I said. “If you’re not comfortable with meeting our alpha, then, I’d be the one who’s going to be responsible for taking care of you — from your personal necessities, your desires, and everything else that you might want to pursue and accomplish.”
Ice’s words were the exact opposite of his name. The way that he spoke so dearly to me made me think if he’s an actual adult in disguise of a child’s body.
I played with my fingers as I observed how sincere Ice was. Even in a split second, there wasn’t any sign that he was only doing this to me for simple entertainment. His actions were appealing.
As soon as Ice headed over to the kitchen, a dashing knife flew towards my direction, which was able to land a scratch on my cheek.
“W-what was that for?” I exclaimed out of frustration.
Ice leaned on the fridge with one of his hands holding onto the same knife that scraped my skin. “You… are unbelievably weak,” he responded with his chest up to boast that he was undeniably stronger. “That goes without saying that you’re a woman. All wolves should at least be able to sense that they’re in possible risk of danger, no matter what their gender or age was,” he explained, only to imply that I was unworthy of being recognized as one of their kinds.
“You do know how to provoke me well, seriously…” I argued.
The mansion which used to be lit up with thousands of chandeliers began to get dark all of a sudden.
“I wonder if you could see, hear, and feel my presence in the midst of this dim territory of ours,” Ice spoke, echoing all throughout our spot, making it more difficult for me to detect his exact location.
CELESTINA VILLARAMA’s POV
For the first time in forever, I felt the urge that I should take Ice's challenge seriously… believing that this would decide what my fate or destiny would be in the hands and supervision of the Silver Moon Pack's Delta. I remained standing on the same spot even though I knew that there's the possibility that he might be the one on the offensive, despite sounding like he's the one on defense mode.
Focus.
Focus would be my number one priority right now. I let my senses roam free and made my system facilitate how I should avoid all of his incoming attacks.
"Not bad," he whispered directly to my ear, sending vibrations and a buzzy sound inside.
"You're quite easy to read," I commented. "I've already gotten used to your movements and I noticed each pattern that you plan to commence," I proudly uttered.
Thanks to Ice, I was able to realize the fact that I don't have the capability to see the aura of anyone as long as I'm succumbed to the darkness. It also doesn't matter if I know their whereabouts.
No source of light is equivalent to having ultimately no vision of their aura.
Even if it was faint, I knew that a hardened nail was aimed again at me, so I jumped backwards in a swift motion. I clenched my fists when I began to be instilled with fear. I'm not quite sure if it was a mere coincidence or was Ice really trying to aim directly at the position of my heart, since this was the second time.
"Are you possibly trying to kill me?" I asked in the middle of the darkness. "Could it be that you're just pretending not to know who I am?"
"The f*ck are you blabbering about? I already told you that I'm the delta here and I know nothing about the rival territory on the other side of this country. Is there anything special about you that's worth taking your precious life away?" Ice replied, and he doesn't sound like he has the time to be kidding around at all.
The image of Kristoffer popped up inside my head, as if he was calling for me. I attempted to communicate with him in that sense, but it was kind of useless, knowing that we don’t have any reason to have the power to use mind link. Speaking of that beta, I remembered how he warned me not to show up unless my skills are already enhanced.
“Hey, Ice…” I called out to him at the same time that I halted my feet from trying to avoid the consecutive blowing of the nails. I didn’t hear him respond but I sensed how his attacks had stopped heading over to me, so I continued to speak. “Is it possible for you to train me?”
There was a sudden brushing of the serene breeze of the wind before I heard his voice. “If you’re eager to be my apprentice, then I don’t see why not?” Ice answered. A few seconds after he spoke, the chandeliers lit up once again that made me close my eyes slightly for a while. Ice was standing in front of me with a cheeky smile, his aura was still the same. “Why did you suddenly think of having me as your mentor? Did you sense the grim reaper coming your way earlier while I was threatening you with my nails?”
Even though I knew that Ice was simply curious, I couldn’t help but to feel like he was teasing me. “The beta of my previous pack wanted me to train myself before I returned to them. I got rejected by my mate just because of the fact that I have no—”
“You still haven’t switched over with your wolf?” he loudly interrupted.
“I guess so,” I mumbled as I shrugged my shoulders. “My wolf is active and she’s been invading my thoughts lately, but I don’t know the exact reason why I can’t seem to bring her out.” Ice raised one of his hands and held my cheek which was scraped a while ago. The way that he touched me made me feel like I’ve met him somewhere before. Although, no matter how hard I try to recall where and when it was, I couldn’t see any sign that we’ve already encountered one another. “How warm…” I thought to myself, unintentionally saying it out loud.
Ice’s eyes widened. “Do we have some sort of connection? I was thinking the same just now.” He let out a soft chuckle before finally letting go of my cheek. “You’re a weird one. You might have noticed how I continuously attempted to annihilate you, right? Despite that, I’m also the one who kept on misleading those nails so that it wouldn’t reach you at all even if you didn’t move back then… There’s something about you that’s preventing me from harming you at all cost…” He turned around and raised both of his arms upwards. “And the reason behind that is what I’d be trying to figure out as we proceed on with our daily, weekly, and monthly training.”
From this point onwards, I was finally able to feel relieved even if it would just be for tonight. I never thought that I would actually be able to meet someone from this pack, moreso, the delta. I thought that I would be stuck up and would just be scattering around the Dark Valley.
I smiled sincerely even though Ice wasn’t even looking at me. “Thanks, really. I appreciate you.”
“You should rest up for now. We’d start with our official training by tomorrow morning after having our breakfast,” Ice said as he was walking away from the lobby. “Oh, and by the way, don’t be too shocked if the wolves here keep on staring at each and every movement that you make. Our doors are mostly not open to strangers, especially from those who belonged to our rival. It just so happens that my heart was literally soft at the exact moment that I saw you,” he added before totally getting out of my sight.
CELESTINA VILLARAMA’s POV
Nothing could have been more rewarding than a good night’s rest after an exhausting day. There wasn’t anyone else inside the room where Ice appointed me into, unlike back at the Crimson Moon’s pack house wherein there would always be some maids who would be standing by the door and waiting for the time that I open my eyes and wake up. There’s considerably a lot of differences between the two packs, and it might also be one of the main reasons why they consider themselves as rivals.
The thought of being mortal enemies flashed through my mind. I wonder if the alpha here would actually stand a chance against the alpha who was supposedly my mate. If the two of them would have a duel against one another, then I guess that the two packs would be forced to merge and the one who survives the duel would be the one to lead all of us.
“Why’d you bring a commoner inside our pack house, Ice? Care to explain yourself before I cut one of your legs?” a terrifying voice of a man asked the delta who was with me last night.
“Don’t be like this, Lucas. She’s not dangerous at all,” Ice answered the query of the living creature that he called Lucas. “You don’t need to worry about a single thing. I’m the one who brought her here, I would also be the one to be held responsible if she causes trouble inside our territories. I’d place my whole life at risk for her,” he further said to support his first statement.
Based on what I can hear, it seems like the one that Ice was talking to held more power than he does— it might have been the alpha or the beta of their pack.
“Just because you know that my faith in you is unbreakable doesn’t mean that you can do whatever you want with my pack. Don’t forget that I was the one who brought you inside this realm, Ice.”
“I know, Lucas. There’s no way that I’d forget something that important — if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t even be able to live here up to this point,” Ice said, which confirmed my guess that he was talking to their leader. “Come out, lady. You could at least realize by now that we could sense you eavesdropping,” he added that was soon followed by a soft laughter.
The exact moment that I went out of the room, I caught a glimpse of the man who was in front of Ice. His eyes are kind of different from the ones that I have encountered before. Lucas had a purple aura and even his eyes were of the same color, both were sparkling not with joyous sensation, but rather filled with hatred. I don’t know if it was due to my appearance inside their territories or if he normally possesses that kind of aura.
If I were to compare him with Siege, I believe that Siege would be the best candidate to be the overall leader of everyone in the Realm of Xenon.
I’m getting the feeling that Lucas isn’t serious in dealing with any business matters that has a concern with the rest of his pack members, and is just protecting the image of him being the Silver Moon Pack’s alpha.
“Ice… Don’t you remember her?” Lucas asked the delta without removing his eye contact with mine.
“I only met her yesterday, Lucas. There’s nothing to recall between the two of us since we’ve never met each other before,” Ice answered with a bit of confusion mixed within the tone of his voice.
Even if I was the one to be asked, I would have said the same thing that he did.
I stepped one foot forward, in an attempt to get in between them, but was instantly taken aback when I saw how Ice glared at me from my peripheral vision. “Alpha Lucas, do you have any idea about—”
“No one ordered you to speak, Celestina Villarama,” Lucas abruptly interrupted my words. “Bring her to whichever place you desire, Ice. Just get her out of my f*cking sight.”
“As you wish, Lucas.” The delta grabbed my hand in a haste and as what the alpha commanded, he brought me out of the palace. “What were you even thinking back there, lady… Celestina?” he asked while his eyes were shouting how much he was worried about what could have possibly happened, at the same time that he hesitated in calling me by my name.
I rubbed the back of my head after he released his grip on my hand. “He sounded like he knew something that both of us didn’t know about. I was just curious—”
“Curiosity can kill you, Celestina!” Frustration was written all over his face when he yelled at me.
“H-hey… There’s no need for you to raise your voice like that,” I softly said when I felt some heat forming in the corner of my eyes. “I-I w-was the one who was about to get in trouble there, not you…”
My shoulders began to shake as I quietly sobbed. I know that I was about to get selfish that time and I could have placed Ice in danger since he holds great responsibility as he was the one who led me here.
And that guilt was eating me alive.
Ice hardly slapped his face out of nowhere which made me widen my eyes in shock as I gasped. “Sorry, Celestina. I didn’t mean to shout at you, I was just anxious… There’s this feeling inside me that makes me want to protect you that keeps on bugging me. I had the thought of killing the alpha if Lucas laid his hand on you even if it’s totally impossible.”
“Why does everyone keep on saying that they have to protect me?” I muttered what should have just been inside my head.
“Everyone? Is there someone else who’s protecting you other than me?”
It was only a single question, but the impact that Ice gave me as he said those words made me tremble in fear. The aura that he used to have was altered into dark intentions.
