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"Y ou had a nightmare last night, Ismena, come and tell me what your nightmare was about." Wolfaraine said a few steps ahead of her.

Ismena exhaled heavily, before she fell into steps with him. "I did?"

"You did. The night before. You were crying too." He glanced at her, "What plagues your sleep?"

"The truth is that I don't know, Wolfie. It's not the first time I'm having those nightmares." She admitted, "I don't remember when I woke up but I get so scared... So terrified. The fear is suffocating."

"You don't remember any of it? Nothing at all?" He asked, confused.

"Nothing. I think it has something to do with the memories of my childhood I lost. Must be an accident I had or something..." She shrugged, "Whatever it is, I have mixed feelings about it. I'm curious to know, but at the same time, I'm not. Whatever it is, I'm sure it's not good. "

"No, it's not. That must be why your mother is reluctant to tell you about it." He seconded. A bird flew towards him and perched on his shoulder, "Some memories are best forgotten."

"Is that what you truly think?" She asked, looking up at him.

"It is what I know."

Ismena knows it's because of his horrible memories from the labs. She has to agree with him.

There are some memories that are best forgotten.

Ismena had no idea how long passed, but she figured a long time has. Not that she cares, she just loves spending time with him.

He took her to a farm which he called Active Farm. One look at the farm, Ismena decided that the name suited it well. She has never seen a farm so active before in her life.

More than twenty 'farmers' who were working at the same time, in various sections of the huge farm. There were all kinds of fruits, food, and trees, growing there.

"This is one of the biggest farms in the Werewolf Clan," Wolfaraine explained, as they walked from one section to another. "Most of these crops go straight to the market, while some of them are taken directly to the homes of those changelings that do not have much food to eat."

"Wow, this place is very big. So beautiful." Her eyes were taking everything in, her mouth is slightly ajar in wonder.

The workers greeted them as they passed. A few of them, Ismena figured must be the leaders here came to Wolfaraine to update him on how everything is going .

Then, they took him away to show him a few things, he parted ways with her while telling her strictly to wait for him for some minutes. After he left, she toured around as many sections of the farm as she could.

Two hours later, they walked out of the farm. She said goodbye to the female workers she has become familiar with, in such a short period of time.

He turned towards her, "There's a packmate of mine I need to go and visit. He was once a Sentinel in the Tower. Now, he's sick."

"I'm sorry to hear that. It's a good thing that your kind heals quickly, so I know he'll be fine in no time."

"We heal quickly, but there are some ailments that take some time to heal once contacted. Any disease that affects our other-half more than it does our mortal form is always hard to heal. Some even die from it." He lectured.

"Really? I didn't know that. What kind of sickness can that be?"

"For one is parvovirus. The man we're going to visit has that virus, so it is not such a good idea to take you with me because it's highly contagious." His brows furrowed, in thoughts.

But, Ismena doesn't want to be left behind. "I really wanna go with you. Take me with you please? Surely, one visit won't make me get the virus, right?"

"Oh, it can, actually. As contagious as it is, you can contact it with even a barely minimum contact with the carrier." He stopped walking, and turned back towards her, "Go back to the Tower, Ismena. We will see when I get back."

"Alright..." The light in her eyes dimmed, "I'll just start going back, I guess. "

Wolfaraine hated the sad look on her face. The wolf growled in displeasure, its claws extracted in alert as it sensed the sadness of its mate.

"Well, I guess, it's goodbye here. Thank you for... today. It was beautiful." She smiled at him, before she turned and began walking away.

The more she walked away, the more be hated it. For the first time in the past few weeks; he'd felt better, he'd felt relaxed and he'd even smiled. He did not want this moment with her to end. He wanted to spend more time with her.

"Wait," The words left his mouth before he could even think it through, if it was the right thing to do.

She stopped instantly, turned, and looked at him with eyes so hopeful, that he lost every sense of rationality in him.

"This is not a good idea..." He grunted.

It was a capitulation and she knows it. A wide grin split up her cheeks and her eyes brightened up again.

She is strikingly gorgeous, he was momentarily speechless. He could only look at her.

She rushed towards him, slipped her arms through the tiny space between his left arm and his left side, and crossed their arms together, "Thank you so much, thank you so much."

He cleared his throat, "Stick close to me, Ismena. When we get there, I will get really...handsy with you, because like I said, prevention is better than cure."

Ismena did not understand what he meant until he got to the home of Rado, the middle-aged male that was infected. One look at him, anyone can tell that he's sick. He was lying on the bed, looking very pale and coughing constantly .

His mate, a beautiful woman in her late forties, was sitting beside his bed, patting his forehead with cold water because he has serious fever too.

"Thank you so much, Alpha King, for coming." The woman said again, smiling warmly at Wolfaraine.

"It is nothing, Mara. Rado was my Sentinel a year ago. I should have been here earlier, but it has been busy." He asked, taking a seat by the fireplace.

The house was small but very clean and homey. It smells nice now, Ismena thought as she looked around for which of the chairs to seat on.

"Come and seat on me."

For a moment, Ismena was sure she didn't hear him right. But, the way he was looking at her, and elegantly patting his left thigh indicated that she must not have heard what she heard. "Huh?"

"Oh, my dear, you have to sit as close as possible to your mate." Mara urged her, unsurprised, "My dear mate's ailment is contagious, so there's a high chance that you'll contact it if there's no 'blockage'."

Ismena figured the blockage was Wolfaraine, her own mate. She wasn't surprised. If a mate's touch can heal wounds and even battle heart diseases—like the one she has, then it can also do this too.

She walked towards him and lowered herself on his thighs. Her body went warm from the insides. His strong arms wrapped around her, drew her closer to him until she was plastered against his body.

Her heart raced like crazy and she bit back a moan of pleasure. God, she can stay like this forever and she'll be alright. He smells so damn good.

"How is Rado doing now?" He asked, his concern apparent .

"He is doing better, Your Highness. Although, his recovery is going so slow," Worry dripped from her voice, "Harhan has been here constantly for the past few years to treat him and give him herbs that were supposed to be effective, but it's not working as fast as it should."

"You should know that it's a virus, Mara. It's not just any disease but Parvovirus. His wolf is sicker than the man, that is why it's hard to heal."

The woman took a deep breath, dipping the washcloth into the water again.

"I know, Your Majesty, I know. It's just..

. I'm so worried. My leopard has been restless since all these began.

I can barely feel his wolf and it unsettles me greatly.

It's the first time in twenty years since we mated that I can't feel his wolf. "

"I understand how you feel. What about Adams?" He asked, referring to the couple's only son.

"He is in my father's place in the Leopard Clan. He went to visit his grandparents." She placed the washcloth on Rado's burning forehead and began running all over his face.

"What about your part, Mara? Have you been playing it well?" He questioned, softly.

Mara nodded firmly, "Yes, I have, Alpha King.

Harhan mixed some powerful herbs for me which prevents me from getting contacting the disease.

..even when I make love with him. So, I try as much as I can to feed his body sexually.

" She shook her head, miserably. "I want my husband recovered and healthy. "

"He will be fine, Mara. He..."

Ismena stopped following the conversation. Does he know he's running his hands through her back? Does he know he'd slipped his hand under her blouse and was touching her naked back ?

She could barely concentrate. He left a trail of hot fire burning through her skin everywhere he touched. Something that would be so weird to do in the human world, was so normal as daylight here.

Mara kept on chatting with him so normally as if he was not carrying a woman on his lap and running his strong hand over her body, under her clothes.

Don't you dare get wet! Don't you dare get aroused by this! They will smell your arousal and it will be so embarrassing. Don't you dare, don't you dare, don't you dare...!

She sang like a mantra in her head as she drank in the feel of him holding her like this.

As Mara went into detail, telling him about how Rado's sickness began, Wolfaraine struggled with giving the woman his full attention. He should have known that it was such a bad idea to hold Ismena like this.

The mountain lion was raging inside him, lunging forward over and over again to slash its claws through his chest like it expected his chest to miraculously open up so that it can scratch and tear at the human female wrapped around them.

While, the werewolf was spread out like a lazy dog inside him, growling with pleasure and running its claws in a caress over his chest like it was stroking its mate. The wolf and the male were both feeling so damn good with her wrapped around them like that.

By the time they arrived back at the Tower, it was early evening. They walked silently through the stairs, without talking. But, they were holding hands as if they were a couple.

Only when they reached the third floor of the building did Ismena stop. Her eyes went to the servants coming out from Nalaila's room. "Did you feed her? "

The servant girl was surprised that the question was coming from her, and not from Wolfaraine. "Yes, my lady, I just did."

Ismena was shocked too that she didn't control herself well. What if Wolfaraine gets suspicious? She spared him a glance.

If he was surprised, it didn't show on his face but thankfully, he took over the questions.

"Did she eat well, Aniya?" He asked the girl.

"Oh yes, you did, Alpha King. I did not expect her to eat this much." The girl looked back at the closed door, "The wolf must be in a good mood."

Wolfaraine doubted that. He wanted nothing more than to get into that room and urge her again to live, but he just had a good day for the first time in a while. Sadness and guilt can wait a few hours more.

"Okay, Aniya. Keep taking care of her. I'll come down later to feed her dinner. But, if I'm not here, you can go ahead to do it. If anything happens, do not hesitate to send for me."

"Alright, Your Highness."

They continued on the stairs until they got to the fourth floor of the building. When they got to her bedroom, he walked past it, still holding her hand.

Ismena followed him like an obedient dog, her heart racing. She was still feeling hot from the way he'd held and touched her at Mara's house. Inside the bedroom, he finally let go of her hand and walked to the wardrobe to take off his outdoor robes.

"I'll... Erm... I'll just start going." She said, when the silence became long and awkward, "Thank you for today. It was...uhm...it was refreshing. I'll just..." She turned to leave .

A strong arm wrapped around her belly, pulling her back until she was plastered against his rock-hard body. She needn't look behind to know that he was naked from the waist up.

"I should be thanking you for this day, Ismena. It's the best I've had in a long time." His touch wasn't sexual and his voice sounded genuinely sincere.

She opted for sincerity too, and turned to face him, "I'm glad to hear that. I'm glad we went to visit Rado too. I had a headache in the morning, I have no idea when it disappeared. Your presence did that." She whispered, "I loved being held in your arms the way you held me."

He framed her cheeks, "I loved holding you like that too. Here in Naturiah, we get really touchy with our mate. I might not have mated you, Ismena, but you are still my mate. I enjoy putting my hands on you. It's like coming home."

Her heart flipped over. In that moment, Ismena realized she'd fallen so hard for this male. She has fallen so in love with him, it's hard to find her feet because of how hard she fell.

She kissed him. Trying to suppress the part where he wouldn't be mating her and desperately holding onto the part where she is his mate. She is the only woman destined to be with him in this entire world.

His lips licked hers, sucking on her lower lip repeatedly as he moved them backwards until her back pressed against a cold wall. She didn't feel its coldness that much. Not when she was boiling like coal.

He pushed his tongue into her mouth and growled, demanding that she suck on it in a grunted order. She did, wrapping her lips against his pink, velvet tongue and sucked sensually until he growled again. Then, he began a rhythmical tongue-to-tongue dance with hers that made her moan repeatedly .

She held tightly onto him as her brain whirled, as her body fueled. She parted her thighs, drawing him closer in between until she felt his rock-hard cock at the very place she was creamy and needy.

"Ohhh..." She arched forward, breaking the kiss. He kissed her jaw, trailing lines of kisses down to her neck—

"M-My Lady..." A hesitant voice of Mirian came behind the door, penetrating straight through their haze.

Wolfaraine was so lost in her, he didn't hear or smell the woman come. How could he? When all he heard was Ismena's musical moans and all he smelled was the raspberry scent of her arousal?

"Go away, Mirian." He ordered firmly, before he returned to continue his trails of kisses.

"I-I'm afraid, I bring n-news, your Majesty. N-News that can't wait." She stammered out.

Wolfaraine pulled away slightly and forced his wolf to tune down its sexual desire a little bit and tune in on Mirian. When he achieved this in seconds, he stiffened at the huge pain and worry emanating from Mirian's wolf.

Something is not right.

Something has gone really wrong.