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I smena cleared her throat to get his attention.

He paid her none, walking beside her with his hands behind his back, and that giant scowl on his face.

She'd pleaded and pleaded and pleaded for this walk until her lips almost went numb before he grunted his agreement to take her just for her to stop 'pestering him'.

But, damn if he isn't practically wearing his displeasure for his decision on his face.

"At l-least, can you frown a bit...less?" She muttered hopefully .

He fixed her with a glare.

Shit, that's scary. "Nope, don't worry about me. You can go about it however way you want, don't mind me at all." She raised her hands in surrender.

He faced his path again.

In the silence that followed, Ismena lagged behind a bit, so that she can stare at this man to her full without being noticed by him. That long silver-gold hair has made her warm all evening, her fingers practically itched to touch it.

She fisted her hands, determined to keep resisting that urge. Her companion is not happy at all. As usual.

She wanted him. Badly.

An urge she doesn't understand—she'd never liked uptight men with a stick up their ass at all—but it's there. Insistent. Persistent.

Every time she spends with him, her breasts are burning to be touched, her nipples hardened to tight sensitive nubs, and a throbbing in her womanhood that only increases the longer she spends with him.

Is this evening walk really a good idea? She found herself questioning herself as they passed several beautiful homes.

Almost immediately, her mind was answering... Of course, it is, she needed to see around town, she can't go alone or risk being chased for dinner again.

Her heart has been beating badly in her chest since that run. She needs her meds.

"Woah, this place is beautiful...!" She gasped all of a sudden as her eyes caught the sight of a wooden enclosed decorated with all sorts of flowers. "What is that place?" She asked in awe, pointing at it .

"That's a manor house built for the Omegas. They like hanging out there in their free time." Wolfariane found himself replying at the sheer excitement on her face.

"Wow, that must be refreshing. But who are the Omegas?" She spared him a confused glance, but her eyes wandered off again towards her surrounding.

"The females. The females from the high species like wolves, cougar, tiger, or leopard. We are in the werewolf Clan, you see. There's really nothing much separating the werewolf Clan with the mountain lion Clan."

"In the werewolf Clan? Does it mean that all these people are...wolves?" There are a few women, children, and older men going about their way around them. Every one of them bows to their Alpha King on sight, the respect they have for him apparent and unhidden in their eyes.

"Yes." The Alpha King found himself freeing up from his bad mood as he allowed himself to see the world around him from Ismena's eyes. His world.

All these people are his people. His family. "The heart of Naturiah is the wild space of area where the werewolf clan’s and the cougar clan’s borders meet. That is the place we arrived in three days ago. There, you see a lot of changelings from different species hanging out together."

"Like a family..." She can still remember the sight of it. "Eline mentioned in her house that we are in the cougar clan."

"Yes. Eline is a cougar. The clans don't matter anymore, we mix up pretty well these days.

" He found himself explaining to her as they walked, "Before the Dominant War, Changelings didn’t mix up very well, you know.

Everyone stuck to his or her clan. That was two centuries ago, But after the war between Cougar and Wolves, there was a peaceful settlement. "

Ismena was so enthralled by his tale, "What was the peaceful settlement? Also, what's the Dominant War? I know what war means, don't get me wrong," she rushed to add, "but it seems to be more than just war from the name."

Wolfariane took a deep breath, letting the evening air caress his body, lifting strands of his hair from his nap, "We have thirty-six clans in Naturiah, and all these clans have a leader.

Mostly, the leaders come from the strongest in the clan.

.. it's always an Alpha. Before the Dominant War, there was always a problem with the general leadership. "

He continued, "Which clan will the King of Kings come from? The overall leader of the land? Which clan will the owner of the Towers come from?" He paused, "Which clan will the Alpha King come from?

"Aaah," Ismena was starting to understand. "That is your present position right?"

He nodded once, leading her through another lane.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he can see the surprised glances and jaw-dropping gazes of his people as they stare at the human walking excitedly beside their Alpha King.

"As you can already deduct, it is the highest position in Naturiah, led by the strongest of the strongest. It comes with a lot of responsibilities too. "

The way she was looking at him in that enthralled, fascinated way forced him to continue.

"So, clans kill themselves to be the general leader of all the clans.

That was the Dominant War. It went on for years and years until other clans either lost the war or they gave up on it, because of their innocent blood that has died from the war.

It continued until the werewolves and the cougars were remaining.

Two strong clans fighting each other for the throne. "

He took a deep breath, "Ares and Dogota. Ares was the Alpha leader of the cougar clan then, and Dogota led the werewolf Clan...." he paused, "He was my grandfather. "

"Woah. Dogota..." Ismena rolled the name on her lips, "He sounds like a strong man."

"He was. The strongest." The tiniest smile curved his lip to the left side of his cheek at the memories of his grandfather. Unfortunately, he doesn't have much of that. "Ares and Dogota warred each other for years on end until a circumstance forced them to make peace with each other."

"What circumstance?" She kicked a stone on her path, then, winced when it hurt her toe.

"Dogota's oldest son and Ares's oldest daughter showed high mating compatibilities, the first day they met."

"What does that mean?"

He wondered how to explain that, and settled for, "They were destined to be together.

Humans call it 'to marry', we call it ‘to mate'.

But unlike humans, we mate forever." Wolfariane has not been able to understand humans at all when they suddenly leave their other-halves in the name of divorce, or when they mistreat their other halves.

"Wait. Does it mean that you don't ever divorce?" She asked incredulously.

He shook his head firmly. "Once a changeling male claims his female and completes the mating ritual, the feeling NEVER goes away. Instead of going away, they fall harder in love as days go by, their bond gets stronger and stronger especially whenever they mate during the full moon."

"Whenever they mate? You mean whenever they have sex during the full moon?"

"Yes. But it's more complicated than just sex." That, is also a topic he does not want to delve into now...or any other time, with her .

"Why the full moon?"

"The full moon is..." He thought of ways to explain it, "...unique for changelings. Whenever the moon is high and full in the sky, every Changeling is reminded who he is and what his basic instincts are; To mate or to hunt. Mostly the urge is 'to mate.'. it is... an uncontrollable urge."

"Intriguing." She tried to picture him forced to succumb to his basic instincts, having intimacies with some woman like that.

Nope, she doesn't like the thought at all. So, she shut her mind to it.

"Unmated changelings choose their full moon partners," he continued, "while mated changelings turn to each other's arms. Anyway, after Ares and Dogota found out that their children are showing high mating compatibilities, they were forced to make peace. And they did. A peace treaty was signed."

"Ares stepped back for the wolves because it was the reasonable thing to do. The male changeling to mate with his daughter is the werewolf. So, that was how werewolves took over the general leadership."

"Woah. I'm glad everyone made peace. So, I guess your parents were the mates right?"

Again, he nodded his head. "Yes."

The love changelings share is enviable, Ismena thought with a wistful sigh. How I wish I can get that kind of love.

Then, she caught herself. No, no way she will go down that road...not when she will be dying in less than eight weeks.

Which reminded her about the persistent burning in her chest .

She shut her mind to it. "So, where are they now, your parents? Do they still love each other so much?"

"They are dead." He stated.

"Oh," shit, Ismena, you dog. You really had to go and ask that!? "I'm sorry... Do you wanna talk about it?"

His face wore a blank expression. "No." He stated matter-of-factly. Then, he stopped walking all of a sudden.

The stop was so abrupt, Ismena instantly knew that something was wrong. "What is the matter?" She asked, stopping too.

He felt a wave of dizziness. That is the matter.

Wolfariane scowled. He can't remember the last time he ever felt such an abrupt wave of dizziness and he knows why.

He'd lost a lot of blood three days ago after Nalaila exhausted herself on him, and he hasn't healed. In fact, he isn't healing.

He'd been so busy, he hasn't gotten around to calling the healer.

"Are you alright?" She repeated, her brows creased in worry.

He can practically feel the tiredness of his other-halves. They need to heal. "I'm fine." He rasped and continued walking.

As they covered more distance, Ismena admired everything and anything. The excitement lit up her whole face, giving it such a radiant glow that only enhanced her beautiful features.

Wolfariane caught himself watching her occasionally. It was hard to keep his eyes away, which in turn made him scowl .

"There goes that frown again." She grumbled, then pouted those small sexy lips as they arrived at the lane that leads to the market.

She got in front of him, faced him, and continued walking, but with her back facing her path. She shook her head with a smile on her face, "You're gonna grow old faster if you continue like this."

"Watch your path." He cautioned in a grumpy voice.

Ismena already slipped before the words came out of his mouth completely. "Ooo...!" She gasped as she tried to find her footing.

He moved before he thought about it. His hands shot out, straight to her waist to steady her and keep her from falling to the ground.

"Thank you for saving me...again." she grinned up at him.

It went straight to his cock. Shit.

He let go of her like she burned him, "Watch your path." He repeated curtly.

"Okay, okay, sir." She saluted him before she turned towards her path again.

She took one step and lost her footing again.

His hands shot out again and grabbed hold of her. "What is wrong with you?"

Ismena was beginning to feel very dizzy. Her chest was pounding. Too hard. It was beginning to hurt.

Not only that, the food she ate for lunch was rushing up to her throat.

"My chest..." Her breaths came in short pants, "I need my...meds. "

The wolf howled at her discomfort. The man was confused, "Are you feeling—"

"I think... I'm going to..." The words didn't make it fully out of her mouth before something else did. Her food.

She was vomiting. On him.

Hard retching sounds as everything in her belly made it out of her again.

Dread filled her by the time she was done heaving. The arms that held her were suddenly as stiff as aboard.

At the same time, she was feeling very lightheaded.

It's a lightheadedness she embraced eagerly because she isn't ready to face him just yet.

"I think...I'm going to..." She began again, swallowing tightly.

"Don't you dare faint on me—" It was a growl that rumbled from deep inside him.

But before he could get all the words out, Ismena's eyes rolled back into her head and her body went liquid in his arms.

She has lost consciousness .