[POV: Zevaris]
Space was endless. No one could measure its length, its breadth, or its depth. And the same applied to me, the owner of that endless space.
But then…
Why did I feel like someone had measured me? Thoroughly. Clearly. Completely.
How could a person bind herself to me? Weave me into her. Claim what even the Void's forsaken corruption had never dared to touch?
How dare she?
Tell me, what should I do if I met her right now? Erase her from existence? Or shred her into it?
I am Zevaris. I descended into this filthy world for one purpose. To find her and erase her. But everything changed when I met her.
Everything…to the point that I—my length, my breadth, my depth—felt contained within a single person.
She…that someone… who owned me.
She…that someone…who contained the endless space in herself.
And so, she…that someone… became mine.
My mate.
[Lyra POV]
I dashed with everything I had. But that wasn't even nearly enough.
The still air around me seemed frozen almost like the world breathed in and forgot to breathe out. There was no way I could outrun whatever was behind me, and my wolf's frightened mumblings weren't helping at all.
Rather, they made me feel even more overwhelmed.
'No… no… what's he… what's they… Why… why did they disappear…?'
Kira, wasn't it a good thing they disappeared? Why did you sound like you missed them already?
I tried my best to blame it all on her, purposefully hiding the same feeling that now bloomed inside my body and mind.
Where did two of them go? Why weren't they chasing me?
Lyra, you're crazy. Wake up, Lyra… wake up. I tried to fill my mind with this mantra. Everything was an illusion created by the horror chasing me.
Don't fall for it. Please… please…
But I couldn't. It felt like there was an invisible magnet in them, pulling me into their embrace—into their heat—calming me, seducing me into being their mate.
Mate…
"What the fuck…"
I stopped running. The presence following me stopped too. My gaze sharply turned toward the full moon in the sky.
I imagined it as a coquettish bitch biting her lips in orgasm. Did I just feel my mate bond? Oh fucking bitch of moon goddess…
The panic I'd felt before was now replaced by cold indifference. Sure, I never had faith in the Moon Goddess, but I wasn't naive enough to think my body would be different from any of the other she-wolves out there.
"Kira, I'm asking you again. What we're feeling now… is it—"
I forced myself from finishing that full sentence. My stomach churned in disgust just from even thinking about it.
No way.
There was no fucking way I was going to fall for this.
Not when my curse was still there—
A curse that made everyone around me hate me. Even my family.
'You can't reject them…'
Kira, I knew it. You fell for the smell of male testosterone. Not me. If you want to go fuck them, go do it yourself. Not in my body.
'But I can't separate from you…'
So you would go away from me if you could separate from me? Kira, my heart's already broken. Let's just die now, okay?
'Shut up, Lyra…'
This was the first time I'd heard my wolf this angry. I didn't really blame her though. Because I was feeling the same as her now.
But I had a physical body to chain my soul. She didn't.
'I can't… I can't…'
"Then let's do that, Kira." I stated it flatly. Kira was my everything.
When the curse made everyone who supposed to love me to hate me, she was the only one stood with me. I couldn't imagine what might have happened to me if she wasn't there.
Well, in a way she was also the cause of my curse. I chose to ignore that for her. Not that I wanted same as her, really.
To that, Kira suddenly went silent. I became anxious at her lack of contact after a few seconds.
'What…?'
Oh, for the Void's sake….Kira, did you just waste eight seconds to mutter 'what'? I looked around anxiously.
The presence following me still wasn't moving. But I could feel him somewhere. It calmed my mind. No…not that you guys thinking, really.
See, It was a horrifying experience feeling an apex predator near you, but not seeing them. But for voids forsaken, why I feel excited by it?
All the hairs on my body stood on end. With both terrified and excited.
I was sure some of the lice in my head had been impaled because of the goosebumps. Not that I am complaining. Lice were my greatest enemy, after the curse and curse taken family of mine, of course.
'No, I'm saying… why?'
I instantly understood what she meant. Oh, my dear Kira. We both knew what we were feeling right now. Both of us wanted to be fucked. So just do that.
Mate or not, just fuck him and stop this ridiculous hide-and-seek. Kira went silent again. I could feel her trembling through my soul.
Was it from anger? Or eagerness? I wasn't sure.
Whatever it was, I preferred both of us not fighting.
'Never mind,' came her determined voice. 'Not until you're ready with both mind and soul.'
I smiled. A genuine one after so many days. I wanted that to happen. Really. But with my curse…
That was almost impossible. No one could love me, they would only lust me. And I didn't want that.
I clenched my fists at the thought of that forsaken curse. I turned to look behind me. The stream of moonlight filtered into the ground behind me highlighted my silhouette, and as the breeze returned, my silver locks cascaded into the air.
My gaze landed on no specific location as I turned my face in every direction. And said in a low, clear voice:
"I know you're here. I know what you want. But sorry. I have no time for it…"
"Are you rejecting me?"
The voice sent chills down my spine. A bloodthirsty aura surrounded me. My wolf almost shifted, but I held her back.
I straightened my spine, ignoring the blood flowing down my cheeks.
"If you think so, then I have nothing to say…"
I waited for him to speak. He said nothing for a few moments. It felt like the space around me was slowly shattering.
I was sure the reality around me was warping—fractures of vision I had no memory of started playing across my eyes.
In them, I saw blurred figures—
A man and a woman entwined in a bed. Heat rushed to my face. My vision blurred for a moment.
Hot tears, I had no idea where they came from streamed down my cheeks.
Then, just as the fragments appeared, they vanished. And I forgot what I had seen in those fragments.
I also forgot what I had been running from.
'Lyra, your brother's Beta is already here. What about now? Kill or run?'
Normally, I would have chosen to run. But not now. For some god-knows-what reason, I felt empty. I felt thirsty.
And to quench that thirst, I had to drink. Not water.
But blood.