-Corrine-The rackety sound of a game center welcomed us as we entered that place.“First time?!” Andrew half shouted to overcome the surrounding noise.I looked up at him and shook my head. “No!”I didn’t want to go into details about my experience at the game center. First, because places like this brought unpleasant memories for me. Daniel used to take me to the game center in Wesgrove when we were still dating. Second, because I was a terrible player at games like these.Daniel would often mock and scold me every time I made a mistake and suffered defeat. Looking back, I should have realized how repulsive his attitude was. But love did make people blind sometimes.I was lost in my thoughts about Daniel, staring blankly at the row of games when Andrew bent down towards me and whispered in my ear.“Wanna get out of here?”His deep and sexy voice made me stumble. I turned and almost kissed his lips. Our faces were only about an inch apart.I lingered, gazing into his dark blue eyes.
-Corrine-I should have guessed where Andrew would take me. He was a bad boy; it was obvious. So, where else would a bad boy go if not to a place where troublemakers gather?There was no such place in Wesgrove, or maybe I didn’t know. Trevor had many friends back in our place, and he always got reports on where I went, so I never went to places on his forbidden list.If Trevor knew I went to a place like this, I’m sure he would pick me up right now and tell me to move out of Golden Leaf.The roar of the car engine made me shudder. My hands were tightly wrapped around Andrew’s waist while my eyes darted around, seeing girls in skimpy outfits, some seemingly underdressed, dancing on top of car roofs with beer bottles in their hands.The place looked like an abandoned luxury housing complex on the hillside. Surrounded by dense forest with no other settlements or life around, this area was indeed suitable as a gathering place for youngsters who wanted to party to their heart's contents.A
-Corrine-The nauseating sting hit my head on the first gulp, after which I didn’t know how to describe the various sensations assaulting my body. But one thing was sure; I screwed.The girl before me, the one who handed me the booze, split in two. Or maybe it was just my imagination.“Is the—,” I paused to burp, “—booze should be this strong?” I swirled the plastic cup in my hand, almost dropping it in the process, then looked at the girl’s face again. Her brown skin glistened as she tilted her head and smiled.“Is great, isn’t it?” she cheered. “You want more?”I shook my head. Wrong move. My vision immediately spun as I did so. I closed my eyes tightly, dropped the plastic cup from my hand, and tried to find something to hold onto to avoid falling.Someone caught my arm, and I fell backward. My head hit something, and as I looked up, I found a pair of eyes staring at me. Not Andrew.“Hey Lily, what did you give to her?” I heard his voice echo in his chest.Lily and the others laugh
CorrineI was pretty sure there was a sledgehammer slamming into my head repeatedly because, damn, an incredible pain welcomed me as I opened my eyes. I groped in the darkness and groaned as a sharp sting in my thigh fully woke me up.Where am I? What happened? Am I dead already?I tried to move my legs, but something restrained my knees from moving. I squinted in that direction and found Andrew sitting near my feet. His hands were on my bare knees.Wait a minute.I was wearing pants when I left. Why are my knees uncovered now?“Don’t move too much,” Andrew’s voice sounded like a low growl. “You’re injured.”The first thing I wanted to do was find something to cover my legs because, for fuck’s sake, I was half-naked in front of a boy I had only met three times. The only boy who had ever seen me in panties was Daniel, and I wasn’t the one-night-stand type of girl. So being in this situation made me incredibly uncomfortable.It seemed Andrew realized my discomfort. He moved, and I saw h
-Corrine-Was it wrong to miss someone you don’t have a relationship with?From our last meeting and the agreement between us, I thought there would be a second date with Andrew soon. But it’s been almost a month since the incident at Mythic Manor, and I haven’t heard anything from him.That night, I didn’t ask for his phone number. I was too excited about the idea that we would meet again and assumed it would happen soon. Turned out, I was wrong.On the other hand, Andrew’s absence brought back Eva’s cheerfulness and her kind attitude towards me. She no longer let me eat alone in Houghton Commons and always said goodbye whenever she left our room.A part of me was tempted to secretly take Eva’s phone and look for Andrew’s number, but the more sensible side of me prevented me from doing so and surrendered our next meeting to The Moon Goddess.We were walking towards the dorm after spending the afternoon at the library working on assignments.“Who is he?” Eva whispered to me. I, who was
-Corrine-His sudden presence paralyzed all my senses. I could only stand there at the doorway, my breath caught.“You?” My voice felt strange as if it didn’t come from me. “What are you doing here?”It was just a casual question to conceal the jumble of emotions in my heart. It felt like someone had just burst a balloon and poured a bucket of icy water over my head. I was paralyzed but felt relieved. My anger towards Jerome was extinguished as easily as a candle blown by the cool night wind. The night wind in the form of Andrew.“Are you crying?” He repeated his question, ignoring mine. The tension in his jaw and the sharpness in his eyes showed that the question had only one purpose: that he cared about what happened to me.Or maybe I hoped so.One second, that’s all I had to decide whether to lie or tell the truth.“Yes.”“Who made you cry? Your ex?”He gave me the idea to lie. Although I had been honest with my first answer, I didn’t want to explain about Jerome and his obsession
-Corrine-My knees trembled, and my legs felt weak. My strength vanished, and my entire body couldn’t move as the Lycan stared at me. My stomach churned as I saw Rodd’s lifeless body on the ground. Blood spattered around.He was dead.I thought Jerome’s warning was just a bluff, but he was right. The Lycan was roaming here, and he killed Rodd. He killed a member of our pack.That meant he’d kill me, too.The Lycan held something in his hand. Rodd’s heart.My stomach twisted.The Lycan growled, and his growl snapped me back to reality. I turned around and ran with all my might. I wasn’t sure if I could escape because the Lycan was undoubtedly faster than me, but I wouldn’t let myself die without a fight.I almost stumbled when I turned out of the community house complex. My breath was heavy, and my lungs were on the verge of exploding. Exhaustion and fear blended into one. My head started spinning, and my vision blurred. My mouth moved, whispering words of help without daring to shout
- Corrine -It was Kasey.She was with her new friends, giggling as Kasey pushed my face deeper into the floor. I tried to break free from her, but she grabbed my hair instead, lifted me, and threw me against the door of the toilet cubicle.I braced for the impact with my hands, but it was too late. My face hit the door, and I felt an excruciating pain in my nose and lips.I wiped my nose and found my hands adorned with blood.“Does Trevor know you come to places like this?” Kasey’s voice, one I knew all too well, mixed with a buzzing sound in my ears.I turned around and found her standing not far from me. Her friends leaned against the wall, two sitting on the sink counter. They observed us as if we were putting on an interesting show.“What do you want, Kasey?” My voice was nasal due to my cracked nose. It took a few minutes for my healing abilities to kick in, and I had to get Kasey out of my face before she noticed something odd about me.“Nothing.” Her long earrings swayed as sh
-Corrine-Trevor had told me everything about his conversation with Eva at Mythic Manor a couple of nights ago. I understood why he made that decision. Eva would be the one most hurt if they stayed together and then, one day, Trevor met his mate.Even though I hated seeing Eva sad, this was the best thing for her.“So, do you plan on looking for your mate?” I asked as we drove to Moon Dust for a dinner invitation from our parents. It was a shame Andrew couldn’t join us—he had some family business to take care of.“Not for now.” Trevor shrugged. “I’m enjoying my time alone.” Then he glanced at me. “And I want to spend more time with you, you know. After everything that happened, we barely hang out anymore.”“Yeah.” I nodded in agreement. “You also promised to train me so I could beat Leana.”“Hey, I never promised that,” he argued, “beating Leana, I mean.”“You, too?”“What?”“Because Andrew said the same thing when I asked him to train me to defeat Leana.”“She’s an incredible fighter
-Trevor-I thought I would be able to breathe for a moment and ignore this whole love triangle problem. But these two girls gave me no choice but to keep thinking about it.Honestly, I wasn’t really interested when Corrine invited the four of us to spend the night out somewhere. But since I was a good big brother and wanted to see my sister happy, I agreed.I deliberately took the wheel to avoid Eva and Leana, but the Moon Goddess knew I couldn’t avoid them forever.As soon as we got out of the car and walked toward the race area, Eva and Leana immediately trapped me between them. Corrine often said I was dense, so I tried to break the awkwardness with a joke—but not a single one of them laughed.It seemed I had made the wrong move.“Look at them, flirting and all,” Leana grumbled as she watched Corrine and Andrew walking ahead of us. “Life must be so great when you’ve already found your mate.”“I heard you used to like Andrew?” The question slipped out of my mouth before I even had t
-Corrine-This was also an issue I had been thinking about since yesterday. With the attack and kidnapping incident, the battle to determine the next Alpha had been postponed. I had already expected that Dad would bring this up sooner or later.I hadn’t discussed this with Andrew yet, but I had already made up my mind.“I’m not going through with it,” I said. With both hands tucked into my pants pockets, I looked at Dad, Mom, and Trevor. “Let the pack know that I’m stepping down, and they can fight among themselves to determine the next Alpha.”Andrew placed a hand on my shoulder, making me turn to him. “Are you sure?” His voice was gentle, without any concern or disapproval. He truly just wanted to know if I was certain about my decision.I smiled at him and nodded. “Yes.” Then, I turned back to my family. “After everything that’s happened, I just want to live a peaceful life. At least until I graduate from college—” I briefly glanced at the campus building. “—and if you’ll have me,
-Corrine-When I said that almost all of my problems were solved, this was the one that remained unresolved. I didn’t know why my mother suddenly wanted to meet me and Andrew after everything she had said and done to us, but I hoped this was a good sign.For everyone’s safety and comfort, we didn’t meet at Moon Dust or Andrew’s mansion, but instead in Golden Valley.Andrew and I arrived first and headed straight to Houghton Commons. We chose a quiet spot outside, near a large shady tree. The weather was quite windy today, so most people preferred to sit indoors.I pulled my jacket tighter around me and waited, occasionally glancing toward the entrance.“You seem nervous,” Andrew said. I turned to him and frowned, trying to see his eyes behind the sunglasses he was wearing.“Are you not?”“Why should I be? She’s your mother, not mine.”“Right. But she’s going to talk to us, not just me. You still remember how much she hated you—so much that she even worked with Jerome to—”The distant
-Corrine-The next morning, when I opened the window and looked at the clear blue sky, I still couldn’t believe that it was all over.All of my problems were solved—well, most of them—but the danger had passed, and I could finally live in peace.I stretched out my hands and inhaled the fresh scent of the trees, closing my eyes and letting my body soak in the warm sunlight.I smiled, and my smile turned into a wide grin when I felt Andrew behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and kissing the crook of my neck.“Morning,” he whispered in my ear before giving it a soft bite.I rested my head against him. “Morning.” My voice was hoarse. I closed my eyes and took in the scent of his shampoo lingering in his messy hair. “Did you finish your business yesterday?”Last night, after dropping me off at the mansion, Andrew had left to return to the forest. He wanted to make sure everything was truly settled, including mobilizing the lycans to search for Gary’s body. Andrew wanted to see wit
-Corrine-Something held my foot. My body jerked, suddenly stopping mid-fall before swinging in the air.“Corrine! Hang on!”I tried to look up and saw Andrew. As much as I was relieved that he had found me, we were still in danger.Andrew’s hand gripped my ankle tightly. He was using all his strength to pull me up. There was nothing I could do except stay still and let him try to save me.Relief washed over me like cold water, bringing down my adrenaline as Andrew successfully pulled me to safety. He immediately hugged me, repeatedly calling my name.“I’m sorry, Corrine. I’m sorry, baby, I’m late.” His face was buried in my hair, and his lips pressed kisses against my ear and cheek.With trembling hands, I cupped his face and looked into his eyes. “You’re not late.” I smiled weakly. “You saved me.”We stared at each other in silence for a few moments before both of us burst into laughter. Laughter that born from the lingering fear of facing death and the joy of having survived it.“I
-Corrine-Something happened.Suddenly, the moon shone so brightly that its light blinded both of us. I squeezed my eyes shut, and I heard Gary scream in pain.The next thing I knew, he was no longer on top of me, and I was able to move my body. It was as if the potion’s effect had completely worn off.I opened my eyes and scanned my surroundings, and then, from the corner of my eye, I saw something—a glowing white wolf across the ravine. Even though we were separated by darkness and distance, I could feel its gaze on me.Use your power.I was stunned to hear an unfamiliar yet soothing voice in my head—a female voice.Was she—?I blinked, and the wolf was gone.“Shit! Shit!”My attention snapped back to Gary. He was rolling on the grass as if he was attacked by some invisible creatures.For a moment, I just stood there, watching him writhe in agony. Faintly, I heard that voice again, and I immediately shifted. This was the power she meant—my wolf. I would fight until the last drop of
-Corrine-As soon as the liquid spilled into my mouth, my body burned in agony. A white-hot pain shot through my throat, and my vision temporarily went blind. I could feel my body shaking violently as Gary’s sinister voice whispered in my ear.“How does it feel, Corrine? I hope you can bear the pain because I need you alive.”I could feel the liquid flowing down into my stomach, and an unbearable pain surged through me, forcing a pained groan from my lips. Then I felt it… and it seemed Gary knew it, too.“It works.” He flashed me his wicked grin. “The mark Andrew gave you. The scent he left on you… it’s all gone.”“No.”“Yes!” Gary pressed my shoulders into the ground while sitting upright on top of me. “I will mark you now, Corrine. You will be mine, and nothing can separate us.”My body weakened again, and I teetered on the edge of despair as I struggled against Gary. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as he bent down, pressing his lips to the crook of my neck. He was going to
-Andrew-I didn’t know what had happened, but not long after the rogue attack that disrupted the Alpha Moon Dust’s decisive battle, the rogues suddenly withdrew as if they had been defeated.The Moon Dust warriors lined up at the border of the territory, waiting and watching the darkness with ragged breaths and bodies covered in wounds.“It looks like they’re not coming back,” said Harry, who was standing beside me.I nodded. “They only came to create chaos.”“Let’s continue the fight.” Harry then signaled to some warriors who hadn’t been involved in the Alpha battle to patrol the borders.That was when I realized something was wrong.“Where’s Corrine?”I turned in all directions, scanning the unfamiliar faces around me—faces that looked back at me with confusion and fear.“Corrine!” I shouted.A bad feeling crept up on me. Something wasn’t right. If Corrine were here, she would have come straight to me the moment the battle ended.Or was she helping someone who was injured?“Corrine!