IMPRINTED

UNA thought everything would turn fine when she and her father returned home. Ursila was waiting as usual and had no idea what had happened to them. They thought that telling her was unnecessary since Ursila would be worried for nothing. 

But as they ate dinner in their house, their laughter turned to scream when someone barged in, destroying their thick wooden door.

“Una, hide!” Nivo was alert. He stood up and grasped the knife in the kitchen. 

“What is happening?” Ursila gaped to see three unidentified males in their living room.

“Get your mother!” Nivo ordered.

Una grabbed her mother’s arm and exited the back door. She assisted Ursila toward the dry well that would be their hiding spot. 

“Go first, mother. I’ll follow you after.”

“No…you go first.” Ursila refused, but Una was adamant. 

“I’ll find help. Please, go.” Una forced Ursila to climb down the wooden stair. “I am the best runner in this family, remember?”

Ursila was still hesitant to hide, but Una was persistent. “Okay, be careful.”

“Yes, mother!”

Una heard growls followed by broken glasses from the kitchen. She moved in stealth and peeked through the window. Una covered her mouth to control her muffled scream. 

Two brown wolves were attacking Nivo, and there was another who shifted to his human form. He watched his companion maul the defenseless man.

“D-don’t hurt them!” Nivo pleaded. 

Una recognized the perpetrators. They were the same brats from earlier.

“I’ll kill you and your family! You are the reason we lost the Equinox Hunt!” The shifter was fuming.

Una gathered her courage and sprinted towards the nearby village. Their house was remote, and it would take half an hour to reach her destination. Una was so frustrated that she was too weak to help her father. Tears kept running down her face as she ran nonstop, disregarding that her lungs would collapse anytime.

She was nearly reaching the village when she heard a loud snarl. 

No! Una was horrified.

A black wolf chased her out of nowhere. Little did she know, the shifter had followed her since she left home. And he was tasked to harm her.

It did not take long before the beast ambushed her effortlessly. Una wasn’t familiar with this wolf. Maybe another shifter was bored with the Equinox Hunt and wanted to have fun with a lowborn omega. Shapeshifters from high status enjoyed this hunt, while the lowborn despised this event because there were many casualties afterward. The victims were always the lower caste.

Una slowly walked back and swallowed hard when her eyes met the beast.

Help… she uttered to herself unconsciously.

“Please, let me go. My father needs help!”

The black wolf ignored her, and it was too late for Una to dodge when the wolf jumped. Its sharp claw hit her shoulder, leaving an open wound.

“Help me!” Una screamed with her lungs out, hoping someone could hear her.

She turned and pushed her luck to escape. Una ran again, realizing the black wolf would kill her. 

The beast assaulted her again, its claws hit her back, and Una stumbled down. Her heart raced fast, trying to ignore the stinging pain of her wounds. 

I don’t want to die like this! 

“What have I done wrong to suffer this way?” She was full of rage, glaring at the beast. It only growled. 

Una was shivering and aware she’d die sooner for losing so much blood. And it seemed the wolf was waiting for it to happen. 

“Reveal yourself! Are you with the wolves who assaulted my father?” Una’s breathing became uneven. She grimaced in excruciating pain. 

The beast howled under the full moon. Una’s eyes started to blur, but her mind was still clear. She saw her dreams crumble before her. Una was heartbroken that this tragedy happened to her family on the first night of the Moon Festival. She never thought her fate would be just another casualty for this bloody hunt.

Una was too helpless and clung to the hope that a deity could hear her. 

Please help me. I don’t want to die… 

A thunderous roar reverberated around as her body slowly succumbed to life. A familiar gray wolf appeared. It shoved the black wolf away. Una was too weak to see what was happening, and the last thing she remembered before passing out was being lifted from the ground. She saw the worried face of the prince, and everything went black.

HEVIAN was sweating hard from running earlier in his wolf form. He could not ignore the voice inside his head pleading for help. Surprisingly, he knew where to find Una because her scent lingered in his nose. The black wolf did not engage in a battle with him. It immediately left running when it recognized him. He’d make that insolent pay for his crimes when he returned to the Midnight Fortress.

Hevian had to act fast because he felt like his chest was getting heavier as he repeatedly heard Una’s voice.

“Hold on. I need to bring you to a healer.” Hevian carried Una’s unconscious body. Her white dress was soaked in blood.

He had internal struggles about bringing her to the village and letting a traditional healer look after Una. But with her current condition, she needed immediate medical care using healing magic. Unfortunately, the small town nearby was in a Wolfless Zone, and if he brought her there, she’d surely die.

Hevian ran fast, hoping to reach the Ryk Forest as quickly as possible. He saw a group of faeries from Alsache there, and they were Una’s hope of survival. Hevian was filled with horror when he felt her pulse fading. Una was barely breathing.

“Damn it!” He gritted his teeth. Hevian stared at the full moon and silently uttered a prayer to the Moon Goddess to spare Una from dying.

It was as if the Moon goddess heard him at once because, after a few seconds, a female faerie with silver hair and blue clothing suddenly appeared. There were sparkles of white lights like a firefly covering her body, a sign that she used Vanire—a type of teleportation magic.

Hevian’s face beamed in his shortness of breath. “Lady, please help her.”

“Whoa! I knew it! The scent of blood is strong.” The faerie scanned Una’s body. “You’re lucky, Princeling. My sister and I are roaming around. Now, hold her tight.” The silver-haired faerie motioned her hand, and small white magic circles appeared on her palms. She put one on Una’s chest and the other on her shoulder.

The faerie chanted a spell using an ancient fae language that Hevian could not understand. Thousands of tiny lights emerged from the magic circle and trailed Una’s wounds, fixing the damaged tissue until fully repaired.

Hevian was relieved that the color on Una’s face was returning. “Thank you, Lady.”

The faerie clicked her tongue. “I’m Empera. I hope you wouldn’t tell my parents I was here. I sneaked out from the Crystal Palace.” She winked.

“Of course!” Hevian smiled. The faerie was a princess of Alsache. “I’m pleased to meet you, Princess Empera.”

Empera rechecked Una. She grinned when she noticed that Una was already healed. “She’d regain consciousness in a while. You must be worried about losing your mate.”

“My mate?” Hevian gaped.

Empera giggled. “Oh, am I wrong?”

Hevian did not answer.

The faerie laughed. “You two had a strong scent of the mating bond. You must have imprinted her just now. The scent will fade sooner, but you cannot lie with yourself, Princeling. Take this as unsolicited advice, don’t bring her to the Ryk Forest unless you want to provoke your father to do something against her.”

Hevian tilted his head in agreement. “I understand. Thank you, Princess Empera.”

“I’ll see you around. I think I’ll enjoy celebrating the festival. I shall invite you to the underwater hunt in Alsache soon.” Her smile widened before she vanished from his sight.

Hevian breathed out. He could not deny that Empera spoke the truth. He refused to accept that fact since he met Una for the first time. He imprinted her, and no matter how weird it was, Hevian recognized that this female in his arms was his mate.

Una groaned, and she slowly opened her eyes.