CHAPTER 5

Adrian had been searching endlessly for the scent and the goddess his sister had spoken about. Her name was Luna. What a nice name she had! He had not expected to scent his mate before the mating season; he had thought he was different from the rest of the other crowned alphas, who found their mates pretty fast. His mate had a nice scent; the scent had been unbearable, but now he could not smell any bit of it. The scent was gone, and he wondered where she had gone.

He was in the woods now, walking towards a tree. He stopped. His wolf was growling lowly inside him, blaming him for missing the chance of getting their mate. Adrian glared at it; he knew the wolf was only trying to find their mate, like he was too. He wanted to know what she looked like; he wanted to mark her. Adrian cursed under his breath. What if she turned out not to be his mate? His wolf was great at perceiving, and the urge he had was too overwhelming to be ignored.

She was his mate, alright.

He glanced around the place; the scent had taken him into the woods. He still couldn’t find her anywhere, so he turned around to leave. He knew they were all going to be waiting for him at the festival. The side of his eyes caught a little clearing in the woods. He walked towards the clearing, bending over and kneeling on one knee. He scooped the sand into his hand and sniffed it. He returned the sand to the ground and looked forward to the pathway. He was glad the moon did a lot of good, making light for him to see through.

A footprint in the sand caught his attention, and his lips curled into a smile. Since the scent had brought him here and there was a footprint on the sand, that means his little mate had walked right through this path. He stood up and took the path. He looked around, trying not to miss a detail of the place. He wondered what she was doing in the woods; the Beta house was not located in the direction she was heading.

He kept on walking until he found himself in front of a lake. His jaw dropped in astonishment as he looked at the lake in front of him. There was a flower bed lying on the lake, and the moon was shining into the lake, making the water glow. The view was so beautiful that Adrian looked down on the ground and saw the same footsteps heading in the direction of the lake. He followed it until he was standing on the flower bed. His eyes kept scanning around the place for any sight of her.

The lake looks so intrusive that Adrian bent to take a peek. He saw something silver in the lake and stretched his hand to grab it. He held it in his hands and stared at it. It was the hem of a ripped dress, and she had been there. It was just a matter of time before he found her.

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"That is impossible!" She shrugged after a long silence. "I don’t know you; you can’t be my mate."

He smiled at her, his lips curling up into a sneer. "Nice try, little kitten; mates don’t have to know each other before getting mated."

Luna glared at him in the darkness. She hadn’t expected to find her mate. Her father had said that she would find her mate, and it actually happened. Luna wondered why he had called her soul mate instead of her mate and why he hadn’t grabbed her by the throat and made her his by marking her. She was not sure what he really was since she could only see his eyes.

She hated the thought of someone digging their teeth into her skin and giving her a scar, all in the name of marking. Luna's crest pack also hosted a marking festival, but Luna was not interested in any part of the marking festival.

"You are not going to grab me and leave a huge scar on the side of my neck or shoulder?" She inquired, taking one step back.

"Marking you?" The words sounded like a statement instead of a question, and there was a glint of amusement in his voice.

"Yes."

A soft laugh echoed into the night. Luna wondered why he was laughing. She had not said anything funny, and he was finding it hilarious.

"If you are thinking about me marking you..." He leaned in. "You would be so disappointed, kitten, because I do not need to mark you to make you mine."

She could feel his breath on her face as he leaned in. "That is every werewolf tradition."

"Who said I was a werewolf?" He questioned himself, leaning even closer.

Luna's eyes widened. "What are you?"

"I am a vampire." He answered.

A vampire? She was mated to a vampire? Luna's head began spinning; she had always wanted to belong to the werewolf pack, and now she was mated to a vampire. She gulped down nothing in particular, and he leaned even closer, his eyes boring into hers. Luna could slightly see the shape of his face as he leaned closer. She could feel her heartbeat increasing as she stared at him.

‘Why are his eyes so attractive?’ She pouted.

He grinned at her. "My eyes had always been attractive, and why wouldn't they be when the owner..." He sighed. "Forget it; you said your father was going to be worried about you."

Wait! What? Realization suddenly hit her. How did he know what she was thinking about?

"I never said your eyes were attractive." She denied.

He stopped leaning, ignoring her question. He stood straight. "It is not safe in the woods; you have to leave."

As soon as the words had left his lips, his eyes darkened, and Luna felt the cold aura around him. It was like he had been angered by something. She stepped back, five steps away from him. He had gotten strange without anything happening, and she felt like she had done something wrong even though she clearly did not do anything. He turned away from her and took a step forward. He was going to leave. Just like that? A frown appeared on her face in a fast movement. Luna lurched at him, grabbing his hand. She spun him around to face her.

"You cannot leave me all alone in the woods, and I haven’t gotten your name. You are my mate, and you cannot leave without saying goodbye. You have to walk away properly." She snarled, her fingers slowly digging into his skin.

His eyes widened in astonishment as he stared at her. She had an angry look on her face, and he could feel her fingers on his skin. He wasn’t walking away from her; he was only leaving.

"I have the right to leave whenever I want to."

She smiled sourly. "Really? Fine, I am also leaving."

"I thought you didn’t want me to leave."

She ignored him. "It’s going to be hard being mated to a vampire."

"I thought so too." He agreed. "We aren’t on good terms with the werewolf."

"Yes."

"Do you plan to keep it a secret?" He asked.

"No. I am going to tell my father."

"I thought so too."

"Excuse me?"

"I guessed you were going to tell your father."

"Are you going to keep it a secret?" She asked.

He waved his head. "I don’t have to hide anything."

"We will meet again, right?"

"That is, if you do not kill me before then." He remarked.

"I am not..."

"You have your claws in my arm."

She stared at his arm and retrieved her hand.

"Sorry."

He rubbed his arm, feeling the injury her claws had left. Blood dripped out of it, slowly dropping to the floor.

"If there is nothing more to say, I have to leave."

"We will meet again, right?" She repeated her previous question.

"Yes," he answered.

She slowly backed away from him, saying, "Till then."

"You are not going to ask for my name?"

"What is your name?" She asked.

"Ashford, my name is Ashford."

"Ashford?"

The sound of a boot on the dried grass caught her attention.

"Luna? What are you doing there all alone?"

She glanced back and came into contact with her father. She smiled at him. Happy that he had actually shown up at the right time, now she could introduce her mate to her father.

"Father, I found my mate like you said."

"You found your mate?" He asked, not convinced.

She turned around to stare at Ashford. "He is standing right..." Her words came short when she could not find him anywhere.

"He was right here before you came." She muttered, glancing back at her father. "We were talking before you came."

Bartram looked horrified. "Luna?"

"I am serious; I found him. He was right here. With me. He was telling me his name."