Layla felt like floating in the sea of clouds, drowning in confusion as Zev’s lips pressed against hers. She was light-headed for a second until she heard the heavy horse steps and carriage wheels coming towards them. Without saying a word, she pulled away from Zev and dragged him with all her might down on the tall grasses which led to both of them rolling away from the gate. She wasn’t fond of the grassy area, but Layla was thankful that it came in handy. She suspected that someone from outside the peninsula was arriving and hiding within the wild grasses was the best cover she could ever think of in an instance. It wasn’t like they have any other option to hide since it didn’t take a minute for a carriage pulled by two horses to stop in front of the gate. There were a few men on the back of their horses escorting the carriage as well.
‘Who are they?’ Layla furrowed as she watched the newcomers carefully.“Layla, listen to me. Don’t go---” Zev didn’t finish hisIt had been a long time since Zev felt scared again. The last time he found himself cowering in fear was on the day the deity of West forest cursed him and what shocked him most during that moment was when he discovered he couldn’t leave the peninsula. Even after trying many times, Zev would only get himself hurt whenever he attempted to break the barrier by the borders.“Ow!” Layla exclaimed beside him when they fell on the ground. He tried to stop her from taking a step beyond the border to abide by the rules set by the deity. Zev wasn’t the kind to give up but the deity’s strength was hundreds of times stronger than his. Going against her would mean indefinite pain for him. And he wasn’t so stupid to do something that would only hurt him. At least, that was what he learned after a couple of decades.“Ugh,” Zev moaned when he felt sore on his back. “Ah… my head… it hurts,” he whispered.It was like his heart jumped out from his chest without him knowi
“How is it possible?!”Zev twitched when upon hearing Levius’ yelling. He was used to the latter being composed and gentle most of the time. However, Levius seemed to be frustrated about something at the moment which made him raise his voice.“Watch your mouth,” Lucian told his brother as he walked in with Zev in his arms and Layla following behind listlessly. “His Majesty is here. There’s no use blaming anyone,” he added which piqued Zev’s interest.‘Is something going on? I was only away for a few hours and now what?’ Zev wondered. He signaled Lucian to put him down in which the guard dog gladly obeyed.The soft cushion on the couch made Zev comfortable. The pain he had on his back earlier was slowly subsiding. He could tell that the pain was due to stepping out of the border. He wasn’t pulled back harshly unlike before when he had to stop trying until he could no longer crawl back to the border as he always ended up being forced to step bac
“So, why don’t you tell me why you think it’s a problem?” Zev asked hastily the moment Levius closed the door in the study room. He watched the guy took a seat as he waited for him to answer. “You heard what Boris said yesterday. Those who were poisoned would end up devouring each other. In case you didn’t know, Layla and I… she somehow ate me up at one point.”“Are we going to talk about this again?” Layla butted in. Her face was red, and she couldn’t keep her gaze in one place. “It’s my fault why you’re dragged in this, Master. Naturally, I’ll be taking responsibility. I’ll do anything I can to resolve this.”‘Oh, little Layla doesn’t mind sleeping with me. I’m afraid she was talking about the usual way we slept through,’ Zev thought and sighed. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and tilted his head up, facing the white ceiling for a whil
“Will you catch me?”“Eh?” Layla’s ears perked when she heard Zev mumbled. “What did you say… Master?” She added when Zev turned to her and smiled.“Nothing. Come on,” he told her and kept leading the way outside. “I always wanted to tour you around but couldn’t find the right time to do so.”Layla didn’t say anything and just followed obediently. Something was kind of stuck in her chest since Zev said something ‘disturbing’ when she asked where they were going. The man might have seen her as stupid at times, but Layla wasn’t completely dumb. At least she knew what consummate mean. It was all thanks to the perverted old men in the dungeon who would usually come over and abuse pretty boys and girls. She never heard of the word too often, but it sounded like a person would do something to the other. Her poor vocabulary should blame that she had
“What?” Layla blinked several times to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. She had been staying with him, and he was never interested in such details before. It surprised her how Zev suddenly asked something about herself. Well, he did ask for her name before but other than that, the man acted like anything else wasn’t necessary. And she thought the same. Besides, Layla knew nothing about herself aside from her name which she knew someone used to call her. It was a blurred memory which she could hardly remember. Not that she really wanted to recall though it would be kind of great if she knew more about her history.“You were weak and dying when I first saw you. It’s hard to believe that you’ve grown up since then,” Zev mumbled, still hugging her close to him. “So I was wondering, how old are you?”Layla bit her lower lip. She had no idea. She wasn’t even sure about it herself. But considering how she met Zev, it was because she’s chosen to be the offering at that tim
Confused, Layla was left with no choice but to follow Zev. She sucked at finding the right way to go back to the mansion on her own. As much as she hated the idea of spending more time with the man, she would rather endure it than go around circles while finding the way back. Besides, she hadn’t explored the Northern parts of the peninsula as she used to go South whenever she hunted for boars.“You should have eaten something earlier. Why did you even run away when?” Zev murmured.‘Is he talking about what happened after I dealt with the snake? He should have helped me though,’ Layla as she pouted her lips. Zev’s attitude towards her was getting more cloudy which she could hardly decipher. She tried to understand him whenever, but he would always step up his game and leave her sighing while confused.“Uh… did you by any chance got an apple pie?” Layla blurted out at the same time her stomach grumbled.“Huh?”She tilted her head to th
“Mm!” Layla whimpered when Zev bit her lip. She thought everything was fine and asking him some questions to clarify wouldn’t be a big deal. However, his actions proved her wrong. He kissed her without a warning which broke her heart. Her growing trust was shattered into pieces. Layla was willing to listen to whatever he would say, perhaps she intended to believe his words despite knowing they could be lies. But the response she got was even harder to comprehend than what he said.She pushed him hard which surprisingly worked. Layla wiped her mouth and realized her lips were bleeding. With anger surging within her, she glared at him. “What’s your problem? Why do you always have to treat me like this? Didn’t you say you wanted to treat me well? But you keep messing up on me instead!” She yelled at his face with contempt and confusion written in her tearful eyes.It was the first time Layla didn’t hold back herself. She must have raised her voice at Zev before, but
“Ugh…” Layla flinched when she felt the sharp edges of Zev’s fangs piercing through her skin. She found herself speechless and unable to move. As much as she wanted to complain, Layla remained quiet while enduring the throbbing pain on her shoulder.Zev was serious when he told her he’d be marking her ‘properly’. He thoroughly gnawed at her flesh while leaving deep marks which Layla guess would take longer to recover. She didn’t know much about Weres and what it meant to be marked. But she was certain Zev was doing it to bind her for being his so-called lover.“Stay still,” he told her in a hoarse voice, pinning her on the nearby tree while he kept doing what he called ‘marking’.The sharp pain was numbing her nerves which forced Layla to stay still. Even she wanted to struggle as she didn’t wish to get hurt, she couldn’t. Zev was overpowered and her strength was nothing compared to him, especially when he’s serious about what he was doing. It came acro
A Hundred years had passed, and the world remained the same, except for a fact that humans learned to accept other races. The evolution of man went steadfast as new species kept increasing, adding up to the mass number of population on earth. Humans were never be on the top of society neither on the bottom. They continued living a fair life just in the past. However, other races excelled in different fields, contributing their knowledge and skills towards the greater future. Those with powers stood atop, and those with the lowest contribution remained below, though they kept a fair share of respect that everyone deserved to have.The society was composed of three major casts that dominated the world after coexisting for centuries:Shifters were known to be highly skilled and intelligent. Since their body and mind functioned a little more advance than humans, they led the society, holding the most power among the races. There were three sub-races among shifters
“NO!”Zev cried as he watched Layla end her life. Her beautiful yet sad smile remained on her face as she chose to end everything with her. Zev’s world seemed to stop when he saw her lifeless body fell on the ground. He couldn’t move an inch, but he knew once he gave up, it would be really over.“Layla!” Victor cried and rushed towards Layla’s dead body. He cradled her in his lap with tears in his eyes, flowing endlessly like the stream. “Don’t die, please. Don’t die! I’ll listen to whatever you say, just don’t die, please.” It was a rare sight to see the vampire lord crying for someone else’s life.It was only a few minutes ago when Zev was still fighting against Victor and Layla’s sudden decision to stop their battle by taking her life brought them back to senses. She had already decided to do it beforehand, Zev could tell she had other reasons. Judging by how she chose the right time to take action and caught both of their attack
“Awoooo~!”Layla snapped back to reality when she heard Zev’s howling. She was certain it was him. No one but Zev could make sure intimidating howl. She turned to face the direction where the alpha kept fighting the vampire lord. They were both filled with bruises and cuts which healed immediately anyway. Knowing how both vampires and werewolves could heal themselves during the battle, knocking either of them would be challenging.“I should do something,” Layla said, determined to stop the battle. Even after what Darius said, she couldn’t just let her sacrifice be in vain. She hoped that Zev would keep his words, and she trusted him, however, she couldn’t be too certain about Victor. The latter might do something that could lead the alpha to kill him. Besides, Darius also mentioned Victor’s plan. It wasn’t like he was still into taking her away from Zev, but what Victor said when he chall
The chaos continued.Layla stood in the middle while everyone around her fought until their last breath. Her mind was telling her to do something to stop them, but she couldn’t even take a step. After using up most of her life force in that one spell, she expected to get weak. It was her negligence to think about the consequences once those who already died in battle come back alive. Layla certainly didn’t expect them to continue the battle which already costed them their lives. And just when she was willing to sacrifice and take all the blame, they all started to waste the second chance she gave.‘No, this is not good. If this continues, the forest will fall ruined again.’ Layla wandered her eyes around to find anyone who could help her stop the battle. But to no avail, everyone seemed busy throwing their lives away. “Don’t… Zev, you promise… Don’t fight,” she whispered while reaching out her hand towards Zev’s direction.“Layla!”
“Since you’ve already returned to the realm, I’m expecting you to come back once you settled everything on earth,” the king of deity told Layla. “In any case you changed your mind about something, you should come and let me know about it. You’ll never know, I might grant you a wish,” he added before sending her back to earth to complete what she had started.“Aw!” Layla groaned when she felt something hard hitting her head. She opened her eyes to see Levius glaring at her. “Levius?” The name naturally came out of her mouth as if she’d known its owner. ‘Where am I? I was just talking to the king…’ Layla rubbed her forehead and looked around. “I see… So, that’s what happened,” she mumbled to herself.“What are you even doing down there?” It was Lucian again. His voice couldn’t get any louder. “His Majesty is gravely wounded, and you’re just still in a daze! What kind of lover are you? Get up and do something usefu
“How stubborn. This young deity seems not satisfied with what you’ve arranged for her fate.”“Now, don’t start blaming me here. It took me a few decades to have them meet each other. I’m doing the best I can!”“Yeah? But you chose a hard path for our little deity. She was sincere with her feelings and the werewolf guy loves her. They deserve to be happy!”“Well, why don’t you leave them alone? Maybe they’ll find happiness when they no longer love each other. Sometimes, I think it’s all because you let them fall in love, that’s why they have to suffer.”“Nope, it's not my fault. They love each other and I love them too. I made sure to strengthen their bond no matter how difficult their life would be. Just like what I have said, you should be generous enough and let them be together as much as they want!&rdq
The dire situation they were in made Layla give up on questioning Zev’s sheepish grin. She wanted to hear the story behind his mischievousness while they were supposed to run for their life, chased by a tornado which came out of nowhere. Well, she guessed it was all Levius’ doing. And just like that, Zev glided in the air in his robe with her in his arms. They might be in a dangerous situation, but Layla couldn’t suppress the excitement she felt as they were running away.‘This feels so good. If only he carried me like this before when he sprinted back to the mansion after hunting wild boars, I might have fallen in love with him earlier,’ Layla thought with a wide smile spread on her face.“Go faster, Zev! Levius’ minion is getting closer!” Layla yelled and Zev did what he was told.They headed to the forest, which no longer looked like one. The trees were all burnt,
Layla’s scream was dissolved in the air. Time seemed to stop for her when she saw how Zev received the impact from Levius’ attack. Her heart stopped beating for a second before the basement blasted into smithereens, leaving her and Levius on the safe side while the others who were caught up with the explosion ended up severely injured.“Zev!” Layla shouted. The smoke was too thick, and she couldn’t see anything. “Levius! Let go of me! I said, let go of me!” She struggled in his hold, but her effort was pointless. Levius turned a deaf ear on her and continued shooting the same energy call, causing the earth to rumble because of its powerful impact.She tried to warn him, but failed. It seemed like Levius was using some spell that made them invisible somehow. Zev knew she was there but couldn’t hear her at all. And even with how loud she screamed, he didn’t show any reaction and was still c
“Just like I expected, the fire didn’t spread near the mansion. It would be the safest place to gather everyone and discuss the plan you proposed,” Zev said when they reached the estate. Layla just nodded her head as a response, even though she knew he wouldn’t see it.A loud crash on the door caught everyone’s attention in the living room. Layla didn’t miss the fierce glance in Lucian’s and the other’s eyes when Zev bolted inside the house by bumping, breaking the huge and thick wooden entrance.“Your Majesty,” everyone said in chorus as they bent down all at the same moment.Layla moved down from Zev’s back and awkwardly bowed her head. She was too embarrassed to look at anyone.“You just came back in time,” Lucian muttered as he stepped forward. He threw Layla a quick glance but ignored her when she tried to look back at