Atlas' POV"Give me another bottle," I pleaded to the tender standing guard behind the bar partition where I was sitting lazily.The man nodded silently and placed the other bottle on my table. I stared at the bottle intently as I shook the ice cubes in my glass in a circular motion.I gulped down the high-alcohol drink in one gulp, letting the burning sensation in my throat come up repeatedly to torment me, hoping that that way, my mind could be momentarily distracted from Elsie.It could just make the memories of her overflow because I was tormented missing her every day in such a chaotic state. I was tired of scavenging for memories of her while I couldn't find her appearing right before me.I wanted to hug that woman. Holding her tightly in my arms, but what I hoped for was impossible. Even after a month here, I still haven't heard from her."Where are you, Elsie? Why can't I find your whereabouts?" This frustrated me and played with my rationality.I'm at the limit of my patienc
Atlas' POVI packed up my stuff and put it in the car, then hurried quickly to the location I marked. I woke up early this morning. I was having trouble sleeping.It could be seen that my eye circles were blackened and looked darker than usual. But my consciousness was quite high. Strangely, my awareness wasn't disturbed.I prepared the map of Abrua at 5 am this morning, having fallen asleep at 2 am. All I did was stare at the parts of the Abrua region comprising many small islands from the main capital.When I realized my journey would be long, I sighed and headed towards the coastal area east of Abrua. That place had a vast ocean with beautiful scenery. An exotic region with a variety of plants.A strong wind greeted me at that spot as soon as I got out of the car and decided to take a moment to breathe in the air while staring at the beach. I felt calm for a while until I realized there was a group of people watching me. Being in that place, I realized there were so many werewolves
Elsie's PovMy heart was beating rapidly as soon as my feet were back on the ground in the hospital again. This was the second time after I came to have my body that suddenly lost consciousness checked. If Seth hadn't taken me to the hospital that day and had listened to my request to let me rest at home, I might still not know what was going on with my body today.I might still not know about my pregnancy. It might be even more shocking than this and harder to accept. Facing it sooner was different, especially with Seth beside me, who kept calming me down and doing things I didn't even know."Are you nervous?" Seth turned to me, lowering his head to examine my face.I looked at him nervously and nodded. "Yes, it feels slightly different from when I came the first time."Seth nodded with laughter. "Of course, the first time you came to this place, you were unconscious and were already lying on the bed when you woke up." He led me inside the hospital.Looking at it, I realized it was
Elsie's PovAfter talking about this place being somewhat unsuitable for supporting my pregnancy, Seth and I didn't wait long to set up our move. He had first organized the place we were going to live in and all the other necessities, and then he packed our things.I tried to help him, but Seth kept blocking me and did it himself. "You don't have to do anything. Just sitting there is already helping me a lot." He lifted his gaze to me as his body bent down to put something on the floor.I pursed my lips with a frown. "How can sitting down be called helping?" he said nonsensically.Seth got up to pick up my other pile of books. "Of course, it helps." He approached and took over the rope that was in my hand. "Helps soothe my heart, lightens the burden of my worries on you. It would be younger for me if you stayed where I thought it was safe." He rubbed the top of my head with a smile before going back to working on the stack of books to put them together and bind them.I looked at him w
Elsie's Pov"How long are we going to travel, Seth?" I glanced at Seth, staring at the road before us with his intense gaze.Now and then, he would look at me, and now and then, he would rub my head as I silently stared out the window. Shifting my head to avoid leaning on the window pane that might hit hard when the road we were traveling on had potholes or was uneven.Seth turned to me. "Yeah, it's going to take a few hours. Tell me if you're tired, we can go out to rest for a while." His eyes were split between looking at me and watching the road ahead.I smiled, turning my eyes down to look at my feet, then moving back up. "I'm not the one driving. Why am I the tired one? I should have said that to you." I glanced at him, who shrugged his shoulders casually."I have more energy than you do. I'm fine, even if I drive all day without stopping." The glimpse of his eyes making contact with me again. He did it every time he spoke, ensuring the other person was paying attention. "But may
Elsie's PovI groaned, stretched my body, and blinked my eyes a few times. Only after I opened my eyes fully did I realize that the bed Seth was lying on next to me was empty and Seth wasn't there. I checked the bedside, looked at the watch that I had placed there, and found that it was eight in the morning.Considering we were up until the wee morning hours, and Seth was already up then, he had only slept a few hours. I moved from my bed, washed my face in the sink in front of the bedroom door, then walked to the other room and found Seth already there preparing breakfast for us.Seth turned to me and smiled. "Are you awake?" he pulled the chair over there and directed me to sit.I walked over while nodding my head. "Yeah, I just woke up and didn't see you next to me."He chuckled as he sat there too. "So you were looking for me?"I nodded my head. "Yeah, I thought you'd leave me here alone." My joke made his expression serious.He placed the bread he had spread jam on my plate. "The
Atlas' povElsie seemed to disappear without a trace. Even my radar couldn't sense her existence. The bond we had as mates didn't help either. It was almost like I didn't feel anything. I'm sure the effects of the wolfban had disappeared, but I don't know what happened. So far, I didn't sense Elsie's existence.Even when trying to contact her through telepathy, I couldn't. If Elsie had a friend, I might have been able to trace her whereabouts from her friend, but unfortunately, Elsie barely had any friends. The friend she had since childhood was the one who brought destruction to her, the one who caused this mess."Where is she if not in Abrua?" I sighed, hitting the steering wheel of the car that I had been driving for hours.After searching the eastern coastal part of the area territory and finding nothing, I, without waiting, moved from there to other areas. Even if I tried to move fast, it would still take a long time. From one place to another, I took almost a week, and within a
Atlas' POv"Mr. Atlas." I turned my head towards the door at the sound of knocking on my bedroom door.Yes, I stayed in this place all night without going out. I rested by calming my mind. Actually, my body wasn't tired, but my mind was so exhausted from the various things that sucked my spirit that my energy also seemed to disappear.My subconscious reminded me again that Elsie might not be here because I didn't feel her presence at all. But I think it's possible that I really couldn't sense Elsie's existence because of the effects of the wolfbane. I wasn't really sure if the impact had worn entirely off from my body.Getting up from my bed, I walked over to my bedroom door, opened it, and saw the woman who brought me to this room yesterday. "What's wrong?" I asked her.The woman looked at me expressionlessly. "Mr. Alpha Richard has called you to have breakfast with him, sir. You should come down immediately."I watched her stiffly. This was not an offer but rather an indirect comp
Elsie's PovI stared at the man fiercely. No...no, Atlas can't think that this is his son. I don't want that man to feel that way. No matter how much I don't want to trust him anymore, I will stick to my previous decision.I shook my head, pushing him back from in front of me. "No, it's not. You already know that this is Seth's child!" I denied it loudly, but Atlas didn't believe my words.He shook his head sluggishly. "I'm sure you're telling a lie. The baby in your womb, he responded to me." Atlas fixed his eyes on my stomach, making me grab it and cover it from him. "He became calmer when I got closer to him, and your condition improved. It's like he's talking to me through the bond. I feel it!" Atlas exclaimed, coming closer to me with his gaze fixed firmly on me, not letting me escape him.I tried to break away from him, pushing him away, but my efforts were in vain. "What are you thinking? Just because this baby is calmer, you think he's yours?" I tried to turn the tables by say
Atlas PovSo he was the one who gave the wolf bane to Donna? But he probably didn't know anything. It could be that, just like Donan, prof Awkson was perhaps the one being used.However, finding Awkson to be the one involved seemed to further narrow down the people who were also involved."So my suspicions were well-founded, suspecting Seth was the right thing to do," I muttered seriously, keeping watch all night in that place.Now I'm just waiting for the right moment to go inside and meet with Elsie. But damn, Seth hadn't moved from his spot in days.He remained in the house, and that made me very upset. "This isn't normal. How could he be home for so many days? Does she have absolutely nothing else to do? There's no way an unemployed person like that would agree to be responsible for someone, let alone a baby. He must have some other identity he's hiding so money isn't a problem for him."My suspicions grew daily, and I became increasingly reluctant to leave, leaving Elsie, who cou
Atlas' POVI sighed heavily, pulling my car door open, then getting inside and slamming it shut. Again, even after being inside and watching them from a distance, I still felt annoyed.I was annoyed by various things. So far, I felt like I was being played and tortured at the same time. My feelings became so chaotic when I saw Elsie holding her stomach pain in the hospital. I followed her from behind and was full of anxiety. I was angry because even though I saw her, I couldn't do anything. I could only follow her from behind, hoping that she was okay.I closed my eyes while exhaling a heavy breath that pressed against my chest with an unrelenting weight. "Why do I have to experience such a horrible thing?" I covered my face with my palms and rubbed them back. Of the many difficult things I've experienced in my lifetime, this was the first time I felt so helpless.I didn't understand why, among millions of people, I had to be chosen to undergo this kind of fate. Why did I get bad luck
Elsie's PovI looked out with a carefree feeling. What was previously weighing on my heart and mind seemed to be lifted thanks to my gaze being distracted by what passed before my eyes. As Seth's car passed by, I saw many things.The sight of the bustling city and the many large buildings built along the way comforted my eyes and quieted my mind. I had been thinking about many things for a while, and the noise in my head suddenly disappeared, becoming quieter as I watched my surroundings bustling with people."Is it this crowded, Seth? I don't recall it being the weekend." I turned my head towards Seth, who was also looking out the window.From the crowded place, I wondered what they were doing, where they were going, and what they felt as they walked down the street in the middle of the crowd, mingling with others.Could it be that they felt free? Did they think lighter by enjoying their lives, or did they feel shackled by what they were doing? Among them, some were walking with only
Elsie's Pov"So you're sure this isn't a contraction or something?" I looked at Seth. Even though the expression on his face looked grim and gloomy, he still asked and confirmed my condition, overriding what he felt.The doctor approached and checked my pulse quietly. It seemed not to confirm what Seth asked but because he just needed to check. "No, it's still not labour yet. If it's normal labour, it seems it will still take a while." he turned towards Seth, then later patted the man's shoulder. "You don't need to be that worried. This kind of cramps will probably appear several times during pregnancy, but stay calm, as it's nothing serious."Seth exhaled and looked at me with relief, though his eyes still didn't seem back to what they were before. "Let it go, then. I'll take her home." Seth approached me, helped me get up from where I was lying and sat me in the wheelchair.Before leaving, Seth approached the doctor, who wrote something on paper. Then he held his head and looked at
Elsie's PovEven though I had previously avoided Seth's suspicions of me, and I had also tried to organise my mind to trust Seth, I didn't understand why I still doubted what had happened or why I still doubted that he was someone I knew.I still doubted that what Seth did had anything to do with what Atlas said. My eyes realised his sincerity, realised his feelings for me weren't an ordinary mask, but my intuition for him didn't make me calm.Day after day, I was troubled by my growing suspicion of him. I, who tried to ignore what I felt, finally could no longer ignore my feelings for him. I felt restless, and my desire to keep my mind calm for the sake of the baby in my womb was no longer able to keep it calm.Even though I tried my hardest, I could no longer dismiss the suspicion towards Seth that kept growing inside me. I wanted to keep trusting him and hoping that he was exactly what I had seen, but I couldn't do it. I can't think like that anymore.If I'm a hybrid, then that mea
Elsie's povWhat was he doing? Why did he suddenly come back? Didn't she leave earlier? I didn't understand. My eyes looked at him in surprise while Seth looked at me in confusion."Seth, why did you come back?" I ventured to ask him. Staring at him with the fear in me that I tried to hide. "Didn't you go out earlier?"Why did he suddenly come back? Did he know what I was about to do? Could he be starting to suspect that I knew what he would do? How is this? What should I do?Seth walked closer. I, sitting on the floor near the row where his books were lined up, stared while holding my breath.He walked steadily closer, then stopped on the floor where I was sitting, near a drawer. "I came back because I left something behind." He pulled the drawer out and then took out a light brown file. I watched silently, with my breath trying to escape. Then he looked back at me. "And you alone, Elsie? What are you doing in my room?"I gulped the saliva in my throat nervously. My heart felt like i
Elsie's pov"Where are you going, Seth?" I asked Seth, who was getting ready by putting on his shoes.I looked into his eyes intently after he turned to me as soon as I asked him.Seth smoothed the laces on the light brown formal shoes he was wearing. He turned his head silently to me for a moment. "I have something to buy outside, and then I want to meet someone." He looked at me, somewhat confused.I came closer to him. For some reason, I wanted to prove what Atlas had told me that day. I didn't want to keep harbouring suspicions about him, so I'd better quickly find out what Seth might be hiding from me. "Can I come?" I looked at him expectantly. "How about we do the shopping later and meet your friend first?" I suggested it to him.For all I knew, if it wasn't anything suspicious or anything like that, Seth would never object to me following him, and he wouldHe did as I asked and was patient as always. However, one thing made it necessary for her to act otherwise.He looked doubt
Elsie's PovI stared blankly at what Seth was busily preparing for me, my mind completely distracted with what he might do. I can no longer trust him completely like I used to.I'm not sure what he gave me now is safe. I didn't understand which one I trusted more between him and Atlas, but feeling the way my heart thumped around him and how I responded while being around Atlas, I believed that something wrong was indeed happening.If my feelings are already like this, then I should be wary. If later this proves to be just a suspicion, I will punish myself for suspecting him and apologise to him, while in the meantime, I will be wary of his attitude.I'm sorry, Seth, but I just want safety for myself, especially since the situation lately is very complicated, and I don't want to take any risks."Sit down. Why are you just sitting there?" He smiled softly, as was his habit in front of me.I gazed at that face with observing eyes. I stared at her intently, trying to find a crack at what