Share

24. Meeting

Author: Dumpling
last update Last Updated: 2024-01-18 17:38:39

Callista.

“Ruelle,” I greet her, vowing to be on my best behavior this time although the very sight of her makes my blood boil. The last thing I want is to associate with her in any way, seriously, can’t she leave me alone?

Not to mention what she said about meeting my actual mate. A sense of foreboding settles in me once again, and I force myself to be calm and collected rather than panicking.

“Hello, Callista, don’t you look nice?” She gives me such a sunny fake smile that I feel like gagging, “How’s the eye?”

“Perfect, how’s the nose?” I retort. The guards around us are watching us like an interesting football match.

Her smile doesn’t reach her eyes, “Healed the same day. You know, because I’m a full werewolf.”

Ouch. I walked right into that one, I need to do better.

“So, what’s on the itinerary today?” I ask in a cheerful tone. “What’s this about my actual mate then? Ready to give up your ruse, finally?”

Instead of denying anything, Ruelle gives me a shark’s grin, “Theon’s Beta to
Locked Chapter
Continue Reading on GoodNovel
Scan code to download App

Related chapters

  • Once A Luna, Now A Stealer?   25. Hospital

    Theon.She’s in the hospital, having lost too much blood. As a result, her healing had slowed down, so we had no choice but to take her to meet the head doctor of the Rexellen Hospital. As werewolves, we rarely ever visit hospitals, as our natural healing factor takes care of most of our scrapes and sicknesses before they can become problematic. When a wolf goes to a hospital, it could mean only one thing. They’d caught an unnatural sickness, had a mental ailment, or had been grievously injured.More often than not, the case is the latter.“She’s going to be okay.” Says Dr. Haeger, “At first, she was in a critical condition, and her body had slowed down healing to keep her alive But her natural healing accelerated as soon as we did a blood transfusion. She’d passed out from the mixture of blood loss, pain, and shock, I believe. She might possibly have a brain concussion, albeit a mild one. Other than that, Ruelle is steady and out of the danger zone for now.”“What about the stealer?”

    Last Updated : 2024-01-18
  • Once A Luna, Now A Stealer?   26. Doubt

    Theon.Dr. Haeger sighs after thinking for a moment about the question.“Perhaps a historian can give a better answer than I can, Alpha. They are quite knowledgeable in the subject after all. But with my limited knowledge, I wish I could give you the right answer to that question, Theon, but the records we have about stealers are so biased that I do not know what to believe most of the time. As far as I know, that theory is still up to debate. There is a distinct lack of research on stealer biology. There is no way to even hear rumors as we haven’t had a stealer come around in a while. The last known stealer lived about 200 years ago if I’m correct, and the wolves then didn’t care enough to record such information about them. Yes, the stealer can mate with a widowed wolf. But can she cure a rogue one?”I curse myself for lacking that insight in the beginning.“I don’t think your plan is going to work, Theon. It’s not possible to heal a wolf going rogue.” Dr. Haeger’s words ring in my

    Last Updated : 2024-01-19
  • Once A Luna, Now A Stealer?   27. Idiot

    Ruelle.Theon is not an idiot.By now I’ve realized that much. While he did believe I was his mate, he had his suspicions about Callista too. The only thing that kept him from actually believing a word that came from Callista was that he did not want her to be his mate. He even doubted his supposed knowledge about the stealer when it came to her. I suppose that was a perk of trying to be the mate of a King. Thank the Goddess for that.I mean, how can he ever pursue her? She is the stealer. He is the Alpha King of all of the Lycan Kingdom of North America. His very blood demanded respect, and he would do nothing to jeopardize the standing of his family. Callista and Theon is the most absurd combination to ever exist. Imagine how the masses under him would react if they thought the stealer of all people is his mate? They wouldn’t even care for the sacredness of the mate bond or whatever, they would only believe that the stealer is manipulating him with her abilities.No, I am the safer

    Last Updated : 2024-01-19
  • Once A Luna, Now A Stealer?   28. Dark

    Callista.I've got to stop passing out all the time.Really, I am so tired of waking up in places that I had no idea of getting into. This time, I find myself bound to a dark, stone wall with manacles and chains. With the dim light that illuminates my surroundings, I can see bars in front of me. I’m groggy and my whole body aches, but as soon as the bars register in my mind, my whole body tenses. An awful sense of déjà vu washes through me.A jail cell. Was I in a jail cell again? Why?What the actual hell? What did I do this time? If my memory serves me correctly, I was just about to die on the hands of a maniacal werewolf before I lost consciousness and I was trying to save that asshole sister of mine. And knowing Ruelle, she has got to have a hand with this. I never knew my sister was this vicious before, but now that I do, I wouldn’t put it past her to spin some story to Theon that would make me sound awful and land me in jail yet again.Unlike the last time, when I had been terri

    Last Updated : 2024-01-20
  • Once A Luna, Now A Stealer?   29. Torture

    Callista.When J comes for me, I am in so much pain. The numbness from the first time had long gone, and I’d passed out and come back to consciousness a few times. Whenever I passed out, I was given a reprieve but when my traitorous body decided to wake up, I was shown a preview of hell again.In the past unforgettable several hours, I’ve been physically assaulted, whipped, beaten with batons, and waterboarded. That last one made me think I would really die, thankfully it hadn’t gone for long. I had a feeling I was going to be really careful around water for a long while to come. If I thought breathing was a labor before, now it feels like torture itself.When J comes, I’ve been moved to another room and strapped into a chair from my wrists and ankles. I feel like every bone in my body has been broken, and a keening voice, filled with whimpers and pathetic moans leaves my lips, accompanied occasionally by a dribble of blood. The dungeon master is in the process of binding my eyes when

    Last Updated : 2024-01-22
  • Once A Luna, Now A Stealer?   30. Apology

    Callista.How could Theon have let this happen to me?I’ve been pondering that question since I woke up in the infirmary and am no closer to finding an answer than I did before. It is far too devastating just to be a misunderstanding.Later, I am laid on a crisp infirmary bed after being treated and bandaged, dressed in a loose hospital gown. I feel like a mummy, wrapped from head to toe. Dr. Harris had told me that I didn’t have any internal bleeding, fortunately. The dungeon master hadn’t damaged me that bad, despite all the blood.Like, he hadn’t done anything that would take a long while to heal. He’d hurt me plenty.But he’d done enough. I was once again bed-bound, and in my state, I’m going to take at least a month to fully recover. I’ve got four broken ribs, a sprained wrist, a full-blown concussion which had thankfully already healed into a mild concussion, and a whole lot of cuts and bruises. My whole back had been sewn up.I feel like a soldier who’d gone to war.The infirma

    Last Updated : 2024-01-22
  • Once A Luna, Now A Stealer?   31. Agreement

    Callista.“I didn’t make a contract like that,” I reply. This was absolute news to me. I’d certainly remember if someone had asked me or forced me to write anything before being drugged with Wolfsbane. I didn’t remember much about what happened afterward, though, except for the parts with Theon in them.Oh, Goddess, what had Farris Leighwen done to me now?“Impossible, the document is legitimate. We even checked the validity of the agreement using an Earth witch. You yourself wrote it and signed it.” Theon answers, his brows furrowing. However, he isn’t stupid, and there is doubt in his eyes. Surely he must’ve realized by now that Farris had been at least a little shady with everything.“That’s not possible. I would remember doing something like that.” Even though I insist, I’m starting to feel doubtful. A witch’s magic didn’t lie. I try to wrack my brain to find signing and writing such a damning document anytime before.Had I actually done it? I’ve read that Wolfsbane caused tempora

    Last Updated : 2024-01-24
  • Once A Luna, Now A Stealer?   32. Enough

    Callista.“See this corridor?” The maid who'd called me, Helen, points at an extremely muddy corridor, “This needs to be washed, like, ASAP. The Alpha King absolutely loathes uncleanliness.”I look at the amount of dirt and gulp. “That’s…that is a lot of dirt,” I state the obvious, “This is the entrance, right?”“Yeah, and we need to keep it clean, all the time. The newbie is usually in charge of this. So,” She thrusts at me a mob and a bucket, “Get on with it.”So, the maids don’t really like me much. It might have to do with me being the stealer as well as a criminal now. They were all much older than me, in their twenties or thirties, and they were very, very cold. As soon as I was taken to the maid quarters and introduced to them, they’d told me that I wasn’t to expect any special treatment from them and that they didn’t really want a stealer of all people with them, and that the only reason they were gonna tolerate my existence was because their Alpha King had commanded it.Very

    Last Updated : 2024-01-24

Latest chapter

  • Once A Luna, Now A Stealer?   322. Epilogue

    CallistaTen years later.I stand in front of Lily Lane Pup Daycare after ending my workday at Rexellen University, holding a stack of books in my arms trying to shove them into the backpack I’ve taken with me.It’s three in the evening, and the kids should be out in a few minutes.It’s summer again, the weather is pleasantly warm, and everything brims with life. There are bees flying everywhere, suckling nectar out of the numerous fully blossomed Leanderrs.The Rexellen pack town is as busy as ever, with people bustling around after clocking off from work, going on their errands, and their outings.Everyone seems happy, and they’re open and very friendly.Upon noticing me, everyone who passes greets me with a simple.“Good evening, Luna!”“Good evening to you too!” I always greet back.Some parents stop by near the daycare to collect their children, and we start pleasantly conversing with each other.I’ve been the Luna Queen of the Rexellen pack for ten years now, and honestly, those

  • Once A Luna, Now A Stealer?   321. Ceremony

    CallistaFour weeks later.I walk down the shoveled path with a single lily flower in my hand, a smile on my lips, and my heart overflowing with joy.I’m dressed in an ankle-length, heavy-set gown that accentuates my form as if it had been sewn with me in my mind.It’s a silverish white in color in accordance with tradition, and a million tiny rhinestones create spiraling patterns all over the skirt. The long sleeves and the woolen cloak that accompany them give me warmth on the cold winter night.On my neck, there is a white gold necklace with a diamond as the pendant, the only piece of jewelry I wear, which is a gift from the witches who'd arrived a day before to celebrate the ceremony.The mating ceremony for Theon and me.In the background, a string quartet, comprised of two maids of the Rexellen pack castle and two guards, plays a tune that I can't quite name but can’t help but think is so apt for the situation.On either side of me, my closest friends whom I consider my family s

  • Once A Luna, Now A Stealer?   320. Gift, not Curse

    CallistaA week later.Valencia Everhart was sentenced to life in prison by the Supernatural Council for assisting the devil in his criminal endeavors such as kidnapping and harboring a werewolf, orchestrating a pack takeover on the orders of the devil, attempted killing of two pack members of the Rexellen pack and the biggest crime of them all, assisting the devil in massacring the entire Galdine pack.I thought the last one was a bit harsh because Valencia never really did know about that charge, but as Valencia had confessed in the court, she’d given the devil the location and information regarding her pack.She had been under the impression the devil was going to protect the Galdine pack from Theon’s retaliation against the pack takeover, but she’d been lied to.We attended the court on the same day as Valencia did, and I’m sure that the cries that ravaged her as she learned the horrible fate that befell her pack would never stop haunting my nightmares.I felt sorry for her, and a

  • Once A Luna, Now A Stealer?   319. Afterlife

    CallistaQaetanya and Xaveraq reached the afterlife together.One was willing, the other was not. One sacrificed herself, while the other, well, I had to kill the other.Xaveraq’s soulless body lays in the circular chamber, and I don’t look at it again as we exit the room, both of us still in wolf forms.I feel numb as we stumble out of the temple as soon as possible after I release the devil’s and the deviless’s souls into the gateway.None of us speak, although I could feel everyone except Theon patiently waiting for the right moment. They look stunned as we walk through the doorway. For a moment I’d been afraid the doorway wouldn’t be present because of it being only shown with the blessing of a devil and all, but fortunately, it stands.As soon as we all exit the temple doorway, it starts to shudder. And then the most bizarre thing happens.Numerous high-pitched screams ring through the air, and greyish white mist starts to shoot from all directions towards the doorway, getting su

  • Once A Luna, Now A Stealer?   318. Defeat

    TheonI can’t process half the things that are happening as I stand outside the little circular room, trying and failing to get in.One moment, Callista is being choked by the devil, and the next moment, in the place of Callista, stands a majestic white wolf! The wolf shimmers as if she were the Moon Goddess herself in wolf form, stepping down from the moon to aid us in our time of need.But when the wolf looks at me for the briefest moment and howls in ecstasy, I realize that this wolf is no Goddess.That’s my mate!After months, no, years, of agonizing, Callista has finally found her wolf.But then she turns towards Xaveraq and leaps towards him with no hesitation.My scream deafens my own ears, wondering what the hell she was doing. I witness the whole scene as if it’s unfolding in slow motion.As Callista nears the devil, whose shadows are closing in on her to consume her, a flash of blinding white light erupts from her, filling the room with a glow akin to the sun.I shield my e

  • Once A Luna, Now A Stealer?   317. Amazed

    QaetanyaHer wolf is beautiful, reminiscent of the first wolfwoman I met in the forests of Gaul all those years ago.She is larger than most wolves, were-creature or otherwise, and when she stands, she cuts a majestic figure, even in the confines of the squat, circular room. Her coat is a silverish white, and it glistens as if it was created by moonlight, as if the Goddess molded the wolf herself.Her emerald eyes shine as she stares at Xaveraq in confusion, and amazement, stunned to her very core.She can’t still process that after years of hope and dream, she’d finally transformed into her secondary form.I had watched her wolf grow from a pup to an adult within her as I was trapped in her mind ever since she was born. Throughout the three thousand years I’ve been with Callista’s bloodline, I’ve witnessed hundreds of pups being born within the babies, but never have I seen a wolf as beautiful as this one.Even I was in awe when she first appeared, sleeping soundly, growing along wit

  • Once A Luna, Now A Stealer?   316. Shift

    CallistaThe very first time I witnessed a werewolf’s first shift I was just five years old.It was at a birthday party, and of course, it was for Ruelle.Naturally, almost everyone from my adoptive parents’ families was invited. I liked my relatives because they didn’t favor Ruelle over me to the extent my parents did. At this time, all I had were Ruelle’s hand-me-downs. Her clothes, her toys, her books…The only thing I had for myself was a pair of shoes because Ruelle’s feet had always been smaller than mine, and there was no way my feet could fit in her shoes.I loved those shoes so much.That didn’t mean I never got gifts. My parents’ relatives would always give me presents of my own when they came to visit. It didn’t matter if it was Ruelle’s birthday or mine.It didn’t matter if it was a special day, a holiday, or even a plain, random visit to see how we were doing: clothes, shoes, toys, and new books; everything a little girl could want.Granted these things would be taken awa

  • Once A Luna, Now A Stealer?   315. Goodbye

    Callista“My, my, Qaetanya, you’re actually stronger than I thought. Here I thought that you wasted it all by giving that werewolf a special scent,” the devil taunts the deviless as he circles us, his eyes set on us as if he’s a predator.“I was blessed by the Goddess,” arrogantly, Qaetanya declares, flexing her digits so the electric sparks flicker around them. “Such a power cannot be hindered by anything, least of all you!”“All except the summer solstice,” Xaveraq grins before hurtling another wave of shadows towards her.Qaetanya ducks them swiftly, and the shadows hit the wall behind us, getting absorbed into the stone. Using her momentum, Qaetanya attacks Xaveraq with a light wave of her own, which Xaveraq detracts by a shield of shadows.“I told you that information because I trusted you,” Qaetanya replies to the jab. “Because I believed the man I loved wouldn’t even think of hurting me with that information. But you did exactly that. You might preach about me manipulating you

  • Once A Luna, Now A Stealer?   314. Monsters

    TheonA pillar monster falls right in front of me, nearly crushing me, but I jump away just in time. The sheer force of the fall breaks its stone arm in two, and the eerie silverish glow in its eyes subsides. The pillar monster stops moving.“I think he died,” I tell Haden, who is panting on the other side of the fallen monster.This is the only one that we managed to fall, and by the looks of it, kill.“Holy shit, did that actually work?” Kiran screeches.He was the propellent of bringing the monster down. Now, he jumps back to the ground from the shield he’s been standing on and jogs closer to the pillar monster.Tentatively, he reaches out and touches its cracked shoulder, where some of the previously seen symbols are visible. I remember them running all around the pillars before the monsters came into being, glowing.I look at him and nod, trying to confer my thoughts via body movements.Yes, I think it actually worked.“Guys, we managed to bring a monster down!” Kiran yells back

Scan code to read on App
DMCA.com Protection Status