TRISTAN:
I gasped for air as soon as Dahlia said those words to me, and I found myself bolting upright in bed.
It was pitch black now. I couldn’t see a thing… What happened?
Suddenly, a pair of arms wounded itself around my waist. I looked at my side.
After a few minutes, my eyes had begun to adjust to the dark. It was Dahlly’s slim arms alright, and she’s asleep.
Damn it, that dream felt far too real!
‘What happened,’ I asked my wolves.
‘What else? You dozed off in pleasure,’ Arthur said wryly.
‘And?’
‘And what now? How can I possibly know what’s going on after we fall asleep?’
I looked once more at my wife sleeping innocently beside me… It really was just a dream, right? After all, wouldn’t Dahlly have run away if she really saw the rune in my head?
However, something dawned in me earlier when Dahlly and I were in
TRISTAN:After that fatal incident at Lagros, I just couldn’t trust Samalah to be solely in charge of the rogue attacks we were organizing against the nearby vampire villages.I had already told her time and again that the only purpose of the attacks was to frame Count Jeteris as the mastermind. We weren’t there to kill anyone… if we could. We just have to make it seem very threatening, and that’s it.Unfortunately, Samalah’s wrath sometimes had no bounds…I wasn’t part of the council tasked to investigate Count Jeteris’ crimes, but word has gotten out that several vampires had already been killed due to continued attacks under the group calling themselves as the ‘Falcon Wing.’We weren’t the Falcon Wings, of course, but if this is what will cause his downfall, we’ll gladly pin it down on that blasted group he had formed years ago…Samalah and I certainly did no
TRISTAN: I had no time to spare. If the prince and his men were here, then the fight would be soon be finished, and Samalah wouldn’t even stand a chance. As a water fairy, Samalah was very cunning and powerful, but as a wolf, she’s not that skilled. If only Samalah did not resent the wolf part of her, she wouldn’t have neglected her training so much. If so, I wouldn’t be in the position that I needed to rescue her nor will she be in a position where she needed someone to come to her side… Despite the strong history of friendship between Samalah and I, there was one thing we had kept an oath not to do – that is to never fall in love with each other. Samalah’s heart was frigid. She was also quite unforgiving and liked to make things even for every small inconvenience she was put into. There were days in the past when she and I had given to bouts of heat, but she had clearly drawn a line between us, telling me that we were nothing more th
TRISTAN:The prince was smart. Seeing how he couldn’t cross the spring because of the water attacks, he made sure to climb the trees to get to the other side and waited for me.“Answer me, Shadow wolf,” he roared, “Why are you doing this? Were these vampires not your allies?”I spat some of the blood that had foamed in my mouth. Unlike the prince, I had no power to regenerate that easily, although this wound couldn’t kill me at once either…“Tell me what your intentions are! Do you have another leader,” he roared once more.I growled at him menacingly. I raised my sharp claws at him, but he was too quick. I ended up cutting through several trees without inflicting a single scratch on his body.Damn it! He was just one incessant runt that’s just hard to kill!The blood continued to trickle down my neck. I can no longer afford to stay and face him. I had to use my powers now.
DAHLIA:“Tell me the truth, Albus…. You and that black wolf, you are both no ordinary wolves… You are from the Shadow Rune Pack, aren’t you?”The fur in the great white wolf’s body shook as if it was hit by an invisible arrow in the chest. He whimpered a bit in front of us, but he didn’t say anything more.Before Eva and I could repeat our question and hear the answer we longed to hear, a series of loud thumping sounds pulled us away from the Animal Spirit World and back into our human consciousness.“Countess Abell,” I heard Lina’s voice together with the incessant knocks from our bedroom door. “Countess, are you awake? Can I go in?”“Go ahead… Lina,” I groaned towards her, still half-asleep and a bit upset about the interruption of our time with Albus.“What is it,” I asked as soon as Lina went inside my room.She eyed the empty
DAHLIA:“Dahlly… How did you?... Did Tristan tell you something about my past?”Papa moved closer towards me and held my hand.Surprisingly, his hands were cold, and his face was as white as sheets – a definite contrast to the summer heat that night.“Dahlly, you’ve got to understand… Not everything he says to you is true, do you hear me? Your husband – he’s only doing this so that you’d hate me… It’s not necessarily true, my darling!”“Papa… This has nothing to do with Tristan. He didn’t tell me anything… Those wolves in your dream, they were from the Shadow Rune Pack, right? I know they were wolves from that pack…”I clasped my father’s hand even harder. “Tell me papa, what did you do to the Shadow Runes?... You and Count Jeteris, you did something to them didn’t you?...”That’s right&
DAHLIA:How can I be so naïve? All the signs were there… That sudden encounter in Hildt, the way that he seduced me and pursued me… They were all there, so why did I not see it?“Dahlia, don’t cry… Don’t cry… Tell me properly, hmm,” my father said, drying my tears with his hand despite the amount that was streaming down my face. “What do you mean by that? Where did you see that Shadow wolf?”Before I could even speak, there was an urgent rap by the door.“Countess… The prince and his men are here,” Lina said, a look of fear written all over her face.I quickly dried my tears and smoothened my dress and hair.“Did they say why,” I asked Lina.She shook her head. “They said it’s urgent.”“Papa, let’s see them first,” I said to my father who had already composed himself as if nothing had happened.
DAHLIA:There was no time to lose. I quickly scanned his body and saw several bite marks and a bloody wound in the side of his neck.I crept beside him and placed his head against my thighs. I then proceeded to raise my hand over his neck, and I channeled my powers so I could heal him.As my hands began to glow with a golden hue, the rune in Tristan’s forehead shone and reflected an incredible amount of beautiful light. It looked lovely as it glistened more and more.The more it glowed, the more wretched my heart felt, however…When the healing was over, I put my hands over his neck and checked his heart beat. Thankfully, my powers also worked even if he was still in his wolf form.Tristan was still deeply asleep perhaps because he seemed to have lost a lot of blood. I stroked the fur in his massive body. It felt warm and fuzzy, just like how Albus’ fur was.I peered at the face of the dark wolf before me… It
TRISTAN:“Prince Kaist and his men are here. They are asking for you.”I slowly turned the knob from the shower and dried my body. Despite the present situation, I didn’t have the slightest inclination to hurry…I was more deathly afraid to face Dahlia and confirm the cold stare that accompanied the icy tone she just used to call me.Is it really true? Did she already know the truth?If so, then, is everything over between us?...Suddenly, the bathroom door burst open.“Tristan, hurry up. Let’s not make them wait.”Dahlia held my hand and led me outside of the bathroom. He snatched the towel from my hand and dried my hair with it, tiptoeing just to reach the top of my head.“Dry yourself well, and wear that.”I looked at the set of clothes at the bed. It was a red and silver suit – the colors that Dahlia liked a lot…This is the first time