Chapter 1: The Cursed Kiss

Justine's POV

There was this old aphorism from the human world that says, "A kiss is believed to be the best medicine" the world could offer. Most humans believe that even a single kiss could swallow darkness with light, change sadness to happiness, a remedy to all kinds of sicknesses, and most of all, this privilege is free of charge.

Sad to say, all of those privileges prohibit me by all means when I freaking believed that my lips were cursed by the moon goddess as it could darken the light, turn everyone's happiness to madness, and worsen all kinds of illnesses.

The worst part of my case was that I could not risk offering someone a single kiss. For you to have a quick tour of my terrible and unforgettable past, everything began the second I turned eighteen two years ago.

---

Two years ago

"Justine... We've been together for the past three years, isn't it?" she whispered as she gently caressed my hairy broad chest. "And today, if I am not mistaken, marked our third anniversary. The same day as your eighteenth birthday." With her warm fingers and tickling strokes on my chest, my wolf could not help but moan as if someone below the belt wanted to rip it open.

With every stroke from her fingertips, the lingering sensation sent shivered down my spine. And while holding onto that thought, my adrenaline rush rapidly increased my heart rate and blood flow, causing me to feel hunger. Hunger to make love with her.

But I can't. No. I must not.

"And honestly speaking, I'm already tired of just holding your hands, tapping the tip of your nose, and kissing your neck and forehead for the past three years." She continued with a smile on her face, "You promised me that on your eighteenth birthday, you'd grant me the one thing that I have longed to get from you since then."

The lanky, brunette, and gorgeous woman, giving me a euphoric sensation was Natasha Fisher - my mate. The love of my life and the woman I can't live without. We've been mates for three years and her wolf was soon becoming the luna of the pack.

Her wolf was born half-American and half-Spanish, making her one-of-a-kind beauty stands out among her peers. She was a year younger than me. And of course, I was the luckiest male wolf who won her heart. She always nags me with her visits as early as before sunrise and every time the sun goes down.

Aside from that, she was the only living proof that a woman's love knows no bounds.

However, my parents belonged to those conservative ones when it comes to giving up our virginity to someone. They highly advised me to offer my noble dignity to someone deserving of my love and care, and of course, must be surrendered at the legal age.

Lucky for me, that same day was my eighteenth birthday.

"You mean like... my kiss?" She shivered as I caressed her black shiny hair while staring at her very expressive and gorgeous deep blue eyes. At that moment, we were lying on the rooftop of her parents' house, waiting for the moon to show up.

Natasha smiled sweetly as if something from what I said made her that.

"Well. Would a kiss on the lips do now?" She retorted before she aggressively hopped on top of me, her entire face flushed red while looking at me in the eye, allowing me to read what was running through her lecherous mind. "But I am not gonna force you unless you're ready, Justine."

At that time, it was I who couldn't help from laughing knowing my wolf was not that stupid enough to misunderstand what she meant by it. I'm a man with a gifted baton. I should have been the aggressive one, not her.

"All right then," Changing our positions, I smiled at her and leaned in closer to her face. The distance between our faces was already a quarter of an inch before I requested her to close her eyes.

"Close my eyes?" She clarified.

"Of course. I believed that the sweetness of one's kiss can be felt if your eyes were closed...," Before I could finish my statement, Natasha closed her eyes without asking for further questions, excitement was carved on her face.

Before granting her wish, I stared at her innocent face for a few seconds, recollecting all those wonderful memories of us being close friends until she turned out to be my girlfriend and later became my mate. My heart raced with anticipation as I gently cupped Natasha's face, leaning in to capture her lips in a tender, passion-filled kiss.

As our lips met, a surge of bliss washed over me, igniting a spark deep within my soul. The way Natasha's arms wrapped around me, pulling me closer, sent shivers down my spine. I couldn't contain my happiness, a wide smile breaking across my face as I deepened the kiss, savoring every moment with her.

Who could have thought that my worst nightmare became a reality the second I moved my face away from her? Natasha's entire body stiffened like steel. Her heartbeat even stopped pounding from her chest. I begged her to say something, to open her eyes, but she never woke up after that.

Until then, most of the wolves in the pack dubbed my realtinship with Natasha as the opposite version of "Sleeping Beauty". A part of me attempted to believe that Natasha died because she had heart failure even if the fact a wolf could never have one.

There was this part of me who also believed that she was simply dreaming because of too much happiness after getting my kiss and that one day she would wake up. That her true prince could wake her up like in the story of the sleeping beauty.

Unfortunately, my "Sleeping Beauty" kind of story ended when her parents burned her wolf's body and sent her into the middle of the wide blue ocean. Her parents and the entire pack were mourning for a year when Natasha was their only daughter and the sole heir of the Crescent Moon pack.

A year after that, I opened myself to a new relationship. This time, to an omega like me. Unfortunately, our relationship did not last long when I decided to offer my kiss even during our first week. She died with a smile on her face.

At that time, all the wolves, young and old, in the village started getting terrified of me. They were too afraid that even a single drop of my saliva, a whooshing of my breath, and even a slight skin contact wth them might destroy our pack.

I was cursed. They believe that I could kill everyone, weak or strong, alpha or not. For that same reason, the majority of the wolves gave me two options. Either to get hung and turn me into ashes or leave the pack and leave the village for good.

So, even if it pained me excruciatingly, I chose to live, left my homeland, and surrounded myself with a bunch of humans. But I promised myself that I should never be in an intimate relationship with someone. Not anymore. Never will be.

My wolf already learned his lesson. To be in an intimate relationship requires a kiss on the lips. I don't have the luxury for my third affair to die right in front of my eyes again. With my one-of-a-kind beau, most of the women I met in the human world already expressed their interest in me. However, I rejected each of them as much as possible even if they haven't said a word.

I'm a natural-born werewolf. That made me different from the humans. I could sense and easily read their minds about what they were up to, especially those who wanted to make love with me.

---

Three years later.

"Come on, Justine. Join me. Drink. Dude, you need alcohol in your system before our surprise gift arrives. You need this. A bottle of beer will certainly boost your confidence later on."

The man talking who was seated next to me was none other than my human best friend, Christian. One friend was enough for me considering the curse that ran through my veins. I chose to befriend a male human instead of a woman to avoid getting into conflicts.

The good thing about being friends with Christian was that he already knew that I hated being surrounded by a bunch of humans. So, on my 21st birthday, Christian invited me to spend the night in one of the resorts in Ibiza. Just the two of us. Today also marked my first year working part-time in a not-so-well-known fast-food chain in Spain.

And I focused on my entire day and night as busy as hell to avoid being acquainted with women. Study in the morning and work in the evening. And vice-versa. Speaking of women, I choose to study at an all-male school to avoid meeting women for that same reason. But I thought my life would be perfectly fine according to plan.

"Surprise gift?" The balls of my eyes remained wide open as I expected nothing more for my 21st birthday. "Dude, inviting and spending the night with my best friend was already a huge gift I received from you. And besides, from the two of us, you were more broke compared to me."

"Jus... Jus... Jus... Could you just be supportive of me for once? I'm doing this for you, all right?" He then grabbed another bottle of beer and offered it to me.

Christian was already drunk when he could barely stand straight anymore. His face was red all over. And I kept hearing him talking nonsense.

"All right. Fine. What should I do? Close my eyes?" I teasingly replied as I took a sip of the bottled beer.

Christian reached out to his wristwatch and studied the time. "They should be here by now. What could have caused them to be that late?" he gritted his teeth in disbelief, being impatient was even evident from his face.

It was at that moment someone knocked on the door. When I attempted to drag my werewolf senses to the door, I was taken aback when I could barely recognize the person standing from behind it. My wolf assumed that was because of the alcohol that was mixed into my werewolf system.

"There they are. You may now close your eyes." Christian couldn't hold his excitement as he blinked at me and bolted to the door. "Don't you dare open your eyes if I hadn't said so, do you understand?"

I didn't want to ruin his night so, I obeyed his command for once. I even prohibited myself from using my werewolf senses so I could not know what his surprise gift for me was.

"All right. You may now open your eyes, Jus." He added ten seconds later.

The moment I opened my eyes, indeed I was caught by surprise by his gift. Right in front of me were two naked gorgeous and hot women. I could not help but gulp and was tempted completely. One of them was carrying a bottle of wine I hadn't seen in my one year of staying in Spain.