A Forbidden Romance

PROLOGUE 

Twenty-one years ago. 

"You should not have married and impregnated a witch, Wolf! You have upset the balance of nature. Such abomination cannot stand without consequences!" The lone fae seethed, pointing an accusatory finger at Nathan Ramilek who stood defiantly, meeting her fiery gaze without a hint of fear or cowardice.

"I know that but what's done is done. You promised to help and not repeat what I have already heard countless times from both my pack and her coven!" Nathan retorted.

His heavily pregnant wife, Manara, was a powerful witch of the magic-borne community in Darah Haven, a city in West Volken consisting mostly of witches and humans.

They had met and fell in love when Manara visited his home of Lunar Crest. A place where he reigned as Alpha of the Nightfall pack and Alpha king of all the other eleven werewolf packs which were also in the state of West Volken. 

They were to sign a peace treaty in a bid to try to finally resolve the tensions between their two factions which had lasted for generations. 

Ultimately, Nathan fell in love with Manara at first sight, and she, with him. A forbidden love that was never meant to be.

He was to find a mate amongst the she-wolves of his pack or from any other suitable packs and she was to marry a wizard from her community; that was the correct order of things but love was not a respecter of order.

When their people found out about them, all hell was let loose. His beta tried to advise him to abandon Manara and whatever he felt for her behind but Nathan would not budge...and neither did Manara.

Nathan was deposed as Alpha and Manara was cast out of her community. 

Their whirlwind romance caused the treaty to be broken. 

However, they had each other and their little gift growing inside Manara's womb. 

Together, with Manara leading the way, they managed to find the obscure Fae forest and though the Fae people, an elusive and secretive bunch incapable of deception and lies, were wary of them and steered clear, they did not cast them out.

The fae they had met to help with the delivery of their child was the only one willing to help them out. Nathan had tried all he could but he could not bring the baby forth and he could not involve a human doctor in this.

The lone fae was ethereal, dressed in flowing blue robes with folded translucent wings protruding from her back. 

She gave off a strong aura of magic...almost like an enchantment, that was nowhere similar to Manara's abilities.

Narrowing her beady, black eyes at Nathan's insolence, she spoke. 

"I am a woman of my word so despite your...uncouth behavior, I will do as I have promised."

Nathan breathed a sigh of relief as he gripped Manara's sweaty palm in his, squeezing it in reassurance. 

An action that elicited a small, tired smile from her as she lay writhing on the soft sheets which were soaked with sweat and birth waters.

The fae who was called Tyene edged toward Manara and leaned over her. 

"Bend your knees for me, Manara," she instructed.

Moaning from exhaustion, Manara managed to move her legs with Nathan's help. 

"Now, push with everything you have. With all your strength. Do this for the child inside you."

"Gyah!" Manara screamed, straining with all her might while the windows and doors shook. Tears seeped from her eyes in the struggle to bring her baby into the world. 

"You can do it, Manara. I believe in you. You are fierce and a fighter! You'll get through this," Nathan encouraged, kissing the back of her hand as he mopped up the sweat from her forehead with a cool towel.

"I can't. I'm so tired. I want it out! Get it out, Nathan! Please." She sobbed and sagged against the pillows at her back, unable to push anymore.

In a haze of frustration, Nathan grabbed Tyene by the scruff of her long neck.

"You swore to me that you would do something for her! Is this all the mighty fae Tyene can do? Help her! Help my wife!"

Tyene's pointed ears twitched in irritation. 

"I will be able to do something for her once you let go of me, Nathan. Yelling at me will not help your wife and your unborn child."

Reluctantly, Nathan released her, fixing an intense glare at her instead.

Tyene sighed deeply and brought her small palms forward to place them on Manara's exposed round belly. 

The moment her hands came in contact with Manara's belly, there was a sharp thunderclap though there had been no indication of a storm that day. 

As blue lightning flashed and rain began to patter heavily against the closed windows, Tyene's black eyes turned white; her mouth opened and in a voice that did not belong to her, words began to pour out.

"Through the child in your womb, a being of unfathomable evil shall be unleashed on our world. 

"Many will lust after your daughter's blood...to put an end to her before she can wreck doom upon the world. She is destined to be the bringer of death to all supernatural beings."

... 

Twenty-one years later. 

She was tired of running.

She was exhausted from looking over her shoulder at every moment afraid that someone would jump out at her and snuff her life out.

"Run, Cinnia, and never look back. Do not ever go to Lunar Crest or Darah Haven for any reason. Promise me."

Those were her mother's last words five years ago when she lay bleeding and dying in Cinnia's arms.

Cinnia had just turned sixteen when her home was attacked by a pack of wolves and a coven of witches.

She never understood why they were looking for her or why she had to run and never settle.

All she knew was that her life was in danger.

"He will come for you. You must never go back. These people are nothing compared to him, Cinnia."

The only memorabilia she had of her parents as she narrowly escaped her burning house in the Fae forest was the silver bracelet with a crescent moon-shaped charm they had gifted her on her fifteenth birthday.

"Never take this off, Cinnia. It is a representation of our bond with you."

However, today, five years after the horrible and gruesome death of her parents, she was going back to the place her parents had left behind.

Despite the discordant alarm bells screaming at her to turn back, she alighted from the cab and inhaled the air around her deeply.

She was home.

...

Two months ago,

Music blasted her ears the moment she stepped into the dimly lit bar in Bromsken, the vibrant city of lights. 

She shouldn't be here. She knew that, but she needed a break from being on the move.

Two years ago, she had gone back to the Fae forests where she grew up and had tried getting answers from them.

Though she had lived in their forests for most of her life, they were never friendly to her or her parents.

When they finally granted her audience, instead of giving her the answers she desperately sought, they instructed her to heed her parents' warning and make herself disappear.

"He will come for you sooner or later. You shouldn't be anywhere near his territory when he begins his search."

She had deprived herself of so much simply because she had to run.

Never staying in one place for more than three months, she moved from city to city and state to state, only getting by from the huge trust fund her parents had left for her and the commissioned paintings she did with an alias.

She wished they had left more answers instead.

Twice she had tried to waive their warnings and start a life with someone yet she failed on both occasions.

Her selfishness led to the demise of the two men she had tried making a peaceful life with. 

They had attacked without warning.

The only way she managed to escape them from then on was to never be in one place for too long.

To never let anyone come too close to her.

As she closed the door behind her, she scanned the room for threats out of habit.

There were mostly werewolves in the bar with a few humans here and there. Even though she had never transformed before, she could smell and recognize them.

Weaving through the tipsy men and women, she made her way to the bar and ordered a stiff drink.

"Gin negroni," she said to the bartender.

Nodding his head, his mop of blonde curly hair bouncing, he started preparing her drink.

Turning around on the bar stool, she glanced at the people milling about until one person caught her attention.

Seated in the far corner of the room, Denzel's pale green eyes had followed Cinnia from the moment she walked through the doors.

He noticed the way her eyes scanned the room suspiciously before confidently striding to the bar.

Her gaze had passed over him at first since nothing was threatening about him but this time, she noticed him.

"Here you go."

Without a glance at the bartender, she picked up her drink and took a tentative sip with her eyes still fixated on the man staring at her.

There was something about him that propelled her to go to him.

"You've been watching me," she said without preamble.

"So have you."

His rich, soothing voice awakened the pit of desire in her that she had thought to be long buried.

He was wearing a fitted black turtleneck shirt that hugged every single bulging muscle on his chest and arms, above black pants and boots.

Over the shirt, he wore a leather jacket and multiple rings graced each of his long fingers.

His scent was intoxicating: earthy and dangerous. A heady mixture of cedar and rich vetiver.

Wolf.

Denzel on the other hand had a hard time recognizing her scent.

Something was blocking it. It disturbed him- not being able to identify who and what she was, but there was something about her that wouldn't let him take his eyes off of her.

He wanted her.

Though she hadn't transformed into her wolf before, Cinnia understood the pit of desire she had begun to feel for him. Her parents had described it to her when she had asked what drew them to each other.

The mate bond.

The bond between male and female wolves lasted for life—unless either of them rejected it.

Their case was different. Special.

They felt the bond even though they were of two different factions. Separate worlds that should never come together.

Forbidden.

Their forbidden love resulted in her being born and causing the intricate balance of nature to be upset.

She should have never existed in the first place.

Cinnia knew that she should have left there at the precise minute she felt an inexplicable desire for the man in front of her but she wanted him.

Up close, as she stared into his green eyes, the desire threatened to overwhelm her.

"I wonder what you are..." he muttered so quietly that she almost didn't catch it.

"I'm not human if that's what you're worried about," she replied coldly, trying to stop the hot need she felt from seeping into her voice.

"I see. Wouldn't you have a drink with me? Seeing as you've already finished yours."

She stared at her glass in shock. She hadn't even noticed when she had drank it all.

The temptation to say yes to him was stronger than her will to walk away and forget the whole encounter.

So she agreed.

He signaled to a server who immediately rushed to their table.

The server's small figure shivered slightly once she got a look at his face and immediately, she lowered her gaze causing Cinnia to wonder just who exactly the man was.

"Gin negroni and bourbon on the rocks. Make it quick."

She nodded and scampered away.

"Do you enjoy making people fear you? Cinnia asked, raising an eyebrow as she observed his features—the thickness of his eyebrows, the smooth length of his nose, his full and inviting lips, and the bob of his Adam's apple as he answered her question.

"No," he said simply.

A slow smile graced his lips as he continued, "But I see that you do not fear me."

"Why would I?"

Deep down, she knew that she should have every reason to be afraid. He was a werewolf, a member of one of the factions that had killed her parents and hunted her down for most of her life.

However, instead of fear, she was drawn to him like a moth to a flame. She hoped she would not be consumed.

"Very good question."

The server brought their drinks, interrupting him before he could finish.

They both took a sip of the alcohol.

Cinnia moaned softly as she welcomed the intense taste.

That little sound spiked Denzel's need for her to a hundred.

"You can feel the bond too," he said matter-of-factly.

'So he knows as well,' she thought.

"I don't know if that's entirely a good thing. I'm not too sure you would want me in your life."

"That's up to me to decide, don't you think?"

His words caused her heart to flutter. Even more so as he took a sip of his bourbon, his gaze solely fixed on her and no one else.

She averted her eyes from his as heat pooled in her center.

"I think it'll be better for me to walk away and for us to never cross paths again."

Deep down, she knew she was lying and Denzel knew it too. He could sense it from the subtle way she tightened her grip on her glass and the anxious manner in which she tapped her shoe against the floor.

"We both know you don't want that."

His hand moved forward to rest above hers that clutched her drink tightly.

"You're going to break it."

Startled, she loosened her grip, her breath coming out in heavy pants.

'What the fuck is he doing to me?' she wondered.

The tingling sparks that erupted from the mere touch of his hand against hers were disorienting.

It finally made sense to her as to why her parents could never stay away from each other no matter what.

Only the simple touch from a man she barely knew was enough to make her nerves run haywire.

As much as she wanted to, she was unable to pull away. She wondered if she should even be feeling that way when generally, she was still considered human even though wolf blood ran through her veins.

"You don't seem like you've had a lot to drink," She noted, trying to steer the conversation in a direction that wouldn't have her clenching her knees together under the table.

"I can handle my alcohol. Seems like you can too."

He stared at her from behind his thick, long lashes.

"Well, I do have a high tolerance for a lot of things. I can handle alcohol pretty well," she replied, raising her chin with pride.

A ghost of a smirk brushed his lips as he ran his thumb across her knuckles, causing goosebumps to erupt all over her skin.

If he could have this kind of effect on her from across a table, she wondered what would happen if nothing was separating them.

"Impressive. I wonder if you can handle me as well as you handle your drink."

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she drawled suggestively.

'This is not how this was supposed to go!' She scolded herself but she had already fanned the flame and there was no putting it out.

Smoothly, he rose from his seat and stopped beside her and without giving her a chance to say anything, he pulled her up from her seat.

"You see, the thing is..." he whispered into her ear, "I would very much like to know."

As if she wasn't the one controlling her mouth, she responded.

"Then allow me to show you."

She hooked her fingers into his belt loops and pulled his towering figure closer to her.

Standing on her tiptoes with him meeting her midway, their lips met in a fiery kiss that felt so wrong and so right at the same time.

The pumping music blasting from the speakers faded into the background as their tongues danced in an electrifying battle for dominance which he eventually relented to let her win.

She was consumed by him and him, by her.

His hands hovered over her butt lightly till she grabbed them and placed them there herself.

With great restraint, he pulled away from her.

Blinking in confusion at the abrupt disconnection, she opened her mouth to question him but was stopped by his finger at her lips.

"We're getting the fuck out of here."

Slapping a few bills on the table, he grabbed her hand; leading her out the back exit as she followed without hesitation.