Chapter 4

VIOLETTE.

I eyed my bleeding hand. Realization finally sank in me that I had just made a deal with a stranger. A Lycan.

I had wanted to refuse him, knowing that every word he used to convince me wasn't that good. But, I was aware with my current weak state, I held no chance to fight against him.

"Tell me, Violette, how do you get in the cave?" He suddenly asked me when I was busy trying to tear the hem of my shirt to bandage my wound.

"I walked, of course," I replied lazily, tying the cloth with my right hand and teeth. I noticed he stared at me like I was some sort of fascinating creature. Maybe I was. After all, I was a witch, and he never saw one.

Lucky him, I suppose.

"Are you telling the truth?"

I looked at him, giving him the most irritating look I had. "Did you expect me to crawl? I dragged both my foot."

His gaze turned dark as if I had just made a grave mistake when I only answered his question. He might think that I was raised poorly by my family.

"Lead the way." He commanded me, and I obeyed like a servant after tending to my wound.

He was so arrogant. From the way he behaved, I knew he was a silver or maybe golden spoon. He was the type of man who wanted everything to go according to his wish, and when it didn't, he'd throw a fit.

I kept thinking about his bad quality silently while trying to mask my expression so he wouldn't know what nasty thing I had in my mind.

"I know you are badmouthing me in your head, but stop before I lose my temper." He grabbed my hand violently and dragged me to exit the cave.

"You don't have to hold my hand," I said, looking down at our interlocked hands. His hands were giant compared to my tiny ones, which surprisingly appeared beautiful in my eyes.

I snapped from my thought before I could indulge it and waited for him to let my hand go. But he completely ignored my comment and just dragged me with him.

His motion completely halted when we were two steps away from exciting a cave. I craned my neck to stare at him, finding him looking at the expansive view outside the cave with an expression of awe, and if my eyes didn't trick me. I swore I could see tears in the corner of his eyes.

"Why are you stopping? Let's go." I tapped his muscular arm to woke him from his daydream.

I saw his jaw tick and silently cursed myself for continuously irritating him.

"yes, let's go." He nodded at me then we stepped out of the cave.

The snow fell on top of my head as the gust of wind blew past us. With this kind of weather, I wasn't sure we wouldn't die before reaching our destination.

Turning my head to him, I waited until he said something. But even after a few minutes passed, he only stared at me. And once again, I felt like I was a fascinating creature to him. It was his way of staring at me as if he was starstruck and couldn't form a word to describe me better.

He would be disappointed if he found out that I was just an average witch with almost no power to do anything.

"How do we get to Lordslane?" I finally asked.

"You will ride me." He said.

For the first time, he showed me a cheeky smile, which I didn't understand for what.

"Ride you? Will you carry me on your back? Like a piggyback?"

"Something like that. I will shift, and you will ride me in my wolf form."

"W... wolf?" I said as my mouth dropped.

I still remember vividly how the beast from the day before looked. If what I saw yesterday was terrifying, would Noah appear as scary or worse? Considering I sense his dangerous aura more than the beast from yesterday.

"You look scared." He said. He was mocking me. I knew it by heart.

I put on my bravest expression and replied confidently. "No, I don't!"

"Okay then."

Then, before my eyes, I witnessed how a human body suddenly transformed into a giant beast. He was way bigger than the one from yesterday. His fur was black, and its grey eyes bore into mine as if wanting to devour me this instant.

When Noah advanced toward me, I instantly stepped back, making the wolf growl. It was low and menacing.

Noah then bent down and used his head to gesture for me, which I concluded was permission for me to climb on his body.

"It's okay, Vio. Just think of him as a big and fluffy dog. They are harmless and cute." I mumbled as I mounted him.

The wolf suddenly growled after hearing what I said. But I didn't understand a thing. He might want to communicate, but we were different species talking in a different language. So, no matter how much he tried, for me, it would always sound like a dog barking.

"Stop barking!" I said after finally settling on top of its body.

The wolf growled again, but I opted to ignore it since I couldn't do anything about that.

"Stop it. It's not cute anymore." I finally responded after the wolf refused to stop growling.

Then all of a sudden, the wolf started running without giving me a warning.

"Argh! Stupid beast!"

I screamed along the way nonstop. My body shook on top of him. I gripped his smooth fur to save myself from falling stupidly.

As the journey began, the wind and snow kept hitting my face, freezing my muscle. Fortunately, this big fluffy dog was with me to share its warmth. So despite the suffering, the trip was bearable for me.

The journey lasted for a full five days. We passed several packs along the way. Blood venom pack and Nightfall pack were among those. I remembered them because the two packs had a huge pillar at their gate. We, however, didn't stop.

The wolf kept running until it finally saw a sign of the gate of Cresent Pack. Then it stopped.

My body shivered while we waited, so I rubbed my body to his warm fur, trying to make myself warm. I didn't know how long we stayed outside, but I could guess he was attempting to reach for his acquaintance in this pack.

From the book I read, Lycan had a special way of communicating, which no other species posses. They could talk with each other through a mind link. It was a great ability, one I would like to have. It would be amazing to speak without exerting energy on opening my mouth. But it was weird to know that mind-link could be done to another pack member. The theory clearly stated it was used to communicate between pack members.

I supposed Noah might have a unique ability; that was why he could do that.

Sooner after, I saw a man with unkempt silver hair and clear blue eyes running in his robe. He stopped after seeing us.

"Noah!" The man bellowed as he ran toward Noah.

They must be close enough for him to welcome Noah with a big, welcoming smile.

They remained silent again, and then I knew that they were talking by mind-linking.

"Let me hug you, and you can stay for as long as you want."

I lifted my body to sit straight. I knew my appearance must be messy because the wind kept hitting me, making my blonde hair all over my face. Also, my clothes were damp because of the snow.

I waited patiently until the wolf lowered itself so I could step on the ground again.

That silver-haired man suddenly laughed again for something I wasn't aware of; then, he looked over his shoulder to talk with his servant.

"Bring me a set of robes for our big wolf here."

A few moments later, a red robe was delivered to him.

"You should let the young lady off your back before shifting." I almost wanted to hug him for telling Noah to let me down.

The wolf then bent down, and I immediately jumped to the ground, almost losing my footing in the process.

The wolf took several steps away from us before I once again saw it shifting. To my utter horror, I couldn't stop my eyes from raking all over his body until they finally landed on his groin. And that shameless man dared to put his hands on his waist, proudly flaunting his asset in front of me.

Oh, Lord. I almost wanted to vomit at the moment. In my nineteen years of life, I never once saw a naked man. Sure, I cross-dressed for a long time, but I had tried my best to avoid the place where men would show each other's bodies.

I brought my palm to cover my mouth as I kept overserving Noah up and down, from his chiseled chest down to his perfectly shaped stomach, and ended up on the thing hanging between his legs. I couldn't avert my gaze; I kept looking at it intensely, which made it grow bigger the longer I watched it.

"Stop flaunting your shivered cock, Noah. The young lady is scared because of you." The man hurled the robe at Noah and winked at me. "Kasha Weinstein, Alpha of Cressent Pack."

"Violette Daley," I said and accepted his handshake. "You have a pretty earring." I blurted out unconsciously. I had noticed it since the first time and wondered why a man would wear one, considering it was uncommon.

"Oh, this," Kasha touched the red ruby on his earring and smiled. "Someone gave it to me."

"Do—"

Noah came between us when I wanted to ask where I could buy it, shielding me from Kasha.

"Take her to bath," Noah commanded Kasha's servant impolitely. And only when Kasha nodded did his servant finally take me away.

I was brought to a spare room in Kasha's private manor. The servant who escorted me was a she-wolf named Martha.

"Here, my lady."

"Do I smell bad, Martha?" I asked and hoisted my arm and tried to smell myself. Several people we passed were sniffing the air, which made me self-conscious.

"You don't, my lady," Martha answered and began to help me undress.

"I can do it by myself. You can wait for me outside." I grabbed my cloak before Marta could take it off my body.

"I am afraid I can't leave you alone, my lady. This is my duty, and if I am to wait for you to bathe, I will be punished for not serving Alpha's guest properly. So please let me help you."

I then sighed and let Martha do everything for me. Living as a servant was not easy. Be it on human land or this land.

After my clothes pooled on the ground, I entered the tube. Martha helped scrub my body tenderly, almost making me want to sleep. But then, she suddenly stopped.

"Are you sick, my lady?"

"No, why do you ask?" I inquired back while playing with the water.

"There is a faint green dot on your back."

Martha's words sent a chill through my body.

'Stupid, stupid, stupid. How could I forget about the green dots? How could you be so stupid, Violette?' I screamed internally.

The green dots were the sign of a witch. The dots only appeared when I lost much of my inner energy or felt physically drained. When I regained them back, they would eventually disappear. But sometimes, it would take too long for me to recover, so to cheat, I consistently applied a special lotion for the witch to my whole body every two days.

I was under tremendous stress and was exhausted these days, so I completely forgot about that.

"I am just a bit tired. That always happens, so don't overthink it."