"I'd rather suffer than be with that bloodsucking manipulator!"
"I'd choose this pain over Demitri. Anytime,any day" Aria snapped.
Aria dreamt of a fiery furnace. She tried running from it but a strong force pulled her into the furnace. There was no escape. She was burning alive yet she wasn't dying. She ached all over and her throat was dry from thirst. The heat was unbearable. She screamed and yelled but her voice echoed and no help came to her.
"Shit" Aria cursed when her eyes snapped open. No she wasn't dreaming. She was not fucking dreaming because it was too real. She ripped her silk nightgown apart and was left in her lavender lace underwear. She was drenched in sweat. It was as if she'd showered without drying.
"Fuuuucccccckkkkkkk!". She screamed as she felt a jolt of pain in her abdomen.
She hadn't just been dreaming. She was in heat. She didn't expect her heat to hit her so soon. The dream had not been any dream. In fact she had just been dreaming about what her body was going through while she slept. She writhed in pain on her bed.
She couldn't concentrate on anything. Upon trying to get off the bed and go and dump herself in a cold bath, she fell off the bed unto the floor and couldn't move anymore as her knees weakened.
"Lina!". She shouted with all the might left in her voice which was turning into a whisper by every passing minute.
She mentally thanked goodness for vampire hearing. If not for that she'd probably die of the heat. It didn't help that the crescent moon scar on her back burnt with equal fury.
In less than a minute after she called her sister, Lina was in her room.
"Shit. I can feel the heat radiating off you. What's happening?" Lina mumbled, a look of worry marring her beautiful face.
"Heat" Aria sneered. She already hated the word. One word. Heat. And the pain experienced during heat would only go away after mating. And she'd die before she did that.
"I'm sorry, you know this is out of my hands. I wish I could soothe the pain". Lina told her as she led her to the bathroom. It wasn't without difficulty.
Aria lay in the the cold water sobbing quietly. Lina felt her heart break for her sister. Aria was brave. The bravest woman she knew. Dealing with rumours in Ourà Fengàri wasn't easy no matter who you were. You could be freaking Thea Seléni and the rumours could humble you. They could show hate just as much as they could love. And even then she never broke down. When her parents kept making her feel less of a woman because she didn't have a mate, she never showed any sign of pain. It was like she wasn't even bothered. When she'd been poisoned by a member of the Queendom, she didn't flinch from pain even when the poison kept trying to still her heart. Her heart almost stopped working yet she never showed signs of pain or fear. Even when she lost her ability to practice magic for sometime, she never cowered in fear or hissed from pain.
All what Lina was seeing was new to her. She was writhing in the bath. Her arms tight around her midriff, her eyes shut as tears escaped them.Every now and then, she would hiss or yell or scream or curse.
All due to pain. The water in the bath tub had gotten hot.
Lina drained it and refilled it with cold water. She went out to call her mother. She definitely couldn't handle it on her own.
"Oh, Ismena". Dalcia almost sobbed at the state of her second child.
Aria managed to roll her eyes at her mother. She was going to scold her and she wasn't ready for that.
"Aria. Why keep being stubborn?. You'll both suffer if you keep denying the bond"
"I'd choose this pain over Demitri. Anytime, any day". Aria snapped.
The pain had subsided but it was only a few seconds till another wave of heat hit her hard making her groan.
"Don't say that. Aria after today you should just accept the bond and stop being stubborn". Her mother advised but she wasn't even listening.
Despite Dalcia's criticism, she helped Lina drag her sister back to her bed and then summoned Kyría Celma; leader of the witch coven to help them put her to.
The three of them; Lina, Dalcia and Celma formed a semi circle around Aria's bed and chanted a strong spell that would send her into a deep sleep. Fortunately,it was successful and Aria was knocked out.
As Dalcia was stepping out,she saw Doukai approaching from the corner of her eye and decided to wait till he got to her.
"The Vasílissa isn't in any state to see you". Dalcia snapped.
Doukai noticed the obvious bitterness in her tone but ignored it. Maybe the former Vasílissa was having a bad day because she never spoke to him in such a manner.
"She won't have to see me. I'll only have to be there for her, Kyría Dalcia." Doukai argued.
"I suggest you go back. Your presence could be detrimental considering the state she's currently in" Dalcia retorted.
"Even my presence won't be felt till she demands it. I'm only going to be there for her. Nothing else". Doukai assured and entered the room without waiting for another word from Dalcia.
He didn't want to prove disrespectful in any manner. He kept telling himself Dalcia was being bitter because she felt helpless. She didn't ask oi moíres and Thea Seléni to pair her daughter to a traitor. She was probably frustrated as a result of the pairing. So he had to cut her some slack. The pairing was out of her hands and he was sure if she could do anything about it,she would.
He sat in a chair when he was in the room. He stared at her sleeping state. Her curled eyelashes had fell on her cheeks due to their length, her rosy lips, her cute button nose with a mole beneath it and on it and her ever perfectly shaped eyebrows.
Well he wouldn't even notice a flaw on her face. He was blinded by his love for her. The moon wanted to ruin his plans. He'd accepted responsibility of being a keeper of the border spell and upon realizing he was bound to live without a mate, even then he held no bitterness towards the moon. He would live as a keeper till the threads of his fate had been torn.
That was the plan until the Vasílissa decided to find herself a chosen mate. They'd been friends since childhood and Doukai was her go to when Lina looked busy. They weren't as close as she and Lina were but they were quite close. And Doukai was well aware of the crush she had on him from their childhood.
Of course she'd choose him. He was known to be responsible and diligent in his work. The most trusted keeper and the perfect gentleman, unstained of any criminal reports. He agreed to be the chosen mate as he was without a mate. They could tolerate each other and their relationship would be just fine. Their relationship blossoming into love was the work of time. Time thought them the love they had now. And for the oi moíres and Thea Seléni to decide to take it away from them now, he couldn't imagine it.
Crescent Moon Pack
Pain. Pain. Pain.
The crescent moon in his left wrist kept burning so bad that he wanted to rip it out of his skin. But no matter how hard he clawed at his skin it didn't disappear. Now the moon was punishing him. For not mating with a bloodsucking manipulator. He was feeling the effects of her heat. A part of him was happy for the pain she was going through due to her heat but he regretted that when he thought of the pain he had to deal with for the rest of the day.
Just yesterday he'd been in pain because she couldn't act like a faithful mate. No. She'd already found herself a chosen mate and now he has to deal with the effects of her god-damned heat.
"Shit". Vita Vier muttered when he got to his Àlfa.
"Yeah shit is right. This shitty mate bond or whatever the fuck it is". Demitri gritted out despite the pain that wanted him to strangle his own self to death.
"I'll just get Viera". Vita Vier told him and dashed out of the room only for Meena to race inside.
"Oh no. Demitri.". Meena almost sobbed as she ran to him.
"Don't!" Demitri cautioned as she drew close to him.
"Doctor Viera is on her way". Meena told him in a low voice. She felt bad for him. She didn't like feeling helpless at all. She wished it was easy to hate the Vasílissa of Ourà Fengàri but besides the enmity between them even before their birth, she'd done nothing wrong. Only that she was a pawn used by Thea Seléni to do her bidding even though he brother believed otherwise. It was either he still thought he was being manipulated or he was just being stubborn.
"She can only sedate me. That's the only way to numb the pain. But Adonis hasn't recovered from wanting her blood so I suggest someone else does it or you leave me the fuck alone". Demitri said.
"Demi why don't you stop denying that this is a pairing from Thea Seléni and be free. You may not survive the next two waves of heat".
"I'd rather suffer than be with the bloodsucking manipulator". Demitri growled and immediately he ended his sentence a wave of heat hit him. He wanted to shift into his wolf so that the pain would reduce but it wasn't working.
The crescent in his wrist was burning all the more. His chest was aching. He'd rid himself of almost every clothing yet it didn't make him feel any better. His head was threatening to split open but even if he tried ripping it open,it wouldn't budge. All the muscles in his body ached and he couldn't seem to do anything about it. Well, he could do something about it only that he wouldn't. He would die before going to the Vasílissa of Ourà Fengàri. Those manipulators, putting everyone under an illusion so they can have their way.
"Àlfa". Doctor Viera whispered when she was in his room and she took in his state. His bloodshot eyes looked ready to kill. She saw his wolf surface, flashing her his golden eyes. Of course his wolf would want to teach her a lesson for making him shut down.
"Viera, I suggest you leave" Demitri bellowed making everyone flinch. Even Meena who had witnessed him being brutal enough times to be used to it.
"Here, Meena.". Viera turned to Meena, handing over the syringe and other medication to her and left.
Demitri wanted the pain done and over with but Adonis was being troublesome. Nothing but the touch of his mate would calm him down. Nothing except that. That's why he growled with every step Meena took towards him. His claws were out, ready to scratch anybody that got close. It took great skill and a game of trickery to get around Demitri but Meena did it. She sedated him in the end.
She stayed for a while just looking at him. Demitri had always been stubborn. Sometimes unreasonably stubborn but this wasn't unreasonable. He despised every creature in the Queendom. Faes, fairies, Valkyries, Vampires, witches and dragons. All of them. And she equally despised them too. Maybe not as much as her brother did but she hated them enough to not even want to near them. For all their lives, Ourà Fengàri had been a myth even though it was close. It was a myth because they had been separated from that Queendom. They were all servants of Thea Seléni but the witches forced them out and created enmity. That's the story they knew. Their history, the reason why they were no longer a part of Ourà Fengàri. It was all because of the witches. Witches were evil manipulators in their books. Witches were selfish beings and worse they had the tendency to murder in very skilled manners. That was the description of witches in the books of werewolves. They were bad news and everything evil.
Whatever oi moíres and Thea Seléni meant by the pairing of her brother and the Vasílissa of Ourà Fengàri. She had no idea what she'd do had she been paired with a witch.
For all they knew, Demitri was born without a mate. Anyone born with the crescent moon in their wrist was destined to be Àlfa and no Àlfa since recorded had a mate. That's one main reason why she detested witches. They took the Àlfa's right to be given a chosen mate. After the werewolves left the Queendom, no Àlfa born has had a mate.
"Fucking manipulators". Meena cursed with clenched fists.
Witches took away the joy of having a mate from the Àlfas and they could only have chosen mates. Thea Seléni refused to handpick another half of their souls for them as punishment for nothing that was their fault.
Most werewolves lost faith in Thea Seléni when it happened. They claimed she was just yet she couldn't see through the manipulation of her witch servants.
She wondered how she'd react if Viera, her mate had been a witch, a dragon, a fae, a fairy, a Valkyrie or a vampire. Her beautiful Viera, the loveliest person she had ever known. She'd probably act like her brother was acting. Maybe she wouldn't even consider talking to her till she died or disappeared.
Ourà Fengàri
Aria smiled with closed eyelids when she gained consciousness. She felt the sunrise even without looking at it. The sun rays cast a beautiful glow on her face and her eyelids opened out of their own accord. She was a bit startled to find Doukai with her. He was gazing at her with a smile.
"Kai". She said his name like a prayer. It was a prayer to her. A gift she'd been given by Thea Seléni, she believed. Doukai was everything she could want in a mate and oi moíres wanted to take him away from her. She couldn't imagine herself with anyone else. Living years with him as her forever, she saw no one else playing the role he was playing in her life.
"Kardíà"(heart). Doukai sighed moving to the bed. She pulled the covers off her and circled her arms around his neck.
His arms went around her instantly in an embrace.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be here." Doukai apologized.
"It's no fault of yours. I just feel torn Kai. The same Thea Seléni that made me think I was without a mate and watched me bind my soul to yours is threatening to take you away. Everytime I think of it, I feel like you're going to disappear like...like you weren't...".
"Shhh". Doukai pulled back to look at her and silenced her with a finger of her soft rose lips.
He removed that finger and traced her lips with his thumb while staring at her. He did so the way an artist would look at their muse.
Aria stared back, admiring how his blue eyes were trained solely on her.
"The moon may have refused to give me a soul mate but I found the half of my soul in yours. You said it yourself that we've bound ourselves together. Nothing is going to take me away, Kardíà". Doukai assured. His words made her smile.
She reached up to wipe a lone tear from the corner of his right eye.
"Sometimes I think you charmed me with words. You're so good with them".
"Only with you, Kardíà and only for you. Always" He said, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
"Nothing is going to take me away either, Kai"
"I know. I trust you"
"Will you be fine?". Doukai asked after a pause.
"Don't worry about me, Kai. Go about your duties." She assured him
"How could I possibly not worry about you. I live for your well being. Don't you know?" He questioned with an eyebrow raised.
"I'm good as new. I'm alright. Go"
Shortly after he left, Lina was in her room with breakfast.
"How are you?" Lina asked
"Do you want an honest answer or a simple answer?" Aria shot back.
"Don't lie to me, Ismena". Lina replied
"I feel relieved of pain but I'm worried about the next two waves of heat. I've never felt anything like what I felt yesterday. It was like being roasted alive".
"Aria maybe you should try accepting the bond. Only a few people have ever denied the mate bond and none of them made it through the third wave of heat. Aria, I don't want that for you"
"Maybe Kyría Celma could consult the moon. I don't want this"
"Once oi moíres weaves your destiny,it is bound to play out the way they wove it"
"Maybe this can be changed. There should be a way out"
"And what if there isn't a way out?"
"Then I die."
"Aria, you can't lead yourself to death like that"
"Well there's no option"
"There is! You could accept the bond"
"You do realize that Àlfa Demitri hates me right?"
"He came from Crescent Moon Pack to Ourà Fengàri not long ago. I doubt it would be difficult making him see reason"
"He thinks he's being manipulated"
"That could be fixed"
"Lina you're not seeing things the way I am. I love Doukai. I have let my soul be bound to his because I thought we both didn't have a soulmate. Can you imagine how much this is going to hurt him?"
"I know. This whole thing is fucked up"
"Exactly. Fucked up"
"Maybe we should really go see Kyría Celma" Lina suggested.
"Yes". Aria agreed.