Chapter 40: Chapter 40

“Wait here. I'm going to get you food,” she added and with a speed that belonged to no human, she dashed out of the room. Avril swallowed a lump in her throat and walked to the bed. She sat down gently and heaved a very deep sigh.

“Things are happening too fast,” she muttered to herself. She slipped her hand into her back pocket and pulled out her golden bracelet. It was then she realized that the bracelet could be hundred percent gold. From what she had seen so far, and what Aida said, the pack was very rich. There was no way the prince's bracelet would be fake gold.

She lifted the object to face the light shining from the ceiling. It shone as it swayed under her finger.

“My island wolf,” she mumbled as the memories of what he had said to her before he clasped it on her wrist, came back to her mind. She kissed it and pocketed it. She felt Alejandro's ring in there too, so she pulled it out. She smiled a bitter smile and rubbed the pretty ring with her thumb. It was weird and unfortunate that she got the best of men, but lost them in a bitter way. Alejandro was gone for life, and she wasn't sure Dakar would still be hers.

“Nice ring, my lady,” Aida's voice rang and Avril flinched a little.

“It's going to be a long while before I get used to that,” she muttered inaudibly.

“Just give it sometime. It'll sink in. You might even become one of us. Some of the humans who came into the pack were turned into were—” she gasped and covered her mouth. Avril chuckled at her.

Aida slapped herself twice and stamped her feet.

“I'm such a sharp mouth!” she cried and slapped herself again.

“You're sure that's not painful?’

“The last one was. My hand stings,” she answered and blew air on the palm she just used to slap herself.

“I'm not supposed to tell you anything. Goodness, what if Giacatches me running my mouth like this?”

“Running your mouth?” a female voice sounded behind Aida. Avril stretched out her head to look behind Aida. A taller and older girl was standing there. She was dressed exactly as Aida. Her skin was a darker tone than Aida's though.

“Nothing,” Aida retorted.

“Aida... I'm going to report you,” Gia said.

“No... Please no. I already slapped myself. See,” she wanted to slap herself again.

“That's enough slapping for today, Aida. You're not getting reported. It's fine,” Avril said while standing up.

“My lady,” Gia hailed and bowed with her hands clasped in front of her tummy.

“Up please. You'll have to skip that formality with me,” she said and pocketed her ring.

“It's my pleasure to serve the newest concubine of our prince,” Gia continued her formality despite Avril's frown.

“Thank you. Are you two the only maidens meant for me?”

“No, we're about ten. We'll all be here before the day is over,” Aida answered.

“Ten? What? No... I... I don't need that much. Jeez, just you two is quite enough for me. Ten? No way,” Avril argued.

“You can reject them if you want. I hate them anyway,” Aida cooed. Gia threw her a glare and she shrugged.

“You are?” Avril asked her.

“Gia. I'm Gia,” she answered.

“Okay. Gia, please be free with me. You see, Aida is already free with me.”

Gia looked at Aida worriedly, then back at Avril.

“But if we get caught—”

“You won't get caught. No one would notice if we're not in public.”

“Okay. I'll try.”

“Good. Now, can I get something to eat?”

“Yes, downstairs. I got some cakes from the bakery for you. And fresh grape juice from the winery,”Aida answered.

“But you would have to bath first. Aida, did you run the bath water?”

“I haven't.”

“I'll do that. You get her some clothes.”

“Okay.”

The two girls dispersed. Avril looked around the room once more and kept her eyes on the large window. The curtain was over it, but she knew it was there by the lights from outside. She walked to it and parted the curtains. She could see the rooftops of other similar buildings. And the gigantic castle that stood in front. She smiled as she realized she was actually with werewolves, and they were not harming her. She looked at the stone pavement between her building and the next. It was a path with very big and smooth stones. The other parts of the ground was embedded with tiny pebbles, but the paths between buildings were all big stones.

“I'll love it here.”

She heaved a deep sigh and was about to pull over the curtain when she sighted Dakar afar off. He was walking by a balconyof a medium sized castle,just a few buildings from hers. She could see him because his castle was higher than the other houses. Only the king's castle was bigger than his.

The bathroom door opened and Gia walked out. Avril looked back at her.

“Gia, is that the prince's castle?” she asked. Gia looked out the window and gulped down. Avril didn't need anything else to know that was truly his castle. She knew Gia wouldn't tell her because they were probably forbidden to do so too. But the look on her face told Avril that was truly the prince's castle.

“Is my bath water ready?” Avril asked.

“Yes, my lady,” she answered. Avril nodded and turned around. But before she walked on, she looked back at the castle and nodded her head.

Chapter 60

Prince Dakar needed to get to the roof of his castle. He pulled off his animal fur regalia and wore a black dress shirt. He tied his hair in a very messy bun and wore black pants alongside black boots. He grabbed his phone and walked out of his room.

“She is beautiful,” Derek, his wolf said in his head. He stopped walking and frowned.

“Stop-talking-about-her,” he gritted angrily.

“Don't command me... I'll talk about whoever I want,” Derek snapped back. Dakar heaved a deep sigh and rubbed his hand on his forehead. He looked at the lines on that arm, snake-like and black. People had thought they were new tattoes since they were on the same side of his wolf tattoo. No one, not even Camper, his closest knew they caused him pain on a regular. Whenever he thought about her, they burned deep into his body and soul, he would regret ever seeing her face in his head. He lived two years in fear of his own mind. Everything seemed to remind him of her, and that was how he burned every single day. He had trained himself to not think about her already.But since Dojo released his wolf to him, he had been having a lot tougher time to keep his emotions in check. His wolf wanted to know all about her. He wanted to feel what Dakar felt for her. But after realizing how much pain her thought brought to the both of them (Derek felt the burns too), he stopped asking about her.

But as ill-luck would have it, she found him. He had inhaled her scent from afar before they brought her to the throne room. He still recognized her scent after two years. Wasn't that crazy? He was very surprised but couldn't show it. She looked so beautiful and different. He wanted to grab her and pin her form against him but he couldn't. Dojo hated Avril. He would hurt Avril. Over the last two years, Dojo had become worse. He now had control of Dakar's character and even his head. He controlled him whenever he wanted. He made him bitter and spiteful. Dakar was almost bad. He hated everything and everyone. He had strange urges to see blood and took delight in cries.

The only time he could be himself a little, was when Dojo went back to the underworld at a certain time of the year. Then, he could smile and enjoy the littlest things. He was very fortunate to have seen Avril when Dojo had already left. But he still couldn't think about her too much, or Dojo would realize wherever he was.

“Prince Dakar,” Ñiraka's foggy voice drawled. He gritted his teeth and bit his lower lip afterwards. Amongst everyone in the kingdom, he hated her the most. But he needed her. She was the only tie he had to his mother and Anthena. Ñiraka still did not know that her mother was awitch and a deadly one at that. She also had no idea she was related to him. Which explained why she was sad about the fact that he never touched her since he returned.

“I want to be alone,” he said without looking back at her.

“MyPrince... That girl... She doesn't deserve to be a concubine—”

“I SAID I WANT TO BE ALONE!” Dakar turned and barked with his fangs drawn out. She screamed and almost fell to the floor.

“OUT OF MY HOUSE. NOW!”

She staggered out while holding her arms in fear. Dakar breathed in and out, then pinned his fangs on his lips. One pierced in and he withdrew them back in. He licked the blood, huffed and turned back to the direction he was headed. He walked through the hallway until he reached a turn that led straight to the door of the open balcony. They was also a staircase leading straight to the roof, but Dakar didn't want to climb long stairs, so he decided to go through the balcony instead. He opened the door and walked through the balcony. It was at that pointAvril had seen him.

He entered through the other door and climbed just three stairs before getting to the roof. He walked to a cupboard, opened it and pulled out a bottle of wine. They was a long table with chairs around it. He filleda glass with wine on that table then stood by the end of the roof. He kept drinking and thinking for long that he didn't realize it was already dark. He sensed someone behind him and quickly looked back.

“Dakar,” Avril called him. She was standing there with a red cloak over her head, and down to her feet. His body tensed up and his wolf stood at alert. He was alone withAvril, that was not good.

“How and why are you up here?” he asked with his new gruesome voice.

“I—I wanted to talk,” she stuttered.

“Talk?” he scoffed and dropped his half filled glass of red wine on the table.

“For your information, human, no one walks into my Chambers without being called. The penalty could be death if I chose that,” he said coldly. She sighed deeply and brought down the cloak from her head.

“I know. I was warned. But I decided to take my chances,” she stated.

“I see you're a stubborn one. I shall have you punished.”

“Punishment is fine by me. I can take pain. But Dakar—”

“—It's Prince Dakar,” he corrected impolitely and she nodded.

“Prince Dakar, do you remember me?” she asked.

“Remember you. Ha!” he scoffed and picked up his glass again.

“Get out,” he added.

She didn't move an inch.

“If you're here playing silly human jokes on me, I'll explain it to you that I am the last person here you play jokes on.Now, get your stinky figure out of here before you spend your first night here in the dungeons,” he ordered. Avril's heart suddenly began to beat faster. She moved back a bit then summed up some courage. She pulled out the bracelet then dangled it from her hand. His eyes caught sight of it and they suddenly began to glow red. The red light was increasing and Avril realized where she had first seen those red eyes before. It was not Dakar's eyes, but Dojo's.