Chapter 114: Chapter 114

TRISTAN:

I was surprised by her sudden rejection of our fated mate bond that I was not able to act or say anything at all.

Dahlia seemed prepared though. She used this time to repeat her words.

“I, Dahlia, am rejecting you, Naskan Olrich. I am rejecting you as my mate. Please free me from this bond, and find your new mate from now on…”

Of course that did not work. First, because Dahlia did not say her last name, and second, I was not really Naskan…

I wanted to laugh out loud if it wasn’t for the fact that the bitter sting of rejection was hurting my heart so damn hard!

“Do you really mean it? Do you want to reject me that badly?!”

I shook Dahlly, who was still taken aback by surprise since nothing had happened.

“Damn it, don’t you know how hard it has been to keep everything together inside me this long? Do you know how worried I had been for you every single day that we were apart?”

My hands were shaking as I continued to grip Dahlia hard on her shoulders. “Do you not know how tortured I feel that you don’t have any clue who I was or who we are to each other? You haven’t even remembered me, but now all you wanted to do was to reject me!”

If Dahlia had succeeded with her rejection, what could have happened? Would I feel doubly wretched inside? Would there be a seething pain in my chest as her mate mark burn itself away from my body?

I doubted being rejected would come easy. It would have been easy if Dahlia and I have not consummated our marriage yet, but since I’ve gained her mate mark, I’m sure it would be totally different.

I’ve even heard numerous tales of discarded mates killing themselves after a rejection from the sheer pain of losing their fated mate’s mark...

Was she that deeply influenced by Samalah that she was willing to reject me – the one that the Moon Goddess had sent for her?

“I’m so sorry…” Dahlia said, finally breaking down into tears. “I’m sorry…”

I let go of Dahlly’s shoulders. I was too damn hurt to even try to console her at this point.

I came back into camp and smothered the fire in our midst. It was already morning, and I was not in the mood to sleep any more.

It took a while for Dahlia to come back to camp, and when she did, she avoided me. She went straight into folding her sleeping articles while I prepared food and drinks for our breakfast silently.

Samalah had not yet risen. I put the bread and bowl of milk next to Dahlia without a word before I picked up the washcloths from the dirty laundry bin and head out towards the river.

I couldn’t think straight. It was the first time Dahlia has ever hurt my feelings this badly. In the past, I have never questioned her love for me. Even when she found out I had betrayed her, she had never once mentioned rejecting me…

So why now was she willing to reject me that easily?...

Just because of a couple of vile words from Samalah, Dahlia was willing to reject me in a whim… How else would she behave if she learned of the truth that I am her husband and that I married her for revenge?

“No, let’s not think about it,” I muttered to myself as I scrubbed at the dirty clothes in my hand. “Let’s not think of what could happen if Dahlia really rejects us,” I repeated the words to myself.

Despite repeating those words, I couldn’t keep the thoughts away from my mind.

I miss my Dahlia - the sweet innocent wife who smiled every time we locked eyes since the day we married each other.

‘But that Dahlia was a fake,’ I heard someone said inside my head. ‘That Dahlia didn’t know who you were, Shadow wolf.’

For the first time in a long time, despite her nagging, I was glad to hear the voice of a beautiful brown wolf speaking to me through a mind-link.

‘Eva! You’re back! You can hear me?’

‘Unfortunately, yes… I can hear your self-pity even from the farthest corner of the Animal Spirit World,’ she said in obvious sarcasm.

Eva was really back, but how come I could talk to her when Dahlly couldn’t?

I needed not to ask. She proceeded to tell me herself. ‘That red ruby stone or whatever, it’s preventing me from talking to Dahlly… And that sly she-wolf, I think her magic is also suppressing my bond with Dahlia…’

So Samalah’s presence was also detrimental to Dahlia. But how in the world could I tell Dahlia just that when she trusts Samalah more than her own fated mate?

‘Find a chance to separate them, even for a while. Maybe if Dahlia could talk to me, I can help explain everything to her,’ Eva said in my head.

It was a comforting feeling to have Eva inside my mind just then. Both Arthur and Albus were also prancing around in happiness. Even when everything else seemed to fall apart for me and Dahlia, having her here made me feel that we are still the one destined for each other…

I was still taking my sweet time appreciating the presence of Dahlia’s wolf when I began to smell the foul stench of intruders.

At first, it was just one, but more were coming in a really alarming rate.

Without another word, I stripped my clothes and galloped back towards the camp in Arthur’s form.

“Someone’s here,” I roared at Dahlia.

Samalah immediately bolted up from the make shift bed.

I didn’t have time to explain when they descended upon us - several rogue wolves. Overhead, the skeletal remains of two flying dragons, most probably controlled by magic, also swooped down fiercely.

I could tell they only came here with one target in mind - my lovely Dahlia.

I didn’t have time to think. I swerved in between Dahlia’s legs and carried her into my back. I would never let anyone or anything, dead, or alive, magical or not, to take her away again from me like Samalah did at the auction house.