Eden woke up with a lifeless face. Last night she had another dream again. This time her dreams were so clear and felt so real. She only gains consciousness back when she heard her name called at the edge of her ear— loud. The cold sweat that soaked all over her limbs clearly showed that her dream last night was a bit creepy. Although she paid less attention to the entire situation she was in at the time she swears that she could see their faces this time. They look real and existent like in real life. Eden took a deep breath before releasing it with a sigh.
She woke up last night at 3:00 am in the early morning and could not sleep back again until her clock started to crawl to 7:00 am this morning. And now is the time for noon. Fortunately, she just has one class today and will start in the mid-afternoon. So there is still a lot of time for her to get ready. Eden got up from her bed and walk into the bathroom. She wants to get soaked a little longer today.
After finishing dressing, she walked out of her room and headed to her kitchen to prepare herself, some lunch. She plans to cook ground beef carbonara with fruit salad as her dessert. Satisfied with her choice that day, Eden immediately start to cook without any other thought in her mind. All she can think of right now is to eat the delicious meals as soon as possible because she was famished.
She has been used to managing herself since she start to live alone five years ago— after she got admitted to CU to further her studies in the field of chemical science and ancient history, where she participated in three master's faculty departments of anthropology; classic; history; philosophy and religion. She also does some interpreting of the ancient manuscripts that involved surrounding the supernatural world and the clans that directly had the connection or involvement with it.
Most of the old manuscripts that she had worked on so far are provided by the DPO which contain the sacred prophecy of the soul bearer or the breeders. For the past two years, she has been doing some research and travelling out as far as Ethiopia, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Romania, and the icy cold land of Alaska looking for any signs or clues of where she can find the real soul bearer. Because she was still underage at the time, either her parents or brother will keep her company and guardian during her outside work.
This year she'll turn 18 in six more months, as her birthday falls on the same day as the first day of the full moon festival this year. She'll be travelling out to London to look for the soul bearer because there is a rumour, of the first soul bearer mummies had been found in the secret tomb inside the underground of the old cathedral two months ago but yet not confirmed by the DPO and she is still waiting for the result.
They need to find the soul bearer before the full moon festival arrival this year or they'll have to wait for another 25 or 50 years again. If they failed to find the soul bearer or the breeders in time, the heir needs to do the forbidden ritual, by sacrificing a young virgin girl on the first second of the full moon they see at the Eunoia River, on the Bloodstone altar near the Bloodmoon pack territory. The young virgin maiden is selected among the DPO clan's members between the Witches, humans, and werewolf clans.
The cold—blood kin and the demons are discluded from the ritual simply because they are formed by souls and not by pure flesh like other clans. So the maiden will be chosen amongst the Witches, humans and the werewolves —either from the omegas or she-wolf. The sacrificer family will be honoured with good lives and treated like a noble family with a high lifestyle status and respect.
After cleaning the dishes, Eden packs her bag and scroll through her text messages— reading and replying to text messages she got from her parents, brother and sister, the King — her Alpha, and her college dean, Dean Rasmussen. Why suddenly did Dean Rasmussen text her and not called her like usual? And he even purposely wrote it using the Morse Codes that quote 'ASAP! Meet me in my office as soon as possible after you read this message.
Without delaying a second, Eden hurried to walk out of her apartment and ride her bicycle towards her college fast. Parking her bicycle at the bicycle lot, she strides ahead straight to the dean's office. Eden knocked on the door office first before going in after hearing a voice of permission for her to enter. Dean Rasmussen greeted her with his gentle smile like always.
"Please have the sit first before we can proceed" Eden took her seat on the chair facing the dean—oak tables. He gave Eden a paper and asked Eden to read it just for her to know without even mouthing out the words, feared to be heard by enemies who also have keen ears. "They already confirmed it an hour ago. It got the same sigils on her left arm just like the manuscripts you read before" Dean Rasmussen also pointed to the papers in Eden's hands.
The paper also includes the autopsy of the mummy and how they identify the sigils. Based on the information in the papers, they will open the participation for the candidates from the eligible clans to choose their perfect young maiden to be the next breeder or the soul bearer by touching the sigils on the mummy. Each clan's members can bring more than five people as long as they are all qualified to participate. "Does the king know about this?" Dean Rasmussen nods.
"They also request another expertise from our side to help them more while studying the mummy. And of course, we will try to conceal everything and anything that may bring doom to our world..." continued, Dean Rasmussen again with his grins this time.
"The Ruler and their respective heir will be attending the ritual but will not present there —at the same chamber with the candidates. They will be in the other room monitoring the whole procedure from there. The DPO also had granted the cathedral request by sending one person from each pact clan to supervise the entire ritual this time" Eden exhale and agreed with the DPO's plans this time. If something happens, the DPO knows how to deal with it later. "We agree to send you as the representative from our clan" Eden was caught by surprise when Dean Rasmussen told her about it.
"But why me? We are supposed to send one of the elders to go there because they are more experienced than me" Dean Rasmussen shook his head slowly before answering Eden and telling her why she was the perfect person for the job. DPO wants her to go because she had been involved with these sacred things for quite a long and understood the whole situation better than the elders.
After the meeting with the dean, Eden walks towards her locker and takes off the chain from her neck. She put it inside the small pouch before placing it back inside and locking her locker back. Eden then walks towards the restroom and holds her backpack with her hands. As she hurriedly walked suddenly her small body was dragged drastically towards the restroom by force. Eden was surprised as she was now inside one of the close cubicles in the man's restroom- in the blink of an eye. Eden was squeezed between his muscular body and the wall inside the small place. She heard him growl behind her ears and when she struggled to get out of his tightened arms, he suddenly warned her —enough to make her freeze looking at him.
"Stop wiggling or I swear I will take you here right now!" Eden stops moving and crosses her arms in front of her chest area. He then starts sniffing Eden's neck back again and tracing it with his nose so close starting from her earlobe to her collarbone, inhaling like she is some kind of drug to him. "Mine!"
"Stop moving! Grrrg..." he snaps and glares wildly at Eden. Eden bites her lower lips hard. She wishes the place were empty so she can teach him some manners when dealing with girls and get rid of him as quickly as possible. When she tries to push him a little, he begins to growl back at her again and press his firm body towards Eden more.
"Who are you?" Eden wants to answer but before she has a chance to speak he suddenly presses his lips against Eden and starts assaulting her lips without mercy. Eden try to shove him away but he held her tightly by the waist while his other hand cupped the back of Eden's neck. He purposely press his body hard on her so she can't move or even try to kick him in the middle as her feet were separated between his thighs.
"Let go of me!" Eden begs with her voice shaking and out of breath after he assaulted her nonstop. He still refused to let her go and holds her close to him as he inhaled her scent like she was his favourite meal. "What is that you want, mister?" Eden asked with her annoyed voice. And finally, for the first time since the last time she saw him at her 3rd year birthday party —she now bravely looks directly into his forest green eyes that somehow flash to black in a second before changing colour a few more times in front of Eden.
He pressed his lips between his teeth when he realized she was looking at him confused. Her big eyes were coloured ocean blue, which looked so adorable and beautiful. "You are human? But... why your scent smells like my mates?" Eden sense his amusement earlier when he keeps attacking her lips and now he can't help looking back at her with his gloomy and upset face. 'So he finally regrets it? What a type of feeling man he is!' Eden asked herself while their eyes continued to look at each other silently.
"Sorry, I shouldn't be so overreacting earlier... who are you?" he demands in his confused and warned voice. "It's impossible for humans to be mated with me! Answer me... before I turn this place upside down!" he shouted just enough to make Eden close her eyes slightly and tilt her face to her left side as his face was just an inched from Eden.
"I am not your mate! I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding..." Eden answered certainly about it. She just happens to smell like his mates maybe because she is working with lots of scents and not to mention using many aromatherapy essential oils for years— so logically, the essence can make her smelt like someone else's mate because of her work and the ingredients she has used all these years.
Looking bewildered, he demands a specific answer from Eden. "What made you so sure about it? And why you don't look panicked when I'm saying something like this? What do you know about mates and how do you know about it?" he observed Eden like a hawk waiting to snap its prey. Eden smiled and push him away from hovering over her so closely. She exhales with a small sigh coming out from her swollen pinkish lips.
"I am not your mate because what you smell out of me is not my real scent. I'm working at labs with lots of botanical ingredients and essential oils that somehow become my natural scent. Although it keeps changing every day depending on what I worked on that day... so maybe... I did put something that smells like your mates today... accidentally" commented Eden with her calm tone.
"I don't believe it!" his tone becomes more snarly and aggressive as he places his nose close back again until the tip of his nose meets Eden's skin and making Eden shiver and feel the weird spark all over her body. Something is not feeling right —right now! Why must she respond to his touch? He already dated Victoria for so long and all of sudden she is his mate?? That is the most ridiculous thing she does not wish to happen between them. The feeling somehow made Eden feel like the first feeling she had when he did the same inside the lab room four years ago.
"You did smell like our mates!" Eden froze back again when she heard the hoarse husky voice speak. 'So now his wolf has taken over his body' Eden shakes her head slowly. She is also confused about it too right now. Cause according to the prophecy, the heir is supposed can't find their mates when they hit their puberty year or until they reach half of their real age such as 25 or 50 years of age, etc.; — so the soul bearer or the breeders can be found. but if one of the heirs found their mate before the full moon festival after completing the 12 years circle all around the moon, then that means the soul bearer can only be found back, after the 12 years are complete and the three heirs are still unmated once again. So what about the mummy now? The one that they found at the underground tomb in London!
"I'm not your mate! At least I'm trying not to lie to both of you. You both got confused with my scent because I develop scent and turn it into a fragrance where the user can bath with it, sleep with it, and even wear it every day... you'll find me talking the right things after I take a bath and put the different scents into my bath water... that is if you want proof, of course," his dark orb made Eden feel uncomfortable. She wishes she can vanish into the thick air and forget this nonsense forever. She continues again.
"Look, if I were your mates, I supposed to feel something that can pull me towards you somehow. But right now, I don't feel anything. And honestly, I just feel intimidated by your action and looked, right now..." Eden swallows her saliva when she saw his mood changing drastically again. His gaze felt like a fire that can burn her alive after she expresses what was inside her mind just now. But she was determined to continue and help him understand their situation right now.
"I know you'd never believe me if I said something like this, but I can guarantee that you'll thank me later, soon after you found her. I know all about these mate things 'cause I happen to know someone who lives among people like you..."
"What do you mean by saying, people like me? Why? Do I look like some kind of beast to you, huh!" he clenched his jaws while his eyes still looked hostile at Eden. "So what are you suggesting me to do after you made this misunderstanding situation look awkward and ridiculous?" He responds with a serious voice and puts all blame for the whole situation on Eden alone.
"Reject me" Eden replied gently. He suddenly sees red and grabs Eden's neck hard with his angry face. "What will make you feel when you reject someone or get rejected just because of an awful misunderstanding, huh? Do I look stupid to you? Or do you think this is just a joke... I've been patient enough to hear your stupid talks already!" he mutters with frustration that clearly can be heard from his trembling lips.
He only lets go of Eden's neck after she begins to feel suffocate. Eden sits on the toilet bowl holding her neck which feels pain whenever she touches it. She tries to hold her cough slowly so they don't attract others to notice them there. "At least you try and see if it affects you both!" he stayed there unmoving for some time, thinking about Eden's words.
"I Caleb Zachary Blake, reject you as my mate!" Eden feels her heart aching but can't express her feeling perfectly because she knew the three heirs are already been destined with someone who will be appearing this coming full moon festival when the soul bearer reveals it in front of the entire supernatural community.
"I accept your rejection" with that he kicks the cubicle door as hard as he can and let the door crash on the restroom floor with a big thud noise. Eden flinched with her eyes half—closed looking at her front which was now clear without any trace of him around. Eden inhaled and exhales, a few more times while touching her sore throat. She picks up her backpack that lay on the floor as she peeks from the small cubicles first— scanning before sprinting out there before someone sees her. She took out her cell phone and call to her professor telling him that she can't join the class due to her feeling sick suddenly and had to go to see a doctor.
Eden rode her bicycle back home with mixed feelings. She lock herself inside her bedroom and refused to answer any call that tries to reach her. She wants her time alone without any disturbance from others. And for the first time in her life, she cries herself out loud until she falls asleep with tears streaming down her pale face.