Aurelia RothchildI can't believe this is real.I mean, I was desperate, that's why I resorted to anything even if it's absurd. But the werewolves, the full moon, the curse.All along, they were all true?!"How dare you put a curse on me?" He whispered; his arms still wrapped around me. I could feel his warm breath at my nape which gave shivers down my spine."Get off me!" I pushed him in an instant. Instead of trying to attack me with those sharp claws he has, instead of glaring at me just like he did seconds ago, he was looking at me as if I'd shattered his heart into pieces. His eyes widened in shock like I just made his whole world crumble.The curse.It's just too absurd that it is true. I mean, how come a thousand-year-old folklore is real?!"What does that mean, grandma?" I asked my grandmother after she chanted the curse, my consciousness about to slip away any second now."It will make you invincible from the wolf. He won't be able to hurt you because...""Because?" I yawned, and before I could even hear the next thing, the darkness already took my consciousness away.I never knew what the curse meant. I never asked. After all, it was just folklore to me. Not until today."You just put a curse on me and now you're trying to reject the Great Azrael? You're one cruel of a woman, aren't you?" He gritted his teeth and tried to glare at me with anger, but not even seconds passed his eyes softened and the way he looked at me sent shivers down my spine. The way his eyes softened wasn't so matching with his black messed up hair and evil golden eyes."Are you crazy?!" I hugged myself tight, shivering from cold and fear. I immediately stepped back the moment he started taking steps forward. "Don't you dare try to come close again!""What?!" He looked at me, astounded. "You just put me on a curse to be your slave, so I naturally want to get closer to you! I now crave your physical touch, woman! Be responsible!"What?! A curse so he could be my slave?! That's what it meant?"It wasn't a curse to kill you?" I can't believe my grandmother taught me such an uncool curse. It could've been better if it was to strangle him to death just like what he did to me. An eye for an eye!"Ouch, love. Don't speak out your thoughts too loud." He sighed, sitting in an Indian seat position in front of me. He didn't try to come close again after what I said.Does this mean he will obey my every order? The curse did that?"I demand you to tell me how long the curse will take effect on you." I raised my head high, trying to sound brave although I was still shivering from the cold. And fear."What if I don't want to tell you?" He sarcastically replied, but minutes later he sighed again and planted a facepalm right on his nose."It will take effect until you lift the curse."The problem is, I was never taught how to lift the curse.But it's not much of a problem, I guess? It might be for him, but not for me. And he deserved that curse! After what he just did to me?! Serves him right!But it wasn't long before I felt a sudden wave of dizziness. My adrenaline must have died down and now that I had calmed down for a bit, my body remembered the throbbing pain in my back. There was a sudden ring in my ear and the next thing I knew the stranger was already carrying me in his arms."You need to get treated!" I heard him cursing, staring at me worriedly as if he wasn't the one who injured me badly."Don't you dare die on me, you fu-fellow creature!" I'm guessing he was supposed to curse me, but he can't. Shame on him. I push myself to give him a mocking grin before my consciousness finally slipped away.iii"What if she's dead and there's no way to lift the curse?""Then you'll miss her forever and try to die with her because you can't go on living without her.""And then you will be the greatest mockery of our history. A werewolf killing himself because he felt heartbroken for a human. What a mess.""Oh, shut up."I woke up with incoherent noises around me.Was it all a dream?Am I back at our mansion? The bickering sounded just like our nosy servants. Maybe I had drunk too much at my engagement ball. My mother would kill me for sure. I'm not allowed to get wasted or take a sip of alcohol. It's bad for the health.I pushed my lids to open, and I saw a low wooden ceiling,far different from what I used to look at every single day.I immediately sat upward, making the strangers around me shriek in horror. But more than that where am I? Who are they? Who took me in this filthy-looking bed?!"So, you're not dead."My head turned to my right, his familiar blonde hair back again. The guy who was trying to climb down a few windows next to me. The guy who saved me. I supposed it's him. He was the only one on my right and the others, two guys on my left."Where am I? And...!" I looked over myself and my eyes widened when I noticed I was no longer wearing my torn gown. I'm clothed in some ugly black shirt and a plain trouser?! I shivered in disgust and simply wanted to vanish right now. Please, tell me I'm not actually wearing these things. I should've readied a baggage or two before trying to attempt an escape. Maybe I should've brought Anastasia with me."Gwen changed your clothes." One of the strangers, the friendly-looking guy pointed at a girl which I didn't notice was leaning at the wall behind them, reading a newspaper."Don't worry, we're not bad some bad guys," he continued. I can't even see his eyes because he's always smiling brightly."Not some bad guys?" I scoffed, crossing my arms as I stared at one guy sitting on a stool, looking sharply at me. "Then why in the world did he try to kill me in the middle of the night after trying to save me from some werewolf? Is he just simply mad?"I heard the others trying to suppress their laughter. Is it a matter to laugh at?!"Unfortunately miss, you just encountered Azrael, Lucian's uncontrollable wolf.""I'll get the soup ready." As if the blonde-haired guy, Lucian, I suppose, who is wearing his suspender and a tweed cap like a middle-aged man, can't fathom to hear us talking about him, he left the room and went somewhere I don't care where to."I'm Flint by the way," The friendly-looking guy beamed at me. "The beta of the Pack and the official storyteller."Right. Werewolves function in packs. Just like wolves themselves."That bulky guy is named Scout," he pointed at the grumpy huge guy beside him. He waved at me and tried to smile but failed so he ended up giving up on that smile. Flint started telling me everything. Like how the guy who saved me, Lucian cannot control the wolf in him because it's too powerful. The wolf calls himself Azrael, and he's the one I encountered last night, raven black hair, and intense golden eyes with so much killing intent. He comes out every full moon, nights when Lucian cannot control him because their wolf is much more dominant when it's the full moon.Unlike the others who turn into their real wolf form when needed, Lucian cannot do that. Because Azrael doesn't want to. He remains in his human form when Azrael is out because according to them, Azrael likes being in human form a little too much. He's quite the talkative wolf, I suppose."You're lucky you weren't killed," Flint frowned. "Usually, no victims ever escaped him alive.""Then why not watch him every full moon? Aren't you his subordinates? Why do you let people get killed? Isn't that being a little too irresponsible?" I can't help but raise my concerns and frustrations. Like of course, I experienced it beforehand, and look where it got me! A bandage on my perfect forehead and an aching back! Don't they know they have to compensate me a lot for this?!"Watch your words, human," Scout, the bulky guy glared at me. But I only rolled my eyes at him. Experiencing near-death situation makes me lose my self-decorum in an instant. So much for all those etiquette lessons."We lock him every full moon," Flint replied. "And yesterday wasn't supposed to be a full moon. It really is weird."Each one of them seems to be in deep thought. But I'm not. Because I'm way past late in breakfast time. I can't skip meals! Even royalties like me believe health is wealth!"When will my meal arrive? I'm hungry." I pat my tummy and they all looked at me dumbfounded."Oh, right. I'll ask Lucian to hurry up." Flint stood up and went scurrying away."Do you have some face cleanser? I really need it every morning." I asked Scout, the bulky guy but he only looked at me like a huge question mark is plastered in his face. "You can't have that here, we're in the middle of the woods.""Wait, what?!""Here's your meal," Lucian arrived, placing a soup on my bedside table. "Eat.""Why are we in the middle of the woods? And is this not poisoned? What if you're trying to kill me again?" The soup smells good but who knows what he put in there?! What if they try to sell my precious and very valuable organs?!Lucian suddenly took the spoon and took a portion of the soup."There. Are we good now?"All of us look at him dumbfounded. I was taken aback because how dare he use my spoon to eat for himself?! Doesn't he know proper sanitation?!"You can't use the same spoon with a woman unless you take her as your mate..." Flint whispered, but it was enough to make me choke while I was carefully trying to eat the soup."Mate? What mate?" I asked but all of them had widened gazes, frozen still while they all looked shocked at Lucian.Lucian let out a frustrated sigh, as if they just caught him in a terrible crime."It wasn't me, okay?" he continued. "Azrael marked her as his mate last night.""Okay, what's this mate about?" I asked, very concerned because they all looked like a ghost just went past the room."It means..." Flint's eyes shook. "In human words, you are in a relationship with Lucian.""Oh, a relationsh- wait what?!"