The sound of raindrops filled my room and the cold breeze from my open window pierced through my body. I held out my hand to feel the water droplets touch my hand. Rain always made me feel so peaceful and calm, washing away my worries and fear for a moment.
When I was locked up in the underground room, the sound of rain was the only thing that I heard. It reminded me that I was still alive and accompanied me to bear the pain in my body. It gave me the strength to stay alive, to not waste my mom's effort in keeping me in this world. I know there must be a meaning to every soul that was brought to this world, and I will not give my life up before I find the purpose of my very existence.
Today was my last day staying here and I haven't told Sir Luke that I'll be leaving. I need to thank him for taking such good care of me these last few days. I walked out of my room to search for him. I think he won't be in his room because it's noon, and I know he is a busy man. Where should I go to find him? Maybe I should ask the people working here. I walked around to search for someone that I could ask, but nobody was around. I kept walking around the house and found a garden. The garden was filled with roses, and the smell of roses roamed freely in the air. Too bad I can't go out of the house or else I will get soaked.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
I turned around and saw Andrew behind me, also staring at the garden. This man always appears out of nowhere. "Luke's mother loved roses, so we filled the garden with roses," he said, smiling.
"I have never seen her around," I replied nonchalantly.
"Well, that's because she's not here anymore," he held his forefinger vertically, pointing towards the air.
Feeling I'd just asked something sensitive, my mouth formed into an 'O' shape as in a knowing manner and I quickly changed the topic, "Where is the Sir?"
"Probably in his office," he glanced at me, a hint of amusement was seen in his eyes, "You want to meet him?"
I nodded, "I have something to say to him."
"Follow me," he said before walking away from the garden.
I followed the man quietly, though a bit disappointed that I had to leave the garden so soon. After walking a few distances from the garden, we soon arrived at a different building than the one I was used to. We were now in a three-story building that was mostly in the color white, making it look very neat and clean. I saw a few people glancing at me but then looked away when Andrew glared at them.
"How's your condition?" he asked without looking at me.
"Yes?"
"I heard you got attacked by Denise."
"Oh," I said, realizing his question, "I'm fine, thanks to Sir Luke. Did Sir Luke do something to her?"
"Sure he did. She lost one of her arms and now she has to live as a servant," he answered calmly.
I gasped, surprised by what happened to her. I know she attacked me, but isn't that too severe for a punishment?
Andrew noticed my surprised expression and said, "She made a few troubles too before, so we just punished her for her delayed punishment. Luke also had never liked her before, so after what she did yesterday, it was the right time to dispose of her from her position. That girl just added fuel to the fire," he sent me a smile. "Don't think about it too much."
Though I still think that it was too much of a punishment, I didn't say any more words as I was only an outsider. Andrew stopped walking and pointed towards a door.
"There it is. That's the office," he said, before bidding his goodbye and walking away. "Now, I shall take my leave. Have a good talk."
I walked towards the door he pointed to before and raised my hand up to knock on the door. Before I knocked on it, the door swung open by itself, taking me by surprise.
"Good morning," Luke smiled. "Come in."
I walked into his office and saw a pile of paperwork on his desk. Apart from his messy desk, everything in this room was very neatly arranged and mostly furnished with brown-colored furniture. This room gave off a warm and cozy feeling despite the amount of paperwork stored in this place.
"Are you busy, sir?"
"Not quite," he responded as he sat on his sofa and motioned to the sofa in front of him for me to take a seat. "Do you want some tea?" He lifted the teacup that was placed on the table, pouring the content into the cup in his other hand.
"No, sir. Thank you for the offer," I replied, giving him a small polite smile.
"So, what do you want to talk about?" He nodded, asking as he raised his cup to his mouth, gulping down the tea.
"Um... I'm here to say that I'll be leaving tomorrow."
When he heard me, his hand froze in mid-air, his eyes widened as he stared at me. "Pardon?"
"Thank you for your generosity these past few days. I don't know how to repay your kindness, but if you have anything in mind, I will do my best to repay you."
"Why?" he inquired, placing the cup back on the table, "Do you have any place you can go?"
"Yes," I nodded, "I do have a place in mind."
"Where?"
"A place my mom told me about before," I fiddled, as I myself was not sure about that place. I just felt that I couldn't stay here for long.
"Where, exactly?" he asked again, urging me to tell him my destination.
"Somewhere in the southern forest."
"And you want to go there alone?" He asked again, as though he was questioning my decision. I nodded my head to him and he sighed, "No, I won't allow you to do that."
This time, it was my turn to ask him, "Pardon?"
"I won't let you go there. You can't even protect yourself and you want to go to the southern forest? You don't even know what's inside that forest."
"B-but it's my choice whether I want to go there or not," I replied. Though I knew that his intentions were kind, it should be up to me to decide.
"Yes, I know I should respect your decision, but I can't let you go," he massaged his temples, again, sighing.
"Why?"
"Because you are a very important person to me, and I can't let anything bad happen to you when I just found you," he said, staring at me without tearing his gaze away from me even for a second.
What is he talking about? We have only known each other for less than a week, and I doubt we were that close to each other.
"If you want to repay me, then stay," he said.
I stared at him with a frown on my face, "Sir, I can't stay here forever. I don't belong here."
"Why can't you?" He asked. "You can stay here for as long as you want, and I will provide you with everything that you need. Isn't this a better choice than going to a dangerous forest by yourself? You can live a comfortable life here."
"I... I want to live alone," I said hesitantly, and he looked at me with a hurt expression on his face. Why is he looking at me like that?
"You don't trust me, do you?"
I stayed quiet for a few seconds, hesitating a little before answering, "...I don't."
"Violet, I won't ever hurt you," he sighed, still insisting that I stay, "I know bad things happened to you yesterday, but I promise it won't happen again."
Why is he being like this? Wouldn't it be better for him if I left? There wouldn't be any strangers living in his manor, and he wouldn't need to provide things for me. Furthermore, I was staying here for free. There weren't any benefits for him by letting me stay here.
"I know you have been nothing but nice to me, sir. But I want to live alone comfortably, away from other people that could possibly hurt me. I... I don't trust others."
He sighed again and stared at me unwaveringly, "Then at least stay here for a month. You can see whether you can trust me or not. If I do something bad to you, then you can leave immediately. In the meantime, you can also train with my warriors on how to fight. Isn't it better to be prepared rather than leaving now?" He said to me, almost... pleadingly.
It was true that it would be better for me to learn how to fight rather than being clueless about it. I was actually risking my life by going to that forest now. But... I felt a bit uncomfortable living here without doing anything.
"Then... can you give me a job? I don't like the idea of living here for free. I want to at least do something to help you," I said, and his face lit up immediately after hearing my words.
"So you will stay if I give you a job?"
I was hesitant, as I didn't know whether or not this was the right decision. But on second thought, he hadn't told me about what happened with Anna, and I needed to wait for him to tell me that. He told me before that it would take some time for him to know what happened, as he needed to clear a few matters in hand before going to Quinn's manor.
"Yes."
Hearing it, he smiled at me and said, "Then you can start working tomorrow. I will ask someone to explain to you about your job."
...
After Violet left my office, I exhaled my breath, feeling relieved that I could convince her to stay for another month. I couldn't let her go after I finally met her. I would do anything I could to earn her trust and make her stay by my side.
Just a few moments after Violet left, the door to my office swung open, and Andrew came in.
"Can you at least knock?" I asked, annoyed at how he entered as if it was his own room.
He only smiled, asking, "What did she talk about?"
"She said she wanted to leave tomorrow."
"What?"
Ah, the exact reaction I had. Of course, anyone would be surprised to hear that our Luna would be leaving right after we found her. We had searched for her for years, so there was no way we would let her leave just like that.
"And you let her?"
"Do you think I'm an idiot?" I huffed, shrugging, "I convinced her to stay for another month by giving her a job."
"What kind of job?"
"I don't know," I stayed quiet for a few seconds, thinking about what job I should give her, "A secretary? That way I can stay with her all day," a big smile appeared on my face thinking about the idea I just got.
"But you never wanted one when I told you to get one."
"I changed my mind," I gave him a smile before shooing him away, "Now, leave."
"I should have known when she read those useless books at the library," he said, ruffling his hair.
"What book?"
"Some books on how to fight. You should've seen her punching and kicking the air," he said while laughing. "Right," he added, finally realizing his purpose for coming here, "Jack called me that they were coming back in a few days."
"Already?" I glanced at him.
"Yes, she didn't take too long this time."
Jack, my Gamma, went out to accompany Maggie, the witch that has been living in my pack. She usually went out every six months to search for some herbs and items that she needed for her witchery. She has been helping my pack with some things in return for her safety.
[There are two rogues detected on the north border] The voice of one of my warriors came through the mind-link, causing a groan to escape my lips.
The rogues' attack has been happening more frequently these last few days and it was starting to get on my nerves. I needed Maggie to make some magic barrier around my territory when she comes back later.
[Kill one of them and capture the other one. We need to get some answers from him. Don't let them run away just like last time] I ordered through the mind-link. I then stood up, taking off my clothes as I said to Andrew, "I'll look around the woods."
"Do you want me to come too?" He asked while taking off his clothes as well.
"No, I'll go alone. You go check on the rogues," I opened the window, jumping out of the office. I immediately shifted to my wolf, then proceeded to run towards the forest.
Who the hell was controlling these rogues? What do they want from us? Werewolves hearts... I didn't think there was any use for them when they were not attached to one's body. We couldn't let them get what they wanted. Maybe I should train all of my pack members so that they can defend themselves. Those rogues wouldn't have much time on the border without getting detected, so if all pack members could at least defend themselves for even a minute or two, it would give enough time for the warriors to arrive at the spot.
Should I send someone to follow the rogues? It would be a very risky act, but it would give us some hint as to who was controlling them. If only they came out of their hiding and announced war on us, we could kill them off faster. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to be that stupid and brave enough to do that.
Nothing unusual was seen in the forest, so I went back to the manor. But as I neared the manor, I heard a scream, my mate's scream. Taken aback, I immediately ran at my quickest pace and saw a rogue dragging Violet out of the house. I lunged at the rogue and landed my body on top of him, using my weight to hold him down.
"Ah, is she your mate? Alpha Luke," the rogue sent me a grin, a grin so ugly that I wanted to rip that grin off his face. "Do a good job protecting her," and that was his last words.
I growled and quickly tore his head off before he could shift, causing his body to lay lifelessly on the ground. Violet stared at the rogue's dead body with a terrified look and I stepped forward towards her but she stepped away from me.
"N-no..." she shook her head, moving back a few steps away from me with a quavering voice.
I didn't want her to see such a terrifying scene, but I had no choice. What if she is scared of me now? I wanted to hug her so badly, but I couldn't. Not in this state.
I ran back towards the forest to shift back and grabbed the pile of clothes prepared on the ground. After I clothed myself, I immediately went back to the house to find Violet.
"Violet, can I come in?" I knocked on her door, but she didn't respond back to me, making me feel even more anxious than before. "I know you are inside, Violet. Please, can you open the door for me?" There was still no response, and I swear I could hear a sob from inside. "Violet, talk to me. I can help you," I said, letting out a little groan.
I heard a few small steps before she opened the door, letting me take in her appearance. I went inside and closed the door behind me. I held her hand and led her towards the sofa. She didn't say anything and kept looking at the ground while stifling her tears. I brought my palm to her cheek, raising it up so that she faced me.
"Don't cry, you are breaking my heart," I said while wiping her tears away. She hitched her breath and stared at me with her teary eyes, her brows furrowing together, "Did he say something to you?"
She nodded her head to my question, which let another stream of tears fall from her eyes.
"What did he say?"
"H-he said that... I will soon meet the same fate as my mom," she answered in between her tears, "They will kill me too. I... I'm scared."
"Don't be," I brought her body close to me and hugged her tightly, my hand patting her back softly. "I will be by your side. I won't let them lay their hands on you ever. Look who's dead now, it's them—not you."
She reluctantly nodded her head, leaning it on my chest, and cried until she fell asleep. I carried her to the bed and laid her down slowly. Her eyes were now puffy and dry tears stained her cheeks, but she still managed to look like a goddess. I stroked her head, planting a soft kiss on her forehead.
"I will protect you, fuck these rogues."