I don't know what to say, my mouth opened, but I can't find the right word to say. He slammed his body against the trunk of the tree. I saw a glimpse of pain in his eyes the moment it met mine. There is something about him, that he doesn't want to tell me.

Moon of Goddess, it must be Daciana. But how could she? Every wolf has a mate, and how come Ryuu doesn't have one?

He's mateless…dying to an unknown curse. It seems like, destiny played him well to make her life more miserable. I shuddered and never thought of my scattered thoughts. I tightly gripped the golden necklace, as my cloak fell down on my head in the middle of our journey.

Likewise, I didn't notice he held my hands. Not only that, but I tried to avoid his gaze, but as the tiny wind blew my hair. It messed up. And seconds later, I found him strangling the two strands of my hair into my ear.

“Where's the ponytail that I gave you?” He suddenly said, making me anxious for a while. A small smile aroused in my lips, when I simply hide the ponytail in my back. I just want to tease him now.

There's nothing on him now, but an eagerness that can be seen in his eyes. I gave him a mischievous smile before I spoke up the words he needed to hear.

“I lost it, a while ago. Any problem with that?” I lied to him, and shrugged.

His eyebrows arched. He shifted his gaze to the front again. I want to tell him that my ankles are aching right now, but I have this feminine urge not to tell him. Maybe what else he will tell me. He might even think that I would like to get rid of the pain, and I know my ankle is swollen.

What on holy blue fire, you have been talking about, Fala? You've completely lost your mind. A small voice in my mind echoed.

“You've completely lost your mind, Caran,” he suddenly said, that brought shivers in my soul and body.

Is he reading my mind? Can he read my thoughts? Oh, no!

“You! What did you make me do? How could you read my mind?” I calmly said, but inside of me is burning a lot to burn him six feet in the ground.

“I just know,” he says.

“How could you know?” I say, but if he catches a glint of madness in my voice, I will literally kill him, right now.

He shrugged and ignored me. He just continued walking with his hands on her scabbard. The silence has taken to both of us. He didn't move, I could only hear the birds passing by.

He stopped when he saw the two horses still in the carriage. It seems to have been left because the carriage has a broken part. It was wrecked. So, some questions are bothering me. Who left then in the middle of the forest?

“Ryuu? Who do you think owns those horses?” I calmly asked him, but he ignored me again.

He's been ignoring me for a while now, does this man have a problem with me again? Should I just go home and not help him find the ingredients for the potion he wants?

He walked quickly and immediately stopped two feet away from the carriage. He gave me a sign not to come any closer, frowning even more. A few moments later, he quickly pulled out his small knife from his back and quickly threw it near the carriage and horses.

After a while, we heard the movement of the ground and the release of the net from the covered dry leaves. I gasped because of what happened. So, it's a trap? Definitely a trap in the middle of the woods? He chuckled and held my hand tightly and quickly pulled me to the carriage.

“I told you. As long as I'm with you, even if it's a wolf or a trap, I can defeat it, I'll just make sure you're safe, my dear Luna,” He bowed after saying that. He held out his right hand to help me climb into the carriage.

“And I told you, I'm not your Luna. Stop assuming that I am. And please, don't accuse me of that…” I exclaimed and left her hand in the air.

He pouted and went next to me inside the carriage. Even if I wanted to scream, I couldn't do anything. He knocked twice on the roof of the carriage to signal that we were ready to leave. We had a quiet journey because he was finally quiet.

I hide a chuckle back in my mind. A few moments later, I felt a rising and cool breeze that greeted me when it touched the window of the carriage. When I looked up, it was the violent movement of the carriage. Ryuu slowly grabbed my arm, which I immediately shook. Even though he doesn't say it, I've been noticing his strange gaze on me for a while now.

There's something in his eyes that I couldn't explain. I just looked out the window again and almost screamed into the air when I saw the roses wrapped around the carriage that was driving.

With my fast racing heartbeat. I looked closely at Ryuu, who was busy moving a finger in the thin illusion air. So, after all this time? Can she manipulate roses? Anytime, anywhere he wants?

Woah… I just thought he's just a pure-blooded werewolf. I didn't know that this one also had mage blood.

“You're staring at me like I'm a murder,” he said out of the blue.

Does he know he has the beautiful and yet dangerous set of eyes? Cause every time I glance at it, I can feel myself looking at myself, drowning in the beautiful things. I folded my arms and didn't answer him anymore.

Maybe something else came out of my mouth, and I couldn't stop myself because of how strange it was. He's a mesmerizing chant that can make me feel like I'm enchanted.

Enough… insisted a small voice in my head.

After a while, we slowly descended when we reached the middle of the forest. He himself told me that it is better for us to be in the air than to pass through the earth, so then he is the one I wonder about. He helped me get off the carriage, and when we got off, the carriage suddenly disappeared with the roses wrapped around it.

I diverted my attention thinking on the lush forest, the deadly and cursed lake of the next empire… where the first recipe can be found. Sadly, we both drowned in silence. We continue walking upon the dry autumn leaves, where the echo and whispers shroud the entire forest.

I noticed when I stepped out as I rolled my eyes all around and gazed across the forest. I could hear the branches creaking, my feet shuffling through detritus, squirrels chattering, leaves rustling, wind whistling around trunks/disturbing the leaves, birds singing, insects humming so good.

This is beyond enchanted. An enchanted beyond enchanted. I turned my gaze at Ryuu, who's now seriously eating his toasted bread. I tilt my head and eye him.

“Where did you get that one? And you never asked me if I wanted that one, how could you?” He grinned and shook his head.

“I thought you're a goddess, you can turn your roses into food.” He smiled, but eventually, his smile turned into a playful smirk.

“A selfless and jerk dog.” I hissed. I heard him gasp because of what I have said. But, I was about to look, and I was about to strangle him when we both looked at the rustling of the dry leaves of the forest.

“Fala, stay behind me.” He ordered and I followed him. I opened my palm and after a while the silver chain that he gave me before we started traveling appeared there.

I gently touched it and a moment later, smoke appeared in front of us, which caused Ryuu to transform into a wolf.

A howl in the wind. It echoes in the whole forest. I looked at the sky and a few moments later the solar eclipse was starting. At the same time as the moon meets the sun, the monster appears in front of us. Wolves... just stared at the two of us and Ryuu who were now drooling and ready to pounce on the wolves that were ready to attack us when a black wolf came out of the three white wolves in front.

I heard howls one after another, and I was about to throw the silver chain I was holding in the air when Ryuu stopped it.

“Stop it, Mon amour.” His baritone voice makes me calm.

He's now topless, and his right hand is on the silver chain I'm holding floating in the air. “They're my long-lost pack. They can't recognize me anymore. I am cursed, I am a fallen wolf in my pack… the useless Alpha…”

When I heard that, I looked at the four wolves who were now in human form and, like Ryuu, they were also topless. With their six-pack abs and golden eyes that were now harshly looking at me.

“What happened to them? They seem to be under a spell cast by witches.” I asked him, but he didn't answer.

“They're my family.” He smiled at me. “Meet the Nirvana Pack. The family of howls, where you can't feel that you're homeless.”