Luna (1)
The horse-drawn carriage carrying Alkrevas and Luna finally arrived at the Imperial Palace residence. After passing through the main gate and the outer palace, the carriage finally stopped in the inner courtyard, which was also the main palace of the Vasilos Imperial Palace, where the Emperor’s residence was located.
Slowly, the carriage door opened, and Captain Arais uttered briefly, “We have arrived, Your Majesty.”
Alkrevas nodded, adjusting the woman’s position in his lap before carefully stepping down. His dark eyes glanced briefly at Captain Arais, but no words escaped Alkrevas’ lips. This was immediately responded to with a brief nod from the captain, understanding the implied and desired message from the Emperor’s gaze.
Once Alkrevas was sufficiently distant, Captain Arais approached his troops, who had been the carriage guards and issued a command. “Return to patrolling the eastern border.”
After receiving acknowledgement from his troops, he watched as they all transformed into wolves before running towards the eastern border. Captain Arais looked towards the palace door and took a deep breath. Seeing the woman in Emperor Alkrevas’ arms-The Alpha King-he knew she was Luna Queen and the future Empress of Vasilos Empire.
The Emperor Alkrevas’ scent enveloped the woman’s body so firmly, a sign that their mating process had already begun. Captain Arais bowed towards the palace with happiness and reverence before turning around and transforming into a brown-furred wolf. He howled into the night darkness, immediately answered by other howls from his troops before they ran towards the border. The cold night wind penetrated his fur, but the enthusiasm within him kept him running tirelessly.
Meanwhile, Alkrevas entered the palace, passing servants and staff who respectfully welcomed his arrival. The large room with its high ceiling was adorned with shimmering gold and crystal ornaments.
The head of the palace household staff and his butler-Zyne-stood faithfully and obediently waiting at the end of the line. The man, appearing in his forties, had a flat and emotionless face. Even upon seeing a woman in his Lord’s arms, he showed no reaction, displaying the minimum surprise expected of a servant and staff member.
Zyne was adept at hiding emotions and burying feelings, qualities that Alkrevas appreciated. This ensured that everything the Emperor did would not be questioned, and his decisions would not be doubted. That’s why Zyne managed to maintain his position and become the only person who had been by Alkrevas’ side since he took the throne.
“My Lord,” Zyne murmured, bowing respectfully. Despite his not-so-young age, the glasses perched on his nose did not detract from the man’s handsomeness.
Alkrevas halted beside Zyne. The man stared at his butler with dark brown eyes and said, “Prepare everything needed for my Queen, and summon Annabeth to meet with me.” The Emperor’s deep, firm voice echoed through the grand hallway, creating an increasingly tense atmosphere.C0pyright © 2024 Nôv)(elDrama.Org.
Alkrevas then resumed walking, not allowing Zyne to ask questions or respond. He continued towards his private chamber, located within the Emperor’s residence. The Imperial residence was situated in the deepest part of the main palace. It was the largest complex within the main palace.
The security of the Emperor’s residence also need not be questioned further and could be categorized as the best security in the palace environment. Even the most minor incident could be detected by the guards who stood watch, including the Emperor himself.
Zyne personally chose the Emperor’s household servants and staff with Alkrevas’ approval, ensuring their loyalty and steadfastness against any betrayal. Every step Alkrevas took exuded unwavering confidence, and the aura of power radiating from him made everyone he passed feel a mixture of awe and fear.
Four guards stationed at the entrance to the Emperor’s residence immediately saluted upon the owner’s arrival. Their eyes remained fixed straight ahead, even as two opened the door without glancing elsewhere, fulfilling their duties silently.
As the door closed behind him, Alkrevas continued down the corridor, passing through doors that led to rooms in the Emperor’s residence. His steps paused briefly at one door that served as the entrance to the sunroom. A faint smile appeared on his lips as he imagined entering the room and being greeted by his soulmate with a gorgeous smile.
He had never entered the sunroom before because the place was utterly useless. He rested in his chamber, completed essential tasks in his private office, read books in his private library, and drank tea alone on the balcony. However, everything was different now. If he wanted to relax his body after attending to Vasilo’s affairs, Alkrevas would stroll through his private garden or run in his wolf form in the forest, but now it was different. He had to rearrange every room in this residence to ensure his soulmate’s comfort.
With that thought in mind, Alkrevas continued his stride. They halted at the large, black double doors with the imperial emblem and a wolf engraved on both sides. Carefully, Alkrevas opened the door and stepped inside.
He walked towards the king-size bed adorned with black silk sheets. He gently placed his soulmate on the plush mattress and covered her body with a thick blanket. His forehead creased as he observed his soulmate’s trembling body. When his palm touched her forehead, Alkrevas grimaced, feeling the stark temperature difference between their bodies-he, a Lycan with a warm body, and she, a mere mortal with a cold body due to being exposed to rain.
Alkrevas hurriedly lit the fireplace. He removed Captain Arais’s cloak from his shoulders. Then he crawled onto the bed, ensuring that the bed canopy curtains, with their ties, were drawn open, obscuring them both from prying eyes and providing them privacy. Alkrevas smiled and gently stroked his soulmate’s soft cheek, then slowly removed the damp nightgown worn by her.
Once done, he wrapped his strong arms around her, holding her tightly to warm her beloved’s body. Norris howled joyfully in his mind because, after so long, they could feel the warmth of their soulmate’s body that the Moon Goddess bestowed upon them. Norris’ black-furred tail wagged swiftly back and forth before he spoke to Alkrevas through their bond.
“I told you so, Alkrevas. We would find our soulmate. You should have believed in me and not lost hope.”
Alkrevas smiled, listening to Norris’ words with complete confidence. “I know, Norris, but years of waiting for our soulmates to appear have made us restless, and sooner or later, we might turn Feral.”
“I no longer care about the past; now our soulmate is in our embrace.”
“You’re right. I’m sure all the Packs in Vasilos will rejoice upon hearing this news,” Alkrevas broke off his communication with his wolf soul before nuzzling his face into the crook of his soulmate’s neck. Although the claimed mark he had given was temporary, and he would need to reaffirm it during their mating process, it was enough for now. Their scents had melded together, signalling to other male wolves or different species that the woman in his arms belonged to him.
His eyes slowly closed, recalling when he met his soulmate in the town square earlier that afternoon. He hadn’t expected his decision to disguise himself and track down a group of rogue wolves as part of a hunt would lead to meeting his other half. He remembered the pain of seeing his soulmates so intimately standing before him, mingling in the square and sharing happiness.
Norris’s mournful howl, the cries of his heart, and the disappointment he had felt on his eighteenth birthday resurfaced. However, fate seemed to have decreed their meeting. Alkrevas inadvertently glanced across the square where a small cafe was located, where his soulmate sat alone, illuminated by the sunshine. The woman’s eyes were fixed on him, and for a split second, their gazes met. That was when he realized that the woman sitting there was his soulmate.
Initially, Alkrevas had been incredulous at his discovery. After all, he had traversed the entire continent in search of his soulmate, only to end up disappointed. He had come to believe it was all hallucination or mere magic, as it wasn’t the first time a woman had used dark magic to deceive him into thinking she was his soulmate, Luna, and Vasilos’s Empress. Many noble families exploited women within their families to seduce him, although none had succeeded.
Alkrevas paused for a moment, reflecting on his long journey and the decisions he had made. He had a very high sexual desire, which was natural, especially since he was a Royal Lycan with more excellent hormones than ordinary werewolves. Thus, it wasn’t surprising for him to take some women as concubines or mistresses to vent all the pent-up desires in him and his wolf soul. However, Alkrevas hadn’t done any of that. He chose to vent it all by fighting or killing criminals and rogues.
The reason rumours of his brutality in the Imperial Underground Prison spread every whole moon night. True rumours, even the massacre in the Mylonas region, was his doing. However, no one knew except Zyne, Savon, Mathias, and Sigmund.
He couldn’t control the turbulent emotions inside him, affecting his sanity. Honestly, Alkrevas didn’t feel guilty at all, as those who died at his hands were those who tried to manipulate chances with the absence of his soulmate by his side or mocked him as a cursed man.
But all his doubts were dispelled as the wind blew, lifting his soulmate’s hair strands, carrying her sweet scent to his nose, convincing him and Norris that the woman was his. Throughout the day, he ignored his initial purpose and secretly followed his soulmate.
Jealousy gnawed at his soul as he watched the woman who should have been in his arms smiling and laughing with others, speaking to and touching others. All of that was his. Her laughter, smile, touch, voice, and breaths belonged to him. The woman was destined for him, and no one else had the right to receive all that, but Alkrevas restrained himself. He couldn’t just appear before his soulmate.
He promised to appear before her in his best attire, kneeling with one knee and offering his hand to her like a gentleman. Unfortunately, his plan was dashed when he saw his soulmate sitting with a man at dinner, talking and laughing, and then he saw them walking together. His anger peaked when he sat among dozens of merchant men at the inn. He smelled a group of rogues, even though not in the bar where he was. However, they were in the same building as him. Then, he also heard the merchants discussing the rare beauty of his soulmate, betting on who among them could sleep with his soulmate.
Instantly, Alkrevas lost control. Norris, too, seethed upon hearing the conversation. Then, he killed them all with his sword in seconds. Everyone who listened to the commotion immediately rushed downstairs, paling at the horrific scene on the lower floor. Alkrevas wasted no time and killed those who tried to flee, as well as the rogues caught red-handed by him. Lastly, he killed the man who was with his soulmate.
He quickly shook his head to dispel that memory. A sense of turmoil and panic overwhelmed him as he watched his soulmate flee from him. If he weren’t a Lycan, he wouldn’t have been able to chase his soulmate so swiftly. He couldn’t track the woman through her scent during rain because the water would wash away a person’s natural scent. To his advantage, his soulmate was just a regular mortal being.
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