Her roar cut across the cabin as Daryn continued his assault. He was nowhere near pulling out.

Daryn knew that if he didn't do what he was doing, he would die. He was desperate. After he had slammed through her for what seemed like a long time, he reached his climax. Once he had tipped over, he slumped beside her, and pulled her over his chest with her back facing it. He didn't have the energy to calm her but all he could do was to hold her through her ordeal with whatever sense he was left.

​​

Her body convulsed. She howled in pain, as the venom of the blood of the goblet spread that cruised through Daryn now cruised through her body. Dawn was now in true sense the Luna of the Alpha of the werewolves. The potion was too potent and it was important for the Alpha and the Luna to have its venom in their bodies.

Next morning, as its occupants of the cabin remained asleep, the clouds addled the bright sun rays as they tried to pierce through them. The sky was like an artist's palate of blue and white and steel grey over the lush green hill. It hung like an umbrella over the small cabin that was quiet. The rays fell over the gushing water behind the cabin only to form a half rainbow over it.

Several hours later, when Daryn woke up, he found his wife curled over him. Her silky hair was spread around her face and tumbled across his chest. She was burning with fever. He knew that those were the side effects of his bite. If she were a pure blood, she would have been able to tolerate it, because that was how the pure blood genes were. Dawn was bitten. She had human genes, some of which were mutated after the bite. She still had human genes in her. The blood in the goblet had so much venom that only an alpha as strong as him could sustain it.

Carefully, he grasped her, placed her beside him and covered her with a warm blanket. He raked his fingers through her hair. Her face was red. There was not much he could do. She had to undergo the process. Daryn wrapped his arm around her and tucked her closer to his body. "You'll be fine, Dawn," he said softly and closed his eyes. The blood on her shoulder had caked. As a werewolf, her healing would be fast.

A night before he knew that after drinking the potion his body would undergo tremendous change. He had to run away wildly in the jungles and gather all the werewolves, all the Chiefs in order to establish that he could mind-link with all of them. He had to test his range of mind linking with every werewolf present in his territory and beyond. After leaving her alone, he had run through the jungle and howled to call the wolves. While he ran in the front and led them, others joined him and followed their leader, as they created their links with him one by one.

Once that process was done, he headed for the cabin to mate with his Luna. There was so much poison flowing through his body that if he didn't bite her, and share it with her, it would have been fatal for him. When he reached the cabin, he was not in his senses and it was only after he had bitten her did his trance-like situation fade. He heard her scream, but it seemed to come from far away. All he could do at that time was to hold her close to him, to feel her and not let her go. She had convulsed in his grip, screamed uncontrollably and cried. And he kept on holding her as tightly as possible because that was all he could do.

When he woke up again, it was mid-noon and Dawn still had high fever. He clutched her shoulders and tried to wake her up. She opened her eyes, deliriously looked around and then went back to sleeping. His heart ached and there was soreness in his throat and lungs. "Get up Dawn," he said wishing she were fine. Why was she taking so much time? He wanted her pain to end. He leaned over her, kissed her cheeks and then went to the bathroom to fetch a wet towel to clean the blood on her shoulder. As he cleaned her, he murmured, "I am so sorry darling. This is the last anyone has bitten you.�� Tears choked his throat and in his mind he made a promise to her—he would find the person who had bitten her and kill him slowly, very slowly and painfully.

It was evening 6PM by the time Dawn woke up. Every muscle in her body ached. She found herself covered in a blanket. Her gaze darted to the window and the noise of the rapids behind the cabin was a pleasant distraction. She removed the blanket.

Yesterday night was—painful. She had to ask Daryn as to why his bite was so painful when he already marked her body. As soon as she put her feet on the ground and got up shakily, the door opened and Daryn rushed to her.

"How are you?" he asked, sounding worried.

"Having a body ache…" she replied.

Daryn immediately scooped her in his arms and took her to the bathroom to freshen up. "Sorry baby," he whispered.

"Why did you bite me again Daryn, and why did I pass out?"

He made her sit on the counter and as he squeezed toothpaste out on the brush for her, he said, "So that you can also mentally communicate with every werewolf under me." He handed her the toothbrush. "You are my Luna and this had to happen. This was the ceremony that my mother wanted to take place with Caleb and Pia. That's why they were in such a hurry. Once Caleb would have drunk from the goblet, he would have been undisputed King of the werewolves. But this would have meant that they broke the age-old tradition of making that heir the King who didn't marry his mate. The whole ceremony was being done in a hushed way. We reached there on time because of my father." He cupped her face and lightly brushed her lips with his. "Now you know why I bit you?"

She nodded, but her question wasn't answered fully. Once she had taken a bath she wore nothing but one of Daryn's t-shirts from the closet. Feeling better, she went to the dining space. He had prepared dinner for both of them and fed her properly. While eating he explained as to why she fainted and had such excruciating pain.

When they finished dinner, he said, "Would you like to go out and watch the cascading water? It's a lovely sight." He had imagined watching it with her the last time he was there, when he was on the verge of going mad for not being able to mate with her.

She nodded with a smile. He outstretched his hand and she held it. He pulled her closer and moved her hair from the neck to see the mark he had made last night. The wound was small, circular like that from a bullet, ragged around the edges and scarlet red.