Channing did not understand why the girl panicked so much at the mention of another Warchild. He himself was one and there was one more in the neighbouring village called Fang, thought Channing to himself. It immediately reminded him of how short-tempered Fang was, and Channing thought Ellie was scared to mention him.

"Have you met Fang?" asked Channing, just to confirm whether she was from Waterwoods.

Ellie's brows creased, "Fang? I don't know any such person."

Then it was some other Warchild, understood Channing, but before he could ask any more questions, there was a man that came looking for the girls. "Akame!" He shouted before his eyes fell on the girls. The man was middle-aged as compared to both the girls who looked the same age as Channing.

Before the man could come any closer Ellie got up panicked, "we should leave or there would be trouble."

Saying this, both the girls left Channing sitting there slowly regaining his strength. His lips pulled up in a grin before he covered his face to chuckle lowly. He had truly found someone who could take care of his abilities and that too a girl.

"We will meet again, arrogant Ms Ellie," he said as he got up, watching the girls leave.

Deep down in his heart, he had an intuition that this girl would surely have been his soulmate if he was not a Warchild. She was the stark opposite of him and would perfectly take care of him during times of mishap. He knew as an Alpha he was cursed to not have a soulmate, yet deep down he wished for this girl to stand by his side. He knew fate had brought her to him and it would bring her back to him if she were his destiny.

And fate did bring her back to her. A few months later, when Channing was roaming around the same market, he smelled the scent of fresh grass after morning rain and it did not take him long to understand that such scent, even in winter, meant it was his soulmate.

Soulmates had the scent you most liked, and Channing doubted there was any fresh grass here in the bustling market. He followed the scent and midway Ellie had come searching for him as well.

"You!" came her curt reply. She had smelled the scent of rusted iron laced with fresh water, and she knew it was her time to follow it and find her blessing.

While Ellie was not pleased to see Channing, he was overjoyed, thinking he was right about the girl. "Hello again Ellie," said Channing, extending his hand this time with friendly energy. "I hope we can forget about what happened months ago."

Ellie folded her hand over her chest, "What perfume do you use?" She wanted to know she had not mistaken her senses.

Channing chuckled at her response, taking his hand back, "I don't use perfume with hopes that my soulmate would never misinterpret my scent when she knows I am around."

Channing was too eager to make this girl his for him to simply let her go because of what happened months ago. She was his personal blessing, and he was delighted for even having one as a Warchild, who was rumoured to have been cursed to never have a soulmate. Ellie narrowed her eyes at Channing. Even she had heard those rumours, but it was a shock and more than that she felt overwhelmed to have an Alpha as her soulmate. How rare was that, she thought to herself.

Ellie cleared her throat, tipping her chin up, "Are you sure that not wearing perfume would take you to your soulmate? I mean, I wear one and look you are still here."

Channing laughed at her statement, "So you admit I smell like your soulmate."

Ellie, who realised it late that she had given it away, bit the inside of her cheek, "I never said that."

Channing stepped ahead to close the distance between her, and their heat radiated off each other. Ellie was ready to step back when Channing caught hold of her wrist to pull her closer to him and bent down near her neck and took a deep breath. The colour on Ellie's face rose at this little action, and she pulled herself away from him.

This brought a smile to Channing's lips, "I hate your perfume but your scent is beautiful."

For months Channing had been training hard on his special abilities, so next time when he met Ellie he could make her his, irrespective of the fact she was his soulmate or not. But fate had brought her to him as his soulmate and there was nothing that made Channing feel as happy as he felt when he met this girl name Ellie again today.

"Let's go on a date now that you are here," Channing asked outright, and Ellie blinked rapidly at him.

"How outrageous," said Ellie, "You did not even apologise for the last time and now you expect-"

"I am sorry," Channing was quick to cut her words with his apology. This had Ellie stare at him in shock. She was expecting him to put up resistance again, but instead, he apologised to her and now Ellie was left there with nothing left to say. "Look Ellie," Channing continued, "I don't want to go away from someone so perfect who can take care of my abilities and stand daringly against me even after seeing what I was capable of. Let's not waste our time with fights when we could be getting to know each other."

Ellie had truly suffered last time when she had encountered Channing and almost seen the death's door. While Channing kept wondering how Ellie was still standing this daring against him, Ellie did not particularly fear him.

She was trained to face death, but that was a piece of information that Channing did not need to know.

She was grateful to have a soulmate, and she knew the advantages that came along with it. There was no way she was letting that go out of her reach. "Okay, I forgive you," she said, tipping her head to look at Channing. He smiled at her and before he could say it, Ellie turned around to ask in a low voice hiding her blush, "Let's buy something from here to eat. I know a better place for our first date."