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"The moon goddess had four warriors. Chári, Dynami, Elpída and Effyía. They served her faithfully. Wherever she went, they were there. They were strong, beautiful and smart. No one could ever get close to the moon goddess because of these warriors. But time must come when they must leave their mistress behind and must descend in our world for they will protect our kind from all danger. We do not know who they are or when they will come, but we must stand guard until they come."

Huh? I've heard that legend before...

My head hurts. No, not just my head. My whole body is aching.

Chári? Where did I hear--

That's when the smell hit me so hard it forced my eyes open. For a while, I thought I couldn't breathe, like the air was dissipating from my lungs and I couldn't get a grasp of new air. I gasped, making me sit up where I was lying down and thankfully, I could breathe.

I sat there for a while, calming my breath down and shaking the fear out.

I'm okay, I'm okay, but...

Where am I?

This certainly isn't my room. This was three times bigger than my already spacious room, the bed was a double of my queen-sized bed, there were more furnitures here as if somebody has been inhabiting it for years, not a month.

I heard water running down and the smell rushing into my lungs like a delicious savouring smell of food when you're extremely hungry.

It was my mate's room.

How did I even end up in here?

Scenes of our last encounter made its way into my memory and I groaned voluntarily. I had to get out of here as soon as possible.

However, when I tried to slightly turn my body to my side, I winced at the pain it caused me.

How is this even possible? I have never felt pain like this before and I have been beat up worse than this. Is it because he's an Alpha? No, my previous Alpha beat me up bad too.

Is it because he's my mate?

Hm, that must be it.

Despite the pain, I still tried to get up. I don't want to be here.

But that's when I hear the running water stopping from one of the three doors. That must be him.

I have to get out of here, I absolutely didn't want to see him. Besides, how long has it been since I was out? Days?

"You're only hurting yourself, Hannah." my wolf voiced her concerns.

"What will hurt me is if I stay here. Who knows what else he will do to us? I'm only protecting us." I answered.

That was true though. My wolf was the only thing left that I had. I cannot let her get hurt.

I know that deep down, she still longed for her mate even after everything. I can't blame her. It was nature.

I made it to the end of the bed when the pain surged causing me to be on my knees and had need to rest my arms and my head on the foot of the bed. I can't... it hurts.

My breath has turned into pantings, my hearing was blocked by a ringing sound that was both hurting my ears and my head. My vision started blurring, I could see black spots everywhere.

I was fighting to keep my eyes opened when I see a tall figure rushing towards me. Ian?

He touched me and the pain lessened immediately. I felt his arms lacing around my waist, where he had hurt me previously and where it hurt the most, but it was so strange because now, it didn't hurt. The pain was subsiding immediately, but along with it, I felt all of my strength disappearing.

He muttered something under his breath which I couldn't hear well, but caught some part of what he wanted to say.

"Stupid...why...stay..." those were some of the words I heard before the darkness overwhelmed my senses.

——

The next time I woke up, everything around me was dark except a dim light coming towards my left. I looked to see and found the back of my mate as he leaned against the chair of his desk. Papers were scattered everywhere, even some on the floor.

It didn't take long before I smelled the cigarette in the air and I noticed the ashy smoke going up. The window in front of him was slightly opened, but not enough to let the cigarette smoke out. It was dark outside, probably past midnight and I wondered why he was still awake.

I hated cigarettes, I absolutely detested them.

That's why upon smelling it, I started coughing. I felt like the smoke sticks in my throat and I could taste the cigarette itself.

Ian immediately turned his head around and even in the midst of my misery, I caught a glimpse of his magnetic blue eyes. I pulled the blanket higher to cover my face away from the smell, but that's when I heard the chair sliding against the wooden floor and steps that were coming closer.

Oh gosh, please no. Don't come here.

The blanket was pulled away from me and Ian was now towering above me.

He observed me for a while, but he was careful not to let any other emotion slip out. Smoke was coming up by his side, telling me that he brought his cigarette over. I didn't notice it earlier, but other than his heavenly smell and the despicable cigarettes, alcohol reeked off of him.

"You're drunk." I pointed out and glanced at the office table. Now, the bottle of alcohol was visible.

At that comment, the corner of his lip tugged up for a smirk and his eyes glinted with interest. He inhaled the poison and exhaled.

"Me? Drunk? Please." he says as he sat at beside my feet. He started rubbing his forehead with his free hand as if he was tired.

Right now, under the dim light, looking at him seem crouch lowly and looking so tired, my heart couldn't help but feel something for him.

He looked so... miserable.

Maybe it's the mate bond, but I wanted to take away his pain and whatever it was that was bothering him. I wanted to help him.

I stood up, partly amazed that I wasn't feeling any pain. I kneeled in front of him. His eyes slowly met mine, questioning my actions.

I would have stared at his eyes the whole day, but I knew I wasn't allowed to look at him so I quickly look away down to his hand with the cigarette.

Gently, I took it away. I was expecting him to push me away, scream at me, beat me, but none of it came. I stood up slowly and went towards his table.

I extinguished the fire on the ashtray and closed the bottle of vodka. I started organizing the paper together when my arm was grabbed to a halt.

"Stop." the low voice of my mate commanded. Without looking at him, I stopped. At this point, all I could think about was the sparks that erupted at his touch.

"I'm sorry." I apologized, shrugging his hand off.

"Look at me."

I kept my eyes on the ground for a while, hesitating.

"Look at me." he repeated. Ever so slowly, I raised my eyes to meet his. This time, I noticed emotions in his eyes.

He looked so confused as he stared back at me. Frustrated and confused.

"Who sent you here? What's your plan? What kind of magic are they using to make me think that you're my mate? Tell me!" At first, his voice was calm, but as he asked his questions, but his voice eventually raised as he ended up screaming at me.

I was hurt. Now, he thinks that I'm working with someone just to do evil to him. He was mad now. His eyes told me he was mad, but I just continued to stare at him. I was dumbfounded at how much he couldn't accept me as his mate.

"Is it your pack? Are they plotting something against me? They're just using you, right?" he sounded desperate to make himself believe that what he was saying was true.

My tears were mounting up again. I was just so tired and so hurt. I can't do this anymore.

"If you hate me so much, please just reject me." I said and walked away.

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