I walked away, far enough that I couldn't feel the couple's desperate emotions anymore. But then I realised I was all alone with a pair of eyes still staring at me.

"Once and for all, just stop it, Adrian! What do you want now? My life?" I growled, annoyed because for the first time I had seen him with Delia and it had disturbed me. "You keep coming back again and again. You were the one who had said that I needed to stay away in the first place."

"Keep your voice low, babe." Adrian appeared out of the bushes looking delicious with those wonderful abs on display, all for me. My mouth went dry when he came to stand near me in just his shorts with his heat radiating towards me, making me want to lean in closer.

Just how good would it feel to lick and kiss all his pecs—

No, Celeste! No! You are supposed to be pissed at him!

"I would speak as loudly as I wish to." I flipped my hair over my shoulder the moment I snapped out of my thoughts.

He smirked and ran his fingers through his hair, flexing all his pecs and muscles as he did that, keenly aware of how he affected me. My mouth watered now and I gulped slowly, forcing my eyes to stay fixed at a point behind him.

"If you want to fight, then we'll do that, but not so loudly and not here – that is if you don't want another rebellion to start." He shrugged and again I had to force my eyes from looking down.

"You really want to fight?" I groaned, "No."

"No?" He raised a brow.

"No," I answered firmly. "I want to go back home."

He smirked again and stepped closer, without me realising that I was completely trapped between him and a tree.

I was so stupid.

And he was such an asshole.

"Home?" Adrian murmured as he took another step close.

"Yes, home."

"Well, babe," He drawled, the same way he usually did, "I guess it's time for you to change your home," His eyes grew darker and his voice held gravity, "I would be a fool to let you stay alone with the humans without a trained warrior always with you. Now that Liana stays here, I don't think you have anything else left to do across the MoonLine, since you resigned from your job and all."

My eyes narrowed up at him, "And where should I make a new home? Here? In the Were Kingdom? And what would be my job? You have Delia to do that at the moment."

He gritted his teeth, "Will you stop being so stubborn about everything?" He ran his fingers through his hair, again and again, I was distracted.

"Do you realise that I have an actual reason to be so stubborn. I'm going back home - to the same place where I've been staying for the past so many years." I held up my chin, glaring at him.

"You're getting yourself into unnecessary danger by going there and living . You'll be safe here, in this kingdom protected by me and the guards-"

In the blink of an eye, I had a hold on his throat and had shifted places, pushing him against the tree hard enough that there was an indent left in its bark. But it didn't seem to have any effect on him. Adrian's hands closed around my wrists as he smirked, and continued to do so even though I kept squeezing his throat harder.

He was so annoying!

In another blink of an eye, I found myself pushed up against the tree, with my wrists trapped above me in an iron vice. Adrian's mouth was on my throat, and the sparks and tingles were so fucking heavy that I was shivering in his hold. His entire length was pressed up against me, and that was enough to send my heart into a frenzied state - if that scent wasn't enough to cloud all my senses.

I could feel his smirk on the base of my throat, and my breath was already coming out in short gasps. His lips feathered over my skin, reaching right where my pulse was throbbing.

I moaned.

He sucked and nipped at the skin, and his free hand roamed and wandered wherever it wanted to. His hand trailed down my collarbones, to the curve of my breasts, circling the tips as he took my breath away, and then let his hand wander down to grab my ass and give it a squeeze.

"No wonder," he murmured, "No wonder my human form has always been stronger than anyone else, even more than that of the strongest Alpha King. Moon Goddess knew that my mate was going to be a difficult one to handle, and my human needed to be stronger than hers."

Why, Moon Goddess, why? Why couldn't you be a staunch feminist and give equal strength to males and females?

Laws of Nature that even Moon Goddess cannot dare defy. Males are supposed to be protectors and Females the caretakers. Do something, Moon! I'm so close to taking over you and giving in to him. Resist him, push him away! Say something?

But my brain was absolutely incapable to formulate any response and it was almost impossible to push him away. The sparks and tingles were so overwhelming now that I almost thought I would pass out.

Take over, Celeste. But dare you give in to him. We have to go back home.

"Are you a coward?"

That was the first thing that escaped Celeste's mouth - even though quite breathlessly. Her voice started to sound less gravelly and more close to mine. I think that meant that soon, me, my pure blood and my wolf would be one single entity and not three different personalities.

Adrian stilled, and pulled away slowly, his hand still holding my wrists tightly. When he finally looked up at me, his eyes were completely black and void of any emotion.

"What did you say?" His voice was low and lethal.

"I asked: is the Alpha king a Coward?"

He let out a mocking laugh, "Coward? Pray tell what made you think so." He cocked his head to a side.

I kept myself hard and impervious, "The simple fact that you're using our mate bond to make me obey you. You are, and have always been, using the effect you have on me to get me to listen to you and do as you say. Tell me, do you even have enough confidence to come back in the human world and win an argument with me there? Without using our bond?"

His hand released my wrists and now he was a foot away from me.

So far, Celeste's tactic seemed to be working.

"I can," He replied, "I can win you over as a human, as well as, as a wolf. I can win you over within and beyond the

MoonLine." I found myself pressed up against the tree again, "I can make you mine wherever and in whichever way I wish to. Just because I don't want to risk anything and speed up the process, doesn't mean I'm a fucking coward."

I let out an agitated breath.

"I can never be yours, Adrian, you know that very well, not until you have another marked mate and a pup in your life. You can only choose one, either me, or your pregnant Delia. If you chose both, either one of us will end up getting killed at the hands of the other. And in our previous encounter, I had already accepted the fact that it isn't me whom you choose or you can choose, right now."

We fell silent for some time. Adrian didn't say a word and I didn't look at his face.

"I didn't mark her." He murmured.

"What?"

"I didn't mark Delia, no matter what everyone thinks. I couldn't do that."

"What do you mean? Was it that you who didn't want to mark her or was it that it was actually impossible for you to mark her?" I asked him.

"Both. I loved her, I really did, but I never had the urge to mark her and make her mine, not even an ounce of how I feel when you are around."

I was so out of it now.

"You didn't mark her. Then how the fuck did you get her pregnant?"

"I don't know," he said, "It was unexpected, but I was so happy...well, until I met you. I still want the child, Moon."

He tipped my chin up to meet his eyes and I told him softly, "This doesn't mean that you won't choose her over me if there's ever a clash between us. Just like I said the last time, please let me go."

"And what about your safety?" He was worried, and it warmed me.

I sighed. "Look, no one is going to be a potential danger in the human world, at least not of the supernatural kind. I'll be fine until I'm not out of the kingdom and within the MoonLine, and I don't think that I'm going to let anyone drag me here unless it's Liana or maybe you and Jaxon, or maybe Hans."

His eyes darkened rapidly, "Who is Hans?"

I looked at him bewildered, "Out of all what I said, you only caught on the 'Hans' part?"

"Who. Is. Hans?" He repeated.

"He is Liana's trusted guard." I told him.

"Oh. Him. That stupid mongrel." He paused for a moment and then looked at me, "Do you even realise how much Jaxon and I feel like tying him upside down and triple the amount of bones he has?" His breathing was ragged.

My eyes widened, "You won't do that, would you?"

"No. Of course, not." He scoffed, "No matter how jealous we are that the two of you trust him more than your own mates, it's safe to say that we aren't ungrateful, sadistic assholes. We are grateful to him that he was loyal to you and helped you when we couldn't, no matter how much we want to be in his place."

"You are jealous? Unbelievable!" I rolled my eyes. "If a small act of loyalty makes you jealous and makes you, as you quote: feel like tying him upside down and triple the amount of bones he has - what makes you think that I'm not even slightly affected by Delia taking what's mine? You seriously can't expect me to stay here and be all peachy and dandy about it!"

"You are right." He didn't sound resigned, but thoughtful.

"Alright, I'll let you go." He said.

"On what condition?" I smiled and his gaze intensified. I knew that was coming.

"I can show up on your doorstep whenever I want to. I need to keep an eye on you, if you are alright or not. And if you are going out of town or something, even if it is for a few hours, you are going to inform me. Also, we are going on a date."

I grinned. I was happy with whatever amount of freedom he was giving me, "Yes, Sir." Then it registered, "Wait, a date?"

"Yes, a date. I think it's high time we sit and talk about the circumstances surrounding us." He said, firm in his decision.

"Alright," I nodded, "So...when is this date?"

"Be ready by seven."

Then his eyes went blank for a moment, and in another moment, I found a wolf sprinting towards us. He bowed just when he reached us.

"Hans." Adrian ordered. "Take her back to her home."

I tried to ignore the fluttering of my heart, solely because I couldn't understand if it was mine or his.

**************************

I was so nervous, I couldn't even explain how I was feeling.

It wasn't as if I had never been on a date before but this was the first time when I was going out with a man I felt so strongly towards - and this man was still a stranger to me.

This date was meant to be more of a 'talk the differences out' session because that's the only thing we haven't done ever since we met each other.

To keep our sanity intact, this date was important.

But I didn't know what as expected of me during the date. Was it supposed to be romantic? Was he going to seduce me tonight or was I thinking too much for my own good?

Was he going to kiss me?

Oh. My. Goddess.

I was fully aware of the fact that we had not kissed yet - despite being mates and not being able to keep our hands off each other. It had not bummed my mood in any way - a kiss would have brought in emotions for me in this entire deal, which was not right for both of us.

It was not as if I had never been kissed; I had my fair share of kisses after my dates, but again, I had never kissed a guy I felt for this intensely. My dates had never been complicated and I knew I wasn't going to regret kissing any of them.

With Adrian, things were different, like the presence of his wife in his life. I had never thought I would ever put myself in a situation where I would be sharing a man with another woman, but here I was.

Though for some very obvious reasons, even I couldn't resist him when I was around him. It was very easy when I was away from him, on my own, to be pissed at him.

It was fairly easy even when he was being a jerk.

But when he was being all romantic and considerate towards me, something I was sure he was going to be tonight, I knew I was going to melt and moon over him and fall for him just like that.

I was not going to show it, but I was very excited about getting to know Adrian. At least now I would have some explanations behind why he behaved in certain ways.

I stared at myself in the mirror, convincing myself that I didn't have to put in too much effort to get his jaw on the floor the moment he saw me. I already knew he was attracted to me - though he didn't have a choice in that matter - but I wanted his jaw to be on the floor the moment he saw me.

I wanted him to know what he was missing out, especially since my body had developed to meet his needs perfectly.

I chose to wear something that hugged every curve I had, enough that he could only imagine what was underneath, but wouldn't be able to ever get it. I checked myself out once more, just in case there was something left for me to do so that I could make him go crazy.

It was wrong of me to try to even minutely seduce him during this date when the sole purpose was to talk things out and get to know each other better so that we could at least be amicable to each other. But I couldn't help it; I was ashamed to admit that there was a large part of me that wanted to seduce him, get him in my bed and kick his wife out of his life.

I swear, only the baby was stopping me from really putting it into action.

I didn't like the kind of woman I became when I thought of her - scornful, negative, judgmental. I wanted her to be a bitch, a woman of a terrible character. And I hated to acknowledge that she actually might be a good person - Adrian wouldn't have chosen just any woman to be the Luna Queen of the Were Kingdom. She must have possessed the abilities to be the right fit.

The abilities I might or might not possess.

The doorbell rang and my heart skipped a beat. I glanced at the clock and knew that it was finally time to go on that date. For a fleeting moment, I wondered if Delia knew what we were doing, and if she knew, how was she reacting to it?

If she was a kind woman, I hoped she was able to understand why Adrian was paying attention to me. If she was just like me, she must be throwing a mighty tantrum every time she was with him.

There was another impatient knock on the door which brought me out of my reverie and I rushed out of my room towards the door.

I calmly opened the door as if I hadn't just run across my house like a madwoman, and smiled at the man standing at the other side.

He looked positively awestruck, but not in the way I wanted him to. His jaw was not on the floor, but clenched tightly, and I knew he was gritting his teeth. I was dancing on the inside, knowing that I was very much successful in my endeavor.

What I wasn't prepared for, was the effect his smoldering look had on me. I had positively ruined my panties with the help of just a look from him and my cheeks were a burning shade of red now. I tried my best to hold his gaze, challenging him and at the same time, not wanting to take my away from his dark ones.

He was looking extremely gorgeous – he always did. I was drooling for sure, because today, his attractiveness hit me differently. Maybe because we were going to act like a couple today.

Maybe because he was going to be mine and only mine, even if it was only for the next few hours.

"You are dressed to kill, aren't you?" His deep voice was husky, just the way it always was when he lost control and seduced me.

The confident and challenging smile on my face faltered for the moment he took a long step and stood close to me.

Our toes were touching and my entire body was aware of his electrifying presence. It was frustrating how much he affected me on this side of the MoonLine as well and it made me wonder if I had been able to resist him even if we were just humans.

I slowly let out a breath I was holding. Then I smirked, "I felt like dressing up, today. It's been a long time since I've been on a date."

His eyes flashed dangerously and he leaned close, so much that I had to take a step back to keep my senses in control.

"I wish I was your first." He smirked then, and his eyes lustfully traced my entire body, "But now's not the time for lamenting on the past, right?" he took another step close and I was forced to take another step back, "I'm hoping you never looked this tempting on your previous dates."

I couldn't form an answer – I had always dressed 'cute' on my previous dates, never provocative. This was the first time when my intention was to tempt the man in front of me.

All of a sudden he pushed me on the couch behind me and hiked my dress up to my waist. Even though I had been half-naked in front of him before, I felt exposed, and it only fueled the fire that was burning inside me. My heart raced and my chest heaved, but he was on his knees next to me and his fingers traced my panties, his touch on the most sensitive part of me sending shivers down my spine.

I didn't care that the door to my house was still open. I just wanted him to do something to quench the fire he had started inside me.

I wanted to clench my thighs closer to each other, but he was staring between my legs with eyes full of lust and longing, and I didn't want to stop him.

I wanted him to do something about it.

"I'm also hoping that you were never this aroused on any of your previous dates." I was still unable to form an answer, just a needy whimper escaped me, "You're making it very hard for me to act like a gentleman, Moon, and I really need to take you out today."

He took in a deep breath, and closed his eyes tight.

Abruptly, my legs were together again, and my dress was brought down to its place. I was standing right in front of him with shaking legs, holding on to him tightly.

"I..." I had to admire his self control – even though he was so close to ripping my panties apart he managed to get himself together while I still wanted him to take me back to the couch and take me, "I will change and come back."

He took a step away from me, "You don't have to change on my account. I promise, I'll behave; you look gorgeous." He cleared his throat and his ears turned red.

I smiled at his compliment and then shook my head slightly, "I think I need the dress change for my own sanity. The purpose of the dress is done here." I smirked mischievously.

He shook his head and one corner of his lips twitched upwards, "You vixen. One of these days, I'm going to get back at you for this."

I winked at him and turned to head towards my room to change, but stopped in my tracks and gasped when I felt him spank my butt.