Chapter 19
Every action of Howard at the riverbank confuses Diana. He seemed to be telling her the truth. Even when he confessed that he didn’t want her wolf to return, Diana didn’t get angry at the statement. Instead of assuring her with false hope like her brother did during breakfast, he was honest with her, and that counted.
“Do you want to see my wolf?” He asked with a cheery tone, getting rid of the tension between them. She nodded her head excitedly. He was the first person who would show her his wolf, and she was thrilled to see it, to know how a wolf feels.
She sprang up from his lap, with a wide smile on her face, and nodded fervently, almost doing a happy dance to show her excitement. His smile mirrored hers as he stood up, stretched his arms, and took off his t-shirt. She blushed as his well-defined torso came into view. She was still not used to nudity among her race.
She turned her back immediately to give him more privacy. If he had any issue with her actions, he didn’t show it at all. He just concentrated on removing every piece of clothing from his body before shifting into his wolf form. A soft bark alerted Diana, and she turned around to see a big grey wolf with black patches on its snout, slightly shorter than Decanal in place of Howard’s human form.
She moved closer to him and placed her hands on its head. The wolf purred at the contact, and she giggled a little as she ran her fingers through his soft fur. Her body shuddered as another wave of memories hit her. She kept on remembering more these days, and she was happy, even though she couldn’t share them with anyone because she didn’t trust anyone enough.
#Flashback
Her memory took her back to the vampire king’s Mansion. At the back of the large ancient building was a beautiful garden full of lovely flowers. Diana was seated on a bench, admiring the beautiful flowers when Erica suddenly came up behind her. The vampire snatched the bouquet that Diana had arranged perfectly earlier and threw it on the floor, smashing it with her feet in a petty manner, as a queen bee in high school would do to a weak nerd.
“I asked you to leave. I asked you nicely, thinking you would be a nice little girl and leave me alone with D… but you came back, huh?” As if ruining her flowers was not enough, she poked Diana’s shoulder, punctuating every word that came out of her mouth.
Diana gasped in shock as she felt the new entity in her mind push forward. She said nothing but only fisted her palm in anger. Erica laughed at the little display of anger. She took Diana’s fists and unfolded them while whispering to her.
“What will you do with those little fists? Punch me? Ha! You better not even imagine that. You are just a weak piece of trash that managed to seduce the King. And guess what? Your prince…” Erica could not finish the statement before she heard the sound of bones breaking. Within seconds, a huge black wolf stood in place of Diana. If not for her super speed as a vampire, Decanal’s sharp claws would have wiped her head off her neck with one clean cut. She gasped as she stared at the wolf with red eyes, which were now trying to pounce on her.
Before she could run away from the garden, Decanal was already on her path, blocking her. The wolf was as tall as Erica, and another swipe with its forepaws sent Erica straight into the weak garden fence. Before she could stand up, Decanal was already on top of her, aiming for the killing bite before Darryl stopped her by sending the wolf flying with a strong blow.
Decanal growled, flashing its red eyes at the new person, but her killing instincts overrode the recognition of her mate, and seeing his arms around Erica made another fuse blow in the head of the feral wolf. The intent to kill Erica multiplied tenfold as she stood up again, shaking the dirt off her fur as she advanced toward the duo again.
She leaped past Darryl and landed just in front of Erica, who shuddered in fear, unable to move from the spot as Decanal’s growls vibrated throughout the entire mansion. Luckily for the arrogant vampire, Darryl was fast enough to get there at the same time, placing his hands on the head of the big black wolf, he stood between the dangerous wolf and his stupid subject. But she only snarled dangerously.
” Diana! I know you are in there. You can do this” He said breathing hard. Decanal snarled again moving closer to them, venom dripping from her claws. He sighed, He doesn’t want to hurt the wolf and he doesn’t want her to hurt Erica even though the idiot deserved it. He rubbed her fur gently, she purred at his touch as the red eyes faded to the normal gold color of wolves. He placed a soft kiss on her snout before willing her to shift through the mate bond.
#flashback ended
Diana gasped at the memory, Howard had said that she could control Decanal’s bloodlust but in reality, only her mate could calm her down. Only the vampire knew how to tame Decanal and her brother will Damned if she manage to get her wolf back without her mate by her side. The thought scares her but makes her excited at the same time.
A bark jolted her away from her thought. She willed her expression to normal as she looked deep into the wolf’s golden eye. She giggled as the wolf licked her palm, and she caressed his snout. He jumped up playful at the touch. She laughed, she had thought Howard was playful but his wolf beat him at that game.
The wolf jumped again suddenly too close to her. She let out a yelp as her butt hit the ground. The wolf had her pinned as he started licking her face, she had thought it was a playful gesture until its long tongue started hovering over her neck. The same place the vampire’s mark was supposed to be. Where an ugly golden runs now stood proudly.
She felt her body grow tense as she tried to fight against him but he was in his wolf form, obviously larger than her and much stronger. Panic grew in the pit of her stomach as she wished Decanal would just show up and save her from the ugly situation she got herself into.
” Please” She pleaded looking into the wolf’s golden eye but the animal instincts were stronger than her helplessness as the wolf gave the spot a final lick before sinking its teeth into her neck. Pain in all shades flashed through her entire body as she flapped her hands and her legs helplessly under the stronghold of the wolf. Tears spilled from her eyes as her body struggled to accept the impromptu marking.
The wolf removed its teeth and licked the place he had marked clean but the wound refused to close and more blood only gushed out as Diana struggled with her consciousness. With one last betrayed look on her face, her eyes closed as she succumbed to the dark abyss.