THE LOVE OF A LYCAN

114 METANOIA 10

The sound of the door swung open sent a musky scent to Raine's senses.

She opened her eyes when the harsh wind no longer scraped her skin, and the sound of it muffled behind the door.She jumped from Aeon's arms, and fell miserably on her back as her head hit the wall behind her.

She let out a soft grunt and rubbed her head.Though it was deadly cold outside, but inside the house it was rather warm, even the floor was warm.

"Are you okay?" Aeon stared at the girl in front of him expressionlessly. He didn't try to touch her again and wisely kept the distance between them.

Raine's eyes flew open and looked at him warily.

"Come, you need to change your wet clothes." Aeon stretched out his hand to help her to stand up.

However, Raine's eyes drifted from his open hand to the closed door.

"I don't mind if you want to try it again." Aeon shrugged his wide shoulder, as he tossed his overcoat aside.

"I don't want to be with you." Raine said in a low voice, she was afraid and more importantly she didn't want to… do that 'thing' with him.

She thought her words would trigger him, but unexpectedly Aeon only shrugged, and walked away.

"You can do as you please today, as I am too tired to deal with you." Aeon stood up and disappeared at the corner of the room, leaving traces of water along the way.

Raine was befuddled, he just left her like that?

Raine turned her head and stared at the door, crawling, Raine reached the door and tried to push it open.

It was locked.

Of course, why would he be so generous to leave Raine with the door opened? She stared at the door, and sat down on the floor while leaning her back against the wall behind her, listening to the howling wind that was muffled by the door.

Waiting for the storm to pass…

After that, she would try again.

She should have escaped when she had a chance before…

Now, she regretted it. She shouldn't listen to Lydia who said that she wouldn't have a chance to run away from this place. She was a liar after all.

Raine was so frustrated with her situation.

She was determined to wait until the storm passed.But Raine was physically and mentally exhausted to deal with it.

Her wet clothes made her shiver with cold as she pulled her legs and hugged them tightly, resting her forehead on her knees.

She would wait until the storm passed.

==============

Raine opened her eyes, but all she could see was black, the darkness engulfed her with everlasting sorrow.

She raised her hand and couldn't even see her finger, she felt vulnerable, but also familiar with this situation.

In the next second or the next decades, Raine didn't know as she lost senses of time, he hugged her from behind, his warm breath brushed the skin on her shoulder up to her neck.

The darkness prevented Raine from seeing who he was. And what did he do to her? But her mind was disarray as she found herself was panting from every touch from his calloused hands.

This wasn't right, but she couldn't stop him…

And when his hand caressed her thigh and he whispered to her ear sadly. "Mine…"

Raine woke up and startled.

Her body was trembling and sweating, even the cold room couldn't give her the comfort that she needed.

Her wet clothes were sticking on her skin uncomfortably, as if that man from her dream was still there, wrapped his arms around her body.

When the faint ray of the morning sun interrupted her thought, a voice from beside her startled her back to the reality.

"Drink this."

Suddenly a mug of warm milk appeared in front of her, covering her line of sight. Raine received it and raised her head only to look Aeon had walked out from the room.

Her last memory from last night was; she was resting her heavy head and, apparently, fallen asleep. However, Raine was inside a bedroom now.

Seemingly Aeon was being generous to pick her up from the floor and brought her to his bedroom, Raine assumed.

Just like Lucas's bedroom there were many dream catcher hung on the wall and the ceiling with beautiful decoration.

However, that was the only thing that was beautiful about this bedroom. Meanwhile the rest was like someone dumped all the items carelessly there. Not only were they all over the place, but they also looked like they're not usable anymore.

This room was helpless and it would take weeks to clean it up, as the owner apparently didn't have any intention to do that soon.

It was so hard to believe that this room was a bedroom and not a storeroom instead.

Raine looked down at the mug that she was holding, it was still warm as she rubbed her hand and the white smoke wafted on the surface of it.

She took a sip or two before deciding that she needed to do something with her situation now.

Raine got off from the bed and tiptoed to the door and opened it gingerly, this house was so dark as if there was not any light could illuminate it.

The corridor was narrow with dust along its wall, and the musky scent covered the entire house. The sound of clinking metal reverberated throughout the wall as Raine found the stairs and went down.

She found the living room no longer served its purpose as it had turned into smithy, where Aeon was forging an iron, hammering and shaping it. He was making a sword.

This wasn't a house at all, this was his working place.

Raine covered her ears with her palm, because the sound of it hurt her eardrums, yet the smell of musk was still lingering in the air, though it mixed with the smell of the burning metal.

She was amazed by the scene before her eyes, this was the first time she witnessed something like this, the fire was blazing in the space like a fireplace at the furthest place from the room that Raine assumed was where the kitchen was supposed to be.

No wonder this place was warm, regardless of how cold the weather was.

Realizing that someone was staring at him, Aeon stopped his work and raised his head, only to find the same obsidian eyes were looking at him.Her eyes were still filled with fear and stubbornness, but this time they sparked with curiosity as well.

"Come down here." Aeon put aside the material in his hand, and waved his hand for Raine to follow him as he walked inside another room in the first floor, while Raine was still standing on the stairs, halfway to go down.

When Raine didn't listen to his order, he turned around and dashed towards her instead. Startled, Raine backed away and tried to go back to the room upstairs, but Aeon was faster and stronger than her.She just turned around when he had already grabbed her wrist and pulled her to go with him.

Raine struggled, trying to get free from him when he dragged her inside the room and kicked the door closed before he made Raine sit on a wooden chair.

This room was filled with various weapons, they were hanging on the wall, from spear to a small dagger, bow, and arrow. There were also axes and mace.

This made Raine shivered in fear.

"We need to talk." He pulled another chair for him to sit. "Stay!" He said sternly when Raine tried to get away from him.

Aeon put his legs on both sides of Raine's, pinned her legs so she couldn't stand up or even move as they sat face to face.

This gesture was so intimate and Raine didn't like it.She tried to push his legs away from her, and even punched his thigh, but the thick fabric of his clothes, probably thwarted all of her effort, because Aeon didn't even flinch.

"Stop it!" He growled now, more irritated by her action.

"I want to go." Raine said in a very low voice that Aeon almost missed it.She indeed stopped her attempt to punch his thigh, but she leaned her back against the back chair, trying to be as far as possible from him that Aeon thought was ridiculous, knowing her legs were pinning between his.

"I heard about you from Lydia." Aeon ignored Raine's demand. "I know you are not familiar with the rules in this city, but once the Elder pointed us to be together then you will only be with me."

"That's against my will." Her voice slightly louder, but she still refused to see him in the eyes.

"Your will?" Aeon squinted his eyes and stretched out his arm to pinch Raine's chin between his fingers. "Guardian Angels have never talked about will." He said in a deep voice, scrutinized the creatures in front of him, who stubbornly averted her eyes.

"Then I am not one of them!" Raine snapped and finally glared at him, but tears were brimming in her eyes, threatening to fall.

Aeon frowned, every creature had their own characteristics. But disobedience wasn't one of Guardian Angels' traits. This confused Aeon, because as far as he knew there was no Guardian Angel had ever refused their partner, though they were not willing, but they wouldn't show it openly like what Raine was doing now.

"Many people had confirmed this matter." Aeon said an assertive tone. "They will not get it wrong."