THE LOVE OF A LYCAN

237 THE LUNA OF THE LYCANTHROPES

Moreover she didn't really know how to get away from this place.

"Come with me." Aeon still held out his hand for Raine to take. His voice was firm and this time he looked at Raine warmly, sensing her hesitation. "I will show you the grimoire."

"The grimoire?" Raine frowned.

"You are looking for the grimoire with that witch, right?" Aeon asked a rhetorical question. "I found it." He said simply.

Raine was surprised when she heard that. "But how?"

Aeon didn't immediately answer her question.?He glanced at Lucifer, who kept quiet while looking for books on a shelf. "You don't need to know, all you have to do is come with me to retrieve the book."

Raine stared at Aeon's hand, hesitant whether to believe him or not.

"Raine, you know you are safe with me. I will not do anything to harm you." Aeon kept repeating the same sentences so that Raine could stop fidgeting.

Hesitantly, Raine took Aeon's hand.

His hand was cold, unlike Torak's warm one.?She missed him…

Raine and Aeon walked through row after row of bookshelves.?The place was exceptionally huge and a little bit cold.

Raine held her bunny tighter against her chest and let Aeon led the way.

"Aeon, even if I have the book, I don't know what to do with it." Raine confessed.?The idea of finding this book was Serefina's, after all. "I have to bring it to her."

Aeon didn't reply to her.?He was focused on leading them somewhere.

"After I retrieve the book, you will send me home, right?" She asked to make sure that Aeon wouldn't keep her here, although the possibility of this happening seems high.

"Why do you want to return to that Lycan?" Instead of answering Raine's question, Aeon posed another question. "He is a murderer and he will always be like that."

Raine gritted her teeth.?Just like when Serefina was badmouthing Torak, she also felt the urge to slap Aeon's face.

Yet, given her current situation, she couldn't do that because there was no one who would save her if Aeon went berserk.

She needed to try to control her emotion and to start using her brain over her feelings.?This wasn't the right time to blow her top.

"He kills only if necessary." Raine mumbled as a reply.

Aeon sneered when he heard that. "Kill if necessary?" He reiterated the words in disgust. "He kills whenever he wants, and not only when necessary. You will be better off without him."

"No, I would probably have died by now if it was not because of him." Riane said firmly.?She was sure of this. "He was the one who took me out of the orphanage and has been treating me well like no one ever did these past nine years."

"How about me??Who kept you safe all those nine years?" Aeon stopped walking and faced Raine directly. "How about me? Don't you consider me?"

Raine was startled when Aeon stopped abruptly and she bumped into him. Hastily, she put some distance between them, though it wasn't far enough because her hand was still within his firm grip.

When her mind started to process Aeon's question, her brows gradually furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Those nine years, when you kept your mother's diary, I was there to protect you from those supernatural creatures that wanted to tear you apart." Aeon stated, emphasizing every word for Raine to understand.

"What?" Raine was utterly shocked and had a hard time digesting what Aeon said. "You protected me for nine years?"

"Have you ever asked yourself how you can escape from every attack? And how some of those supernatural creatures acted like they didn't see you whenever you avoided eye contact with them?" Aeon stared deeply at the girl in front of him.

Shock crept onto Raine's eyes as she felt her heart tighten at this revelation.

"It wasn't because you were avoiding looking them in their eyes that you turned invisible." Aeon inched close to Raine. "It was me who kept you safe. As long as your mother's diary was with you, I was able to protect you."

Raine remembered how she thought she was lucky enough to avoid those supernatural creatures and escaped each of their attacks.

"No…" Raine was in denial.?She didn't want to believe it was Aeon who had been protecting her during that period of time, but she couldn't find a reason to support her rebuttal.

All this time she thought it was only out of sheer luck.

"So, tell me, how could you escape all those attacks? Luck?" Aeon said with a grimace, as if he could read what was in Raine's mind. "There is no consecutive luck in this world, Raine."

Raine was at a loss for words and when she found them, the questions that escaped her lips sounded harsher than she intended. "If it was really you, why didn't you come out?"

"I can't appear all of sudden in front of you at that time.?You were too young to understand and I was afraid you would not believe me." Regret was laced in his voice. "I was planning to take you away from that wretched orphanage when you turned eighteen…"

This time, Aeon's face turned ashen because Raine also knew what happened before he could carry out his plan.

"The Lycan came and took you away." Aeon gritted his teeth to suppress his regret. "If only I had come sooner, then you would be with me now."

Both of them stared into each other's eyes.?While Raine looked at him in disbelief and shock, Aeon looked at her with regret for not taking action sooner, letting the Lycan take away his chance.

"Raine… I was the one who opened the door at the dark alley when you were eleven years old and a kanima tried to attack you, so you can escape him."

Aeon reminded Raine of the attack that night on her way home from school. Raine remembered that clearly.

"I was the one who pushed you into the river when you were facing the same attack that same year." Aeon inched closer to her as he caressed her cheeks. "You can't swim, so I took you to the river bank and called people to help you."

Raine remembered that time when she was attacked.?She felt that someone had pushed her to the river. She thought she would die when water filled her lungs, but when she woke up, she was in a hospital.

Afterwards, Aeon reminded her about all the other attacks that she had endured during those nine years, tearing one by one Raine's belief of how lucky she was back then.

That wasn't luck.?That was Aeon keeping her safe.

In the end, Aeon stood so close to Raine that she could smell his musky scent.

"Now, do you believe me if I say I will never hurt you?" Aeon asked, pleading with his dark eyes. He watched how the eyes of the girl in front of him started to soften. "Say something Raine."

Raine shook her head. "I don't know what to say." She bit her lips.?It made Aeon want to kiss her. "I just don't get it.?If you had been protecting me, why did you never appear in front of me even once?"

"I know…" Aeon felt dejected. "I regret it now."

Silence stretched between them, each busy with their own thoughts.

"Can we… can we just get the book so I can go home?" Raine stammered as she backed away, putting some distance between her and Aeon.

Aeon looked at Raine impassively.?It was palpable to see that he was disappointed at Raine's action.

"You still want to go back to that Lycan after what I said." Aeon stated bitterly and Raine couldn't look him in the eyes as she knew that she had treated Aeon unfairly.

After some time, Aeon decided not to pursue the matter further and resumed walking.?Raine followed two steps behind him.

Aeon took her to another room with a huge golden door, which had strange alphabets engraved on its surface.

The door was three times bigger than a normal door, its height reaching the ceiling.

Raine was stunned because it was beautifully carved, but wondered how many people would be needed in order to open the door.

Yet, when Aeon opened it, it moved like it was weightless.?Raine thought that it only needed a supernatural creature to open it.

Aeon held the door open and let Raine, who was still holding the bunny, enter first.

Inside was another spacious room with very high ceiling.?Bookshelves were placed against the wall and around the room but in the center of the room, there was ample space that could fit hundreds of people.

Aeon took Raine's hand to the middle of the room right under a beautiful crystal chandelier and when they were standing there, the chandelier lit up, illuminating the whole room brightly like the light of the afternoon sun.

"What is it?" Raine looked around, afraid that she would suddenly teleport to a different place, but she was still there, inside the huge library.

And when the bright light gradually dimmed, a black worn out book was floating in the air in front of Raine.

"Is this the grimoire?" Raine asked in a small voice, feeling the sudden urge to touch it. "Can I?" She raised her hand only a few centimeters from the book.

"Sure." Aeon nodded to encourage her. "This is the grimoire that you have been looking for."

Gingerly, Raine took the floating book and felt gravity starting to affect the book when she grabbed it with her left hand.?Her other hand was still holding the bunny that looked docile.

"But, how did you find it?" Raine asked, puzzled.

If this book existed in the present time, why did Serefina need to go to the past to retrieve it? Or maybe Serefina didn't know about this?

"If the book existed in the past, then it will exist in the present, too. Don't you think so?" Aeon stared at Raine's surprised expression softly.

"I thought the same thing…" Raine mumbled. She caressed the book with her thumb and felt the roughness of its cover. "Serefina will be ecstatic when she sees this.?Can you get me out of here?"

Raine hoped Aeon wouldn't keep her here, though she wasn't sure if he would take her back to Torak's place, but anywhere was better than here.

The quietness of this place was starting to make Raine feel uncomfortable.

"I can, but I don't want you to go back to that Lycan." Aeon stated. "I will not allow you to go back to him since you are here with me now."

Raine gritted her teeth and tried to find another way to escape from Aeon.

"But this book is useless without Serefina." Raine said, trying to reason with him. "I don't even know how to use it."

"Then you don't need to use it." Aeon stated callously. "Just keep it with you as a reminder that I will do anything for you."

Raine felt uneasy when Aeon took her hand again, but she pulled her hand back. "I need to give this book to Serefina. This book belongs to her."

"No." Aeon shook his head firmly.?His eyes hardened as Raine stubbornly insisted on getting away from him to meet with the witch. "This book belongs to you now. I found it and I give it to you."

Raine bit her lips, fidgeting. "But, Aeon… Ouch!"

With the piercing pain that Raine felt from the tip of her finger, she abruptly threw the book away.

"What happened?" Aeon approached Raine immediately and tried to pull her finger out of her mouth. "Don't suck it."

That was a habit of hers to lick her wound.?No, actually most people do that. "That book pierced my finger!" She frowned.

Raine pulled out her forefinger from her mouth and saw blood gushing out of the wound.

"The book?" Aeon frowned.?He had never heard that a book could bite. He tore off a small piece from the edge of his clothes and wrapped it around Raine's forefinger to stop the bleeding.

Then he went to pick up the book from the floor to scrutinize it.

From the corner of the black cover of the book, there was a much darker spot where Raine's blood was absorbed.

"Well, you are indeed a guardian angel.?Even a book wants to take a bite of you." Lucifer suddenly said from the direction of the door.?He had been standing there, observing the situation inside with his golden eyes.?A mocking smile grazed his lips.

"What do you mean by that?" Aeon glared at the devil.

Actually, Lucifer was the one who told him about the book and the theory behind it, which was, if the book existed in the past, it should therefore exist in the present time, too.

Afterwards, he brought Aeon to visit this library and declared that the black covered book was the grimoire that Raine had been looking for.?Of course, Aeon believed him because of the deal between them.

The deal that had sealed his soul.

Therefore, Lucifer wouldn't deceive him because of that, would he?

Yet, before Lucifer could say another word, the sound of a chirping bird echoed through the rows of bookshelves before a beautiful bird appeared out of nowhere and flew towards Raine.

The bird was as big as a falcon with majestic plumage that glowed brightly like bonfire.

It flew above Raine's head before it perched on her shoulder.

"What is that?" Aeon frowned because the bird didn't look like a common bird.

Meanwhile, Raine stood stiff, surprised because the bird chose to stay with her and looked well- behaved.?She glanced at its feathers and was amazed by its beauty.

"That is a firebird." Lucifer uttered in resentment. "The Alpha's pet."

After saying that, a thunderous sound echoed through the wall.?The sound was so powerful that all the books fell down from the bookshelves.

"What is going on?" Aeon ran towards Raine to shield her from the falling books.

But Lucifer looked unfazed. "Of course he will come.?She is the Luna of the Lycanthropes, after all."