After hearing me say I would try to, Alijah shook his head before shrugging. A firm frown was present on his lips as he rolled his eyes. He suddenly stood up from the bed, triggering me to crash my face into the bedcovers.

At least it wasn’t dirt anymore—an upgrade from yesterday.

“Please don’t do that!” I yelped, feeling the rush of blood onto my cheeks.

The grumpy wolf chuckled as he surely realized his effect on me, but that was something I couldn’t control.

I mean, if I see you bare. I’ll die! Arg! How can I keep my hands off you throughout this journey to heal your heart? No, Rem! Bad girl!

This would cause a problem, but that was a danger I had to deal with another day.

I have to kill these emotions somehow. It doesn’t matter; I’ve held you countless times in my dreams! None of that matters!

“Are you a virgin or something?” he asked, causing my eyes to find him before I squealed, planting my eyes on the bed again.

I saw nothing! Absolutely nothing!

“That isn’t any of your business,” I broke.

Yep, I saw nothing with that slip! No, you were bare standing there! Why?! My heart can’t handle a single nipple shot. So, why are you doing this?!

Even though they stared at me the entire time, I kept my sight on the bed for his safety.

“You really aren’t like other females I have met. That’s for sure.” Alijah noted, getting dressed.

I sensed my eyes would burn if I glanced up momentarily, just like my lips and mouth felt after feeling him. With my spontaneous tendencies, I wouldn’t pass it by me that I would jump him.

Especially since in my dreams, we...

Even so, I would do everything in my power to not be like the girls who assaulted him. I wanted to be unique and a friend.

Yes… That’s all I’ll ever be.

“Good! I don’t want to be like anyone you have met!” I mumbled, shifting my eyes to the opposite wall from him.

Alijah slowly continued to dress, doing so to tease me, and I felt it in my bones. It was an irritating temptation—one I wasn’t sure I’d fully resist.

“Hm… You’re unique.” Alijah sighed soon after.

It caused my heart to skip a beat at such a simple compliment.

My heart... I... How... will I survive this man?

My sanity wouldn’t last.

“Fine, I’ll give you a shot, Rem,” He added soon after.

It successfully ripped my eyes away from where I had locked them and onto him, triggering tears to form before tailing down my cheeks.

Give me a shot. Really?! That’s all I want!

I couldn’t hold the emotions of happiness, which caused me to pounce on him.

“Alijah-tan!!! Thank you! I promise you won’t regret it!” I beamed, hugging him from behind.

It wasn’t long before I smothered my face in his back.

“Oi!” He complained at my sudden attack as I clung to him dearly.

His shirt was still loose, but everything else was decent.

This doesn’t constitute assault! Surely...

I didn’t know if it was my hug or the words, but he didn’t shove me away. Instead, much to my surprise, he grabbed onto my hands, which held him—something in my belly fluttered, slowly peeling myself off him, nervously giggling.

“E-Excuse me!” I grabbed my bag before bolting into the bathroom to catch myself.

In my wake, I left behind a bewildered grump to finish dressing.

Arg! I must’ve appeared like an idiot running into the bathroom after saying all that.

Yet I knew I was a stupid fool before embarked on this journey. Filling the sink with water, I dumped my face into it to cool myself.

That was so very uncool of me!

Before I drowned, I took my face out of the water, gasping for air. The mirror in front of me only showed a girl way out of her league. Everywhere Alijah touched, I felt like he set it on fire, including my hands.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

There’s no way I can hide my feelings for long—that’s if you haven’t figured it out yet.

That thought made me want to slam my face into the mirror, but something stopped me. I found something worrisome in my reflection. The constant use of contacts was irritating my eyes.

Oh, no! This…

They didn’t need to be pulled out for safety reasons, but this situation wasn’t pleasant. Normal lumas usually took the mother’s characteristics for their eyes.

I’m Lilith’s daughter, the most powerful witch ever, but I didn’t inherit her natural brown orbs. No, I inherited one of her transformed blue orbs from her, making it neon blue, and the other is from my father, Fenris, who is pure red.

Both were far from normal in humans and Lycans, with only amber color.

This is all because of my Red moon lycan blood. If Alijah ever sees them.

There would be no doubt left in his mind of who I was.

No, that can’t happen. Not when I’m part of the…

Luckily, my wig was still in place to cover my natural silver with brown strips in my hair. I always tucked my tail under my clothes, even though it wanted to be freed at all costs. After I was done preparing myself and dreading everything to come, I walked out of the bathroom.

Alijah waited for me by the bed. Luckily, he didn’t care enough to take a detailed look at me before he went into the bathroom after me. Once he finished, he put on his hat and shoes while I waited by the door.

It seemed the ones I picked out for him were the right size, too. At least I was good with details—one of my only outstanding qualities. By noon, we were back on the road, searching for a way to move forward.

Outside the town, we hitched a ride with one merchant leaving the village and headed towards the border of Celestelia. A place we couldn’t cross easily because of all the Cerberus officers that patrolled it.

At the speed of the carriage, it would take us nine days on the road to get there. Either way, it was better than Alijah exerting himself and drawing attention to us. Our final stop wasn’t at the border itself, either way.

I had wormed my way out of a birthday meal with Aunty Amelia.

By now, my parents are aware I’m missing. Dad must’ve figured out I’m behind Alijah’s disappearance, too. That or Edna had beat them to it, and I went missing randomly—an implausible scenario.

That witch liked to play from the shadows, which made her move unlikely due to all the eyes there. If anything, her plan was for Alijah to kill everyone there, or perhaps she had another one. Either way, lingering anywhere wasn’t good.

The black wolf appeared wary about everything and everyone we encountered, including the merchant we hitched a ride with. Luckily, instead of running his mouth and getting us into trouble, he stayed by me, grumpily grumbling while keeping his distance from everyone else.

He was willing to give me a chance, but that was all it was. However, unlike him, I was utterly excited to be in a horse-powered carriage—something rare in Silverant, which had machinery for everything and was my hometown in Lyari.

I was too excited, though. Everything fascinated me, even the little things we saw. So I was exuding so much energy that by the sixth day, the merchant got stingy.

"Shut it already, or get off at the next stop! I can't stand your yapping anymore!" The half-elf huffed, leaving me sulking.

At that point, Alijah chuckled, sitting in one of the wooden seats near the entrance of the carriage. For the past few nights, I slept with this wolf every time he had a nightmare. Usually, it ended with me being shoved off, but two days ago, instead of finding my way while he groaned.

The grumpy wolf yanked me into the sleeping bag with him.

“Since you’re going to do it, anyway, dumb luma, you might as well sleep with me from the beginning.” He retorted, giving in to me.

We lay beside each other under the night sky by the campfire. Eventually, I slowly reached for his hand, intertwining my fingers with his. Instead of yanking away from me, he stared at me for a while before closing his eyes.

It felt like a win, but now that he was laughing at me, I felt like an idiot.

Are we getting along, or are you simply tolerating me?!

Grumbling, I headed back to my seat.

Although I do enjoy your pleasure, it comes at my expense. I wish I could be part of it instead of the source.

“You don’t need to like it that much,” I muttered.

Alijah continued to chuckle, “What? You being told to shut up? I enjoyed it very much. You’ve been going on about every stupid thing you see for days.” He pointed out, much to my annoyance.

Oh, you don’t need to be so rude!

“So what? I want to know everything there is to know about this world! Don’t you also want that?!” I argued, narrowing my eyes at him.

He shook his head before shrugging it off. It was evident to this wolf that the world was nothing interesting to see, and I wanted to change that.

“I’m just glad I’m not the only one who wants silence.” Alijah teased.

His words caused me to growl at him.

Do you have to be this irritating?!

“You—” I went to complain, only to be stopped by the cart hitting a bump on the road.

It caused me to lose my balance before I was expelled from the cart. The moment I was in the air, I was sent back to the moment I fell off the manor's roof. The only thing that stopped me from meeting with a serious injury was Alijah’s swift action.

Instinctively, he grabbed my hand, yanking me back into the safety of his arms.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t see that rock.” The merchant apologized from the front for the bump.

My breath hitched as I desperately clung to the wolf’s shirt. Every fiber of my being trembled while I held onto him. Those memories were still fresh in my mind.

What did I just…

“Geez, how can you be so stupid? Sit down in a moving cart!” Alijah growled, grabbing me by my shoulders.

His eyes opened wide when he noticed my state of mind. He picked up my gaze by grabbing my chin before I forced it back down to the wooden floor of the cart.

“Hey... are you okay?” The wolf breathed, erasing all traces of amusement from him.

I struggled to snap out of that moment as it felt like something wanted to come out of me again, and I tried to keep it buried down at all costs.

No… that’s… you can never see that!

“Oi, Rem!” he called out to me again.

I finally broke out, focusing on him. When my eyes met him, he noticed something alarming in me, cupping my cheeks and assessing me further.

“What the fuck? Your left eye is bleeding,” Alijah pointed, passing his thumb under it.

What?! Crap!

I yanked away quicker than lightning.

“I’m fine,” I assured him, heading to the back of the carriage to find a mirror.

“It doesn’t seem that way.” He followed behind me.

Ignoring him, I scavenged around the merchant’s goods until I found a mirror. The only bad part was that the grumps loomed over me, leaving me to find a small corner in the cart to keep his view obscured.

I assessed my eye, only to see it was almost entirely bloodshot.

Crap… These lens…

“I’m fine,” I sighed, tearing away from the mirror before he could see it.

It was hard to remove my contacts while he stood behind me. The second I took off my left eye lens, I noticed it was glowing red from the palm of my hand.

Damn it! Another complication!

“Rem, let me see,” Alijah growled.

Instantly, I covered my eye with my hand. The person I least wanted to see what was happening got closer, and if he saw this, then I...