Her Human Heart, His wolf's fangs

Making a choice

Asher's POV

Her hands dropped to her sides, her eyes wide-eyed at me like she’d seen a ghost. Her feet moved back after bumping into me.

My glowing eyes had shot at her.

“You…” she muttered. “You came here…”

Sweat slicked down her face, her breath like loudspeakers to my ears.

I held her upper arms, slowly walking up to get to her shoulders, and my fingers coming in contact with the hand of her bra. “Escaping?”

She shot her eyes, sniffing and shaking in my hold. Perhaps the sudden connection also affected her? It was supposed to. But she was unaware of the burn of her presence.

“Escaping… no… no.”

And there she was, unable to put out words to me.

“Elowen.” I called with a soft voice I never thought I had. “You're human, but the bond occurred to me… you're my mate.”

She shook her head. “No… not me, never me.”

She struggled out of my hands, tears wetting her jaws. When I released my grip, her feet went backward, unstable steps. She turned to face the room, but the darkness betrayed her. She fell at the doorstep.

“Elowen!” I rushed to hold her up.

And my heart rate raised a little above normal, like I almost lost myself to the curse. It was a different kind of experience, like the stakes of the curse were increasing against me, but in a different direction.

My hand rested on her shoulders. I lost that deep frown I'd put on.

“Asher.” She whispered with a weak breath, but still laid on the floor.

“Okay?”

I held her up, but she applied no effort in getting on her feet, instead, used all her strength for our eyes to lock.

“You must have seen me before now, haven't you? Somehow? Her palms rested on my chest, her chest almost pressing against me.

Her countenance was complex, was more of curiosity?

My body seemed to weaken more. She felt the same strong sense of familiarity about me. It was hard to understand.

“You called me your mate.”

I nodded. Her face got so close that her breath touched my skin.

“Why?” Her hands walked up to my neck, but with a soft touch.

“The instinct.” I found myself saying. “That's everything I needed to know. It caused a reaction in my body, and I know… you must have felt the connection…”

“You don't know that…”

“I can feel that.”

Her gaze, though weak, was piercing at the same time. It was hard to give an answer under such scrutiny.

Her left hand walked up from my neck to rest on my jaw, and at first, I didn't realize I'd pulled her too close to my body. Only the softness of her boobs told me how soft and fragile she was. That softness pulled my mind off the race of breaking the curse.

“Hmmm…” I inhaled softly.

My hands went around her waist, and I didn't notice I'd gone that far.

“And to think such instinct came at a time I was supposed to be… some sort of sacrifice to end your curse?”

I inhaled so close to her face. “I’ve never understood such instinct.”

Her fingers brushed into my hair, and it seemed she was taking prints of me in her mind.

“The instinct could never lie,” I said.

“Why do I feel you’re someone I should know?” She asked instead.

“It could be part of the instinct.”

I drew her closer. Our lips touched. Our tongues came in contact. I thought she should have resisted, but she didn't.

Soon, she stepped back, but not out of resistance, walked into the room.I stood, frozen on the spot she left me, staring at her seated on the bed. My night vision blurred till it looked like I was staring at her shadow.

Her eyes staring at me and the scent of pineapples confirmed her presence.

Was all these real? Mated to a human?

“Asher.” Nyx’s voice hit me like needles.

She stood almost ten steps from me, a candle burning on a saucer in her hands. As though counting her steps, she got closer.

“You didn't do it…” she stopped. “And you're here… the blood moon ritual was supposed to—”

“Stop.” I motioned at her.

She got close enough to stare at Elowen. “The human… your chance to break the curse under the full moon…”

Her gaze shifted between Elowen and I. Elowen still had her eyes on me, her hand slowly massaging her knee cap.

Nyx placed the burning candle on the floor, then touched my arms. “What is it about her?”

I jerked her hands off, but had to look at her after that.

She placed both hands on her chest. “What you said outside before the pack elders…”

I heard her breath instead, heavily.

“Did you mean it?” Her voice raised.

Her eyes were wet, and she took a step into the room, but I held her back, a bit too tight that my fingers almost dug into her skin. “You don't go in there.”

“She isn't one of our kinds.”

I didn't speak except pulling her back amidst her struggle to step forward. She gave up, clutched my right arm like she couldn't breathe without it.

“What you said… you didn't mean it.”

The slight tears that wet her jaws progressed into a quiet sob, but was sharp at the same time, her voice ringing bells like it always did. I’d known her long enough to know it was real.

Yet, I had no answer except what I'd told Elowen—the instinct.

The room was void of all sound except her quiet sob that came like loudspeakers to my ears. But soon, almost unnoticeable, like a little change I'm rhythm, I heard footsteps.

First I saw candle lights. Freya came into view from the left side of the hallway. She stopped at the sight of me.

I still heard footsteps.

Omah came in from the right side, also holding a candle. He didn't stop. His pace increased. His face… sweat formed on it. It was deeper than a frown, rage?

It didn't seem so.

“The moon is still full,” he said. “The curse… it's reaching another milestone.”

“I…”

“This is another moment.” He walked into the room. “The human is here, and… what you said in that gathering has no meaning.” His voice thickened. “Not when everything about you is.”

My palms go cold. I clenched my fist. “We’ve gone past it.”

I must have shook my head a thousand times, walking inside the room, closer to the bed, closer to Elowen.

“I told you already!” My voice covered the room.

Omah walked closely behind me. Nyx and Freya stood outside.

Elowen didn't move, her eyes still on me. Her expression was flat. Nothing to read from it.

“You would change!” Omah’s voice tensed up. “You would become completely feral, you don't get it?”

Becoming feral. If I did, I would lose control of my body, would lose control of my thoughts, could be some werewolf with vague instincts. But I'd suddenly lost the meaning of that.

My legs almost touched Elowen's feet.

“Necklace…”I muttered

Her hands grabbed it around her neck. That was when she pulled her eyes off me. She flinched.

The necklace…

All that came to my mind was my late parents, how was it related to them?

“Asher.” Omah nudged me. “You have to go on with this. She should complete the process before it becomes late.”

She’d drawn herself into the bed, her hands not leaving the necklace, not sparing me another glance at it.

My body warmed up. The effect was coming up again.

“You would become feral,” Omah pressed.

I bit my lower lips, then forced breath through my mouth. “Not with her… she is my mate…”

“What… you don't mean this, Asher.”

My fingers brushed into my hair, my chest panting louder. “I mean everything.”