STEFANIA

Chapter Seven

Sometimes

memories sneak out

of my eyes

and roll down

my cheeks.

THERE IS So much going through her mind that everything seems loud. Even the voices in her head are drowned out by the incessant thoughts. She could do nothing but stare blankly at the wall and it didn't matter how loud her thoughts gets because at that moment she didn't exist, she was locked away in her nightmares.

Head leaned back against the wall and knees to her chest she scans the room. A space with light illuminating from a source unknown to her, a box-like room with no windows or doors. She was back in the dungeon but the only difference was that she wasn't chained to the wall.

She hadn't returned to the dungeon physically but mentally. A place created by her mind, feeding on her psychological injury. But to Manya, everything was real, as real as the circumstance of having a mate.

It's like being caught between a wall and a hard place, it's like a tunnel with no end and you can neither escape nor go back. You just can't escape.

"This is just a dream, it's going to pass by soon." She wished she could hear these words right now, that would keep her going."I don't want this anymore" and these were the words she wanted to scream out but she couldn't because she was trapped and stifled.

While Manya thought she needed to hear those words Mitzi could see what Manya needed more was to understand that she wasn't alone. Pulling close, Mitzi pulled Manya into her warm embrace.

It took a couple of seconds for recognition to drawn on Manya, She place her right hand on Mitzi's head and her left hand around her shoulder as she welcomes the tight embrace. Manya took a few minutes basking in Mitzi's scent and hands slowly brushing through her hair before pulling away.

Manya swallowed."I feel so much better now." That were the words that formed in her mind to say but the lie got caught up in her throat instead she said."How are you feeling now?"

Lying and trying to mask her emotions was useless because Mitzi could read her so clearly."What's the problem? Do you want to still leave?"

"I Don't. . . Don't. . ." She stops herself.

Even though she doesn't know what to do or can't tell right from wrong, she knew she must make a decision and what the answers to her life are. Right or wrong she has to prepare for the next scenario and the scenario after that. Enduring was something she was best at.

"I've decided not to leave." She states raising to her feet."Don't worry, Mitzi." I'm going to break down the wall.

After taking her bath and then changing into Mitzi clothes she planned to return to the room sleeps in but her plans got changed after being informed that the King wanted her to assist in the kitchen. Assisting wasn't a problem but working without pay was the problem,

CONTRARY TO What she thought, the royal pack isn't meant for the royal high rankings because they don't even live in it. A lot of lycans live in the royal pack house, it's a place you find the elders who have lived for over a century and also the young adult planning to start a life outside their family's home. The place is like a headquarter where each day is a busy day.

She'd never worked in a kitchen before but now she has to do this every day for free, without any pay, and receive invectiveness at the end of the day from him. Six different meals are always prepared for breakfast by four in the morning, baked snacks by twelve for lunch, and three different meals for dinner. That was a schedule they followed every day and she has to work diligently with everyone working in the kitchen.

Since she didn't join them in preparing breakfast she had to move the item needed for lunch into the kitchen, which is a lot.

"Hey, can you please help with this? "

She places the eggs with other items"Help with what?" She turns towards the voice.

"I need help with this, I think it's stuck." The red-haired female states. The color of her hair and her petite form made it easy for Manya to recognize her, she was the same lycan female who walked into her room the other day because she was inquisitive to know who Manya was.

Dressed in a black mocha striped knit midi skirt hugging her figure paired with an off-shoulder long-sleeve black shirt complimenting her flawless skin tone. Standing beside a human she would be considered tall but beside a female lycan, she is petite.

But with Manya's experience, she understands that reading a book by its cover was like a dangerous bet, her type is the most dangerous because the hit when you least expect with power-packed force you would never anticipate."Are you just going to keep falling in love with me or help me with this?" And she also has a sharp tongue.

With an eye roll, Manya closes the distance between them, she pulls the nail stopping the sideboard from opening."Here you go."

"How did you get this?" She stops Manya before she could move away with amber-green eyes pinned on the bracelet around Manya's wrist.

Manya pulls her hand away." why? Is yours missing?" Brows raised Manya holds her gaze.

"Come with me it's not safe speaking about it here." She turns expecting Manya to follow but stops at the door when she noticed Manya hadn't moved an inch from her spot."I can help you with the lock."

Manya look around the room, enjoying the sweet fragrance of flower and strawberries." Is this your room?" The room is so much bigger than Manya's room and unlike Manya's room, this was a place the red-haired marked as her territory, through the types of furniture and every item in the room.

"Yes, you like?" She plants herself on the well-arranged blue bedsheets while Manya made herself comfortable on a chair in front of the white-painted vanity table.

"So umm. . ." Manya pauses and squints, she tries to recall her name, but you can't remember a name you never learned.

"Jekaterina, but you can call me Terina." She says with a smile." I know Kazimir gave you that bracelet but what you don't know Is that I made it." The face didn't only give it away because Manya could also hear the complacency in her words.

"What are you?" Manya narrowed her gaze on Terina.

"I'm a sorceress?" Terina states looking genuinely blurred by Manya's question.

"I know that." She'd crossed paths with a few sorceresses and sorcerers in the past but she couldn't say she knows anything about their kind, she only knows that even though stronger than a human and are immortals like werewolves and lycans, they lacked enhanced sense and strength like them. The only ability that makes them esteemed by others is their ability to initiate spells.

"Oh, I'm here because the king needs me and this is my home." Manya could tell she wasn't being honest because just like how you can't find a Lycan living among werewolves you also can't find a sorceress or sorcerer living among werewolves and lycans. But that wasn't something she needed to cogitate over.

"Since you can't be of any help I'm leaving." Manya made her way towards the door but stops as she recalls something. She turns her gaze back on Terina."Does a sorcerer have the ability to cast a tracking spell on a person, I mean can you know where a person is with just a spell?"

She lifts a shoulder in a half-shrug."Maybe, I don't know because I've never tried it before. . ."

"But is it possible?" Manya bites into Terina's words.

"it depends on the sorcerer's level of power in him, I mean we have different thresholds to our powers." She explains with gaze pinned on Manya."Some are stronger while some are ineffectual, it all depends on the individual, the ancestry, or how long the sorcerer has lived. I can if I tried, but why?"

"It's nothing, I will go now." With that, she shuts the door behind herself.

She still had a few hours before lunch so she returned to the room she was sleeping in."Where have you been." Shocked by the calm hoarse voice she let the room door slam shut.

To be sure she wasn't imagining the figure standing in front of the vast window she blinked with mouth agape. It's being what? Two, three, four years since she last saw him, she remember because she stopped caring after he left her for the second time. Hell, she taught he wasn't returning this time around and she even wiped him out of her memory after the first year passed without him returning.

"What are you doing here? How did you find me?" No matter where she was hiding at that moment he would always find her, he'd walk back into her life like he never left. That was the second greatest reason she hated him.

"That's not important right now?" It's had never been for him. Leaving and why he had to leave was never important, he leaves when he wanted to without telling her and returns anytime. Leaving her and Mitzi never mattered to him but to her it did.

Moving further into the room she places herself on the chair beside the desk studying him as he does the same. The main reason why she knew a little of Terina's kind was not because she crossed paths with them but because she lived and for years idolized one of her kind.

Waldrom was tall, only a few inches shorter than Kazimir who by the way was a giant. He stood in front of her dressed in a black cloak fitted to his lean muscular body, he always has an indifferent look like nothing could disturb the peace he had found within himself. Unchanging nonchalant green emerald eyes that show wisdom built over the years.

"Tell me then, what's important that you had to look for me after so many years?"

He pushes down the hoodie of his cloak and then runs his left hand through his copper red hair."I heard from Mitzi that you had an episode today."

"An episode?" She scoffs burning him with her heated gaze. Anyone who would hear him right now would think he cared about her but the truth is that he cares only about his interest. He had fooled her years ago but after waking up to find him gone twice she knew what kind of man he was."I always have one in the morning, sometimes during the middle of the day, and even at night, it's become my life." She licks her bottom lip."So spare the pretense and tell me the reason behind your visit because I very much know my episode isn't the reason you came."

He closes the distance between them by leaning against the edge of the desk."Why are you here Manya? How did you get yourself and Mitzi caught up in the territory of the most feared beast?"

"Why? Didn't Mitzi disclose that information to you?"She tilted her chin up.

"Manya." He gave her that look he would always do when she does something he was displeased with, which would tell her how serious that moment was.

Waldrom wasn't an old friend to her, he was someone she once considered to be family. On the day of the incident, he was the one who found her walking aimlessly, weak, and alone. He taught her how to survive, everything she needed to live for this long. With the years he spent taking care of her and Mitzi, Manya depended on him but just as he had walked unexpectedly into her life he left without a word or goodbyes.

The little girl was left devastated, she blamed herself and hated herself because he left her like everyone else had done. Then after she had finally started living and getting used to having only Mitzi by her side he returned and when she starts letting him once again he leaves. Until eventually she stopped caring and her hostility only grew when she discovered he knew about her true identity.

The first greatest reason she hates him is because he knows everything about her, he knows about her real family, why she was abandoned, and even her real name. But up till this moment he chose to keep her in the dark, refusing to tell her anything that could bring back her memories.

Even though she wanted to lock him out, and push him off the cliff she can't at this moment because she needed him and a little part buried inside her was glad he was here. She was surrounded by things she couldn't understand and Waldrom is the only one who can explain everything to her.

"He claimed me as his mate."

"What?"

"He believes I am his other half." She explains more clearly thinking he didn't understand her.

He didn't answer holding her gaze. As usual, his gaze didn't give away what he was thinking, just a blank stare. Flattening her mouth, she clears her throat and straighten her shoulders because she was dreading whatever he would say.

"Do you feel any pull towards him?" He asked after putting her through a long moment of silence.

Her gaze cuts towards the window and then back on him." I think anyone would feel overwhelmed and flustered by his presence." She lifts a shoulder."And like everyone I have feelings too so it's normal, I feel overwhelmed by him." She states giving a logical explanation for her attraction towards Kazimir.

"You both are made for each other." He deadpanned or rather he sounded like he just stated something obvious by inspection.

"How do you know?"

"Because like a werewolf and a lycan, vampires also have a mate. A stranger they would recognize as their other half." He smiled at her pityingly." Even though you tried you can't escape this because he is your other half as much as you are his. What you feel towards him isn't just an attraction but a pull created by the bond between you both."

The best reaction at that moment would be showing disbelief, agitation, and maybe frustration but those expressions didn't cross her face instead she laughed, loud and rich like she heard a funny joke.

The weird part of the situation was that she wasn't laughing because she thought he was joking, she was laughing because she realized a problem she taught she could endure unexpectedly became the most difficult one. Her actions led her to the worst outcome.

Why did she choose to go through this thorny path?