Two wolves wearing cloaks came in. Their scents were different from all the others inside the room. And when they both took off their hoods, I realized they were both women.

One of them looked at Haunter directly. She smiled at him sweetly. I blinked and glanced at my boyfriend who in turn smiled at her—the kind of smile that I haven’t seen in him before. It was kind of… tender.

I swallowed. This couldn’t be. I hated to admit it but I was kind of jealous. Alright! Not kind of jealous. I was indeed very jealous! But I tried to keep it to myself.

The other woman closed the door behind them while the smiling woman came up to Haunter and kissed him on the lips—if he weren’t fast enough to turn his cheek instead.

‘Good pet,’ I silently praised him. Or else, he’d taste my wrath.

I heard a glass break. It was when I realized that I was the one who broke it when I felt the wetness drip from my hand and the shattered pieces were buried in my palm.

The woman next to Haunter looked down at my hand and was surprised. She just realized that Haunter was holding my other hand. Then she looked at his face with questioning eyes. He smiled again at her.

“This is my mate, Saber. Saber, this is Ylva…” He introduced us quietly. His hand gently caressed mine.

“Y-your mate? But…” She was clearly not informed of Haunter’s status now.

‘Well, newsflash, wolf girl. He’s mine!’

I suddenly pitied her. But I truly wondered who she was in Haunter’s life before I met him. I never heard about her. She was beautiful with tanned skin for a Scandinavian woman. She was petite like me, with long blond hair, dark blue eyes like a Barbie doll, with curves at the right places, and smelled like shampooed dog.

“Convel didn’t tell me…” Her sentence hung in the air.

I followed her gaze to see who Convel was. It was the one who handed us our drinks earlier. He had long curly dark brown hair, light brown eyes, muscular, tall, and good-looking. He smelled like a dog that spent his time lying on the grass. His look was like apologetic to the blond woman before he left the room to go to the kitchen, I presumed. It was where he went before he gave us the drinks.

“Sorry for the mess. I’ll clean it up,” I said through clenched teeth.

I was about to go when Haunter’s hand tightly grasped mine. He won’t let go of it. I looked at him and he pulled me closer to him instead.

“Yes, she is an undead species unlike us. But I love her, Ylva.” Then he looked at me in the eyes—that kind of look that could turn my knees into jelly and wanted to do it with him even if it was right in front of his entire pack. Damn those sexy eyes! They made me horny.

I blinked hard to gaze at the other woman with my chin up. “Yes. And I feel the same for him,” I told her directly, with all honesty I had.

“How could you, Haunter? You know that it is dangerous to be even associated with her kind!” Ylva turned to lash out Haunter.

He turned his face to look at her. “It’s none of your business, Ylva. I chose her as my mate and I chose this path. And no one can demand me what I should do or shouldn’t do with my life. Besides, you must be aware that this is a private meeting. You should know the rule,” he dismissed her subtly.

I swallowed hard, and the woman gave me a sharp look before she was being dragged by the other woman who came in with her toward the kitchen. She was a contrast of Ylva. She was taller, dark haired, paler, and not so pretty.

Awkwardly, I felt pity for Ylva again but then I realized that I wasn’t alone in having some romantic feelings for Haunter. I vowed to myself that I won’t ever let him be with that woman or any other woman at that. He is mine. Mine alone! I won’t ever share him. I never felt a strong sense of possessiveness on anything or anyone until now. Until Haunter.

A few moments later, he dismissed the pack and he called on Farkas to talk to him alone in a room. I realized that it was sound proof for our kind, so no one was able to hear anything that was going on inside. When his third-in-command came out, I went in to talk to my boyfriend in private.

He wasn’t surprised when I closed the door. Instead, he smiled and urged me to come closer to him using his index finger. He was seated on the edge of a wooden table, and he trapped my body between his legs. His arms embraced my waist and he looked deep into my eyes. My arms were on his muscular chest, feeling his strong and steady heartbeat.

“You didn’t tell me that you had a girlfriend,” I stated quietly. Well, confronting him subtly honestly.

He snorted. “Girlfriend? No, she wasn’t and never will be, especially now that I have you,” he said, one hand stroking my smooth cheek.

“But she was going to kiss you… you know, in that kind of familiar way,” I insisted.

His hand stopped under my chin so that the thumb could trace my soft lips. “She’s been always like that. But you should know that I never invited her to do that.”

“So… she kissed you before then?” I sighed as his other hand started to caress and knead my round buttocks.

“Well, yes. But only once. I’ve already told her countless of times that I didn’t like that. But as you can see, she’s still doing it.” He sounded like he was kind of miserable for not being followed what he ordered.

I kissed his lips then. “So, now that she knows we’re together, I think she’s not going to do it anymore. Or else, I’ll make sure to scar her face forever.” I gave him my most chilling and evil smile. Perhaps Orfeo unconsciously taught me that.

He snickered and kissed me. “I don’t want it to go to that extent. It’d be a pity for her. Her beauty is her best weapon, which is known to our kind.”

I snorted at that. “Don’t tell me she’s the most beautiful she-wolf among your kind?” My eyebrow almost reached my hairline.

He pondered for a second. “Well, yeah. I think she is. And when she transforms, her white fur is as white as snow.”

I slapped his chest hard when it was like he was animated by the thought of Ylva transforming into a beautiful white wolf. I stepped back but he was so quick to catch me in an embrace.

“You’ve known her longer than you know me,” I said almost with self-pity. “But how can I trust that nothing is going on between you two?”

If this was a petty thing, well it wasn’t for me. And I wanted him to know how I felt about this matter. I was still jealous of her. Jealous for knowing Haunter for a longer time, for being with him longer than I did, for getting his attention even though I was there, and for trying to kiss him even though I was there.

“Nothing happened between us, I swear. And to be honest, I never felt something compared to what I do for you right now. I once owed her brother Skoll. He’s the alpha of his own pack and she’s among them. We know each other through him. It was when I got lost in one of my trips in Ireland. I was looking for Farkas, thinking that he was there and not here. Then I was attacked by a group of vampires—they were stronger than I was four hundred years ago. That was when her older brother came to my rescue. Then, he introduced me to his pack and to his younger sister—that’s Ylva. She was a hundred years at the time. Since then, she showed her interest in me. But I did tell her that I wasn’t attracted to her in that way but that she’s like a sister to me.” He paused.

I looked at him in the eyes. He was telling me the truth. I knew it deep inside my unbeating heart.

“So, you still owe him, right?”

He nodded.

I sighed. “So how can you repay him? Did you ever think about it? Did he ever mention to you about his sister… for… you know, to make it even between the two of you.” I shrugged.

“Well, he never did that. He knew how his sister feels about me but he never asked me to fall for her as a favor,” he replied truthfully. Again, I felt his honesty. “I don’t think he ever will. He’s a noble and proud wolf. He’d never do that to his own sister.”

I took a deep breath. “So, how do you think you can repay him for that favor?”

He shook his head. “He never asked anything. Maybe someday. Who knows?”

“But… what if the favor he’s going to ask you is about his sister?” I asked him testily, but even though it was only a hypothetical question, I wanted to know what he was going to do when it comes to repaying the favor.

He shrugged. “It depends.”

“What?” I exclaimed in confusion. My eyes searched his. I didn’t understand what he meant.

“Yeah. It depends on what I’ll do with Ylva. If she needs rescuing that he asks as a favor, then why not rescue her if I can do it? By that, we can call it even. Right?” he elaborated, hypothetically as well.

I chewed on the inside of my cheek. He shook me a little before he spoke to me gently.

“Hey! Whatever happens, you’re my mate for lifetime. It’s because I love you. Got it?” His eyes drilled into mine.

It seemed that my heart somersaulted at that heartfelt vow of his. I trusted him but I didn’t trust that she-wolf! She might come between us in the future. I didn’t like that idea at all. Even the thought of it.

“Saber, I just discovered who sent those Medjays,” I suddenly heard Creep’s voice in my head. I went still, listening to his report while Haunter was looking at me intently. And before he could even say something, his phone rang. He reached down to his pocket and looked at the screen to see who it was.

“It’s Vesh,” he informed me, but he didn’t let go of me.

“The whispers about assassinating the Dark Empress are still spreading. I heard that two of The Six Elders are starting in making their moves against her,” Vesh reported, which I could hear quite clearly even though I was talking with Creep telepathically.

“He’s sent some of his best vampires to track us down. Crina and I are on the run. I will be where you are in a couple of hours when I can shake them off our tail,” my familiar added.

“Just be careful, Creep,” I reminded him.

“Can you tell me where the Dark Empress is now? I’m sure Ji-Yun already told you how to track her by her look and scent,” Haunter inquired the beta.

“The tracker I sent said that she’s headed for Italy,” Vesh replied.

“Do you know the elder who’s there?” Haunter asked.

“If our source is good, yeah. It’s Sansone,” Vesh responded.

I froze for a moment. “We have to go,” I mouthed to Haunter. He ended the call when he noticed the urgency of my expression.

“What’s the matter?” he naturally asked while walking toward the door.

“It was him who sent the Medjays to attack us. I just learned from Creep,” I told him while he got confused when I talked to my familiar when I never had a cellphone of my own. I smiled at him before opening the door. “Creep and I can converse telepathically.”

Haunter’s eyes widened with surprise but I kissed him to get over it. It was never heard of in the Dark World that a vampire and a familiar could communicate through telepathy. And it was even more rarer within the wolves’ pack that they can communicate through telepathy. It needed more connection and deep emotional binding to reach that level, to be able to communicate through their minds among their kind or pack. Contrary to ordinary beliefs, wolves communicated by howling and through their eyes and actions.

My hand already reached out for the knob when Haunter pulled me to him and kissed me almost savagely with his kind of passion.

“We might not have any more time to do this. I want you, Saber!” he confessed hotly and ravaged my mouth.

Well, who was I to resist this and him? I also wanted him and this place was just perfect! I naughtily smiled at him as we shed our clothes. Our naked bodies met and he rolled me onto the floor as he entered my body. His hot rod was so hard and pleasing inside me. He pumped hard and fast while I met his every thrust.

“Ohh… Haunter!” I moaned with pleasure, meeting his every thrust.

He kissed my breasts and sucked each nipple while my body shivered with his possession. I whimpered in rapture. My legs wrapped around his waist as he continued to thrust in and out of my pliant body—deeper, stronger, and faster. He kneeled down while he carried me with him, thrusting at the same time. It was very pleasurable for both of us that we moaned at the same time. Our hot breaths mingled.

His hands were supporting my bottom, guiding it against his huge hot rod. My hands grasped his wide and strong shoulders. I bit his neck and sucked his tasty blood. He moaned because of the pleasure of it, too. He rocked my body more than ever until both of us released.

I was almost limp, clinging on his neck then he gently put me down on the floor. He kissed my lips again and we waited for a few moments before he helped me up to put on my clothes again. He did the same and embraced me once again to kiss me passionately. Both of us couldn’t seem to get enough. When he was about to take off my clothes, I stopped him with a giggle.

“Hey, we still have something to do,” I reminded him.

“Yeah, right,” he replied almost regretfully.

He looked around, making sure that nothing was broken. Thankfully, there was none. Just the smell of our lovemaking lingered in the air, which was quite arousing.

He opened the door this time and he talked to Farkas of our sudden decision for the night.

“Will keep the things going here on my end,” he nodded and assured Haunter that he was going to take care of everyone in the pack while he wasn’t here, as usual. I knew he was one reliable and loyal wolf.

Haunter clapped the third-in-command’s strong shoulder, and we used the car to leave, even without a word to Ylva and the others. I was sure that Farkas would do the talking of the reason why we left suddenly. I waved at Farkas when the car moved. He waved back, and just then, Ylva and the other woman came out of the house to see us off. I looked at her in the mirror. I could still see her gaze following the car even though in the dark hour of the night.

I learned that Farkas’ pack joined Haunter’s some years later after they met. They did it to make a stronger, larger pack and allies. However, Farkas chose to be under Haunter’s command because he believed and trusted my boyfriend to be the alpha. But judging by their wolf nature, maybe it was more than that. It could be that Haunter was stronger than him, though how my lover ended up owing another alpha still puzzled me.

Creep met us halfway, using a car that he rented for him and Crina. To my surprise, two of the Threesome Users were with them. I looked at Haunter worriedly. He understood how I felt.

“Ji-Yun is safe with Vesh and Zurko. They’re going to meet us up in Italy. Vesh knows it even without telling him,” he assured me.

We stopped at the airport and boarded the plane. We would be in Italy in two hours or so due to the takeoff and landing time. Meaning, we would arrive there around early morning.

It seemed the longest flight I ever had. I was anticipating and worrying what will happen in Italy. My thoughts were turning in my mind on the safety of the Dark Empress as well as Ji-Yun’s and the others.

“They’ll be fine, Saber,” Creep’s thought touched mine, dragging me to the present. He and Crina were seated across the aisle, while Sephora and Ataru were in front of our seats.

I nodded and took a deep breath. Haunter pressed my hand that he was holding the entire time. He smiled at me in assurance. I felt a very strong jolt before the plane shook. The passengers screamed in terror. I instinctively held onto my seat.

It wasn’t some kind of air pockets. The plane shook again and it dipped. A strong lightning hit it that I heard the crack of the aircraft. And we were all falling. Haunter was holding me tightly with one hand while the other was holding onto Ataru who in turn was holding Sephora.

Creep held Crina, on the other hand. He turned into a huge eagle and he carried all of us instead, while other passengers and the rest of the crew fell into the dark night and into nowhere. My familiar brought us to safety after a few hours. He refused when I told him that I would just fly with him. So I did hang unto him until we were safe on the ground.

“Phew! That was an amazing ride!” Ataru said with relief.

“I thought your familiar is nothing but that—a familiar. But I am wrong,” Sephora blurted out when she regained her composure.

“Of course. Creep is everything!” Crina said proudly.

I smiled at the ghoul friend of my familiar. Then I looked around, wondering where we were. The lawn was wide and beautiful. The fancy landscape was man-made but looked rather nature-like with its dark green grass, bushes, trees, and flowers. Then, there was that castle-like mansion, which was filled with glittering beautiful lights and not to mention strong galvanizing effect that could only mean one thing.

“Welcome to your doom, Saber!” an unfamiliar voice of a woman addressed me.