Kira's POV
I held the helm of my gown with one hand, whilst the other hand caressed the blossoming flowers around me.
From the corner of my eyes, I caught a chirping bird calling for my attention.
I turned fully to it, and waved. In return, it sang to me.
A smile spread across my face, and I began to hum.
Days turn to night, and night to days. So the heart prays, and the soul stays….
As I hummed, the bird chirped. Soon, we were going back and forth with each other.
The forest field listened to our rendition, and rewarded us with a light wind that had the leaves dancing.
But suddenly, everything went completely still.
My voice faltered into silence, as I paused to figure the cause of the stillness.
Fear instantly gripped me when I sniffed, and perceived a heavy presence hovering around.
Ayana, my wolf who had been resting blissfully, jumped into action.
In a blink, I broke into a run.
The more I ran, the more the beastly creature followed in hot pursuit of me.
Regret in the form of tears stung my eyes, and I began to wish I had just remained in the safety of my home.
I was to be married off to an alpha I knew nothing about in a few hours, and here I was, running for my life.
From a distance, I caught sight of a big hole I needed to jump over.
My wolf prepared my body for the big jump. And immediately I drew close to it, I leaped into the air.
Unfortunately for me, I miscalculated how high I needed to jump.
I let out a small scream when instead of going over the hole, my body began to descend into it.
My eyes closed in fear as I anticipated the heavy crash that was to come.
The crash never came. Instead, I felt a heavy hand grab me just before I hit the ground, and pushed me to the other side.
Once more, my survival instincts kicked in, and I started to tussle vigorously.
I flung my legs and hands all around, fighting to escape the hold of the creature who had saved me.
"Yield!" I heard the creature warn loudly.
My eyes shot open, and the first thing I saw were the clearest hazel eyes, staring directly into mine.
"Let go, please," I begged.
"I said, yield!" He warned a second time, and briefly, his eye flashed red.
My heart skipped a beat in panic, but I continued to struggle against him.
His huge hand went round my neck, as he threw his head back.
"Yield!" He growled so powerfully this time, the forest rattled.
The fight in me completely disappeared, and I laid limp on the ground. "I yield," I whispered weakly, my voice strange even to my ears.
The moment the words left my lips, I began to feel something I had never felt before.
It was a magnetic pull of some sort. It was my heart pounding heavily against my chest. It was my wolf prancing around. It was the faintest hint of a tingle. And lastly, it was the itch that started from the top of my fingers, and slowly began to spread all over my body.
I stared into the stranger's eyes, and he stared into mine.
"No," I heard him say, and wondered what he was trying to avoid.
The itching gradually increased, and I grew really worried.
I wasn't completely naive. There was only one explanation as to why his eyes were alternating between an alphas red, and his normal hazel.
There was only one reason I could be this itchy.
Yet, that explanation couldn't fly in this situation. It was simply impossible.
"No," he protested once more, but I could feel his wolf shoot to the surface.
It called to my wolf, and shamelessly, Ayana responded.
His hand cupped my face, and Ayana purred.
"Mate," the words came out in a growl, and my heart skipped a beat.
"No," I said, my turn to resist.
I tried, but I couldn't. I couldn't do anything when he brought his lips down on mine.
In two hours, I was to be given to my betrothed, who was assigned my mate by the moon goddess.
Yet, here I was, surrendering myself to the strange passion the stranger provoked in me.
The next few minutes happened so fast. One second, I was panting from the kiss, and the next, his thickness had broken the barrier of my innocence.
Throwing my head back, I howled with both pain and pleasure, as the forest stranger emptied his seed deep into my womb.
He rolled off my body, and laid beside me, breathing heavily.
I couldn't think at that moment. All I could do was act.
Swiftly, I jumped to my feet, dragged my hoisted gown down, and without looking back, ran fast.
I knew that if he decided to pursue after me, my attempt to flee would become futile. Still, I ran as fast as I could.
Only when I made it to my pack house, and snuck in through the backdoor, did I stop running.
Thankfully, everyone was occupied with preparing for my departure, making it easy for me to slip into my room unnoticed.
I dashed into the washroom, and quickly took off my dress.
After washing off, I returned to my room at the same time a knock sounded on my door.
"Kira!" My aunt hurried forward to hug me.
I hugged her back, but pulled away just as fast.
Saddled with the guilt of what had just happened in the forest, I couldn't look at her in the face.
"Come, it's time to dress you up. Your future awaits you."
Like a vagabond, I allowed my aunt to hold my hand, and lead me away.
An hour later, we were on our way to the Bloodmoon pack.
My heart drummed hard, and fast, as my aunt continued yapping.
"The alpha Cade has been nice enough to accept you. Before you were born twenty years ago, his father defended our pack against the attack of the extremely dangerous rogue wolves. In return, your father promised you to his son who had a curse placed on him from birth. His curse was that he would never find a fated mate," she paused and sighed. "Are you even listening to me?"
"I am," I replied underneath the thick veil covering my entire face.
No matter how many times I heard the story, which was a lot of times, my aunt never got tired of telling it.
"The moon goddess accepted you to be his mate, because you're so special. But on the condition that it is only after the ceremony to bind you two together is completed, you'll be able to call yourselves mate. Not only that, you'd start to feel the same things fated mates feel towards each other. How romantic is that?"
I wished I shared in my aunt's enthusiasm. Not only did I know nothing about the alpha I was to marry, I had also just given my innocence to a stranger in the forest.
My innocence was supposed to belong to my mate.
How I would justify that action when it was time to do the mate dance with the alpha, was the most worrying thought in my head at the moment.
"Sweetheart, put a smile on that face of yours. I can't see you, but I can tell you're not smiling. Your mate deserves your smile."
I sighed internally, and prayed to the moon goddess for grace.
The drums began to beat faster, and louder, and my aunt grabbed my hand abruptly.
"We're here!" She screamed in excitement. "We're finally here!"
The carriages came to a stop, and she led me out of it.
"I'll take you to your mate. You don't need to worry. Your father is behind us. Keep your head high, and never look down until we stop walking."
I followed all of her instructions, but still observed my surroundings with my other senses.
I knew when we left open space, and arrived in a hall.
It looked like we had finally just stepped into the room where my nuptials would take place.
My guess was confirmed when my aunt stopped walking, and stepped back.
It was my clue to also stop walking. My shaky fingers bound together, as I waited for what was to come.
"To the Alpha Cade, I present to you, your mate, and the future Luna of RedMoon, princess Kira!" A shrill voice cried out.
Slowly, a hand lifted my veil, and my face became visible.
I blinked first to adjust to the light, before I shot my gaze forward.
Ayana jumped to the surface when she sensed the presence before me.
"Oh no," I muttered, as recognition flashed through his eyes, and also mine.
My shaky hand flew to my chest, because standing in front of me, was the stranger from the forest.
The same stranger I had given the innocence reserved for my mate.