When she found herself held tight within the embrace that possessed her, Aami couldn't understand what was happening... she only knew one thing... he hadn't liked whatever she had said a moment ago... and this harsh behavior was the result of that.
His moving lips reached a point where they were barely a breath away from hers, yet his eyes were diving deep into the depths of her shimmering gaze.
"Please... don't do anything to me..."
Before she could even finish speaking through her tremors, her voice and her lips were trapped within his warm mouth... Aami let out a faint moan... her hands tightened on his shoulders, and she pressed even closer into him.
At that moment, his tongue and teeth were tracing over both her lips... It was a kiss so wild... That's what Aami felt; without any gentleness, it was painful, yet why did her heart feel like it shouldn't pull away, but rather cling closer to him?
In between, those lips that knew nothing else clung to hers again like a craze... He was drinking in the honey-like nectar flowing from her lips with desperate thirst... In that intoxication of the kiss, he pressed her face into his and joined his lips to the depth of hers...
In other words, he was showing her the restless haste of someone who wanted to know her through endless, wet kisses.
As her mind suddenly snapped back to reality, realizing what was happening around her, Aami lay in those arms, struggling... Panting for breath, as she squinted her eyes and looked up at that figure, her head was spinning.
"Leave me... I need to go..." she said exhaustedly.
The reply was a sharp smirk.
"You can never leave me now... because you are mine..."
Hearing his voice... Aami didn't feel fear then... but now... a strange sense of helplessness... Above all else, until this very moment, she could hear her own heart calling out that he was her beloved, despite his body and mind yielding to him without even a word of protest.
He lifted Aami up and buried his face in her neck again, biting and nuzzling her... As if she were being taken by force, a chill ran through her, and her thoughts slipped away.
"Aami..."
Hearing his soft call for the first time, every hair on her body stood on end in an instant... She looked at him in bewilderment... even now, at his face, which she couldn't see clearly.
"Though we tried to drift apart, destiny brought us together."
"I have you now... I will not allow you to leave me anymore... No matter what crisis I must face to make you mine, I will overcome it..."
The moment he finished saying those words, Aami was jolted from his grasp by the force of something powerful...
"In this world, whatever stands as an obstacle to your supreme position—be it even your own soulmate—it shall be erased from this earth...!"
Along with that terrifying voice, Aami's scream echoed powerfully through the forest... followed by a horrific and pain-filled howl...
Suddenly, Aami opened her eyes—lying there, she couldn't understand if what she had seen was a dream or reality. She stood up from the Swing and looked outside... nature was bathed in moonlight... many things were visible with clarity.
What exactly was it that she just saw? It was the third dream... Whatever the meaning of all this was, it had all started from Ameliya... Her thoughts had now begun to affect even her sleep.
As a psychiatrist, she should be able to understand the meaning of all this... yet her own mind was playing games with her. Perhaps if she imagined herself as a character named Aamika in the place of the woman named Ameliya...
Even now, she felt uneasy just closing her eyes... and not only that, Aami realized with helplessness that her body was still reacting as if it had directly experienced that figure's touch, kisses, and everything else...
In this night where sleep was lost, Aami stood there with a mountain of thoughts... analyzing each dream she had seen...
She didn't realize that someone else was in the exact same state... traveling through vast oceans to reach that mysterious island... Mystic Shadow... On the highest balcony of a giant castle standing tall amidst the forests of that island, a young man stood looking out at the moonlight, his state identical to hers...
The face visible in that moonlight was hers... the face of his counterpart... and a heart and soul that beat for his mate...
"Alfa Aries"...
He heard that call suddenly from behind... He merely grunted a response without turning back...
"Alfa Lorrison has requested your presence once more for a meeting at this time..."
After the messenger spoke, he grunted again, turned around, and left the room, heading toward the light. That walk ended in the Royal Chamber of that very castle. There stood Mr. Lorrison... who, more than just today's Alpha, was the emperor of the entire lineage...
Luna Elisabeth was waiting for him... As he reached them, he bowed his head in a show of deep respect.
"Oh my son... we are your parents..."
Lorrison stepped forward and embraced him with affection, saying those words.
"Even if you are my parents, you are still my Emperors, Dad..."
He spoke with both reverence and great respect. Lorrison patted him on the back affectionately.
"You must already understand why I called for you, Devi...?" Lorrison asked with a certain depth in his voice.
Without looking back, the young man simply nodded his head.
"Why is it that even after all these years, you still haven't gone in search of your mate? By now, you must be aware that this is a topic of discussion everywhere... Normally, a werewolf begins searching for their mate as soon as they reach maturity... And yet, why is it that even after fifteen years, you haven't given it a single thought, my son...?"
Lorrison asked this with a mix of gravity and a slight worry for his son.
"I don't believe in this concept of a 'Mate', Dad."
He said this without even looking at Lorrison.
"Your way of thinking is quite strange... Do you really feel that such a mindset is befitting of a powerful Alpha like yourself...?"
He asked this with a hint of anger.
"Certainly, Dad... I believe in my own strength more than anything else."
As he spoke with firm conviction, Lorrison and Elisabeth looked at him in stunned disbelief and an air of incredulity....