Chapter 26 - The Coercion

LUNA ASTERBELLE’s POV

The awkward aura that surrounded Joseph and I still haven’t faded even after a whole day that has gone by. Luckily, we were separated once more as I was required to move on to the second task that I had to finish within the same day. I was kind of expecting to see the same man who assisted me in the previous mission, but somebody else greeted me.

“Have you been counting on how long it has been since the last time that we encountered each other, Luna?” King Dawn mumbled as he stretched his arms sideways, as if to welcome me with his attempt to embrace me. “Your second task is simple. All that you have to do is to spend a night with me,” he said with a grin on his lips.

I felt my cheeks heating up for a second, realizing how much men these days kept on trying to get closer with me physically. “Then what? You’re going to steal my blood away and do whatever you desire? As much as I want to clear all of these tasks that I’m supposed to do, I’d rather choose to fail all of those than stay with you all night.” I turned him down.

“How can you be so cruel with me, Luna?” he softly asked with a frown.

There was something about his facial expression that hurt me, for which I can’t comprehend. He’s just the king of this clan, nothing more than that. I shouldn’t feel any useless emotions towards him and it shouldn’t pain me to reject whatever he offers. But… even if I still haven’t turned… I can feel the sadness of my inner wolf that’s telling me to stay with King Dawn and give him a chance to prove himself. I literally can’t understand the need to stay by his side at all times, it’s not even like we’re mates.

Jerome is my one and only mate, even if I’d get a hundred times rejected by him in my entire lifespan in this world, I would never consider replacing him with someone else.

“Stop kidding around, King Dawn. I’m here to be trained, and I don’t see any importance in spending a night with you to develop my strength. And besides, I don’t have any business with the boss of the underground,” I said at the same time that I rolled my eyes to prevent him from taking another step nearer to my position.

“Spending the night with me doesn’t only mean that I want you to sleep beside me on my bed, Luna Asterbelle. I don’t know what kind of thoughts you have in mind right now, but that’s not it. I have no intention to take your blood. Just like you mentioned, I’m the boss of this organization. You must already know by now that we're always on the side of peace. So why would I bother taking your blood, knowing that it has the greatest possibility of starting a catastrophic world?” King Dawn explained, which somehow reduced my worries.

“If so, then what should I anticipate for tonight?”

King Dawn played with his brown hair that was on the right side of his forehead. It took me too long to notice that he was actually good looking. The word perfect wouldn’t be enough to describe his current appearance. It was like he had this style that would make everyone that glances upon him mesmerized.

“The awakening of your wolf,” he straightforwardly answered, which widened my eyes in surprise. “There’s an awakening process that can only be done by someone like me. It can be coercive, but it’s the only plausible way for you to bring out your inner wolf. I’m sure that you could be stronger than you are now once we’re done with the whole process,” he added.

“Isn’t that going to hurt me? If you’re going to end up forcing her out of me, then that must mean that it can lead to either successfully awakening my wolf or it can result in my death,” I said with full hesitation. “I appreciate your effort to help me release my full potential, but I highly believe that it would be better if I just wait for the right time until my wolf reveals herself to the public, instead of forcing her and letting things get out of control. We both have no idea whether I would be pleased with my transformation, I don’t want to be someone who’d go on a rampage just because of it.”

He hummed as he was trying to think of ways on how to convince me to come with him tonight. “You surely wouldn’t want the thought of some petty creature having your blood in their possession, right? If you don’t, then bringing your wolf out would be the best decision since you would be able to defend yourself and likewise, attack whoever has the ulterior motive behind your back,” King Dawn still kept on convincing me. “It’s better to be prepared than be filled with regrets later on for not taking the risk.”

Once in a while, I thought that he only knew how to provoke me. But as of this moment, that didn’t seem to be the case. He sounded concerned just like how a mother worries for her daughter.

“What do I have to do?” I genuinely asked, giving up the thought of trying to run away from him.

“Join the Dark Shadow Clan’s Underground Organization as a hidden member. Your existence here shouldn’t be known by any other pack, not even Yve, and mostly not the members of the clan. Your stealth should be the number one priority, as if you’re sent here to be a spy. You’d work under my supervision and inform me of everything that you think would place our world to a disastrous spot,” King Dawn responded with his index finger raised.

“Asides from being trained how to shoot, you also have to be excellent in handling daggers and any weapon that suits an assassin,” he added before he raised his middle finger along with his index, to indicate the second rule.

“Lastly, you mustn’t get involved with any of the Dark Shadow Clan members. What I’m trying to say here is having a relationship with any man or woman. Loving a member of your clan is prohibited, I don’t care if they would end up to be your mate, execution would be the consequence once I notice any unusual aura emitting from you.” King Dawn raised three of his fingers one after another, and as soon as he was finished with his discussion…

I fainted.