Chapter 36 - Certain Conditions

LUNA ASTERBELLE's POV

With no hesitations in mind, I concluded the conversation between me and Mr. Asterbelle, that he would just be wasting his precious time and efforts to stop me from taking what's rightfully mine — Jerome Dawson would be for my possession only.

That moon goddess shouldn't have intervened with us if she planned to concise a scheme such as making me a half-half.

Now that I've made an enemy out of my father, I don't think that I have any reason left for me to keep on avoiding Jerome. I have to come up with a plan that would make him recognize me as his mate. I don't want to end up in the same situation as Joshua who's almost unable to communicate straightly because of the passing of his mate.

"What am I supposed to do?" I asked myself as I carelessly kicked the pieces of stone that were along the pathway.

The Blood Moon Pack's turf was surrounded by gigantic walls made up of stone, paired with the iron gates that serve as both the entrance and the exit. It's not locked most of the time, but when it is, the golden lock can only be opened by either the alpha or the luna themselves.

From where I was standing, I could clearly see that no one was guarding the gates yet. On the other side was a wide space filled with grasses with different types of trees that produced shades on the path beneath its leaves, and that's where I went.

"So what's troubling you this time around?" asked by a familiar man's voice.

Even with a few words that came from him, my heart was already out of my control. "Jerome..." I mumbled his name.

His silhouette slowly faded as he approached me, which made his figure clearer. "What's going on, Luna? Why are you... crying?" he asked with sincerity in his voice. For the first time in a while, he wasn't talking to me as if he had no time to waste on me.

I wiped my cheeks after he pointed out that I was tearing up, which I didn't even notice. "Ah, it's nothing for you to worry about. Why are you still here anyway? Didn't you hate the idea of me wandering off on my own?" I tried to change the subject of our conversation, though it was useless.

Jerome's gaze wasn't removed from mine. Every second felt kind of lengthy for me. "Stop diverting my attention into something else, Luna. That won't work no matter how many times you try." He suddenly placed both of his warm hands on my shoulders, then tightened his grip on it. "Tell me about whatever's running in your mind now that's making you anxious. I'm not that confident if my presence would be enough for you to cool down a bit, but I'll try my best. So speak up, Luna."

The emotion that made me weak earlier seemed to vanish like how a bubble pops. Despite the constant changes between Jerome and I, I still told him what my father said.

"Other than the fact that he doesn't approve of your existence in my life, there's still something else that he's hiding from me. Something that would supposedly end our ties, since he mentioned that I'd be the first person to loathe you once I remember everything."

I paused for a short while to take a deep breath.

"The past which I have no memories of... You most probably know a lot about what occurred during those times when we were still at the orphanage. I'm certain that you're a vital point in recovering the memory fragments that I've lost. I don't care whether it's a traumatizing story that's making you hesitate to tell me about it, since it'd be better for me to know. It's my right to know what I've gone through in the past, Jerome," I continued.

***

We went back to his place where the maze was located. Jerome offered me a cup of tea, although he has been silent the entire time that we traveled back here, as if he's still coped up with deciding what would be the best course of action for us.

There wasn't anyone around the mansion, or maybe, they're just that skillful enough in terms of removing their scent for anyone to fail in detecting their presence.

"Before I spill the truth... Can you promise that you won't get mad at me after hearing the story?" Jerome finally broke the silence, and I simply nodded as a response, along with my pinky finger raised. "And one more condition," he added.

I furrowed my brows in irritation. "What else do you want?" I asked.

I hate how he's having these certain conditions that I must abide by, when I just want to know what happened in the past. It's not like he's doing such a huge favor for my sake.

"You mustn't get close to me anymore," Jerome declared with such a straight face.

My eyes widened. "How can you say that so calmly?"

"It's not a matter of being calm, Luna. We seriously have to separate ways after this, and we won't be seeing each other unless the two of us would sense our wolves craving for one another. It's the only way for us to determine if we're really destined to be mates, or you're just lying," Jerome explained. "I don't even want to believe that you're pretending that we're mates. Considering what happened before, there's a chance that we're really mates. Though the consequences of you being rejected is probably taking a toll on our lives."

I bit my lower lip in confusion of what I should choose. If I decide to take down his condition, then he wouldn't tell me about my past. And if I do, then this might be the last opportunity for me to get this near to him.

I disliked the belief of my father because of how he desired to break the connection between me and Jerome, and yet... he's about to do the exact same thing.

I took some time to think about this thoroughly and after a few minutes, I gave my reply, "I'll follow whatever condition you have, Jerome. Just don't leave me hanging with the occurrences in my past. And whatever happened then, I wish that it's not the real reason why you wanted us to separate ways since it wouldn't make any sense."