Chapter 77 - The Virus

LUNA ASTERBELLE'S POV

Even the joint forces of Jerome and Yuki were still inevitable against the alpha of the Crimson Moon Pack. In less than half an hour, the two of them were already badly injured, and only I was kept safe from Shin's rampage as he didn't want to hurt me.

Nero ordered a few among their butlers to assist him in dragging Jazpher and Yuki inside their mansion, while Shin and Nero were the ones who were guarding Jerome and me. We were all heading to the same place, and the only thing that I could hope for for now was that Mrs. Asterbelle, Yve, and Joseph should at least remain hidden, and if they could, they should just flee from this pack.

We proceeded over the same dungeon where Shin had kept his fated mates before. They simultaneously pushed us inside each cell and separated us accordingly. My cell with Jerome was just parallel to Joseph's.

"Miss Asterbelle!" A person screamed my name, so I turned around to search for who it was, only to see that it was Joseph, along with the two. "Miss Asterbelle... I'm sorry; they found us," he said with a sense of guilt in his voice.

I clicked my tongue, totally frustrated by how the tables had been turned without a hassle from Shin's side. "You should've seen the flare outside," I softly muttered, trying not to let the others hear what I was saying.

Joseph shook his head. "Exactly right when we saw the flare from Jazpher's side, we were already in the midst of being taken away by the pack guards. All of them were keen and strenuous; we had no power to fight back and escape from them, so we just chose to let them do what they wanted and give up," he said.

Yve suddenly coughed after Joseph spoke, so I instantly drifted my attention to her. "What happened to Yve?" I worriedly questioned Joseph, since he would be the only one who could answer my query now as the two seemed to be out of their minds right now.

The doctor let out a heavy sigh, then answered, "Yve has a high probability that she got infected by this pack's virus or whatever they call it. You know that her immunity to things like those isn't that effective like ours, since she's already a human."

"Can't you find a cure for it? I can't let Yve die here!" I began to panic.

"Wake up to your senses, Miss Asterbelle. Do you think I can do anything in this state now that we're all trapped in this place?"

Dr. Joseph had a point. It's not like we could do anything other than wait for what those brothers would do to us. So instead of continuing our conversation, I chose to revert my focus back to how we can get Shin to aid us, knowing now that my scheme to blackmail him with Yuki's life at stake was useless.

"Jerome, where do you think they hid Yuki?" I asked him, breaking the silence between the two of us.

Jerome was just sitting in the corner of the cell while hugging both of his legs together, his forehead above his knees. He only responded with a simple shrug of his shoulders, which I barely noticed.

A sudden aching sensation in my heart made me feel like I was in agony. I went closer to his spot, holding his head lightly while I tapped it gently, just to make him feel my presence.

"You don't have to blame yourself for anything, Jerome. You didn't want this to occur to us; no one expected that this would be the outcome. All of us came here at the same time, assuming that we had the perfect plan; it just turns out that Shin already calculated far too far ahead of us." I randomly voiced out my thoughts.

"There's no point in trying to comfort me, Luna. I couldn't protect Yuki, and neither was I able to do my job as your mate or as someone who the rest of all of you relied on," Jerome replied. The sadness in his tone was evident. "I could have beaten Shin so he could see my worth and work together with us, but I only humiliated myself in front of you," he added.

I hissed, then I was forced to raise his head with both of my hands, and when I did, I cupped his cheeks, making his lips slightly parted. "What's with you? Did your brain get infected with the virus as well?" I pinched his cheeks before letting his face go.

Jerome's lips parted in an attempt to talk back, but before he could've done so, his eyes flicked like he was in pain. Troubled by the sight of him suffering, I mustered up all of my remaining strength just to let him stand on the ground. It wasn't advisable for someone like him to remain seated whenever he's trying to endure a painful incident.

"F-f*ck..." he groaned.

"What's the matter? Why are you acting like you're about to lose control?"

I tried to hold him again, but he slapped my hands away from him. I glanced at the skies through a tiny hole in the wall, where I noticed the glowing full crimson moon, and that's when it hit me.

Jerome was about to go berserk.

A full crimson moon was one of Jerome's weaknesses ever since he was a pup. I don't know why or how, but it might have been a curse bestowed upon him by the moon goddess.

"Do you need blood? You can suck me up all you want, as deep as you desire," I offered at the same time that I pulled my collar away from my neck, showing my bare skin.

Seeing how much Jerome tried to avoid looking at my neck confirmed that he was thirsty for blood. Not just any ordinary blood. He always craves for his mates' blood in every crimson moon's appearance, which only happens once every decade.

"What are the two of you doing?" Joseph ruined the mood with his query out of nowhere.

I closed my eyes in irritation, as I had forgotten that we weren't alone in this place. "Please mind your own business, Joseph. This is a concern between us," I coldly answered.

Before I could turn my head around to face Jerome once again, he had already buried his fangs in between my neck and my collarbone. It stinged a little, but as seconds passed, I got myself accustomed to his bite. I held the back of his head and played with some strands of his short hair as I pushed him closer to me.

"O-ouch," I grunted at the moment that he finally stopped sucking my blood.

I doubt that his mark left my neck, even if I could feel it slowly regenerating its skin. This familiar sensation was the same as back at the orphanage.

Jerome held on to his chest where his heart was, which I didn't give much attention to because I thought that he was simply trying to hold back his excitement after what he did.

However, that wasn't the case.

"I-I can't breathe, Luna..." Jerome stuttered as he desperately let those words out of his mouth.

He shut his eyes as he almost fell to the ground. I caught him with my arms, even though he was undeniably heavy for me to consistently lift him up.

Jerome completely passed out, and I could barely detect his heartbeat despite our close distance.