Chapter 55 - The Portal

CELESTINA VILLARAMA’S POV

Master Kristoffer has been continuously urging me to get out of the Crimson Moon Pack’s turf, but his brother insisted that I should stay with them for good. Siege hasn't spoken a word since we returned to the pack house, and it’s making me conscious because of how much I wanted to hear about his idea about the connection between the portal and judgment day.

“Siege, can we talk for a while?” I asked as he was about to go upstairs to leave me with the beta. “You were about to say something to me earlier, and I don’t think I can sleep if I don't get to hear it today,” I said.

The alpha nodded his head at the same time that he gestured to the beta to follow us. I glanced at Master Kristoffer, whose smile hadn’t faded. It was the first time that I noticed how attractive his genuine smile was.

We entered the room right beside the alpha’s office, and it was quite empty. The walls were almost broken because of the evident cracks, and the wallpapers were already getting torn off on their own due to excess heat inside, noting that there wasn’t any air conditioning inside.

“Didn’t you abandon this place years ago?” Kristoffer asked his brother as he closed the door behind him.

There were a few light sources coming in through the small window. The air was fresh, but it was hot enough to cause me to sweat without letting a minute slip by.

“Yeah. I just figured that this was the only spot in this mansion where I could freely express myself,” Siege uttered, leaning his back against the wall as he crossed both of his arms in front of his chest. “This was also the room where I used to get drunk, so don’t mind those bottles of liquor that you can find in the corner,” he said, referring to the broken glasses on the floor.

Siege brought out a box of cigarettes from his pocket. Claiming one from it, he lit it up with his lighter after placing it in his mouth.

"I never seen you smoking before," I commented after he held his cigarette with two of his fingers. "So, what's this room for?"

Siege heaved out a loud sigh, contemplating whether he would tell me the history of this room or not. "When the moon goddess transported me to this realm, this was the room where the portal appeared," he answered in a straightforward manner. "I never knew back then that we'd get separated. I was also clueless about the wolves and everything else here during the first few years that I came here," he added.

I attentively listened to all of what the alpha said.

Siege wasn't really brave enough before, so he was just one of the warriors of the Crimson Moon Pack. He only got to be the alpha when the former one died due to an incurable disease. He had to endure all the hardships by himself, not knowing anyone in this realm.

Kristoffer wasn't really his brother in the real world where we belonged, and that's the only thing that I already knew from the first time that we saw each other. They weren't giving off the aura that they were blood-related. They simply treated each other as one, and because of the similarities between their strengths, Siege assigned Master Kristoffer to be the beta.

Out of anxiety that he would never encounter anyone else that he had previously known, he kept making himself drunk. Siege also tried different ways to take his own life, thinking that it would eventually be the way to bring himself back to his world, but the moon goddess always prevented him from doing so.

"The moon goddess is quite complicated, huh?" I muttered, confused about the real personality of Sarina.

Siege chuckled. "The moon goddess is just willing to do anything that she thinks would be amusing," he said. "The portal's next appearance is within three weeks, and she purposely made the judgment day earlier so that she could be the only one left to survive."

Upon hearing his opinion about it, I nodded my head in realization that he had the same views as Lucas. They both mentioned that the moon goddess was planning to kill everyone in this realm and redo this world from the start.

"What would she even gain from losing all her people? Wouldn't it be better if she would just let us be and just intervene if she sees faults in our lives?" I questioned the alpha, who shook his head in response.

"That Sarina would never be satisfied with leaving us alone. It's her joy to watch her own people suffer in her hands; it would be a guilty pleasure for her if her people died in the end," Siege answered with a cold tone.

The alpha threw the cigarette to the ground, then stepped his right foot on it, which he twisted until the light was no longer present.

Kristoffer faked a cough to steal our attention. "If you knew that we weren't brothers, why didn't you make it obvious? I tried so hard to keep calling him one," he asked me.

I slightly pouted. "If I made that obvious, you would've tried to steal me away from Siege."

The beta scrunched his nose. "Steal? It's not like you're already his real mate. You're more of a temporary one," Master Kristoffer said to provoke me into a heated conversation, which I chose to ignore as I just gave him a glare.

Siege called me. "Do you want to go see the next portal? I can sense it not too far away from the mansion. I think it's going to be summoned inside the Crimson Moon Pack," he mumbled.

My lips parted as I briefly gasped. "For real? I thought that we still have to wait for twenty-one days?"

Before anything else, Siege held my wrist tightly as he led the way out of the room. But Kristoffer managed to grab my other wrist, causing me to stop walking and be torn between the two.

"What are you doing, Kris? Let go of Celestina; we're going somewhere, and you're not invited," Siege said with such an authoritative voice. "I know what you're thinking, but that won't stop me from bringing Celestina there. You should just stay home and guard the entire pack while I'm gone," he advised.

Instead of letting me go after Siege's statement, the beta chose to pull me towards his chest, making me bump on it. I immediately avoided him and glanced at Kristoffer with a weird expression.

"I don't know what's on your mind, but I have to go with Siege to at least get a glimpse of the upcoming portal. I need to return to my world and leave this realm as quickly as possible; I don't want to cause any further issues here that might possibly lead to a war or catastrophe," I said in a lengthy manner, attempting to resist his grip.

Kristoffer used one of his hands to hold my forearm. And when I thought that Siege would do the same, the alpha released his grip.

"This is my last warning. Let her go, Kristoffer Wong." Siege relaxed his eyebrows, making his eyes look fierce and deadly.

I heard Kristoffer sigh before he finally let me go, pushing me to the alpha. He was no longer in sight when I turned around to look at him. I couldn't even detect his presence.

"Let's go," Siege coldly invited me, though he didn't hold my wrist anymore as we walked downstairs, heading out of the mansion.

We traveled through the woods, where they had fought with Leo before. It was still morning, so it wasn't that difficult for me to walk across the muddy pathway. Siege's broad back was the only lead that I followed. He didn't stop until we reached the edge of the woods, where there was a cliff.

"This somehow feels nostalgic," I muttered to myself, referring to the cliff that I last saw before I got here. "Why is this cliff similar to the one I had in my world?" I asked.

The alpha held my elbow, forcing me to stand right beside him. "Quit talking for a while and focus on your surroundings. There might suddenly be someone pushing you from behind or there might be landslides out of the blue; you have to be careful," he whispered to my ear, letting his hot breath pass through my cheeks.

Siege's method of telling me to be wary of my surroundings was enough to make me feel like he never wants to lose me. Or maybe he just doesn't want to see me die helplessly and be the one to be blamed by his pack and everyone else who knows me.

"Do you see that tiny circle that's shining in front of you?" Siege pointed to the center. "I think that's the portal. It's still growing, and I'm certain that it will finish according to the days you see from the fountain of life," he said.

It wasn't that far. In fact, I could reach it from this distance.

"Can I touch it?" I asked, wondering if there would be a bad effect if ever someone did touch it.

Siege nodded his head without moving away from me, and I felt his chin touch my shoulder twice as if he were tapping me with his finger. "Go ahead."

As soon as I stretched out my arm and the fingers in my hand, the portal disappeared from my sight before I could even clench my fist to hold the portal.

"You're not going anywhere, Celestina," a familiar voice echoed in my ears at the same time that I sensed two people making their entrance as they left the tree where they were hiding. "You can't go back to where you belong. Not together with Alpha Siege."