The Alpha's Temptation

The light sizzled and zapped from one soul stone to the other. It was emitting from Nerio's soul stone and going into Tania's. Tania was experiencing so much pain that she had become numb. She let things happen on their own. While she was unconscious, memories of her childhood returned.

The cold bite of winter. Tania was in a thin and tattered shift. She was looking at her master who carried her all the way back to Cetus in his carriage with a smile on his face. He would glance at her with his cold eyes and she would look at him with her doe eyes. "Will you give me food to eat?" she had asked only once during the journey as she sat on the cold carriage floor.

He nodded. "Yes, but I will take something in return."

Little Tania didn't know what she could possibly give this man in return. And then—

The dark and dingy room, where her master had taken her. It was so deep down the earth that she thought she would be lost, that ghosts would come around her and eat her up. It was then that she was made to sit in the chair. Her master had asked her to close her eyes and then he had done things which resulted in so much pain that the little Tania couldn't tolerate. She cried and screamed in pain as her master kept wrenching something from her heart. Little Tania had become unconscious for days.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself with the cook who had wrapped her in thick blankets. A little fire in the room kept them warm. "You…" Tania had murmured.

Ahra, the head cook, got up and gave her water to drink. "Shh… child," she said as she came to her. "You look so pale…"

Ahra took good care of Tania and revived her back.

"Slepite Zadande!" A command from somewhere wrenched something from her heart. Tania shrieked in pain as her dream broke. Something from her chest zapped out in the air, trying to snap in with lots of energy.

Her body convulsed when the energy covered her completely and then what seemed like eternity, it merged with her. She let out a cough and then collapsed once again, only to be held by strong arms that gathered her close to a hard, muscular chest. Surrounded by pine and brine scent, she knew she was safe in his arms. A smile came to her lips. Whatever happened to her, he would always be there for her.

---

As soon as the lights met in her soul stone, the stone on Nerio cracked open. A strong force blasted out of it and traveled at light speed to Tania's soul stone. Her stone cracked open and the little piece of soul that was in it, attached itself to the energy that surrounded it. They danced in the pleasure of coming together and then entered her chest, as if being swallowed by Tania naturally.

Once all the light dissipated, Nerio fell back in his chair, his wrists and ankles bleeding heavily.

Tania was surrounded in the thick mist that Ileus had created to support her in the air. Slowly, he maneuvered her back down when Eltanin gathered her in his arms. She was drenched in sweat and looked pale.

"Take her to the healers," Ileus said. "She needs to rest for a few days because now… she is a new woman."

Eltanin didn't understand what Ileus was saying. His eyes were filled with tears. He didn't know that seeing Tania in such a condition was going to make him cry. The king of Draka shouldn't have cried, but he couldn't help himself. He nodded and took Tania to their bedchamber.

As for Nerio, he was thrown back in the dungeons.

Nerio woke up two days later. His body ached everywhere. It was difficult for him to even sit up. He was slouched on the damp wall of the prison. There were no chains around his body. His clothes were tattered and his body was pale. When he looked down, he saw that his skin had wrinkled all the more. It was as if it was crumpling. Somehow, he managed to get up taking support of the wall behind him and suddenly realized that he had become lighter.

He sucked in sharp air and thought that it was because he hadn't had food in a long time. So he walked to the pitcher that was placed in a corner of the cell. However, his body gave up and he fell down. He murmured curses and crawled to the pitcher to have water. It was then he realized that he had shrunk in size as well. It was as if something had wrenched out of his body, taking away a part of him. His gaze went to the pendant that hung in his neck. It was shattered.

Panicky, he caught the pendant and looked at it in horror. A small broken piece of the soul stone still hung in his chain. "Wh— what happened?" he blurted. "What happened?" he shouted. He crawled to the bars of the prison and shouted again. "Guards!" No one came. He tried to shake the bars, going mad. "Guards! I want to talk to the king!" Yet no one came. He realized that the blue light that surrounded his mouth wasn't there anymore. "I am going to teach you a lesson now, Eltanin!" he growled.

Angered as hell, he chanted a dark spell, but it didn't work. He thought he had forgotten how to cast it, so he remembered the words correctly and chanted it again. But only the words came out. They didn't have any effect on the iron bars.

"No! No!" he rasped. What occurred to his dark magic? He chanted more spells but they sounded like ordinary words that had absolutely no effect on the surroundings. Suddenly, he got a metallic taste in his mouth. He coughed up and spat blood to his horror. This kind of thing ensued only when dark words were spoken, and they didn't have the magical effect. All gone.

Shocked, Nerio looked at the blood with wide eyes.

He couldn't imagine what happened to Tania.