Chapter 49
LUNA AQUAMARINE’S POV
He didn’t miss it.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, coming forward.
I shook my head. “Nothing. I just… I thought–never mind.”
He reached out and caught my hand. His touch was warm. Grounding.
“You’re trembling,” he said quietly.
I tried to pull my hand back but he didn’t let me. His thumb brushed over my knuckles and I hated how my heart reacted.
Even after everything, I still wanted to collapse into his arms.
But I couldn’t. Not with this secret weighing on me.
He looked down at me, golden eyes softening just enough to make my chest ache.
“You don’t have to tell me now,” he said. “But when you’re ready… I’ll listen.”
My breath caught.
He was being kind. Patient. The worst part was–I didn’t deserve it.
He had gotten rid of Gaia. He had spared her for me. He trusted me enough to show me his secrets. Gave me a piece of his power, his gem, his sacred space.
And me?
I was hiding a blood pact.
********The Next Morning”
The next morning came far too quickly.
My body still ached from the bath, from the heat of Alexander’s skin and the gentle touch of his fingers on mine. But my mind ached even more. I hadn’t slept much. Not with that note still folded beneath the drawer. Not after realizing Levi hadn’t even known about that hidden room. And definitely not with the weight of Esmeralda’s demands.
Two days.
Now just one.
And I had no idea what the paper said.
Alexander walked in before I could collect my thoughts fully. His scent hit me first–cool fire, like a storm wrapped in smoke and I straightened instinctively. He didn’t say anything at first, just motioned for me to follow. I didn’t question it. I
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Chapter 49
followed in silence, my heart thudding.
༥ ཊཱི 29%ཥྛི
He didn’t speak until we entered the study. He went to his desk and put his hand under and immediately he did,
something happened.
The shelf suddenly moved and a corridor I didn’t know existed appeared. I should have been surprised but I’ve see enough
since yesterday.
“Where are we going?” I asked softly.
He glanced at me. “To show you something important. I think you’ve earned that much.”
The was he said it soo sincerely made the pit in my stomach twist.
We went through the corridors and stopped in front of an old door. It looked even more secured than the door Alexander pulled me into yesterday. But the aura around it didn’t seem quite normal. Alexander pressed his palm to the center and then slid open.
I stepped in behind him.
There was nothing special in this room. But at the center, there was a pedestal wrapped in thick crimson cloth. Something
about it felt… sacred.
Alexander stepped closer and slowly removed the cloth.
What I saw made my chest tighten.
It was shaped like a fang, long and jagged, but the surface was a gleaming, translucent crystal that pulsed with a deep red light. Gold veins ran through it like lightning trapped inside. The energy it gave off made my skin prickle.
“The Core Fang,” Alexander said, reverent.
I didn’t move.
“This,” he continued, “was taken from the First Wolf. The beginning of our line. It’s alive with old power. Not just werewolf power–pure power. And it’s bound to me by blood.”
I swallowed. My feet suddenly felt too heavy.
“It can only be wielded by someone it accepts,” he said. “But even then… it asks for something in return.”
Jstared at it, feeling like the air had thinned.
He looked at me, eyes unreadable. “This is the heart of me… the power I was never meant to share,”
The moment he said it, my entire body froze.
The words echoed inside my head.
The heart of me, The power I was never meant to share.
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Chapter 49
I blinked.
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Wait…
Those words…
Esmeralda had said that. I remember. Her voice, smooth and too calm: “Two things remain. The heart of him… the power
he was never meant to share.”
A sharp breath escaped me.
I stared at the weapon again.
No.
No-
Alexander turned to me, brows furrowing. “Aqua?”
I couldn’t answer. My heart was hammering. My mouth had gone dry.
He stepped closer, gently touched my arm. “You didn’t understand that, did you?”
I met his eyes. Said nothing.
He smiled faintly. Not cruel. Just… amused. But his voice stayed soft.
“It means my blood.”
I felt like I’d been punched in the stomach.
“What?”
“The Core Fang accepts blood. My blood. That’s how it stays bound to me. If it’s wielded by someone else, and they’ve
used my blood to unlock it-”
He paused, shaking his head.
“-it could kill thousands. Or worse, it could control them.”
My lips parted but no sound came out.
He didn’t know He had no idea what I’d promised.
No idea that I’d already handed over a strand of his hair. That i was standing here with a note I couldn’t even read–only
now realizing what one of the items must be
His blood
And now this.
The weapon Esmeralda must truly want.
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Chapter 49
The Core Fang.
The red gem that Esmeralda had once mentioned.
It was all starting to fit. And I hated how late I was putting the pieces together.
成命30%出
I stepped back slightly, afraid that if I stayed too close to it, it would sense the betrayal simmering beneath my skin.
Alexander didn’t notice my discomfort. He turned back to the weapon and gently rewrapped it in the crimson cloth.
want you to see this,” he said. “Because I trust you. More than I probably should.”
His words made my throat tighten.
“I wanted to ask…” I began, my voice quiet. “What happens if someone else gets their hands on it? What if it falls into the wrong hands?”
He didn’t turn.
“Then I’ll have to end them,” he said.
No hesitation. No mercy.
I nodded slowly, heart heavy. “Can it be used for… other things?”
He looked over his shoulder. “Dark magic, you mean?”
I met his eyes.
“Yes.”
He nodded once. “If someone sacrifices the right things, says the right vows… the Core Fang can be twisted. It was never meant for evil. But power doesn’t choose sides. People do.”
My stomach churned.
His jaw tightened. “Blood rituals. Power. Control. The right incantation and binding–it could be used to bend even the strongest soul. Tear through a kingdom.”
1 flinched.
“But only if it accepts the user,” he added. “And it rarely does.”
“Does it accept you?” I asked.
He looked at me for a tong moment, eyes unreadable. “It doesn’t need to. It already belongs to me.”
I swallowed, my mouth dry “And could it belong to someone else?”
“It can’t be stolen,” he said. “It chooses. And if the soul is unworthy
He didn’t finish the sentence.
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I didn’t ask him to.
He turned back to it and reached toward the pedestal. Then, with deliberate slowness, he wrapped his hand around the
weapon.
The glow flared–brief, hot–and then settled into a soft pulse again. It responded to him like it recognised its master.
He held it out to me.
I froze. “What?”
“I want you to try.”
“No,” I said quickly. “That’s not–Alex, what if-”
“Just place your hand on it,” he said. “Let it feel you.”
My fingers trembled as I stepped closer.
Closer.
I looked into the veins of the Core Fang, and I swear it looked back. I reached forward slowly and placed my fingertips against the edge of the crystal.
It pulsed.
Then it burned.‘
Not fire, not pain. Just a warning. A sharp, stinging jolt that snaked through my veins, not enough to hurt, just enough to
remind me that it saw me.
That it knew I didn’t belong to it.
I gasped, pulling my hand back.
Alexander didn’t say anything. He didn’t look surprised.
“It didn’t reject you,” he murmured.
I blinked, holding my hand,
“It warned you. There’s a difference.”
I looked up at him, throat tight.
He placed the weapon back into its resting place and stepped back.
“I wanted you to feel it,” he said. “Because you asked me what it means. Now you know.”
But I didn’t,
Not really.
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All I knew was that the moment I touched it, the Core Fang had whispered something inside me I didn’t want to hear.
Are you ready?
He moved past me, pausing near the door.
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“I wanted you to know what’s at stake,” he said quietly. “Because you’re part of this now. Not just because you’re mine. But because you’re becoming something… more.”
“I trust you,” he added, more softly. “I wanted you to see this. Maybe even touch it. It’s not just a symbol. It’s part of me.”
A sacred relic of his house. Something he had just shared with me–not out of pride, but out of trust. He was giving me a part of himself. And I was supposed to steal it?
“I don’t show this to anyone,” he said, his eyes meeting mine. “Not even Levi has touched it.”
That made it worse.
I forced a small smile, gently touching the edge of the fabric like I was admiring it.
“Come,” he said. “We’ve been here too long.”
I turned, taking one last look at the weapon glowing in the centre of that chamber.
I tried to smile. It didn’t reach my eyes.
Because now, I had no doubt.
The note Esmeralda gave me wasn’t just a vague threat.
It was a map.
A plan to take everything Alexander had just trusted me with.
And I was running out of time.
One day left.
One more item to collect.
And now, I knew exactly what it was.
田
