Celestina's POV

"I've never met him before..." I heaved a sigh and made my way back to my room in a leisurely manner without looking back at the elderly lady, who appeared to be quite concerned about me. Later, when I went inside, I quietly grieved and cried for what seemed like an eternity. Why do I feel so bad about myself in this way?

I draw in a deep breath and try to keep my breathing calm while suppressing the need to sob this time. As I close my eyes, I have the illusion that my power has been restored; nevertheless, I am not regaining control of my wolf.

TWO WEEKS LATER…

"Celestina, you have a guest who would like to see you," Helene said.

Helene treated me much like her own daughter, and after her own daughter passed away, she even gave me the same name as her own daughter. I have no recollection of the past and no idea who I am. She took me in as her own child; as a result, she is a wealthy and influential woman in this Italian country. She is aware that I was once a werewolf, but because I have forgotten everything about who I was, she now treats me as if I were a human.

When the maids saw me descending the stairs, their heads turned quickly to stare in my direction. They can't take their gaze off me no matter what they do. After living here for two years, I've become accustomed to people staring at me, but it can sometimes make me feel uncomfortable.

The man stood up as soon as he saw me, and his eyes stared at me from head to foot. His eyes sparkled with joy, and he handed the bouquet to me while saying, "Celestina..."

I gave Helene a sidelong glance and asked, "What is this?"

"Let me introduce you to Alexander, you'll be marrying him very soon." She stated to me while smiling at me, but the idea that the woman who adopted me already possesses my life is something that I cannot accept. I took a step back and then handed Alexander the bouquet back to him.

"I'm sorry, but I can't marry someone I just met,"

The man with a fair complexion and blonde hair frowned at me because he felt insulted by what I said. I get the impression that he does not appreciate how I treat him.

Helene followed me out the door as quickly as she could, but I stopped looking back after a while and kept walking. I didn't want to destroy my prior existence because I wanted to relive it and retain my power back again. I also don't want to tie the knot with a human and have a miserable life.

“Celestina! Don’t run away!”

But I had no intention of complying with her demands because she is not my mother, and I am not her daughter. Her daughter had passed away on the day that she found me, but I refused to let her dictate the terms of my life. I will not give someone the power to control my life or coerce me into leading a life that I did not choose for myself.

I raced into the forest without turning around. As I went farther and further away from the house, I didn't understand how far away I actually was until I suddenly noticed how quickly I was moving.

I was taken aback by my speed, but then I was stunned when I bumped against someone's firm chest, which caused my head to spin and caused me to lose my balance.

“Fuck!” I heard a silent curse before I passed out.

***************

I slowly opened my eyes and saw that this wasn't my home at all. I looked around and didn't see anyone, but I could smell something wonderful coming from outside. I got up and tried to open the door, but it was locked. I tried to kick and hit it a thousand times, but no one answered.

"Hey! Let me out! Or else I will report you to the authorities! I tried to yell at the top of my lungs, and the door suddenly opened. It was the man from two weeks ago; he was like a greek god in shirtless, and his black, curly hair was dripping wet. He stepped forward, and I stepped backward nervously; I was dumbfounded while staring at his penetrating gaze.

Finally, after taking a deep breath, I mustered the strength to utter a few words:

"Y-You...again?"

He reached behind me for a towel, and I cringed quietly. I sat down on the bed with my pulse racing and thumping rapidly, and I looked at him with confused eyes. Then I recalled what had transpired earlier in the day, so I heaved a sigh and expressed my concern to him, saying, "I'm sorry for what happened, and I promise I won't bother you anymore."

"Why are you running away?" His voice was so intimidatingly masculine that it sent shivers down my spine. I brought my head back down after raising it to gaze up. I hate him for rejecting me, so I have no reason to stay here.

I got to my feet and attempted to escape him, but he stopped me and questioned, "But where are you going?"

Celestina’s POV

He was icy, heartless, and cruel... but he was also strikingly good-looking.

I realized this after staring into his ocean-blue eyes for a moment; this prompted him to release his grip on my arm.

"Get out of here!" he growled angrily at me.

Because of this, I didn't hesitate to run away from him, even though my tears were slowly falling down my face. My long white dress was covered in mud and dirt, and I ran barefoot through a dark forest, not knowing where I was going. I had never been here before, so I looked around. As I did, I heard a loud growl coming from close by, and I could see red eyes moving slowly toward me.

They are attacking me and trying to pull me toward them. They look like wild beasts and are hungry for human blood and flesh. They were runaway dark rogues who wanted to eat a wolf like me who didn't have a pack. I screamed as loud as I could, desperately hoping that someone would hear me and come to my rescue before it was too late!

But, a little while later, I heard a menacing snarl coming from behind me, and the Rogue attackers that had been fighting me ran away like a startled cat and vanished instantly with the bat of an eye. I turn my head slowly to the rear, and there, standing behind me, is a huge werewolf with glowing red eyes and pointed fangs. He looks pretty menacing. I haven't seen anything like this in the past two years, so the novelty of seeing it almost caused me to pass out from excitement.

He turned on human form, and as I looked down at his shirtless body, my gaze fell upon his shorts. At that moment, he addressed me with a concerned voice and asked, "Are…Are you alright?"

He touched my stomach, then felt the blood streaming down, and cupped my face, “You’re bleeding….”

As I finally understood that I had huge cuts in my stomach, I moaned in pain, and he stared at me with wide eyes. "Come with me," he whispered, but I pushed him away.

“No, I don’t want to be with someone like you, you rejected me, remember?!”

He didn’t answer.

“Then just leave me alone, if I die, you’ll find a new mate.”

Then, when people were approaching in our direction, he quickly hid in the darkness.

Alexander arrived with his men and asked me softly, "What happened to my bride?"

"Alexander…help me!" I moaned in agony and noticed that my breathing was becoming increasingly strained. We left the place, and just before I closed my eyes for the night, I saw the man's eyes flash furiously while he was staring at me in the dark. Alexander tightly drew me into his arms while his men investigated the surrounding area.

***********

Alexander drove me to the closest hospital, and the staff there was able to treat my condition on time. They told me that I had lost an unhealthy amount of blood and miraculously survived. He has a firm grip on my hand, and I can't help but gaze at him with my body shaking. I don't know what to do, but whenever I close my eyes, the image of the menacing man's face keeps repeating over and over in my head. But why?

"Celestina, how have you been doing? Are you okay?" he said as he gently kissed my knuckles, but I pulled away my hand and sighed. Just then, the door opened, and it was Helene, who was looking quite concerned about me.

While she was in a state of fear, she uttered the words, "I told you to forget who you are, you will never be turned into anything you want."

I didn't pay attention to her, so she stroked my face and asked me, "Why did you run away? Look at what happened to you!"

Alexander clears his throat, and I look at him. "I know you don't want to marry someone like me, but since I saved your life, you need to marry me, Celestina."

"N-NO…." I shake my head, but Alexander hits me. Helene was shocked, so she pulled Alexander away from me and asked, "What are you doing?! Can't you see that she's still in pain?!"

"Helene Sullivan, you owe me a lot of money. If you can't get her to marry me, I will have to take everything you own! You'll be as broke as a rat!" Alexander said in an angry tone and gave me an edgy look. I stroked the side of my face and groaned in pain when I moved slowly.

"You can't treat me like this, Alexander! We have an agreement!" Helene said.

"That makes no difference anymore; I want to have her all to myself!" Alexander opened the door but quickly retreated as soon as he saw who was on the other side. It was the mysterious man, and I rolled my eyes when he peered at me. His eyes landed on the side of my face and my bruises. I rolled my eyes again.

Alexander asked, "And who the heck are you?!"

He gave Alexander a suitcase full of cash and told him, "You can have it all, just leave her alone, or else you won't see daybreak anymore."

Helene was speechless.

Alexander took the suitcase, and with his jaw clenched, he left without looking back. The man turned his back on me and said to his men, "Bring her to my castle."

Wait, what?

Celestina’s POV

"Hey, you can't just do this to my daughter! Who do you think you are!?" Helene's anxiety caused her to run out of the building and immediately start calling for security and medical staff.

"Get off of me! What do you want from me?!” I shoved the man who was ready to place me in the wheelchair so that I could take control of the situation. He looked up at me and gave the command, "Sit."

I heaved a sigh and sat down in the wheelchair, bewildered. Then, three bodyguards dressed in dark suits appeared behind me, and another bodyguard pushed the wheelchair into the elevator.

As we arrived, the Mysterious One was already waiting for us in his lavish limousine in the parking lot. He lowered the window, his eyes met mine, and I asked while panting. "You...what do you want from me?! You no longer have any control over me! Remember! You choose to reject me! If you want me to be your slave, I have better things to do than serve someone like you!" I yelled at him, and everyone was surprised when they heard me speaking to the man in such a manner toward him.

"You can't possibly say something like that to the Alpha King! Or you'll be beheaded!" The man said as he brandished his silver sword in my direction. Fear crept over me as I gently lowered my head, and the mysterious man with a deep voice instructed them, "Bring her inside the car, and be gentle with her."

As I sit next to him, he places his hand on my stomach. At first, I gasped because it seemed he was absorbing all the pain I was enduring. Then, when his bare hand made contact with my skin, I jerked back and pushed him away.

He said softly, "My name is Thaddeus," Then he let out a soft snarl like he didn't like my treatment towards him.

"I could care less about your identity! I'm not something that can be bought with money!" I yelled at him quite loudly. The driver appeared shaken up as a consequence of my actions, and a man named Thaddeus shut the private window separating the passengers and the driver.

He gave me a piercing look with his eyes before asking, "Do you want to wed a wretched human being instead of being with me?"

I leaned forward to meet his menacing gaze and said, "I don't want to choose between you and him, I just want to be alone in my life, and mateless than to be with someone who rejected me for being weak and powerless."

This time he did not react; instead, he moved closer until our lips were only a few inches apart; when I screamed and backed aside, he grabbed my arm and asked, "Are you scared?"

"Please, please, please, let go of me...I have no interest in becoming one of your mistresses!"

He let go of my arm and took a deep breath, ignoring my pleas. A little while later, we made it to his opulent Home, which resembled a royal palace. I heaved a breath as I peered around, and when he cast a sidelong glance in my direction, I said softly while shaking my head, "I don't belong here..."

"You're going to have to put up with this situation, regardless of how you feel about it."

He pushed my wheelchair inside the Villa, I lowered my head, and when I looked up and saw the portrait of my face that was hanging on the wall, my eyes welled up with tears, and I asked, "That's why you saved me because I look like...her?" I can't deny the fact that the woman whose portrait was hanging on the wall looked just like me. My heart was breaking because I even stared at the strange man whose eyes were full of hope that he was staring at the face of the lady he loved a long time ago, but that woman was not me, and I will never be like her.

“I’m not going to be a substitute!” I screamed at him in hatred.

He spoke to me with a steady gaze that penetrated my soul and said, "You don't have a pack, you are a lone wolf, and from now on, you only have me. Why aren't you just thankful that I saved your life and gave you a place to live?!"

"Because I didn't ask for this!" After I had rolled the wheelchair back outside, he raised his voice this time in an effort to get me to stop. "Starting right now, you have to genuflect and bend your head to me! I'm your Alpha! and be my Luna!"

I give him a bitter smile while shaking my head and telling him, "Alpha, I am no longer your Luna!"

He stared at me in disbelief and asked with a frustrated sigh, "Did you just reject me this time?"

Without batting an eyelid, I look directly into his eyes and said softly, "Yes, Alpha. You have been rejected."