Chapter 3

"Noooo!" Crystal awoke with a start from her nightmare, her pupils dilating with fear. Gasping for breath, she sat bolt upright from her desk,her heart jumping wildly like it had just finished a marathon race. 

"It's okay, Cryssy; it was just another nightmare. You are safe here now; no longer with them." Muna reassured her. 

Beads of sweat glistened on her forehead and her skin was sticky to the touch. She slowly became aware of her environment and realised that she was clutching her steel pen like a weapon. 

She had fallen asleep on her study's mahogany desk while reading some research papers. Tiredness from the day's activities finally caught up with her, and she slept there for a long time, only waking up from her usual nightmares.

"The nightmares seem more real with each passing day and I wake up feeling more haunted." Crystal moaned sadly.

She always dreamed about the Shadow Syndicate, which was the assassin brotherhood order that made her the way she was. 

"Do you want to talk about it, Crystal, even if a little?" Muna asked reassuringly.

Muna knew what Crystal experienced from when she was 18 years old because that was the first time she transformed and formed a bond with her wolf.

Crystal was quiet for a long time and when Muna was certain she would still not say a word about it, this time she said, "They said they found me, passed out on a field and took me to their temple."

"They nurtured me back to health and waited for word from anyone looking for a 12-year-old white-haired, silver-eyed child because they did not know where I came from or what had happened to my pack, and I wouldn't say a word."

"After a while and no word from anyone, the brotherhood of the Shadow Syndicate had no choice but to raise me as one of their own—a highly skilled and lethal weapon." She shook her head.

"It's okay if it's hard for you to continue." her wolf said.

"It's fine Muna" she affirmed bravely.

"They trained me in different types of martial arts, hand-to-hand combat, and highly skilled ways to use different weapons." She laughed bitterly

"I was taught stealthy ways to end a target through different means; I was also taught, through various means, including violence, where necessary, how to suppress my fear and emotions. It was brutal, it was ten whole painful years." Crystal whispered shakily.

"When they discovered I had unique abilities, they honed my physical strength and abilities but it was no easy feat as they subjected me to years and years of hard training that transformed me into a walking mercenary." Crystal cried hard for a long time. 

"On my 22nd birthday, as you know, I was sent on an assassination mission, and after that, I left without looking back. I came here and started afresh, celebrating my freedom." 

"The brotherhood did not bother looking for me as they knew I would leave someday and had used me for many missions already."

Crystal stood up from her study chair with a little shudder. She had been free from the brotherhood for two years now, but she still suffered from nightmares, hurts, pain, fears, and emotional scars as she was incapable of beautiful feelings like love and empathy. 

Unable to talk about her suffocating past anymore, she wiped her teary face with the back of her hands and said, "I will go for a swim at the deserted river Muna; you know it always calms me." 

She took off her chemise, pulled on a simple cotton dress and walked down to the beautiful deserted river, a little distance from her house. 

She made her way through the forest trees that surrounded her home and when she got to the riverbank and saw the glistening water, the tension in her shoulders started to fade away.

She took off her clothes and waded into the water; the remaining dark energy from the nightmare faded away. She took a deep sigh of relief but, unbeknownst to her, a pair of mesmerized green eyes watched her every move from behind a huge tree.

****

Alaric had been travelling through the forest with his men for three days now; this was not the actual route but the secluded forest gave them the cover they needed. 

He had been to the best healer on this side of the country for his father's ailment but he still got the same reply: "I am sorry, my Lord, but there is nothing I can do for your father." 

His father had become comatose due to a lightning bolt that came straight at him while performing a pre-battle ritual.

His father, Darkon Verecarl, was the sovereign Lycan who had been going on a "killing rampage," as Selena, his eldest daughter, and Alaric's younger sister had tagged it, and he was about to go wipe out a "traitor" pack himself when the incident happened.

They, his children, do not and will never agree with their father's method of achieving a central rule. There was too much bloodshed, lots of fear, and little respect. They warned their father that that was not the way to achieve what he wanted but he was already set in his ways. 

Alaric suspected that their mother's death played a huge role in their father's quest for power because, when she died, he turned into a completely different, cold-hearted person, but that doesn't mean his children loved him less.

"Even though he is the power-mad sovereign Lycan to the rest of the world, he is still my father and I will do all in my power to make him well again." Alaric asserted his determination.

"It would seem that there is nothing else you can do for me, old one. I bid you farewell." Alaric stood up.

The old wizard suddenly looked up as if in a trance and said, "Wait! I see her. The one for you. You will recognize her shortly only in her true form but after that, she will only seem like a familiar stranger to you till you see her in her true form again."

Alaric sighed and said to himself, "What is he saying now? It would seem the old one has gone mad."

He stepped out of the shrine and said to his second-in-command and best friend, "Let's move out, Odin, we're done here; all routes lead back to the castle."

They passed through secluded forests to keep the news of his father's ailment a secret.

This particular forest had a mystical air about it, and there was something or rather, someone calling out to him. Alaric couldn't place his hands on it. He decided to explore.

"Alright boys, we'll pitch our tent here tonight and move out at first light. I'd like to explore these woods and I want to do so alone." Alaric instructed his men, eager to answer whatever or whoever called to him. 

He suddenly caught an intoxicating, flowery scent that had a mix of earthy musk "Oh my! What is this?" he wondered. 

He inhaled deeply and the scent awakened a primal longing in him. It was the scent of his mate, one he was destined to love and be with for all eternity. 

"How is this possible? There couldn't possibly be any other creature in this forest." He quickened his steps, his wolf's excitement turning his strides into skips. 

Alaric followed the scent, his heart thumping wildly with anticipation and when he got to a moonlit river, he couldn't believe his eyes. 

He let out a surprised gasp as a beautiful, tall, curvy lady with wavy white hair took off her dress and elegantly waded into the river. 

She swam for a while and strode naked out of the river to a bundle of clothing neatly folded on the bark of a felled tree. Her beautiful wet hair, was parted in front of her and covered her supple breasts, with water droplets racing down her body. 

"Is she real?" he wondered.

If not for the overwhelming emotions rushing at him at that moment and the fact that his wolf kept screaming "mate," Alaric would not have believed that she was real. She looked like an exotic goddess like she was the moon goddess or something.

'I won't approach her now while she is naked so I do not embarrass her," he resolved, so he waited till she threw on her beautiful lightweight cotton dress. He could still see the outline of her luscious curves and long, sexy legs beneath the cloth. He was hot all over already. 

All of a sudden, she turned and looked at his direction in the shadows, like she had known he was there all along. He checked her emotions, but there was no hint of surprise, fear or embarrassment in her silver moon eyes; they were fierce, commanding and could draw one in. 

Alaric didn't see her next move coming at all, as she ran with unusual speed to the bank of the river and jumped in. He followed her, shouting, "What are you doing? wait….." but he didn't see a trace of her in the clear waters, nor did she come up for air, even after a long while of waiting.

Alaric went back to his men after a while and ordered them to search the forest for a white-haired female but all reports came back as "we didn't find anyone of that description, My Prince."

"Are you sure you didn't see a magical creature from the forest, brother? They say some of them dwell in these parts." Odin asked Alaric later that night.

"I know what I saw and felt Odin; she may look different but she was real and I still cannot explain what happened there," Alaric replied with his forehead still scrunched in confusion.

He decided to continue his journey back home the next day, as he needed to attend to his father but he was still wondering about the cruel joke that was played on him the previous night. 

She wasn't a normal werewolf, was she? Her features and the river scenario did not seem to be the norm. 

Was he mated to a mystical creature? 

"Wouldn't that be a cruel joke?"He asked himself, clearly frustrated.

****

Crystal stood at the edge of the Heidi forest, dressed in her dark hooded cloak, which enabled her to move anonymously with deadly precision. 

"Blades intact?" Muna asked.

"Yes, ma'am." she replied sarcastically.

She checked the blades strapped to her thigh to be sure they were intact. 

She barely changed to her wolf form as she had been trained by the brotherhood to take anyone down without having to shift, and when she did, then it was over for whoever was involved.

Speaking of training from the brotherhood, Crystal smiled as she reminisced about the scenario from the previous night. 

The figure behind the tree probably thought she had drowned, but she deep-dived into the river and swam underneath all the way to the other side while holding her breath. 

She learned that from the brotherhood, and she always hated that particular training back then but it helped her escape from the stranger.

"You have no right to have thoughts about him when you didn't even give him a chance." Muna said with an accusing tone.

"What would you have me do? He was clearly a stranger." Crystal replied.

"No way, that was no stranger; that was our mate!" Muna retorted hotly.

"Whatever that means." Crystal waved her off.

"Crystal Mortimer, you listen to me; I know we've not had this discussion because it never came up but a mate is..." 

"Muna, please, not now! You know what we are here for." Crystal cut her off.

One thing she couldn't understand, though, was the faint, strange stirring she got when she sensed him there. She thought about it all day while preparing for her mission. 

"Well, he's gone now. We have to focus." She said again, more to herself.

The cypher code depicted where the alpha would be at that moment and just in time, he emerged with two other men. He was a formidable figure with a domineering presence and after taking three steps, he stopped, acutely aware of Crystal's presence.

In a blur of speed and precision, Crystal did two air flips and landed in front of the three men. 

"Well, well, if it isn't the famous assassin, Chris." The muscled man on the alpha's left recognized her immediately. 

"To what do we owe this honour?" He asked sarcastically but she could hear the fear masked beneath the sarcasm.

"What do you want from us? Who sent you?" The man on the alpha's right boomed with a commanding voice.

Crystal remembered that she had to go to her client's location that night to deliver the badge he wanted from the target so she brought out her blades from her cloak. 

With this prompt, the two men with the alpha immediately shifted to massive black wolves and raced towards her.

Crystal fought the two wolves with ferocity born from years of training and the frustration she currently felt from her sleepless nights. 

She always maintained a calculative and balanced demeanor during battle, but all the emotions she tried to hide from the world—her fears, her guilt, and her hurts—all transformed to anger at that point, and she poured it all on her opponent.

Immediately after she felled the second wolf, she let out an angry and frustrated howl; she hadn't vented enough.

She saw the alpha violently shift into an enormous, ferocious-looking black wolf, ready to maim her. She knew he would not run away from the fight; his pride and loyalty to his dead men would never allow it. 

"Muna, the floor is yours, girl." Crystal screamed.

"Finally! It's show time." Muna replied.

Crystal let out a loud battle cry and raced hotly towards the alpha's werewolf while shifting into her giant white wolf form, her shredded clothing items, due to her shift flying in different directions.

The alpha's werewolf halted mid-race with surprise in his whiskey-brown eyes when he saw Crystal's giant white wolf; he had never seen anything like that before. For a fleeting second, fear flashed through his eyes but it was gone before she could see it.

His wolf growled fiercely, teeth bared and claws extended and screamed, "Today, I am taking you down, assassin." Then he raced faster than before towards the approaching white wolf, aiming to strike a decisive blow.