The Love of a Lycan

Raine looked at the notification message in horror, her jaw dropped, as she couldn't find any plausible excuse to give to Torak.

No. Torak must have known about this since the beginning. This must be on of his ways to tease her like usual.

At this moment, Raine really wanted to dig a hole for herself or just disappear into those tiny particles of dust, but she couldn't do any of those now except cry in shame.

Abruptly, Raine stuffed the red lingerie in her hand into her pocket and leaned over to hug Torak as she buried her head against his chest, hiding her crimson colored face.

Meanwhile, Torak mercilessly laughed at her actions, his chest rumbled as he guffawed while hugging Raine.

"So, is it really yours?" Torak asked between his laugh. Raine really wanted to close his mouth and made him stop laughing, but she couldn't even lift her head now. She didn't want to see his teasing eyes.

"This is not my idea!" Raine's voice was muffled on his chest as she denied. "This is kai's, not me…" She whimpered as she felt wronged.

"It's alright…" Torak tousled her hair. "There is no need to be shy."

Mark's house was near to their place and it only took five minutes to reach there by car. Once the car stopped, Torak told the driver to go out first and leave the couple alone inside the car.

Raine was still burying her face against Torak's chest and refused to lift her head, no matter what Torak said.

In the end, Torak was patiently waiting for her to calm down.

"I feel awful…" Raine grumbled. "You shouldn't tease me like this!" She nuzzled her face, wiping her tears harshly until her face and eyes turned red.

"I am sorry, I shouldn't have teased you." Torak rested his chin on top of her head as he caressed her back lovingly. He admitted his mistake, though there was still a smile curled on his lips. "But, may I know why you bought that?"

Torak could feel Raine's body turning stiff when he asked that, but he let her take her time to adjust her feelings.

"We have been sleeping together since the first time we met each other, but…" Raine's voice became softer and softer. "But, we…" Her voice trailed off until she stopped talking altogether.

"But why didn't we have sex for even once?" Torak blurted out.

Now Raine became even more mortified when Torak said it out loud. How could he just say something like that so casually?!

"Is that what you want to ask?" Torak kissed the top of her head again as he pulled Raine closer. He repositioned her and now she was straddling him while wrapping her arms around his neck and buried her face in the nook of his shoulder.

Raine nodded timidly. "I feel like an immoral girl." She said softly.

But Torak frowned when he heard that, his frown deepened when understanding hit him. "No. You are not!" He growled deeply.

Torak didn't like to hear that word from his mate, especially when Raine thought she was the one. The sound of it didn't settle well with Torak.

"My love, you are just eighteen. This is the age when you feel curious about all the aspects in your life, including sex. This is a normal thing, my love." Torak's voice soothed Raine's tension slightly.

"The dreadful experiences that you had been through gave way to insecurities in you, not to mention that you have to face the reality that differed with all the peoples' around you." Torak was aware of the insecurities that filled Raine's subconscious. She practically felt insecure for everything.

"Talking about sex with your friends, hanging out with them, do a silly thing like buying this kind of thing… all of that is normal. You are a teenager, my love. Teenager does stuff like that." Torak tousled Raine's head.

"We didn't have sex, doesn't mean I don't like you. It doesn't equate with you are not being attractive in my eyes, because you are my love. You are my universe." Torak talked very slowly, pronouncing every word carefully, so Raine could hear it clearly, Because he wanted her to realize this. "You are all I need. To see you live happily. That's all I care about."

Raine shifted her head as she wiped her tears.

"I can't control what those people say to you." Torak heard about what the heiress from the Harper company had told Raine from the Lycans that he assigned to protect her. "But, I can only say, I don't even want to think about what life would be like without you. I cherish you above everything else in my life."

Raine slowly lifted her head and stared at Torak timidly with her teary eyes. "Really?"

"You know that I am saying the truth." Torak wiped a tear that fell from his mate's beautiful eyes. "We don't have sex yet, not because you are not attractive enough for me. You are the only person who is able to make me fall in love with you all over again only by watching a small smile appear on your lips."

Raine let out a soft chuckle upon hearing Torak's cheesy words, yet she liked it nonetheless.

"We don't have sex yet because, this is not what you want. You think you want this because the fact that we have been sleeping next to each other every night, but it is only your insecurities that makes you think that you want this." Torak gathered a wisp of Raine's hair and swept it behind her ear.

Raine sniffed, staring at Torak, she said in a very soft voice. "Why do you think I don't want this?"

"Because you are not ready yet." Torak answered with certainty.

Raine bit her lip as she sniffed again. "What if I said that I want it?" She gulped hard when she finished her words.

How could she be so bold?!

Torak's face darkened, something dangerous flashed in his ocean blue eyes. "Are you sure?" His voice slightly hoarser than usual.

"Yes," Raine nodded. She felt her throat going dry. Was she really sure about this? She didn't know the answer.

Torak's eyes shifted to the mark on the left side of her neck, it peeked from the hem of her sweater. Raine's body shivered when his thumb caressed the spot. 

Torak could even hear the beating of Raine's heart. He pursed his lips as he moved his hand down, caressing her cleaveage and down…

When his palm went down to her chest, out of instinct, Raine slapped his hand away. She wasn't used to it when someone touched her there… it was so… intimate…

Raine widened her eyes as she met Torak's. She couldn't help, but questioning herself, why did she react like that? Didn't she say, she was ready?

Would Torak be angry with her? Because she wasn't consistent with her own words?

"Because you are not ready, my love. No, I am not angry with you. Because you didn't know what you really wanted." Torak answered all of Raine unspeakable questions. "Yes, I read your mind and I am sorry for that."

Raine leaned over again and buried her head in his neck.

"It is your insecurities that keep telling you that you need this, yet in actual fact, you don't need it at all." Torak said it softly.

Silence ensued after that and Torak let her arrange her own feelings, though Raine was better than all those months ago when he met her for the first time, but of course all of the things that she had suffered had long left traces of scars and her insecurities were part of them.

Raine nuzzled her head on his neck and then slowly she lifted her head. She felt slightly better now that Torak had said all of those things.

However, this question suddenly hit her. "But, how about the heat? You said it will hit meat random times…" Raine frowned when she remembered the pain from that event. She didn't want to experience it again. "You said I will be in pain for as long as we don't complete the bonding." Blush crept from her cheeks to her ears and neck when she talked about this.

"It will not happen until three months from now, the interval from the first heat and the second heat is three months." Torak could sense his mate's distress regarding this matter. "We will figure out what we can do about it later, alright?"

"Hmm." Raine hummed as she nodded. She would be good for the next three months.

"Let's go?" Torak helped Raine to tidy her hair.

Raine moved to sit down next to Torak as she looked at her reflection on the rearview mirror. "I look terrible…"

"You are terribly beautiful." Torak added, and that earned a chuckle from Raine as she slapped his arm playfully.

"What are you doing?" Raine frowned, suddenly became defensive when she saw Torak casually pulling out the lingerie from her pocket before scrutinizing it.

"Did you pick this model?" Torak asked, hanging the soft fabric on the tip of his forefinger, teasing Raine again.

"It was Kai." Raine snatched it from him and stuffed it ruthlessly into the paper bag.

"Good, I don't like that model." Torak rubbed his palm on her head. "Next time I will buy something more sexy than that if you really want to wear it." He winked at her.

"Torak!" Her mate was really capable of making her feel like she was riding a roller coaster!

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"Thank you for your visit Luna." Mark looked to be in good shape as if he had never experienced such bad event.

"I should be the one who should thank you. If it was not for you, I will not be here." Raine could feel Torak turning stiff when she mentioned that.

"That's my duty to protect you." Well, if something happened to Raine, Mark wouldn't be here either. But the last thought, he kept it for himself.

But, Mark was surprised because Raine actually took the initiative to visit him, usually, as the Luna of the pack, losing one person was a common thing in order to protect her. Moreover, they didn't know each other for long time, neither was he someone significant to be remembered.

Yet, Raine spared some of her time to come and see him personally. Call him idiot, but he felt warm by her kind gesture.

After that short visit to see Mark, Torak and Raine didn't stay for long. Both of them returned to the main house to have dinner together.

"I don't want Stephan to follow me everywhere." Raine stated when they had finished their dinner and was about to go to bed. "I mean, he can't go along with my other friends…"

"Okay, I will talk to him." Torak pulled Raine closer to him as he patted her back, lulling her to sleep. "But, in return, I don't want you to go to weird places that's out of my people sight."

"Okay." Raine knew the dangers that lurked in the shadows, thus she complied with his suggestion.

"Good. Now sleep." Torak turned off the table lamp and pulled the blanket and covered both of them.

"Mmh, Torak…" Raine called him between her sleepy yawn. "Where did you put the lingerie?" He said he didn't like the model and since the lingerie wasn't something that Raine liked too, she wondered where he put it, as the item suddenly disappeared when they reached home.

"I gave it to Calleb." He said nonchalantly.

============== 

The next day, the first thing that Sunny and Kai asked was what was Torak's reaction when he saw the lingerie.

"He said he didn't like the model." Raine munched on her meal. She deliberately didn't elaborate in detail as they still assumed Raine was wearing that when she shown it to Torak.

"He didn't like it!?" Kai was surprised. "It means, he doesn't like my taste?" He felt so miserable to know that.

"And what happened after that?" Sunny asked eagerly while Cassey looked at Raine in the same way.

Raine contemplated for a while before she answered. "He said he will buy me something sexier."

"What?!"

And with that, noisy sounds erupted at their table as Sunny and Kai squalled while covering their mouths.

"How about the lingerie that Kai had chosen for you?" Cassey asked in the end of her laugh.

Raine grinned when she heard this question and answered the way Torak had told her when she asked the same thing. "He gave it to Calleb."

"Calleb? Mr. Watson? The man who was rumored to be your cheating partner?" Sunny asked.

"He is one of Torak's most trusted subordinates." Raine answered honestly.

Afterward, days passed in a blink of an eye, it was already one week since Raine visited Mark and thankfully nothing happened during that period of time.

However, the fact that Torak still didn't appear in any of the important meetings with both humans and Lycans, created quite a chaotic situations.

For the outside world, Torak had been missing for more than a month already, even Sunny and the others started to question Raine about Torak's whereabouts as the people on social media started to go crazy over the missing tycoon.

Raine answered them vaguely as she didn't have any intention to clear the confusion until at some point, they were even tired of asking her anything and just like other people, started throwing random guesses about Torak Donovan's disappearance as well.

During this time, Raine had been trying to figure out what was the meaning behind the image that she had seen previously the moment she touched Sunny, but no matter how many times she touched her, the image didn't appear again.

All she remembered and saw was blood on her hand, but what exactly was it? And how was it related to Sunny?

It didn't make any sense for her now.

"I saw blood on my hand." Raine said abruptly when they were watching a movie before they went to bed.

Currently, Raine was cuddling with Torak on the sofa inside a home theatre that the former didn't even realize that this house had until now.

Torak turned down the volume of the movie, so it wouldn't disrupt what Raine wanted to say.

"Whose blood?" Torak's tone turned grim.

"I don't know… this image is nothing like the other images that I had seen so far." Raine shrugged. She was talking to Torak but her eyes were fixed on the giant screen in front of her, though she could not discern a single sentence from the pages long dialogue of the actress.

"Tell me in detail." Torak said in a flat tone, seemingly he was suppressing his emotions.

Raine didn't hesitate to tell him about the image that she had seen, but there was no other detail, because the image was as plain as Raine had told him.

Blood on her hand. That's it.

No background image or anything around her.

In that case, the blood should belong to her, right?

"Did you feel any pain when you saw the scene?" Torak's body turned stiff. He had the same thought as Raine's.

If there was no one there, then the blood must belong to her, right?

Yet, the weird thing was, Raine didn't feel that way. "No."

Torak rested his chin on top of Raine's head as he contemplated, there were many possibilities that roamed around in his head and he didn't like any of it.

They stayed in silence until the end credits of the movie appeared and Raine had fallen asleep.

Carefully, Torak carried his sleeping mate to their room and put her down on the bed gently before he tucked her inside the warm blanket.

Torak then walked out to the balcony, relishing the crisp night as the sound of the wind that rustled the branches of the trees accompanied him.

[Raph.] Torak mind- linked his Beta, who was currently sitting at the backyard.

[Do you need something Torak?] Raphael stared at the balcony, from where Torak was staring back at him.

[I want you to speed up the plans.] Torak said gloomily.

[In that case, we need more hype.] Raphael replied. Something must have happened on Torak's end that made him sound this way. His voice was laced with anxiety and annoyance.

[Do, whatever it needs.] Torak then cut the mind- link as he returned inside the room.

In the backyard, Calleb lifted his head when he noticed that the communication between Raphael and Torak had ended, leaving the former with a twisted face.

"What is it?" Calleb asked, frowning as well. He threw the remaining carrot in to the bunny's cage. Aside from baby sitting Raine, apparently he took an extra job to baby sit her pet as well.

"Torak need us to speed up the plans." Raphael stuffed his hands inside his pockets.

"Something came up?" Calleb asked in concern.

The Beta shrugged as he lifted his head and looked at the full moon above of him. "I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this."

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The next morning.

Raine was awoken by Torak's soft touch on her cheek. He was drawing circles on her supple skin mindlessly while inciting the spark between them.

"Good morning sunshine." Torak's hoarse voice greeted Raine when her eyelashes fluttered slightly.

Raine let out a stifled yawn while moving closer to Torak and hugged his waist, not wanting to wake up so early.

The sunlight had not yet appeared from the huge window near the balcony, so it would be too early to wake up.

"Why did you wake up so early…?" Raine rubbed her eyes to see the clock on the table beside Torak, before closing her eyes again. It was only five in the morning.

Actually Torak couldn't fall asleep last night no matter what, his heart was filled with anxiety, yet it didn't reflect on his face or his voice when he answered Raine's question.

"So I can stare at you longer…" Torak replied softly.

His answer earned a chuckle from Raine as she forced her eyes to open and looked at her mate with her sleepy eyes. "You sound like a pervert."

"Is it?" Torak raised his eyebrows as he tousled her hair lovingly. "My love… can I ask you something?"

"What is it?" Raine asked with her eyes shut, but she was awake enough to continue this conversation with him.

"Don't go to the Campus for the rest of the week." Torak blurted out.

Upon hearing that, Raine opened her eyes and stared at him. "You surprised me with this request, so early in the morning." More or less Raine could understand why he requested such a thing from her.