After hearing the news that Elyna had regained consciousness, Val rushed to where her mate's cocoon was. He didn't wait for someone to open the door for him once he arrived at the location. Val rushed. His brown eyes shone when he could feel his mate's pheromones from the remains of the ruins of the building that used to be the hunters' headquarters.
"Elyna!"
"Val!"
Val could hardly believe it when she saw Elyna smiling widely and running towards her. Val swiftly caught Elyna when she threw her body towards him. Val hugged Elyna tightly. There was no mistake. Elyna returned to her embrace.
"Thank you. I can feel your pheromones from inside there."
"Mn."
Val buried his head in Elyna's neck to smell her scent. His gaze dimmed when he smelled blood from Elyna's body. When Val looked at Tritan, he could see the bite marks that had just closed on the man's neck.
Tritan, who was aware of Val's gaze, only raised his eyebrows without saying anything. Val took a deep breath. Tritan should have seen how pale he was now.
"Val, they said I'm pregnant with your and Tritan's baby."
"Yes. That's true."
Elyna saw how Val stroked her belly lovingly and then started to feel sad again.
"Is it dangerous to have a child from a different species? They kept saying that this pregnancy was their first."
Val fell silent. Honestly, he didn't know. Even for werewolves, pregnancy from interspecies couples was rare. Not to mention pregnancy from two different species that happened at the same time.
It was also the first time Val had heard of such a case. His eyes then looked at Tritan. Unlike him, Tritan seemed to know something about the pregnancy.
"You and the babies will be okay. I promise you."
Elyna turned her head when Tritan spoke and moved closer to her. The man kissed her forehead once. Now that Tritan had finished carrying out his duties, he felt it was time for him to leave and let Elyna be alone with Val.
"Go back first. I will return after giving this good news to everyone."
Elyna held Tritan's hand. Concern was written on her face.
"What happened to... Father?"
Tritan was silent. It took a while before he told Elyna the truth.
"He's healing in the castle, Elyna. There's no need to worry. I'll make sure he doesn't bother us again."
Elyna looked down.
"Can't... he accept our relationship?" she asked in a low voice.
"He has done it."
Elyna looked up again when Tritan replied to her words. There was no trace of any lie in Tritan's eyes. The man was telling the truth.
"He has acknowledged our relationship. Even so... I forbid him from showing his face in front of you or Val again after what he did."
Elyna was silent. What happened before was indeed scary. Meanwhile, Georgio had also done something unforgivable to Val. But for Elyna, forbidding him from seeing her was too much. Elyna knew that in the past, her father and Tritan had fallen asleep for a long time because they were trying to protect her and her mother from the betrayal of the werewolf race.
Georgio's hatred for the werewolf race was justified. Even so, Elyna hoped that her father would be willing to accept Val, even if it would take a lot of time.
"Val, will you forgive my father? He did that because he was betrayed by the werewolf race when I was little."
Val looked at Elyna, then smiled. "I never hated him," he told her. Elyna smiled. She knew she could always rely on Val.
Elyna then looked at Tritan again.
"Are you also willing to forgive him? Preventing him from seeing me again is too cruel. I also have to introduce our children to him."
Tritan took a deep breath. He knew he would not be able to win against Elyna. Tritan nodded. Georgio had indeed been punished a lot for his mistakes.
"Alright. I'll tell Father that you've forgiven him. But please don't be surprised if he suddenly comes later."
"No problem. I'll tell my pack members too."
Tritan nodded. He was grateful that Val always tried to understand their situation.
"Then, I'll go first."
When Elyna blinked, Tritan had disappeared from her sight. Elyna let out a long breath. But, in the next moment, she suddenly turned around as if she had just remembered something important.
"Right! How's Eir? Is she okay?"
Val smiled slightly. "I'll take you to see her," she said then.
***
Eir let out a small sigh as Elyna continued to cry since they met again. At Eir's request, they had all agreed not to tell Elyna what had happened entirely. But who would have thought? Just by hearing that Eir was sold by the hunters, Elyna immediately burst into tears.
"Hey, stop crying!"
A moment after Eir spoke, she immediately regretted her decision. Elyna looked surprised when she heard her words. She even seemed to be trying hard to suppress her tears by force after Eir asked her to do so.
"I mean, that-"
Eir looked at Hakan, who accompanied her in the room. Hakan approached to stroke her head. Hakan's strokes calmed Eir down, so she gained the strength to change for the better Eir.
"I'm sorry, Luna. I didn't mean to forbid you from crying because of me. You know, I just... I don't want people to be sad because of me," Eir said. She fell silent as Elyna held her hand gently. After stopping crying, Elyna finally smiled at Eir.
"Eir is a good person," she said excitedly. Eir turned her face away, looking embarrassed because she was suddenly praised by Elyna.
"I'm not a good person. I always think badly of and cause trouble for the pack. For that... I apologize."
Eir finally replied. She lowered her head slightly as she continued her words.
"I'm sorry too for not being able to protect you well at that time. I should have been the one to protect you. But at that time, you were willing to put up with their crazy experiment to keep me safe," she said sadly. Eir's face, which usually looked arrogant and careless, was replaced with a sad and regretful expression. Tears had even welled up in her eyes.
Elyna shook her head. She hugged Eir warmly, trying to comfort Eir, who was almost crying because of it.
"You tried your best to protect me. S-sorry because I... sob, you, you..."
Elyna started crying again. Everyone said that Eir was successfully rescued not long after she was sold. But Elyna knew better than anyone that things weren't that simple. The incident had changed Eir too much. Even though Eir tried to show that she was fine, from the look in her eyes, Elyna knew that she had gone through a lot before she could finally return home.
Eir stroked Elyna's hair gently for the first time. She smiled a little, secretly grateful that Elyna was still the same Luna she knew.
"I'm fine. You're going to be a mother soon. You have to do something about your crying habit, Luna."
Elyna looked up. She just realized that all this time. Eir had been calling her Luna, a sign that she had also acknowledged Elyna as her Luna.
"But Eir also has to stop being sad if you want me to stop! I will protect you from now on! That's my promise as a Luna," Elyna promised confidently. Eir smiled a little. She patted Elyna's head once to comfort her.
"Yes, I believe in you. Be stronger for my brother and this pack. I'm more than happy when you do," Eir said honestly. Elyna nodded. She had believed in her feelings since the beginning. Eir was good. She just didn't understand her at first.
"Sigh. This way, I no longer have regrets when I have to leave this pack."
"Wait. Leaving?"
Elyna immediately panicked when Eir suddenly said that she would leave their pack. Eir smiled. She then pushed her hair aside to show the bite marks on the crook of her neck.
"Sorry, but I have to go with my mate to start a new life. We have also agreed to celebrate the wedding according to his family's wishes. When that day comes, I hope you and Alpha are willing to be my guardians."
"Your mate... who is that?"
Eir laughed. She didn't expect that in her pack, there would still be someone more insensitive than her about the attention that Hakan always showed to her.
"He's here."
Eir pointed at Hakan, to which Hakan smiled when he saw the surprised expression on Elyna's face.
"Eh?"