Chapter 19 Into the Cavern (1)

“Then, what about Regina?”
The look on his face was strangely profound. She felt his eyes seared with a fiery gaze on her. It was dangerously intense. She had wanted to look away, but he compelled her to look back at him.
“Don’t… Don’t you mention that name ever,” he spat out at her furiously.
“What are you going to do?” Out of the house, she felt comfortably calm. Other than how he was going to murder her with his stare, she felt a lot better, as if she was freed from the force that limited her wolf powers.
“Nothing.” He placed his hands on her shoulders and whispered near her ears. “Just think that you’re here with me, and nobody else. No Regina, no other person.”
“Nathaniel Underwood.”
She rolled her eyes and carelessly flicked a hair away from her face. Above their heads, the moon shone brightly. It made her feel absolutely sensual. But she ignored the call of the wild, and thought firmly about what she was here for.
While she detested strongly how she had been made a fool by this human, she knew what the outcome would be for him once they returned. They couldn’t possibly remain in the village for long. Although time didn’t pass, either of them would lose their patience.
“That doesn’t change anything, Nathaniel. If you are going to undergo the ritual with me, then what about Regina? Are you going to hurt her?”
It wasn’t like her to care or even be thoughtful for a stranger, but she wanted to cut the line between them. For one, Regina was Nat’s fiancee and she didn’t like the idea about sharing him with her.
However, she didn’t want him tying her down, no matter what the reason was: Wisteria, or their mate bond. Their relationship should be purely physical, until the day she terminated their bond.
Since he was her exclusive gigolo, that meant he and her were just partners in bed. She had no use for a partner in love. She didn’t need one. Ricky had been trying to catch her attention for years, but rather than allow him in her life, she chose to have a gigolo’s services to change her ‘virgin’ status,
“What happens between Regina and I is not your concern.” He appeared slightly troubled, but she dismissed it as being private. There wasn’t a need for him to display his feelings for Regina. She maintained her distance from him, fearful that Aria would go cranky again from being close to Nat.
“Have it your way. Why are you so insistent on the ritual? It’s not like you can change circumstances and make us lovers.”
She stared towards the sky. The moon was getting fuller, giving her palpitations. She took a few deep breaths. ‘Not now, Aria. This isn’t the time.’
“Why the sudden distance? Are you afraid that I will ravage you right here?” He stuck his tongue at her. “As much as I want to right now, I wouldn’t be that fool to break taboos and disobey the ancestors. There’s more to life than sex, Miss Donna - No, Dawson.”
She gnashed her teeth, fisting her palm in her pocket. Who was he to be teaching her? But he just smiled wickedly and pushed on the door. She noticed a few brilliantly carved stone symbols, all of which made no sense to her.
However, she didn’t think about asking about them. Each symbol bore a distinct colour from each other, likely signifying a different strength. She stood firm and watched him silently.
He bit hard on the thumb of his right hand, releasing a small stream of blood. She continued observing him with a blank expression on her face. Blood never triggered her fear or disgust. In fact, it had zero effects on her.
There was a small sizzle of power. Each stone symbol seemed to glare with a small red light gradually until they all glowed together in unison. A soft sound cracked across the door as the five red glimmering orbs united, creating a massive power.
The stone door opened immediately. With his eyes still focused on her, Nat licked his thumb without leaving her gaze, albeit to her discomfort. What was with his teasing stares? He gestured to her to follow him, and she did hesitatingly, until he reached to pull her into the strange structure.
It was a massive cavern, and she had never been in a place like that before. The stone walls encompassed them. Just then she heard the stone door crash to an abrupt close behind them.
“One minute longer, and you would be crushed to death,” he chuckled charmingly. “I wouldn’t like to have to answer to a dead fiancee.”
“You know I’m not your fiancee.”
He swooped his lips against hers aggressively, sweeping her against the stone wall with a sudden outburst of strength. Her heart raced as she found that she was unable to move while he restricted her and pulled her arms over her head.
Their proximity had awoken Aria who was darting inside her in circles. She took in his masculine scent, suppressing her raging desire by returning his obsessive kisses as ferociously as she could. The urge to rip his clothes to shreds was consuming her by the second, but the next minute, he pulled back.
She heaved a sigh of relief, glad that the desire surging inside her was contained for now.
“You are now,” he stated arrogantly. She almost wanted to shoot back that she was just putting on an act for him, but a thought inside her materialised. She hated being a replacement for someone else, and if he intended for her to replace Regina, she wouldn’t be able to take it lying down.
He had better change her mindset of him and of love. She didn’t know why she was suddenly thinking this, but part of her was excited to be with Nat. She brushed away those useless thoughts and ventured with him deeper inside the cavern.
What was he so interested about in this cave? The outside of the cave was disguised by a stone structure making it look like a usual house, but now she realised the uniqueness of the cave. It held the entire secrets of Jave, of which Nat was trying to find an answer.
The cave had many different ‘rooms’, divisions which were separated by a cloth of different colours. Nat explored the rooms, retreating quickly from each one as he failed to find what he needed.
He stopped right outside one large room, where a lighted torch hung at the entrance.
“This has to be it. But before we go in, recite this mantra with me. Only then can we enter.”
She had doubts about what was the purpose of her having to recite some magical words, but she did anyway. All she wanted to righ now was to get this done with so she could leave this worrisome place.
Her body tingled with heat once she finished reciting with him. She attempted to shake off his hand on hers, which he connected with before they started with the magical words, but try as she might, she couldn’t.
“What is this, Nat?” She had wanted to yell at him, but he smiled instead. A smile that captured her attention terribly.
“Temporary effects of the mantra. It endows both of us with special abilities and allows us to possess knowledge we never had before. But you need to stay focused to utilise this.”
She cleared her mind and focused her energy, following Nat’s instructions that came afterwards. A few sequences of flashbacks entered her mind, although she understood that they weren’t hers. Eventually the images dissipated from her head, leaving her shuddering with fear.
“You saw all these images, do you know what I’ve been through, Alyssa?” He roared, fuming with what appeared to be an outburst of rage.
“How could you even suggest that Regina is the one I’m supposed to be with? She’s one of them, even if she is wolfless.”