My Most Precious Human novel Chapter 100

Alpha Draven's hand was almost twice the size as mine, yet he grabbed my hand gently as if he was holding something fragile. I smiled awkwardly at him and squeezed his hand harder, trying to prove that I wasn't made of porcelain. Once I did he immediately corrected his grip while dangerously locking his eyes on mine. We stood like that, wrapped in a strange silence that increased the density of the air around us. His thumb delicately rubbed the inner side of my palm, striking my skin with electricity as a wave of shivers flooded my body. I abruptly took my hand away, scratching the place he touched as if I wanted to wipe off the sensation of him. He smirked.

"So… Lady Lilith, do you wander around this garden often?" he chuckled.

"I have never been here before," I said, "It simply looked like a good place to clear my mind out of thinking…"

"Is something bothering you?" He sounded surprisingly concerned.

I responded with a faint smile.

"Look, I get it that you don't trust me, but I'm not a bad guy…" He spread his arms as if he was submitting to me.

I couldn't read him. I didn't know if he was this sly and shrewd, or sincere. Nonetheless, there was something I couldn't ignore.

"Do you think that it is possible to trust someone who wanted to buy you like some kind of object?" I asked, cautiously gazing into his eyes.

"It wasn't like that…" Draven sighed, "I have never bought you. You were given to me as a part of a peace offering that Alpha Randall proposed."

"That… didn't sound any better." I crossed my arms on my chest and glared at him.

"Ok, I admit that I was intrigued. Having a ridiculously strong heir would secure my pack's safety for the next generation to come, but… I was furious when I accepted those terms. I didn't think clearly…" His painted with agitation words didn't sound much trustworthy.

"Then explain it to me," I stated, willing to hear his side of the story.

Draven leaned against the tall hedge and took a deep breath. "I am the son of Alpha Lennox Erdogan, who was the son of Alpha Talon Erdogan, the son of King Alpha Fenrir Erdogan. My pack, the Moon Hill Pack, was unofficially considered the strongest pack in the werewolves world for centuries. If it weren't for my grandfather Alpha Talon, who never really cared about the pack and lost a duel with another pack's Alpha, the wolves would still be united, and I would be their king. Certainly, there were other packs with respectable strength like the Moon Lake Pack with their female leader, Alpha Eve, and Randall D'Apolito's the Southern Woods Pack, but they had become a force to be reckoned with only after the packs merged." He paused, checking my reaction to his words.

My body tensed as he mentioned my father's name, and he noticed it in an instant. A shrewd smirk appeared on his face while his eyes remained glued to mine. I clicked my tongue.

"I didn't know that," I tossed, slightly annoyed while reluctantly listening about his heritage. "In fact, I have never been interested in other packs since I was too busy escaping from my so-called father," I gritted my teeth.

He snorted.

"What?" I snarled at him.

"Nothing…" he grinned and inhaled deeply, preparing to continue his story. "Anyway, Alpha Randall hated my father. He even challenged him, trying to claim our lands, but he lost. Of course, from that moment, his hatred became even stronger. Nonetheless, Alpha Randall or the Southern Woods Pack have never crossed our pack openly until Randall prepared an ambush to kill my father. He staged it as if furious rogues ripped him to pieces, where there were his best warriors who killed my father. There were thirty against one. Alpha Randall would have got away with it if one of his warriors didn't fall into our hands… I was sixteen when I have taken over the pack and the first thing I did was declare war with the Southern Woods Pack."

My lips formed a semi-satisfied smile. I became a little bit relieved that Alpha Draven surely wasn't a big fan of my father.

"Did you… fight against the Southern Woods Pack?" I asked with my heart pounding.

"It has been never-ending bloodshed for three years… We might have led it to the end, but the southerners suddenly reached out to sign a peace treaty. I wanted Randall D'Apolito dead, but my mother begged me to bring this war to an end so that we could finally morn Alpha Lennox properly. Randall D'Apolito agreed to give us the lands, which I later learned were the previous Moon Lake Pack's territory. He also gave me something he called his greatest treasure: you."

I exhaled heavily as the sudden dizziness hit my head, making me nearly collapse. I stumbled on my feet, overwhelmed by pain and rising anger. Draven reached out his arm to prevent me from losing my balance. Unfortunately, his abrupt move made me fall directly into his arms.

"Are you all right?" he asked, his deep voice penetrating every inch of my body.

"Y-yes…" I mumbled, pushing myself away from his firm chest and trying to stand steadily on my two feet.

I looked away, slowing my breath and praying for the sudden blush to disappear from my face as quickly as it appeared, which wasn't easy. I felt Alpha Draven's eyes on me, scanning my body with a sly grin. I clenched my teeth, blaming my foolish body for reacting to him as a tragically unappeased savage woman.

"Lilith, control yourself! You need to remember who you are talking to!" My brain hit me with a dose of rationality.

I cleared my throat and gazed at him, trying to look like someone emotionally stable and confident.

"So… you decided to accept a slave you've been given?" I squeezed through my teeth.

"I stupidly believed that giving you away to me would hurt Alpha Randall. You were his flesh and blood after all," he smiled bitterly.

"And… what were you planning to do with me?" I couldn't tell how I managed to ask him that question, and I definitely wasn't prepared to hear his answer.

"I…" The words clenched in his throat as he looked at me with a painful expression. "I thought of making you my slave… I wanted to hurt you as much as I wanted to hurt Alpha Randall."

I cringed, stepping back away from him. My heart hammered frantically, as Draven's words painted fear in my eyes, but fear was the least affecting emotion I felt. I couldn't blame Draven for wanting revenge, but the most hideous part of it was that my father must have been more than aware of what would happen to me.

I thought I had dealt with this freaking father issue a long time ago. I thought that hearing about this sick bastard had no effect on me, and yet I felt as if I went back to being a weak eighteenth, cruelly used by her own parent to solve his problem. I had always thought that he had gotten a lot of money from selling me, but that would actually give me some value. It turned out that Randall D'Apolito was a coward who was losing the war that had started, and to end the troublesome conflict, he decided to hand over the land that wasn't his to give and threw his child to pay for his sins.

"Funking bastard…" I mumbled as tears fell from my eyes.

I trembled. I felt like I was about to fall apart as the years of cultivating hatred and pain burst out of me. I panted erratically while my heart thundered loudly, violating my eardrums. My head spun as something tightened my chest, squeezing my lungs and making it impossible to breathe. I took another step back, wobbling as my vision became blurry. I was about to collapse as the panic attack took control of my body.

"Don't cry." Draven's arms gently hugged me as I was about to hit the ground.

He lifted my shivering body, pressing it delicately against his chest. His body felt warm and comforting. His body felt like a remedy to my entire, messed-up state. Unknowingly, I put my arms around him and placed my head to hear his fastened heartbeat.

"Please don't cry, Lilith…" Draven whispered, "I was a fool, blinded by rage and hatred, and I didn't know who you are then… I will never hurt you, Lilith, so please don't cry. Don't cry, I won't hurt you…" he repeated softly while brushing tears from my feverish cheeks.

As his words reached my ears, a strange thing had happened… I believed him.