Chapter Fourteen

The promise

Sakura felt Syaoran's arms around her, preventing her from moving further away.

"I want to be with you. If I have to say it in front of everyone, I will."

She smiled and let herself fall back, leaning against his chest and enjoying his scent. Syaoran couldn't be more perfect.

"No matter how much time passes, your scent still affects me the same."

With one hand, he forced her to lift her head and look into his eyes. Their breaths mingled and Sakura sighed.

"It's the same for me," he replied, catching her lips in a kiss.

A few seconds later, they broke apart and stared at each other in silence, trying to understand everything they were feeling. Suddenly, Syaoran frowned.

"There's something I still don't understand, Sakura. Supposedly, by marking your mate, you're so attached to them that if they die, so do you... Why are your father and aunt still alive if their mates died?"

Sakura sighed and hugged him tighter, hiding her face in his chest.

"Not all of us are lucky enough to find our mate, Syaoran. My father and aunt never found them, but they married my mother and uncle so they could have a family.

He opened his eyes wide in surprise.

"So they weren't mates?"

She pulled back a little so she could look at him, shaking her head.

"They were physically attracted to each other, but they never fell in love, they couldn't... although they were very fond of each other and decided to have a child to perpetuate their lineage of Alphas and Betas. That's why Tomoyo and I were born."

"Well, that sucks," Syaoran chuckled.

Sakura smiled sadly.

"I know, but your mate can be anywhere in the world. That's why not everyone can find them, it's quite complicated."

He nodded thoughtfully.

"Thank goodness you came to Hong Kong," he murmured, staring into her eyes.

"I was already planning to leave the country. As soon as I finished my studies, I was going to spend a few years travelling around Asia looking for you... and I would have started in the south, where you were."

"If you hadn't come, maybe you would have found me later... but I'd probably be married to Meiling."

Sakura frowned.

"Even if you were with her, you still wouldn't love her. Your destiny was to love only me, and when you met me, you would have left her to come with me," she growled, clicking her tongue in annoyance.

"I think you're right," he admitted, grinning.

She smiled too and stood in her tiptoes to kiss him, but suddenly she noticed that his lips were still, as if they had frozen. She pulled away and looked into his eyes, startled by that reaction. Syaoran was slightly pale, staring at her with wide eyes.

"How long does a werewolf live?"

Sakura didn't understand what the question was about.

"I'm not sure. Twice as long as a human, more or less. Why?"

His face darkened.

"Your lifespan has shortened since you marked me, because when I die, so will you."

Sakura sighed and tried to kiss him again, but Syaoran moved away.

"Why didn't you tell me? I wouldn't have let you mark me," he muttered angrily.

She shrugged.

"The day you're no longer in this world, I won't be interested in being in it. I prefer it this way, Syaoran. When we leave, we'll leave together."

Syaoran's heart shrank and he came closer to wrap his arms around her, pressing their foreheads together.

"You know I love you too, don't you?"

She smiled again.

"Yes, though I don't think as much as I love you."

He held her shoulders, staring at her.

"You're wrong, maybe I love you more. You've awakened things in me that I haven't felt before."

Sakura wrapped her arms around his neck but, before she could kiss him, Syaoran lifted her up, placing her legs around his waist and lunging for her lips eagerly.

A few days later, Syaoran had finished his work at the university early and was leaning against the side of a building door, waiting.

"I'm here," Eriol announced, coming out dressed in a suit and with a briefcase in his hand.

"Were you able to get away?" he asked, standing up.

"Yes, I told you we had no more trials today," Eriol replied grimly, wrinkling his nose.

"What's wrong with you?"

"It's nothing. Come on, let's do that secret thing that I couldn't even tell Tomoyo about."

The two started walking through the streets of Tokyo, until Syaoran stopped.

"The Alpha has really gotten to you, huh?" Eriol joked as he saw that his friend was standing in front of a jewellery store window.

Syaoran looked him in the eye, frowning.

"If I'm going to have a werewolf wedding with her, I want a human wedding too," he replied, entering the shop.

Eriol smiled and followed him. The two of them walked down the aisles filled with all kinds of jewellery.

"I don't know what kind of ring she'd like, I don't understand any of this," Syaoran muttered under his breath, glancing at the display cases with a raised eyebrow.

"You know how modest she is, it has to be something simple," Eriol said, scanning the dozens of rings with his gaze.

Syaoran noticed a white gold one, with five small stones set in it.

"How about that one?" he asked, pointing to it.

Eriol walked over to look at it and grinned.

"I think she'll like it."

After paying, Syaoran hid the small box in one of his pockets. Eriol looked at the screen of his phone.

"They're about to leave their classes, we should hurry."

He nodded and they both walked out onto the street, heading to the car park where they had left theirs.

A little later, the four of them were returning to their small town in the same car, like every day, but this time Syaoran felt that there was quite a bit of tension in the air.

Eriol had been acting strange when it was just the two of them, and now there was something strange going on in the car as well. They barely spoke to each other, until Eriol parked by the entrance.

"See you tomorrow," Tomoyo said, getting out of the car and walking into the city.

Eriol sighed and walked behind her without saying anything.

"What happened?" Syaoran asked, puzzled.

"Nothing serious, Tomoyo gets overwhelmed sometimes," Sakura replied, shrugging.

The two were walking the streets of their cave city at a slow pace.

"Tell me, I want to know," he whispered, looking into her eyes.

She was silent for a moment, looking around to make sure no one was nearby.

"Eriol keeps telling Tomoyo that he wants to have a cub, a son."

"Aren't they still too young for that?" Syaoran said in surprise.

"That's what Tomoyo thinks, and that's why she's so upset every time he brings up the subject."

"And what do you think?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sakura snorted, rolling her eyes.

"Same as Tomoyo. It's still too early to think about such things."

Syaoran let out a sigh of relief and she giggled.

"Did you think I want to be a mother too? How little you know me," she murmured in a mocking voice.

"No, but... we don't use anything when we're together, and you've never wanted to explain to me why we don't need to," he whispered, checking that they were still alone.

Sakura sighed, resuming her walk.

"We can only get pregnant when we're in heat."

He hurried after her, frowning.

"In heat?" he repeated.

"We have it every three months. I'm sure you'll know when it happens," she said, giving him a mischievous grin.

"Why?"

Sakura leaned closer, until she brushed her lips against his ear.

"Because I won't let you out of our room, though we'll have to use protection those days.

Syaoran swallowed and Sakura chuckled, holding his hand as they approached their cave home. As they entered, he remembered what was in his pocket and started to get nervous.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked, taking a few steps towards him.

Syaoran rolled his eyes. She could hear his heartbeat perfectly and she could tell what he was feeling, so it was impossible to hide anything from her.

"Sakura, I have something to ask you."

"I'm listening," she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck and standing on her tiptoes so she could look into his eyes.

"I need you to promise me that you won't hide anything from me again. I want you to tell me everything."

Her eyes widened in surprise and she looked down for a moment, biting her lower lip.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to keep things from you... I just didn't want to burden you with all this, life among wolves is too complicated."

He continued to stare at her, unblinking.

"But I promise I'll tell you everything from now on. No more secrets," she added, sighing.

Syaoran smiled and grabbed her arms, pulling them away from his body. Sakura looked at him, a little hurt.

"Are you mad at me?"

"No, but I have something else to ask of you," he said, letting out a sigh.

"Whatever you want," she replied, intrigued.

Syaoran leaned down, resting one knee on the ground and pulling the box out of his pocket. Sakura blushed instantly.

"I want us to get married like humans do too, Sakura. Will you do it for me?"

She grinned and bent down to hug him as well.

"Of course, Syaoran. I will marry you."

He gave her a big smile and the two melted into a kiss.

Two weeks later, Syaoran nervously walked beside Eriol to the meeting room of the Alpha's cave house.

"Relax, it's no big deal."

He glanced at his friend, wrinkling his nose.

"Weren't you nervous when you did this with Tomoyo?"

Eriol shrugged.

"A little, but not much."

They kept walking and he heard Eriol snort.

"You should have told Tomoyo to put some makeup on you."

He shot him a look of hatred and Eriol pointed to the bruises on his neck. Syaoran blushed and looked away, pulling up the collar of his shirt in an attempt to hide them.

"Relax, I know Sakura was in heat last week and I'm glad you survived," Eriol muttered, chuckling.

He nudged him, grunting, and they stopped in front of the large front door. They opened it, and as they stepped into the room, hundreds of eyes turned towards them. Syaoran looked straight ahead and saw Sakura waiting for him on the platform. She was wearing a knee-length red dress and couldn't have looked more beautiful.

His nerves were worse when he saw that she was wearing the engagement ring he had given her.

"Breathe, or you won't make it there alive," Eriol joked.

Syaoran continued to walk up the three stairs and stood next to Sakura. She looked up at him with a big smile on her face and took his hand before turning her face to look at her pack.

"This is Syaoran and he is my mate, since the day we met and forever. I promise to take care of him and protect him."

He noticed his breathing quicken, he was too nervous.

"She is Sakura and she is my mate, since the day we met and forever. I promise to take care of her and protect her."

All the people in the room started clapping and Sakura came up to him, kissing him while her friends in the front row threw flowers at them.

"That's it, Syaoran. You're officially mine now," she whispered in his ear.

Syaoran smiled, relaxing. He was about to speak when there was a knock and the doors to the hall burst open. A man walked in, panting. His clothes were in tatters.

"We're under attack!" he shouted from the doorframe, running back outside.

Syaoran freaked out as he saw all the people standing there rise up and transform into wolves at once, tearing their suits and clothes in the process.

A pair of wolves were leading the other three humans that were part of the pack to the back of the room, where there was a small shelter for them to hide in.

Sakura grabbed one of his arms and pulled him to a corner of the room. With a quick movement, she threw her ring at Tomoyo, who hid it inside a piece of furniture.

"Stay close to me," she demanded, transforming and tearing her red dress to shreds.

Syaoran clasped his hands together and summoned his sword. He saw the black she-wolf and the blue wolf stand beside him and heard them growl at each other. Sakura barked and the three of them started walking towards the exit, followed by the rest of the wolves. He followed them, gripping his sword tightly.

On the outskirts of the city, all was chaos.

Hundreds of wolves were fighting amongst themselves and Syaoran didn't know what to do. He wasn't always sure which ones belonged to his pack and he didn't want to hurt one of his own.

He saw the red-coloured wolf, Sonomi, being attacked by a grey wolf.

"Thunder God, come forth!"

He pointed his sword at the grey wolf and struck him with lightning. The reddish wolf looked up at him and gave a bark of thanks. Although she was covered in wounds, she lunged for another brown wolf that was approaching her through the bushes.

Syaoran continued to hurl thunder and lightning at wolves he knew were not from his pack, though many managed to dodge his attacks. Without noticing, he slowly moved away from the area where Sakura was fighting alongside Eriol and Tomoyo.

When he looked around, he found himself surrounded by five dark wolves baring their fangs at him, snarling furiously.