Kuro mentally communicated to everyone in the pack about Adrianna's decision, and the entire pack was jubilant. They asked him about the date they were to be married, but he had to mentally block them because there was a huge havoc regarding the date.
Unable to wait any longer, Dmitri said, "I will come back during in the next waxing moon to take her with me."
"No, she can't marry during the next waxing moon," Ed loudly said from across the room. Dmitri looked at him with a murderous glint in his eyes. He started walking towards him with clenched fists, but before he could get any closer, Adrianna stood in between them. She shielded Ed and faced Dmitri., "Don't touch him." She paused and added, "Come to my room. I have to discuss my terms with you for marrying me."
Dmitri nodded. Ed became nervous. Why was she entering this marriage? She was originally so against it. What had Dmitri told her that she was accepting him all of a sudden?
Adrianna went to her room and closed the door to change out of the dress while Dmitri waited for her outside. When she opened the door after five minutes, she found him leaning against the wall beside the door. She called him inside.
When they were seated, she said, "I want you to release Niiya now."
"I will, but what is the guarantee that you will not just go back on your decision?" he asked.
"No Dmitri, I promise that I will marry you. Just release Niiya," she pleaded.
Dmitri grinned and mentally communicated to Nate and Liam to release Niiya safely.
He crossed his arms across his chest and said, "I will come during the next waxing moon to get you."
"I cannot marry you during that time," said Adrianna, looking down at in her lap.
"Why not?" he asked, intrigued by her answer.
"Because during full moons, I shape shift involuntarily and run amuck in the jungles. I don't recognize anyone. It's a curse I live with…" She had to tell him her secret.
As expected, Dmitri was fairly surprised. "Okay… so does this mean…"
"It means that during the full moon, I will not recognize you and perhaps will even fight you if you try to stop me."
Dmitri shook his head in amazement. He had to come to terms with the fact. Adrianna gazed at his perplexity and asked, "Do you still want to marry me?"
"Yes, I do," he replied after a short pause. He doted on this girl to the extent that this small thing wasn't as issue. "I would marry you right away if you wanted to, so don't question my determination." He stopped and then added, "I will come to take you in a week's time Adrianna. Be ready."
Adrianna nodded. Then all of a sudden she said, "I will not stop going to college."
"No, you won't. We will both go to college together," he said with his trademark lopsided smile.
Happy that he wasn't stopping her from going to college, she became quiet. That was the only thing that cheered her up. She nodded.
She suddenly remembered that her new pet baby bear Dmitri had run off and shrieked in fear with her hands on her face. "Where is my Dmitri?"
Dmitri looked at her with a wide grin. But she hardly noticed him and ran outside towards the jungle to find him. She felt disgusted with the fact that in her mental tussle, she had left him on his own. Poor little guy! Was he even alive? She heard whispers.
'See she forgot about him.'
'Poor baby. He must have died by now.'
'I wanted to tell her, but she had already left.'
'I saw him running towards the lake.'
Adrianna wondered where those voices were coming from as she continued to call out for her pet. She made her way towards the lake, but only to find him sprawled out beneath a bush sleeping like a baby before she even reached the lake. She chided him mentally and to her surprise, he started crying.
"Okay, I am sorry. Come on. I was scared that I had lost you," she said before going to pick him up. He was heavy but he clung to Adrianna like a koala.
Dmitri watched the two of them and smiled at their affection. The baby bear saw Dmitri and growled as he clung tighter to Adrianna, ignoring his presence all the way back home.
"Adrianna, you have to give him a different name," said Dmitri from behind.