"Wait, wait! What?! No!"
Ainen shouted, enough to drown cheers and clapping.
"M-Master doesn't like us?" Saffa's eyes watered, on the verge of tearing.
"Master, are you going to l-leave us?" Clovelle hiccuped, already tearing.
Fraisea was in shock. "Master, y-you don't want us?"
"…" Ainen opened his mouth and closed it again. "But you were born-"
"Stop right there!" Verisia snorted. "Boy, you should not judge everything with your standards and common sense because they don't apply everywhere. Our Nightrift clan's bloodline and Glacier Star's bloodline combined have created a better bloodline in these three girls. Their development is fast, and they are already adult according to all standards. They are intelligent and fast learners, but they only lack experience, which they will get with time."
"In the eyes of those three, you are already their mate for life. If you reject that, you are rejecting their lives."
"Ainen," Wolfgang said. "Once we wolves have decided on our mate, we only part with them after death. Those three have decided to be your mate, and you should have no problem being their husband."
"But you have to consider my feelings, too." Ainen sighed.
"Look at them in their eyes," Vali said to Ainen with a somber face. "And make your decision, the final decision."
Saffa, Clovelle, and Fraisea were silently dropping tears while looking at him. They didn't think it would come to this, and they feared abandonment from Ainen the most at the moment.
Ainen could see in their eyes that it was impossible for those three to live without him.
One thing they didn't tell Ainen was that Saffa, Clovelle, and Fraisea might even die due to depression and despair if he rejected them. If a wolf's mate dies, the partner would either go berserk or die due to loneliness and despair. It wasn't uncommon in the Nightrift clan and the various wolf tribes.
Ainen sighed and smiled. "Fine."
'Good decision. ' Lord Black chuckled. 'I am also not a human, but a Ravenfolk, so I agree with them.'
Saffa, Clovelle, and Fraisea hugged Ainen tightly as their eyes brightened.
And so, the wedding preparation began without further ado.
The wedding took place beneath the Moonveil Cavern, a sanctum carved by the Nightrifts' ancestors. The walls shimmered with pale crystal veins, glowing faintly like breathing stars. The air smelled of pinefire, frost, and nectar ale.
Ainen stood at the center, dressed not in armor but in ceremonial garb—woven from the fur and lined with obsidian thread. His red hair was tied loosely, and a faint aura of moonlight danced behind him, neither divine nor beastly—something entirely his own.
Saffa approached first, wearing a gown of silver moss and frost glass, the hem glittering like starlit snow. Her golden-blue eyes trembled with emotion as her tail brushed softly against the ground.
Clovelle came next, her hair bound with crystal bands and runic flowers. She looked radiant yet shy, her cheeks pink as sunrise.
Fraisea, calm and graceful, wore deep blue silk that rippled like a frozen lake under moonlight, the emblem of the Glacier Star etched at her collarbone.
They walked hand in hand, guided by Verisia and Ruoin, the matrons of the Nightrift Clan. Wolfgang and Vali stood beside Ainen, each wearing the silver fangs of their rank, watching with the pride of elders.
When the Moonveil Clock struck twelve, the ritual began.
The elder priestess of the clan raised her staff—made from the bone of a moon-eater wolf—and chanted in the old tongue. Frost petals swirled upward as the cavern's ceiling parted, revealing the full moon.
"By the moon that binds soul to soul,
By blood that flows from fang to heart,
By howl that echoes through time—
Let the bond be eternal."
Three moon spirits appeared, pale and translucent, howling in unison. Their light wrapped around Ainen and the three girls, merging into an ethereal halo.
Ainen took each of their hands—Saffa's trembling warmth, Clovelle's nervous strength, Fraisea's calm devotion—and smiled faintly.
"I'm not good with traditions," he said, voice low but steady, "but I'll protect you three. Not because it's expected, but because I want to."
Their eyes shone with tears again, but this time, they were joyful.
The entire mountain erupted with cheers. Chapters fırst released on Novᴇl_Fire(.)net
Wolf drums thundered. The air was filled with howls and laughter as spiritlights burst from the ground like fireflies. Monsters tamed by the Nightrift clan and other tribes sang from above; bears and apes pounded their chests in celebration. Even the mountain winds seemed to dance.
Ainen sat between his three new brides, laughing despite himself.
Saffa fed him a piece of moonfruit, giggling.
Clovelle leaned on his shoulder, her wolf ears twitching happily.
Fraisea clinked a silver cup against his. "To the next dawn," she whispered, "and every one after."
Above them, the moon itself split into three halos, a rare sign known as the Trihowl Blessing—a sign that the union of their souls had been acknowledged by the spirit of their deity.
Ron and Syl were next nearby with Verisia and Ruoin taking care of them. Yelvina was also there, perched on Ron's head and watching.
As the wedding came to an end, the grand feast began all over the mountain.
After everything was over, Ainen and the three brides went to a secret place of the Nightrift clan for a mating ceremony.
"Wait, what?" Ainen was dumbfounded.
"Why are you surprised? Don't you humans also have wedding night ceremonies?" Verisia was puzzled.
"This is how it's done, so you must do it." Wolfgan laughed. "Look at the moon, it's a perfect day."
Verisia, Wolfgan, Ainen, Saffa, Clovelle, and Fraisea were in a cavern with a big hole above showing the moon, which directly shone its moonlight on the pond in the cavern.
"B-but…" Ainen was at a loss for words.
Saffa, Clovelle, and Fraisea looked at him with flushed cheeks and eyes filled with desire.
"Ainen, their blood calls for it. They are in heat because the wedding ceremony is instilled in their bloodline. This is unavoidable, unless you want to restrain and harm them."
Verisia said with a chuckle as she flew up alongside Wolfgan.
"You better not make them cry or I'll haunt you." Wolfgan snorted.
The duo vanished, leaving Ainen with Saffa, Clovelle, and Fraisea.
Ainen looked at the girls.
The flushed girls looked like they couldn't hold back anymore.
Ainen could feel that heat coming to him from their eyes.
'Enjoy.' With that, Lord Black shut himself as usual.
Ainen took a deep breath, and his eyes steadied as he gently smiled at them. "Come."