Love Like An Aged Wine

The ancients say love is like an aged wine that ripens with time. The more years pass, the stronger it grows. 

Like a rose and a bouquet of flowers. It wilts with time, but their fragrance forever remains in one's heart.

For Naira, Zain Adeel was that wine and rose. The bouquet of flowers wilted with time, but its fragrance remained forever imprinted in her heart.

She still remembered when she first met him. A moonless night with a roiling sea of clouds.

Battered and hungry, having just lost her family in a vampire attack, she couldn't even summon the strength to lift her head, let alone talk.

The Karim couple had been kind and accommodating. They took her home, to the Moonlit Pack, and treated her like their own.

However, nothing ached deeper than the pain of losing loved ones, and no kindness or love could ever fill the gap they leave behind.

At least, that was what Naira thought until Zain entered her life.

**10 years ago**

Little Naira entered the Moonlit Pack with Yvone and Karim Dylan. Her clothes were torn, her black hair unkempt, with scratches and wounds littering her face and arms.

She walked behind the couple with her head down as they led her towards Alpha Adeel Moore's mansion.

The Moonlit Pack, the largest and strongest pack in the Middle East desert region, was known for their strong warriors and immense wealth. The Alpha mansion was built in the center of the pack ground, with red stone and glass that gleamed in the moonless night.

It seemed Alpha Adeel was expecting their arrival. The moment they crossed the threshold, an Omega popped from the side and bowed, before leading them to his office.

"Karim, Yvone, I'm glad to see you safe and sound. Hurry and sit. The little one must be scarred from the incident." Alpha Adeel left his work desk and motioned the Karim couple towards the sofas, sympathy in his eyes as his gaze swept over her.

Naira felt his gaze, but she didn't raise her head or respond to his words. Like a soulless doll, she stood at the door in a daze, until Yvone Rose guided her to the sofa.

What transpired between the Alpha and his Beta flew over her head. Her mind kept replaying the image of her parents' shredded bodies and the vacant look in their eyes, as they laid in a pool of blood.

The night deepened, the three adults whispered and argued among themselves while she sat on the side. After what felt like forever, a small hand shook her shoulder, pulling her out of her dazed trance.

"Hey, are you okay? I heard you lost your parents. Don't be sad. In the future, I'll get revenge for you, okay?"

The voice was soft and carried a hint of immaturity. When Naira heard it, a gust of cool and refreshing breeze seemed to sweep through her heart. For the first time that night, she raised her head.

Fair, tender skin, striking blue eyes. Naira's heart shook when she looked into the clear sapphire blue depths.

"What's your name?" He smiled and softly whispered.

"Na...Naira..."

"Naira...what a beautiful name! I will call you Ira. Ira, will you be my friend? I promise I'll protect you forever!"

At that time, Little Naira felt drawn to the boy's bright blue eyes. She was moved by his vow to get revenge for her and his promise to protect her.

What she didn't know was that that meeting was the beginning of her unrequited love.

***

"Moon Goddess, please...make him be my soulmate..." Naira was desperate.

She had loved Zain for 10 years. Since she gained her senses and began to understand the meaning of love, she had only had eyes for Zain.

It should've been friendship. It should've been the mere dependence of a pack member on her future alpha.

But somewhere in time, the dependence, the friendship...it slowly morphed into an unmentionable feeling.

Zain didn't love her. For ten years, she followed him around like a lost puppy. She cleaned his clothes, cooked his meals, accompanied him on his training, and ran to him whenever he needed her.

For ten years, she did his every chore without being asked or told, because it brought her happiness.

When her feelings began to change, she became even more attentive in her care for him.

However, no matter how well she treated him, he didn't love her.

She knew this, because Jules Hayden was his girlfriend. 

She still remembered that day, a bright summer noon 3 years ago, when he came running to her and said with the brightest smile she had ever seen on his face. 

"Ira, I am in love!"

Her heart had shattered as if a giant hammer had been smashed on it, and sunk into an abyss of utter darkness. That day, Naira didn't know how she got home.

She only remembered the stabbing pain in her chest, the suffocating feeling of not being able to breathe properly...

It had stuck with her even in her dreams.

For three years, she had relieved that day, because it was the day she had planned to confess her feelings to him.

After much difficulty and a great internal struggle, she came to terms with her feelings for Zain, and had gathered the courage to come clean.

But before she could even say a word, he had beat her to it.

He told her he was in love. 

And the female he loved wasn't her.

Her heart ached, her eyes watered, and for three days, she ran a high fever. But after recovering, Naira locked her feelings in a Pandora box, and pushed it to the darkest recess of her heart.

He didn't love, and she didn't have the courage to face his rejection.

So her only hope was the Moon Goddess. The soulmate bond that could grant her, her unrequited love.

As the full moon shinned through her bedroom window, Naira checked her appearance in the mirror again.

The skirt of her red maxi dress flared out at her hips and dragged on the floor. Her long-sleeve blouse covered her like a nun, but didn't diminish her enchanting curves. Her eyes sparkled like twin pieces of black gem, and her knee-length mid-night black hair fanned around her and shimmered like a starlit canvas.

Naira placed a hand on her chest and closed her eyes, taking deep steadying breaths to calm her racing heart.

"It will be okay...It will be okay..."

It was her 18th birthday. At the Full Moon Banquet in the pack house tonight, she and Zain would both find their soulmates.

For the umpteenth time that day, Naira prayed ardently and earnestly for Zain Adeel to be her soulmate. Then taking another deep breath, she opened her eyes, and resolutely strode to the door as if she was walking into a battlefield.

"Mom, I'm ready! Let's go!"

Like an aged wine, her love had only fermented and grown deeper over the years. Unfortunately, even though it was strong enough to riddle her heart with wounds, it didn't seem to be strong enough to move the Moon Goddess.