Luna's Bane

Ophelia's eyes fluttered open, her vision blurry as she gazed up at the moon hanging low in the night sky.

She had a million questions running through her mind as she lay on a cold,damp earth,her body aching all over. The smell of the damp earth assaulted her nose and the coldness made it prickly against her skin..A wave of dizziness and nausea hit her so hard as she struggled to sit up..

Her hand instinctively shot to her throat and the memories from last night flooded her mind like a tidal wave,her previous life... all gone.

With bile threatening to force itself up her throat and the bitterness lingering in her mouth,she remembered the betrayal that led to her death, Ryker, her former Alpha and Astrid, her former best friend,had betrayed her, murdering her in cold blood.

But wait...how was she alive??

Ophelia's hand trembled as she touched her throat,with her eyes sharpening and darting around for hidden threats,she felt the scar where Ryker delivered his fatal blow.. She could still feel the searing pain she felt when his claws ripped away her flesh and the feeling of her life force ebbed away..

And yet,here she was, breathing,alive.

"How did I survive something as horrible as that?" Ophelia thought to herself.

"Or maybe I'm just naturally strong. Because that's the only reasonable explanation for this sudden resurrection. Or, did the Queen of the scarlet moon grant me supernatural powers?" She mused

It wasn't long before she realised that she spoke too soon. Instead of additional powers, she had her initial powers striped off her.

She winced as she massaged the back of her head. Her eyes darted back and forth, as if she was practically chasing the thoughts racing through her mind. Her brows furrowed, deep in thoughts, trying to arrange her thoughts perfectly, but to no avail.

"Maybe I'm still dead and this is just a phase of delusion or maybe I'm interacting with myself in the spirit world and my environment was adapted to where I died" Ophelia decided.

That was not a solid reason, but she wondered why she was given an opportunity to go through a second life. If she was that special, why take her powers away completely?

"This is really unfair. Isn't being dead the same as being alive and having zero powers?" She questioned the air

She was losing focus and she was talking to herself too. Could the day get any worse than this?

A rustling in the underbrush made her turn her head sharply,wincing in pain and looking around,her eyes clashes with his,she saw him - a towering figure with the most piercing red eyes and jet black fur,brooding and watching her with an intensity that unsettled her heart.

Kieran,the mysterious outcast who had been rumoured to possess powers beyond the understanding of their kind.His presence suffocated her and also made her feel a strange sense of warmth.

He was rumoured to be a myth,so she was shocked to see that the folktale was real.

Ophelia stared at him with her mouth wide open and wondered if she was transported to another universe.

"Could I possibly be hallucinating? Why on earth am I seeing a wolf that has completely gone extinct?" " You cannot be real, I can swear on the lady of the Wolf's that I'm probably hallucinating" Ophelia thought to herself.

She was having an extremely hard ime calming her taut nerves down and still trying to convince herself that the majestic wolf prowling majestically towards her is fake and she was probably hallucinating.

Unfortunately, the latter was the result. He was very very real and she was definitely not hallucinating. Her eyes twitched as she stared at him wide eyed and watched him walk closer and closer to her, shortening the distance between them.

Her eyes widened and the hairs on her body stood on end, she was trying so hard to change into her wolf form, but apparently her resurrection took her power and made her a complete weakling.

Her whole hard years of keeping fit were gone and she felt like an ultimate failure.

Ophelia wondered if she was given a second chance to have it forcefully taken away from her once more, worse from a wolf she had believed all her life that he was only a folktale and not real.

Ophelia's legs twitched,urging her to flee with all her might,flee away from this monster,but her body betrayed her,too weak to move. She could only whimper and watch as he approaches her,his immense power suffocating her till her breath came out in puffs.

Kieran looked at her and noticed the battle of emotions behind her eyes. He saw the fear, the urge to flee or rather melt into the ground. He also noticed the initial surprise he saw in her eyes when she saw him at the start.

He knew he was almost like an extinct wolf, but he was tired of watching by the sidelines. It was time to be known once more.

Kieran approached her,his eyes burning with an inner fire and Ophelia felt a shiver run down her spine.. She could see the blatant distrust in his piercing red eyes.. Still,he reached out a hand to touch her face and she could clearly hear the low rumble of a building growl from his chest

Kieran's hand hovered over Ophelia's face,his piercing red eyes burning with an intensity that made her skin crawl. He knew how uncomfortable she was and he enjoyed the thrill of his cat and mouse game.

She whimpered softly,trying to squirm away, but her legs still refused to listen to the fear in her body. She lay there,thanking her body for its betrayal..

The low rumble of growl vibrated through his chest,making her heart race.

"What do you want from me?' Ophelia croaked,her voice barely audible.

Kieran's gaze narrowed,his eyes glinting with a dark calculating light.. This was the first time he properly heard her voice and it sounded like music to his ears..

'You're a curiosity,Ophelia',he said,his deep voice very low and husky.. His voice reverberated around them and he saw how she looked uncomfortable and ready to bolt..

'A puzzle I aim to solve,that is what I want from you Ophelia,Kieran added..

Kieran wondered if she could remember her past life or if she was pretending to not recall her past. She looked extremely beautiful, way more beautiful than he could ever remember.

He thought about how he let them maltreat her in the past, how she died and he never got her forgiveness for how he transferred his focus to his clan, instead of his marriage with her.

"Do you know who I am, Ophelia?" "Can you remember me?" Kieran asked with doubts clouding his eyes.

Ophelia looked at him, her hands trembling, she was struggling to maintain eye contact, but she couldn't maintain it. She was shaking and trembling like a leaf that has been watered.

"How on earth would he look this rogue and be asking me this question?" "Where would I know a wolf that I've always believed to be extinct from?" Ophelia muttered under her breath.

She summoned a little courage to answer his question, mostly because she wouldn't want to be killed if he perceived her as a rude person.

"No, I don't know you. You only happen to be a powerful and dangerous wolf who everyone believes to be extinct" Ophelia replied and looked away.

Ophelia's mind raced as she tried to comprehend Kieran's intentions. Was he a friend or an enemy? His actions seemed contradictory - he saved her from Ryker and Astrid,but now he seemed to enjoy toying with her like a predator with its prey.

His hand finally made contact with her face,she expected a rough touch,but he was surprisingly gentle with his touches.. Ophelia flinched,expecting pain, but instead, a strange warmth spread through her body, soothing her aches and pains..She felt a surge of energy, and her senses began to clear slowly.

"You were out for a long time,Ophelia," Kieran said, his eyes never leaving hers not even for a second.. "The world has changed since your time. And you... you're not what you used to be."

Ophelia's eyebrows furrowed as confusion deepened. What did he mean? She just died yesterday,so what was he yapping about her dying for a long time? Was he trying to intimidate her?

She tried to speak, but her voice was merely a whisper. Her head felt heavy and the veins on her forehead looked strained and about to pop out due to fear and confusion. She pinched her palm hard and cleared her throat and threw her question at him cautiously.

"What do you mean?"

He answered her lazily,like he was somewhat bored of this conversation and it irritated her immensely,but she was desperate for answers..

"You're a key, Ophelia," Kieran said, his voice low and devoid of emotions, his lips curling into a sly smile that made Ophelia's skin crawl.

He peered into her eyes like he could read her thoughts and said again,but this time with a voice laced with intrigue and wonder..

"You're a relic of the past, a reminder of a time long gone, Ophelia. But you're also something else, a key to unlocking secrets that have been hidden for centuries. And I aim to find out what those secrets are"

Ophelia stared at him like he grew a second head. "What on earth is he on about? Did he somehow hit his head on a tree trunk and lose his memories?" Ophelia asked herself.

"Or do I somehow look like a wolf he once had something to do with?" "Who was she? Was she a powerful Luna? Or was she a weak wolf he helped and he fell in love with?" Ophelia had a million questions running through her mind.

Ophelia's mind spun uncontrollably as Kieran's words sank in. The questions assaulted her senses all at once.. "What in the Sighisoara mountain was he talking about? And what secrets was he referring to? A key? How was she a key?

She lay there, unaware of the damp earth she initially found repulsive and prickly to her nostrils and skin. She was still trapped in his grip and that was when it dawned on her. She was at the mercy of a mysterious, immensely powerful and strange outcast,with no idea what his true intentions were.

Kieran looked deep into her eyes, he was really trying to detect any trace of pretence but he couldn't detect anything. If she was lying and hiding the truth, then she was doing an amazing job at that because he couldn't detect any thing behind those gorgeous eyes of hers.

As Kieran's eyes continued to bore into hers,Ophelia had only one domineering thought in her head, ESCAPE! Before it was too late.

Ophelia's mind raced as she lay with fear, her eyes darting around restlessly, looking for an exit away from the firm grip of Keiran. She hated how close their bodies were and she wanted nothing more than to dissolve out of his grip.

Her mind was still filled with different confusions and questions were visible on the furrowed eyebrows on her face. She was the key to unlocking secrets? What secrets? And why did Keiran seem so determined to uncover them?

He stared at her with his piercing red eyes, as if he could see her soul and sense her thoughts. Ophelia felt like he was baring her soul and mind, and she hurriedly shifted her eyes to look anywhere else but at him.

"You have no idea what you are, do you, Ophelia?" he said, his voice vibrating through the air and his lips curled up in that sinister smirk of his.

He knew how majestic he looked, he knew the effect he had on her. She made it obvious with the way she kept on avoiding eye contact, she kept squirming to be set free, but he just didn't feel like ending the game. Not yet, he was enjoying this way more than he was supposed to.

Ophelia shook her head, her palm sweaty, her heart racing. "I don't know what you're talking about". She had absolutely zero ideas about what he was talking about.

His gaze intensified and he spoke again, his voice was like a warm, rich whiskey, smooth and velvety, with a hint of smokiness that made her heart race. She wondered how she just noticed the way his chest vibrates when he speaks, the way his voice resonated through her body was unsettling as well.

His smile grew wilder and his eyes darted behind her first, and then back to her face. "Ahh, but that's where you're wrong. You see, Ophelia, you're not just a relic of the past. You're a doorway to a world that's been hidden for centuries."

Ophelia's confusion deepened, but this time it was mixed with curiosity and lingering fear. She saw how his eyes darted behind her first and how he looked fiercely behind her, before changing, masking it and looking at her again.

Why did he keep on going on and on about this world and secrets? Why did he seem obsessed with uncovering them?

As if reading her thoughts, Kieran leaned in closer. "You'll see, Ophelia. You'll see the truth soon enough. And when you do, you'll understand why I've been searching for you for so long."

She felt like a mouse caught in a little cage about to be tortured, her skin crawled as Kieran's breath whispered against her ear.

That feeling of being watched by someone else other than Kieran was there again and he saw the way his eyes darted quickly behind her and came back to rest on her face. It was an extremely quick action, she almost missed it.

Kieran's grip on her face tightened, his fingers digging into her skin, not deep enough to leave a mark, but enough for her to feel his nails on her skin.. "You're a curiosity, Ophelia. A puzzle I aim to solve. And I'll stop at nothing to uncover the truth about you." She felt his seriousness and knew he wasn't joking around one bit about this situation.

Ophelia sat quietly, her eyebrows furrowed together in deep thought, her mind reeled as Kieran's words painted a picture in her mind.

And then, just as suddenly as he had appeared, Kieran vanished. Ophelia was finally free of his grip and cage, she heaved a sigh of relief as she was left lying on the moss-covered earth, her mind wandering all around with dozens of unanswered questions.

As she lay there, she jolted up immediately and felt something else, Fear. Ophelia realized she was not alone, but the hairs on her skin stood, they felt prickly and her fangs bared. She looked around with an unsettling feeling in her gut.

Someone was watching her, she could feel their eyes boring into her skin. She sat up immediately with fear engulfing her, but he tried to hide it and not give herself away yet. Looking around, peering into the darkness, she saw no one. The forest was eerily quiet, the sound of rustling leaves in the wind did nothing to reduce the mounting fear she had in her tummy.

Who was watching her? It couldn't possibly be Keiran. No, this was not the same feeling she got when he was around her. She took a deep breath, calmed down and looked again. Her heart stopped beating for a second with fear, her eyes widening with horror and fear and she saw it. A figure, lurking just beyond the trees. Waiting, watching her.

Her longs cooperated with her brain this time around, she turned and ran, she could hear her heart pounding in her chest. She could still feel the cold-blooded eyes watching her, boring and tearing into her skin. She was being hunted by something dangerous, something evil and she had no idea why.

As she ran deeper into the forest, Ophelia realised that she was trapped. She had no idea where she was or where she was even running. She cluelessly ran like a headless chicken with no direction.

The trees suddenly looked scarry,with their branches reaching out like skeletal fingers. She was breathing very hard,she was out of breath,her breath came in short gasps as she ran. Fear engulfed her whole being as she cracked her head for a way out of the forest..

Why did she have to be so unlucky? She was not yet over the encounter she had with Kieran and now she was being hunted by an unknown force..Can the day get any worse?? If she still had the power she had before,they wouldn't have dared to try this dangerous game with her..

But as she ran,she could feel the eyes still boring into her skin,watching her. Ophelia knew she wasn't alone and she was being hunted.