Of wings and claws

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"The blood moon is tomorrow night"

"What am I going to be doing while you're in hiding, can I come with you to your hideout?"

"Hello, earth to Melody"

My eyes snap towards her. Emily Elizabeth. She has her left hand against her forehead and the other at her waist while she paces back and forth in our little room. Her expression shows frustration and little bit of nervousness.

"I heard you Em, but we both know we are much safer apart than together. We will survive this, we always do." I assure her, hiding my own nervousness.

"Why are you so calm Mel? We survived all these years because we weren't of age yet and they possibly couldn't smell us out, but now, now we have matured and every fiber in our bodies pulls our beloveds closer when they are near" Emily yells in frustration and I flinch at her tone. She knows I don't like it when somebody shouts at me, pecks of living with an abusive woman my whole life.

She notices my discomfort and she sighs loudly sitting on our small bed next to me. Her small hands grip mine in a firm squeeze. Emily is a beautiful woman, her caramel skin made her green eyes pop out, her jet black afro that matches mine. Then there was her little button nose that scrunch up everytime I say something she doesn't like,or when a man that isn't her type suddenly shows interest in her.

"I'm sorry Mel, I just, I'm scared for the both of us. Those beasts are brutal, they won't hesitate to reject then kill us the moment they find out what we are. We are supposed to be extinct remember?" She sighs again.

"I know, but we are not sure if we are even bounded to werewolves Em, I know the chance of us being bounded to one of our kind is non existent but there are other species out there, witches, day-walkers, Nosferatu, humans, even hybrids." She scoffs at my words. I would have scoffed at my words too.

"We both know it is very rare for witches to bound outside of their covens, they are secretive creatures and very wicked. Day-walkers like to toy with creatures like us they are very sly creatures who think they own the universe just because they are immortal. I wouldn't start about the Nosferatu and humans, they despise us to the core" she rants, she isn't wrong. Every creature hates us, they see us as inferior, unworthy to be called supernaturals.

I know she has a point, I would rather be bondless than be bounded to a Nosferatu, no offense to the already dead but living creatures but nobody would like to be with someone who lives in darkness their whole life which makes their face paler than normal and blue green veins to be visible all over their bodies. Others even looked like they are rotting, but freaking out about the blood moon is not going to help us with anything. I know we would talk about this until the sun rose and I was tired,when Emily is nervous about something she can talk about it for a whole week. The only thing that could help the both of us right now is rest. We don't know what awaits us on the night of the blood moon but I had a feeling that we were already dead women walking.

"Okay I'm not talking about this anymore Emily. Stressing out is not going to help us in any way. I'm sleeping now and you better get some rest too or else we won't be able to outrun those beasts tomorrow." I say getting under the covers. I slowly feel the tiredness of my muscles paralyse my body from the long hours of work.

"That's not funny!" Emily yells again. Oh for goddess' sake woman!

"Didn't say it was. Come on lay with me." I say signaling her to come over with my fingers. She mumbles complaints under her breath but gets under the covers next to me. Our bed was too small for two people, but it is the comfiest thing we owned except our worn out brown couch. We didn't have a lot but we appreciated the little we had.

We tried to mingle with the humans and never stayed in one place for too long in fear of being discovered and ratted out. The little jobs we got never paid the number of bills that were piling in every month, but we survived and that's what keeps us going every moon.

You would swear me and Em wear sisters, I considered her as my sister but reality was, we were just two broken and otherworldly strangers that were better together than apart.

"Sleep tight Mel" Emily whispers sleepily before her breathing evens and she gives out light snores through her mouth. Well that was fast.

Before my thoughts get complicated even further I find myself sinking into a deep sleep too, one that's short-lived, or should I say short-sleeped.

Waking up the way I do was not something I had expected. Red dull light fills our small bedroom and howls fills the air and that only meant one thing.

It was the night of the blood moon.

My eyes shot open and I find Emily hastily putting on her knee high boots. Once she realises that I'm awake she throws my pair and I catch them putting them on. She might have noticed the horrified look on my face because she comes and shake my shoulders firmly.

"We calculated the moons wrong Mel, they have started the hunt. By the sounds of their howls they haven't reached town yet, we can go East and by the Ainè's grace we make it out of the witches' realm alive." Emily says putting on her ruby pendant that shined at the light of the moon, around her neck.

I knew we didn't have much time till the beasts reach town and devour, kill and capture every supernatural they could lay their filthy claws on. We can't go West because most of Dark Forest was owned and filled with Nosferatu, they called it the Dark forest because it was always night there and only the Nosferatu could survive, since the day-walkers could survive in the sun they moved out of the Dark Forest and mingled amongst the humans here at the Center while others occupied some parts of the East where the witches covens were fewer.

We were out of the house at the speed of light, we blare through the human streets and head East. The streets are empty and every house had their lights out. They know better than to irritate the beasts. Our feet thud against the concrete ground as we run. I hear the howls getting closer and I pray that that didn't mean they have sensed us.

If we continued at the pace we were going we would reach East in an hour but it was the blood moon and our powers are barely there, which means we couldn't fly either.

I see Emily's pace dropping and I can tell by the sweat drops that litters her face and glistened in the moonlight that she is tired.

"We can stop for a minute and figure out what we will give to the witches as a token of our respect and peace"

"No Mel, they'll catch up to us. Let's walk instead" she says out of breath.

"I can offer them my emerald" I said brushing my fingers against the glinting gem that hangs around my neck almost similar to hers.

"Are you nuts, you lose that, you lose your powers and you won't survive even an hour in any realm without it." She whisper yell pointing at the emerald around my neck that resembled her ruby. It is true, since our kind was known to be extinct, we don't have a place to call our own. Every realm we enter has a different atmosphere to accommodate the creatures living there. Getting in any realm without our gems can cause a major drainage of our powers and sometimes death.

We continue to walk in silence until we hear a howl followed by growls close by.Em and I both share a horrified look before we break into a sprint again. Our species wasn't gifted speed because we have wings and whenever the need to run rose we just fly, but today luck wasn't on our side. The blood moon mostly enhanced the powers of the werewolves, day-walkers and Nosferatu leaving us and the witches vulnerable.

We are almost there, half of an hour away, but just like I said luck isn't on our side. The werewolves have detected us, now they weren't just running and hunting for their mates, they were running after us.

"Let's split"

"No Mel, I can't lose you. What if they find you"

"No time for discussion Em, we both know our scent is stronger when we are together. Take left I'll take right" I don't wait for her answer and I sprint to an unknown direction. I knew we were closer to the East, just one wrong direction and I'd be ripped to shreds in the realm of the Nosferatu, those creatures always behaved like something was stuck up their butts.

I can feel my chest tightening and my legs growing weaker. I continue to run nontheless, I wanted to stay alive for Emily's sake and I knew she would do the same for me too. Black glitter forever, she had said.

I continue to run for what seemed like hours but I know it's only a few minutes and if I don't stop to rest soon my heart would. I slow my pace and hide myself behind a little bush, but I knew it would take more than this to hide from a werewolf on the blood moon. I wish for a miracle.

I hold my emerald tightly in my hand and call out to goddess Áine to have messy on me. "Schermami" I whispered in hopes of creating a shield around me but before I even wonder if it worked the sound of paws hitting the forest ground shake me out of my almost relaxed state. It wasn't just one wolf I knew there were many of them. A whole pack maybe.

I squeeze my eyes shut, my whole body trembling, not from fear only but from exhaustion.

"Come out come out wherever you are" a singsong voice says tauntingly. I feel a trail of cold sweat trickle down my back slowly.

I sit rigidly still and suddenly wish the ground could swallow me right there and then or better yet, the blood moon would be over so I can gain my powers back so I can show this monster who's boss.

"I got your little friend here and before I break another bone in her tiny, fragile body I suggest you come out wherever you are witch" he grits out and I sigh in surrender stepping away from the bush, I wouldn't just leave Emily to deal with this alone while I cower away.

"We are not witches" I say lowly.

The man a few feet away from me just shrugs as if saying that's none of his business. What I feared the most is happening, right in front of my eyes at that.

He has Emily's wrists tightly gripped in his enormous hands.

The moon light shines above us making it harder to see the black wolves. The man that had Emily was the only one who shifted, the rest were in wolf form. He stands there stark naked like it's normal, well maybe it was in their community. Afterall they were creatures without shame.

My mind is buzzing, thoughts jumbled. I had to get Emily and myself to safety. I don't know what they are planning to do because the man who has Em stayed rooted in the same sport. As if sensing my thoughts Emily shouted at me "run Mel"

"Oh no no, no one's going anywhere. We stay here and wait for the Alpha, besides there's nowhere to run witchy" the man taunts.

"I am not a witch you dog" and that seems to anger him because the next thing I know a small crack followed by a short scream breaks the silence. He has broken Emily's wrist.

I find myself letting a short scream too quickly rushing to help Emily but the man let's out a low murderous growl that has my feet glued to the ground again.

"Take another step and it will be her pretty little neck next" he growls his eyes shining a golden color. I gulp as the thought of Em's lifeless eyes and awkwardly bent neck forms in my head.

"Please..." My voice defeated. I felt my knees buckling under me and they gave up under pressure. I land with a hushed thud on the forest floor.

"Please let her go. Take me instead, she's weak she won't be of any help to you" I grovel. I almost sounded pathetic, heck I did sound pathetic. Not a single day in my life did I ever think I would be begging a beast,a heartless dog! Surely Jerusalem has fallen.

I rarely cried but I can feel my eyes becoming glossy by the second. I knew Emily was hurting and without her powers she won't heal until tomorrow. Dog man spoke of waiting for the Alpha and if that was true we were as good as dead. Werewolf Alphas were dominant, protective, territorial and merciless I knew we wouldn't survive this if he finds us here so I continue to beg.

"Yes you're right, you both won't be of any help if you're both dead and I'm sure my Alpha will make sure of that once he arrives." Dude seems to be enjoying our misery way to much. I couldn't even see his face properly, the shadows made by the trees made it harder to even see the other unshifted wolves.

I've never felt so helpless in my entire life. I know that our time was over, this beasts won't go easy on us. If they weren't going to make us slaves, they would kill us either way we were as good as dead. As I continue being lost in my thoughts I fail to notice the other presence that has joined our lovely meeting.

If I thought Doggy man was scary then this beast before me is the epitome of the word deadly.

It is huge and stands a few inches taller than my miserable five foot two. It viciously threw it's head sideways rapidly while baring it's sharp pointy teeth.

Another wolf stands next to the black one, it's size smaller and shorter but still way bigger than an ordinary wolf.

The Alpha and Beta.

The air around us is eerily calm,even the insects have stopped creaking at the loud growling. The moon's bloody light shone over us as if marking our deaths.

The beast shifts smoothly and unbothered, his naked form tall and muscled to perfection. His abs looks like those from a sculpture of a Greek god. My eyes trail up to his face slowly taking him in. Our eyes meet and I swear the world stops spinning, so does my breath. My worst nightmares was coming true in the worst possible ways.

"Alpha good that you're here, the weird scents we detected earlier came from these two" Doggy man decides to talk but no one seems to care nor listen to him. The god infront of me doesn't even blink as his eyes bore into mine. I can't see his face clearly but I know the face is as good as the body.

In one swift motion the Alpha is in front of me cupping face in his huge hands and I feel the warmth spread from my face going south. He quickly buries his face at the crook of my neck. My thoughts had stopped the moment we looked at each other,right now my body was working on its own accord. He inhales my scent slowly and then back away from me as if recognising something, his eyes glowing gold. A loud growl ripples from his chest and he says the one word I dreaded hearing from a wolf. The one word I wished to never hear from my mate.

"Fae"

The hate he put into the word makes my stomach churn.

" Welcome to your new home" Doggy man says with his signature smirk. If I manage to get out of here this man is the first beast I'm going to kill

"Quit it Darius!" The beta reprimands with a bored expression.

"Aww but where's the fun in that Mi..."A growl disturbs Doggy man's responce, who I've just learned is Darius and that seems to shut him up.

We were standing in front of a cell big enough for the both of us,

Em and I. Once the Alpha discovered that we were Fae he told Darius and the Beta to remain in human form and take us to the pack dungeons. That seemed to excite Darius to the fullest because he dragged me all the way from the Eastern forest to their pack cells where he happily unlocked the empty cells and eagerly waited for us to enter "our new home"

One thing I've discovered is that I hated doggy man, Darius, to the core. The crazed look in his face showed that he didn't just want us to get into the cells but was waiting for the right moment to showcase his workout skills on us. Àine have mercy on us.

The lock clicks behind us and I slump down in defeat on the cold hard floor. Emily does the same while she cradles her broken wrist in her other hand. I scoot closer to her and took her hand in mine inspecting it. It is already swollen and forming a purple bruise. My heart feels heavy though, the Alpha didn't even come down to the cells with us, he didn't even spare me a glance when Darius was busy dragging me like a ragdoll the whole way here.

"Is..is he your mate Mel?" Emily whispers when we hear their footsteps fading in the distance. I continue to inspect her wrist fearing the judgement I'll see if I look into her eyes, but to my surprise she placed her other hand on top of mine and squeezed softly. Her green eyes sparkling despite the lack of any light in the cells. The woman infront of me was beautiful and I doubt she knew it.

"Mel he's so freaking hot!" Her voice booms around the cells and I let out a short laugh shaking my head. Well, it can only be Emily Elizabeth that sees hot guys even when we're both marked for death.

"Really Em? Here I am thinking you would judge and hate me for it. You naughty little..."

"What? No I'd never do that Mel and you know it. He's hot and I could see right through his little "I hate Fae" facade that he totally has the hots for you" she giggles like a school girl with a crush. Only if that were true.

My cheeks reddens at her behavior. "Oh my goddess, stop!" I giggle with her. Our situation was kind of funny, here we sat in a cell with bars bound with iron, very poisonous to our kind, it can kill a fae in an instant if ingested and could leave unhealed burn marks if touched but we were laughing like it was one of those Fridays where we watched movies till we fell asleep on our worn out couch.

My giggle dies down when my mind drifts to what's coming.

The full moon. It is four weeks away and that only meant one thing. I am going to die. When us Fae find our beloveds, goddess Áine only gave us one month to complete the bounding where we do a ritual and then mate. If we don't do this by the full moon we get into pre-turn where our bodies accept the rejection of our beloved and slowly destroys itself. Our powers turn and attack our bodies and we eventually die a slow painful death. Unless of course, we bound ourselves to a human and performed the ritual with one. Humans have no attachments to their beloveds or soulmates as they call them. They don't feel the pain of rejection or the pull you have towards your beloved so bounding with one will stop our impending doom and although we don't feel the connection the same way we would with our beloveds it still keeps us from dying.

As if sensing my thoughts Emily squeezes my hand lightly and purses her lips.

"I know what you're thinking Mel. It pains me to know that he may never fully accept you as his beloved but we can ask Mikael to let us out so you can bound with a human then they can continue locking us in here for all I care"

"Who's Mikael ?" I ask with my brows furrowed.

"The Beta..."

"You know the Beta?" I blurt out before she can even finish her sentence. Thinking back to a few hours back while I was getting dragged here by Darius the dog, Emily and the Beta were peacefully walking like a married couple out on a date hand in hand.

"Oh my.. is he your... Emily! Oh my..." I can barely form a sentence and I stand up walking in circles with a stupid grin on my face.

"Oh goddess no. He isn't my beloved Mel stop!." That has me pausing and looking at her. Emily looks down at her broken wrist as if to avoid my eyes.

"Then how do you know who he is, why were you two like that back there, what's happening Em, do you know these people?" I rant.

"Melody Eva Bell, would you just calm down and let me explain!" Emily groans shuffling on the floor before standing in front of me, her beautiful bushy eyebrow furrowed.

"Don't call me that Elizabeth" I see her crinch at her second name and we look at each other for a while before we bust out laughing.

I laugh so hard that I hunch over and hold my aching tummy. I knew Em's second name was her sore spot and I liked teasing her every time I got the chance.

Our laughing is disturbed by a slow hiss that seems to have come from the cell next to ours.I look around trying to find where it the voice came from.

"Some of us are trying to sleep here" the voice sounds annoyed and amused at the same time.

"Who's there?" I ask squinting my eyes to look at the dark figure that sat in the cell next to ours. We weren't blessed with enhanced vision like werewolves so I slowly make my way closer to the bars to get a better view.

He sits with his back leaning against the cell bars, his head hung low. The tattered clothes he has on tells me he has been in here for a long time.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"You don't get to ask me questions Fae" he spits still not looking at me.

"Oh. Right." I say having no energy to talk to a weirdo. Even their prisoners were allergic to fairies, great then.

"How's your beloved?" He suddenly asks tauntingly. His hoarse voice holding amusement. Excuse me!.

"You don't get to ask me questions prisoner" I respond calmly and he chuckles, it was low, cold and sinister. The kind of chuckle you'd hear last before you die.

"That's so rich coming from somebody who's exactly in the same position as me, maybe even worse considering she will die in a months time" That's so rich coming from somebody who's been here for probably a decade.

"Okay blabber mouth that's enough, go back to sleep" Emily says dismissively and I almost thank her for that but how does this stranger know so much?.

He lifts his head slowly and red glowing eyes meet my brown ones, indicating that he hasn't fed in a while. Em and I both gasp at the same time and that seems to encourage him to walk closer to the bars. He chuckles at our horrified expressions the sound starting to sound like that of a dying hyena.

"Daywalker" Em whispers in disbelief, I'm shocked too. Ive seen my fair share of daywalkers but never this close, and I've never seen one so malnourished that his eyes were like glowing embers of sin.

"Is that an accusation or an observation princess?" The day-walker smirks cocking its head to the side.

"Both" I reply instead. His red glowing eyes seems to glow brighter when they land on me. Cocking his head to the side again, he gives me a tight lipped smile that screamed "I wanna swallow you whole", at least that's what I think it means. He was giving me a hungry look.

"Bellus Evanton, daughter of LaBelle Evelyn, beloved of the cursed alpha, main character in the book of prophecy" One thing about day-walkers, they were immortal, they could live forever if not killed by silver or starved even then, if someone pours drops of blood down their throats after they die of hunger they can come to life. And I'm guessing right now the hunger must be frying his brains because he sounds crazy. Who was Bellus LaBelle?

"What are you talking about?" I ask my brows furrowing. He laughs, so much that he holds on to the bar cells for his dear breath. Looking at him there, he looks starved, uncared-for and paler than a day-walker should be. Yep, he's definitely going coo coo.

"A Fae who doesn't know her roots is like a Fae with no wings, useless and pathetic. Even worse when you have Lord Lycidas as a mate." He says and to say I was confused would be a major understatement. He licks his lips hungrily as his eyes moves to Emily.

"And there's the protector, blind and pathetic like the protected. You don't know your roots too princess?" He chuckles at Emily.

"Stop calling me princess" Emily says in slight annoyance. "But that's who you are princess" he taunts.

Before I ask the day-walker to keep quiet,we hear footsteps through the hallway of the cells and he quickly goes back to his slouching position at the corner of his cell and pretended like we never had a conversation. Weirdo.

"Mika" calls Emily softly.

"Hello Em" he replies with the most gorgeous smile on his face, his voice rich and deep. I scowl, " Hey! Only I get to call her that." Mikael just shakes his head dismissing my comment.

I didn't know what's going on between Em and him but I was going to find out soon enough.

"I brought you food" he says casually, unlocking our cell and getting inside comfortably.

"How do you know we won't attack you and run for the hills" I ask pointing to the door he left unlocked and unclosed. He just shrugs and place two closed takeouts on the floor near us. Mikael has a friendly aura surrounding him, although his physic is quite intimidating.

His eyes never leaving Emily.

"Do all of you prisoners get treated to takeouts everyday?" My questions seems to annoy him and he snaps out of the trans him an Emily had fallen into. Without answering my questions he turns and storms out of the cell not forgetting to lock. Typical werewolf behavior.

I hear Em sigh next to me as she sits down and start opening one of the takeouts. "How do we know it's not poisoned" I ask before she opens it fully.

"Mika would never do that" she says looking at me like I've committed the world's most terrible crime. I raise my hands in surrender and move to the farthest corner to sit down.

I don't feel like talking anymore. I feel like I should be getting some answers from the amount of questions in my head. I want to scream and wake up at work where a guy named Luke who has a male dog named Agnes would look at me like I'm his dinner. I want to be back at our small apartment and use my powers to annoy Em.

I want my beloved. Scratch that. I crave his touch, even if we barely touched. Crazy, I know.

"Melody you have to eat. How are we going to survive this if you're weak" Emily whispers loud enough for me to hear and I scoff, "you look like you're enjoying your stay here Emily. Eat up and leave me alone" maybe I was overreacting, heck, I knew I was overreacting but I'm tired and this beloved bound is working way too fast for my liking. The fae were known for being manipulative, stubborn and ill tempered creatures, that was partly true. The ancient unseelie coart fairefolks were very manipulative and killed however they seemed fit but as times changed and we learned to adapt and live with other creatures but not in the same realm,unseelie means unhappy, the fae used to occupy the South, guardians of the South is what we were called until the wolves became greedy and started a war. A war that left the whole southern realm in ashes until more wolves occupied the whole area. I don't even know how true this is, I've only read books and it's not like I was there when all these things happened.

My back aches and I slide down until I'm sleeping on my back on the cold hard floor lost in my thoughts.

We need to get out of here and we need to do that fast before I catch feelings and it becomes too hard to leave. The day-walker said my beloved was Lord Lycidas, I'd heard of him before but never got to see him until tonight. If the things I had heard about him were true, then I was as good as dead.

"I'm sorry Em" is the last thing I say before sinking into a deep sleep like death, if only wishes came true.

Two weeks we sit in a cell hopelessly, while the day-walker continues to talk in riddles and there isn't any sign of my beloved. I grimace as I sniff my underarms. I'm in dire need of a shower, fresh clothes and good food. I haven't really been eating all the food that Mikael gave us. Sometimes my depression won't let me.

Emily lays on her back with her hands behind her head humming. I knew the song she was humming to and I join her. I never knew where I learnt the tune because the song had no words, or it might happen that I didn't know the words to it. Suddenly a sharp pain stabs my lower abdomen and I hiss clutching my stomach. Emily notices my discomfort and she rushes to my side. Her hands hovering all over my body like she was trying to detect the source of the pain. I hiss again when my skin feel like it's burning every where she touches me.

"What is it Mel. What's wrong"

"I don't know, don't touch me..." I try to push her away, my body heating up really fast and sweat beads forming on my forehead and face.

"It hurts Em, it burns when you touch me" Emily seems like she's trying to remember something and the more she thinks the more her face suddenly expresses sadness and confusion.

"Melody, I think we calculated the moons wrong again. I think the full moon is today." Her words make me shake my head in denial, this only meant that I have only a few hours to live and if I don't get out and bound with a human, these remaining hours are going to be my greatest nightmare.

I groan as another wave of pain shoot through my body. I feel my body cool down a little as Em leaves my side.

"Hello, Mika please help. Mika!" Emily's voice makes my ears ring and I groan again trying to cover them but it feel like my arms are glued to the floor. They feel paralyzed.

"Hello is somebody there!?. Mika!" The sound of rushed footsteps make their way towards our cell.

"What's going on here, why am I being summoned by the guards at this late hour for disturbance Emily." Mikael sounds annoyed, he probably woken up from the comfort of his luxurious bed. How I wish.

"Please you have to get her out of here, she'll die Mikael please" her voice breaks at the end.

"Emily come down and tell me what's going on, if this is a ploy to get me to open the doors so you too can run then it's not gonna work" he says his tone dismissive.

"No it's not please trust me. When us fairies find our beloved or mate, we are given only a month to complete the whole bonding ritual, if not we die Mikael, our bodies takes the delay as rejection and then we die Mika, we die. Emily's voice cracks on the last part.

I hear the sound of the lock clicking and footsteps coming towards me. My skin feels like it's on fire again as foreign hands wrap themselves around me and I resist the urge to scream bloody murder. I'm guessing it's Miakel now since it wasn't burning like this when Emily touched me.

"Luna, stay with me." Miakel says, his voice is soothing but his touch makes me want to punch him in the face. I shake my head in attempt to tell him not to touch me but he never gets the message.

"We have to let her bound with a human Mika or else she'll die."

"I can't do that" he says like Emily just suggested we murder somebody.

"What! Why?"

"Lord Lycidas would kill me, heck he'd even kill me if he knew I was touching her right now."

"Well that damned fool of a Beloved isn't here right now is he? It's the only possible solution Mikael and I swear to goddess Áine if something happens to her I won't ever forgive you for it!" If I was well I would laugh my heart out, my girl has some nerve to say things like that about Lycidas and I'm positive that if he heard her there'd be hell to pay.

"We don't have much time Mikael" Emily was growing impatient.

Mikael doesn't answer for a minute and I feel his hands get off me for a minute and I almoat sigh in relief, his touch seemed to be more worse than Emily's.

"I can't Emily, it's not my place. I can't just make a decision concerning the Luna without letting Lord Lycidas know. I would be banished from the pack or killed for disobeying his commands."

"I can't believe this right now. So you would rather let her die, your Luna. Why don't you mindlink your Alpha and tell him to come here then?"

"That's Lord Alpha to you, plus he is currently out of pack lands on pack business. I can't use the mindlink." Their voices starting to sound muffled, my ears ringing.

I feel strong arms lift me up and I scream when my skin starts to feel like it's on needles, Mikael scoops me into his arms carrying me out of the cell. I hear him muttering a few profanities under his breath before he stops and turns to Emily.

" I don't know how you're going to explain this or even if you're going to get the chance to before the Lord Alpha drains our bodies dry but, you are taking the blame, you both are. Leave me out of this!. He whisper yells. Emily doesn't answer and he starts walking again.

"It's okay Mel, you're going to be okay" Emily coos removing the hair that clings to my face like a second skin.

The walk seems to be taking forever but I know that that is just my pain talking.

"I'll ask for one of the humans held in the dungeons to do the ritual things with the Luna, but if Alpha finds you, you're dead both of you." he says still walking and I almost cringe at my situation. I'm going to lose my virginity to someone I don't even know, someone I'll never be bonded to spiritually. Yes the bonding ritual consisted of mating.

"That's crazy, your stupid Alpha will sense her here. We have to go to the Center" Emily calls Lycidas names again and I want to laugh.

"Would you just stop calling him that, pack members may hear you, like I said Lord Lycidas is in another pack for a meeting and we probably won't make it to the Center on time even if we wanted." I hear Emily huff and grumble a few things under her breath before they fall silent again.

As if mocking us, the moon hangs high above the scattered clouds in all it's full glory. I conclude that if I survive this Emily and I needed to go school to learn how to read the stars because we totally suck at it.

Emily opens a door to a certain house as per Mikael's orders and we get in. He sits me down on a very comfortable and soft bed and I collapse on top of it unable to hold my weight. Mikael quickly dials a number and talks quickly to who I suppose is a guard at the humans dungeon. I'm going to bond with a human.

Even in my sickly state I can't seem to get that out of my mind.

A few minutes later I hear a knock on the door followed by a "Mikael it's Jericho", Mikael quickly marches to the door and open, mumbling a few words to the person on the opposite side I hear him saying something in the lines of I don't want to get involved. I keep my eyes closed because I really don't want to look the stranger in the eyes as we perform this sacred ritual I'm supposed to be doing with my beloved. I'm a panting mess on the bed like a dog in heat and I wish it would be over soon. I open my eyes a little to see Mikael shooting Emily a look that says "you never saw me here" he looks at her like he's saying whatever happens is not my fault and walks out the door.

"What is going on here, why am I here" The human asks after studying me with eyes full of pity and confusion. I hated that. I know it isn't the time to feel self righteous but I can't help but feel belittled. I don't need pity from a human, but I do need his help.

"Don't worry I just have to cut both your wrists so you could mix your blood with hers then complete the promise circle, then you'll have to uhh ...have sex" she tries to explain it, as less awkward as possible.

"What! I'm not having sex with some random lady. What is even wrong with her anyways. You want me to contact whatever she has so you can experiment on me right? This is sick, you werewolves are sick." The boy spits in anger, his hands pointing in different directions as he speaks.

"First of all we are not werewolves, secondly, call my friend defective again and you're dead. You should be lucky you'd be getting some"

I cringe at the last part.

"I don't want to sleep with anyone!" The human boy shouts and Emily stops for a minute looking at him.

"Wait a minute, how old are you?"

"I'm sixteen and a virgin lady, I don't want to have sex with a.."

"Shut up! Just shut up" Emily shouts in frustration. "Let me think" she whispers in a strained voice. At this point I'm convinced I'm going to die. There's no way I'm bonding with a mouthy young human.

The pain in my abdomen starts to intensify . Emily's hushed voice soon sounded like a raging waterfall after a storm and I gripped my ear with my free hand in agitation. A quick dizziness wash over me causing nausea and I place a hand over my mouth.

"Make it stop... Em!" I called out through the turmoil of sounds that seemed to pierce my eardrums. I felt hands touch my shoulders, with my shut eyes I couldn't see if it was Emily or the human. I didn't know what was happening but whatever it was it was hell-bent on taking my life.

All it took was loud and angry growl to gain the silence my soul was badly yearning for. He was here. He was finally here.

My body tingled and instead of the pain came heat. I moaned feeling like I was yearning for something or maybe someone. My body was responding on its own, I had no control over it.

"My Lord it was-"

"Silence!"

I am pretty sure that was Mikael's voice before the thunderous voice roared again. The silence that followed had me really worried about him. Who knew what Lord Lycidas was capable of. I opened my eyes to see Emily and the human both frozen in place with wide eyes. Just as I was about to suggest we take the window, the door flew off it's hinges and landed on the floor with a loud sound that suddenly irritates my ears. A scream broke off my lips and I fell forward on the floor when I try to stand up. A growl vibrates through the room again and there he stands in nothing but shorts, chest heaving up and down and sweat glistening all over his obviously illegal muscles. I swear I'd seen that sight on TV somewhere before. I take him in and find myself licking my probably ashy looking lips.

"I knew I should have killed you all and let you rot in the dungeons" The words got out through gritted teeth. I don't know if he was refering to the human or us or the three of us. He was in front of the human in seconds with his buff hand around the poor thing's throat and before I even blink his he drops to the floor with a thud, his neck bent to a disturbing position. I realised that he broke his neck with one hand. The same hand that could do the very same thing to my poor fragile neck. "Get out" he roars towards Emily and she beelines for the door, not before sending a quick terrified look my way.

I shriek and scramble to get as far away as possible from the body in front of me with my eyes wide nearly falling off their sockets. The rumours I heard about him were true, heartless, unforgiving, monster, the only thing he cared about was himself.

Lord Lycidas seemed to be enjoying the show, he looked at me with his eyes glowing gold. He stood rooted in place as if my life is not on the line, if this was a dream I would have laughed my lungs out until I died and disappeared from his piercing gaze. It's creepily sexy.

"Who gave you the right to go whoring around with humans?"

I flinched. Whoring around? Trying to save myself from dying is whoring? My mouth felt dry and I was sure whatever I was going to say was either going to get me killed or ....it was going to get me killed. I was a corpse either way thus I chose to not reply and die with my dignity.

"I asked you a question fae" He spit the word like it had a sour taste in his mouth.

I looked at him like he had grown two heads and still kept quiet. That seemed to irritate him because the next thing I knew he was storming towards me, he grabbed my shoulders and pulled me up against his hard chest, roughly. I couldn't contain the whimper that came out of my lips. He growled looking at me with dark obsidian eyes.

"I asked you a question fae" he gritted out, his minty breath fanning my face.

"I don't think I answer to you wolf" just like that I signed my dead sentence. What am I thinking irritating a Lord when I don't even have my powers. He could easily snap my neck like he did with the human, poor thing died because of me and I didn't even get his name.

My thoughts are disturbed by a low sinister chuckle that both warms my insides and make a chill run down my spine.

"That's bold coming from somebody who has less than an hour to live. You should be nice to me baby" his grip never wavered from my shoulders. The fact that he called me baby didn't go unnoticed by my heart, it skipped a bit before the feeling sends butterflies to my stomach.

"That's too cocky coming from an alpha male who can go as low as rejecting his beloved because he holds a childish grudge against her species, my Lord" I spit out the last words with hate. As far as I could understand the situation, Lord Lycidas is also protecting his huge ego which will be majorly bruised if his people realise he is taking a fae as their female ruler.

He growls tightening his hold on me "shut your little mouth", his eyes changing from black to gold and black.

Before I could make a snarky come back the pain returns with full force, almost toppling me over if it wasn't for Lycidas strong hold. An involuntary whimper escapes my lips as I struggle to keep my knees balanced.

"Please just let me die in peace" I choke out before my knees decides to fail me and Lycidas snakes his large arms around me before I hit the floor.

"Never" is all he growls out before sinking his extended canines into my fragile neck. I hiss from the pain and struggle against his hold trying to push him away from me to which he just growls and tighten his hold with his teeth still deep in my neck.

My consciousness seems to be slipping away slowly and I moan at the sudden energy I feel inside me. Almost like breaking a chain that was years old and feeling the taste of freedom, the feeling didn't last long as my body began to burn up again.

"Lycidas make it stop" I screamed with my eyes tightly closed.

Lycidas paid me no mind and never retreated his canines from my neck.

I could slowly feel my body growing weaker and weaker.

At one point I knew I was talking but my words came out incorrehent even to my own ears.

I feel like I am floating, pain and heat gone, it's like Lycidas had fullfilled my wish and I was tearing clouds to goddess Àine. I felt at peace.

I felt complete.