Liv listened to the sounds of the moving car as she starred at the bars above her. After everyone had eaten they had bound her hands once more, before they resumed their trip. Fourteen hours had passed before they started driving again. Now two more had passed and her stomach had started to rebel against her as basically everything else in her body. She felt the other side of her move underneath her skin and closed her eyes as she focused on the feeling.
"Wow, easy there." Emil said as he crouched down next to her and laid a blanked over her naked and bruised body. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she looked up at him. "Did I hurt anyone?" He gave her a small smile and shook his head. Liv released a breath in relieve. "How long has it been since you shifted, Liv?" She gulped as she looked away from him and laid her head back on the ground. "Liv." His voice was demanding. It had been too long. She was under Emil's care since she ran away a year ago and the had only shifted once before, resulting in them having to run again. "Livana, answer me." Emil pulled her out of her thoughts. "Eight months." She answered with a whisper. Emil sighed before he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fucking hell, Liv. I told you that you cannot suppress your other side like that! The wolf inside of you will force you to shift if you deny her to run and hunt. What will happen if you shift in a public area the next time? You'll expose the human world to your race, which will be punished by death. They don't care who you are if you expose the Lycanthropes!" She pushed herself up in a sitting position. "I know!" Liv said as tears ran down her cheeks. "But every time I shift he can find me." Her voice trembled. "He cannot find me, Emil." More tears streamed down her cheeks. Emil sighed again, before he moved and wrapped his arms around her in an embrace. "I know, but forcing the wolf inside of you to lay dormant underneath your skin will do more harm than you know. She is your true form, your human skin is the one gifted to you, pushing her away will result in your human side getting weaker and a detachment of your wolf skin, meaning that you may never be able to shift skins if you go down this road. Promise me that you will shift when the wolf inside of you asks to be released." If she were to promise that, she will forever be a beacon that would lead King straight to her. She couldn't make that promise to him. She knew what it meant, he warned her about what could happen, but it was the only way for her to stay hidden. The only way for her to be safe is if she were to never shift again. She just had to find a way to push the shift back and never give in. "Liv, promise me." She closed her eyes as she buried her face in his chest and made a false promise for the first time in her life. "I promise."
The wolf inside of her stirred a little too close to the surface. Liv opened her eyes and used the control, she had established over the years, to push her back down. She didn't need to hear Emil's words again to know that what she was doing was beyond stupid and unnatural. After all the wolf inside of her was who she truly was and the human the skin she was gifted by her mother. Every Lycanthrope is like that.
At the beginning there was only Lycaon and his sons who had been turned into lycans thanks to the fact that he tried to feed human flesh to Zeus, who cursed them for it. Only the males in Lycaon's bloodline were affected by the curse, his three daughters, Callisto, Dia and Psophis, were not. The three daughters all had their own role to play in their lives, what is now called a mythology by the humans, resulting in the fact that Psophis is now the only daughter who is truly alive as Callisto lives forever as the constellation Arctos, also called Ursa Major, and Dia has long since passed after living as a mortal and giving Apollo a son.
After Lycaon and his sons were cursed he feared for his daughters. He had tried to communicate with the gods for many years, but there was never an answer, until Artemis came down to earth for a hunt. Knowing Callisto worshipped Artemis, Lycaon used his daughter to call upon her. Artemis answered the call of her follower, but instead of finding Callisto she found Lycaon. He demanded to know what the gods had planned for his three, still mortal, daughters, but Artemis revealed nothing about any of them. She only told him that he will come to beg for her help soon. Years passed. He lost Callisto to the gods after she was turned into a constellation and Dia to a mortal illness. He only had Psophis left. Lycaon remembered the message of Artemis and knew the time had come. He indeed begged the goddess to safe his last daughter before she too would be taken from him, but Artemis never answered him. Instead, she appeared in front of Psophis. The goddess told her what her father had begged Artemis to do and she asked Psophis what she wanted. Psophis had always felt alone. Callisto and Dia had lived their lives and the consequences, but she remained insignificant. She thought of her youngest brothers, of Nyktimos, the one who has always been there for her and always looked out for her. She didn't want to leave him alone. A wolf appeared next to Artemis as she was thinking about her own fate when he shifted into a man. Psophis couldn't believe her eyes as she saw what happened to the man. Artemis explained to her that she had made a new species, the Lycanthrope race, wolves that she had gifted a human body and a semi-immortal life. She explained that all the males in the five bloodlines she chose, were gifted this ability, but still needed needed a king and that Lycaon will be tasked with this job. Psophis asked why there were no female Lycanthropes and Artemis had only answered with a smile. Psophis knew immediately what she wanted to be and asked Artemis to give her the body of a wolf, so she too might run and hunt with the Lycanthropes and her family. The goddess told her that she could grant her wish, but that she will not be a mere lycan or Lycanthrope, but a Moonblood. She would be the first ever female Lycanthrope and will hold the power of blood inside of her body, along with the ability to sire and birth Lycanthropes. Her daughter would be the same as her and so would her bloodline grow. Beginning the female Lycanthrope race. Psophis accepted her fate and Artemis gave her a wolf skin.
Over the years Psophis learned to control her power. When the time came for her to sire a Lycanthrope she soon found out that it wasn't the human who she gifted with a wolf body but a wolf who she gifted a human body. Any wolf willing to receive the ability to shift could come to her and be granted a human skin. This went on for many years before finally giving birth to a girl. Psophis gave birth in her wolf form and so her daughter was also born as a wolf. Psophis cared five years for the pup before the time came that the girl shifted her skin for her human one for the first time. Opening her eyes Psophis saw the same red and white color as her own eyes had and knew that the true beginning of the female race had begun.
Years passed, yet her bloodline grew slowly as a Moonblood could only be born from another Moonblood and not be sired like a Lycanthrope could. Resulting in the fact that Moonbloods remained rare and a very valuable asset to have in a pack. Fearing that the Moonbloods would be abused, Psophis begged her father to decree that the female Lycanthropes cannot be harmed and place them under his protection. Lycaon agreed and decreed that any who would disobey his order would be punished accordingly. No one really knew what it meant and so, out of fear for the repercussions and the lycan king himself, the decree was obeyed for decades, until King was born and decided to defy every order of King Lycaon.
Brandon's words ran through her head again. Could this be what Lycaon meant when he said that any who would disobey the decree would be punished accordingly? Killing almost the entire race of his daughter, the only female Lycanthropes that had existed in the world? Could Lycaon really be behind this?
The wolf inside of her stirred underneath her skin again and she had to bite her lip to keep in a groan of pain as it felt like her bones were starting to stretch before the shift was suddenly stopped. It has been seven years since she had last shifted into her wolf skin. It's the longest she has ever gone without losing control and she truly wondered if she had gotten to the point of Emil's warning. To the point where she was no longer able to shift into her wolf skin even though her other side was still very much present inside of her. What will even happen to her if she really couldn't shift anymore?
"Still alive back there?" Liv opened her eyes and looked up straight into the eyes of Caden. "Sadly." Liv answered before she closed her eyes again. "Still not wanting to eat?" Her stomach immediately groaned in response. "Nope." She wasn't going to give in. Raw meat will not do her any good as her human skin will only grow weaker and her wolf skin will grow stronger, which could mean she could loose the control she has established through, literal, blood, sweat and tears. "Fine by me." Caden said before she heard him move and knew that he wasn't looking at her anymore. Liv slowly released a long breath. It was still a long ride before they reach Kobuk. Once they reach the pack she will never leave those borders again. King wasn't going to give up on the idea of beating Lycaon. He may think that she is special or whatever he has in his head that makes him think any wolf sired by her will be strong enough to beat a lycan, but she isn't. She had no idea what he had in mind for her, but she knew that it couldn't be good and hell will freeze over before she will sire any Lycanthrope for him. He needed to be stopped, he needed to be killed. The last time she had left, King had gathered five Alphas who had willingly merged their pack with his and he had killed three others who didn't, including her father, and taken over the pack as trophies. She had no idea how many he had now and she did need to know the number before she could even think about doing anything. Liv opened her eyes and looked at the bars again. She has been trained as a mercenary since she was fifteen. If there is a way to kill King she will find it, one way or another, but one thing was certain. His days are numbered and she will be at the end of the rope with a silver knife, laced with aconite. She will be the one who kills him and any who will stand in her way. All she needed to do now was gather information, make a plan and, most important of all, to not make any fucking Lycanthropes for him.
Maybe whatever is happening to her kind was a blessing, that way she wouldn't have to take her own life and King will have no way of getting more wolves for his pack that easily. The fact that she even thought it was a blessing told her exactly how far from the little girl she used to be has ventured. She would have scolded her and punish her for ever thinking like that.
"All life is precious, darling. Robbing someone of their life or even thinking that someone would be better off dead is not the Moonblood way. Our duty is to give life and not take it away."
Well, she did a lot of things that wasn't the Moonblood way. Her mind went to Dawn who was apparently getting weaker. Dawn was six years younger than she was, which makes her fourteen years old. Liv felt the color drain from her face. No matter what, a fourteen year old girl doesn't deserve to die to get revenge on someone! Brandon and everyone around her is, apparently, certain that Lycaon was behind this, but she wasn't so sure yet. Why would he kill those who are still under his protection?
No, someone else was behind this. And she already knew what that thought meant. She was going to find out who, besides her plan for her own revenge. Liv just hoped she would live long enough to actually pull everything off.
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