chapter 14

Elara's POV

I've always heard that mates are able to connect telepathically, in a way that needs no words or actions, no eye contact. I always thought it was crap, it did not make sense, and no one ever talked about it, even the mated wolves. Over time, it is believed that this ability died when the moon goddess disappeared and left a high priestess as a messenger.

A lot of things are believed to have been gone when the moon goddess went missing. More than a thousand years ago, she walked among the wolves, it was only a century after we were all created. Wolves began to exist only two thousand years ago, and for a thousand years, the moon goddess lived with the wolves and blessed our lands.

When she disappeared, chaos erupted, visions and curses were placed on werewolves, and the worst beast known to us came into existence: the Lycans.

To date, a lot of the information known to us wolves about Lycans is speculated. No one has met one and lived to tell the tale. For five hundred years, the Lycans terrorized and brutally put an end to all werewolves they came across or sought out.

They were feared, they were monsters.

It wasn't until only five centuries ago that the first Lycan family decided to rule over wolves. Snatching its own territory and putting an end to resistance. For some reason, the Morretti Lycan family has never gone after another Alpha, despite how capable they are.

Werewolves and Lycans cannot coexist together, it's a fact. Yet, the pack ruled by the Morretti name is a werewolf pack, and its maids and servants are enslaved and brainwashed humans.

Aimolovos Pack takes no new citizens, and it certainly has no wars or problems. Ruled by Lycan King Lucas Morretti, it remains the biggest pack with neighboring unclaimed territories that no Alpha dares to touch.

That was how feared Lucas was, and that was how afraid great and mighty werewolf alphas were.

I have always known that being caught in the grasp of a Lycan was a death sentence. It was the plan of all werewolves to avoid that fate, they said dying in a Lycan's hand was a fate worse than death. They punished and killed for the slightest inconveniences, they reprimanded for innocent harmless mistakes, and they thrived in environments filled with chaos and fear.

A lycan has no softness. They only mean pain and hurt. They only seek to wreak havoc. They are spiteful and unforgiving.

Yet, here I was, head bowed, heart beating drastically like the drums of the west. Waiting for those words that would free me.

Free me? That seems far-fetched.

"Get up!" His words seeped into the air like poison, contaminating the tension and bringing forth a sense of overwhelming authority.

"But Brother, you do-"

"One more word and I will tear your tongue from your mouth!" The room fell silent, following Lucas roaring the voice and the magnitude of his angry tone.

"Get up!" His voice was low and strong, carrying within me a sense of submission that tugged at me and urged me to obey.

My knees, as if with a mind of their own, unfolded as I stood up. My heart kept beating quickly, I could feel myself sweating. I felt as if I had damned myself. I believe that what he feels is what is projected onto me. Somehow, he is able to do that. I feel what he feels. And it's all... anger. Searing hot, blood-boiling anger.

"LOOK AT ME!" That wasn't a command that needed hesitation. It sounded to my very core, causing me to look up sharply at him.

His eyes were pitch black. The very room was hot, like someone had lit a fire and left us to burn. Something wasn't right. Gold was the color of his eyes when his lycan wolf was out, black was the color of his eyes for a split second when he killed that girl.

But his eyes weren't flicking between black and gold, they were stagnant, consistent. His breathing was heavy, the color of his skin was much paler.

"Son, you need-"

When Lucas turned to his father, a man who carried an aura of the devil himself, he was silenced. Pure horror registered on his face as he stared at my mate, then he bowed his head before beginning to move back.

I slowly began to realize that perhaps I had a better chance on the run as a rogue. Or back in our pack, bullied and belittled, but not living with this much fear. It is known that the mate whom the moon goddess blesses us with is a part of ourselves we have not found. I believe that Lucas is no part of me, and neither was Alpha Matthew. None of their qualities compliment mine. Both men that have been gifted to me are cruel and sadistic, seeking to enslave me, and keep me as a pet.

Was this some kind of competition or a game by the moon goddess? To see who the most unlucky she-wolf was in the love department?

My first mate was a cruel and ruthless Alpha who rejected me yet sought to make me a slave in private. And my escape was only to seek greener pastures. Yet, the pastures I have landed on are neither green nor grown. And the land is hard as rock and infertile. What am I to do?

I wanted to run from him. Now that he clearly wasn't going to reject me, what else was left to do? But I couldn't bring myself to even think about it, to come up with a comprehensive, reasonable plan of escape.

"Daddy, come on," Sabrina shouted, as Lucas gripped my chin and forced me to look at him. "We can't let this skank just get ..."

It had all happened so quickly, in the flash of a second. I wasn't even sure something had happened.

Sabrina gasped for air and gripped her neck, blood pooling for her slit open throat.

It had all happened in the flash of a second. One moment, Lucas was touching me, and the next, he was gone. And his sister was silenced.

A loud scream rented the air, causing me to snap out of a trance that felt like a wonderful escape. Lucas stood over Sabrina, heaving as he knelt next to her and swung his arm around her neck, pulling her foward as she bled profusely.

I stood there, frozen, shocked, hardly able to comprehend what was going on. Lucas, stared down at her, their eyes connected, and something seemed to click inside him. His eyes were still the scariest I'd ever seen. He brought his thumb over Sabrina's lips, she was still slightly breathing. She tried to shake her head, seeming resistant.

I thought Lucas was trying to comfort her, ease her pain when he touched her mouth. Oh...how wrong I was.

What happened next, the sound that rippled through the room was one that would hunt me for days to come.

Lucas reached into her mouth, and in one swift movement, he pulled hard. And his mother, still standing across the door, held back by Lucas' father, let out a loud wailing sound that was enough to wake up the dead.

Lucas discarded something on the floor, before getting up and letting Sabrina's lifeless body drop on the floor. My mind, lagged on as i stared at what he'd thrown. Somehow, it had not yet come to me.

I wish it hadn't.

I stared at Sabrina, hoping with all my heart that it wasn't what i thought it was, yet, her body and open mouth said all that was needed.

Lucas had pulled her tongue from her mouth!!!