Bound by Moon & Blood (Book 1)

“I’m sorry, Dawn.” Her sister gave her a soft smile as she squeezed Liv’s hand a little.

“I know.” It were the only words that needed to be spoken between them. The only words that mattered right now. A tear rolled down Liv’s cheek. Her emotions finally got the best of her. “You look so much like her.” Liv whispered and that got Dawn’s lip trembling as well. She didn’t know if Dawn knew about the attempted murder on her by their mother, but given the fact that King hated their mother, she had a good suspicion that Dawn did know.

“Really?” Dawn whispered. Liv gave her a small smile and nodded. “Sadly, she does indeed.” King interjected from behind Dawn. Her little sister looked over her shoulder and glared at King. “You are the only one who is responsible for that.”

“And I will be remembered about that little fact for the rest of your life, before that fucking curse takes you.” King spat back. The tension in the air shifted into something heavy. “It’s a sickness not a curse and I’ll be glad once it takes me! That way I won’t have to look at your face and remember that you killed her!” Dawn yelled at her father. “Please remember that your own mother tried to kill you when you were just a few days old. So please, keep defending her.” Yep, she did know. Dawn started to shake. Liv looked at their joined hands as she felt a warmth, that started to intensify, coming from Dawn’s hand. “Dawn...”

“And why did she try to kill me again? Oh, right because you had raped her so many times until you got me! She hated you and because of you she hated me!” The warmth intensified and the veins in her hand and arm started to become a visible dark red.

“Dawn.” Liv tried to get her attention again.

“You are to blame for her attempted murder on me! Not my mother who you killed shortly after!” Dawn yelled. The power coming from Dawn’s hand reached over and Liv clenched her jaw as she felt an electrifying pain starting in her hand and go up her arm. Like an answer her power awakened as well and was pulled towards Dawn. Black spots started to appear in her vision and her breathing became shallow and labored as she felt her body weaken. Dawn’s breathing turned labored as well. “You...”

“Dawn!” Liv yelled and snapped Dawn out of the fight with King. Dawn’s head snapped to Liv. The power that hummed between them became tainted and dark. A suffocating feeling fell over them both. Dawn whimpered as she lost the strength in her legs and went down, pulling Liv with her, who fell on her knees and planted her other hand on the ground to keep her from collapsing further. It felt like her strength and power was sucked out of her. Yells were heard around them, but Liv couldn’t focus. The black spots in her vision threatened to take over her entire sight as the electrifying pain ran through her body. Dawn’s hand went limp in her own, but somehow, she couldn’t let go. Liv had some sense that she was grabbed by her shoulders right before she was roughly pulled backwards and the link, she had with her sister, was broken. As soon as their hands left each other the suffocating feeling was lifted and they both gasped. The black spots slowly disappeared from her sight as she took a few deep breaths to calm her rapid heartbeat. Exhaustion washed over her. She blinked a few times, and her sight became clear once more. King and Dwight sat with Dawn who was now sitting upright as well and leaned in the embrace of her father. Liv’s entire body felt weak and broken. She leaned backwards against something hard and warm and felt the hands on her shoulders move a little down her arms. Liv looked at the one who sat behind her and saw Devon who held her against him. He looked away from Dawn and met her gaze. She didn’t really know what to say to him. Or at all. “Are you okay?” Her gaze travelled to the voice coming from her other side and saw one of the Alphas, Ben, looking down on her with a hard but worried gaze. “I...”

“What the fuck did you do to her!?” King snapped at her before she could even answer Ben. Meeting King’s gaze she shook her head. “I didn’t do anything, or at least not intentional.” Her voice was hoarse, and her throat felt like sanding paper.

“What the fuck does that mean!?” King snapped at her. Dawn laid a hand on his arm. “Dad...”

“I have no idea.” Liv whispered as she looked at Dawn who tried to push herself a little out of her father’s grip but came up short as a whimper left her mouth. King’s head snapped back to Dawn at once. “Don’t move.” King said with a soft voice Liv didn’t know he had. “I’m so tired.” Dawn whispered as her eyes fell closed. King shifted his arms and lifted her up from the ground in bridal style. He looked at Liv, her eyes slowly met his as her body started to become heavy. She knew this kind of exhaustion. It was the same exhaustion she felt every time she used her power for too long, but it had never been so bad that she probably couldn’t even walk anymore. At least that’s what her legs felt like right now. “Can you stand?” Devon asked from behind her. Probably not, but she wasn’t going to remain here. She pulled away from Devon’s grip and pushed herself off the ground, only for her legs to scream out of exhaustion and fall back on her ass.

“Would you look at that, the most dangerous and lethal Moonblood is too weak to even stand on her own.” Jackson commented from somewhere. Liv closed her eyes and dropped her head as a few laughed around her. She was even too exhausted to comment on him.

“Stop laughing, Jackson.” King said with a hard voice. “Remember what it means if she too got sick. She is the only one who can make my new wolves and make Lycaon pay for the damage he caused me.” Gods forbid that others have suffered more because of this whole thing than he did.

“Bring her to the room. Caden, post a wolf in her room and keep her under close watch. If anything happens to her, we need to act fast. Her blood is too important to lose.” Liv clenched her jaw before she looked up and saw Caden stepping forward to stand next to her and Devon. He gave King a small nod of agreement. King turned with Dawn in his arms to the Packhouse and started walking.

“He does know that the blood he’s so interested in flows in a person, doesn’t he?” Devon commented from behind her. “Not a person, just a corpse.” Jackson commented before he and most of the other Alphas walked away. She felt Devon shift behind her, but didn’t really pay attention to it. Liv just looked at her hands and tried to wrap her head around everything that just happened.

“Wrap your arms around me.” She looked at Devon who looked at her as well. “I’d rather crawl, thanks.” Devon sighed behind her as a snort came from Caden. “You don’t accept much help, do you?” She met Ben’s gaze who was apparently also still here. “From any of you? Hell no.” Ben rolled his eyes at her. “Good luck with her.” He said before he walked away.

“You’re to weak to walk, Livana.” Her head snapped to Devon behind her. “Wrap your arms around me and let me carry you to your room so you can rest.”

“No.” She said immediately. She had never been too weak to do anything since she mastered her control over the wolf inside of her. For all those years she had been alone she had never needed help with anything. She was a mercenary, a lethal one. If there had been one thing she never needed was help ever since she learned to fend for herself. Call her hard-headed, but she didn’t need it now either. The exhaustion she felt would be over soon enough. She just needed to wait, not that any of them were going to let her. Devon gave her an incredulous look. “I’m human, what the fuck do you think I will do to you other than help you?” She gave him an arched look. “You live in King’s pack; you can do plenty.” Devon snorted and shook his head. “Oh, so just because I live here, I’m a bad guy.”

“Yes” She answered immediately and without an ounce of hesitation. Devon sighed, “Would you just...” He stopped talking as a yelp left her mouth as she was lifted by Caden who had walked towards her while she was arguing with his little brother. Liv looked shocked at Caden who started walking to the Packhouse. “Let me go.” His eyes shifted to her. “Struggle to get out of my grasp, I dare you.” He knew that she wouldn’t be able to, her body had enough of everything she has been through the last couple of days. She glared at him. He gave her a satisfied smirk as he brought her up the stairs. “That’s what I thought.”

“I really do hate you.”

“Likewise.”

“Then let me go and leave me alone.”

“Not going to happen, Moonblood. I have my orders and I am not going to take away my presence you so loathe, just yet.” He carried her inside. Her already dry throat closed up as she saw the same interior that she knew a little too well. A shiver, so powerful that her body actually trembled briefly in the arms of Caden, ran down her spine.

Caden’s eyes shifted to her as he felt the tremble of her body. Liv didn’t look at him, she only looked at her hands in her lap.

“Bad memories?” Her gaze shifted to his. There was a vulnerability in her gaze that quickly disappeared as she hardened herself towards him. “Don’t sound like you care, wolf. Also it’s none of your business.” He scoffed softly and looked ahead as he reached the stairs. Her gaze left his face as well as her chest constricted a little. She couldn’t deny what he obviously sensed. There were a lot of bad memories here, and they all still haunted her to this very day.

Caden turned into a hallway where a wolf she didn’t know was leaning against a door. As soon as he saw them he straightened and barred his neck to Caden. It would appear that this wolf is her guard... Yippie.

Caden nodded his head towards him, right before the wolf opened the door for him. Caden brought her inside and her heart stopped. This room... King actually gave Liv the room where her mother had lived. The room where her mother was raped and beaten by him. The room where she slowly died, before she sacrificed her life for Liv’s. Before she could object Caden let go of her legs and she was standing, with his arm still around her. He turned to say something to his wolf when the brewing storm of emotions exploded inside of her. Liv started to tremble as her gaze slipped to the bed. She shook her head as tears started to run down her cheeks. Taking a step back, she bumped into Caden who immediately turned back to her. “What are you...” She turned around, slamming her fists against his chest. “Let me go.” She whispered. His hand grabbed her wrist as she tried to push him away. “Let me go.” Her voice was louder as she struggled to get free from his grasp on her. “Calm down.” Caden said as he grabbed her other wrist as she kept on hitting his chest. She squirmed in his grasp.

This was the last straw of her.

This was the one thing she couldn’t take.

King could do anything he wanted to her, she just couldn’t stay here. In the room where she had started to loose her mother day by day before she died. Her emotions were too strong for her to be able to control them and she hated herself for letting that happen. She hated everyone around her for doing this to her. Liv pulled back to try and free her wrists, but only caused herself to almost fall on her ass. Her legs were still too weak. If it wasn’t for Caden holding her wrists, she would have fallen down already. The momentum of her pull caused Caden to take a step forward.

“Let me go, let me go, let me go!” She started yelling right before a sob left her mouth. “Moonblood, calm down!” He said loudly, but she didn’t care. She needed to get out of here. Somehow, she managed to throw her leg up and kicked him against his knee. It was a weak kick, but it was unexpected and so the grip on her wrists loosened. Liv pulled herself free and almost fell down from the loss of an anchor to keep her upright. But she wouldn’t fall down, she wouldn’t let herself until she was far away from this room. Walking on weak legs, she tried to move past Caden who quickly wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her against his chest. Liv whimpered and slapped his arm around her, trying to get free again. “Kerra, stop!” It was the first time he said her name, but it was the wrong one. The one who reminded her even more of what King had done. The, already weak, power inside of her woke up at her intense emotions. Caden noticed it too and cursed under his breath as he saw the veins in her hands and up her wrist become a dark red. He moved and before she knew it she stood with her back against a wall and her arms pinned at her sides. She tried to get free once more, but he had an ironlike grip on her wrists.

“Livana!” Not knowing that she had her eyes closed, she opened them and met the amber stare of Caden. “Calm down.” He said a little softer. The fight left her, and all she could do was cry. Liv dropped her head as she cried. Slowly, Caden released her wrists and she slid down the wall to the ground. Pulling her legs up, she laid her head against her knees and kept crying as all her emotions spilled out of her. Everything she felt the last couple of days rushed to the surface and she couldn’t do anything but let it out.

Caden looked down on her as she saw her broken figure. What the hell had happened that she would flip like that? As if fate had wanted to answer, King strolled into the room with Dwight on his tail. He looked down on Liv with a grin that told him that he already knew why she freaked out like this. His gaze briefly met his beta’s before he stepped back from Liv as King advanced.

Someone crouched down in front of her, and by the scent she knew that it wasn’t Caden, but King.

“You may be strong, but deep down inside, you still are the little girl who lived here.” King’s voice held a pride in it she wanted to cut out if him and shove it down his throat. “And once I am done with you, you will realize it too.” King said before he got up and and she was left alone in the room.