Bound by Moon & Blood (Book 1)

“I’m not an Alpha.” She said as she tried to pull her arm free, but Caden held her close to him. The slight smirk telling him that he loved the shift of power in the room. Where she held it over him before, he held it now over her, and she hated it with her entire being.

“You are the daughter of Alpha Leif and Moonblood Selene Greenland.” Of course, Tweedledee and Tweedledum had already informed him on everything she had told them this morning. Well, probably only Tweedledee, Devon, because Rev had been a little preoccupied. “Since they are dead, you are the new Alpha.” She gave him a hard look.

“Of what pack?” Emotion clogged her throat. “Everyone was killed. There is no pack left, which means I am no Alpha. Even if some of them were alive I still wouldn’t be, because I’m a Moonblood and a female. There has never been a female Alpha.” Caden raised his eyebrows at her. “Yeah, because the only female Lycanthropes are Moonbloods and are usually mated to an Alpha and not become one.” Did he just agree with her? “But that doesn’t mean that you aren’t an Alpha. Just because it hasn’t happened before, doesn’t mean that it can’t.” Sighing she shook her head and opened her mouth to object again, but Caden spoke before she could. “Your pack may be killed, but being an Alpha is so much more than having a pack. It’s in your blood, so whether you like it or not, you are an Alpha, Moonblood, and challenging me will not help you stay alive.” He said with a stern voice. The warning shone through, but it did nothing but irritate her more.

Alpha... She was no Alpha. She never has been and she sure as hell never will be. Not just because her pack truly was dead, but because she will be before she could even become one. Not that she wanted to. She never wanted that kind of responsibility when she had seen what the wrong choices could do to a pack. She may have the blood of one, but that doesn’t make her an Alpha like Caden says. Being and becoming an Alpha is so much more than just blood and she was nowhere near being the person an Alpha should be. Most weren’t but they had a pack that depended on them taking over the command and forcing them to become an Alpha. She doesn’t have a pack anymore and so, no one depended on her to take over from her father. Liv is nothing more than a Moonblood who had an Alpha as father and nothing more. Yet, she couldn’t shake the memory of the feeling she had felt when she was challenging Caden. She had never felt it like that before. She was familiar with it since she had sometimes challenged her targets more often than not, but it had never been so strong. It was natural for an Alpha to have a lot of power over others. That was basically a given, but would the thirst for power always be present? She didn’t know much about what an Alpha feels, but if she is supposed to be one and if the feeling of challenging another Alpha gives her a rush like that, is that something she got from her father? Is that the Alpha blood inside of her shining through?

Who was she kidding? Even if she had gotten that from her father, it didn’t change a damn thing. She wasn’t an Alpha, so what if she liked to challenge an Alpha more than a normal human being or a Lycanthrope? As long as she didn’t challenge them too much and didn’t force them to shift before their wolf is pushed over the edge and takes over to end the threat to his pack and power, nothing would change. At least she hoped.

Liv gave Caden an irritated look. “I’ll challenge whomever I want, now let me go.” Instead of letting her go he smirked and held her gaze. He knew that holding her was pushing her buttons and he loved it. When the day comes that she gets the chance to kill him, she was going to take her sweet time making him hate every moment he loved with her.

“By the gods, let me go!” She said louder and used all her strength to try and pull herself free, by creating as much distance between them as her arm would let her, but his grip was too tight. He was too strong. The movement caused her to almost rip her own arm off and caused the pins in her throat to move again and two new streams of blood ran down from the collar. She winced as she felt it and took a step closer to relax her arm and with it her neck and throat.

“Happy now?” She asked as she softly laid her hand on the box of the collar, as if it would help.

“Have been happier.” Liv met his gaze with a hard one of her own. “Sorry to disappoint.” Caden hummed as stepped closer to her and removed her hand from the box. His eyes travelled further down to her, soaked in blood on one side, shirt. “You’re going to need a new shirt.”

“Yeah, thanks to you, asshole.” He snorted as his eyes snapped back to hers. “Probably not going to be the last time either.” He said with a wink, before he released her wrist. She didn’t miss the meaning behind his words and the curling in her abdomen intensified to let her know that it was still there and that it had no problem with Caden ripping her shirt off her body. Fucking urges.

“Lycaon isn’t behind whatever is happening to the Moonbloods.” A little taken aback by the sudden change of conversation she took a step back from him to create a little more distance to process what he said. He also thought that Lycaon wasn’t behind it? But why? What are his reasons?

“How would you know? King is sure that Lycaon is behind it.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” He said with a smirk as he crossed his arms.

“You are so fucking annoying.” She commented as he didn’t elaborate. You can’t just say something like that and then not explain how or why you know that!

“So are you, that’s what we have in common.” She didn’t want to have anything in common with him. “You assume that none of us are doing anything to get answers about what’s happening to the Moonbloods, but that’s not true. Some of us already have them.” A cold shiver ran down her spine at his confession and his hard gaze. He knew more. The hairs on her body rose as the feeling of a threat suddenly grew. How did he know more when King was still convinced that Lycaon was behind them? Her body locked up as it got ready to fight if she had to. “How?” His smirk grew a little before there was a knock on the door. It opened and Rev’s scent filled her nose, before his growl filled her ears, but she didn’t care. She held Caden’s gaze waiting for his answer, which she didn’t get.

Everything inside of her screamed to either force him to get answers of run away from him as far as she could. She hadn’t trusted him before, but now her entire being screamed to be careful around him when she hasn’t ever been careful around anyone. The feeling of him not being who he truly is grew with every moment that past between them in silence. She didn't know much about him, but she had gathered enough information to make out who he was. Yet, now that was blasted away by his words.

“I’m my own and so is my pack.”

“Because I have my own reasons.”

“You assume that none of us are doing anything to get answers about what’s happening to the Moonbloods, but that’s not true. Some of us already have them.”

Who the hell was this Alpha and what was his play?

“Alpha, King has called all the Alpha’s to a meeting.” Rev said behind her. Caden’s eyes shifted to Rev and gave him a small nod. “Let’s not keep him waiting shall we.” Caden said as he met her eyes again before he walked past her towards Rev and left the room with his beta. What the fuck had just happened?

§

Liv sat on the couch in the living area of the packhouse. Her arms wrapped around her pulled up legs and staring at the fire, her mind went over everything with Caden. How did a conversation with him threatening her, to her yelling at him, to him telling her that she is an Alpha, as if, to him telling her something that makes her entire being jump to caution and reveals himself as an Alpha who is not who he seems? Nothing really made sense about the last hour and her mind made crossing the border and killing herself more and more appealing. She forced the conversation between her and Caden to the back of her mind for now and focused on the one she heard between the Alpha’s and King. The one where she heard that Lycaon wants her. He knew about her existence and he wanted her. Why? It’s not like he ever went after any other Moonblood. A shiver ran down her spine. Liv laid her chin on her knees and closed her eyes. Dread filled her as a thought filled the entirety of her mind.

Her name.

She was the only Moonblood whose first name meant darkness instead of light. Is that why Lycaon was after her? Because of what happened with her during her birth? But then again, how would he know what had happened to her when she was born? It’s not like there was a broadcast went out to everyone that she was the cursed Moonblood.

No, that wasn’t it.

She hoped.

But what was the reason then?

The only lead she had was the fact that Caden knew more than he was letting on and Alpha Finnegan. She knew that she was going to get next to nothing out of Caden, so really Alpha Finnegan was the only true lead she had, but how the hell was she going to be able to contact him when she was locked up in these borders?

A headache started in her temples.

She had a feeling that everything was connected, but what did that mean for herself if Lycaon was after her?

If she had a wall, she would have put her fist through it for about ten times already. She needed to contact Alpha Finnegan, but how?

A scent flew past her. Her eyes flew open and her head turned to the door where Brandon walked out of. An idea immediately popped in her mind. She got up from the couch and practically ran out of the Packhouse to the house she never thought she was going to enter again. It was raining a little, so she was glad that she had cleaned herself up and was wearing a blue tank top and black hoodie, instead of the thin white long sleeve she was wearing before. At least she wasn’t going to have to worry about her bra showing through. As the thought crossed her mind a pinch of guilt ran through her, knowing that as a Moonblood she shouldn’t be self-conscious about who is seeing her naked. They don’t shift skins with their clothes on after all, but the reminder that she was self-conscious told her how distant the wolf inside of her had become.

She slowed down her walk to the house as it appeared in her vision. It was a homey one-story house on the edge of the forest. Not the Eidolon Forest, but a normal one on the other side of the pack. It was the forest she had used to escape and hide herself.

Liv ran through the forest. Branches hit her face, arms and legs, but she kept on running as the wolves followed her trail. If they had her scent she would have already been caught, but now they had to rely on her tracks, which were all over the place as she kept running from side to side and not make a direct trail. When she had gained enough distance, she ran straight to the highway and got a ride from an elderly couple who thankfully believed her story. They dropped her off at a gas station where she asked to use the phone and dialed the number of Emil. After the second ring a male picked up. “Who’s this?” She took a shaking breath. “I’m Liv, Gerard and Andrew gave me your number.” Silence greeted her. “Please, I need your help.” She practically begged. “Where are you?” Emil asked. She looked around her and told him the location of the gas station she was at. “I’ll send someone to pick you up.” With that he hung up and she waited at the gas station. Not long after the phone call a black mustang stopped in front of her with a guy she didn’t know. “Emil sends his regards. Get in.” The male said. Everything inside of her told her not to, but she had no choice. She opened the door and got in. The male drove off and she was finally free.

She put her hands in her pockets as she walked towards the house. Before she even had to walk unto the porch the door opened and Gerard met her. “Liv.” He said a little shocked she was even standing in front of them. She walked on without saying a word to him and entered the house. Andrew immediately got up from the couch as he saw her walking in, but said nothing. Gerard closed the door behind her as Liv took in the house, she had called home for a few years of her life. Not much had changed. It was designed as a hunting cabin, with a red couch, wooden dinner table and chairs, walls made of logs, floors made of the same wood and a fireplace underneath the TV. Her eyes went to the green carpet in front of the couch. The memory of her laying on it as the fire was cracking resurfaced. She had spent a lot of time in this house and she hated that it felt closer to home than anything else. Because this wasn’t her home, this had been just another form of a prison cell and she knew that now more than ever. Their betrayal made that even more clear to her, but that betrayal was useable to her right now.

“What are...” Her eyes snapped to Andrew which immediately made him shut up. His brown hair was unruly on his head as if he had slept, but his blue eyes were clear. Gerard had been a contrast to him, he always had been. Where Andrew was burly with brown hair and blue eyes, was Gerard lean with blond hair and brown eyes. The perfect pair she had always called them as they loved each other more than anything in this world and would never betray one another. That dedication clearly wasn’t extended to her.

“You two are going to do something for me. No questions asked and if you even breath as much as one syllable to anyone, including Brandon, I will kill you.” She had never been so glad that Rev hadn’t taken up his guard duty just yet. That would have complicated things a thousandfold.

Andrew gulped as his eyes briefly snapped to Gerard who had the same anxious look on his face as he did, before he looked back at her and gave her a small nod.

“What do you want us to do?” Gerard asked as he walked to stand next to Andrew.

“You are going to send a message to Alpha Finnegan for me.”