Still confused and dazed, Canary woke up again in that enormous room.And once again, on the other side of the room, there was Vahem.

She stood up immediately, and as quickly as she did, he ran toward her.

"I'll help you, you need to stay lying down, Canary, you..."

"I don't need anything. I just need you to tell me that what you told me... is a big lie," she said, furious.

Vahem stared at her, a trace of pity in his eyes.

"Unfortunately, I can't say that, Canary."

"And why not?"

"Because it's not true!"

She looked at him, feeling her world collapse again, but this time, she held herself together.

"My father wasn't an Alpha!"

"Oh, really? And how do you know that?" She met his gaze.

"I know he wasn't." Vahem laughed scornfully.

"Your hatred for your own kind is so..."

She slapped him, making his head turn to the side.

Vahem slowly turned his face back, grabbed her hand, and pressed her against the wall.

She felt the air leave her lungs.

"I'm getting tired of this game, Canary," he said, baring his teeth. But she didn't flinch.

"Come on... show me who you really are," she said, challenging him.

Something seemed to sparkle in his eyes.

He took a deep breath, glanced at her lips, and stepped back.

He rolled up the sleeve of his shirt and showed her the crescent moon again.

"See this? Do you know what it means?"

She tried to look away, but couldn't.

"It means I am yours, and you... are mine. We belong to each other. We are twin moons, Canary."

She laughed scornfully.

"I WILL NOT SUBMIT TO THIS DAMN LYCAN TRADITION, BECAUSE I'M NOT A LYCAN!"

Her eyes seemed to be on fire.

Vahem stepped back, his yellow eyes glowing.

"Do you want to stay here, brooding, refusing to accept the truth? Fine! Go ahead."

And with that, he left and slammed the door.

Canary ran to it and kicked the door furiously.

"YOU CAN'T JUST RUN AWAY, YOU DAMN COWARD! THIS ISN'T TRUE! IT ISN'T!" she screamed until she lost her voice.

And then she collapsed to her knees in front of the door, feeling the crescent moon on her arm burn.

She began to cry desperately.

----

Later that night, she hadn't come down to eat. And Vahem knocked on the door.

She didn't turn to look at him.

Slowly, he approached the bed and sat beside her. She felt his warm arm move closer, but he stopped abruptly.

"I don't want to do this, Canary. I don't want to treat you this way! I don't want to be that kind of male."

She shrank back.

"Please... try to listen to me. Try... try to understand, I beg you."

There was sincerity and exhaustion in his voice.

But she remained silent.

"You want to run? Do it... go wherever you want. I won't keep trying."

His voice turned cold, and suddenly he stood and headed for the door.

But then he stopped.

"I just want you to know, I am yours, Canary."

And then he left. But she didn't hear the door lock.

Her heart raced; she didn't want to stay there. Her mind felt like it would explode at any moment, she knew it.

So she rushed to the door and ran toward the stairs. She went down quickly and headed for the gate in the wall. When she was almost out, she stopped abruptly. Her crescent moon burned like fire, and something in her heart hurt as if she had been stabbed.

But she ran fearlessly into the forest.

---

She climbed until she reached a kind of cliff, tears streaming down her face.

Her crescent moon burned with searing pain, and she threw herself to the ground, screaming.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" she shouted.

Her head began to throb, without stopping. She felt her body shake. She screamed in pain. She touched her mouth and realized enormous fangs were growing.

She began to cry even more desperately; she felt like she was going to die. This couldn't be real.

"Canary, shh... hey!" Vahem knelt beside her, pulling her close.

He touched her face.

"I'm here! It's okay."

She nodded, still in pain.

He wrapped her in his arms, and she allowed herself to feel that warmth. The pain in the crescent moon vanished instantly.

It was as if... she was calling him.

Without warning, Vahem touched her chin, looked deep into her eyes, wiped away her tears, and kissed her.

Canary felt her whole body shiver, but not in a bad way. She wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled him closer, returning the kiss.

It was a confusing kiss. She didn't know why she was doing it.

But then they pulled back, and Canary faced him, eyes free of tears.

"Who was my father?"

Vahem stopped abruptly.

"Canary..."

"Is it him?"

She felt her stomach churn. Vahem lowered his head, staring at her full of remorse.

"Yes, it's him."

She wanted to vomit on the spot.

"How?"

"He was obsessed with your mother, but she didn't want him! He... didn't accept being refused."

She wanted to scream.

"How do you know this?"

"I was the one who saved her... well, who tried."

She felt helpless in her voice.

She stood up quickly, screaming furiously. She just wanted to kill Kyra, to tear him apart from the inside.

"Canary... hey!" Vahem grabbed her shoulders.

"I know what you're thinking, but you shouldn't act yet... There's something inside you, Canary, something I've never seen! It's a wild power that needs to be trained!"

She tried to look away, but he held her chin.

"I know you don't love me, and you don't want to do this! But I... I can help you! I can help you discover who you are! But for that, you need to stay with me, Canary."

He stepped back abruptly.

She stared into his eyes.

"You mean... be your twin moon?"

"Yes," he said without looking away.

"You don't have to love me, or... owe me anything! You just need to be connected to me so that the others... will accept you and help you."

Canary flinched slightly, stepping back a little.

She looked at him suddenly and said:

"You said in the room that... I could run. But you came after me... why?"

He swallowed hard, touching the mark on her arm.

"I heard my moon calling, and I wouldn't just stand there."

Something inside her heart quickened.

She touched the mark and looked at him without fear.

"I'll be your moon, so you can kill Kyra. But... only for that."

Her yellow eyes glowed like embers.

"If that's what you want," he said without hesitation.

She moved closer to him.

"And... how do we seal this?"

He drew her close, took her left arm, and touched the mark.

Slowly, he lifted her arm to his lips and kissed the crescent moon.

Canary shivered briefly.

"It will only hurt a little."

He bit her arm, drawing some blood. Then he did the same to his arm.

And slowly, he joined the moons in the same blood.

He touched Canary's chin.

"I will serve only you... my twin moon," he said without fear. And that made her heart race.

"And I... you."

She told herself it was only for revenge, and she wanted desperately to believe that in that moment.