Canary tries to break free from the Alpha, but he traps her tightly in his arms while his lycans snarl at her. He grabs her chin and says:

"Do you really think you’ll escape me like this?" He laughs ironically. "Skinny and weak as you are! Don’t get me wrong, I like being challenged, Canary! But… everything has its limit, and it’s time to go home."

He tightens his grip even more, but she manages to slap him hard across the face and step back.

The lycans lunge toward her with incredible speed, but Kyra raises his hand, ordering them to stop. Canary stands her ground.

"I won’t go anywhere with you! I am not your wife, or whatever it is you think I am! I never wanted to marry you! And I never would! Not even if I were insane!" she shouts in his face.

Kyra smiles a chilling smile and moves closer again, making Canary shrink back.

"I don’t like repeating myself, Canary." His claws extend frighteningly, and she recoils.

"I said you’re coming with me—and you are! You whore! Do you want to be treated the same way your mother was? Very well."

Kyra grabs her by the waist, pins her arms behind her back, and forces her to walk. Her whole body shivers with fear—Kyra was a monster.

"You don’t carry his scent, which means he hasn’t touched you. Good… that privilege is mine," he whispers in her ear, making her stomach twist in disgust.

And so they begin their march, with Canary powerless to do anything but walk.

                               —--

The day was almost breaking, and Canary felt an overwhelming urge to run. Just the thought of being forced to stay with that damned creature made her skin crawl.

They were already nearing the border of his village when she felt something. She didn’t know what it was. Her skin burned, like a premonition. But she had never felt anything like it before—it seemed as though… something was approaching.

"Keep walking!" Kyra shouted at her, forcing her to move again.

She kept feeling it as they went down a steep slope. Then, the back of her neck tingled, and moments later, she heard a terrifying howl. Nervously, she looked back, and Kyra was already in his beastly form.

Suddenly, the red-furred lycan leapt onto him, throwing him aside. Vahem.

All the other lycans rushed toward their Alpha. Canary could see nothing but blood and hear nothing but screams.

Kyra lunged at Vahem as he struggled to break free.

She felt a pull within her body—something commanding her to go to him. But she denied the impulse and bolted into the forest. She would not become the prisoner of either of them.

She kept running downhill, though the screams echoed in her ears. For a moment, she stopped and looked back.

"Vahem…" she whispered, trembling. Her blood froze.

But she forced herself to run again, while the cries continued behind her.

Then, suddenly, a sharp pain struck her head—strange, piercing. She tumbled down the slope, and when she hit the ground, something inside her awoke. She didn’t know what it was. She roared like a beast—like a lycan. Her eyes turned blood red.

Her instinct was to run back to Vahem, for some reason. But she stayed on the ground.

"Canary…" she heard his voice behind her.

She quickly turned, and there he was.

Naked and badly wounded.

"L-let’s go, Canary." He extended his hand to her.

She wanted to resist. She could have escaped him if she wanted to. But something stopped her. She took his hand and followed him.

"When I transform, climb onto my back, alright?" She nodded.

Even badly injured, he shifted into his lycan form.

And when she mounted him, and they began to run through the forest, something inside her silently thanked rougue for being alive.

                                 —---

After running for a while, he was already exhausted and losing speed.

But she noticed they were already nearing the village, and soon many Lycans ran toward them.

She was about to dismount from the Rouge when a searing pain shot through her left arm. She didn’t know what it was—it felt like fire burning her skin.

The Lycans carried both her and Vahem inside, but the pain continued.

They placed Vahem in the main hall of his manor and dressed him.

Slowly, she followed after him.

"Will he… be alright?" she asked one of the Lycans. He stared at her suspiciously.

"Maybe. He was badly wounded in this battle! Because of you."

She shrank slightly, still clutching her left arm that hurt terribly.

Carefully, she approached where he was seated, his body covered in blood.

She didn’t understand why he had risked his life that way… for her.

She drew closer to him.

"Thank you… Vahem." She wasn’t sure if he could hear her, and so she stepped back.

But then he pulled her hand, bringing her close, wrapping her in his arms in… an embrace.

She didn’t know how to react—his body was hot, and he was… trembling?

"You have no idea what I felt when I saw you had vanished, Canary," he whispered in her ear. Her blood boiled again.

"Just imagining what that bastard could have done to you…" She felt her skin tense. "I… I don’t know what I would have done."

She could hear the rage in his voice. Still unsure of what to do, she wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his embrace.

She didn’t know what it meant.

"I’m fine, I’m here… Thank you! Again." She heard him laugh.

But just as she was about to say something, her arm burned like embers. She pulled away from him, seized by that cursed pain.

"WHAT HAPPENED?" he stood, despite his injuries.

She collapsed to her knees, sweating and writhing from the agony. Looking at her arm, she saw a… symbol forming. She screamed in terror.

Vahem approached, but she pushed him away—the pain was unbearable. But then… it stopped, as if it had never been there.

Shaking, she looked at her arm. There was a damned symbol now—a crescent moon.

"What the hell is this?" she whispered, her voice barely there.

Vahem stared at her, pale.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS, VAHEM?"

He knelt slowly in front of her. His arms were covered by a white shirt, and he carefully lifted his sleeve. Revealing the same crescent moon on his arm.

Canary’s body trembled.

"W-what is this?" But he stayed silent.

"Answer me! Is… is it some kind of curse? I… I—"

"It’s not a curse, Canary," he said, lowering his head.

"Then… then what the hell is it?"

"It’s a Lycan bond mark."

Canary turned pale immediately.

"What?"

"It’s a symbol of carnal union, between one Lycan and another. The moons on our arms… they complete each other."

She began laughing in despair, her heart racing, unable to process it.

"No… no… this isn’t possible, because I’m not a Lycan."

Vahem stayed silent.

"I’m not!"

"Are you sure about that, Canary?"

"What do you mean by that?" Her eyes filled with tears.

"My mother… she… she was human. This doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t…"

"Yes, your mother was human. But your father… he was an Alpha, Canary."

Her entire body froze.

"Which makes you a hybrid. You are half-human, half-Lycan, Canary. And you are… my Moon."

She didn’t know what to say—her entire world collapsed in that moment. Everything went black. And then… she fainted.