Chapter 14

The dinner was a silent event. It felt weird to eat at the same table with Lune Hunters. Kian couldn’t help but eye them warily. His wolf was still edgy, and he figured it would take some time to get used to them.

“I need a shower,” Kiara announced after dinner. Layla offered to wash the dishes, and Kiara looked at Kian hovering behind the Lune Hunters pointedly. “Kian, you too,” she said. “You still have dried blood on you.”

Kian growled low in his throat, not wanting to leave her unguarded. What if they called for backup while they were in the shower? What if this was all an act?

He felt blunt nails dig into his wrist before he turned to see Kiara dragging him away from the humans. “Where are you taking me? We can’t leave like this.” He dug his heels in the floor, refusing to relent.

“I haven’t slept in two days. Will you stop growling now and get some rest while we can?” she hissed.

“I don’t trust them.”

Kiara rolled her eyes. “I slipped some of the sleeping herbs into their food. They should fall asleep in a little bit.”

“You did?” His eyes went wide before pride filled his chest.

She smiled. “Yes. I’ve been keeping an eye on Layla too. She won’t open her mouth because she’s one of us now. Besides, she’s my sister.”

He sighed. It was still hard to process that Kiara didn’t belong to his brother and wasn’t a werewolf. They had a human among them all these years, and no one had a clue.

Despite Kiara’s assurance, Kian still lingered around and made sure the humans went to bed before jumping into the shower. Kiara helped with the bandages, and he was relieved to see his skin had already closed, leaving angry red lines behind.

They decided to sleep in the same bed for safety. Kian locked the door and windows, double-checking everything. Exhaustion weighed him down, but sleep was still far from him. There were still a few questions left unanswered.

The Millers didn’t have answers for it. In their words, "this is what we've been doing for generations."

The same words he heard in his pack often. They claimed the rules were made for the protection of werewolves and were followed for generations. They never questioned it. But clearly, there was something wrong because the picture created of humans or what humans thought about wolves was totally wrong.

In his pack, they always taught humans were evil, and after his discussion with the Lune Hunters, he realized that they also believed werewolves were heartless creatures. Cold-blooded monsters who killed innocents.

How did they end up like this? Who spread such rumors? Where did this misunderstanding originate?

His head swarmed with thoughts, but a groan from Kiara cut his thoughts off.

“Please…Can we just sleep? My head feels like it’ll explode if I don’t sleep.”

“Sorry.”

It was only then he realized he was growling again. His wolf’s protectiveness over Kiara intensified after the attack. In addition, he still couldn’t trust Layla and the Millers. However, they hadn’t done anything yet. In fact, they even offered to help find the answers. For now, he decided to suck it up, for Kiara’s sake.

He reached over the pillow resting between them to gently rub her temples, just like he used to do every time she suffered a headache. Kiara visibly relaxed, and her breath evened out, falling into a deep slumber while his mind was still in turmoil.

The conversation from earlier swirled in his mind.

“So, you really thought you saved humans from the werewolves?” Kian asked in disbelief.

“Yes. That’s what our job as Lune Hunters entails,” Layla’s father answered, frowning at them.

“Gosh. This is more messed up than anyone could ever imagine,” Kian murmured and started pacing the room. “Your people infiltrated into our pack lands and killed hundreds of werewolves,” he growled. “They didn’t even spare women or children. We lost everything. What did a newborn have to do with your evil agenda? They were just like Layla.” He pointed at the young wolf. “And you call us evil for protecting our families? It’s because of you guys that we aren’t allowed to venture out of the pack lands. We live in constant fear, and any outsider who stumbles into our pack lands is killed without further question.”

The humans swallowed, glancing at each other. Ronald cleared his throat. “W-We don’t know. We never—”

“It’s hard to believe when we have suffered for so long,” he cut him off. I just saved your lives yesterday, and your daughter Layla did not even attack you when you were trying to kill her.” His voice came out a little harsher than he intended, and the Millers only nodded their heads, looking ashamed. Their faces turned redder.

“We are sorry. We don’t know that happened with your pack.” They shared a look. “For years, we were told werewolves were evil. We were taught to hunt them to protect our humankind. We didn’t even know werewolves could be.…” Lana paused. “Well, be like humans.” She glanced at her daughter. “It’s too much to take in. It will take us some time to get used to it. Nothing makes sense. You saved us, and you aren’t evil. We brought up Layla since she was a baby. There isn’t an evil bone in her body. But it’s not easy, you know. How can we forget years of belief in one day? You’re still wary of us even though we did our best to aid you in the fight and haven’t done anything to harm you.” Her words left him speechless.

Kian knew what they said was all true; however, it was hard for both parties to believe each other after years of misguidance.

“It’s all a huge misunderstanding. It’s clear there is something we are overlooking. The Lune hunters didn’t hunt werewolves to this extent until a few decades ago.” Kiara’s comment halted his strides.

She was right. They were aware of Lune Hunters, but it wasn’t until that incident they became mortal enemies. He saw the Millers contemplating her words. There was something more to it. He could see the wheels turning in their heads.

“You know something, right?” They looked startled at first with his voice but then nodded in affirmation.

Ronald took a deep breath. “My family comes from a long line of Lune Hunters. We used to serve the royal families. Once upon a time, werewolves terrorized human villages. They would disguise themselves as travelers and infiltrate our towns. Then at nights, they would kill people and leave with the stolen goods.” He exhaled. “It became a problem until the warriors began to train to identify and kill the werewolves with the help of the priest. They were called Lune Hunters. When one killed a royal family member during a hunting trip, the King then formed an association of hunters to hunt the vile creature that killed his only son. From then, we believed werewolves are nothing but evil creatures who hunt, kill, and steal from humans. That’s the story we know, and that’s the history that has been passed on from one generation to the other.”

Lana nodded beside him. “We have a trunk that’s passed on from our ancestors,” she said. “Our family was one of the members who participated in the council meetings when they initially formed the Lune Hunters association. “We also have a few old parchments that recorded these things.”

“I want to see it,” Kian said.

“I don’t know if it’s possible. It’s locked with some code. We tried a few times in the past but couldn’t figure out what it is,” she replied.

“I still want to try. Maybe we can break it.” The older Millers looked at each other, and it seemed like they were communicating silently.

Ronald climbed to his feet, rubbing his eyes. “Okay. It’s late already. Let’s call it a night. I’ll show it to you tomorrow.”

Kian, however, couldn’t fall asleep. Kiara mumbled something in her sleep before rolling over the pillow. She threw one leg over his thighs and wrapped a hand around his middle, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

Kian stilled, holding his breath, afraid he might wake her, but she didn’t stir after that. His eyes fluttered, and he found himself drifting off to dreamless slumber.