Chapter 24

Chapter 24

\[Flashback - Several Months Ago\]

Tyler walked around the large stone hall, his shoulders tense a bit nervously. He stared right ahead, awaiting for the prisoner to be brought to him. For long he had been searching, and finally his search was going to come to an end. This session had been done in secret to prevent what was going now that the Lycan king had lost his power in a brutal fight and nearly cost his life.

"What do you want with me?" A guard pushed open the door, revealing a lady in the dungeons glaring up at him. Through the dim light, he could make out her features clearly. Despite her otherwise delicate skin, it was filled with bruises here and there, and her hands were fastened in chains behind her back. She glared daggers at him, struggling against the chains and yelling curses.

"Get away from me, you psychopath!" she yelled.

Tyler walked in calmly, his boots echoing against the cold tiles, making it sense of reading. He approached her close enough to lean down, making his face level with hers as he tapped the ground, trying to get her attention.

"Get away from me!" the lady yelled again, jerking her head back, her black hair almost covering her face.

Tyler slowly reached out and tucked it behind her ear. He tilted her chin up to face him. "Relax," he said in a cold yet soothing voice.

The lady's eyes seemed to be unfocused. She stared at him for a while, eyes filled with a mixture of shock and everything showed that she was afraid.

Tyler remembered how he got her here. The scene was that he saved her from certain death. "Relax," he said again, trying to soothe her. If he wanted any answers from her, then he had to make sure that she knew that she wasn't threatened.

"At least no one is going to hurt you," he said. His mind recalled the gruesome events that happened just a few minutes ago - rogues breaking into a house, screams coming from inside. He was on a search for the moon goddess reincarnation, someone that was going to be able to undo the curse that was on him and bring back his powers as the Lycan.

That was when he stumbled upon the name Marcela Willows, and he realized that he might have hope. He just might. However, there was a problem - he wasn't the only one looking for hope out there. People were after her. News seems to have got out that she was the goddess reincarnation of her generation, and so a lot of people wanted the power for themselves. To drink her blood and sacrifice her in exchange for power, even anything to satisfy their greed. But Tyler wasn't like the rest of them, or at least that was what he liked to think.

He smiled faintly as the panic in her eyes slowly faded away. She seemed to focus again, though still wild. She inched back from him, but this time not out of fear - more like out of wariness.

"Why did you save me?" she asked, her voice hoarse.

Tyler stood up and glanced around. He came to this cell alone because no one had to know that he had lost his powers as the Lycan. Just a trusted guard that was going to be killed the following day - secrecy had to be maintained no matter what.

"You're safe now," he said, knowing fully well that was a lie, but he needed her to feel the feeling of safety, even if it was for a fleeting moment. He snapped his fingers in the air, and the guard that he had positioned outside beforehand came in to the dark dungeons with a tray of food between them.

"Safe?" Marcela repeated, her voice breaking a little. She glanced around the room. The stale smell of dungeon air everywhere and the lack of windows proved exactly where she was at the moment. Her eyes narrowed down on the man that was in front of her. "Do you take me for a fool? A kindergartener, perhaps?" she asked, but the questions were just for herself.

She watched as he carefully took the food from the table. He was easily handsome, very dashing in fact. His jawline strong and shoulders broad - he seemed like a reliable person, but she knew different. The world had been nothing but cold and cruel to her. She wasn't going to let someone sway her with just words. However, there was something about him, something that seemed to be safe even though she had a feeling it wasn't. The calm before the storm.

She watched him in silence, trying to figure out what he was up to. He set the plate carefully before her. "So far, we have a lot to discuss." Her instincts immediately sharpened, her survival instincts kicking in immediately.

"It's not poison," Tyler added, getting up to give her another look. Well, even if she died now, she would still be of use to him, he thought to himself.

Marcela's eyes widened as though she could read his thoughts.

"I'll give you some time to process everything that happened," he said, keeping his tone level and expressionless. "I'll come back to get you in a while." With that, he turned on his heels and left the room. The guard shut the door behind him, securing it with the key and lock.

Maybe locking her up there wasn't the best option, but he had to do it for her safety too. People were after her, and they might be as bold as to come infiltrating the Lycan King's palace just to get her. Well, if they believed that she was here, then they would stop at nothing to get her. So this was also for her safety, but of course, she didn't understand. She didn't have to understand anything, in fact. All he needed was her presence - that was enough.

He went back into his study. Tyler closed the door behind him and let out a deep breath. Recapturing her from the Blue Ray pack wasn't the hardest part of the mission. A stack of books lay open on his desk. He walked towards it, his arms trailing over a particular book. Once he got to the line he was looking for, the myths proved to be real - the moon goddess reincarnation appearing in every generation. Old stories, topics, and balance in all the books he read in his mind.

Well, maybe that wasn't a myth, and maybe it was real. Maybe he had the moon goddess reincarnation in the form of a 25-year-old lady in his dungeons. Then what was he going to do with her? She held immense power, one that he wished she couldn't control. A small smile lit his face - he would simply help her make use of her powers. He was Lycan King, he was also a protector of the packs. If she didn't know how to use the powers, then all he could do was to give it to him.

Tyler read further down the page, his brows slowly furrowing into a frown. However, to get the power of the moon goddess, one needed a blood sacrifice - to sacrifice the vessel. "His life during so," he said under his breath. Thought through it for a while - surely the lady down in the dungeons would want to sacrifice herself for the greater good, right? He thought to himself, but he knew that he should be kidding himself. She was a human after all - everyone wanted the chance to live and die a fulfilled life, not to be offered as a kind of sacrifice.

After what felt like half an hour, enough time for her to process everything, Tyler made his way back to the dungeons. This time the guard wasn't there. He took the key and opened the gate himself, stepping into the cell.

Marcela peeked from underneath her lashes at the intruder. "Him again," she thought to herself, knowing that this can't be anything good. The fact that he was coming here right now already meant something - that he wanted something in return from her. Nowadays no one saved anyone out of sheer goodwill. Of course, it had to be way more than that.

Tyler sensed her discomfort and gave a sigh. If she was going to be difficult, then he would have to use brute force, but he secretly hoped that it wouldn't get that far.

"I'll make this simple and state it out in the clearest way possible," Tyler began, his hands behind his back. He had no intention of keeping anything away from her. If she was going to be of help to him, then he would let her know exactly what she was getting herself into in the first place.

"I need your powers, and I have no assurance that you would survive the process," he said, his voice cold and devoid of emotion.

Marcela's eyes widened, and a small sob escaped her. Tyler watched her for a while.

"It's fine," he said, knowing fully well that what he said was tough on the plate that she was about to go through. "I'll make sure it is as painless as possible," he added, like that was any bit of compensation.

"You don't understand," Marcela muttered, her voice broken and shallow. "I'm not the moon goddess reincarnation," she said barely above a whisper.

For a moment, the calculated look in Tyler's eyes shifted. That was impossible - he spent months searching. There was no way the powers were passed down to someone else from this generation, Marcela added.