One

Present-day...

"Lippy? Lippy!"

I open my eyes wide to see his glistening pale blue eyes, Camila, seeing face to face.

Pushing my head back from her surprise, I sigh and brush a strain of my raven hair back. I fold my arms over the table and rest my head on it. "What is it, Camila?"

"Are you okay?" She asks.

"Yeah, I'm just a bit tired," rubbing my face and yawned. "Why?"

"Just making sure because you didn't answer my call ten minutes ago?"

I lift my head and rub my face again.

"You've been dozing off lately," she sat on the chair across from me. "Last night, did something happen during the patrol?"

Squeezing my face between my arms, I let out another sigh.

Last night was the demon twins patrolling the forest, hunting down ferals and me.

Ferals are monsters that lurk in the forest and come out at night. They are victims of those who get close to the mysterious miasma that appeared two months after leaving the pack.

Glad I won't turn that way, knowing I'm wolfless and I broke up with that prick a year ago.

I had hoped I wouldn't see any Blue Moon members, but I did last night.

His name was Wallace, Leah's brother. One year younger than me and hated my existence for making his sister's life miserable. I recognized him behind all his body decaying from the miasma. He has turned into an absolute beast with no emotions or humanity. I tried calling out his name and asked him if he recognized me. His response was to attack first and kill me soon. If only there were a way to save him; consuming the miasma goes to your heart and brain. It's too late.

I did what any feral exterminator does. With the black-blue flames, I've learned I could do burned Wallace and the other ferals as they engulfed in flames. It was to ease their pain and suffering. It was too late to save them.

It saddens me that I had to kill him, but if I were to stop him, I would, but he is no longer sane. Since the miasma controls your life force, you are dead the second you contact it. The area of black fog covered most of the forest. Luckily, it's in the swamp region. But what the hell is Wallace doing there?

I need some answers, and the first step is to trace back to the one place I hate to go.

I groan.

"No, nothing," I lie, not wanting to bring up the subject of my life in the Blue Moon Pack. Camila and Takkar are the only ones who don't know I was in a pack. "Tonight, I'm taking the twins with me. You, Takkar, and Shadow stay here."

"Oh, why can't I go?" She whines. "I'm getting the hang of killing them thanks to your special fire." Camila held up a dagger I had made with my magic as it had my black-blue flames embedded in it, strong enough to kill a feral.

"I understand you wanted to use the feral as combat practice in human form, but you can't do that forever, or you might forget how to shift."

"I won't forget," Camila protested, pushing a strain of her dark brown short hair behind her ear. "I was born in the A****n, and we were trained not to forget who we are."

I like her enthusiasm and smile.

I met Camila around the same time the miasma appeared. I was on an expedition with Saye and Arlo, twin demons I had unleashed from their slumber.

After leaving the Blue Moon pack, I went to town and asked a restate agent to find me a house away from any wolf packs. Of course, he thinks actual wolves, but that isn't what I meant. It is located within the forest and cheap. I saved all my money while living in the Blue Moon Pack and have not spent a dime. Think of it as my emergency money encase some shit happens to me.

For example - I - leaving the pack in an emergency.

The estate agent told me about an old abandoned farmhouse years ago because it has been said ghosts haunt the place.

I told the agent it was perfect, and he just stared at me like I was crazy. I don't mind any ghosts. As long as other people believe it, then I won't be bothered.

I paid in full, making the farmhouse mine. It was a sight to see, but the place was enormous. It has a barn and everything. Maybe I can buy livestock and grow some crops. I can relax and work on the farm to make it my perfect home. While doing some carpentry on the house, which I am not a professional at, I found a door that leads down to the basement. The space was empty, but there was another door, but this door was different; wrapped in large chains, had a lock, and it's glowing.

I don't know why this type of door is here underneath a farmhouse, but the people who used to live here probably did some satanic shit. I noticed the dark writing on the walls and the floor with blood.

I felt some superior force coming from it as it pulled me towards the door. This invisible force kept calling to me like a voice in my head told me to open it. My whole body obeyed once my finger touched the skull shape lock. It unlocked, sending a wave of energy force push through me, and when two demons, a man and a woman with black wings, horns, and pointy tails, appeared, calling me their master. Said their names are Saye and Arlo.

I couldn't explain what just had happened, but Saye and Arlo only recognized me as their master because my aura was familiar, and magic reminded me of their old master, a Demon Lord.

Everything was spinning in my head when they told me I was not a werewolf but a half-fox demon. I'm not sure at that time I believed them since I didn't know who my parents were. I was abandoned by my parents.

Sometimes thinking about my past gives me a headache, and I don't want to pressure myself more in thinking of them.

"Why do you always take the twins with you?" Camila is trying to make a point about why I don't take her with me and is envious of the twins.

"Oh, sweet, Camila," Saye poofs herself next to me, her arms snaking around my shoulder as her pointy tail wags. "Master loves us, and if we are with Master, we protect her, right Arlo?"

The twin brother, Arlo, appears sitting next to me, lays his head on my shoulders, and pulls up a snake-like grin.

"I will go where Master goes." He states.

Camila made an animalistic growl at the twins as they continued to taunt her.

I let out a sigh. "Okay, enough guys," I demanded them to stop, and they did. "Camila, where I'm going, it will not be safe for you. I don't want the vapor to consume you. As you know, the twins and I are demons, so it will not affect us. Understand?"

Her response is that of a childish pout, and she crosses her arms and knows that she can't get close to the miasma learning of the outcome of the ferals she had encountered.

I stare at her until she gives me a proper answer. Not wanting to argue with me, she relaxes her shoulders and exhales. "Alright, fine."

I smile and reach across the table, rubbing her head which she doesn't like.

"Hey!"

"You are so cute when you're mad," I chuckle, making her snarl at me.

Camila came to me when I went traveling in the A****n, Brazil. There were clues of the miasma coming from here, so I had the twins check it out.

Deep in the forest, I stumbled into a village. Houses on trees, and it's full of shape-shifting Jaguars who are all women. They wore clothes of that of their ancestors and were glaring at Arlo, who is a man. At first, they were hostile until I explained to them the miasma, as they call it, the 'respiração do demônio' Devil's Breath.

The head chief had told me they didn't know where it came from. They learned not to go near it as it had turned some of their people into crazy monsters.

While venturing through the rainforest, I encountered Camila, fighting with a boy as other kids cheered on the fight. She was getting beat up badly and might lose the round. The boy then shifted to his Jaguar, initiating his attack, then Camila went to hers and counterattacked him, winning the fight. I wasn't surprised at her winning the battle, but her Jaguar form is different. Different in color.

I had never seen a black Jaguar before that. I had asked the head chief, and she told me that when a black Jaguar is born within their pride, they are considered a curse because once they reach the mature age of eighteen and under, a blood moon, they become vicious and dangerous.

Seeing how the other Jaguar shifters see Camila as a curse reminds me of myself. She can shift, but she's considered an outsider because of being a black Jaguar. Even her mother sees her as useless, while her favoritism is Camila's older sister.

Seeing Camila's life here in pride that she was born and raised makes her feel like the plague. I decided to take her with me. Of course, I had to ask permission from the head chief and her mother, which took a lot of persuasion and manipulated them into taking away the problem child. Which I didn't mean, but they reluctantly agreed. I thought Camila would protest, but she also decided to want to explore the outside world.

I brought her back with me, and because she never left her pride, she is aware of the development of the world, but she hasn't gotten used to seeing the world with her own eyes. I had to teach her from scratch.

After the talk with Camila, we had dinner. I told the others about my departure, and they weren't happy about me leaving, but it was essential since I had to tell someone about her brother and inform him that one of his own had turned feral. Around that time,  I suit up in my biker outfit, black leather jacket, white V-top, jeans, and commando boots after dinner. I glance at the silver necklace with a mini silver wolf cross dangling that his sister gave him for his fifteenth birthday, the day he shifted into his wolf. I grabbed Wallace's necklace and buried it in my jacket.