LYNEXIA
They say you can sense when someone is falling head over heels for you, but never when they start falling out of love for you until it's too late.One moment, Dimitri and I were so in love and hopeful about our future filled with dreams, laughter and joy. Then the war wreaked havoc, destroying and tearing the shadow pack apart, and the love me and Dimitri shares.Perhaps our love wasn't destined to withstand the test of war. Our love was born to fail from the beginning without the war.Everything started to go down the hill when I was taken captive by the Barbarians. I lived amongst them in captivity. The Barbarians were also with werewolf blood in the nation of Aethelgard that houses territories of Four werewolves pack. The shadow pack. The mooncrest pack. The moonstone pack. And the Barbarians, the blackstalker packBut while the Shadow pack was raised to see the good in everything and appreciate the nature, The Barbarians were raised with violence and unquenchable thirst for blood. They are coined the devil of the night. They were nothing like us.Then one day, they let me go without a reason. When I came back to the Shadow pack, no one looked at me the same anymore. Everyone believed that I was tainted and the Barbarians must have used me. They believed I have lost my virtue to the Barbarians and I'm undeserving to be called the Luna.Things weren't the same between me and Dimitri from that time. At first, I didn't want to come to terms with the fact that something like that will tear Dimitri and I apart. I grapple unto the remains of the future that me and Dimitri could have shared. I try to act like nothing was broken between us.Then the realization hit me like a rolling stone one day. Dimitri wasn't in love with me anymore.Maybe I know when the light of his love for me starts to dim but I just don't want to admit it.Everyday, I watch Dimitri slip away from my grasp, becoming a stranger that I don't know. I watch him fall out of love. I watch his eyes turn cold towards me. I watch him find solace in strong liquor and gradually becoming a shell of himself. The love of my life turns into something else before my eyes and I couldn't do a damn thing about it.So I lie to myself, I tell myself I have no idea when Dimitri's love starts to turn into bitterness and hatred because then it was more bearable for me to lie to myself than watch the love of my life dwindle down the path of self destruction.With a heavy heart, I slip into the Dimitri's room. A flickering candle casts a soft glow across the stone wall illuminating a lone figure in cloth made of leather.Dimitri. He has a bottle full of liquor in his hand.My heart aches and my lips trembles as I clutch the fabric of my dress before approaching Dimitri.Dimitri's groans of protest fills the air. "Give it back." His words is said in a deep slurry voice. When did my love become a shell of himself?"The elders wants to have a meeting with you." I say and move an inch away from Dimitri as he reaches for the bottle."Give me back the bottle, Lyn." He growls.Tears prickle my eyes, blurring the image of the man I love. My name in his mouth jabs at me."The Barbarians are already infiltrating the north. It isn't no longer safe for us anymore." I choke out. The harsh reality scraps at my skin. "The Barbarians are closer than we think."His empty gaze meets mine. "What difference does it make?"My hands tighten around the bottle. "Until when are you going to be like this? You are supposed to be The alpha of the pack for godsake. If you are like this—" I say with a wave of my hand. "Who do you want the people to look up to—.""Perhaps the Barbarians are here to finish what they started with you." His usually low rumble voice come out gravelly.My heart sinks and despair curls around me. Silence stretches between us, only broken by the ragged rasp of Dimitri's voice. "What did you just say to me?" My voice sounds like a strangled whisper."Come on, Lyn." Dimitri pushes himself to his feet, staggering slightly. "Are you acting oblivious or are you just dumb?"Dumb. The word punches my gut."You were with the Barbarians for days and everyone knows—." He stops mid-sentence, a flicker of guilt crossing his eyes so fleeting I thought I imagined it."Know what?" A choked laughter spill out of mouth laced with anger and hurt. "Slept with me? Took turns on my body?" I'm not oblivious to what people say but I chose to ignore it and hope that someday it will die down. "Everyone knows that the Barbarians had their fill with me and let me go when they got tired of me. Is that what you believed too?"Dimitri sighs echoes in the room, His fingers raked through his disheveled hair. "Just... just give me the bottle and leave, Lyn."My hand tightens on the glass, turning my knuckles white. Sorrow and anger burns in my chest. I can take the whispers, and the accusations from others, but coming from Dimitri... it feels like a blow to the soul."Do you believe them too?" I whisper. "Do you also think I... slept with the Barbarians? And it's why they released me?"He flinches, but his answer is dismissive. "Not now, Lyn. We can talk about this later." His hand waves with a tremor.Later?" I shouted, the despair in my voice bounces off the stone walls. "Do you also think I'm not worthy of being Luna anymore because I have tainted myself with the blood of the Barbarians."Dimitri says nothing and head for the door. My hand shoots out with desperation and I grab his wrist. He jerks it away roughly, the force sending me stumbling back. I feel pain in my lower back as I collide with the desk behind me. A yelp escapes my lips, adding to the sob threatening to erupt from my mouth.From my peripheral, Dimitri tries to reach out to me but when I raise my head, he is just where he is. His gaze brimming with anger and hatred that sends chills down my spine.He stops, his back still to me. His shoulders drops, and for a fleeting moment, I see a flicker of something in him - pain, regret, perhaps even shame. But then it is gone, replaced by a cold indifference."Leave me, Lyn," he says in a low and rough. "Please." Then he walks out of the room."Don't you dare walk out of me!" I scream with pain in my heart. Tears scalds my cheeks. "Tell me! Do you believe them too?..."My legs give up beneath me and I crumple to the ground. My hands instinctively clutch my chest as if it will cease the physical ache in my chest.Our love was supposed to last forever. Our love was supposed to be the purest form. So why? Why did everything go so wrong?My numb fingers tremble as they clutch the pregnancy test strip in my shaking hand. The bathroom mirrors reflected my disheveled self—dark circles under my eyes, my hair sticking out because I haven't washed it in days and exhaustion in my eyes. The nausea, my aversion for the morning lights, the insatiable hunger, the bone-deep exhaustion—. I'm no child and I know what this symptoms are pointing at. I understand the changes happening to me that I desperately wish it isn't true. I turn the tap, letting the sound fill the silence around me. My shaky hand lifts the test strip to eye level. Two lines. Two stark lines stares back at me, confirming my suspicion. A strangled gasp leaves my mouth and my hands goes to my belly. "No...no..." I whisper and shake my head to deny the truth right in front of me. I can't be pregnant. No. Not when the war is still raging strongly. Not when Dimitri, the love of my life, stripped me of my title and ripped me from his side. My mind swirls to my
LYNEXIA Upon getting to the human world I was able to blend in. It was just like the werewolf world but without fangs and furs. A kind family, the Millers took in me and offered me a house in exchange for me working at their restaurant.Dimitri still haunts me up to this moment. I have come to terms with it that though our love didn't last forever, my love for him will never dim. I still think about my best friend, Zephyr. At the beginning of the war, we were both taken while the Barbarians returned me, they didn't do the same for my best friend. I hope that she has been found by now. Deep down, I hope the Barbarians aren't wreaking havoc anymore. Each day, my belly keeps growing and I keep counting down to my delivery day. It fills me with joy and happiness that I will meet my unborn child soon. Now, in my third trimester, every movement is a struggle. A groan escapes my lips as I lift a tray due to the pull in my swollen belly."I told you no more work!" Sarah, the woman who save
Present time. LYNEXIA I lurch awake in terror, gasping for air. Cold sweat slicks my hair to my forehead and chills the skin under my sleepwear. On reflex, my hands extend across the empty bed in search of Felicity. Relief washes over me when my fingers meet with the familiar curve of her small frame. I pull her close and bury my face in her soft hair. The same nightmare of someone taking my daughter away from me has haunted me since the day I gave birth to her up until this moment. I have a foresight power which is an ability to see catastrophe before it happens. My gift is both a blessing and a curse. Because though, I can see the future, I can't avoid the future. I can only prepare ahead for when it comes. Just like the dream I had five years ago about the Barbarians invasion. At the time I had the dream, it wasn't clear but when the Barbarians came knocking on our doorstep, I knew it was the manifestation of my dream. So the dream of someone taking my daughter away from me
DIMITRI Another day, another string of bad events. Or, rather, this is the norm for me now ever since...I shake my head, forcing the unwelcome memory from my mind. No thinking about her. Not going to spare a thought about her. I didn't for five years and I won't start now. Keep deceiving yourself. A voice in my head clamors. Clenching my jaw, I force my attention back to the meeting. The meeting between Moonstone and Shadow pack. Five years ago, desperation drove me to ally with the the alpha of moonstone pack, Alpha Henry. Ever since then, there hasn't been a day I didn't regret my decision. Alpha Henry is notorious for his greediness and selfishness but I didn't have a choice then. It was the only way to drive out the barbarians. Henry's assistance came with a price. A quarter of the Shadow pack's gold.I fulfilled his demands immediately after the war ended. But Henry's request didn't end there. He started by making minor requests like relocating a few moonstone families into
LYNEXIA Never in my life did I think I would step foot into the Shadow pack again after I left five years ago but here I am. In the shadow pack and in front of my dearest husband—wx husband. I convinced myself that the only thing I felt for Dimitri was indifference but the way my breath catches in my throat and the pang pulling at my heartstrings says otherwise. The shadow pack has changed from what It used to be. And Dimitri isn't the same either. He got bulkier and bigger. His piercing blue eyes only hold coldness and he now has a scar that draws down between his left brow. Scar is supposed to diminish beauty but it does quite the opposite in Dimitri. A slideshow of memories hit me but I choke it down immediately.I'm here for my daughter. Only my daughter. Dimitri holds my gaze with an intensity that steals the air from the room. Heat prickles my skin at the emptiness behind his gaze. His jaw is set tight and his face holds no emotion. The silence stretches for what seems lik
LYNEXIA I jolt upright, my hands balling beside me into fists of rage. "Are you insane?" The fact that he has a condition attached to this appalls me, not to talk of the condition itself. Dimitri scratches his jaw leisurely as if he can't be bothered by my sudden outburst. His calm gaze tightens around my gut. He is so unfazed, almost bored while a stream of anger begs to be let out from me. He sighs and says with a bored tone. "Take it or leave it." My mouth falls agape in disbelief, and the space between my brows creases into a deep furrow. I can't believe that I'm witnessing this. "Take it or leave it?" I repeat. The words roll on my tongue like black tar. "This is your daughter, Dimitri. Our daughter. How can you have a condition tied to saving her?" A vein ticks in his jaws and briefly a flicker of something I can't decipher creases his face before his mask of indifference slides back into place. "Are you doing this to punish me? Teach me a lesson?" I ask, my voice cracking
LYNEXIA "I never would have thought shadow pack territory would ever look like this again after the war," I say. The territory of the shadow pack moved from a primitive infrastructure to a more modern one. However, it is still interwoven with nature which is one of the landmarks of the Shadow pack. We connect with nature and seek guidance from it. Gavin's smile didn't reach his eyes. "Well, all thanks to Dimitri's grand vision." His tone holds something I can't decipher. The mention of Dimitri's name is enough to make my stomach churn. "Shit. I shouldn't have mentioned his name." "It's fine," I mumble, digging my shoe into the pebbles beneath me. I may despise Dimitri at the moment, but he is Gavin's best friend. Gavin asks "Want to tell me why you were crying?""I was hoping you won't ask." I focus my gaze down as if the pebbles are the most interesting thing I have ever seen. "Is it Dimitri?" I hear a sharp edge in Gavin's voice prompting me to raise my head. His jaw is clen
DIMITRI I know. It's twisted and sick to make such a deal with Lynexia but I wasn't going to take any chances. Not anymore. I already lost her once, I won't risk losing her for the second time. Even though I hate to admit it, without her, I was miserable. She may hate me now but I can work with that. As long as she is with me, I don't care but her being gone isn't something I can deal with. It is unbearable. Besides, when she is with me, I can win her over again just like I did five years ago. Even before I found out Lynexia was my fated mate, my eyes had always been on her. She had always sparked something inside of me. Being around her always made me feel alive. I thought that the spark I felt towards her was dead by now. I lied to myself that it was dead, that I didn't feel anything remotely for her. But I was wrong. The moment I set my eyes on her after five years, it blazed back to life. Hotter. Stronger. More consumin