After the sunset, Fenris shifted into his beast form before laying in front of me so I could mount his back. This would not be the first time I felt his fur on my fingertips, but it would be the first I would ride him like this. The moment his fur touched my limbs, I felt a rush of electricity course through me. It felt so much different from his humanoid hair. It was much softer.

When Fenris stood up, it caused me to fall onto him. I grabbed his fur into tight fists. I had only felt his coat like this once before. On a chilly night... When the building heaters failed one winter storm. After holding me for most of the night, I woke up the next morning to a radiant heat overwhelming me.

 Fenris had shifted into his beast form to keep me cozy throughout the night. He never left my side until they fixed the heaters, even though he had other duties to attend to. Even though I told him I was fine with a warm blanket. He refused to go, no matter how many times his phone rang.

Instead, he spent the entire day as my personal heater. He had received a scolding from Ryker the following day, but Fenris seemed to not care for his words, either.

“Late better than never.” Fenris sassed back at Ryker, much to his annoyance. Even at this moment, heat radiated into every inch of my body that touched Fenris's fur.

He was a warm fluffy cloud while in this form, to me at least. I did not have to fear the fangs he would bear to his enemies. Before taking off, he shook his body a bit to check if I was holding onto him tight enough to not be blown off. Shade again held onto my dress for dear life.

Fenris ran at a blinding speed. He was not as nimble as Cora, but he was just as fast. I closed my eyes and held on to him tightly as we ran through the dark forest and into the lights of the town. Before coming to a complete stop. To my surprise, we were not in the Cerberus headquarters, but in an alley.

We were in the part of the town; I had destroyed fourteen years ago. Fenris laid down on the floor to let me off. I tightened my grip on him, hesitant to do so. I felt like I did not belong here. So many people died because of what I had done, even if it was in a fail attempt to save them.

Over the years, Ben had drilled into me it was not my fault, but I still felt responsible for everything. It was because I could not control my emotions that the shadow demons from the nether realm went out of control. They were trying to defend me from everything I feared. I was just a young girl back then, but even so... I did not belong here.

Noticing my hesitation, Fenris shifted back to his humanoid form, even though I was still on his back. The sudden change caused me to grasp on to him as a baby monkey would to her mother. When his form stabilized, my arms ended up on his shoulders and around his neck, while the rest of my body rested on his back. I tightly wrapped my legs around his hips. I refused to touch the ground. A small chuckle rose from his lips as his hands and knees were on the floor.

"Lilith..." Fenris began sounding somewhat concerned over me.

"No! I cannot!" I refused to know what he wanted.

Even though I did not know the reason he had brought me here.

"Lily! It will be okay." Fenris assured me.

It fell on deaf ears. I did not, could not, step in this part of town ever.

"No!" I disagreed, burying my face in his back.

Fenris released a sigh, standing up with me on him. However, I held tighter onto his neck, as gravity wanted me to fall onto the ground below. Shade climbed up onto his head when he grabbed onto my arms that held him hostage.

"Lily..." He gently voiced, shifting his grip onto my thighs to make sure I would not fall by accident.

I declined to continue answering him. Though all it did was get him annoyed.

"I am going to do something mean again if you do not listen to me," Fenris warned me.

I ignored it. He would not get the best of me in this matter.

"I do not care!" I declared.

My words caused his grip on me to tighten a bit. My challenge irritated him.

"Oh... Well, then I am glad you consented to this." Fenris snickered.

Before I realized it, I was in the air as he had launched me upward to get me off his back. On the way back down, he swiftly caught me, pinning me in between the wall and himself. One of his hands held me up as the other ripped my stocking from my underwear. My heart raced, worried anyone would be around.

Luckily, everyone seemed to be busy doing other things than coming through this alley. The sky was devoid of any light too, so no one could really look in here and see us unless they were a vampire. They had great eyesight at night.

"Fenris... No... Someone will really hear us." I worried.

He unbuckled his belt once again. Just what did I get myself into?

"Well, maybe you should have gotten off when I told you to." Fenris pointed out.

I gripped his shirt tightly.

"No... Why didn't you take me back? You will get into trouble!" I tried to persuade him, but once he had a goal in mind, he would not relent.

I loved that part about him, too.

"Liam will make an excuse for me. And for you... Well, you have been behaving like such a good girl for these past years. That I am sure they think you are in your room." Fenris murmured into my ear.

His breath brushed against it, causing me to shiver. I gasped when he slipped himself into me.

"And for not taking you back. I want you to see how the world has moved on, and how you should too." He added, licking my neck.

By the gods, I was nothing more than a plaything for him. Not that I minded.

"Then show me!" I whimpered.

In response, Fenris’s heat went into my walls fully. My legs tensed up when he slowly thrust himself into me.

"Too late for that now. You will have to please me first. Hold your voice if you do not want unwanted eyes to look our way." He teased, knowing full well I could not.

The sensations that he sent through my body were too much for me to contain. I was addicted to this feeling, though. To him.

"Fenris!" I whined his name.

My lack of control caused him to click his tongue. He did not expect me to be so loud. There was a peaceful solution, though. Feverishly, he kissed me, too quiet me. I did not mind his attempt to silence me. However, we were in public and that alone caused my nerves to run wild.

Thanks to what he was doing to me, I did not notice the bracelets' failure to respond to my growing instability. It was the first time they had failed to suppress them. Unaware of my turmoil, Fenris separated himself from our kiss, only to trail down my neck. Before thrusting himself deep within me. It caused me to whine again. This time, though, I bit into his shirt soon after, trying to muffle the mewls that spurred out of me.

"Lily... Do not squeeze me like this. I don’t know if I can control myself if you do this to me." Fenris panted lewdly in my ear.

‘Just who’s at fault here!?’

He was not even trying to control himself in the first place. Annoyance swelled as the bracelet continued to malfunction. In response to his tease, I pulled him into another kiss. He continued to send ways of pleasure through my body. Moments before our release, he stopped and pulled away from my lips.

I was dazed, wondering why Fenris’s had stopped when I wanted more. Before I question his motives, his ears twitched in response to a stimulus. An explosion from the plaza soon followed it. Screams filled the surrounding air. My wolf stopped what he was doing and grabbed my hand, pulling me towards where the explosions happened. His warrior instincts flared. But he was not about to leave me behind, either.

The moment we left the alley, yet another blast came from a bakery in front of us. Body parts dropped from the sky because of it. Fenris grabbed onto my waist and held me tightly to him, assessing the situation. People screamed in a panic as they ran away from the source, only to find yet another horror waiting for them. Detonations kept occurring all over the place. It seemed nowhere was safe. Protectively Fenris shifted for me to get on him. His main priority was getting me out of there.

Wasting little time, I got on his back. We quickly made our escape towards Cerberus. Swiftly, he ran through the town, avoiding every explosion before they occurred. They must have been of magical origin for him to know where they would go off. Lycans could hear the magic cumulating right before the caster finished the spell.

That was why Stella's coven had made their base right outside of Silverant. It was also why she was so angry to have Lycans so close to her when the ritualistic spell was about to be done. It is just another reason they were the apex of races. The wolves were fully immune to elemental magic. But for sacrificial magic like ours, they had to be careful.

From the appearance of the explosion, elemental magic was not involved. They had green flames erupting from them, leaving little doubt about what originated them. Suddenly Fenris stopped dead in his tracks as an explosion happened right in front of us. It blocked the way we were headed. They had erupted all around Silverant, making it hard to tell where the caster was. Suddenly, they overwhelmed Fenris's senses, as he did not know which way to take anymore. It was distressing to see him confused about where to go to keep us both safe.

'Lilith!' Shade called out, alarmed by something headed towards us.

Even though I did not know what she saw. With no hesitation, I cast a spell, knowing full well she would not lead me astray.

"Obice impenetrabilia." I muttered rapidly, creating a barrier around us.

It stopped the incoming attack right in its tracks. When I glanced towards where the strike was blocked, I became frightened. I recognized something that should have been destroyed thousands of years ago. Something I knew about because I had read a book back when I was with the sisters. Before I could say anything to Fenris, someone from the shadows laughed, catching his attention instead.

"A witch and a Lycan? What a comical betrayal." A man said just beyond the darkness.

Fenris, with brief hesitation, went to launch to where the man was. Only to be stopped by me and Shade when I pulled on his fur as hard as I could. While she bit into one of his ears to catch his attention back to us. Even if one of those scratched him, he would... I screamed, dreading for his life.

"You cannot!" My voice echoed through the street.

A pulse of energy released from me, causing time and space to warp around us. A portal opened below us, leaving us little choice before it consumed us. For a moment, we were in complete free fall while we traveled in between realms. Unwittingly I had opened a gate that pulled us right into the nether realm.

Light bent around us as we reached the end of the in-between before a blinding light made us close our eyes. When we could finally see again, we found ourselves in an eerie world. Everything around us was colored blue, almost as if something had put a filter around our eyes, blocking every other color out.

In front of us, shadow demons walked in their world, ignoring our very presence. It was almost as if they did not care we were here. They were peaceful while they interacted with each other. Shade had not changed forms as she remained on Fenris's head, comfortably looking back at her homeworld. However, Fenris tensed up upon realizing what he was seeing. Defensively he took a few steps back, only to fall into another warp that took us back to our world. And away from the explosions and back to our room in the Cerberus building.

Unable to comprehend what had just happened, Fenris stood still as I jumped off him and sat on my bed. Clasping my hands together, I tried to calm myself. What had just happened? What had I just done? Fear ruled my very soul the moment that I saw that weapon that was deflected by the barrier. A knife radiating purple, wolfsbane. Glancing at my arm, I noticed my bracelet responsible for controlling my emotions was not shining. Even though I was shaking.

The damn thing was not blocking anything anymore. Coming back to reality, Fenris shifted back into his humanoid form before running to me. He called out to me, worried, but all I could do was stare at the useless crystal before grabbing onto it. I ripped it off my arm before throwing it towards the wall in front of us. For how long had it not been working? Years? I had no way of knowing.

Worst yet, I did not know how to suppress this fear that I had only felt once before. That day fourteen years ago, when the sisters said they wanted to harm Fenris. Not knowing what was wrong with me, my wolf hugged me while I screamed incoherently. The world could do whatever they wanted to me. It could ravish, brutalize, and even scorn me. I did not care. However, this would be the one thing I would not allow. No one would receive my mercy if they harmed my light. My beautiful light.

Throughout the night, Fenris held me tightly as we could hear explosions in the distance. He faithfully stayed by me as his duty dictated, though that was not the real reason he remained. I was inconsolable in his arms. I did not know what would happen if he left me. I cried until I fell asleep in his embrace before Ben arrived to check upon us.

Everyone else scrambled around to stop the ensuing chaos. If I ever were to lose Fenris, then this world would have no meaning. A darkness that had been planted by Stella all those years ago arose within me. My obsession with the wolf that had brought me into the light slowly chipped at my sanity.

When I woke up the next day, I laid on Fenris's lap. He had stayed awake the whole night looking after me with Ben. His brother seemed to pace back and forth with Shade on his shoulder. Out of all the people she ever interacted with, Ben was one of her favorites.

Fenris gently stroked my hair before stopping, noticing I was up. I slowly got up from the bed. Ben smiled when I glanced towards him as someone knocked at the door loudly. Standing up from beside me, Fenris went to answer the door while Ben asked me how I was. It seemed his younger brother had not told him about what I had done yesterday.

In response to his caring questions, I assured him I was okay. Fenris opened the door to reveal a distressed Layla behind it. With a brief hesitation, she jumped into him, not realizing Ben and I were in the room. Her sudden launch made Fenris stumble onto his bed behind them.

"Fenris!!" Layla called out to him.

He seemed annoyed from the tackle he had just received out of nowhere. After everything that happened in his mind, there was no space to deal with her.

"Get off…" Fenris tried to speak, only to be interrupted by Layla's lips crashing onto him.

For a moment, he could not comprehend what had happened. But the moment she licked his lips, he shoved her away.

"Ouch! Why are you always so cold to me?! That is no way to treat your future wife! I thought I would never see you again!" Layla whined, pouncing on Fenris once again.

She had no self-control for her fiancé, even if it bothered him.

"What the..." Fenris was about to curse at Layla, but Ben stepped in, noticing Fenris's mood before it got ugly.

"Oh, Layla! What a lovely coincidence." Ben tried to calm the situation down.

Fenris kept her away from his face. The moment Layla heard his brother's voice, though, her cheeks went bright pink, giving Fenris a break to catch his grip. Usually, he could deflect her attempts to kiss him with a cool attitude, but what had happened last night made him unable to deal with her today. It was not the first time that I had seen her do that, too, but this time I took special solace. In the thought of where his mouth was the previous day before she kissed him. A devilish thought from a tainted witch.

"Oh! I did not know you were here. Ah... This is awkward." Layla simpered at Ben, who just shook his head in response.

It allowed Fenris to get her off him. Once she was off, he walked over towards me before sitting next to me. Underneath the covers, he held onto my hand, making my heart beat loudly. I did not know if he did it to keep me under control. Or to comfort me from the scene I had just witnessed. I did not care, though, intertwining my hand with his away from Layla's view.

"Why did you say you were afraid of not seeing Fenris? He is a capable fighter, you know." Ben asked Layla, who reported on what had happened in town.

They had found a lot of Lycans dead after the attack. It seemed they had gone rabid before killing anyone who stood in their way. Before expiring from an unknown reason soon after going insane. Even though it was early in the investigation, the officers thought the explosions to be distractions. It was obvious how the attackers had targeted the wolves around Silverant during the diversion.

The attackers had stabbed the victims with knives coated in a weird radiant purple liquid. It seems more testing would have to be conducted before we knew what it was. However, I had little doubt what it was after hearing what it had done to Lycans. My initial fears were correct.

Wolfsbane was a plant long thought extinct. It was deadly to anything that shared Lycan blood, even hybrids. Long ago vampires had used it to submit the wolves to their will, but it quickly backfired. The Lycans went rabid and killed anyone in their path before expiring themselves.

Most of the deaths that had happened throughout the night had been because of these out-of-control Lycans. It made me certain of what the unknown substance was. I could never forget something that had been beaten into me.

When Layla finished speaking, I held onto Fenris's hand tighter, worrying that he was also a target for their attacks.

"I know..." I spoke, only to be interrupted by Layla.

She turned toward Fenris once again before jumping on him, even though he was in my bed. This action pried his hand off mine. I stared at them, stunned by what had just happened. It never crossed my mind she would do something like this.

"It was so scary Fenris! We should embrace each other before our vows!" Layla declared.

He blocked her advances with his arm, seemly distressed again.

"Just get off me!" Fenris ordered.

I stood off the bed, trying to calm my annoyance at what had just happened. It would be a mistake to allow myself to be pushed over the edge. I was no longer a child to throw tantrums over rival things. At least she did not want to hurt him. Even so I...

'How dare she take what is yours?' A whisper arose within me.

Ben grabbed me from behind, startling me.

"What were you saying, Lilith?" Ben asked curiously, grabbing me by my shoulder.

I turned to him, trying to suppress the envy I felt for Layla.

"What?" I mumbled, not knowing what he meant.

I had already forgotten what I was going to say before the interruption.

"You wanted to say something before Layla, you know, did a Layla thing." Ben shook his head, glancing towards the future alphas of the pack.

"Oh... I know what that liquid is." I announced, trying not to glance towards my bed.

Layla relentlessly continued to assault Fenris, ignoring his complaints.

"Oh? You do?" Ben questioned.

I nodded.

"Yes... It is wolfsbane." I answered, triggering Layla to snort, before laughing in response to my assessment.

"Silly girl, that plant has been extinct for longer than we have been alive!" Layla countered with her own knowledge.

I turned towards her, unimpressed by her challenge.

"It is wolfsbane," I argued firmly.

She saw it as me picking a fight with her. Lycans and their pride. Getting off Fenris, she came towards me and smiled.

"And how would a sheltered witch like you know more than I? A future alpha." Layla argued, looking at me like I was nothing compared to her.

What she spewed out was true. I was nothing compared to her. Even so...

"Layla!" Ben and Fenris shouted in disbelief at her words.

I smiled in return.

‘So, this is how she felt about me... because I live with Fenris. Just like all the others.’

'Folder...' A whisper passed through.

It caused me to snap my eyes closed before staring at her head-on. All this time, I had tried to be nice. Tried to stay out of their way, yet they always looked down on me. This world was tiresome indeed.

"Before I lived here, I was with the sisters..." I stopped for a few moments.

Even mentioning them made me recall all the things they had done to me. There was no way I would have ever forgotten a lesson that came from their abuse. Taking a deep breath, I continued.

"When I was with the sisters of Moira, I read about it in one of their contraband books. They were also supposed to be burned all those years ago when the plant went extinct. Wolfsbane matches the symptoms exerted by these wolves though." I explained in the hopes to clarify myself.

Layla's expression changed. For a moment, the room filled with silence before she suddenly launched for me. Fenris grabbed her before she could get to me. Ben got in between us, too.

"You were with the cult that killed my pregnant mother?!?!?!?" Layla screamed at me.

Fenris held onto her. Unbeknownst to me, Layla's mother was one guest on Fenris's birthday, who had suffered the same fate as many others.

"Layla, she was just a child then!" Ben tried to explain the situation, but Layla just saw red.

It seemed they were not telling anyone where I came from, and I could see why. The pure hatred in her eyes when she heard I belonged to them was unreal. If Fenris was a split second late, I would have been severely injured.

"I do not care! I will rip her throat out and save you the trouble of protecting her." Layla declared.

Before anyone else could say anything else, an enraged Fenris slammed her onto the wall hard enough for it to crack. Even though they were made from pure cement. The shock of Fenris doing that to her alone made her breathless. He grabbed onto her face, holding her in place against the wall. His eyes glowed brightly as rage pumped through him.

"You touch a hair on her head, and I will rip you apart! Got it?!?" Fenris snarled at Layla.

Ben grabbed onto his arm, stopping him from doing something he would regret. In response to his brother's intervention, he let her go before grabbing my hand and pulling me out of there.

"Fenris... I am sorry I did not know. I thought she knew." I apologized, being ignorant of the fact she was unaware of my origins.

I thought since she was going to be Fenris's wife, they would have told her everything by now, yet they had not.

"It is not your fault, Lily. Do not worry, Ben will handle it." Fenris shrugged, holding me close to him outside of the room.

Ben spoke with Layla inside. My body trembled in the response to seeing her hate me with such passion. If she were ever told the truth of what really happened that day. She would never stop hunting me. Fenris's kindness had made me fear death somewhat. The thought of not feeling him ever again made me scared, too. After a few minutes, Ben came out with Layla, who profusely apologized for launching at me.

"I did not know you were a victim! I am so sorry!" She apologized.

Fenris kept her away from me, though. It honestly was hard to know if her apology was genuine or because of what Fenris had threatened her with. After that, she retreated, followed by Ben, who went to talk to Ryker about what I had deduced from the situation.

Once we were alone in the room, Fenris went over to a shelf where he took out the bracelet that I had thrown the previous night. He hid it when Ben came and told no one that I had taken it off. Or what had happened the previous night when I had it on.

The wickedness in the world had made its move. Soon enough, fates would collide once again.