Chapter Three: The Complete Truth.

Rendall looked down from the tall tree at the werewolves his father had sent after him. He watched as they looked around trying to figure out which way he had gone. After a while, they gave up and left. Rendall frowned at how they had let him escape easily.

"My people are beginning to lose their hunting instincts," Rendall muttered with a sad sigh.

"Tsk tsk," Conri, his wolf said disapproving of the werewolves that quitted. "I can sense how weakened their wolves have become. The decreasing amount of meat hunted every full moon is proof. Their wolf side is weakening as the day passes and if nothing is done..."

"It'll vanish," Rendall completed his wolf, Conri's statement sadly. "The fact that Nyx curse on the werewolves is heavier than that on the werelion has left me perplexed. Even if she wanted to curse the werewolves for the sin of a werelion, why should the curse be as heavy as the werelions' curse?"

Seeing that the coast was clear, Rendall climbed down the tree. He sat on the grass thinking of how he would approach the werelions without ending up dead and soon, he fell asleep. After some hours, he woke up to hear noises. Curious to know what the noise was, he got up and went towards the direction he heard the noise coming from. The noise was not the only thing that attracted his attention. Something else did. It was...

A scent?

It felt weird. He began to walk towards the direction the noise and scent came from and with each step, it got stronger. He walked until he stumbled upon a trapped werelioness. She was trying to break free. She had a basket of herbs around her neck. Rendall walked to her and she became still. She had just noticed his presence. When he got much closer, she roared trying to scare him away. But, he moved closer to her. Something about her enchanted him. He could not explain the sudden weird feeling that sprang within him. His wolf was excited.

Weird.

"Be still. I'm not here to harm you but to help," Rendall said and she became calm. This sudden calmness of hers surprised the lioness. It was strange. She wondered why the stranger's words had calmed her or why she had stopped roaring. The person before her was definitely a werewolf. She knew this and despite being a werelion, she chose to be calm. Why?

When he was close enough, he freed her from the trap. The lioness scrutinized the good Samaritan. She wondered why the werewolf made her feel weird.

"Hi, I am Rendall and a werewolf." The lioness took a step backward. His voice had stirred some weird feelings within her. Rendall noticed how hesitant she was. She must have been startled on realizing that he was a werewolf. He smiled and kept on moving closer. "I know how werewolves and werelions try to kill each other whenever they cross paths but I do not want that to happen."

His blue eyes met her amber eyes. They made eye contact intensifying the weird feelings within the lioness. It then dawned on her.

"MATE!" She screamed in her head.

The white-haired figure before her was her mate. Her mate was a werewolf? Her eyes widened in terror. This could not be happening.

With her teeth, she grabbed some leaves from the bush beside her and she began to run away. Rendall was dazed by the werelion's reaction. He wanted to talk to a werelion badly and now that he had met one, she had taken off. He took in a huge breath. He would not let her go easily. She ran so fast. If he ran after her, he knew she would only run faster and he would end up not catching up with her. He had a plan. He went after her but he took a different route so she would slow down. He ran as fast as he could and he climbed up a tree along the path he predicted she would pass through. He watched the road keenly until he saw the lioness walk toward the tree. Luna braced up, preparing to make the next move. When the lioness was directly under the tree, Rendall jumped down and landed on her back.

The lioness shrieked in fear at the impact. She tried to shake Rendall off but he was adamant. He gripped hold of her fur very tightly. The struggle continued and soon the sun went down. Rendall realized that the altitude at which he sat had reduced and that was when he noticed that the werelion had shifted to her human form.

She groaned in pain and Rendall got off her. The lioness stood up straight and dusted the dirt off her body. Rendall was mesmerized by her beauty. She had the most beautiful pair of green eyes and her straight, shiny hair was jet black. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. He began to wonder if werelions were this beautiful. The one before him was extremely beautiful and she radiated some kind of energy that made him feel weird. He wondered why the beauty made him feel weird. At that moment, the rain of realization fell right on him. This werelion was his...

‘Mate?’

A werelion was his mate. Of all the diverse creatures in the world, it had to be a werelion. After Nyx's curse, the hatred between Werelions and werewolves intensified so, why did the moon goddess choose a werelion for him? This could not be. He had to avoid her. He would just ask her of Nyx and Helia, Nyx's conjured child, and then go his way.

"Pervert," she snarled and that was when he realized that he had been ogling a woman's naked body and he placed his hands over his eyes. After a while, he peeked through his fingers and when he saw that she was wearing a gown made of leaves, he took his hands off his eyes completely. Randall was baffled at how she had kneaded a gown from leaves that fast.

"Go away!" Her voice was hoarse.

"Well, at least I deserve a thank you for saving you." Rendall was beginning to get annoyed at her ungratefulness.

"You did all of this to get a thank you for me?" The werelioness scoffed. "Pathetic!"

"I don't need your thanks. I just have an important question to ask," Rendall said with his teeth clenched. He was trying to suppress his fast-growing anger.

The werelioness' facial expression changed. She seemed terrified but in split seconds, her face became blank.

"Why don't the werelions return the child that Nyx, the witch had conjured?"

She laughed hard at his question which made him wonder if his question was in any way amusing.

"Why should we do that?" Her mouth was curved in a smirk. Rendall could not help but notice how cute her smirk was and the wolf in him became even more restless. Nevertheless, her question still left him stunned.

"What the... Are you not bothered by the curse?"

The werelioness smirked.

"If Helia is returned, we will all be free from this curse. I'm sure Helia would love to go back to the one who created her."

She smirked again and Rendall frowned. He wondered if she was smirking on purpose just to annoy him.

"The story you werewolves know is not completely true."

"That's one of the reasons I seek a werelion. I don't think it is and I want to hear the real story."

"I was not conjured up by any witch."

"Not conjured? You?" Rendall furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Are you Helia?"

"I just told you that I wasn't conjured by a witch. Why do you think I had told you this? Of course, I am Helia."

Rendall was stunned. Not only was his mate a werelioness but the future leader of the werelions and the cause of the curse that had befallen his land.

"Okay, but why does Nyx want you? Who gave birth to you?"

"The mate of Alpha Leander of Khron is my mother and Alpha Leander is my father. I am not in any way related to Nyx."

"Then why did she come for you?" Rendall was confused. Why would a witch want a cub when it was not hers?

"Before I was born," Helia began. "A werelion spied on an organization of humans. This organization was a secret one and was owned by Mr. Wilkinson, a rich, diabolic, and crazy businessman who knew that werelions and werewolves were real. He wanted to form an invincible army of werelions and werewolves so that he could become more powerful. The more powerful he becomes, the more evil he can perpetuate. But, Mr. Wilkinson had no idea where werelions and werewolves lived so he decided to meet Nyx. He knew that Nyx was a powerful witch and could help him. Brient, the werelion spy told Alpha Leander about this so Alpha Leander met with Nyx to dissuade her from revealing the location. Nyx would only help for a price. She wanted Alpha Leander's first child..." Helia's paused and sighed sadly.

"He agreed, saving us all from Mr. Wilkinson but when he had his first child which was you, he could not let you go," Rendall added sadly. His people had misunderstood the werelions. The werelions were not as bad as they painted them to be.

"According to Brient," Helia said almost in a whisper. "Mr. Wilkinson had prepared everything needed to make us all his army. We would do whatever he wanted whether we wanted to or not. He planned to make us all his puppets. The only thing he needed was our location."

"Can we not break free from the curse?"

"We need Nyx to do that for us."

"Can't we convince her to help us? She must want other things too."

Helia smirked.

"Nyx is evil. She would ask for too much."

"We should give it a try." Rendall countered and Helia stared at him blankly.

"There is no harm in trying." 

Rendall was not going to give up. There must be a solution. He just needed the chance to meet with Nyx.

"Nyx is dead," Helia said and Rendall froze.