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12. Pretend
Last Updated:
2024-01-11 18:52:36
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Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 13. A Deal
Chapter 13. Callista-Before the arrival of His Majesty Alpha King Theon Valenti Rexellen, first of his name.Wolfsbane was one of the most potent drugs known to were-kind, able to knock off a full-grown wolf for days if administered in the right amount. I knew Farris had only given me a little, as I had woken up in less than four hours. But the after-effects were the same. As I sit in the living room, waiting for my fate to arrive, I can’t move my body or talk. My head hurt like I had been beaten senseless, and my whole body felt as if someone had tied me to a boulder and kicked it underwater. Gravity is dragging my body under, and I'm trying my hardest to fight.It is a battle to keep my eyes open, but I have to. I can’t let them trade me off unconscious.I need to see the man who even Farris feared, regardless of his former posturing. This King who is in charge of my future, whose brother I was going to be mated to whether I liked it or not. I felt used, and abused, but still, the
Last Updated : 2024-01-12Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 14. Leaving
Callista.I wake up in a strange car, stronger and in more control of my body than I had been before. Through the thick, glass partition that divides my portion of the vehicle from the rest, I could see my adoptive sister and the Alpha King sitting with their backs to me. This is the type of vehicle wolves use to transport rogues or injured werewolves in wolf form; or in my case, stealers who apparently make unmated pack members attack each other.I am seething at how Farris had spun that lie, making it seem like I was a true villain when I had spent the night in jail isolated from everyone. It was clever of him; I won’t lie to spin the story in the way he did. In the end, it all clicked. I was also angry at the Alpha King for letting himself be played like that, accepting his words even when he saw how Farris had used the illegal Wolfsbane on me. It seemed like to him I was just a mindless danger. He would rather believe assumptions than talk to me and find out what really happened.
Last Updated : 2024-01-12Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 15. Castle
Callista.The castle is humongous. We are parked in the inner courtyard, which is actually very lovely with a nice garden. There is a massive defensive talus surrounding the inner residence building, with a moat surrounding the whole area. The large gate is automated. There are four fortified towers at the four corners of the square talus, armed with, if my sight is reliable, machine guns. I am stunned at this; I did not know that the Rexellen pack actually had any need for machine guns of all things. But then again, what do I know of the Royals. The castle is very medieval, unlike any other old castle that is in the USA, which I find is rather peculiar. Had I not been worrying about my own misfortune; I would have wondered when exactly werewolves migrated to the USA.When Theon and Ruelle get out of their portion of the vehicle, I brace myself. I tell myself that I would be levelheaded and calm and try to explain matters to the King without letting my emotions get a hold of me. Perh
Last Updated : 2024-01-12Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 16. Missing
Callista.My room is cozy and spacious, with a quaint little fireplace lit already. A white door leads to a tiny bathroom already stocked with generic toiletries. There is a four-post bed with a white comforter and grey pillows, a little dresser that looks antique, and a desk near the only window in the room along with a wardrobe. This is the first time I’ve ever seen such a wardrobe. The floor of the room is made of stone and covered with soft rugs. There is a musty air in here like the room hadn’t been used for a while.All in all, it’s not a bad prison cell. Suppose I should be glad that despite his words, the King ordered his underlings to make me comfortable. For a moment there, I was certain I’d be thrown into the dungeons for my insolence.It’s far better than the accommodations I was given the last night I spent at my birth pack.Home. My heart twists in my chest, and unwillingly the sound of the maniacal howl rings in my ears. I am placed right below a wolf in the process of
Last Updated : 2024-01-12Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 17. Dream
Callista.Well, that is a bummer to hear. I guess Theon took Farris’s story about me attacking the guards back in the Leighwen pack quite seriously. With a sigh, I trudge to the desk in the room and focus on the tray.My dinner consists of steak, roasted asparagus, and a dollop of mashed potatoes. It’s quite rich, and I’m surprised at being given food that tastes like it’s been cooked for the King himself. Because I’d missed plenty of meals since the coming-of-age ceremony, I basically shovel the food in my mouth. After every morsel had been consumed, I tried to think of my next move.I lay all the facts I know in my mind.One, I’m the stealer.Two, Farris lied and sold me off to the Alpha King of North America. Without my consent.Three, the Alpha King Theon Valenti Rexellen of the Rexellen pack is my Mate.Four, because of the conniving madness of my family, he believes my sister is his Mate. How do I know this to be false? Ruelle told her mother that she didn’t feel a pull toward T
Last Updated : 2024-01-12Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 18. Trouble
Callista.A week goes by, and my life becomes one series of events repeating from sunrise to sunset.Every morning I am woken up before dawn and given food. After, I’m taken for a walk around the inner courtyard. That’s what the friendly guard meant when he came to take me outside the very first day it happened. I’d been afraid that the King had finally had it with my nuisance and decided to dispose of me before I could become a real problem. Then I wondered it I’d been transferred to the dungeons. But neither of them happened. As the friendly guard says, Theon had thought that I needed some daily exercise to help me fight off the effects of being drugged with Wolfsbane. I’m a little touched by this, and I scold myself for being pathetic. The man had literally bought me, for Goddess's sake. Whether it’s knowingly or unknowingly did not really matter to me when I was pissed.After that, I’m taken back to my room, where I am to spend the day as I please. I have been given a heavily form
Last Updated : 2024-01-13Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 19. Comfort?
Callista.“What the actual hell?!” My mate growls, storming his way into my room. The guards are standing outside, silent as stone. Theon is seething, his lips pulled back into a snarl.Yet all I can think is how good he smells, and how much I just want him to take me in his arms and maybe just kiss me a little.'Pathetic, Callista, really pathetic.' I tell myself. The man looks like he wants to murder me! I need to grow a spine someday soon, I don’t owe him anything, much less subservience.“I save you from exile and give you a comfortable place in my castle, yet you don’t do the single thing I ask of you?”Oh, is that what he thinks this is about?“Comfort? What’s the use of comfort when I’m a prisoner here! It doesn’t matter if it comes with a shower and some cushions, a jail cell is a jail cell!” I yell back at him. “I’ve been ripped from the life I’ve led and locked up in a tower! The last thing I’d do is find it cushy!”For a second, Theon seems stunned at my outburst. Good.“Y
Last Updated : 2024-01-13Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 20. Audacity
Callista.I remain near the bed as my adoptive sister circles me, like I’m prey caught in the web she has woven. Her face is deadly serene as if she doesn’t have a care for this world, yet her voice is hard as steel when she talks.And again, she is wearing my clothes. These further cement my theory on how she’s deceiving my mate.The audacity of this woman, I swear.“What’s up with your closet recently, Ruelle?” I ask, instead of answering her question, “Did Mommy and Daddy forget to pack your own million-dollar walk-in closet or something?”“Answer my question!”“Pass.” I sneer.She halts her pacing and stares at me. “Were you trying to tell him about feeling his scent again, Callista?” She asks, “What did you say he smells like, wet fur and dog vomit…”“What the-no, he smells of pinecones and sea breeze and everything warm and nice!” I burst out. Immediately, I realize what I said, and curse myself for giving Ruelle that information. “Oh, you bitch.” I'm blushing like an idiot.It
Last Updated : 2024-01-13
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Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 322. Epilogue
CallistaTen years later.I stand in front of Lily Lane Pup Daycare after ending my workday at Rexellen University, holding a stack of books in my arms trying to shove them into the backpack I’ve taken with me.It’s three in the evening, and the kids should be out in a few minutes.It’s summer again, the weather is pleasantly warm, and everything brims with life. There are bees flying everywhere, suckling nectar out of the numerous fully blossomed Leanderrs.The Rexellen pack town is as busy as ever, with people bustling around after clocking off from work, going on their errands, and their outings.Everyone seems happy, and they’re open and very friendly.Upon noticing me, everyone who passes greets me with a simple.“Good evening, Luna!”“Good evening to you too!” I always greet back.Some parents stop by near the daycare to collect their children, and we start pleasantly conversing with each other.I’ve been the Luna Queen of the Rexellen pack for ten years now, and honestly, those
Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 321. Ceremony
CallistaFour weeks later.I walk down the shoveled path with a single lily flower in my hand, a smile on my lips, and my heart overflowing with joy.I’m dressed in an ankle-length, heavy-set gown that accentuates my form as if it had been sewn with me in my mind.It’s a silverish white in color in accordance with tradition, and a million tiny rhinestones create spiraling patterns all over the skirt. The long sleeves and the woolen cloak that accompany them give me warmth on the cold winter night.On my neck, there is a white gold necklace with a diamond as the pendant, the only piece of jewelry I wear, which is a gift from the witches who'd arrived a day before to celebrate the ceremony.The mating ceremony for Theon and me.In the background, a string quartet, comprised of two maids of the Rexellen pack castle and two guards, plays a tune that I can't quite name but can’t help but think is so apt for the situation.On either side of me, my closest friends whom I consider my family s
Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 320. Gift, not Curse
CallistaA week later.Valencia Everhart was sentenced to life in prison by the Supernatural Council for assisting the devil in his criminal endeavors such as kidnapping and harboring a werewolf, orchestrating a pack takeover on the orders of the devil, attempted killing of two pack members of the Rexellen pack and the biggest crime of them all, assisting the devil in massacring the entire Galdine pack.I thought the last one was a bit harsh because Valencia never really did know about that charge, but as Valencia had confessed in the court, she’d given the devil the location and information regarding her pack.She had been under the impression the devil was going to protect the Galdine pack from Theon’s retaliation against the pack takeover, but she’d been lied to.We attended the court on the same day as Valencia did, and I’m sure that the cries that ravaged her as she learned the horrible fate that befell her pack would never stop haunting my nightmares.I felt sorry for her, and a
Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 319. Afterlife
CallistaQaetanya and Xaveraq reached the afterlife together.One was willing, the other was not. One sacrificed herself, while the other, well, I had to kill the other.Xaveraq’s soulless body lays in the circular chamber, and I don’t look at it again as we exit the room, both of us still in wolf forms.I feel numb as we stumble out of the temple as soon as possible after I release the devil’s and the deviless’s souls into the gateway.None of us speak, although I could feel everyone except Theon patiently waiting for the right moment. They look stunned as we walk through the doorway. For a moment I’d been afraid the doorway wouldn’t be present because of it being only shown with the blessing of a devil and all, but fortunately, it stands.As soon as we all exit the temple doorway, it starts to shudder. And then the most bizarre thing happens.Numerous high-pitched screams ring through the air, and greyish white mist starts to shoot from all directions towards the doorway, getting su
Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 318. Defeat
TheonI can’t process half the things that are happening as I stand outside the little circular room, trying and failing to get in.One moment, Callista is being choked by the devil, and the next moment, in the place of Callista, stands a majestic white wolf! The wolf shimmers as if she were the Moon Goddess herself in wolf form, stepping down from the moon to aid us in our time of need.But when the wolf looks at me for the briefest moment and howls in ecstasy, I realize that this wolf is no Goddess.That’s my mate!After months, no, years, of agonizing, Callista has finally found her wolf.But then she turns towards Xaveraq and leaps towards him with no hesitation.My scream deafens my own ears, wondering what the hell she was doing. I witness the whole scene as if it’s unfolding in slow motion.As Callista nears the devil, whose shadows are closing in on her to consume her, a flash of blinding white light erupts from her, filling the room with a glow akin to the sun.I shield my e
Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 317. Amazed
QaetanyaHer wolf is beautiful, reminiscent of the first wolfwoman I met in the forests of Gaul all those years ago.She is larger than most wolves, were-creature or otherwise, and when she stands, she cuts a majestic figure, even in the confines of the squat, circular room. Her coat is a silverish white, and it glistens as if it was created by moonlight, as if the Goddess molded the wolf herself.Her emerald eyes shine as she stares at Xaveraq in confusion, and amazement, stunned to her very core.She can’t still process that after years of hope and dream, she’d finally transformed into her secondary form.I had watched her wolf grow from a pup to an adult within her as I was trapped in her mind ever since she was born. Throughout the three thousand years I’ve been with Callista’s bloodline, I’ve witnessed hundreds of pups being born within the babies, but never have I seen a wolf as beautiful as this one.Even I was in awe when she first appeared, sleeping soundly, growing along wit
Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 316. Shift
CallistaThe very first time I witnessed a werewolf’s first shift I was just five years old.It was at a birthday party, and of course, it was for Ruelle.Naturally, almost everyone from my adoptive parents’ families was invited. I liked my relatives because they didn’t favor Ruelle over me to the extent my parents did. At this time, all I had were Ruelle’s hand-me-downs. Her clothes, her toys, her books…The only thing I had for myself was a pair of shoes because Ruelle’s feet had always been smaller than mine, and there was no way my feet could fit in her shoes.I loved those shoes so much.That didn’t mean I never got gifts. My parents’ relatives would always give me presents of my own when they came to visit. It didn’t matter if it was Ruelle’s birthday or mine.It didn’t matter if it was a special day, a holiday, or even a plain, random visit to see how we were doing: clothes, shoes, toys, and new books; everything a little girl could want.Granted these things would be taken awa
Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 315. Goodbye
Callista“My, my, Qaetanya, you’re actually stronger than I thought. Here I thought that you wasted it all by giving that werewolf a special scent,” the devil taunts the deviless as he circles us, his eyes set on us as if he’s a predator.“I was blessed by the Goddess,” arrogantly, Qaetanya declares, flexing her digits so the electric sparks flicker around them. “Such a power cannot be hindered by anything, least of all you!”“All except the summer solstice,” Xaveraq grins before hurtling another wave of shadows towards her.Qaetanya ducks them swiftly, and the shadows hit the wall behind us, getting absorbed into the stone. Using her momentum, Qaetanya attacks Xaveraq with a light wave of her own, which Xaveraq detracts by a shield of shadows.“I told you that information because I trusted you,” Qaetanya replies to the jab. “Because I believed the man I loved wouldn’t even think of hurting me with that information. But you did exactly that. You might preach about me manipulating you
Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 314. Monsters
TheonA pillar monster falls right in front of me, nearly crushing me, but I jump away just in time. The sheer force of the fall breaks its stone arm in two, and the eerie silverish glow in its eyes subsides. The pillar monster stops moving.“I think he died,” I tell Haden, who is panting on the other side of the fallen monster.This is the only one that we managed to fall, and by the looks of it, kill.“Holy shit, did that actually work?” Kiran screeches.He was the propellent of bringing the monster down. Now, he jumps back to the ground from the shield he’s been standing on and jogs closer to the pillar monster.Tentatively, he reaches out and touches its cracked shoulder, where some of the previously seen symbols are visible. I remember them running all around the pillars before the monsters came into being, glowing.I look at him and nod, trying to confer my thoughts via body movements.Yes, I think it actually worked.“Guys, we managed to bring a monster down!” Kiran yells back
