Chapter 3 - Knowledge

Mya fell in and out of consciousness. She lost track of time in her never ending world of pain. The fire swirled within her, eating at her bones. It felt almost like the pain of her turning after Victors attack but worse. So much worse! The flames roared inside her, bending her limbs, bowing her spine. She tore at her skin hoping to relieve the agony that she felt inside but to no avail. The fire burned on. It remoulded her very being, the very essence of who she was, who she could be. And then it was gone just as quickly as it had arrived. Peace. She slept for what felt like an eternity. She would hear voices in her dreams;

“How long will the transformation take?”

“Will she remember what happened?”

“Was the experiment successful?”

Were they talking about her? Who was it? What experiment did they perform? Ahh who cares anyway. This was bliss! She was floating in ecstasy. The world could wait a little longer. Her body felt weightless, nothing to hold her down. She was soaring through the sky.

“Wake up Pet! It’s time for your training!” the voice slithered through her dreams bringing her back down from the clouds with a thump. She trembled. She knew that voice, the sly smile that went with it. The curled moustache that clearly had too much time spent on it. She slowly opened her eyes and there he was. Remus sat in a wingback chair next to her bed staring at her. His elbows resting on the arms of the chair. His long slender fingers laced together over his chest. He was extremely pale given the fact that he spent a lot of his time watching her train in the sun. He always looked clammy. Like his skin repelled warmth of any kind.

“What do you want Remus? Haven’t got anything better to do then come and creep me out?” she snarled at him. God she was thirsty! Remus smirked and pressed a button on the table next to him which lifted the head of her bed so that she was now sitting up. She must be in a hospital room. He stood up, walked to the other side of the room and continued to pour a glass of water from a jug that was sat there. He glided back over and held out the glass of water to her. She took it warily, watching him the whole time. He then walked to the door and left. Mya was certain he was up to something, scheming little worm. She sipped tentatively on her water and took stock of her surroundings. She was definitely in a hospital room, it was light and airy. She could see maple trees through the window. She must be on the North side of the manor to be able to see those trees. She’d never been to this part of the manor before. It didn’t make her room any less dull though, still the bog standard white walls with minimal furniture. It was all just so sterile here.

Remus came back into the room, closing the door gently behind him he sat back in the wingback chair. He stared at her once more. She stared back. “Do you know much about the other creatures here?” his voice sliding into her mind again. She knew who he was referring to, the other shapeshifters. He saw them as creatures, not people, vile little man that he was.

“I shan’t speak to you if you won’t even have the decency to talk with your mouth instead of violating my brain with your mind tricks” she said while sipping on her glass of water.

Remus bowed his head to her. Speaking out loud he said “As you wish my Pet. Do you know much about the, err other beings here?” He waited for her response.

“Not much.” She conceded. “Clearly they all shift into different animal forms but other than that I am not given the time to talk to them. They just beat me up every day. I know that Raina is very new here. I’ve not been training with her for long.” She sipped on her water.

Remus looked at her a while, clearly deciding on where to take this conversation. She waited. He nodded his head as if agreeing with his decision. “Darren was fed up with being alpha of such a small pack. He knew he was capable of bigger things. All the territories being tied up by other alphas with bigger packs he had to think outside the box. He had heard stories of other beings capable of wondrous things you could only imagine in your wildest dreams. He decided to travel the world searching for these different beings to strengthen his pack, even if they weren’t werewolves.” Mya sat transfixed by the story she was hearing. Finally she was going to get some answers around here.

“But packs are only made up of wolves. How could he bind them to him if they weren’t wolf?” She asked, slightly confused.

Remus smiled like she had asked a good question. “He cant.” He paused, clearly waiting for her to ask another question.

“So, if he can’t bind them to him then how can he ensure they do what they’re told?” She sipped on her water.

“Leverage, he needed leverage.” Mya scowled at him. She could see where this was going. “The first new being Darren came across were the were-tigers. He found them in Russia. They aren’t called a pack; they’re a clan, as are all of the other shifting groups. Clearly he couldn’t take on their clan’s alpha, far too powerful for him. But one of the lower ranking in the clan would do it. He studied them for weeks, followed their members around. He learnt their habits, their relationships and their status in the clan. That’s when he made his move. He kidnapped one of the clan member’s mates. Now as you know, not all mates are shifters. Some are human and they either choose to stay human or they choose to be turned.” She nodded, this was common knowledge. “Clearly the change is a dangerous thing and not everyone survives. Some people just aren’t strong enough to take that kind of transformation. In these cases their shifter mate will often commit suicide through the pain of losing their mate.” She nodded again; they had lost one of their pack members because of this a few years before she had been taken. His mate hadn’t survived the turn and try as her father might to keep him sane. He had taken his life three months later.

Remus paused and twisted the corner of his moustache. “Where was I? Ahh yes, a shifter will do anything to protect their mate, anything. So, that is why they do as they’re told. If the shifters here behave themselves then they can see their mate for one day each month.” He sat back in his chair, waiting for what he had said to sink in. Mya was horrified. How could someone be so cruel? To be apart from ones mate was to have a piece of your soul missing. Her father had tried to explain it to her one day when she had asked about the bond between him and her mother. There is only one true mate for each shifter in their lifetime and when you locked eyes with one another it was like the whole world stopped for an eternity and all that remained was the two of you. Werewolves can live for hundreds of years so finding your mate can take years. Mya had heard that some wolves had never found their mate at all.

“Did the tiger clan not hunt Darren down?” she asked.

“Of course they did. But they couldn’t find him.” Remus grinned.

“Because of you?” it was purely a guess on her part.

Remus bowed his head “Of course. Have you never noticed that Darren has no scent?” She scowled, trying to remember. Come to think of it she could never remember him having a scent.

“So that’s why they couldn’t find him and that’s why he didn’t ask other werewolf alphas permission to pass through. Because they never knew he had been through their territories” she exclaimed.

Remus beamed like his student had said something clever. “Exactly so. He then contacts the clan member whose mate he has taken and gives them an ultimatum. Join him and do his bidding. Or lose your mate, permanently”.

Mya was horrified, those poor people. “So if he has taken six mates of the shifters here. Where are they? Are they in cells like mine?” She had certainly never seen any rooms that looked similar to hers on her walks from her room to the kitchens or the arena.

“They work in the manor of course.” Remus exclaimed like she had asked a ridiculous question. “Why would he just lock them up when they can be useful to him as well? The human mates stay in the manor and the shifters remain outside with their living quarters being the cottages on the grounds. There is no access in and out of the manor without hand scanning and only a select few people have that access. The windows of the manor are also one way glass, you cannot see through them from the outside.” Mya shook her head in amazement. So much planning and cost had been put into this scheme. But what was it all for?

Her brain is working a million miles an hour now “So have I come across these human mates?” 

He smirked at her “I believe your friend Beth could help you answer that question”. With that he rose to his feet in one swift movement. “Now, I have work to be getting on with and you have healing to be getting on with. We need you fit and strong to start your new training regime soon. I shall be back tomorrow for your next lesson.” He left the room.

Mya couldn’t help but think this new training scheme was not going to benefit her in any way. And why did she need time to heal, she felt fine. Remarkably fine considering the wounds she must have received from the six shifters. She cringed. That had been bad. She scowled. So why wasn’t she in any pain? Yes wolves heal remarkably quickly but that had been some serious damage. She must be on some heavy pain killers. She looked down at her arms. She wasn’t hooked up to anything. This did not bode well.