Chapter 1: Scarred

-Anastasia-

14 years later…

I stood in front of my mirror. The water was running down my body. The room was full of steam after my long bath. I always loved it hot. Almost scolding. I wasn’t sure why. It hurt when I got in, but I wanted it that way. As if the sting of the warmth fueled me in a way nothing else did. No food gave me energy. No sleep made me feel more awake. And no long walks or runs helped me feel stronger. But the burning water helped me. It brought me strength. It made me feel more powerful. Just for a moment, but it was enough. I made me actually feel something. I reached out and ran a hand over the glass, brushing away the steam on the mirror, and saw myself standing there, completely naked and still dripping with water. I turned my head and lifted my hand, running it over the burned skin on my body that covered almost my entire left arm and some of my chest. I had survived that night… but I had barely made it out. The flames had caught onto my clothes and burned me. I had yet not changed for the first time, meaning I had no healing abilities, but even if I had gotten my wolf, even if I had made my first change, fire was something that could hurt all of us. It was a weakness for all creatures on this earth. Even werewolves.

“Luna?” Someone knocked on my door. It was an omega working in the house. She was always the one who came to check on me when my baths turned too long. Mira had once found me passed out in the bathtub because I had been in the hot room for so long. I made sure not to open any windows. I made sure there was no ventilation in here. I wanted the choking feeling of the hot air. It reminded me of that night… the night I had lost it all, leaving me with no family… no love. Lycans had done it. Mysterious lycans, who had come and gone like lightning. They were more powerful than any werewolf. They had slaughtered everyone I had loved. It had taken me years to rebuild, but I had not let it break me. I was going to get my revenge. I was going to find the people who had done it and I was going to kill them all.

“Luna, are you all right?”

“I’m fine, Mira,” I said, my voice as emotionless as ever.

“Shall I come in?”

“No, I’m coming out.”

“All right, Luna. I have your dress prepared for tonight. I will lay it on the bed.”

“Please do.”

“Do you need help with your hair?” she asked.

“No, I can do it,” I shouted back.

I didn’t like a lot of touching. I always shrank under anyone who tried to. It was almost like the flames. That was how other people’s touch felt. Like they burned me. Maybe it was just a reaction from what had happened. Maybe I just feared touch now. I couldn’t say, and I hadn’t tried working on it. Anyone would probably think I needed help. That I needed to talk to someone about what happened, but I had no time for chats. I was going to find the lycans who had done this to my family, and I would make them pay one by one.

“All right. You call me if you need any help.”

“Thanks, Mira,” I said.

I waited until she had left, then I opened the bathroom door, steam flowing inside. I walked naked over to my bed and looked at the dark blue dress in front of me. I reached down and ran a hand over it, just touching the nice soft material. It had a little glitter on it and shone when the moonlight hit it. A little was streaming in from the glass doors leading to a balcony. I should probably turn on the lights in my room, but I didn’t bother. Instead, I just put on the dress, not bothering to even dry myself. I zipped it up and then went back to a small make-up table I had standing further away. After brushing my hair, I let it hang down my back. I knew I should go blow dry it, but I just sat there, looking at myself. Many would probably have chosen a long-sleeved dress to cover up the bumpy and pink scares had I on my left arm. But I wasn’t going to. I had not been to a party in years. Not before my parents’ death, but this one was different. It was special, because the Lycan King was going to present the queen he had chosen. He would introduce her to us all tonight. It was why even wolves were invited and not just the lycans. There weren’t a lot of them left. Just a few small packs. The biggest one belonging to the king, of course, and they rarely mingled with us wolves. In their eyes, we were beneath them. A lower race. Like many werewolves looked down on the humans. I cared little about what they thought of me. Like I didn’t care what people would think when I showed up in a dress which had a little plunging front and only small straps holding it up. Anyone could see the scars on my body. They were clear as day, but let them see it. If those lycans who had killed my family were there tonight, I wanted them to see me. I wanted them to know I was not dead, and I remembered.

What if we do find them tonight?

My wolf, Sierra, stepped forward. She often stayed very quiet. I felt her, but she never spoke much. She was powerful, though. Her power ran in my veins like furious fire. When I thought of my parents’ death, that fire turned stronger, almost hurting me. It was her anger. She wanted justice, too. She wanted them all punished, too.

“Then we start planning their deaths,” I told her.

I had never seen the ones who did it. I smelled them. That scent still stung in my nose. I would be able to recognize them if I saw them tonight. I would smell them.

I want to tear them apart!

“And you will get your chance, but we need to be patient.”

Patient? You want us to be PATIENT? We have waited for 14 years!

“I’m aware…”

And now you say we need to be patient. Haven’t we been patient?

“Do you want me to bring a gun to the party?”

Yes, and a knife too, so we can cut them to pieces before we actually show them kindness and let them die!

It was surprising how almost angrier and thirstier my wolf was for blood than me when she had not even been present that night. She had seen my memories, though. I had changed only a few hours after the attack had happened, and I had been lying on the ground in pain. It had been a forced change… usually we didn’t change until around 12 and 13, just when we were becoming teens, but the trauma and the pain had triggered me. It had made my body believe that there was so much danger around me or coming at me, that a change was necessary. Something like this happened rarely, but it had happened to me… and I had had no one to guide me. I had screamed and writhed in pain. A forced change was so much more painful. It happened slower, and it was like I had been burning up. Like true fire really had run in my veins. No one had heard me or been there to help me. They did not find me until days later someone had come, and by then I was more like a wild animal than a person. It was my aunt who had come to check on her sister when no one had answered her calls for days. She had come with her mate and they had found me. I had been hiding in what was left of the house, and I had hissed and growled at them, not remembering them. I had not been myself. The girl who had been there before was gone. It had taken a long time before they could even make me speak, but I had not told them what happened that night. There was no need to explain anyway… they had seen what had happened.

“No,” I said coldly.

Why not?

“First of all, they don’t allow weapons at these parties, and you know this.”

My wolf huffed, annoyed.

“Second of all, how will I fight them all alone?”

Lycans are powerful. It didn’t need to be an entire group! A handful could have done it!

“I’m still alone.”

Then find people who will help us!

“You know no one will go against the lycans.”

Bullshit! She growled loudly in my head and I pressed a finger to my temple as my ears rung.

“Remember, the enemy is not me,” I reminded her.

She sighed and finally calmed down.

Sorry…

“I know what you want, and I want the same, but we need to be smart about this.”

We have waited for so long…

“I know… we have…”

I looked into my own eyes in the mirror. It was like I could actually look at my wolf, and not inside my mind, but in front of me. We were one person, after all.

I’m tired… Ana, I am tired.

“I know… I am too.”

Being so angry… feeling nothing but hatred and pain… I want it over with.

“I do too…”

Then why do we need to be patient? Please, just… set me free.

I shook my head.

“People die in wars… we can’t let innocents get hurt,” I said. “We need to be patient. We might even risk dying too if we are not smart about this, and then how do we get revenge?”

My wolf didn’t answer me. She knew I was right, but she would not admit it. So, instead, she moved further back in my mind and stayed there, allowing me to get ready for the party tonight. I believed it held a lot of interesting things for me to uncover.