Chapter 157

I growled, but I couldn’t do much else. Candido grunted, putting the shirt on, and standing. He wrapped me up in a blanket and lifted me. His arms trembled. I could see the sweat breaking out on his forehead.

The man laughed. “Pride before the fall, I guess. Don’t fall down the stairs. I’m not saving you.”

Candido grunted. I whined, wanting him to do something. To get rid of this man. I knew he had the power to do it. Why wasn’t he doing anything? He hadn’t even looked like he cared that Troy had hit me.

Candido carried me downstairs slowly. By the time we reached the bottom, the man looked irritated.

“Would have been faster to make her walk, honestly.” He rolled his eyes and pushed the heavy door open. I expected the darkness of the caves and the cold, but there was none of that.

The light of the silver moon made the sky glow like it was day time. In the distance, there was a dark sky that looked like a regular night. In the other direction, the sky melted into the familiar blue of the day time sky.

Candido trudged after the man and through the town. The architecture looked older but not too much different from the architecture of the other town I’d been taken to. Where were we? Candido staggered past people who barely glanced at him, disdainful and dismissive.

Some people laughed, their eyes glinting as they walked past.

They were laughing at him, but Candido didn’t seem to be looking at them. It didn’t seem like he cared. It didn’t seem like he realized how much they were disrespecting him, but I did. Candido was the Alpha King, he deserved respect.

I growled.

“Stop,” Candido said sharply, glaring down at me. “You’ve done enough.”

I was about to growl at him about his tone when the man stopped at a standing doorway and nodded toward it.

“The werewolf side is through the door. Someone over there will give you further instructions.”

He said nothing but staggered through the doorway. The darkness swept over us. On the other side, the sky was a clear blue like day time.

“Candido!” Vanessa called. He turned stiffly towards the voice.

There was something around her neck and cuffs around her arms, but she seemed mostly unharmed. She was dressed in a loose shirt. Bandages covered most of her shoulders. I remembered that she had still been in the Blue Moon base when the attack started.

He stumbled towards her. She hurried towards him. A tall broody figure lingered nearby. He looked like a guard of some sort based on his armor. He watched us as Vanessa steered Candido to sit.

“Who is this?” Vanessa asked looking down at me.

“Hedy,” he said. “Are you hurt? Are you alright?”

“I should be asking you that. You’re more bandage than skin!” Vanessa hissed. “What’s happened to you?”

“How did you get out of the compound?”

“… I didn’t,” Vanessa said stiffly. “I was taken by vampires and brought here, I guess.”

She shifted closer. “You look pale.”

“Wolfsbane poisoning,” he said. “What’s that thing on your neck?”

She grimaced and jerked her head toward the tall, brooding figure. “A leash or something. Comes with a guard.”

The man approached us and looked at us both.

“You’re not from Lunae Circle,” he said and pulled out two other collars. “Until you leave, you’ll wear these.”

I growled at him. I wasn’t putting that thing on.

He looked at my indifferently. “Or, I can toss you into the caves. That would be my preference, honestly.”

I went still at the thought of being the caves in this state. Candido would protect me, I knew, but—

I jerked as he reached out for one of them and snapped it around my neck. He took the other and wrapped it around his own neck. The man seemed satisfied, handing him two sets of cuffs. I reared back before he could put them on me, but I was caught by the larger man and forced to the ground.

“Wait, I’ll—”

I snarled, twisting as much as I could, but the man’s strength was like an unmovable wall. He clamped them tight around my paws even as I snapped at him and tried to get free. Then, a surge of electricity went through me, zapping what little strength I had out of me. I smelled burning fur as I looked up. Candido looked between me and the man. The cuffs were already on his wrists.

“Cooperate,” he said. “And you’ll be out of here unharmed. The rules are simple: no second chances.”

I growled at him, wishing I had the strength to bite his ankle or something, but he nudged me carelessly out of the way. I heard footsteps coming down the way.

Then, I heard Claire’s voice. “Your Majesty!”

I looked up as they came closer. It was Claire and Francium. They had cuffs and collars as well, but Francia came up behind them, completely free. Claire stopped and looked down at me.

“Who… is this?”

“Hedy,” Candido said as he forced himself to stand. He wrapped me back in the blanket and lifted me into his arms. I growled and tucked closer to him, still shaking from the shock. “Maybe you’ll learn to stop being so rash.”

I growled up at him. He flicked my nose and gave me a playful smile that I didn’t know how to take.

“You look terrible,” Claire said. “I thought… I thought they’d at least treat you…”

“He said he was charged with keeping me alive… not much more than that. Are… you the only ones who made it out of the compound.”

Francia laughed as she came closer. “You must be joking.”

I looked at her, narrowing my eyes. She seemed amused. “I suppose I shouldn’t question the desperate wishes of the heart…”

She shrugged and looked at Candido. “There are a plenty of people from Blue Moon here If you can manage to get up and follow. You might even get a real meal.”

Candido lifted me into his arms. He walked after Francia as she led the way.

“You’re not from here… why aren’t you in shackles?” Candido asked.

“I’m not an indoctrinated fool,” Francia said. “Clinging to what amounts to a cult-like understanding of the world.”

I growled at her.

“Oh, please,” Francia said gesturing her hand. “Even if you could do more than growl, you’d be shocked into unconsciousness before you could even touch me… Candido’s too weak to help you, so shut up and try not to cause any more trouble.”

We reached a large hall and I realized that it was full of familiar faces. Candido set me down on the edge of a bench before going around the room, embracing people with grateful, relieved laughs. Gilgamesh, still masked, hugged him.

Then, he stopped in front of Artemis who had no shackles. He looked down at her and said nothing. Artemis didn’t say anything to him and turned back to eating.

“Is that the respect you give your king?” One of the other members, Dune I thought, hissed at her. “First you—”

“He’s no longer my king,” Artemis said. “As I am certain that no member of Moon Shadow would have ever been hunted.”

“You gave me no choice,” Candido said. “You were behaving suspiciously.”

“By pointing out your clouded judgment?” She scoffed and pulled off her mask, tossing it aside. Her blue eyes flashed with light. Her features seemed just a few changes away from Francia’s as she glared up at him. “Or for not listening to the bullshit I’ve been fed all of my life?”

“Artemis—”

“My name is Julia,” she said, lifting her head. “I’m no longer a part of Moon Shadow.”

“Are you saying you’ve joined the vampires?” Candido asked and glanced over her.

“No, it just means that I understand the truth now,” she said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “As auntie said, New Moon wolves aren’t really considered real werewolves now, are we?”

She narrowed her eyes as Gilgamesh turned to her. “Artemis—”

“Julia,” she bit out. “And I’ve always been different. It’s in my profile. I’ve felt it all my life. I’ve never felt the pull to obey you blindly for a reason.”

I pushed myself onto my haunches and tried to crawl onto the table and get closer. I felt so heavy, I could barely breathe, like I was seconds away from slipping into a coma.

“I stand with New Moon,” Artemis said. “I stand with my people, neither a vampire nor a werewolf. Whatever happens to you is the Goddess’ will.”

“You’re just going to throw away all these years together?” Gilgamesh asked, his voice tense. “Artemis… I’ve never treated you any differently.”

She turned to him. “But now that you know, you don’t look at me the same, do you?”

He said nothing. I saw the pain flash across her face. “Exactly.”