Chapter three.

Celeste wriggled in her sleep, feeling uncomfortable while a groan escaped her lips. Her back was stiff because of lying on the floor for the moon knows how long, and she felt sore in all the places. She felt as if she had been run over by a herd of elephants. She winced as she struggled to sit up, her muscles trembling.

What the hell happened while I was out cold? She pondered.

Gradually fluttering open her eyes, she saw a blurry figure. When her vision returned to something resembling focus, she saw Scott standing outside the bars, with a smirk on his face.

"Good morning, my sweet. Did you have a good night’s sleep?"

She growled at her captor but didn't reply. Even the growl seemed to have drained her of all the energy she had, thanks to the silver cuffs holding her down.

"You know, my love, you're lucky that we have put you here and not with all the other rogues down in the dungeons. Isn't it comfortable here?" He half-grinned at her, his eyes shining with malice. All Celeste could manage to do was narrow her eyes at him. She wanted to behead the cock-sucking bastard and then skin his body alive, feed him to the sharks. Thinking about these scenarios gave her little satisfaction, but it didn't last long. The words he had said seemed to sink in as horror came crashing down at her like a full-speed freight train. The other rogues – her parents, her friends, had they captured them as well?

"How's my baby doll doing?" Came another voice from a distance. A few seconds later, a devilishly handsome werewolf was standing next to Scott. "Have you told her about her special duties around the place?"

"Not yet, I was trying to have a little fun here, Dante." Dante, the deviously sexy wolf casually punched Scott in his arm and ordered a half-blood vampire slave to open the silver bars. Celeste stiffened as Dante came to a stop in front of her and then crouched down to come face to face with her. He brought his hand forward to caress her cheek but she flinched away, baring her teeth at him.

"Now, honey, you won't want to do that because in a day you'll be screaming my name in pleasure while I'll be ramming myself, in and out of you." A grin so sexy replaced his smile but instead of having a lustful impact on her, Celeste shuddered with disgust.

What is he suggesting? Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

All business now, Dante stood up, "You are to be my sex slave if you want your parents to be treated fairly. If you disagree or protest," He paused to fish his pockets and brought a syringe close to her face, "this silver-induced syringe will be injected in them. Well, not only them, but my men will have to inject all the rogues including the children with this." Another shudder tiptoed down Celeste's spine.

"Will-will you set them free if I-I agree?" Her voice came out as a croaking mess, and a lone tear rolled down her face.

"Free? Who said anything about setting them free?" He laughed, "My beloved, my father would leave them be on their own in the cells if you agree, if you don't, well you know the consequences don't you?" He waggled the plunger in front of her and then went out of the cell. "You have an hour to prepare yourself for what is to come. I hope you make the right decision and we'll meet soon." He winked at her and both Scott and Dante left her alone to think over her choices. It didn't take her more than a single minute to accept her fate because as much as she hated it, the fact was she didn't have much of a choice. She'd do anything to keep her parents safe as they had done for her. Her father had raised her to be a strong Alpha female and she wasn't going to cower away from the pathetic people.

In fact, she was going to face them head-on.

---

Elliot stretched his arms as he walked into the kitchen on Sunday morning. He was feeling strangely happy; probably because of the dreams he’d had the previous night.

Greta was whisking the eggs while Xavier was in the living room, intently watching the news.

This gave Elliot a pause. Xavier never watched the news.

"What's up with him?" Elliot asked his mother with suspicion in his voice. She looked back at him with a sad face but didn't say anything.

Well, that's strange, he thought as he walked towards the living room.

"Good morning, dad." He greeted Xavier as he plopped down on the sofa. Xavier didn't respond, making Elliot look at him. It was then that he noticed his father's pale face and blank expression. He looked at the flat screen in front of him and didn't understand anything at first until the reporter explained the news again like they always do.

"A body drained of all the blood has been found in a dumpster in Manhattan's alley. The girl has yet to be identified. Her face was brutally damaged up to an extent of no recognition. No proof was left behind and no one even saw anything strange happen. The medical examiners have mentioned two puncture marks on the teenager's neck-" Elliot tuned her out and looked at his father’s ashen face.

"Vampires?" Elliot asked even though he knew the answer, he just couldn't admit it to himself. Xavier gulped and nodded.

"Not just any vampire. I know the monster who marks his victims like that, who messes up with their faces just for fun. We better not waste more time, Malcolm's in the city and I think it's high time that I contacted my old pack." Xavier muttered the last part mostly to himself and walked out of the back door.

Elliot kept sitting there, as though frozen. His mind was full of thoughts, jumbled up because half of him didn't want to leave but the rational part of him knew what was important.

Abruptly, he got up and made up his mind to meet his girlfriend for one last time. They hadn't talked since last evening and he had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to attend the graduation either, after all, it wasn't safe, not only for him but for Lea as well. No matter how it hurt him, it was better to stay away from her, to keep her secure and protected.

He decided to walk, as Lea's apartment building was merely two blocks down. It would also give him time to think. Contemplating the past day's events, he was only rounding off the block when he saw a crowd of people gathered outside the building. Furrowing his eyebrows, he walked closer to the horde and all he could listen was a blend of various voices, talking all at the same time. His father had told him about his enhanced hearing ability and it was only giving him a headache. He walked past an old woman when suddenly a loud wail pierced through the whispers of everyone around him.

Panicking, he shot forward to see Lea's mother, Evelyn, crying her heart out while Lea's father was talking to a cop, his face a mixture of sadness and defeat. Elliot looked around, searching for Lea, but she was nowhere to be found.

It was then that he saw a stretcher and his heart began hammering against his chest. No, he chanted, no, no, no, no. He couldn't bring himself to walk closer to Evelyn but she had already seen him and her sobs became louder.

"Elliot!" She cried, briskly walking towards him. He kept standing like a statue; he didn't even register when Evelyn began talking. "My baby girl, she's gone. She's gone, forever." Evelyn cried, holding onto Elliot for support. He stood there with his arms going limp on his sides, his eyes darting from the stretcher to the door of the apartment building, hoping that Lea would walk out of the door at any moment. She had always been like that, pulling up stupid stunts for a laugh. Maybe this was one of those foolish pranks.

Lea's father, Richard had noticed his presence and excusing himself from the cop, he walked towards Elliot. His face wasn't that of the cheery old man anymore. His eyes were bloodshot with bags under them, wrinkles, more pronounced, running from everywhere to everywhere on his face. He looked lost.

Richard sighed and pried Evelyn off him, who was still mumbling about losing Lea forever. Elliot wasn't ready to accept it. He mustered up everything he had in him and walked up to the stretcher. He was about to lift the white cloth off the body's face when a hand clamped itself around his wrist and yanked it back. He looked up to see Richard shaking his head at him.

"You won't want to see her." He spoke in a whisper.

That was when everything clicked together in his mind. The news his father was watching in the morning, the way Richard told him not to look at her body, everything had started making sense. Malcolm had done this, Elliot thought, and he'll pay for it.

Rage surged through his body, fuelled with an intense feeling of revenge. All he could see was red and then he ran, he ran as if his life depended on it, he ran back to his house, to his father. He didn't even break a sweat when he almost ripped off the front door with his bare hands.

"Elliot." Greta jumped on seeing him, "what's wrong?" She asked, placing her tiny hand on Elliot's biceps. It seemed to soften him a little, but not enough to see things clearly.

"Where's Dad?" He demanded in a low, dangerous voice. When Greta just stared at him, he snapped, "Where the hell is Dad?" Greta flinched at his tone, taking several steps back. She knew his son won't harm her but she was able to comprehend that something really bad must have happened for him to act like that. She whispered, "Out in the woods."

The words hadn't even left her mouth and Elliot was already walking out of the back door, heading towards the woods. He knew Xavier would be in the same area where he had revealed himself and he was right. Xavier was in his wolf form and was lying on his stomach. As soon as he noticed Elliot's presence, the wolf's eyes shot open.

"Train me. Now," Elliot yelled at his father, his voice echoed through the woods. "That son of a bitch is going to pay for what he did. I said train me, dammit!"

Xavier had never seen Elliot this furious; he didn't even know what could've happened to set him off. Slowly he began shifting back to his human form and once the bone snapping sounds ended, Xavier scurried off behind a tree and came back fully dressed.

"What happened, son?" He asked maintaining his calm demeanour. The fatherly tone was Elliot's undoing, he broke down. Falling to his knees, he took his head in his hands and began sobbing. This confused Xavier even more, to the extent of feeling fear for his son.

"Malcolm... the news..." Elliot muttered incoherent words, unable to form a proper sentence. "Lea, he... it was Lea. He killed her." His sobs suddenly ended and again the gnawing feeling of revenge coursed through him.

Xavier sucked in a breath as he waited for his son to gather himself. He couldn't believe it. He had felt utterly upset for the girl who had been unfortunate enough to have crossed Malcolm's path but he felt devastated knowing now that it was Lea, the bubbly girl who never ceased to make everyone happy. He had always treated Lea like his own daughter. He knew what Elliot felt for her; even though they weren't mates they had a strong bond. Xavier had never stopped Elliot from going out with her because she always made him happy and he couldn't even think of taking that away from his son. Now she was gone, because of Malcolm and possibly because of him.

The realization hit him around the face like a bat. Malcolm always tended to keep tabs on his enemies, their kids and others who were close to them. He must have known how much Lea meant to Elliot, he must've followed them closely for weeks to have taken this step. Xavier was also aware of another fact that Malcolm loved to execute - striking his enemies at their weakest moments.

"Elliot, we have to get back to Greta. It's not safe to be alone anymore. Come on." He had begun running already, not even waiting for his son. He felt a feeling of alarm claw his heart. He was right, his mate, his wife was in trouble.

Elliot didn't understand at first but then the reality sank in. They had left Greta alone in the house. He remembered his father telling him about the mate bond; Xavier must have felt something to make him act like that. Without giving it a second thought, he ran after his father. When he reached closer to the house, he could hear growls and cries. He was terror-stricken.

Xavier had already changed into his lycan form and was growling at a pale man standing in front of him. The man was scrawny and Elliot couldn't understand why his father felt a need to protect a lycan – his mother – from a man who looked like nothing but a skeleton.

He had spoken too soon because, in the next moment, the ashen man went from standing next to the door to picking up Greta, who was sprawled on the floor, at the other end of the hallway. When the man bared his teeth, they elongated into fangs and that was when he understood why his father was in an attack stance. The pale, bony man with an unnatural speed was Malcolm and now he had his fangs around Greta's neck. Xavier growled at Malcolm but didn't attack him as he was holding his precious mate.

"Isn't it great to meet after so long, old friend?" Malcolm sneered, bringing his fangs nearer to an unconscious Greta. Xavier took a step towards Malcolm, who, sensing the danger, had sunk his fangs into Greta's neck, enough to let a trickle of blood seep out of her skin but not enough to completely induce his venom into her.

Greta whimpered and that little sound made Elliot snap. Elliot couldn't take it. He couldn't lose another person who meant the world to him. He lunged to attack the vampire who had clearly noticed Elliot's presence for the first time. His eyes had widened in shock. Xavier took that moment of distraction as an opportunity to take Greta away from the enemy. While doing so, he hadn't noticed what had been going on with his son; he hadn't heard the bones snapping.

Once Xavier had been sure that Greta was safe and away from the chaotic danger, he rushed back to witness a horrific sight. Malcolm was lying on the ground, blood oozing out of his shoulder that had been viciously ripped off.

Hovering over him was an almost seven-foot-long and approximately thirty-something inches high gorgeous silvery grey wolf. He looked just as intimidating and overawing in wolf form with his powerful build, his heavily muscled neck, and his robust limbs. His hackles raised, his angry eyes were drilling holes into Malcolm, his ears were upright, and his lips were curled back, exposing fangs and gums, which were shaking about the ripped flesh like it was a carcass.

To Xavier, Elliot looked exactly like the Alpha and it was shocking to see him gone feral, finally unleashed but what put him in more of a shock was the mark around the wolf's left eye.

The mark of Qaphsiel – angel of the moon.