Fault Of The Moon Goddess

In The Lion's Den

“Let's go!” He exclaimed, dragging Lyra by her arms.

“Wait, what” she said, confusion and alarm laced in her voice.

“I have to...”

“I said, let's go!” He roared, his eyes turned blue and his whole body stiffened. They entered the car and he sped off. While in the car, he glimpsed at her and noticed the mark his grip on her had made on her wrist.

“What the hell was all that about?” She yelled angrily.

“I am sorry.”

“Oh no, sorry doesn't explain your chilly behavior back there. I need a reasonable explanation and it must be now” she eyed him. He inhaled deeply, trying to think of a reasonable lie.

“I was put in an orphanage when my parents died." He started gradually.

"They did things to me, things which still haunt me. I had to get away from them, so I stole money from them and ran away. I saw them today.” he said, feigning pain.

“What did they do to you?” She asked slowly. Her voice was laced with sympathy and the anger on her face completely wiped off.

“Torture you don't want to know about”

“I am so sorry. Why didn't you report them?”

“Pfft” they had big people backing them. He said simply. Before she could ask another question, they were in the house.

Darion noticed a black car which wasn't there when they left the house.

“Dad!” Lyra exclaimed, hopping out of the car.

“Dad?” Darion grimaced. He perked his head up and his heart sank. His whole body became stiff when he saw the man Lyra had just called her father. He knew the man. And he was not a friend. This was the same man who had hit him with a silver bullet in the woods that night. And that same man is being called “Dad” by his mate.

*****************

Darion was still frozen in the car as he watched his hunter hug his mate. He was intimidated, not because of the hunter but because of the kind of relationship his mate had with his hunter. He had promised to find him and kill the man who had put a bullet through his skin, but now, he was not so sure anymore.

“How was school?” the man asked and Lyra groaned.

“I'm still terrible at it.” The man laughed, and it made Darion wonder if it was the same man with the ruthless face who had put a bullet in his shoulder.

“Who is that?” He heard the man ask, staring in his direction and he ducked his head. He had been listening in on their conversation.

“They are coming this way.” Dray prompted him. He looked up and saw Lyra and the man walking towards the car.

“Dad, meet Darion, he is our guest” The man dangled his face as he looked intently at him. Darion forced an awkward smile but deep down, he was scared the man would recognize him.

“Hi, my name is Darion,” he said, coming out of the car. The next word which came out of Lyra's father's mouth slapped him in the face.

“Have we met?” Darion's heart began to beat faster.

“I...umm... I am not sure Sir”

“Call me Smith” Lyra just stared at them wondering what the tension was all about.

“And you are a guest here?” Her father continued even though he had that information from Lyra.

“Yes sir...umm Mr Smith.”

“Dad, why don't we go inside and drop the groceries first?” Lyra came to Darion's rescue when she noticed his discomfort. She took her dad's arms and literally dragged him into the house. Darion inhaled deeply before taking the groceries from the car. He went inside the kitchen and settled the groceries on the counter. After that, he went straight into his room and slammed the door.

“So much for the idea of making dinner. He plopped on the bed and heaved a sigh.

“Knock knock” he heard someone at his door. He suspected it was Lyra.

“Come in.” the door flung open and Lyra let herself in.

“I'm sorry about my dad, he is not usually so uptight like this.”

“Don't worry about it, he was just looking out for you. But I must say, I was just shocked I met your dad. You see, no one had talked about him since I came here.” Darion said with a forced chuckle.

“Oh, he was out hunting. He is a hunter, something about some mysterious creatures” she explained with a shrug like she didn't believe her dad's theory creatures were in existence. Well that explains why the twins had a wolf toy.

“Do you believe it?” He asked with seriousness in his voice.

“Well... I don't know, but I think the world is full of different people and creatures” she said, and he chuckled at her choice of words.

“And don't worry about making dinner, my mom is in, and she's onto it” she beamed at him taking a seat beside him on the bed. This only made his wolf restless.

“Kiss her dammit!” Dray propelled.

“No!” Darion said aloud.

“What?” Lyra looked at him confused.

“Umm...nothing.” There was an awkward silence in the room which lasted for a while before Lyra broke it.

“Now that you know something about me, why don't you tell me about you. Just you, no one else”

“How about, I have a serious crush on you?”

This caused Lyra to blush. She looked at him and noticed the seriousness on his face.

“Wait, you are serious?” She wrinkled her brows. He looked at her as if reading her. She suddenly felt hot . She looked in his deep blue eyes and lost herself in it. He leaned in slowly with dark eyes, letting his wolf take control. She closed her eyes and his wet lips crushed on hers.

“Mine” he breathed. She heard him clearly this time, and it only made butterflies in her stomach.

*****

Lyra's mouth was still swollen from the kiss when she heard her mom calling her down for dinner. She had left Darion's room right after the passionate kiss with him into her room. She put lipstick on her mouth to hide any sign of kiss marks Darion had left her with and came out of her room. Immediately she got there, her eyes caught a glimpse of Darion who sat across the empty seat she was supposed to be seated on. She cleared her throat and took her seat.

The whole family was present excluding Fabien of course. He usually ate alone in his room and that was a decision he made.

“I am so sorry about your parents,” Mr Smith said, looking in Darion's direction.

“My wife told me about it,” he continued.

“You are welcome to stay here for as long as you like” he said and this new development flustered Darion. Lyra just grinned at him. He had never felt a sense of belonging or acceptance all his life and he was getting it from the family of a man who was after his life.

After dinner, Lyra stayed and helped her mom with the dishes while Darion sat with Mr Smith chit-chatting about random things. But that didn't last.

“Dad, Delvin has one if your bullets in his hands” Darvyn snitched on his brother.

“Bring it here, these are not things you should be playing with.” Mr Smith said, taking the silver bullet from his son's hand.

Meanwhile, Darion shuddered in fear, dreading the closeness of the silver near him.

“Those are my hunting bullets. The beasts are back” he said, taking his seat. Darion was so glad Mr Smith didn't bring it back with him.

"What beasts?” He asked, feigning ignorance.

“Werewolves” Mr Smith said the word with venom which made Darion doubt if he just hated them because he was a hunter or there was a mystery behind his hatred for creatures like him.

“Wait, did the man think he was a werewolf, he saw his transformed self, so why was he saying a werewolf?” this was going through his head.

“Do you believe they are in existence?” He was snapped from his trance.

“Well, I cannot say, they don't exist seeing as the world itself is a mystery.”

“They do exist, I assure you. I hit one in the shoulder on the last hunt I went.`` This made Darion clench his fist.

“Dad, Darion and I are gonna go for a walk.” Lyra came in. She looked at Darion giving him a sign to play on.”

“Yeah yeah, I almost forgot” He said getting up.

“But it's late.” her father looked concerned.

“We would be fine, just taking a stroll down the streets.” Lyra yelled from behind. They both went out of the house.

“My dad can be a handful sometimes with stories from his hunting or whatever.” She said with a chuckle.

“Tell me about it.” he let out a stressed laugh.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” Darion asked.

“Sure.”

she looked at him. “Does your family have any history with werewolves or something? Your dad seemed kinda obsessed with them.” Lyra hesitated for a while.

“Truth is, when he was about five, he went game hunting with my grandfather. He came back home alone. His father was attacked and killed. When asked about what had happened. He said it was a wolf that had attacked them but the police and forensics team said it was a bear attack." She paused before she continued.

"Till date, he still believes it was a wolf. Thus, his obsession to hunt them down and show everyone.” Lyra ended with a sigh.

“Well, I'm so sorry about your grandfather,” Darion said.

“I didn't even know him, so I don't really think about it,” she shrugged. They were now a little far from home, and it was dark. They had walked all the way while engrossed in their chat.

“Hey, did you see what I saw?” Lyra asked suddenly.

“What did you see?” “I think we are being watched. I could swear I saw someone hide behind that car when our eyes met” Lyra said, pointing to a red BMW not far from where they stood. This alarmed Darion. Why didn't he smell anything? He sniffed in the air and the scent hit him. It was the same werewolves he smelled the last time.