Bound by the Moon

Erik~5

“Erik, I need your help… again.” Elena cleared her throat as she ran her hand through her hair.

I paid her no mind, taking another swing of the distilled liquid. It burned down my throat, briefly offering me relief before it settled in my stomach. While we Lycans were well known to have a faster metabolism than most humans, drinking alcohol could be quite difficult when it often evaporated before it even reached our system.

Which was why I made it my duty to consume bouts of it, relishing in the floaty feeling it gave me.

“I know you can hear me, so I’m going to tell you what I need.” Elena cleared her throat, her brown eyes wide as she looked up at me. “I need you to represent the Lycanthropes in my peaceful protest. Change is but a spark, and we must be the ones to ignite it. For thousands of millenia, the Lycanthrope group has lived suppressed and hidden, running away from humanity’s cruel extermination.” She took a deep breath, and her heartbeat picked up in pace. “Well, no more. A rebellion is coming and we must be on the frontlines. The Lycans must push back, and a peaceful protest is the best way to take action. I cannot speak for the shifters, because I am merely human. But you can.”

The human is determined, I'd have to give her that. I took another swing of vodka, eyes scrunching as spirit fogged my vision.

Unfortunately for us both, I wasn’t really in the mood to give humanity a second chance.

If there’s one thing Irene taught me, it was that trusting a human would be the last mistake you ever make in your life.

“Not interested, sorry.”

Elena frowned beside me, and somehow it still managed to look adorable on her face. “B—but you haven’t even heard the game plan yet.”

I rose to my feet, tossing the empty bottle against the wall. The glass shattered with a loud smash, pieces of glass clattering to the floor behind me. “Thanks, but no thanks.”

I started down the hall, shoving my hands deep into my pockets. Irene’s pretty frown resurfaced in my mind, her big blue eyes always managed to influence my decisions somehow. I would have carried the earth on my back if she had asked me to, like the tale of Atlas and how he held up the sky.

She had been the light of my world, guiding me through a wretched existence until I had the audacity to hope for something better.

She was my life partner, my mate, and the first woman I had ever truly loved.

Until she decided, like the rest of humanity, that Lycans deserved to be trampled upon like mere scum. Once her parents discovered my identity, she left me for dead—conspiring with her neighbors and townsfolk to poison me with silver.

Beads of sweat formed on my forehead as I remembered the fear that struck me as I raced down the street for my life. With a weakened body and a shattered heart, I had escaped a shadow of the person I once was, losing everything but my life. Everyone I knew and called a friend had turned against me— all because they discovered I was a shifter.

To them, I was no longer the human they had befriended. Instead, I had morphed into a predator that needed to be wiped off the earth.

I chuckled bitterly. The only human I had given my heart to had crushed it beneath her feet. Why should I ever give another one the time of day?

“Wait!” A hand gripped my bicep, tugging me backwards. “You need to listen to me, please. This is the only way to bring about real change—”

“No.” I yanked my arm away, watching as the human tripped and fell to her knees. “Stay away from me, princess. I'm not as good as you want me to be.”

“I don’t need you to be good, I just need you to fight.” She stumbled to her feet, brown eyes blazing as she stomped forward. She gripped my hand again, and I brushed her off like a fly.

Stupid. Foolish. Crazy woman.

“I don’t care about your fight and I don't care about your cause. You’d do well to leave me alone.”

I resumed my stroll down the hall, halting in my steps, when I heard Elena’s bland chuckle behind me. I turned around, observing as she gripped her torso while laughing maniacally.

“I see what the problem is now.” Her eyes bored into mine, nose scrunched in disgust. “You are a coward.”

My jaw tightened and I took a deep breath. “What?”

“That's it. You are a coward of the highest order. A human comes to you pleading for you to take a stand against the suppression of your kind and all you can say is that you don’t care.” She smiled, but it was devoid of any good emotion, and her eyes were hard with bitterness. “Like a true animal, all you think about is your own meaningless survival. You are a disappointment to your race.”

A roar spilled from my lips, and I lurched at her before I thought about it. I wrapped my hand around her neck and slammed her back against the wall. My fangs emerged as I inched closer to her, my wolf pumping adrenaline and strength through my veins.

“What the f**k did you just say to me?” Her small hand clamped over mine as she tried to release the pressure on her neck. It is pitiful how fragile she is.

I could kill her with one snap. How dare she speak to me that way?

Her eyes were wide as she struggled to breathe, endless pools of chocolate sucking me in.

Suddenly, my heart picked up its pace and her scent washed all over me. All I could see was her small lips parted in a gasp as her lungs wracked for air.

Mine.

I cringed in shock, and she fell to the floor, her ragged pants filling my ears.

“Stay away from me.” I spared her one last glare before I walked away.