As the sword came down on his neck, Retsu heard the word "mate." In his mind.
What does that even mean?
He was consumed with darkness and pain. It hurt when he used his fire ability, but he healed really rapidly after using it, and his palms were left unscathed.
But this pain was in his neck. It surged through his whole body.
Am I dead? He wondered. There was nothing but darkness around him. And then he fell asleep. Or unconscious, he wasn't sure. He felt nothing for a long time, the feeling of falling consumed him.
He remembered the feeling of seeing the woman for the first time, her eyes were like red and blue at the same time….purple. Why had he forgotten that color? Yes her eyes were purple. It was so beautiful. Why would the person who was about to kill him be beautiful? He hated her. It was her that stole his freedom for ten years. They had tortured him but they refused to tell him why.
Then she had told him why. For stealing something. What was it?!
Oh yes, his powers.
But he hadn't stolen anything. The mushroom had looked like any other one he had tried to get high.
Maybe it was all a hallucination. Maybe the mushroom had killed him. Serves him right. Yeah that beautiful woman and the werewolves couldn't have been real. He accepted his fate. He was dead. He closed his eyes and felt himself floating somewhere in the in between he assumed.
But then he felt that familiar fire in his palm.
His fire powers were real?
Impossible.
He sat up suddenly, even though he felt a pain in his neck and felt a weight on his chest.
He felt everything. Smells, tastes, his vision, the colors in the room, they were all enhanced. He felt a fullness in his mouth. It was strange, he pressed his fingers to his teeth and was shocked to find that his teeth were…sharp.
The weight on his chest was the arm of a woman. "What the….?"
The feeling of electricity where she was touching him made him uncomfortable. He lifted her hand gingerly with his fingertips and moved her hand away. Electricity reached his fingers upon contact. Then he noticed a bite mark on his hand.
"What the?" He wondered. She stirred a little bit as he eased his way off the bed, but she didn't wake up. She had tears on her cheeks. He hadn't noticed it before.
What's up with her? And why am I on her bed? Did she decide to eat me up instead of kill me?
He was joking to himself but really he didn't think that would be funny.
He had a bite mark on his hand though so it was a possibility. Maybe she had drank his blood? Was she a werewolf or a vampire? He wondered.
He looked in the mirror and then froze. He wondered, what am I?
He had grey hair with white streaks in it, and his eyes were still green but now they had some purple mixed in, as if he had hazel eyes, which are usually not one solid color, but instead of brown, purple. His pupils were slightly feral, like not quite like a cat's but not round either. He looked a bit intimidating that way. His fingernails could grow longer and sharper, or be short. How could he do that at will? Creepy. And he noticed his skin was pale. His heart was not beating, and so he was cold. He continued examining himself in the mirror for a while longer, wondering what she had done to him. He wondered if he could still make fire with his body being so cold and his palms warmed up easily easing his worry.
Werewolves are expirimenting on humans! He needed to get home and tell someone! After ten years, he finally had a chance to escape. He wasn't chained down anymore and nothing was keeping him there.
He turned to leave, wondering if he could sneak through the window, but suddenly a knock sounded at the door.
"Luna Layla, are you awake milady?" A woman asked through the door.
She barely waited at all before opening it, "lady Layla, I've brought your breakfast…" she said, and suddenly she finished her sentence with a scream.
"Aaaahhhhh!!!!!" She shrieked.
The Luna woke with a start and saw her handmaid standing in the doorway screaming at a wolf that she had never seen before. His scent was strange yet familiar. She sat up quickly, suddenly aware that someone had sneaked into her chambers and somehow he hadn't woken her. The handmaid screamed "g..g…g…ghost!" And suddenly ran out of the room. The man turned around to look at her and the two of them suddenly stood frozen.
Layla couldn't break eye contact with him if she tried, but she felt on the bed next to her and her mate was no longer there. He showed his palms to her as if to say he meant no harm but in reality, he was ready to defend himself because his palms could shoot fire.
One look at his palms and she realized that indeed he had been marked by her.
She looked at her palms as if he could discover how she had brought him back from the dead, but she had no clue. Sirius had been rumored to have powers over death and she was his descendant, but she was no goddess!
"Did the moon gods do this?" She finally asked.
She approached him cautiously. He was no longer dead right?
He stood there in silence, unable to move or look away. What kind of power is this? Then the familiar electricity touched him when she traced her fingers along his neck in awe. He had a scar but it was so faint. She had once cut off his head and now he was alive!
That's right, she had cut off his head!
"Release me from the hold you have on me!" He demanded. He still couldn't move but she was touching him all over, making sure she understood it right that he was still cold and his heart wasn't beating but he was alive, making demands!
Tears returned to her eyes, and feelings that weren't his threatened to overwhelm him. Sadness, joy, grief, worry, wonder, happiness, longing, and a desire to kiss him.
He tried to fight the trance she had put him in, but as she touched him gently, he only felt his body wanting to be closer to her.
"I said release me!" He yelled stiffly.
"I can't." She whispered, she put her neck close to his face and smelled his scent.
A shiver ran down his spine. And suddenly his pale skin warmed up all over. His heart still didn't beat, but his fire inside had warmed him up instead.
With the proximity of her neck, he felt his fangs elongating, as if he wanted to bite her. He didn't know why. With her scent, he wanted to kiss her, and bite her. But he also felt something primal that made him feel like she was food. A lump got stuck in his throat. "No, something's not right." He managed to say.
"Hmmmm." She responded. She was so pulled to him. And he said she should release him! It was him who needed to release her!"
She was his mortal enemy and he suddenly realized that the hunger in his body was more than the heat in his body. The hunger grew, larger and larger as it snuffled out the heat in his body. Finally, the heat went away and he was cold again.
Panic filled him. He did want to defeat his enemies but he couldn't let himself go out of control. "No I need to eat!" He cried out.
"I am your prey." She hummed.
He mustered all of his efforts to push her away to a safe distance. Was he not a normal werewolf? A werewolf shouldn't want to eat another werewolf. His whole body was screaming that he couldn't harm his mate.
What was that word again? Mates?
A snarl left his mouth and he backed into the wall.
"Something's not right! I need food or I'm going to kill you!" He rephrased his dilema.
She snapped out of her daze for two seconds and realized that she really had been under a spell or something. Like a hunter with the ability to lure its prey into a false sense of safety. She noticed his eyes were glowing green and his teeth were all sharp and he had a crazed look in his eye.
"Hungry!" He cried out and then lunged at her with his fangs and claws.