Bound by Moon & Blood (Book 1)

It is time.

Our sisters are gone.

You and I are now the only ones left.

Liv gasped as she jolted upright. Waterdrops fell from her body, giving the only sound in the midnight black darkness around her. But it wasn’t all dark. There was a faint glow coming from the white, marble like, water she was sitting in.

Where the hell was she?

Our blood is what makes us different.

The blood of one moon, given by two different gods.

The voice spoke around her, making her shiver. Liv got up from the water as a shape started to walk towards her.

“Who are you? What are you talking about?”

The shape walked closer and Liv started to see a beautiful female with long blonde hair and a blue, floor length dress. As the female got closer, she could see that she was wearing an ornate golden crown with the shape of a crescent moon, lined with moonstones in the middle. Liv’s eyes grew wide as she realized who she was looking at.

“You already know who I am and I know who you are, Kerra Livana Greenland.”

“Psophis.” Liv breathed.

The Moonblood princess of the Lycanthropes stopped in front of her and gave her a small nod. “We finally meet.” The princess spoke.

“What do you mean?” Psophis gave her a soft smile. “We were destined to meet from the moment you were conceived in your mother’s womb, Kerra.”

“Okay...” Psophis chuckled softly, but it wasn’t amusement in the tone. It was sadness and something she couldn’t quite place.

“I know there is much you don’t know, but I don’t have the time to tell you.” Liv wanted to object, but the princess didn’t give her a chance to as she spoke again. “The last Made Moonblood is dying. This is why we are able to be here and talk to each other.”

The last Made Moonblood? All Moonbloods are made, so why... Liv couldn’t finish her thought as she realized what Psophis meant.

“Dawn.” Her body went hot and cold in tandem as her breathing quickened and her heartbeat raced. Psophis gave her a small nod. No... It felt like the floor shifted away from underneath her. Liv stumbled backwards. The water splashed around her legs and dress. As she noticed the water, she looked around her. Dawn was dying and she was here with the Princess for gods know what reason. Liv started to look for a way out of whatever this was, but there was nothing.

“I need to get back!” She yelled as she took a step towards Psophis. She needed to get to Dawn, she needed to try and help her!

“You cannot save your sister, Kerra.” Psophis said calmly. “She is destined to die.” The power immediately flared in her chest.

“I can try!” She yelled as she took another step closer.

“No, you can’t.” The princess countered calmly. “Why do you think we are brought here?”

“I don’t even know where “here” is!” To be honest she really didn’t care either. She just needed to get back to her sister. The last time she saw Dawn was before she started staying in Caden’s pack. Regret and guilt came over her as she realized that she left her sister alone again.

“You cannot go back, Kerra. The curse won’t allow us to leave this place until the last Made is on the brink of death.” Liv ran her hands through her hair as she started pacing. There had to be some way out...

“Kerra, you need to calm down. Worrying and trying to find a way out won’t help you.” Liv’s head snapped to the princess as she stopped pacing. “My sister is dying and I am stuck in a place that I don’t know with you. Excuse me for worrying and trying to find a way out!” Psophis sighed as she dropped her head and folded her hands together in front of her. Liv sighed as she saw the stance of the princess. Closing her eyes, she took a few deep breaths to calm herself. Everything inside of her told her that the princess was right. Liv opened her eyes and looked around the unknown place. “Where are we?” She asked calmly as her eyes travelled back to the princess. Psophis looked at her as well. “What is this place?” Liv asked as she gestured around her.

“The in-between. The place between the mind and being.” Sure, that clarified it.

“The what?” The look of the princess told her that she wasn’t happy to give her a more clarified explanation, but she didn’t care. So, Liv crossed her arms over her chest and held the hard eyes of Psophis.

“We’re in the place where we are neither flesh and blood or spirit. The same place where our conscience goes to when we sleep. Normally, the in-between is not consciously accessible, but the curse changed it. It is made like this to keep us from preventing to help our kin.” Liv looked around in the darkness as her mind processed everything the princess said.

“Why does the curse keep us here if we cannot help them either way?” Looking back at Psophis, something was changed. A darkness was settling over the princess, like a shadow that was starting to cover her.

“Because if you would be able to reach her in time, you could save her.” Liv’s eyes grew wide as she advanced towards Psophis again. “I can save her?”

“No, thanks to the curse keeping you here until she’s dead you can’t.” The power flared inside of her again. Liv clenched her fists to keep control over it, but she knew that her eyes were glowing.

“Why?” Her voice had turned dark as she snarled through her teeth. There was no elaboration needed. The princess knew what she was asking. Psophis lifted her chin a bit more as the shadow settled over her even more.

“History is not always based on truth, Kerra. The winner of the battle decides what story is told.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” A ripple went through the darkness, causing an excruciating pain to erupt in Liv’s chest. She screamed as she reached for it. The ripple was so violent that she fell down in the water as she lost the strength in her legs.

“We will soon meet again, princess.” Psophis spoke softly right before another ripple went through the darkness, ripping her away from the in-between. The pain ran through her body again and Liv screamed once more, before she felt like she was suffocating. She grabbed her throat as her lungs were fighting for air they did not get.

“Livana!”

Someone was calling her name. A male by the sound of it, but there was nothing around her but the darkness and the water. Another ripple went through the in-between and the pain flared again. Liv wanted to scream, but she had no voice or air. Stars were starting to form in her vision thanks to the lack of air.

“Livana!”

The male voice sounded again, but there was nothing else in this darkness besides the water and the pain. Dizziness came over her and she had to close her eyes to not pass out. The agony was worse than she had ever felt. It was like something was very, very slowly ripped away from her. Another ripple went through the in-between and like a flash of lighting, air came back into her lungs. Liv gasped as she opened her eyes and jolted upright.

“For the love of...”

Liv’s head snapped to the right where Davon sat next to her on the table. She looked around her as everything in her head started to catch up with what was happening. She was back in Caden’s house. Sitting on the same couch she fell asleep on after Caden had gone upstairs.

“Liv?” Ben slowly sat down on the couch near her feet. Liv met his gaze. “What happened? We couldn’t wake you up, it was like you had left your body.” She didn’t react. Her mind had a hard time to comprehend what had actually happened.

A dull ache filled her chest. Liv grimaced as she rubbed her chest when all of the sudden the reason why they couldn’t wake her up came back to her.

Liv immediately moved and stood up, only to lose the strength in her legs and toppling over the table in front of her. “What the hell are you doing?” Caden asked as she landed on her back on the other side of the table and looked down on her. She didn’t react as she moved to stand up again. She wobbled again as she straightened. Caden immediately reacted by holding her waist to keep her upright. “Let me go, please, let me go.” Her voice was weak and her throat felt raw, like she had been screaming... Tears started to form behind her eyes. Everything that had happened was real. Which meant...

“Why? What’s wrong?” Caden asked. Liv grabbed his hands and pushed them away from her waist as she started to move towards the door. Her legs still felt wobbly, but she didn’t care she needed to see Dawn.

“Liv...” Devon grabbed her arm to stop her from reaching the door. “What’s wrong?”

“Please, let me go!” Liv tried to pull her arm free, but the movement only made her lose the strength in her legs again. Liv fell on her ass as more tears rolled down her cheeks. She needed to get to Dawn; she needed to see if she wasn’t too late. She couldn’t be too late. Devon crouched down in front of her and slowly released her arm. “What’s going on Liv?”

“Dawn...” It came out as a whisper, but the sudden intense silence told her that they all heard her. She dropped her head in defeat as more tears ran down her cheeks.

Is this really what has become of her right now? She’s stronger than this and yet she’s here on the ground, crying like she had already lost. Liv closed her eyes as the thoughts ran through her head. No, she was stronger than this. She was going to get to Dawn, no matter what. Clenching her fists, she called on her power to pump strength in her body.

“Liv, Dawn is ok...”

A scream filled the air around them, cutting Ben off.

The power flared inside of her and filled her entire body with a strength she hadn’t felt in a long while. Liv gasped as she got an energy burst.

She immediately got up and ran out of the house.

“Liv!”

“Leave her, gather both packs, it’s time.”

She didn’t miss the brief command of Caden, but she didn’t care about it. She needed to get to Dawn. She wasn’t dead yet, she still had time to save her!

Another scream filled the air as Liv ran out of Caden’s pack. She spurred herself on as she knew that time was running out. She had to get to her!

Multiple wolves growled at her as she ran through the village, but she didn’t care to give them her attention. She just kept running towards the packhouse. She had to be on time.

Finally, the packhouse came into view as a third excruciating scream filled the air. It was strong enough to awake the pain Liv had felt in the in-between. Liv screamed as the pain filled her chest, making her falter and trip. Liv rolled over the ground before she came to a stop and breathed heavily. She was only a few yards away from the packhouse. Slowly, she pushed herself up from the ground until she was standing again. She needed to get to her sister, but the most soul crushing and blood stilling scream she had ever heard filled the air before she could move and forced the pain in her chest to flare to the max, making her scream and fall on her knees as she grabbed her chest.

A loud and terrible howl filled the air next.

“No...” She whispered as more tears started to roll down her cheeks. The pain in her chest slowly started to make place for an emptiness she had already felt twice before. “No, no, please, no...” She kept begging as she stared crying and rocking herself back and forward.

There was only one reason why a wolf would howl like that; why King would howl like that.

Dawn is dead.

As soon as the realization hit her, the sounds of things breaking filled the air. First it was only coming from inside the packhouse until King threw something out of the window. Liv didn’t look up at anything. She could have saved her sister; she could have saved Dawn if she had been faster, but she hadn’t been and now Dawn, the only family she had left in this cruel world, is dead.