43
King had a depressing past and for some reason, I shouldn't have questioned him about it. The gloom lingered over his face even moments after the conversation ended. I swallowed the nervous bile in my throat and lowered my eyes to the bed, staring at my fingers as they curled around one and another.
His family was murdered—all of them and he only lived.
Why?
"Does every werewolf belong to a pack?" I questioned, changing topics.
Upon hearing my voice, his expression changed, the sorrow left his eyes and replied, "Most of them do belong to a pack. There are several hundred packs in the world, running in secrecy and protecting their kind. Some werewolves get banished, thrown out for their wrongdoings and they turn into rogues. Some packs do get destroyed and those pack wolves spread around, become lone wolves."
Destroyed?
"Destroyed?" I furrowed my brows in confusion. There couldn't be a way anyone could destroy a pack full of wolves.
It seemed...impossible.
"Hunters. They are spread around everywhere, and they destroy packs to protect their kind without knowing that we don't bring any harm to them. They use different methods to kill us." He explained, worry spread around his features as he mentioned hunters.
Who were the hunters?
"But why?"
He shrugged, "There is a lot of bad happening in the werewolf world. Wolves that aren't in a pack cause issues for us, pack wolves, bringing our world into a negative direction. When all appears in front of hunters, they have the need to kill us and protect their kind."
"But I thought werewolves were immortal?" I stared at him, remembering his own words that this curse given to me would last forever. It was what terrified me, knowing that I was going to live for a very long time.
"They are. We are." He nodded his head and continued, "For the most part we are immortals. We cannot get sick nor die from natural causes. We can only get killed, mostly by hunters or other wolves that seek revenge."
It felt like I was understanding a bit more. The knowledge was helpful, but I couldn't change what had happened to me—no one could. I had to live with this—my wolf, forever and all alone.
I gave in a few minutes of silence while remembering the other questions that had been troubling my head. I was scared to ask King about the other things, but I needed to know the truth. I was making my bed with a man I had no idea about.
"Did you—" I cleared my throat, catching his attention and then asked, "Did you kill people? That night, you were there to kill me but instead I lived. Have you done that to others?"
"I won't lie," He paused, taking a breath. "But yes. I have killed a few people."
My heart thudded. I expected the answer to be different, completely different but it wasn't. "Who?"
"I can't help it. As the Alpha, I do have the duty to protect my pack and in the process of doing my job, I have killed a few wolves that had caused harm to my pack and my people." He said and my worry subsided, only for a minute. "Although, I'm guilty of killing a few humans."
"But why?" I felt my throat closing.
King wanted to kill me. And as much as I tried to move past that thought, at the end of the day I couldn't. There was something within me that saved me from dying or else I would've been long dead and six feet under the ground.
"My wolf has the urge to hunt on certain phases of the moon, this is due to being bind to the moon. My family had fought with the same urge for over years. I'm trying my best to control it." He replied.
I turned my head to the window, watching the swaying of the trees and the shadows filtering inside the room. It had been hours, I had lost track of time. The crescent moon was bright in the sky and could be seen from a distance. It grew brighter and brighter with every moment passing by.
There was something different about the moon ever since I had shifted. It seemed as if I needed to bow to it and respect it.
My head turned back to King, finding him still shirtless sitting on the bed. We were both naked, bare to each other.
"How did this all start?" I asked out of complete curiosity. There had to be a backstory, something that happened that led to werewolves—half human, half wolves.
We all heard about werewolves but only as bedtime stories. I remembered a couple of my own, my father whispering to me about the monsters that lived in the night and hid in the mornings, about how they'd feed and kill to fulfill their hunger. It was a common children's bedtime story along with a few other creatures like witches, trolls, and vampires.
I had lived for almost twenty years and not once in these years I had ever thought about a creature living among us. It was shocking to say the least, but I was still trying to adjust and find a way to get through the confusion.
"It's a long story, you wouldn't be interested." King said, waving his hand through the air.
I jumped forward, "No, no, I want to know."
"We worship Selene, the Moon Goddess. She was a witch long before she became a Goddess. Being a witch, she had a connection with the moon. And she had a pack of wolves under her care. She loved all animals but felt closer to wolves as those wolves would do anything for her. She protected them with her life and fed them for as long as she could." He spoke.
My eyes widened a bit more with the information. Witches?
"What happened then?" I asked, furthering him to continue.
From there, the story only got more and more interesting. "Then a man came into her life, the typical love but then," He paused, raising his hand. "the Moon Goddess was betrayed and when the man left her life, he killed all her wolves, leaving her with nothing except for misery and pain."
My lips parted. I placed my hand over my chest in complete shock. It was devastating.
"The Moon Goddess then sought for revenge. She found the man she once loved, cursed him, turned him into a wolf and forced him to submit to her. From there, she became the Goddess of the Moon and then proceeded with creating more werewolves."
"So, it is a curse?" I cocked my brow, taunting King a bit. It wasn't a gift as he had told me. It was a curse, the woman, the Goddess had cursed him and everyone else that was a werewolf.
Right?
King shook his head and laughed, "It's not a curse. If it would be a curse, we wouldn't have strength or power. We wouldn't live long, and we wouldn't be together." His voice lowered as he finished. "She forgave the man after turning him into a werewolf and she continues to love her creation. Her anger formed a distinction in this world. She's proud of what she has done."
I listened closely until he was done. I blew out a breath and rest back on the headboard. This much was enough for one day, I couldn't take any more of it.
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