Chapter Eight ~ Their Acceptance

Liviana's point of view

"Ugh, what happened?" I groaned, holding my head while trying to sit up.

"Oh no, dear. Don't get up, you need to rest."

My mom sounded panicked and as I laid my head back onto the pillow I closed my eyes. Within seconds everything that had happened flashed before my eyes and I shot up in the bed.

"Marik?"

"Don't you worry about him. I'm sure your father and the others will drive a sword right through his evil heart," she snarled.

She stood beside me and placed her hands onto my shoulders, then tried to ease me back onto the bed. I struggled against her, so she pushed on them a little harder.

"Mother, please!" I whined at her.

"No Livi, I said you needed to rest. So rest God damn it."

"No mother. I need to save Marik!" I ripped the cover off of my legs and jumped out of the bed.

I wobbled a little as the world spun around, but after a few seconds, the spinning ceased.

"Liviana! You will do no such thing. That monster tried to have his way with you. Or worse, kill you," my mother snapped as she grabbed my arm.

I yanked my arm out of her hand and turned to face her. I couldn't help but giggle at her accusations. She folded her arms and her expression was stern. She wasn't best pleased, I can tell you that.

"I'm glad you're finding this so amusing."

"No, mother. It's not funny, it's just, who told you he tried to kill or have his way with me?"

"The guards that carried you back here half dead. Do you have any idea how worried I was?" She sounded like she was holding back a sob.

My smile faded, as her sadness washed over me. I smiled softly and held my arms out for her. She didn't smile back, but her eyes softened. She moved forward and into my embrace. I wrapped my arms around her, then kissed her cheek.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. But it wasn't Marik who attacked me." She stepped back and looked at me, waiting for me to continue. "It was the blonde Lycan."

"Really? What happened? You have never been close enough to her to be injured before. You know better than to get too near to that beast."

"I know. I'm not sure what happened exactly. All I remember is trying to run away, then tripping over something before hitting my head in the floor. Then she was on top of me, and everything went black. But I know Marik didn't play a part in it."

She folded her arms again and stood there processing what I'd just said. I could tell that she believed me, she wanted Marik to be a good guy as much as I did. Her eyes grew wide and she looked out of the hut entrance. She then grabbed my hand and began to run towards the opening in the hut.

"Where are we going?" I questioned.

"Well unless you want to grieve what could have been your future husband, I suggest we go and save him."

She tugged on my arm, making me run faster. We left the hut and sprinted up towards the cave. There were two guards outside, both with their spear's crossed over each others. We ran towards them, not bothering to slow down as we got closer. We assumed that they would move their spears and open up the cave, but they stayed firm. We slowed a little and my mother screamed,
"Let us in!"

"I'm sorry, we are under strict instruction to keep it sealed. No one is permitted to pass," one of the guards answered.

"And who gave you that order?" My mother yelled.

"The chief."

"Well, the chief won't be best pleased when he finds out that you insulted his wife," my mother said in a sad tone, as she turned away from him and walked back towards me with a smirk on her face.

"What!? No... No, I didn't mean to insult you. It's just orders..."

"No, it's fine, I understand. But when he finds out about the emergency back home, and knows that he could have helped, but you wouldn't let us in, he..." She lied to the guard, trying to make him feel guilty.

He quickly cut her off,
"No, please go on in. I'm sorry we stopped you. Please don't tell the chief."

My mother grabbed my hand and rushed us through the cave. We ran as fast as we could when we heard growls and screams from deep inside.

Marik's point of view

Some of the guards were screaming at me. Pointing their spears and swords at me, but with the low growl reverberating from deep inside me, and the snarl that showed my extended canines, they didn't want to get too close. They were scared. They didn't know what I was, and from watching how the Lycan snapped that guy in half earlier, I could understand their fear. I was in full control, I wasn't going to hurt them, but I also didn't want them attacking me. There would be only so much I could take before I snapped.

Marcel began to stir and as he groaned the guards stepped forward. I lunged a little and let out a tremendous growl. They all jumped back, then pushed toward me once their confidence returned. Marcel sat up and held his hands out in the air.

"No! Stand down," he ordered.

I backed up and sat against the wall, I didn't need to defend myself any longer. The guards lowered their weapons and retreated back a little. I pulled my knees up and rested my arms over them while watching Marcel drag himself to his feet. A guard tried to help him, but he batted him away. He stood tall and brushed down his clothes. He cleared his throat and prepared himself to address the guards.

"Father," Liviana called out when she entered the cave.

Her scent hit my nose and I couldn't help but smile. That smile soon faded when I remembered what she saw. She saw me all over Chryseis. I didn't know how she must be feeling. I knew the girl had an interest with me, and I really liked her, but I couldn't resist Chrys. It seemed as though Liviana appealed to my humanities side, and Chryseis excited my animalistic side. How could I feel so strongly toward them both? I would have happily marked each of them.

I glanced over to her and her large light brown eyes looked sad. I could see the tears glisten under the torchlight. I couldn't tell if she was sad because of the situation or because of my actions earlier. Either way, all I wanted to do, was run to her, scoop her up into my arms and make the pain go away.
Knowing that I caused that pain made me feel terribly guilty, I just wanted to make it up to her. She averted her gaze when her father spoke to the guards.

"Go back to the village and join the celebrations. What you saw here tonight, never happened. Understand?"

The guards shared some worried glances between them, then one stepped forward.

"We can't leave you here with that, Cheif."

"You can, and you will, or so help me God," he said while placing his hand onto his second handle.

The guards all bowed to him, and one by one they left the cave.

Marcel held his hands out for his wife and his daughter. They smiled up at him before being guided over towards me. I glanced up at them, looking at each one of them in the eye. Marcel was surprisingly calm and his expression was one of acceptance. I found it hard to understand why he wasn't ripping me apart. Hadriana's expression was warm and sweet like always, but Liviana couldn't bring herself look at me. I didn't blame her, she was hurting.

Marcellus gently tugged on the women's hands guiding them down with him as he took a seat on the floor in front of me. They both sat beside him and I lowered my gaze to meet theirs. I stayed silent and let Marcel take the lead. I didn't understand exactly what he was doing, so I didn't know if to stay guarded or relax. While holding onto his wife and daughters hands, he said,

"This is your one and only chance to be completely honest, and tell us everything. You lie to us, and you will spend the rest of your life in this cave. Do you understand?" His stare was so intense, that all I could do was nod my head in reply. "Okay, we are listening. Go ahead."

I closed my eyes while taking in a deep breath. On exhale, I lowered my legs and crossed them, while placing my hands into my lap. I opened my eyes again and began. I explained everything, the story I was told by my mom, of how me and my brother were conceived. How we ended up in the moon realm, a vague explanation of what kind of creatures we were, I told them everything. Even down to the day I fell from the sky and landed on their beach, to killing the Lycan and releasing Chryseis. I didn't want anything coming back to bite me in the ass.

"Well, now that's one hell of a story," Marcel said with a roar of laughter.

I furrowed my brow in confusion, not understanding why he was laughing.

"Do you think he's the one?" Hadriana asked her husband with excitement.

I glanced between the grinning pair, then looked over at Liviana. She looked just as confused as I felt, she clearly didn't know what her parents were talking about either.

"You know what? I do believe that he is. The Oracle is going to be beside herself with joy. I'm just surprised the crazy old woman finally managed to predict something correctly."

"Oracle? Like as in a Lycan Oracle?" I asked them both.

I'd been told about Lycan Oracle's by my mother, and she said that they were usually killed because the visions sent them crazy and they became a danger to themselves and everyone around them.

"They have Lycan Oracles? Hmmm, fascinating..." Marcel rubbed his chin with his hand while he looked into the air in deep thought.

I moved my eyes over to Hadriana.

"No, dear boy. He's talking about a Witch Oracle. His mother."

I knitted my brows together as she stared at me like I should have known what she was talking about.

"What the fuck is a Witch?"