I wasn't made to party anymore. One single festival left me with the worst headache I've had in a long time. By the time Almec and I returned to the mansion my body could barely stand. That was the negative side of being someone relevant in the pack: until the last person went home, we had to stay there.

At least Khalia gave me a hand with Faustina and brought her back to the mansion earlier. A headache mixed with my sister's complaints would have been torture.

"It was the best party ever," Faustina said, raising her arms to emphasize her words. The cereal bowl took a backseat while she listed the wonders of the festival. "Do you know that the decorations are still in the square?"

"Really?" Almec answered, saving me for the moment. "How do you know that?"

"I went with Damien to buy what was missing for breakfast, you guys were still sleeping so I was bored." She tried to act threatening but ended up pouting at us. "What's a gold-digging whore?"

I almost spit out my breakfast and next to me Almec choked on his tea.

"Where did you hear that?" I asked her in a calm tone so as to not scare her. After all, it wasn't her fault.

"We saw Kilma when we were shopping. He said Valen is a gold-digging whore," she said as if it were the most normal conversation in the world. "I asked Demian what it means but he told me that he doesn't know either, but I think it's a lie because he got angry with Kilma."

Of course it had to be him, the only one that would say something like that in front of a child when the person he was insulting wasn't even present. He really liked to act tough but, in the end, he was a coward who had to put my little sister in the middle.

My blood boiled as I imagined the situation, the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to punch him in the face.

"It's a very ugly insult, you don't need to know what it means," Almec told Faustina, squeezing my thigh under the table.

"Why did he say that about Valen? I don't like him anymore."

"I don't like him either," Almec agreed. "If you're done eating breakfast, why don't you go help Khalia with the garden?"

"Yes! I love flowers." Faustina jumped up from her chair and ran out of the kitchen before I could tell her to be careful.

To be honest, my mind was still stuck on Kilma's insult. If it had not been for Almec I would not have been able to handle the situation.

"Come here," he told me, pointing to his lap.

In my confused state I didn't understand what Almec wanted me to do, so he grabbed my hand and helped me up.

"You know he just says bullshit." Almec guided me until I sat on his legs. "He is so bitter about not being able to have a special rank that he dedicates his time to ruining the lives of others."

I rested my head on Almec's chest, he began to caress my back and that was enough to make me burst.

The security that being with him gave me allowed me to release all my anger and my fears in the form of crying. I held on to his shirt while the tears fell in droves down my face, the intensity was such that I could barely breathe.

"I'm sorry," I said between tears.

"It's okay, let it out," he whispered in my ears, stroking my hair. "I'll be here as long as you need me."

"I'm used to hearing people's insults, in a way I've learned to ignore them, but it's not fair that they also pick on Faustina. How despicable do you have to be to put a little girl in the middle?"

"Kilma crossed the line. I gave him a chance, but he wasted it. I will take care of him." Almec put his finger under my chin, lifted my face, and wiped away my tears. "I cannot allow him to continue encouraging others to go against us."

"What will you do with him?"

"Throw him out of the pack."

At first, I thought that Almec didn't really mean it until I looked into his eyes. He hid so much hatred in his gaze, there was no way Kilma would be saved from his punishment.

"With the hunters roaming the pack's territory you would be sending him straight to his death," I tried to reason with him.

"Maybe that's what I'm waiting for."

"There's no other way?" I held his hand and kissed his knuckles. "I know you care about me but killing a member of the pack because he insulted me is a bit much, you're only going to make the rest of the pack angry with you or fear you. You were working so hard to regain their trust. Don't ruin it now."

"Alright, I'll try to think of something else. But if he does something one more time I'll do it my way."

"Thank you." I held his face and kissed his left cheek. "I know you worry about me, but you can't protect me from everything."

"I can try." Almec hid his face in the curve of my neck, he stayed still for some seconds before leaving a kiss on my skin.

His words made me melt inside, it had been so long since someone cared about protecting me that it even seemed like a dream to me. At the same time it was hard to let go of control, I was not used to allowing others to do things for me, I solved all my problems on my own, and I thought that would be the case for the rest of my life.

"It feels great," I confessed, lifting Almec's head and resting my forehead against his. "Having someone to lean on. I just hope I can do the same for you."

"You already did a lot for me. If it weren't for you, I would still be locked in my mansion, despising the world, and waiting for my death. You and Faustina gave me a reason to live, there is nothing more I could ask of you."

"I guess we're both lucky to have found each other."

"Blessed by the Moon Goddess," Almec added, caressing me under my cheekbone. He moved his face away from mine after kissing my forehead. "I found what you asked for. It took me a while to remember where I left it."

Almec patted me on my lower back to tell me to get up. I did what he wanted not without kissing his cheek first.

On the kitchen island there was a small box, the amount of dust surrounding it was so much that it had surely been forgotten for a long time.

"I should have cleaned it before bringing it in," Almec muttered, grabbing a paper napkin that he then used to wipe away the dust.

When he was satisfied with his work, he carefully grabbed it and handed it to me.

"What is it?" I asked him, receiving the box.

"The family book I told you about, you can keep it as much as you want."

The book I found inside the simple box looked like the kind of antiques that belonged in museums. The lids made of black leather were carved with a lycan howling at the moon and in the center was embroidered the family name: Vramar.

"It's beautiful. I will give it back to you as quickly as I can."

"I meant it, take your time, it's not like I'm putting it to use. Just promise me one thing."

"Anything you want."

Almec rested his face on my head, and after kissing my hair he said: "Promise me you won't be afraid of me after reading what's in there."

"I already told you I could never be scared of you."

I tried to hold his hand, but he walked away in the direction of the door before I reached him.

"I have some matters to attend to now, I'm going to return in the afternoon. Once I do, I want to take you somewhere, so be ready to go out."

The book in my hands must have been the heaviest I had ever known, although most of that weight came from its importance to Almec and his family. I was afraid to even handle it, I felt like a stranger spying inside someone else's house.

I couldn't open it in the kitchen, instead I decided to hide in the quiet of my room. The familiar atmosphere gave me a little more security, and after settling into bed, I uncovered the secrets of the lycans.

Similar to a trip to the past, I delved into the stories of Almec's ancestors told in first person by its protagonists. In the first stage of their lives, they were the same as any other werewolf, except for their ability to become a huge humanoid wolf that was able to move only with its back legs, but over time the lycan part began to control the human side.

For the first bearers, being a lycan was a gift, a way to protect their packs even if they had to lose themselves in exchange for the power.

It was heartbreaking to read the pleas of the bearers to gain their normal lives. The lack of consciousness was what scared them the most, in one moment they were in their homes and then they appeared in the forest bathed in other people's blood.

Little by little the stories became shorter, only pleas for help filled the pages, in some cases the words even made no sense.

One of my tears fell onto the page ruining some of the ink. The anguish that reading each of the stories generated in me could only be compared to the pain I suffered when losing my pack. That horrible feeling that a painful fate is approaching and there is no way to avoid it came over me.

Despite the discomfort it caused me, I continued reading in search of a story with a happy ending. Just one clue about how I could help Almec change his destiny was enough for me, my desperation to find hope was so big that I didn't even go down to lunch when Faustina came to call me.

I could already understand Almec's reluctance, so many fell under the control of the beast that it seemed like a curse with no way out. My desire to give him a happy life little by little was buried under the experiences of the past.

"You can't give up now," my wolf urged me on. Her support gave me the strength to keep reading and when I thought everything was lost I found what I wanted so much.

Angus Vramar, Almec's great-grandfather had a quiet and prosperous life until he died of a heart attack at the age of eighty years old. His Lycan tried to control him like his ancestors but he emerged victorious.

"A powerful mate capable of stopping the beastly side when it appears." My wolf was over the moon, I could feel her relax as she said those words.

Don't celebrate too soon, I'm just recovering our connection, how can I be the strong mate he needs? I interrupted my wolf's celebration.

"You are powerful. We are not normal. You know, there is a reason why our pack was so persecuted."

Just because we're part of the Daughters of the Moon doesn't mean I'm as strong as them, I might be a failed case.

"You are not, with a little time and practice you will be able to awaken your powers. Besides, you are not alone in this, I am with you."

If I really wanted to help Almec at least I would have to try, giving up without fighting until my last effort was not acceptable. I was going to show him that the life he wanted was possible.

Alright, I trust you know how to guide me, I told my wolf.

"Of course, it's in my blood after all." She sounded full of pride. "Let's show them who we really are."