Vyra

"I know what I want for completing the first trial." I said to the Alpha, who I caught in the hallway of my chambers the morning after my discovery.

I scented him before I saw him, and he seemed just as disturbed to find me standing before him.

"And what is that Vyra?" He fixed me with a cold glare. "After what you pulled, I am not sure if you're deserving of a reward, but my curiosity and your audacity is getting the better of me."

"I want to visit the Mistress. I would like to know more about my family, and I believe she is the only one who might be willing to tell me."

The Alpha processed what I was saying, his silver eyes weighing the risks.

"Alright. That can be arranged." He tilted his head, staring me down. "As long as you report to me everything she says."

That's why he said yes. He believes whatever I ask the Mistress will be beneficial for him. He doesn't need to know how true that is, or why I wanted to see her so desperately.

"What if it's personal?" I asked, looking for an out. I still didn't trust Seren entirely, despite him keeping his word in most circumstances.

He already had a rebuttal lined up.

"It's for safety purposes, nothing more. The Mistress is a skilled Lycan, and I suspect she is versed in witchcraft."

"I understand." Knowing more than likely I would have to lie to him after.

He sent me a suspicious look before relenting,
"I'll have Titus take you down. He'll leave you two to privacy."

The dungeons were deep below the mountains, and infinitely colder.

Ancient stone crumbled as we walked through musty, water-damaged halls. It felt suffocating, as the walls closed in. Likely to make a prisoner more confused when finding a way out if they escaped.

"They are just ahead." Titus explained, seeing my worried expression. "The prisoners are directly under the main hall of the castle."

I nodded, shivering. It was one of the only things I was jealous of the Lycan for, Titus didn't seem cold at all.

Eventually we made it to a square opening in the thick stone of the underground. We walked in, and on either side were long bars from top to bottom made of silver lining tiny, bare stone rooms.

"This is horrible." I whispered. Worse than the Outcast shack.

"That's the point." Titus led me all the way down the rows and rows of empty cells.

My heart climbed all the way up to my throat when we made it to the last pair. Surely enough on the right, was the Mistress.

Her fraying gray fair fell around her small, plump body. She seemed clean and well dressed. There was a small stack of hay and blankets lined up for her in the corner.

I could see the hunger beginning to eat away at her face, which was lined with many years of age. Her eyes were the bright blue of Clan Stellae, and they peered up at me with curiosity.

Lycan lived so long, I hadn't even known how old she was. She had to have seen many things throughout the years and could give me the answers I searched for.

"Hello, Vyra Lunae," she said first, a smile growing on her weathered face.

That was strange. She never addressed me by name, and especially my true name. Under normal circumstances, I was only ever called some sort of rodent or Vyra Lupine.

Titus walked away, leaving the pair of us alone. I dragged over a guard's stool that had been probably untouched for decades and placed it in front of her cell.

"Mistress," I greeted her tightly. Betrayal flooded all of my senses. "I came here for the truth and nothing else.

"Of course you did."

I ignored the expectant edge in her tone, always knowing my next move. She raised me.

I hated that despite everything she had done, the sight of her in this lonely cell made me feel bad for her. I suppressed the feeling like how I would when I was on a hunt.

Taking a deep breath, I asked her flat out, "Were you poisoning me Wolf's Bane?"

The old hag didn't seem surprised at all, she didn't even flinch. She adjusted the blanket around her legs and rocked back on her chair.

"Well of course I was. You would have been in much more trouble if I hadn't," she answered, in a voice too regal and proud for her condition.

My anger flared, the wound reopening. I wanted to know why, but it would have to wait.

"I looked at the Pack Rupes Clan tree. Seren's mother was written twice."

"That is interesting. What about it caught your attention?"

Was she going to keep answering my questions with one-word answers and questions of her own?

"I am ready. I want to know the truth about my mother and father. I am done hiding," I spoke with resolution.

The Mistress leaned forward, taking me in. Time seemed to slow down. "You're asking a lot of questions, Vyra, and I plan to answer all of them. But I think it would be better to get one thing out of the way first, so that you truly believe in me." She sighed, shifting in place. Her blue eyes glowed like fire in the dark. "I have been lying about many things for a long time."

Apprehension filled my body. Had I made a mistake in coming here?

"That isn't helping me trust you."

The old woman moved unhurriedly, letting her shawl fall. She lifted her head back towards the ceilings and held out her hands, palm facing the floor, at her sides.

"I know what will, it only takes a few moments." She murmured between wrinkled lips.

Before my eyes, her body started to emit a pearlescent glow.

"What does? Mistress I-"

My words failed me when the old woman began to change right before my eyes.

Gray hair formed into silky pure white. Her skin grew tighter until there were only faint lines around her eyes, cheeks and lips, which were all more refined than before, with her nose Roman in shape.

Her plump body lengthened, holding onto certain areas. Her hands and the rest of her skin smoothed and deepened in color.

When she finally opened her eyes, they were made of pure gold.

My mouth fell open as I wrapped my arms tightly around myself. What I was thinking could not be true. It was impossible. "Who are you?"

The middle-aged woman smiled, her beauty lost to the world, "I am Salacia Lunae, a living member of Clan Lunae. More importantly, your grandmother."

I have to be dreaming.

"You're lying," I laughed out, feeling hysteria creeping into me. I couldn't feel the earth below me, I was in an abyss. "This can't be real. You-"

The Mistress, my grandmother, interrupted with the same voice I had always known.
"I was terrible, rotten, and a witch to you? Child we were all playing our own games and you were collateral, for your own safety. I will explain everything to you if you would listen."

Not all of Clan Lunae were lost. I should be relieved. A burst of love and affection for my last living family member should be taking over.

All I felt was tricked.

"I have been told my entire life all of Clan Lunae is gone, dead. You are a family member that was living and didn't think to tell me? Years- For years I have been alone and in pain," I stuttered, flinching. "And then you poisoned me too? What kind of grandmother would do such a thing?"

I saw it then, the evidence our family had been noble and in charge. My grandmother grew severe, her words careful, a reminder that she was once a Luna.

"One that valued your life over what you might hate me for later."

My breaths came out too quickly, vision swimming.

"I don't understand. None of this makes sense."

The woman who claimed to be my grandmother softened. "I know, I understand if you are not yet ready."

I couldn't deny it. She had all the traits of our Clan. Clear, deeply golden skin. Eyes like stars. White hair slightly more yellow than mine, but still like moonlight.

At certain angles, it was like catching myself in the mirror.

"Tell me, you owe it to me. Mistress," I remarked, my voice cutting.

The older woman waved me off, different but all the same. Her arrogant movements were now graceful instead of stiff.

"Call me Grandmother Lunae, I am tired of that woman's title." She lifted her shoulders, shuddering. Her face full of distaste, "Before we begin, I must warn you. Most tragedies start out as romances. It's unfortunate, but a thing as powerful as love has both the means to create and destroy."

I listened closely, knowing that whatever I had known before was false.

"Our Clan's demise was no exception to that rule."