–Lyall–

Sky might have been resurrected from the dead, but he is drained out of his magic and energy. Well, after everything he has done, I am actually surprised he can still walk. Although, after a while, he sways in front of me, so in the end, I pick him up and carry him on my shoulder. He is too tired to even protest.

"Don't tell anyone about this," he says. I can't really see his face, but I imagine him pouting like the child he is.

"Oh, you mean about me having to carry you in the forest?" I purposefully increase my voice with every word. My lips widen with every word as well, forming a smile. My heart feels light. Before, I could never have felt like this without Mars. And I always thought that my curse would end when I am in love with Mars.

I have loved her. Perhaps longer than I even realized. However, there were moments I doubted if I had fallen for her when the curse was still intact.

Yet the curse is only broken by the time I mend my relationship with the boy. How absurd? Or perhaps, the moment I don't care about the curse and just accept my feelings as they are, is the defining moment for the universe to break my curse. When Mars was taken from me and Sky was dying, I even forgot about the existence of my curse. I felt every emotion coming through me right then.

Either way, Mars has made the impossible happen for two lonely souls.

Sky slaps my shoulder with his little hand. "Don't you dare!" he cries out.

I burst into laughter right then. "Mars will love this story," I tease him even more, "And her daughter will never stop laughing at this story as she grows up."

Sky becomes quiet for a while, so I keep on walking, no longer mocking him for having to be carried. I wait until he is ready to talk.

"How do you know the baby is a girl?" he asks.

"The bond," I focus on my steps so my words come out slowly from my mouth. We are crossing a small river in the forest. I slow my steps on the slippery stone path. "Ever since we have claimed each other, sometimes I can see things from her mind. Her memories, her hopes and dreams, her fear, her worries."

Remembering all her worries before the wedding day creates a suffocating feeling in my chest. She had doubts about the plan, despite me and Jen always consoling her that we had taken all precautions.

Idiot. I should have listened to her worries.

"I see," Sky mutters, "Is it nice... to have a bond with someone?"

We are a few meters away from entering the Moon Chaser territory. Sniffing the air, I make sure that there are no werewolves near us. I know Moon Chaser warriors like to patrol their borders at dusk and in the evenings. Looking at the sea of oranges in the sky, I realize it is past their patrol time.

It's almost morning. Mars has been gone for one entire night. I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, my chest feels tight because I put Mars in danger. I put her in a horrible situation. Yet, on the other hand, I feel excited to finally be able to see her again. I didn't know that I would miss her this much in just a few hours of her being gone.

"At first I thought of the bond as something annoying. But I needed her because she incited my emotions," I answer truthfully, "To be honest, I think even without the bond, I would have fallen for her too. How can anyone not?"

I know Sky sees Mars as I see her. This radiant star who always thinks of herself as a nobody has charmed everyone around her. Even turning those who hated her into her supporters. Everyone can see her pure soul. And she has so much to offer to the world that sometimes I find it ridiculous for her not to realize her worth.

"The more I spend time with her, the more I am in awe of her. And it's not because of the magic flowing inside her, it's simply because of her as a person." I think I can talk about her without getting tired. "So, if you ask me if having a mate bond with someone is nice, I can't really answer that. But having someone who you can share your entire life with, who you can always trust even at your lowest and darkest time... that's the true gift."

"So, Shadow Boy–"

"My name is Sky!" he protests every time I call him Shadow Boy. Yet he doesn't sound so angry about it, so I keep on doing it.

"When you find someone like that," I advise him, "Hold on to her. Or him. Or they. Like you're holding on to Mars. After all, love is a multifaceted experience. And I think everyone deserves to experience more than one kind of love. Family, friendship, lover. If the universe gives love to you, don't reject them. Treasure them."

Sky becomes quiet again. Perhaps he is thinking about what it would be like to have someone to love in a passionate way, or what it would be like to have friends. He already has a family as of now–well, if you can call having Mars, her daughter, and me as a family with Sky, a weird combination of a family, but a family nonetheless. And I find that I don't mind having a family like this.

"There will be someone for you," I say with a sure voice, "Someone you can hold passionately, someone that ignites the fire within you but at the same time soothes all your wounds. Someone you wouldn't mind turning the world upside down because they become the only world that matters to you. Someone that can make you laugh freely, cry like a river, and make you feel crazy."

He doesn't answer me. And he doesn't need to. I just want him to know that I am sure one day he will find the one.

I keep walking as I hear the sound of birds chirping to find morning dew. Along the way, I keep all my senses sharp, in case someone is approaching us.

"I don't think nature creates mates for Shadow Walkers," Sky says in a small voice, "I don't even think we are meant to find... you know, people we care about. We are made of darkness. We are not... people."

"You don't need mate bonds to find the one for you," I say, "You just need to open your heart and appreciate the person for who they are."

His words, however, make me realize something. Curiosity gets the better of me when I ask, "I never really ask, but how did you come to be? I know Adina's blood and my blood and the spell she cast were what initiated the creation. But I don't get how magic could create an entirely new being... Is my question making any sense?"

I feel Sky nodding on my shoulder. "Any living creature in this world and the others give and take energies from nature. Emotions are a form of energy, at least some gypsy sorcerers would say that emotions are vibrations of energy. When we are happy, when we are excited, when we are serene, and when we have positive emotions, we surround ourselves with positive energies. This type of energy rejuvenates the universe on a minuscule scale that none of us, except nature itself, would notice. But when we are afraid, when we are hurt, when we are angry, when we are jealous, we taint the positive energies around us with negative energies. And this type of energy poisons the universe's rejuvenation."

Sky takes a deep breath. He has settled comfortably in my arms, no longer feeling stiff to be carried by a lycan.

"But as centuries passed, there are more negative energies than positive energies. So the universe created a pandora box in a realm with no lives, and the purpose of the box is to contain the overflowing negative energies," he continues, "With dark magic, people can open the box for a while and collect those negative energies, but only those that reflect the caster's negative energy. The magic then turns the negative energies into Shadow Walkers, and we assume the caster's ultimate desire at the time. That is the rule."

He scoffs weakly. "So inside me is the collection of anguish, anger, jealousy, sadness, and hatred for not being loved. When I came alive, the darkness inside me programmed me to want to love Adina, because that was what she wanted."

Somehow, I get the feeling that he questions whether a person made of those negative emotions deserves to be loved. If there would be someone willing to peek inside him and willingly accept that darkness.

Just like I was before. I didn't think anyone would accept the broken parts of me. And I suffered unknowingly because of it, despite not being able to feel.

I feel like this is fate. I can redeem my past self by guiding Sky to make better choices than I did, to help him to not close himself off. Without telling Sky, I've made up my mind to teach him all I know as a man.

"As time passed, I didn't really care if Adina didn't love me. I was made to love her, and I thought that was it." I put him down slowly on the forest floor. We stare at each other as he continues to say, "But when I met Mars, I started wanting... something more."

Yup. Just like how I was when I met her.

He gulps hard. "It was like... I was never really alive until I met her. It was as if... she turned the negative energies inside me into positive energies. She has made the darkness inside me lighter." He tilts his head. His lips are open to say something, but he is holding back.

So, I blurt out the word for him. "She has made you a real boy."

He nods slowly. "I think... Mars has made me more than a Shadow Walker. And that was something Adina never expected, for a shadow pet like me to have my own conviction and desire, to make my own choices."

I nod back at him. Mars is a miracle. Despite not really understanding how she came to have this much power, or what exactly is her magic, I have always known that she is destined for great things. She heals things, loves the unloved, and brings joy everywhere. Perhaps that's why the universe seems to be behind her every touch.

Because the world needs more people like her.

"Who knows," I shrug, "Maybe if you stick around with Mars long enough, the universe might just give you your own mate."

Sky rolls her eyes. "I don't need someone I can lust over every second of the day like some horny lycans."

I burst into laughter yet again. "You might say this now," I point my finger at this bastard of a boy. "But I'm sure you'll change your thoughts later on. Try having a mate bond for a day, or just fall in love with a girl. You'll see."

He rolls his eyes again, harder this time. "I don't even think I'll grow out of this boy form. Ever since I was first created, I have not grown at all until now."

Tilting my head, I brush his hair gently while Sky only blinks in confusion. "I think you've grown an inch," I say, "from the last time I saw you in the dungeon."

Sky only looks at me without answering. So I nod to my right, pointing at a tall gate in the distance with my head. "Shall we?"

The boy nods firmly.

We both walk to the wooden gate of the Moon Chaser pack. Four werewolves are guarding the door. They growl vehemently when they have caught my scent, a lycan, from miles away. And when they sniff the air, they can smell that Sky is something else, unlike any creature they know of. They tuck their tails between their legs when they realize who we are. Though the growling doesn't stop, they have started to take steps back, especially when we emerge from the tree lines.

Once we are only a few feet away from the gate, we stop. The werewolves stop growling as well. Two of them are in their wolf forms, the other three are in their human forms. But they keep their wary eyes at us, and they look ready to lunge at us at any time soon.

Sky takes one step forward. With his chin up, and shoulders back, he does look taller than the last time I saw him. He looks strong too. None of the werewolves know he is at the edge of his magic. "We want to see Mars. I helped your alpha before. And I'm sure your betas have told you that when you see a..." shadows spread far from Sky's feet. They travel to the werewolves guarding the gate, and they take the form of a large snake on the ground. The shadow hisses to the werewolves, a threat that if they don't do as Sky told them to, there will be consequences.

The werewolves look at each other. They must be conversing with mind links. The next second, the gate is opened from the inside. Sky and I have just only taken one step forward when a grey werewolf appears in the middle of the gate.

The wolf appears calm as it stares straight into both of us. I can't sense any malice or threats from the wolf. "We thank you from the bottom of our hearts that you have helped one of our pack members last night," the wolf says. The voice is a man's voice. It's deep, yet it has a calming nuance to it. Judging from the way the other werewolves act around him, he must be one of the authority figures. I vaguely remember him as one of the betas that chased Mars along with Mason a few months ago.

He bows to us, showing his neck, which is a very rare thing to do for werewolves, especially to other creatures outside of their packs.

"We are honored if you would come and celebrate the birth of a new pup in our village. We have food, and drinks, and Alpha Mason would be happy to meet you both. They are safe and healthy. Our pack's healers and Alpha Mason himself made sure of it."

We both stop in our tracks. Immediately we can tell that something feels wrong. Something is off.

I am not that stupid to not know that the 'pup' he mentioned is Mars's daughter. My daughter.

Yet I dislike the way he stated the baby as if she is a pack member instead of a princess of a lycan kingdom. I need to remind myself not to show my fangs before hearing him out until the end. Mars and her daughter are still inside the village and I need to act smartly to not cause unnecessary harm to them.

My heart races. I begin to worry about Mars. Next to me, Sky seems stiff too. A drop of sweat appears on the side of his face.

I know I threatened I would kill him if Mars and the baby turn out to be in danger in this pack. But I didn't really mean it. I believe at the time, having Mason's help was the best course of action for Mars. With the amount of bleeding and what she needed to do to deliver the baby, I think Sky made the right choice. They would have died if he waited for a more suitable backup. And he couldn't stay with them because he needed to finish Adina off before she could regain her full power.

I know. I know there was nothing else he could have done better.

It just sucks that the situation leads to this. When I thought things couldn't get worse, things do get worse.

"However," the beta says, "if your intention to enter our pack village is to take our member away again, regretfully we have to decline your presence."

"What?" I growl at the werewolves, showing my fangs at them. My claws are out. The lower-tier werewolves show their fangs to me too, despite still having their tails tucked between their legs. Only the grey werewolf who still appears calm while facing us.

Sky squints his eyes. He clicks his tongue in annoyance, then twirls the dark shadows in his hand. His eyes glow red, just like before, which makes the werewolves take another step back in fear.

"You dare to deny our presence?" Sky asks in a low voice.

The grey wolf gulps hard. But then he says, "It was not our only judgment. It was what Mars has decided as well."

What?

"Bullshit!" Sky cries out to them. "You're liars! She was never happy with you all. She is happiest with us."

Sky's shadows grow bigger in his hands. On top of that, the morning sky above us suddenly turns grey. Oh, this boy is angry. And I resonate with his anger.

No one dares take our Mars away from us. Anyone who does shall be punished heavily so that no one will attempt the same thing in the future.

Seeing Sky like this makes the grey wolf's calm visage falter. His tail is tucked too now. And he starts to stutter. "I... I... Look, we have changed. Alpha Mason made us realize how wrong we had been treating our females. That's what he has been doing these past few months. We're an entirely new pack right now."

That answer doesn't soothe my anger. It sure doesn't soothe Sky's anger as well. We both take a few steps forward. Immediately, the darn beta orders for the gate to be closed. And though they have their tails tucked between their legs, this time they hold their stances firm. It seems like they are determined to keep Mars, even at the cost of their lives.

"I don't care whether you are a new pack or not. If Mason thinks he can force Mars into being his Luna after all she had been through in this pack, and knowing that she can be so much more outside of this small, oppressive village..." I am simmering in a sea of rage. "Then he is out of his mind. And I will personally knock some sense to him and to his entire pack if I have to."

"Oh, save some for me too, My King," Sky says, following along with my game.

We are only two people. They are five werewolves in front of a huge gate. Inside the gate, I am sure there are dozens of werewolves. But I am a lycan warrior, and Sky is... Sky. They are no match for us.

And yet the beta says, "Look... we don't want any trouble with your kind." He then looks at Sky. "Or any trouble with you. Ever."

"But it was truly Mars who decided to stay with us."

"Why would she?" I scream the question. My hope is that my voice can be heard inside the village to alert Mars that I am here. Because, to my heartache, I still couldn't reach Mars through our bond.

Not being able to hear her voice, to feel her presence... It sickens me so much.

"Be– because... her husband is here..."

I can only blink at the words. Time seems to stop, yet at the same time, it slips away from me. I don't think I am even breathing.

"Her chosen mate is here...," the beta continues after seeing us both frozen to our spots, "Edward is alive."

I hear glass shattering inside me. Loud and clear. The pieces tear through every inch of my heart. It's painfully slow yet fast at the same time. I feel myself bleeding, but there is no blood. It's hard to breathe. And with every blink, I hope with all my heart that I will wake up from this nightmare.

"I'm sorry," the beta offers to us. Do we look that awful right now? Why is he even apologizing? "Please return to your kingdom."

This can't be right. Did they do some weird shit to make Mars believe Ed is still alive? I saw the damn ashes. I saw Mars crying over him for weeks. But if he was never dead in the first place, so did he purposefully make Mars think he was dead?

Nothing makes sense.

And I hate being away from Mars with every growing second.

"We're not moving an inch until we can see Mars ourselves," I demand in a stern voice. "She might be a member of your pack, but as of today, she is also part of the royal lycan family. She is my wife."

"I don't give a flying fuck whether her ex-husband is here," I roar to the werewolves, "I am her husband. If you refuse to fulfill our demand... There will be war." I speak each word slowly in a loud voice, laced with threatening growls.

I mean every word.

I will not hesitate to turn this world upside down to get her back.

–to be continued–