THE GENUINE ALPHA'S DAUGHTER

The dining table was full. On the dark stone walls of the great hall, every fifteen meters there was a torch lit with the dancing fire on them and the last rays of sunlight illuminated the dining room. The genuine couple was the first to feed, when they were finished, it was the betas couples' turn and then the omega couples'. When the table was practically empty, with not much left, it was released for the last one's meal.

"Now you can help yourself, Bloodstain," ordered the genuine to his cub, who kept her eyes on the table, her mouth salivating and her stomach growling every time she saw someone chew on any piece of meat, but waited patiently for her turn.

"All right, papa."

"I told you not to call me that!" cried the genuine, interrupting the small hand of picking up one of the bones on the table. "Go to your den, you won't eat today!"

"But..."

"You want to get beaten up?" Bloodstain felt her body tremble all over at the murderous look her mother cast upon her.

It has been three days since the little one ate. The first day was because she transformed and ran through the hidden forest, she was caught lying on a tree with large roots that protected her from the snowflakes. The second was because she didn't clean up the blood in the torture room after the genuine one had fun slicing up a middle-aged human, and now this. Tears cascaded through the little girl's almond brown eyes, her belly growling, but the fear was much greater.

"You know I don't like it," Kratos pulled her black hair, almost pulling it out of Bloodstain's scalp, causing immense pain and forcing her to lift her head. "Don't make me lose patience with you, you disgrace!" He shouted and spat in the girl's face, who closed her eyes and swallowed her crying, unable to control some sobs that came out of her mouth without her permission and she knew that this was irritating the genuine even more.

"Sir, she..."

"Stay out of it!" He growled at the luna cimex who tried to intervene on the girl's behalf.

With disgust stamped on his face, Kratos pushed Bloodstain into the ground, banging her head. She was dizzy for a few seconds and felt the blood drip down her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she gathered all her strength and rose from the ground, looked around, and only received looks of disgust and contempt from almost everyone in the hall. The only different look came from the cimex luna called Guila. Bloodstain bowed to the genuine couple and left the dining room. With faltering steps, leaning on the walls, she descended the stairs that lead to the basement of the castle, where her den was. Alone, again. It hurt her, she hated being alone, but loneliness was her greatest companion.

Bloodstain, like the other pack's members, blasphemed against herself, saying that if it were not for her existence, her brother would be alive and would be loved by all for being the next genuine alpha.

Bloodstain didn't die as a puppy thanks to luna cimex Guila, who was the only one who took care of her. Guila was the one who remained in her lupine form to warm and protect the puppy. The hardest part of all of that was when the little one was hungry. The genuine lunam refused to feed Bloodstain; the most she did, and just because it was her mate's order, was to pump her milk and put it in a clay pot.

Guila would wet a cotton cloth with the milk and put it in the little one's mouth, over and over again. She had to do that in her human form, but soon afterwards she would return to her lupine form and nest the little one in her warm fur so that she could sleep peacefully.

The genuine's daughter's den was always cold and not at all illuminated, there was no bed of straw covered with bear skins. There was only the icy floor to lie on, so as not to freeze to death, Gulia could only sleep in her lupine form on the cold floor. When Bloodstain positioned her hands to take off her battered and torn dress, her ears detected the sound of footsteps approaching. It was Guila, the only one who cared about Bloodstain.

"You shouldn't be here..."

"I know," Guila replied softly. She entered the den and sat on the floor next to her. "Here, take it."

From inside the pocket of her dress, Guila pulled out a small piece of dried meat, it was the rest of the food destined for human slaves. But that was better than letting the girl starve to death.

Bloodstain's eyes flashed, she had to control herself too much not to let the drool drip. With eyes fixed on the small piece of dried meat in Guila's hands, she lifted one of her hands and, with her fingers trembling from the anxiety of finally being able to eat something in days, the young woman took it and ate it in just a single bite. It wasn't enough for her hunger to pass and her stomach growled asking for more. It hurt Guila's heart to see her like that.

"Thanks so much, Guila. You saved me as always."

Bloodstain thanked her with her head down and a tear trickled from her eyes. The blood on her forehead was still dripping, but the pain of that didn't compare to the pain she felt inside.

"Why don't you treat me like the others? I know I shouldn't have been born, that because of me, my brother..."

"Don't talk nonsense, girl. The goddess is never wrong. Everything that happens is because..."

"What goddess are you talking about, Guila?" Bloodstain looked at her in confusion.

Talking about the moon goddess was forbidden. Nobody believed in her anymore and the genuine alpha would even kill anyone he saw thanking or talking about the moon goddess.

"The goddess of the moon. It's thanks to her that we exist. She's our absolute goddess, she's the one who dictates our fate," Guila said quietly.

"And why are you almost whispering? You can't talk about it?"

"Your father doesn't like us talking about her."

"Why?"

"You don't have to know now, you just need to know that the goddess has a purpose for you."

"Then why did she let my brother die? She made me born just to be hated by everyone and what's the point in that, Guila? I'm sure she doesn't care about me."

"Stop with this blasphemy. They don't treat you like that because of her! The Lycan race fell into disgrace because they so wished, because they didn't listen to her. They changed their own path. She has nothing to do with the wrong decisions of our kind."

"Then why, Guila? What's the point of living like this? I don't want to suffer any more!" she cried. .

"In time the answers will come, child, one day, I'm sure, the goddess's plans for you will make sense. Until then, don't talk anymore nonsense, and always ask her for protection. She'll listen to you. She's fair!"

"I want to know more about her," Bloodstain said as she wiped her eyes. Her head throbbed, the cut on her eyebrow burned.

"You better transform, so you can heal this wound," Guila said gently and so the girl did.

She got up and took off her dress and transformed; in her lupine form she was still a puppy. Transformed, she was almost the size of Guila's wolf. That was another proof that Bloodstain didn't look any weaker than a cimex luna, even though she was treated worse than one. The girl was a noble Lycan.

Bloodstain lay down beside Guila, who patted her fluffy head.

Bloodstain's fur, in Guilla's eyes, was beautiful, so white. Guila could see beauty even in the small red round patches scattered across the back of the cub wolf in her lap.

On the rest of her limbs, those stains represented her brother's blood. That's why they named her Bloodstain. From Latin, it means bloodstained.

"Sleep, my little one."

Guila said and took the girl's head from her lap. Her heart ached every time she saw the pitiful way in which the genuine's daughter was treated. The girl didn't have any privilege, being treated worse than a servant. And it hurt so much not to be able to do anything. Guila's heart hurt for her. The most she could do was watch and hope that the goddess would rid her of the cruel fate that this poor girl's father had prepared for her.

And the goddess had been watching all along. Her trial was already in progress.

HAND-TO-HAND FIGHT

"Mary, please tell me. When?" Margaret insisted once more.

"It's dawn, we have to..."

"You promised, Mary," Margaret crosses her arms at breast height. "I thought you were a woman of your word, but from what I see now..."

Mary rolls her eyes. Not even half an hour since the timid rays of rising sun passed through the windows and Margaret was already on her feet tormenting her with a promise she made ten years ago.

When she saved the little ten-year-old child from being enslaved or devoured by the Lycanthropian beasts, in order to get her out of the deep depression that possessed her body, Mary promised to train her and transform her so she could take her revenge. Mary thought that in time the girl would give up on this idea, however, nothing would get it out of Margaret's head, and it frustrated the red-eyed vampire immensely.

"In three months. "In three fucking months!" she said in a loud tone that scared the young woman, who tensed all her muscles on alert. "On that same date, three months from now, if you ask me again, I swear Margaret, I swear I will fulfill my promise." Mary decreed impatiently. "Now go and have coffee!" she shouted, pointing to the table.

"A-all right."

That was all Margaret could say. She was happy, after so long now she has a date set and it made her anxious.

"Hey! Stop yelling!" Occisor entered the kitchen covering his sensitive ears.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your ears," Mary apologized. She knew that Occisor's hearing was more sensitive than hers.

Although only Margaret needed to have breakfast in the morning, the three of them sat at the table at every meal to keep her company. The other two members ate only at dinnertime.

Mary still remembered how to cook and so she made the dishes with great pleasure for Margaret. It was one of the only things she could still do normally and it always brought back memories of when she was just a human. She misses that time, the time before everything was ripped away from her.

"Good morning to you, too," Margaret said to Occisor who gave her an impatient look.

"Eat up, creature, don't delay me, I want to train!"

"Don't talk to her like that, Occisor, or you won't have any training today!" Mary scolded him firmly, but Occisor didn't feel the slightest bit frightened.

"If not with you, I will train with anyone else. I just need the basics, the rest I can improve on my own," he replied boldly and Mary took a deep breath.

"Today I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, you've got to be kidding, the two of you decided to rattle me! Bloody hell!" She said angrily.

"Look, kid, you're barely out of your diapers and you think you're a man? Wake up, naughty boy."

"I don't think I am, I know I am and I know what I'm gonna do! And if you don't want to help me, don't get in my way."

For a ten-year-old, his tongue was too sharp. Everyone knows that the development of a lycanthropist after six months of life tends to be accelerated, but it was impossible for this to have happened in just one night, one night when he spent practically all of his time crying.

"Look, puppy, don't forget who it was that saved you from death!" She spoke very close to Occisor's face as she suspended him by his collar.

"As if you would let me forget!" He rolled his eyes.

Mary's eyes changed color, when she is calm her eyes are red, when angry, black. And at that moment they were turning black.

"Calm down, Mary. Occisor has not yet digested the events of last night," Margaret intervened and reason reigned again in Mary's brain. She released the boy who settled back on the table.

"May this attitude not be repeated," she said at last and sat back down at the table.

It took only ten minutes for Margaret to finish eating the spiced bread that Mary had prepared.

"Ma'am, the room is already ready," one of the guards entered the private kitchen.

"Thank you, but next time wait for us to get out of here," she scolded him.

Mary hated having to live on a government base. Privacy, that's all she ever wanted, but it seemed to her that her will wasn't the priority.

The intruder guard was called Derrick, his hair was dark brown and wavy, and he was only five years older than Margaret. Also, he was in love with her.

Derrick was the son of a king, a kingdom killed by Lycanthropic beasts; his mother gave her life so that only he could escape. The government found him and his tutor, who had looked after him for thirteen years and died on the battlefield.

Derrick got lost in time when he looked away from Mary's face and paused on Margaret's beautiful eyes. She loved him too, but she had her priorities and unfortunately love didn't come first. She didn't want love, not at that moment.

"You can go back to your post now, Officer Derrick," Mary brought him back to reality and he tilted his head in a nod and walked back out of the private kitchen.

"Now can we go?" Occisor questioned as he rose from his chair.

"Let me just wash this first..."

"You've never washed your plate in the morning. Is all this just to avoid that officer?" Occisor loved to tease Margaret because he knew she liked the boy.

"Go to hell!" She cursed, picking up her plate and going to the sink.

"Will you stop it? And let's go already," Mary said and started walking, being followed by the other two in silence.

The training room was upstairs. The base had three floors, the second was the private one where only the three lived, but the officers never respected their privacy and always entered their quarters uninvited. The base had no elevator, so they needed to climb two flights of stairs to get to the top floor.

The third floor contains five rooms, which are:

A interrogation room for humans;

Mary not only had the responsibility to hunt the supernaturals, but she also had to deal with serial killers. The government didn't want any police officers to die dealing with these kinds of people, so it was Mary's duty to hunt, interrogate and kill those serial killers.

The second room was an interrogation room for superhumans.

That room was intended for werewolves, vampires and witches. A few years ago, the three races went to war, and that had terrible consequences for the humans. The death of many innocents, the trafficking of virgin women, vampires took them to generate their heirs and witches to complete their ritual. The enslavement of humans to werewolves.

The third room was a human torture room.

This room was destined for the accomplices of serial killers or even those who betray the human race to make it difficult for agents to hunt supernaturals.

The fourth room was another human torture room.

Unlike serious killers, supernaturals are not only entitled to death, before that they go through torture. And the only one capable of that so far is Mary. Each race has its weakness, and she exploits each and every one of them very well.

The fifth room was the training room.

The room that Mary intended to use for hand-to-hand combat training. Inside there's various materials for various kinds of fights. This room is divided in two parts: one for combat and the other for target training guns, knives and arrows.

"I still think they should install elevators here," Margaret grumbled.

Despite her good physical fitness, she hates the stairs.

"It must be pretty cool to go up by just pressing a little button."

Margaret always found the idea of elevators fascinating, she only stepped on one once and felt like she was floating. But the government didn't want to pay for it.

Occisor and Mary could already be on the third floor, but Margaret was walking at a much slower pace than they were.

After another ten minutes of climbing the stairs, they walked down the hall heading for the last room in the corridor. Mary opened the door and gave the other two space to enter as well. Margaret and Occisor only observed the place. He had never been there before.

"Margaret, today you will train with the targets."

"Alright."

Margaret assumed her place, leaving only Mary and Occisor in the hand-to-hand combat area.

"Listen, Occisor, when your training is over, you will have the responsibility to deal with the humans."

"I just want to hunt the..."

"Don't interrupt me!" Mary said harshly and Occisor shut up. "The government supports us in order to deal with Vampires, Wizards, serial killers, accomplices and werewolves."

"I don't want to get involved with the other races!"

"If you want to hunt the werewolves down, you will have to do that, if not, you will also be hunted and will be accused of being an accomplice to the vampires and the witches!"

"This is bullshit!"

"Watch your mouth!"

"I'm not a kid anymore, Mary."

"Then be a gentleman and respect the ladies present here."

Occisor rolled his eyes in response, his rebellion making Mary even angrier.

"Today I'll teach you the fight of the eight guns."

"I thought it was going to be hand-to-hand combat."

"But it is, the eight guns' fight is known to utilize various parts of the body. Let's start with the base."

And so Occisor's training began.

THE BOOK

Exactly thirty minutes after the sun rose, only to remain hidden behind the dense, gray clouds. The sounds of strides echo through the stone floor in the long hallway and soon the genuine couple appeared. At the entrance to the room, two slaves were responsible for opening and closing the heavy doors. When the couple positioned themselves in front of the door, the slaves opened them and the noise caught everyone's attention.

"Is everyone already here?" The genuine alpha asked as he entered the meeting room.

"Yes, the seven alphas, sir," the omega replied with his head down.

"All right. You can leave now."

"Excuse me."

The omega bowes to all the alphas and left the large room, closing the door behind him. The genuine alpha sits at the head of the great table and the genuine lunam sits at his right side.

"Have you found an heir yet?" Kratos questioned Rolf, the alpha of the Rising pack.

"No, I'm still in mourning," he replied without looking at the other alpha.

"You should leave soon. After all it was you who ordered the execution of your velut luna," he said impatiently. The other alpha's mourning had lasted for five years, it was more than enough. "And to this day you still refuse to kill that abomination of yours."

Rolf closed his eyes and his hands in fists tightly. Remembering that he wasn't able to keep his female in line makes him feel ashamed of himself. A show of weakness, and because of that, the honor of his pack is below all, thus losing the name of his star of honor.

"I know," he replied with effort. "I've tried to mate with the lunae of my pack, but just smelling their scents made me angry and I was afraid I was going to kill them, so I stopped and..."

"That doesn't matter," Kratos interrupted him. "I want to take care of another matter."

"And what would it be?" asked the alpha of the Diphda pack.

"Surely it must be of the utmost importance, to gather everyone here," the alpha of the Acrab pack concluded.

"Did the witches and the vampires attacked us again?" the alpha of the Markab pack questioned.

The Lycan race, to that very moment, contained seven packs, apart from the one ruled directly by the genuine. The others were:

• The Diphda pack, having Lucan as its current pack alpha.

• The Rising pack, having as current pack alpha Rolf.

• The Acrab pack, having as current pack alpha Dário.

• The Markab pack, having as current pack alpha Sebastian.

• The Nebula pack, with Raphael as the current pack alpha.

• The Merak pack, having as current pack alpha Apollonis.

And the Sonstellation pack, having Nicollas as its current pack alpha.

The second generation Lycanthropian of history, the stars and constellations formed the familiar branches of the wolves, their pack and their names millenia ago. While the moon represented the genuine alpha's family.

"As everyone already knows, something unusual has happened and in place of an heir, I have a female offspring," Kratos stopped and observed the attentive gazes coming from all the wolves present.

Everyone was silent. No one understood what actually happened, no one even knew that the moon goddess herself had direct contact with the genuine alpha. And no one had the courage to question any of that. The genuine alpha was not someone known for being kind. If he didn't like something, he didn't even stop to think before killing someone.

"That female shouldn't exist, because of her my heir died, but I can't change the facts," said the alpha. "And since she shouldn't exist, I'm sure her mate doesn't exist either. So her uterus should be fertile for any male."

Everyone listened attentively, but no one could say why the genuine alpha chose to gather all the alphas in his castle.

"Five years from now, she'll be at an appropriate age to mate. I want to create a competition and whoever wins will have the right to mate with her and father my heir."

Everyone in the room was taken by surprise, but they managed to disguise it well. "Will this be possible?" they whispered between themselves.

While the meeting was taking place, Bloodstain gained permission to be able to stroll through the forest, being accompanied by Guila. The white floor and the fresh air, the warm rays of sunshine, all that put a beautiful smile on her face.

"Shall we go for a run? Please?" she pleaded, clasping her hands together.

"Come!" Guila smiled. She didn't want to run. She was no longer young; seven hundred years have passed already and she only had three hundred more at most.

They both removed their dresses and tucked them under a tree, in a root that lay above the ground.

They both transformed and for anyone who saw them from the outside, they would think Bloodstain was the oldest of the two because she was much bigger than Guila, but those who knew her better knew that the big wolf was still a puppy.

Bloodstain's paws sank over the fluffy ground through the snow, and that gave her, even for a few wee moments, the feeling of freedom. Feeling the icy wind blowing against her snout made her eyes sparkle with joy. It was so rare for her to be allowed to walk outside the castle, it only happened when people came from outside, like that day. No one wanted to have the displeasure of being in the same room as the killer.

Excited, Bloodstain forces her legs to work faster, running into the white forest. Guila no longer had such strength, and because she was a luna cimex, it was like she was a normal wolf. She tried her best not to lose sight of the girl, but it was very difficult to keep up with her.

With the icy wind blowing softly on her snout, with the cold she could feel on her bones, with the fluffy snow all around her and with the illusion of being free, Bloodstain was feeling like she was in the clouds. But it was only an illusion. Freedom was something she'd probably never have.

Upon arriving at a frozen lake, the girl finally stopped running and waited for Guila. The both of them decided to rest by the river.

Lycanthropes had the power to communicate through the mind with one another, but that wasn't for everyone. That power was restricted and only the members of the same pack could hear each other with their minds. There was only one being able to listen to all lycanthropes and also be heard, and that was the genuine alpha. Guila always wondered if Bloodstain would inherit that power when the genuine died.

"Guila?" Bloodstain said without lifting her head from the fluffy ground.

"Yes?"

"Tell me more about her. The goodness. Why did she create us?"

"She wanted to save her beloved's life."

"What do you mean?" Bloodstain raised her head and looked at Guila intently. Guila in turn sniffed the air to make sure they were alone.

"The goddess was in love with a man, a king, his name was Lycaon. Her brother found out and blackmailed her. He tricked her and made her almost kill her beloved. Then, to save him, she turned him into a werewolf."

"I want more details, Guila! Who was her brother? What's her name? How was this man that she fell in love with? After she turned him, they stayed together? What happened to the brother? Where is she now, the goddess? Who were her parents? What..."

Bloodstain stopped to regain her breath. Guila was stunned.

"I really wish I could answer all these questions," Guila said. "But this could put us in danger.

So..." "But then how can I know more about her if you don't tell me?" Bloodstain put her head on the ground again and stared at the frozen lake.

"I'll figure it out. But we'd better go back now."

They got up and made the way back slowly. They arrived at the castle around noon and the genuine alpha's guests had already left. The castle was empty.

"Where is everybody?" Bloodstain asked as she entered the patio.

"Hunting. They must be in the woods. It's a good thing we didn't crash into them, they would definitely want to fight."

Bloodstain agreed. She hoped that she could have dinner too. But what she really wanted was to learn how to hunt. However, if the omegas didn't have that privilege, a killer shouldn't either.

"I'm going to my den," Bloodstain said and turned around, leaving the room.

Guila nodded and also started walking toward her den.

The castle has six floors; the top floor was only for the genuine alpha and his mate; the fifth was for the betas and their mates; the fourth floor had the conference room and a large library. The kitchen and the dining room were on the third floor. The second floor was for the omegas' and their mates. The first floor had guest rooms. There was also an alcova, where the slaves and the torture room where.. There were no doors in that part of the castle, only an enclosed corridor that led to the basement. It was like a box, with only one window with a ladder for the transportation of the slaves. Further down the corridor was a cellar, which is where Bloodstain's den was.

Guila walked to her bed and pulled out a black-covered book. It wasn't heavy or too thick. That was the only book she could save from being destroyed. The last book about the story of the first lycanthropist. It tells how it all happened and gives details about the moon goddess and her history with him.

Guilla thanked the goddess for not having anyone else around and with the little book in hand, she walked quickly to Bloodstain's den. Guila hated going through the slave wing, she felt very sorry for these humans, but she couldn't help them even if she tried. She couldn't even defend herself. Even though she had a mate, if he had a guest and they wanted to have her, he would allow them, even though he knew that almost killed her.. But nobody cared.

Bloodstain was sitting in a corner of her den. Guila saw the sadness in her eyes.

"I brought something for you. Don't let anyone see you reading it," Guila said as she approached. "Read this and you will know everything."

Guila handed the book to the girl and kissed her forehead.

"Now I have to go," she said and made for the door.

"Thank you, Guila."

Bloodstain whispered and smiled as she opened the cover of the little book in her hands.