Invictus

"She's turning." He whispered.

Fear took over me and my eyes slipped back to Deidre who was now unconscious. Everyone was whispering and hovering. I needed to get her away from here. Lifting her up, I made my way up the stairs to my bedroom where I sat her down on the bed. My father, mother, Akoni, and everyone else who was with Deidre and I back in America were following closely behind me.

"How did this happen?" I asked.

My mother moved to remove the pins from Deidre's hair. In over thousands of years, we have decreed that humans weren't to be turned lycan. The reasoning behind it was that the human body can't stand the change. Many die from it and very few survive from it. We were pure breeds and the ultimate form from the Moon Goddess.

I looked down at Deidre and her skin was pale even with the makeup. It scared me like hell. It was like fear was wrapping me up tightly like a snake, squeezing the life out of me. I couldn't breathe. My heart was aching. My lungs were gasping for breath. My vision began blurring. Quickly, I moved to pinch the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes. Inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly, I tried to calm my emotions.

"She was with us the whole time. How can she be turning?" Akoni asked with clear confusion.

"Check her body for bite or claw marks. We won't get any answers until she is awake." Simon ordered.

My mother and the rest of the men exited, leaving me alone with her. I moved to sit on the bed; lifting her up I unbuttoned the top of her dress before slipping it off her body slowly. When the dress was off her shoulder it was then I noticed a claw mark on her shoulder. Indescribable fury rose inside of me as I looked upon the mark.

How the hell did this happen?

I saw the black veins spreading from the mark and through her body. The venom was quickly making its way through her, changing her. I slipped off her dress, leaving her in her bra and panty.

Her body felt like it was on fire. When she began struggling and crying, pushing against my chest. I tightened my arms around her. I was afraid she will hurt herself I let her go.

"Stop! Please, somebody help me!" She cried. "It hurts too much."

"I know little moon. Please bare the pain." I spoke hoarsely as her pain was mine. I couldn't see her like this. It was like someone reaching into my chest and squeezing my heart.

She thrashed against me and began clawing at her skin with her fingernails. I pinned her arms down and moved so my body was on top of hers. Her eyes were closed tightly as tears slipped out. The black veins spread from the injury on her shoulder like wild fire. It crawled all over her body and soon her body was riddled with thick black veins-not a single part of her was left uncovered. Her screams were endless and it tormented my heart each time. When the veins crawled up to her neck and to her face, ending at her eyes, her eyes immediately flew open before it rolled back till I saw only the whites of her eyes.

"Deidre." I whispered. "Please fight this. Overcome this. I need you, little moon."

I heard snapping in her bones. I let go of her immediately. I was afraid I had applied too much pressure and broken her but when her other parts of her body began breaking. I knew it was her body responding to the change.

I moved to cup her face even though I knew she couldn't see me, I hoped and prayed she could at least hear me.

"Fight this. You are strong. I have seen you. You lived all by yourself for so many years, Deidre. You suffered for so long in loneliness. Don't let this beat you. Live, Deidre. Live for me." I begged and pleaded.

Finally, the sound of bones breaking stopped and her cries died down. She slumped back onto the bed. My breath caught in my throat as the worse possibility hit me, immediately I moved to feel her neck for a pulse. When I felt the faint pulse against my finger I couldn't be more relieved but my relief was short lived when her back shot up in an arch on the bed. She screamed before she fell back onto the bed.

"Deidre?" I barely was able to whisper her name out. Her body was still, lifeless. I moved to touch her and her pulse was gone. The faint pulse I felt earlier had disappeared.

"No." I shook my head at her as I moved closer to wrap my arms around her. I moved so that she was sitting in my lap. Her head cradled under my chin. I cried as I held her. "Please, goddess no."

I held her for hours as I waited for her to wake up but when she didn't and her body remained lifeless. I grew angry. The rage inside of me snapped and my skin began to prickle with hair. I snarled as I had one thought in my mind-to kill who did this to her.

I went into a blind rage. Letting go of my emotions. My lycan pushed me to the back of my mind. I was only faintly aware of what was going on. It was like a fog was covering my eyes but I can still see the shape of what was before me. I felt myself being pinned down. I felt myself being dragged and voices shouting. I felt the chains binding my neck, wrist, waist, and ankles.

I don't know how long I stayed in this state. After I felt myself struggling for the longest time, I finally felt a touch that lit something inside of me. My heart soared and started beating again. Slowly, my breathing became regular. Slowly, my vision began to clear up and what I saw standing in front of me made me speechless.

She stood there.

She was alive.

It was really her.

"Invictus." She gently said my name. My body responded immediately. I became alive again. Every atom and nerve in my body started working again.

"You're alive?" I rasped out as I tugged on the chains holding me tightly.

"It would seem like it." She said as she looked herself up and down.

She looked different. She grew in inches and now stood not up to my shoulders but to my nose. Her eyes were a different shade. It wasn't its normal brown color. It now held red glints around the iris and inside the iris. The black veins on her neck were still there. Her waist was slimmer as her hips were wider.

"Can we release him?" She asked as she turned around to look behind her. I didn't realize we weren't alone. My eyes moved to where she was looking and I saw my parents standing there.

"That will depend if he can control his rage." My father asked.

I nodded as I felt like myself again. My father waved his hand and two guards came to unchain me. Once the chain was broken I moved to wrap my arms around her. I held her tight. I breathed in her scent. It calmed me like nothing else. She was real. She was here. She surviv-wait what?

"You're a lycan. I can smell you. Your scent is different." I said.

She wrinkled her nose. "I can smell you too. Your scent is different." She moved in and sniffed me on my shoulder.

I grinned at her before moving in to cup her cheeks, placing a quick kiss on her lips. I was too happy to even care if she allowed me to or not. I was too happy she was alive. "My smell is alluring to you. You can't lie to me, little moon."

The corner of her lip lifted and she looked up at me from under her eyelashes. She was the most beautiful creature I have ever seen. I moved in and kissed her again. When she pushed me away and wiped her mouth I gave her a cheeky grin.

"Stop kissing me." She ordered.

I took a step towards her but she took a big step back.

"Don't move away from me, Deidre." I warned. She lifted her chin up in the air like how she does every time she was going to give me a hard time.

"What are you going to do about it?" She teased before moving quickly with her newfound lycan speed to hide behind my mother.

I moved towards her intending to show her just what I would do to her but my mother rose up her hand, halting me in my actions.

"Easy there. She is still a newborn. There are many new things she is experiencing right now." My mother reasoned.

"She's one of the first human in how many decades to be able to fully change into a lycan." Simon whistled before smiling in pride.

They were right. Newborn lycans were more playful. Their senses were more heightened and because of that they can get upset easily which could lead to chaos. I pulled back and saw Deidre peeking out from behind my mother's shoulder. She stuck her tongue out at me and I couldn't help but grin. She was playful alright.

I sighed and pulled back. "Alright but we still need you to tell us what happened, Deidre."

She frowned and I can see her getting more upset. Her chest was puffing up and down rapidly. My mother moved slightly to pat her on the back like a child.

"It's alright, dear. You can tell us when you are ready." But Deidre wasn't having any of that. She needed comfort and I was the closest thing to her right now, emotionally. She threw herself at me. I knew if she was her normal self, she would probably not do this but she wasn't herself.

To say that I didn't mind this, it was an understatement. After my near loss of her, I was more than happy for her to be in my arms. I needed her closeness as much as she did.

We made our way back out of the dungeon where they somehow pulled me down to keep me from destroying everything in my path. When we made it upstairs to my bedroom, I saw that it was completely destroyed. Chairs, desk, TVs, bed, rugs, and paintings riddled all over the floor in broken pieces.

"You did that." Akoni appeared behind us.

"You were crazy." Marc muttered as he appeared.

"Crazy is not the word I would exactly describe him. Insane or psychotic fits him better." Caden chirped as he rounded the corner and appeared in our vision.

Ron and Max chuckled as they came up closely behind. My father shook his head as my mother ushered them away.

I guess tonight we will be sleeping in Deidre's room.