Alluring avoidance
~
Accalia
~

The touch of his lips sent Accalia into a dark void she didn't want to return from. Within the blackness, there was light. Amidst the light, there was a beauty.

His lips upon hers were so alluring it enticed her body in igniting flames and eclipsed every measure of torment Lycus brought upon her into dust.

The taste of him was like black liquorice; bitter but deliciously sweet.

It wasn't just a peck like Accalia anticipated, but yet again, kissing a lycan wouldn't be a chaste and endearing thing.

Lycus overlapped his lips around Accalia's bottom lip and sucked harshly, wanting more of her. Accalia could feel every effort and action Lycus was putting in to prolong this moment that would never come again. Wanting this to last longer than it should.

And it worked.

Accalia's lips moulded with his amazingly in a surging and unrelenting play of who could gain the upper hand.

Accalia knew she would lose, she hadn't kissed many guys and none were as experienced as Lycus. And never as addicting. Kissing him, she felt disconnected from reality, disconnected to the gravity and felt only connected to him. Bound to him.

Lycus snaked his arm around her back and pulled her even closer, threading his other hand through her wet and thick hair to almost tie his body with hers. Just to get near her.

Accalia couldn't believe this was happening, she was allowing this and how feeble-minded she felt to even push him away. She couldn't; not against his clutches and lips.

Accalia would give in to this, just this once, no matter how long it would last and the crack of opportunity would close, she would submit to the bond. Give in to her mate's touch. Because after today, it will never happen again, this traitorous and binding kiss will never resurface and Accalia will count the days she was free.

Free of her mate. A lycan.

It was when Lycus's hand found her thighs, hoisting her up and her legs locked around his waist did Accalia realised this had to stop.

Their deal was made now.

But she couldn't find in herself to pull away. Not yet.

A sudden gasp left her throat when his hardness rocked against her core, lighting up a raging fire within her.

Lycus didn't stop there, his tongue slipped through her parted lips and danced with hers. Accalia clutched his damp shirt and felt her heart accelerate, responding to him without thinking.

She didn't want this to stop.

A moan slipped out of her, a needy and aching moan that made Lycus tighten his hold on her.

A withdrawn and lustful growl escaped from Lycus's throat and he pulled away as he came back to his senses, leaving a sudden emptiness amongst them both.

Accalia's eyes smacked open, wondering why he stopped and it was clear as to why. His eyes were black and canines were elongated from his teeth.

Lycus wanted to mark her.

Accalia nibbled at her plump lip and Lycus tensed at this, a vibration coursing through his chest as he gave a low grumble.

"The deal is made." Accalia gulped and unlatched her legs that were wrapped around his waist.

Accalia was surprised her stance was steady and grounded when she touched the floor, she thought for a second she would collapse once she was back on her feet.

Lycus had no response, his black eyes weren't even looking at her, not even acknowledging her presence that he was all over seconds ago.

With a stifled breath of air, Accalia didn't want to linger around as discomfort began to take sanctuary in the depths of her entire being. A sting of discomfort began to stab at her chest.

Swollen lips, coldness attaching her skin more than before, Accalia left Lycus where he stood and immersed herself in the forest.

~

Cadence
~

If there was one thing Cadence Athena Larren would admit to the world, it would be her passionate and absolute hate for reading.

With a passion, she hated it.

But over these past two weeks, giving her time to boredom and efforts to nothing, she had recently taken up the hobby with a keen interest. With brewing curiosity and a thirst for knowledge.

Knowledge. Such a powerful and representative tool that Cadence possessed no ability in.

Her tunnel of knowledge was just that. A tunnel. A straight and narrow line of information she had made herself aware of. She didn't care to know anything that wouldn't serve her in the long run.

But as a hunter, Cadence was forced to read. Soak in as many words as she could that depicted the lycans and werewolves in such a light.

Since the day she got back to the Fenris territory after visiting Alexene and lying to Accalia about her whereabouts, the entire pack had been eerily reserved.

Alexene had created a massacre and it looked as though no one knew who the person was or what did it.

But Cadence did, she was told by the culprit itself. Alexene had confessed without a hint of remorse.

And Cadence had never felt more useless against her — in her entire life, other than seeing her family members rotting corpses, but that was out of her control. This was different. She was a trained hunter, harbouring a specific responsibility to protect and exact bloodshed on whoever stood as a threat.

But this threat was something different, a creature Cadence had never heard of and Alexene had the upper hand.

Cadence's only responsibility was to shut her mouth and find the item Alexene had assigned her to find.

And so far, she wasn't getting anywhere. She had already searched the outskirts of the Fenris lands, but she had to be discreet. She couldn't carry a shovel with her and she couldn't unearth the entire pack. She figured she would have to invest in a metal detector.

If anything, Lycus would keep it close to him — like his study or bedroom, somewhere within reach.

Grinding her teeth together, she dropped her chin to her knees and stared mindlessly at the window beside her, wondering when she would get out of this hellhole.

She had been reading up on vampirism, but it only got her so far. The only person who knew anything was the vampire itself.

Lycan came to mind.

He knew about vampires, he practically wiped them out, as Alexene explained. But Cadence sat unsatisfied.

Alexene did reveal that somehow, she became connected to the Fenris family but knowing them came to be her downfall.

Something told Cadence that lycans and vampires couldn't weave together, there were too many stark differences between them, at least, that had been what Cadence had come to know through her reading.

Why did vampires need to drink blood? That was one of the first things Cadence delved into — that and how to kill them, but what she found only led her down a rabbit hole she still hadn't come back from.

Vampires consume blood to survive, to sustain their undead life by taking another and to nourish, fuel and pleasure their bodies by taking humans' blood through their mouths, and their fangs. Not only did it ensure survival, but preserved their form.

It was sickening to Cadence's eyes as she read but moving on to the topic of how to kill them subsided that nausea.

Pretty standard: wooden stake to the heart, decapitation, exposure to sunlight and starvation.

Decapitation was Cadence's favourite one.

And yet, she still felt she had hit a dead end. She wanted more than what she could find on the internet and books. She wanted origins, bloodlines and the start of the creation. Could there be a creator? Did it start as a virus? How did this all come to be?

Cadence decided to give it up together for the time being. A throbbing sensation had taken refuge in the front of her head.

Rubbing at her temples, heaviness toppled onto her brick by brick.

A sudden ding broke the silence in the room and Cadence's phone lit up.

Huffing, she hovered her hand over the phone before picking it up, not wanting to inspect the message the wretched bloodsucker had sent her.

But Cadence knew she had to. Plucking up the confidence that immediately washed away once she peered at the message, she wanted to ditch the phone at a wall.

Madam Dumb Bitch Bloodsucker: Any information to report, Cadence Larren?

Cadence had a long walk ahead of her once she left the cave those days ago and had time to spare a decent enough name for Alexene on her nonexistent contact list.

I have the information to report that your head isn't going to be connected to your shoulders next time I see you, Cadence thought wickedly.

Licking her lips that were chapped from nerves, Cadence typed back rapidly and waited for a response.

Cadence: Everything has been quiet since the massacre you caused in case you didn't know and I haven't found your item. I don't know where to start.

This all rang with truth. After Cadence left Accalia in the trusting hands of Lycus and came back the following morning, everything had grown strangely distant and quiet.

Alpha Gabriel and Luna Nina left for their pack. Lycans and werewolves didn't hold a ceremony, but a meek and quick service for the deceased before heightening patrolling and instincts, locking down tightly that they had to find the person that caused this.

Cadence hasn't seen undying loyalty like that in a long time.

As for Lycus and Accalia, they had been distant from each other. Cadence could even describe it as avoiding each other and she didn't care to know the details why.

The phone dinged once again and the message Alexene sent showed:

Madam Dumb Bitch Bloodsucker: It's quite obvious, Cadence, start with Lycus himself. Look in his room, observe people he's close with and just take note of everything. It could be locked away somewhere, nicely hidden — hurry up.

Not bothering to reply, Cadence locked her arms together and pondered deeply on Alexene's instructions. How could she possibly get in his room and how can a hunter get close with his people? It was quite a stretch, a stretch she knew she had to make ...

The bedroom door knocked and someone came bustling in before shutting the door behind them.

"You hungry? I made some food." Accalia announced, shoving her hands in her back pockets and pursing her lips.

Cadence sat up and brushed her fringe out of her face, pondering if she was hungry. Messaging Alexene made her lose her appetite, truth be told.

"Not really, but what did you make?" Cadence asked.

"I cooked steak, there's a lot of that here, you know? But it's not surprising with a lycan's diet."

Cadence grimaced with a scrunched-up nose. "It's cooked well done, right?"

Accalia guffawed, "Hence why I said 'cooked steak',"

Scoffing, Cadence swung off the bed and got up. "Alright, smartass."

"Hey," Accalia blurted out and scurried over to the bed. "When did you get a phone?"

Suspicion coursed through Accalia's voice and it only made Cadence recoil with a cringed expression.

Whipping around, she mastered a cool and collected facade that plastered across her face. "I found it on my way back here. I'm going to buy a charger for it soon."

Accalia nibbled at her lip with curiosity and picked it up, observing the device. "There isn't a scratch on it and you do need a charger, it's almost flat."

"I'll make a point of going into town tomorrow," Cadence grinned forcefully and watched as Accalia placed it back on the bed, looking more mopey than usual.

"What's wrong?" Cadence asked.

Accalia bit the inside of her cheek, playing with the words in her head before responding, but it was obvious something was bothering her. Sadness swayed across her pretty features.

"Nothing," Accalia swallowed, swatting away her long locks that framed her eyes, "I just haven't gotten out in a while and I kinda can't with the Alpha being all protective."

"He's hardly acknowledged you these past two weeks, maybe he's lowering his guard?" Cadence suggested.

Accalia gave a half-shrug. "I know, but he's probably dealing with what happened on the full moon and Alpha duties."

Cadence sealed her lips shut, wanting this conversation to be dropped into a pit of obscurity and with each word Accalia sprung on her it only reinforced the fact she knew more than she let on.

With a creeping and lingering notion polluting her insides ... guilt, Cadence swung the door open and beckoned her mopey cousin out.

"It sucks, Accalia. But you watch, things will pan out eventually." Cadence swung her arm over Accalia's shoulders and cradled her tightly, trying to be caring.

Cadence couldn't vanquish her guilt but she could lie through her teeth.