LONGING EYES met the woman's sorrowful eyes. Lykaon always wondered why every time she looked at him, her eyes always held deep sadness. And what astonished him was the very fact that he did not like that particular emotion in her captivating lilac eyes.

"Kyla," the woman's voice was like a touch of moonlight to his soul. It soothed his inner beast like no other. Lykaon did not know what this woman had that every woman in the world or even in the stars did not possess.

"That name again. You called me that name when you brought me to that cottage. Tell me, did you only help because you see that person in me? Is that also the reason why you are always running away from me?"

Uncertainty was a foreign emotion for Lykaon. It touched his cold and savage core when the woman cared for him, not even knowing he's a god, despite the danger it would bring her. He knew that she carried him all the way to the small cottage in the forest.

He liked the way her gentle hands handled him. He liked the way she patted his hand when his wound started to ache. He liked the way she handled him like she truly cared for a stranger like him. For all his immortal life, he never experienced any human emotion and he also never received it since he was the god of the wolves. People feared him and they even prayed for someone's demise on his altar. He was one of the savage gods.

But all those things were lost when a human girl saved him and cared for him. Something warm touched his heart which he thought he never had in the first place.

The woman seemed surprised by his outburst. Even Lykaon was surprised by what he said to her. She reached for him, but she hesitated. Instead, she kept her hands to herself like she was reprimanding the way she acted.

"I'm sorry, Lykaon. And no, I saved you because I can't bear to..." Her words were muffled when sudden successive coughs wracked her fragile body.

"What's wrong? Tell me, please." She kept on coughing. She did not even flinch anymore when Lykaon hugged her body as she collapsed.

Her cough became harder and harder like there was no end to it already. "I will take you to a High Priest!"

Lykaon lifted her but she grabbed his clothes in protest, "Y-you must find her."

Find who?

Urgency laced her voice even when she was clearly in pain. "Hush. Your condition is worse than I thought. I can feel your life's energy and it's getting smaller. I must bring you to a god who can heal you."

For the very first time, Lykaon felt what fear means. And for him, it was an ugly emotion that could make even the wildest of beasts into nothing.

Lykaon realized that he did not know this woman's name. "Tell me your name." He spoke in his mind.

For a while, she did not answer. Then the woman stirred again even in her delirious state, "Find... Luna."

What Lykaon heard was the name Luna which made him smile to himself.

I will save you no matter what, Luna. The determined golden eyes of Lykaon gleamed as he carried the unconscious woman on his back while he leaped with great distance in all four.

"WAKE UP! Hey woman! Wake up!"

The harsh voice of someone eerily familiar woke Selene who was still in great pain. She felt like her whole body was burning. Gone were the painful stings but instead it was replaced with suffering far more painful than the last one.

Even opening her eyes felt tiring. "Victor?"

Victor seemed startled when she called his name, "Huh? How did you know? I am so sure that I haven't seen you before."

What is he saying? And am I back in the cottage where I brought Kyla?

Victor continued, "Save my friend. For the first time, he asked for my help and it is to guard you, but what he's doing now is suicide!"

What Victor said alerted Selene. Though she could not move her limbs nor speak freely, her mind was perfectly fine. Is this the consequence of meddling with time?

"W-what d-d-do you me-mean?" Selene could barely utter a sentence. Her heart was frantic at the very thought of her husband in danger.

"Lykaon went to Hades to strike a bargain!"