9 Chapter 8

LUCIA STANDS WITHIN A MEADOW, WATCHING THE SUNSET. She turns and spots a man.

"Hello," she shouts.

The man turns around and she gasps. The man was her father!

"Dad," she cries with joy.

The man didn't move. Lucia calls to him again and still nothing. Then he speaks.

"Once turned, you'll always be a mutt."

He raises his gun, locks a bullet into the chamber and fires.

Lucia screams as she jolts up. She is breathing heavily as she turns and looks around. She sat in an unfamiliar room. She goes to move but stops due to the sensation of pain in her ribs. She moves the blanket to reveal her torso being bandaged up and some of both her arms.

Standing up, she soon finds that her legs have been immobile for quite some time, when her face connects to the floor. She groans and tries to pull herself up when she hears a door open.

"oh no," a young male's voice was heard.

She feels a gentle hand on her arm pulling her up and she looks up. A man, well more like a boy, stood above her helping her up. He looked to maybe the age of 17.

"who are you," she whispers.

The boy gives her a gentle smile. "my name is Artemis."

"what kind of name is that?"

He shrugs," just the name my parents gave me. What's yours?"

"Lucia," she replies.

He smiles," that's a beautiful name."

She smiles. She tries to stand again but falls back to the bed.

***It's no use. ***

****Hope is never lost. ****

****Who are you?!****

****I am snow. The wolf her goddess of the moon has given to you. You are my human; we share a body and mind. ****

****No, I refuse to be a mutt. ****

****Mutt? I assure you that I am not just a mere mutt. I am a powerful wolf, one that can strike fear into the hearts of men, wolf and human alike. Even our precious mate will have a hard time taming me. ****

****Mate? Who can that be? ****

**You mustn't forget who he is. If you had, well, then the shift was truly too hard for you. His majesty is our mate. Damian frost and his wolf shadow. **

****That's impossible. How can the king of werewolves be my mate? ****

****He is the one the moon goddess has chosen for us. She shared with me that he has been waiting a long time for us. ****

" Lucia."

She looks up.

" Yes Artemis?"

" Father says that he found you in the forest and you were running from the king. Who are you?"

She turns away.

" Artemis, you are nice for a rogue, but what I am kills all wolves."

" A hunter."

She looks at him in question.

"-yes. How could you tell?"

" The tattoo on your arm."

The tattoo was of a wolf print that had a sort of shading within it and the fullness as well as the color of the shading provided the hunters status. Hers meant that she was the leader of a clan.

" I am."

His features harden.

" I don't blame you for running from the king, but it's a little weird that you are a werewolf hunter that is also a wolf yourself."

" The king found me and nearly killed me. He took me to his personal hospital and gave me some of his blood. His blood turned me into a mutt."

He looks at her in shock.

" The only reason why he would try to save a hunter is if-"

"-it was his mate," She finishes.

His eyes widen.

"My father was right. But wait, why run from your mate."

" He killed my dad."

Artemis says a soft oh and they fall into silence.

A man appears at the door and Artemis and Lucia look up at him. He had a hard look. His eyes looked empty with everything, but anger. And his face showed years of stress and sadness. He had a stench that made you easily tell that he was a rogue, they had a special scent and Lucia's newfound abilities made it hard for her to not smell him.

" You. The boss wishes to speak with you."

Lucia looks at Artemis and Artemis shrugs. She gets up and follows the man through the house. She studies the atmosphere. The house looked like it was in desperate need of repair and there she saw men working on the house as they walked. The man led her to a door that was labeled Cain.

The man said, " He is through that door. Go before he loses his patience."

Lucia turns to the door and begins to turn the knob. She opens the door and sees the back of a chair staring back at her. She slowly enters with Artemis beside her and the door closes and locks behind them.

" Hello father. I have Lucia with me."

The chair slowly turns and Lucia gasps

" Hello Lucia, I'm Cain. Now with what your position entitles, I have a proposition with you."

Lucia growls," Why should I listen to that man that nearly raped me and would have left me for dead.

He chuckles," That was before I realized your worth. Now, let's talk business in taking down your mate."