1 - The Cagot

Your Moonlight Shadow Vocabulary Trivia:

CAGOT - (pronounced: [ka.ɡo]) - simply means shunned or unaccepted.

- Individuals hated for being different among their kind.

It was dark and cold. There's very little to no light in that room for anyone to see clearly. Looking carefully in the dark a figure with long dark hair could be seen tied down and kneeling on the floor. Low growls and moans could be heard but no one could be sure if the sounds were coming from the lone figure on the ground or from the silhouette of men standing not too far.

The strong scent of burning silver lingered in the air.

"It is time," one of the gathered men on the side said as they all approached the figure. One of them was holding a claw like burning silver. There was malice and menacing smiles on their faces as they gathered around the girl staring blankly in the dark. "Now is the time to mark her because her time to be one of us is up. She was never one of us." Those words echoed in the room and it sounded like a nail being drag across a chalkboard.

There were murmurs and low laughers from the men but the girl kneeling on the ground was as motionless as a stone. Her long hair was covering her face, hiding the anger in her eyes. She could hear them talk and insult her but she didn't say a word.

She won't let them have their joy by begging for their mercy. She'd rather die before she stoops that low. She was never born to beg or be pitied. The circumstances of her being there was very clear to her but she knew they were wrong.

They said she was never one of them, well; they were right because she's not evil like them. She's so much better than those sorry foul men. At sixteen she's strong enough to face their wrong judgement unlike them who could only hurt helpless being like her because they thought she's powerless.

When someone ripped the back of her shirt she stilled and readied herself for the agony that she knew was coming her way. When the burning silver claw raked the skin on her back she bit her lip as hot tears stung her eyes. She shut her eyes and willed herself not to cry. She won't cry even if the pain on her back felt like her very was being burned in hell.

The burning claw embedded on her back opened her skin and draw fresh blood as her flesh burned.

It was done.

She could feel her warm blood running down her back and just like the pain it was a reminder that she had been marked...

Panting hard and sweating cold, golden eyes blinked in the dark of night.

"Only a dream," the young woman possessing the golden eyes panted as she bolted up from her bed. Strange, it was a dream but she could physically feel the burning ache on her back as the dream replayed in her head. It felt so real.

Well, it was actually real. The mark. The pain. It was all real but it had been so long since it happened.

Her right hand moved to reach behind her back where her claw mark ached like the way it did when she first got it.

Why so suddenly it hurt like it was only yesterday when she got it when it already had been three years.

She stood up from her bed and walked across her room and stand face to face with her reflection in her life-size mirror. Her glowing golden eyes slowly fading back to its natural brown color.

In this world – whoever you are, whatever you are – there was the status quo that must be followed. There's always the division between the social standards. There are leaders and of course their followers. The two predetermined status of creatures residing the planet Earth. It must be the case to keep the balance of everything. Not everyone can be the leader or the follower. The flow must be kept. These two kinds must remain.

One might say there's more classification aside from the one to lead and to follow but generalizing it, there's just two major roles in the society. The one powerful enough to command and the other who has no say but to follow the other.

But not everything has the perfect harmony. Not all kinds can stick to the standards that were set even before the time begins. As old as it is, from time to time this perfectly planned social pyramid can be defied.

People always neglect to notice the third kind. The one that always fall behind. Those out of the so called social circle.

Those who are frowned upon because of the enigma that they are. The products of going against ones nature. Individuals who can't even be considered as part of the lower rank.

Those who can't find their place to belong to because they are neither of what they came from.

The outcasts.

She was one of them.

Her name was Eira, a cagot among her kind.

She's a nineteen year old young woman and a cagot. Someone forced to live on her own because she's an outcast who did not belong to any kind because her existence was taboo. A product of defying the nature of what she was supposed to be.

A human with werewolf blood running in her veins.

Sounds funny right?

What werewolf is not half human?

But its one thing to be simply a werewolf and completely another thing to be what werewolf community called pureblood. Werewolf – human that can transform into a wolf with an inner wolf beneath his or her human skin – who are said to be direct descendants of moon worshippers and had never been associated with any mundane relationship. And as time passed by, werewolves decided that they want to keep their kind all purebloods and there may be some exception but they see to it that those not purebloods were carefully chosen to fit in. They must be powerful enough to blend among purebloods.

She's among those who have both pure werewolf and fully human parents. Her dad was a pureblood Alpha of his former pack who fell in love with her human mother who never had even a drop of wolf blood in her veins thus making her a half blood.

A half blood whose human genetic was stronger than the wolf one preventing her from transforming into her wolf form to the dismay of her father's pack. She's too human for their likings. So they threw her out of the pack that she was supposed to lead when she turned sixteen and was still not able to transform. They marked her as one of the unwanted outcast with no power to fight back just because her father took a human woman for a mate like it was her fault.

Well, that was the case.

It had been years since the day she had been marked but she could still remember the ache of being branded as a cagot. She could still vividly smell her burning flesh as she recalls how the elders of her father's former pack used that burning silver claw on her back leaving an ugly scar that marred her porcelain skin. The pain was still there and as she looked at her reflection in the mirror in front of her there was anger reflected in her eyes.

It was the same anger she felt that day she run away from her father's former pack. For sometimes she was a lone wolf until she decided to build her own circle. To start her new pack. She's not the only cagot in the world and so she started looking and gathering those who were like her and convinced them to start creating their own group where no one will ever look down on them because they are powerless. She might had been unable to reach the wolf within her in time to prove herself worthy to remain in her father's pack but she's still the legacy of her alpha father.

Now she's leading her own pack and she's not as powerless as the snob social circle of werewolves thought. From a boneless pup she became a dominant bitch whom no one would dare to mess.

Yes, she's a cagot – a powerful one.

Soft knocks on her bedroom door draws her out of her reverie and she broke her gaze from her mirror. "Who is it?" she asked already moving towards the door. There's really no need for her to ask who was on the other side of it. She could already smell who it was. "Fenris," she lowly said the name of the man she saw standing ready to knock again on her door. "Is there anything you need?" she asked frowning. It's almost dawn and he's not supposed to be lurking around the house half naked, she noticed.

Fenris looked at her sceptically not giving a damn about her bewildered look. His gaze went pass her to her visible tangled bed. "I heard you making ruckus in here when I was passing by. Is everything okay?"

"I was just having a bad dream," she replied quickly and honestly. There's no point on making up excuses. Fenris was the only pure blood werewolf among the pack she started and he's their epsilon, their guardian. He would just know it if she's telling the truth or not. He's no pure blood for nothing.

He nodded a little accepting her answer. "I could say it's quite a bad dream," he murmured. "A new bed is needed I suppose," he added still looking at her bed and when she followed the line of his gaze she saw that he's right. Her bed was pretty torn where her hands were lying few minutes ago. She looked down and saw that her nails were gone replaced by elongated claw. "I could smell the tension around you, Eira. You're bothered. Wanna talk about it?"

"I'd rather not," she quickly replied. "It's not like you still don't know about it."

For a moment he was thoughtful before shrugging off his worry when Fenris was finally convinced that Eira was just dreaming about her cagot mark when he heard her screaming a while ago. She's an alpha by blood; he knew she won't easily talk about it. "Well, maybe you'll like joining me for a run. It's almost dawn and what best time to enjoy the nature other than right now. It might help you ease your mind."

Run. That's what they usually do whenever something was bothering them. It's instinct for them to be one with the nature to somehow let go of their worries. Fenris might be right. Maybe she does need a good run because she's bothered as to why she suddenly dreamt about such bad memory.

"Sure," Eira said. "I'll just change."

Fenris nodded and said he'll wait for her outside. She quickly shut her door and changed into her running outfit. Her racer back top showing the ugly scar on her back.

ΩΩΩ

Fenris watched as Eira run as fast as she could in the woods. It was his idea to go out and take a run but from the look of it, his friend needed it more than he did. They had been running for almost two hours and the sun is just about to show and she's not yet done releasing her tension.

Something was off about her and he has no idea what it was. For few days now since Eira came back from the local college she's attending she'd been acting odd. Most of the time she's spacing out and staring at nothing. He's starting to worry.

"Eira," he called out just loud enough for her sharp ears to hear. "We should go back now. The others might be wondering where we are," he added referring to the rest of their pack. They left the pack house when everyone was still sleeping and they will surely wonder where their Alpha is. He waited for about a minute to hear Eira's reply but there was no response. "Eira!" he called out again a little louder than the first. It's unusual for Eira not to response whenever he's calling her.

Taking a whiff of the air, Fenris tried to locate her through her scent. She's not too far from him and so he dashed to where his nose was leading him. He found the female alpha lying unconscious on the ground. "Eira!" Worry was all over his face when he approached her and tried to shake her back to consciousness. "Damn it woman, wake up," he cursed.

He gave her an overlook trying to locate any injury but there's nothing and he can't even smell blood. She's just simply knocked out for no reason. Or the reason was something not visible to the eyes and much more lethal.

Trying his luck one more time he tried to wake Eira once more and he breathed out a relief when she slowly opened her eyes. "What the hell happened to you?" he blurted out unable to conceal his apprehension. "One moment you were running and the next I found you kissing the ground."

Eira looked puzzled and there was a distant look in her eyes like she's not yet completely back to her consciousness. Fenris had to snap his fingers in front of her before he got something out from her. "I-I don't know," she mumbled. "I—"

She truly had no idea what got into her. She was just running when she suddenly felt dizzy but that's not the reason why she fainted. There was something weird she felt before darkness engulfed her. It was like something was being pulled out of her and a sensation crawling under her very skin.

"What?"

"What?" Eira growled back not liking the tone he was using to her. Her dominant side surfacing. "I don't know what happened. Maybe it's a part of me still coping up with my inner wolf." She reasoned. Yeah it could be that. Though she grew up completely schooled and aware of her true nature as a werewolf she's still not used to being a functional one since not so long ago her inner wolf was dormant.

Wasn't she branded as a cagot for being unable to shift to her wolf form? Only recently she was able to finally access the wolf within her and that was very peculiar to werewolves' nature. Since there were cases of werewolf mating with humans resulting to having a half blood children who were unable to transform easily, a time frame was given to know if those half bloods will ever be a complete werewolf so they could fit in and pledge to their pack. At some cases purebloods were also given this time frame for there were some who can't access to their inner wolf. Purebloods can be branded as cagot, too. When a werewolf child turn sixteen and was still not able to transform to his or her wolf form it was time so say bye bye to their pack. They no longer belong to werewolves' social circle. They would be marked and be thrown away to live among humans away from their family whether they like it or not. Twisted, right? But that's how it goes.

So far Eira knows no pureblood cagot because cases like those were little to none. But her case, it's something else. No marked cagot has ever been reported to be able to awaken his or her inner wolf after passing the prior sixteen years and maybe that was why her new found wolf was taking its toll in her body. They were not yet so acquainted.

But Fenris was not convinced with her reason. He's a pureblood and was from one of the oldest and biggest pack before he pledged his loyalty to Eira. He knew a lot about his kind and studied history of werewolves all his life. There's more to it than the delayed awakening of Eira's wolf. "Have you heard anything from the eastern pack?" he asked out of the blue.

"What about them?" she frowned to the sudden question. "Why would I bother about them?"

"The mating season, Eira. It's about to come."

"Why would I bother about it? I'm a cagot. The mating season has nothing to do with me." Her voice was uncharacteristically laced with bitterness. She chooses that moment to stand up and hastily walked away from Fenris. She didn't like where his questions are leading their conversation.

"You—"

"You will not talk about it anymore," she cut him off with eyes glowing gold. So much for having a hard time getting to use her new found wolf. "We are way too far from them and they don't know about our little pack so we should not bother about them!" her words were strong and her gaze held his with the dominance of her alpha nature.

Fenris broke the eye contact as he looked down clearly showing submission to his alpha. "I'm sorry," he said and let her lead the way back to the pack house. There are so much more he wanted to say but he knew better than to challenge the growing temper of the dominant she-wolf. No one dares to enrage someone like her just because.

It's rare for Eira to use her rank to intimidate the members of her pack and once she did it means she's not going to hear any argument about her decision and Feris knew better than to piss her off. She might not look like it but she could easily rip off his throat when she saw it fit. She may be a she-wolf but she was born an alpha and she she's a strong one, cagot or not.

No one mess with the Alpha of the Moonlight Shadow pack of the Northern Woods.