Adeline hung limp.

With her head hanging from her shoulders, all she could see was the grey cement floor decorated in splatters of blood and claw marks. Her breaths came in fast pants, and her muscles ached. The Beast was quiet in her mind, but she knew better than to think that It was done.

This had become her norm for the past three years-- her daily routine, her periodic occurrence.

Her life.

Normal she-wolves her age would be gossiping with their pack of friends about how overprotective their fathers were, or complaining about the pack training session that they still had to attend.

Adeline never got to experience that. The feral Beast that had arrived just as quickly as that horrible headache, stealing that birthright from her, taking the normality of everyday life from her-- the very light that had once enveloped her soul.

"Addy, honey?" A soft voice pierced the darkness, gentle but firm.

Lifting her heavy head, her eyes scanned the room. Standing by the door that opened out into the rest of the basement, Adeline's mother watched her with dark brown eyes.

Alexandra was a centuries-old she-wolf, but didn't look a day over thirty-five. She was also stunningly beautiful. The Luna had waist-length, wavy chocolate hair, rich brown eyes that could slice into a wolf's soul with a single glance, and a lean, feminine form.

The only things Adeline inherited from her mother was her wavy brown hair and heart-shaped face.

"How are you feeling?" Alexandra pushed off the wall, stepping up to Adeline's cell with calculated, slow steps. The Luna cocked her head, her eyes narrowing.

Letting out a grunt, Adeline tugged at the chains shackled around her wrists, but like all of the other times she had resisted their cold grip, they held fast.

"Last night was bad, Adeline." Alexandra growled, her canines flashing. "I think it is time that we call-"

"No," Adeline bit out through clenched teeth.

She'd heard this one before-- many, many times to be exact.

Her mother was going to say that she had to accept the fact that she wasn't going get better-- that they had to get the assistance of the Western Oracle. It was a discussion that they'd had over and over throughout the past three years, and it always ended the same.

In her favor.

"Sasha doesn't have to be contacted," she hissed through her teeth. "I will get better. My eighteenth birthday is in a month, and then everything will go back to the way it was before. She doesn't need to be contacted."

'Everything will be normal,' Adeline told herself, but she knew that life would never go back to the way it was before she had attacked Zoë.

There would always be the shame, the mistrust in herself... the hatred...

Alexandra seemed to battle for her words for a moment, her dark eyes glowing with emotion, but after a minute of tense silence, the Luna rolled back her shoulders, her jaw set-- the words that had no doubt been gathering on the tip of her tongue retreating, turning tail and disappearing back into Alexandra's throat, tucking themselves away somewhere in the depths of her chest.

The Luna took another step closer to Adeline.

"I have brought you some soup-- Clam Chowder, your favorite." Her mother's voice was soft... half-hearted.

Adeline knew how much her mother stressed over her, but even when she asked for her to take a break-- to leave her alone, the Luna would simply give her a stern look before giving her an all too familiar lecture about the importance of family, and that no wolf was left behind.

Adeline hated that talk, because she knew that the only ones in the pack that truly cared for her anymore, were her parents and the Beta of their pack, Clyde. All of the others either didn't care, or wished her death. The once happy pack, the pack that had once celebrated and protected its members, was no more.

"Are you in control." It wasn't a question.

Alexandra was using her natural alpha female dominance on her daughter, because once the chains were released from her flesh, nothing would be able to stop the bloodthirsty beast until crimson coated the walls.

The section of her mind that housed the Beast, was silent and dark, it was as if the rapid monster was entranced in a deep sleep.

She, for the moment, was completely and wholly alone.

Moving her head to the side, Adeline bared her neck to her Luna, her mother.

Submitting.

This was also a sign to her mother that Adeline was indeed in control, because that simple, seemingly irrelevant movement was impossible for the Beast to make, let alone stomach. The Beast would never submit to anyone, especially someone in a higher, greater position than it.

"Good," The Luna snapped, her right hand disappearing into the pocket of the sweatshirt she was wearing, her fingers fishing for whatever lay there.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Adeline waited for what she knew was almost as painful as the Beast's fits of rage.

She could hear her mother walking toward her, then bypass her as the sour scent of wolfsbane filled the air, swarming around her head like a cloud of angry bees.

"Hold still." That was the only warning Alexandra gave her before a burning cold sensation pierced the flesh of her back.

It took everything in Adeline physical and mental body to not bow away from the needle, especially as flames of wolfsbane traveled throughout her back, quickly branching out to her legs and arms.

Shortly after her first attack, while experimenting with different methods to contain the Beast, Adeline's father, Dillon, stumbled across a supernatural being that grew the lethal plant. Dillon was hesitant and even denied the offer at first, but the plant was called Wolfsbane for a reason. Just enough of the herb could cut off the connection between human and wolf, but along will everything else, it came with risks. If too much of the liquified flower entered the body at one time, then the connection between human and wolf could be severed completely, female wolves could suffer from infertility, and even in some cases, death could occur. It was a deadly dance, but it was a tango Adeline and her parents' were willing to participate in.

Slumping forward as Alexandra withdrew the needle from her spine, Adeline watched with pain-glazed eyes as sweat dripped down from her brow and onto the floor, the tiny puddles of salt melting into the dried splatters of blood... disappearing.

The idea of disappearing just like those drops of perspiration was appealing. She'd be free of the Beast, be free of the guilt and shame that hung onto her thin shoulders like the very chains connected to her.

But...

But what if she did, somehow, disappear?

Would anyone miss her? Would anyone care? Surely, everyone was better off without having to look after her all of the damn time. Maybe the pack and her parents would be happy again...

Adeline nearly face-planted into the concrete floor, as the shackles around her wrists released their iron grip. A yelp slipped past her lips as she slammed into the unforgiving, hard ground. Her body was bruised and sore, so instead of picking herself up like a true fighter, like an alpha, she just laid there, letting the coldness of the floor seep into her fatigued muscles.

"Oh, get up," Alexandra said, gently pushing at Adeline's leg with her foot. "You are not going to lay there and wish for the ground to open up on you. Losers do that. Now, get up and eat this soup before I pin you down, and force it down your throat." The Luna said it in such an innocent, sweet voice, that Adeline had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. Thank the Moon that she didn't though, because, if she had, her mother would've started ranting and growling about how disrespectful and bratty Adeline was acting.

'Lord-- that woman and her lecturing and whiplash mood swings,' Adeline often found herself groaning internally.

Pushing herself up into a sitting position, Adeline nearly fell back over as dizziness clouded before her eyes, clogging up her ears. The dizziness was a symptom of the Wolfsbane-- soon, when the herb completely mixed in her bloodstream, nausea, the lack of appetite, the drowsiness, and achy muscles would make themselves known.

'I am the daughter of Alphas.' Adeline told herself for the umpteenth time since the first incident. 'I'm the daughter of Alphas; I'm the daughter of Alphas; I'm the daughter of Alphas, and Alphas don't give up, they get back up and take whatever the Moon throws at them. I'm the daughter of Alphas.'

Pushing herself up to her feet, Adeline straightened her back and clenched her jaw. She desperately wanted to believe those words. She wanted to grasp those words in her physical hands and hold onto them for dear life, but the gravity of her life and the Beast held her down, placing her outreached hands at her sides... folding her hands into steely, unmoveable fists.

'You are no daughter of Alphas.' Her inner demon cackled. 'REAL Alphas don't attack their packmates... their best friend.'

Shaking her head as if she were clearing water out of her ears, Adeline tried to move past that voice, to silence it, but her attempts were futile. No matter how hard she tried, she could never move past that little voice... could never shut down her conscious.

'How pathetic, how pitiful. How disappointing you are,' It purred once more.

"Adeline, honey?" Alexandra asked. Pulling herself out of her thoughts, she turned to her mother. The Luna was on the other side of the room, holding the heavy metal door open with her right hand, while holding the bowl of soup in her other.

Normally, Alexandra looked like she had awakened with eight hours of sleep, not a single hair out of place; but in that very instance, all the stresses and strains of life had made her look at least twenty years older. Adeline could see the dark bags under her mother's eyes, and the strands of hair that had escaped her tight bun.

Ten-pound weights dropped onto her chest; Adeline knew that she had caused this; she knew that her mother and her father, even her pack, were suffering, because of her.

"I know my soup is not very good, but you could at least look grateful. I had to go find Chef Quinn for this recipe, and you know that she has just found her mate. Let me tell you, never barge into a mated pair's living quarters unnoticed. Yuck!" Alexandra made a face that looked like she had just sucked on a sour lemon. It wasn't a pretty sight.

"Does it taste like crap?" Adeline asked as she walked past her mother and through the doorway of the cell, leaving the chains that had encircled her wrists dangling from their place in the ceiling, their mouths unhinged.

She rubbed at her raw wrists, hissing as her fingers grazed a particularly sensitive wound.

"What, my soup?" Alexandra cocked her head, her lips pursed, but humor danced in her dimming eyes.

Turning to her mother with a raised eyebrow, Adeline watched the Luna throw her head back in a laugh. Alexandra was known for many things, like being fiercely loyal, a tad hot-headed, kind, a protector of females and pups, and even as a great warrior, but everyone knew she was a horrendous cook.

"Probably," Adeline's mother admitted, shrugging her shoulders. "And you will eat it all."

????

Adeline didn't like the Clam Chowder.

She didn't like it one bit-- but it was hard to not eat the entire thing when she had a hawk-like mother watching over her every move, shooting her a deadly glare when she would push away the bowl. After finishing half of the soup, Adeline's stomach was tightening, but after being forced to eat all of it, she felt sick.

No.

She didn't feel just sick-- she felt as if a gallon of acid had been poured into her belly, stirred around some, and then repeated. She hadn't eaten that much in many, many months. Usually, her mother or father would make her eat just enough to put some food in her stomach, but this degree of eating...

What had changed? What was making her mother force her to eat so much when in the past, half a bowl was enough?

"Eat more. There is still some left." Her mother urged, waving a tanned hand at the bowl.

Looking down at the bowl, Adeline quickly pressed the back of her hand to her mouth as acidity bile rose up in her throat.

"I- can't." She said, ready to projectile vomit all over the table should her mother demand that she eat more.

Adeline couldn't eat more, there just wasn't any more room left in her body to fill.

She heard Alexandra let out a defeated sigh, or perhaps a disappointed one-- she wasn't sure, and she didn't particularly care.

Alexandra took the bowl away from Adeline, looking down at it for a moment before pushing back her chair and standing up.

"Go get in the shower, and make it quick, Adeline. We need to do another dose before you go to bed."

????

Adeline's bedroom was an empty shell. Walls that had once been a beautiful shade of blue, was now a canvas of claw marks that had chipped away the paint, bit by bit. There had once been paintings and photos decorating the walls, but during the Beast's fits of rage, they had been either been torn to pieces, or shattered beyond recognition. All that was in her room now, was a single twin bed, a single window framed by shredded curtains, and an oak dresser that was decorated with countless ragged gouges.

Rummaging through her dresser looking for a pair of intact sweatpants, a tank-top, a bra, and panties, Adeline's hand fell on a piece of paper. With frowned eyebrows, she pulled it out from under a wad of shirts but nearly dropped it as sapphire blue eyes glared up at her.

Taking a step back from her dresser, she gripped the picture in both hands, her lips pulling down into a scowl as her eyes grazed over the surface.

It was a photo of her and Zoë when they were twelve. It had been a hot summer day, and they'd just spent two hours attending a mating ceremony, and since the newly mated female was hailing from an outside pack, the she-wolves, along with their entire pack, also had to attend the Acceptance Ceremony.

She could remember the party afterward as if it had happened yesterday...

'"What do you think he's like?" Zoë asked, her sapphire eyes glistening in the noon-time light.

Adeline, chewing on a mouthful of beef, cheese, bread, and ketchup, quickly swallowed and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Who? My mate?"

Zoë nodded.

Adeline had indeed thought about her future mate, but hadn't really pondered on it, let alone consider what he was like. She had just assumed that he would be nice and funny and kind to her. What else was there to ponder on? The male destined for her, was for her-- created for her by the Moon, long before either of them had been birthed. He would be perfect.

"I dunno. He'd be nice, and handsome, and funny, I guess." Adeline said, shrugging.

Picking up and biting into her cheeseburger again, she watched her friend's reaction.

The girl's eyes glazed over, and a gentle sigh left her lips. When Zoë shook her head, as if to clear the thoughts that had taken over her mind, the sun's rays caught on her hair.

She was the Moon herself, for that split second. Her long blonde hair nothing more than a heavenly halo surrounding her body, casting an aura around her as bright and fierce as a full moon.

The ring on Zoë's finger flashed, its silver crescent moon gleaming.

"I just know that he'll be sweet, funny, tall, and really, really sexy." Zoë giggled, a blush seeping into her round cheeks. "I can't wait to meet him, you know? I just know it'll be magical!"

As if on cue, two large hands appeared from the water and wrapped around Adeline's and Zoë 's feet. The girls squealed in surprise as they were both pulled into the pool, a spray of water taking their spots on the pool deck.

Pulling her leg out of the grasp of whoever had dragged her into the pool, Adeline broke through the surface of the water gasping and sputtering.

Turning around, looking for her friend and the wolf that had dared to interrupt her when she was eating, Adeline's eyes narrowed as she saw a head of dark hair break through the water.

"You JERK!" She howled as she launched herself at the Beta, and now dead-man.

Clyde let out a grunt as Adeline landed on top of him, her fists pounding into his muscled back.

"Hey!" Clyde yelped as another body landed on top of him.

Adeline yanked at his hair as Zoë tried to drag him under the water, but Clyde was a beta for a reason. Grabbing Adeline's foot that was dangerously close to his crotch, he jerked it upward, forcing the she-wolf to fall off of him. Pushing Zoë's head under the water, Clyde cradled her face in his large palm, and shoved her away.

Just as quickly as the girls had been stripped off of him, they were lunging again, but this time, Clyde was ready.

"Smile!" A pack member shouted, his voice tearing through that tense, watery atmosphere.

The trio froze for a moment as the water stilled around their bodies, but then Clyde tightened his hold around Zoë's neck, and shouldered Adeline, who was dangling from his shoulder.

Stuck in a chokehold, Zoë didn't look very impressed. Actually... she looked furious.

The flash of the camera blinded Adeline's eyes, leaving dancing black spots floating in her vision.'

Staring at the photo for a moment, Adeline's pale eyes roved over the colors and the happiness. She didn't recognize that female in the picture, the joyous, lively she-wolf that was grinning impishly at the camera, warm sunlight and blue skies and clear water surrounding her.

The light, that fire that had once danced in her eyes, had been snuffed out by a blanket of darkness.

The old Adeline had been happy. She'd been carefree and bold; she had been colorful, and possessed a promising future. She had been happy.

Why couldn't she be happy?

????

She didn't even twitch as the needle broke through the barrier of her skin. She felt the pain, she always did, but the pain in her chest was beginning to rival that of the Wolfbane's.

She heard the soft voice of her mother, the reassuring tone of her father, but instead, she continued to stare straight ahead.

It was a silent demand that she wanted her parents to accept. Adeline wanted to be alone. She wanted to get lost in the depths of her mind, and fall into a dream-like state-- forever was sounding pretty nice at the moment...

Eventually, the Alpha pair left, but not before placing soft kisses to her forehead.

As they were turning to leave, Dillon tucked some hair behind her ear, and smile gently down at her, "Fight a little while longer, Pumpkin." His blue eyes bore into her own, staring right into her soul with a type of intensity that had her practically cowering away. "It is a month away. Hang on for just a few more weeks."

Adeline knew what he was talking about; her eighteenth birthday was in a few weeks, and her birthday would bring a potential matebond into the picture.

Her parents and pack doctors thought that the discovery of the matebond will finally put the Beast in line, but Adeline knew the truth. Nothing any of them could do or say, would ever be able to control the beast, and no way in hell would a matebond with some stranger, sate the monster.

She grew up looking forward to the day that she'd meet him, but now she dreaded him.

But she wasn't as insensitive as the Beast made her seem. She wouldn't curse the poor man. She'd be dead before he even knew of her, and perhaps, if the Moon allowed it, he would find another to cherish... to love.

"I'll make sure of it." She whispered fiercely, turning to look at the only thing hanging on her wall.

Adeline's eyes bore into the lie, the coward.

The Moon.

'Siempre estoy contigo,' the inscription on the little moon keychain read.

I am always with you.

Lies.

Lies told by her maker, the real monster.

The Moon Goddess.