Filed to story: Rylee the Orphan Luna Novel
“I might as well be a grumpy old man, seeing as how I’m over 200 years old!”
“YOU’RE WHAT!?” she gaped at me while looking up. “Two… Two … Two hundred!?”
“202, to be exact.”
“Is that normal for weretigers?”
“Yes, it is. Unlike you wolves, tigers have a long lifespan. Because we are so few in number now, those of us that are still alive were blessed by our god with the gift of being sempiternal.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that our bodies do not change. We are eternal beings, assuming we’re not killed. Just like a Siberian tiger, we are endangered. We’re not immortal, we can still die, but time cannot ravage us. We need to be able to reproduce in order to bring up our numbers, but with so few of us left, it’s exceedingly difficult.”
“Do tigers have mates the way wolves do?”
“We did, at one point in time, but that’s changed. The scales have been tipped because, from the last I heard, there are only a handful of females left – less than ten if I’m not mistaken. There are more males, but the females don’t want to reproduce only for the sake of saving our kind. They refuse to be used solely for the sake of breeding.”
“Oh, I guess that means giving birth to… uh … cubs?”-she lifted a brow with uncertainty, to which I just smiled and nodded my head- “isn’t as easy as one may think, huh?”
“No, it’s not. And unfortunately, even if cubs are born, the survival rate is slim. Unlike werewolves and some of our other supernatural brethren, weretiger cubs are born as tiger cubs. They stay in their tiger form for at least a year which means the female does as well, so she can raise them. Sadly, that makes them easy targets for hunters, and fur collectors. That’s why so many of us have perished.”
“I’m so sorry, Ryker, I had no idea,” Lexie said with sorrow as she lowered her head. After a moment of silence, Lexie broke it with a question. “Is that why you were taken? Did Marvin plan on finding a female to force you two to reproduce?”
“No, I heard that I was captured for someone else, but for that exact reason. Apparently, there’s a buyer out there who has been looking for a tiger couple to create cubs so he could sell for a profit. He wouldn’t pay Marvin until he had both me and a female to present to him. Marvin was having trouble finding a female. As I said, there are very few of them, and they’re great at hiding. That’s why it’s taken damn near two decades to find one, and now he never will.”
“That’s so sick! I can’t believe there are so many people out there that are sick and twisted! Then again, I shouldn’t be surprised, there were two buyers for me and Lanie.” I looked down at her when she said that. “There were?”
“Yeah, I guess you didn’t hear. Marvin had one buyer, but that human toy of his had another buyer lined up. The other buyer was apparently willing to help Levi kill Marvin so that he could take over the operation, but Wyatt killed Levi in the tunnels at the prison site, and you already know that Rylee killed Marvin.”
“I know of the buyer that Marvin had set up. He was a regular, but who was the buyer that Levi had set up?” I asked her, intrigued by this new information. She just shrugged her shoulders. I thought about it for a moment. Who else would want wolves that were descendants of the moon goddess? Not a lot of people knew who the girls were. Only Marvin, Levi, and the buyer that Marvin had set up. Also, the one who… “Wait, Lexie, did Levi ever mention if his buyer was supernatural or not?” “Ummm… You’d have to ask Wyatt that. Why?”
“Because your identities are a big secret. There were only a handful of people in Marvin’s operation who knew who you two are.” “Okay…”
“Lexie, one of those people is your birth father.”
“Yeah, but buying us? I doubt he even knows that we exist. He left our mother before she gave birth to us. Marvin even said that Eric didn’t know if we had survived or not or were conceived or whatever.”
“Lexie, that kind of information doesn’t stay quiet for long. Remember what Wyatt told Chad? Eric was the one who kidnapped the two of you from the Kingdom for Marvin. Even if he didn’t know at the time that you had been conceived, I’m sure he knows now. That may be the reason why he was going to attack three months ago. What if he found out that you two were here, and was coming for you?”
“But… but… but, in Rylee’s vision, everyone was dead. If he wanted us, why would he kill everyone?” she stuttered.
“A man like your birth father doesn’t need a reason to kill. He kills because wants to. He’s a killer from what I have been told about him.” Lexie was turning pale white. “Little one, are you okay?” I asked as I grabbed her shoulders.
“I… I…” Before she could answer, Brent came running over to us.
“What happened!?” he exclaimed as he took Lexie from me.
“I don’t know! She just turned pale, and now she can’t speak.”
“Lexie, baby, talk to me!” Lexie looked as if she were in a trance. Lexie’s eyes were fixated on nothing, her pupils were completely dilated, and she just stood there. Suddenly, she fell backward, and Brent caught her. He gently laid her down on the ground, but nothing about her changed. If anything, she was getting worse.
“What’s happening to her!?” I asked.
“I have no idea, man! What were the two of you talking about!?” Brent demanded to know.
“Her birth father,” I answered honestly.
“Why the f**k would you talk to her about Eric!? She’s terrified of the guy as it is!” he snarled.
“I didn’t think she would go into a state of shock like this!” I responded while pointing at her on the ground. Out of nowhere, Lanie and Chad came bounding towards us. Lanie was shouting as she came to a halt and kneeled by Lexie. By the time she reached her, several people abruptly appeared in front of us.
“Wyatt?!” Chad exclaimed. “How!?”
“Rylee said she couldn’t feel Lexie’s presence anymore. Olivia teleported us here,” he answered.
“What’s wrong with her!?” Rylee asked while kneeling by Lexie as well.
“Girls, stand back!” William shouted at them. He pulled Rylee away, and Chad pulled Lanie away. Without warning, Lexie’s hair changed colors to a stark white, her eyes became milky, and a symbol started to glow on her forehead.
“What the hell!?” Brent yelled. “Wha… What’s happening?!” he panicked.
“The crest of the Lunar Kingdom,” William said in complete awe. As we all stared down at Lexie’s changing form, a burst of white light came out of the symbol on her forehead. I shielded my eyes with my forearm. As I felt the light dimming, I lowered my arm but found something was very wrong. Lexie was gone.
“Where’s Lanie!?” Chad asked, frantically looking around.
“Where’s Rylee!?” Wyatt shouted at the same time.
“Where is William!?” Olivia exclaimed. We all looked at each other. They were nowhere in sight.
“Did that white light have anything to do with this!?” Brent questioned Wyatt.
“Why are you looking at me!? How the f**k am I supposed to know!?” Wyatt shouted with his arms flailing. “Olivia!?”
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?