Twisted Fate: In Love with Two, Mated to the Third

Tears rolled down Natasha's dampened eyes as she slowly surveyed her surroundings. The basement she resided in was an indoor farmhouse; her life was hell on earth. Natasha shut her eyes and drifted into the last and only fond memory she had of her mother.

...

"Come on, Tasha; it's time for bed!" A little girl, roughly between the ages of five and eight, rushed into the room in her nightie and flung herself onto the slightly oversized bed.

"Mum, tell me a bedtime story," she said as her mother tucked the bed sheet around her.

Her mother smiled sweetly at the little girl and joined her on the bed.

"In a faraway land, there lived a princess," she began, but the little girl shook her head.

"No, Mum, tell me the story of the great and mighty Lycan King," she said, delight and anticipation written over her face.

"Again? Tasha, I have already told you that story over a million times," the woman said exasperatedly.

"Are you sure you still want to hear it again?" she asked.

Little Natasha nodded eagerly to emphasize how much she wanted to hear that particular story.

"Okay then, here it goes," the woman said with a smile and began her story.

"Thousands of years ago, not too long after the Lycanthropes fought the full moon liberation, a war of freedom against the vampires who were their slavers. The great and mighty Lycan King, Lycaon, championed the full moon liberation.

Thanks to the Lycan King, the Lycanthropes emerged victorious in their struggle for freedom and liberation. For the next few decades, there was peace between the humans, Lycanthropes, and vampires. At least there was until the vampires struck again.

For many years after the full moon liberation, Lycaon was alone and without a mate.".

"Mum, what's a mate?" Natasha interrupted softly.

"It's like an unbreakable bond," the woman carefully explained. "A deep-rooted connection, straight from the moon goddess herself, binds both of your hearts, minds, and souls. It is the dream of every Lycan to find their mate, and one day, you will find yours too."

"Ooh, like you and Dad," Natasha gushed.

"Exactly," the woman beamed. "But in the case of Lycaon, the moon goddess was so impressed with his bravery, chivalry, and feats that she fell in love with him and became his mate.

Soon enough, she descended from her throne in the sky, becoming mortal to be with the one she loved, and that was when the blood-sucking monsters attacked. The vampires succeeded in ambushing and killing the moon goddess in her mortal form, and the moon, the Lycans' power source, vanished from the sky.

Lycaon was filled with a thirst for revenge and left with no other option. He summoned all the sorcerers and witches from across the earth, and together, they created the Blood Moon. A moon that enhanced the strength and agility of all Lycanthropes to a thousand-fold. And with this, the Blood Moon War began.

The tides of the war were in the Lycans' favor until, all of a sudden, they weren't. The great and mighty Lycan King, Lycaon, was killed during the battle, and the rest of the Lycan warriors were forced to retreat to the far end of their kingdom, hiding from the vampires, never to set foot on the outside world again.

The end"

"What? No! That can't be the end," protested Natasha. "I still have so many questions. For one, if the Lycan King was as mighty and powerful as the story says he was, how was he killed?" Her eyes were already getting sleepy, yet there was a deep longing for the answers.

"No one knows exactly how the Lycan King fell, and no one knows who could defeat him, but the one thing we do know and hold on to is the prophecy." Her mother said.

"What prophecy?"

"A prophecy that was foretold. Soon after thousand-night skies and a thousand sunshine, the Lycan King shall be reborn and liberate the Lycan race once more."

...

It had been at least fifteen years since she last heard her mother's voice. Natasha was no longer a child, so she knew that her mother's stories were nothing but made-up fantasy, and fictional concepts such as werewolves, Lycans, vampires, and, worst of all, a happy ending do not actually exist.

To Natasha, the only things that truly existed in her accursed world were merely pain, suffering, and futility. But even at that, Natasha longed for the hope that the concept of the Lycan King was some sort of metaphor--a metaphor for the Lycan King as her soon-coming savior.

Natasha's life was undeniably the absolute worst, but the idea that someday, someone would come and rescue her from her hell on earth was the only thing that prevented her from countless suicide attempts. It was the only thing that gave her a reason to live on, her only reason for hope. But the longer she lived, the more she realized that the idea of a savior- someone on their way to save her- was another made-up fantasy.

Suddenly, the lock on the basement door creaked, and as the door flung open, Natasha's jaw dropped in awe. Behold standing in front of her was a man dressed in all white, from the color of his hair to his three-piece tailored suit down to his leather shoes. Natasha was certain that this couldn't be anyone other than her long-awaited Lycan King.

But as quickly as her heart welled with joy, it was immediately crushed as soon as she spotted who stood right next to him, ironically dressed in all black--Madam Carina.

"Here she is?" Natasha heard Madam Carina say to the man in white.

"She's perfect. I will come by tomorrow to take her," said the man in white.

"You hear that mongrel? As of tomorrow, you will no longer be my burden. The doctor will be coming to pick you up tomorrow for what I call a generous offer, considering how worthless you are," said Madam Carina.

"Oh, my queen, you didn't have to; all I need is my regular apple because, according to you, that should be enough to keep the doctor away. But if you insist, I don't mind receiving a free medical checkup," said Natasha, with sarcasm boldly imprinted in every single word.

Even though Natasha had experienced the true meaning of hell firsthand and had several scars to show for it, the one part of her that remained unfazed and sharp as always was her ever-loose tongue and sense of humor. These were the only two things that kept her from breaking completely. That being said, they were always responsible for a number of whiplashes that could have easily been avoided if only her mouth could have stayed shut.

Madam Carina walked towards Natasha without uttering a word, stopping just a few feet away. She smacked Natasha's left cheek with her palm in a flash, causing a loud thunderous sound.

"You ungrateful little wretch! How dare you speak to me and your new owner in such a disrespectful manner?" Madam Carina shouted, her anger and disgust evident.

"That will be a minus 5%." The man in white walked towards them and said.

Madam Carina turned around in shock. "What?" she asked.

"You heard me. I'm sure you, of all people, should not tamper with the goods after the deal has been made."," the man replied.

He then squatted down and looked Natasha in the eye. "As for you, be assured that this won't be like your regular checkup, that's if you ever had one. I am going to be ripping you open and dissecting you. You will be more of my lab rat than a patient. And why, you may ask? Well, you are a very rare and special kind, so I am on a scientific quest to find out what makes you, you – even if it kills you," he said calmly.

Natasha was no stranger to pain, hatred, and despair. However, for the first time in a long time, she felt genuine fear as she looked back into his eyes. His words sank into the very fiber of her being, and she knew right there and then that her life was about to go from the frying pan to the fire and her hell was just about to heat up.