Rebekah's Pov
Lycans.
He said they were lycans.
I trembled in fear in prison, feeling a bit more skeptical of the prison guards and maids that came to check on me.
In their human forms, they looked harmless, but once I took a glance at those eyes, I felt something else. And it wasn't fear. It was more.
"The Alpha cares about you," Marbel said one time she was caring for me.
"Are you all really lycans and not werewolves?" It was difficult to believe Marbel was a Lycan too, she seemed so soft and sweet that I wondered maybe I was thinking too much and that what happened yesterday didn't actually happen. But then I knew I'd only be fooling myself to not reveal the truth to myself.
Marbel nodded, confirming my fears. Now I did not know to trust her, I had been rude to her some times ago and I wondered if that grudge between us would be enough for her to flip and then bring me to sleep with either her claws or canines, or whatever lycans used to off someone, permanently. In the era of my small life, I'd heard of lycans. It was part of what kept me bubbling inspite of my very hard life. But what good was that idea if I didn't even know what the lycans weaknesses were, amongst other things.
"What do lycans eat— Actually, are you feeding me to fatten me so you can eat me later?"
Marbel stopped to look at me, and then she bursted into laughter, holding the right side of her face righteously as she hid her laugh with the palm of her hands. She really was a cutie but that didn't matter. A cutie that could kill was not a cutie and shouldn't be considered one.
"Where did you get that idea from? No one's feeding you to kill you, your Majesty."
"I don't believe you. And I'm not your Majesty, don't be ridiculous."
"Ah, about that," Marbel tilted her head to the side, "It's actually rare for lycans to reject one another, especially for the royal bloods. Their mating bond is actually stronger, cleaner and more heightened than any normal Lycan mates so it's a given you'll marry King Reagan even though you're resisting him right now."
My memory briefly turned to my childhood and I thought to myself. It's a good thing I'm not born royal then.
"Marbel, I am not a royal Lycan blood, how can this be?"
"Doesn't matter. As long as one of the mate's a royal blood, their bond would be heightened. But for the less royal blood, it's much worse, they become madly loyal to their mate and become crazily obsessed— Damn it's bad, I know many who gave birth to four pups at a time. So if you know what is best for you, you'd accept Reagan's offer quickly to avoid a future scene where you look desperate for him. I know you consider your pride quite heartily but—"
"—Excuse me," I interupted, standing to my feet. My pride was already shattered from Marbel's words and there was no way I could imagine being at Reagan's mercy because of some stupid matebond. That was some deluding thing I'd ever heard!
"It's not something to be ashamed of," Marbel stood to her feet along with me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "It is a beautiful thing to feel a deep sense of compassion and love for someone to the extent of not wanting to live without that person. I wish I had that, every unmated girl here wish they had that."
"That's odd." I said. "But mostly, a stupid thing. I'm not like that, and I'll never be like that." I pushed Marbel's hand away from my shoulder and faced her with my arms crossed and my head straight up. "I don't know what pride you all sustain from being unable to live with a so-called mate but I, Rebekah am different! I won't ever allow myself to be pushed around because of a stupid mate bond!"
Marbel seemed genuinely sorry for me, but she didn't say anything else. Instead she grabbed me to settle back down with her on the bench.
"Do you have any hobbies?" She pulled the bag on her waist and moved it to the front and started to zip it open gently.
"Running away." I said without thinking.
Marbel looked at me and then went back to what she was doing. "I thought you would have zeroed your mind on that already,"
"Can't a girl even dream?" I said with the roll of my eyes. But then my mind went to my parents. How were they doing right now? Did they worry about me?
"Just stop it already, Rebekah." Marbel said softly. "The entire lycans here in prison can probably hear you and they won't like that you're disrespecting the option already placed out in front of you by the Alpha King."
I sighed. "Well, I didn't ask for the option." I said.
There was a bit of silence between Marbel and I as she ruffled through her bag. By the time she was done, she pulled out a knitting pin and a green and yellow bundled thread.
She gave the items to me, and when I wasn't fast enough to collect them, she placed the items directly on my palms.
"What is that?" I asked even though I already knew the use of the items. I just didn't know why she was giving them to me.
"A knitting pin and a bundle of thread, why?"
I sighed at Marbel's response, but I honestly could not blame her. "Hey look, I know the use of a bloody knitting pin and some thread— but what am I supposed to do with it?"
"Kill time?" She offered.
I sighed again. "I know you mean well but how can I do whatever you're asking me to do when there's no damn light in this dark place!"
Marbel looked at me intently, and then she smiled. I frowned as she got up instead and gave me a loving look. Then she said, "I'm going back." With that, she left me with the items in my hand.
A guard from nearby closed my cell and escorted her out leaving me alone in the dim light.
My salvation was snuffed out as well as the hope put in me. Somehow, my hope was Marbel when she was with me. And now that she was gone, I had to again face the dreadful realization. I was here all alone, divided from my true clans. My fellow werewolves.
I wanted to cry but my pride wouldn't let me. Even if my people didn't want me around them, or respect me. Just the scent of their bodies as they ran, the connectivity we all felt when under mother nature's influence… these things I missed even when I knew I shouldn't be missing them. It was annoying that it had to be this way but now that I was imprisoned, I was thinking about all the time I took running in the woods for granted. Oh how much I wanted to feel my paws on the grass again, and hear my heart leap for joy again as I merry in the delight the nature has given to us all. Oh how I wanted to dance in the rain again and run in it even if the aftermath would be the cold in my chest. Oh how much I delighted in the sunlight of nature. All these things I was just realizing. Oh how delightful all of these things were. And now that they were taken from me, and I was secluded from them, I realized their importance. And the importance of me appreciating them more when I had the chance.
I fell to my knees and kept my head bowed. A wolf's greatest strength was the moon, and the Earth's forests. I was nothing but merely human once my access to the moon was limited. And not only that, it was long since my wolf last went for a run, she needed to go wild and free, and I couldn't give her that.
"Rebekah," my wolf said in my head, but I was unable to reply, not because of my pride but because of the exhaustion I felt in my chest, knowing I couldn't give her what she needed— What we needed.
"I'm sorry," I muttered to the air.
A gust of air came from the tightly shut windows in the prison but I paid it no mind as it soon disappeared into oblivion.
My thoughts soon slipped away as my heavy fingers dropped the knitting pin and thread I'd earlier received from Marbel. My strength was becoming a farce even in my own eyes as I was trying to contain my wolf's heightened urges to shift as it neared midnight. That took a high level of control and concentration to not let her out, but most especially, focus. Not on my body, but on my mind.