It was around midnight when it began to suddenly downpour. Rain came down in torrents and the wind was howling, shuddering the window panes. The sound of thunder crashing and lightning flashing behind the curtains had managed to disturb Kami Feign in her sleep. Usually she’d turn to her husband to comfort her, however Richie was out of town (San Diego, was it?) for his job. That meant she was alone. Well, not necessarily—her son was in his room, fast asleep. At least, Kami hoped he was asleep.

The thunderstorm outside had begun to become more chaotic so Kami got out of bed and headed downstairs. She turned on the lights in the kitchen and went to the refrigerator where she pulled out the milk carton. Grabbing her favorite mug (blue with gold roses, gifted by her husband one Christmas), she filled it up with milk and microwaved it. After the microwave beeped, Kami took the mug with her bathrobe’s sleeves and went to the armchair in the living room where she turned the tv on. Making sure the tv was on a low volume to make sure she didn’t disturb Paradox, she then began watching a news channel. Its topic was about Lycanthropy.

“...really tragic, wouldn’t you say, Mads?” the male reporter was saying. His name on the bottom of the screen read Jimmie Lopez.

“I agree completely, Jimmie.” The female reporter, Mads, was saying from the studio. She gestured to the screen behind her which was a map of Florida. There were blobs of various colors that were spread out over Florida. One particular spot was an angry red near Tampa, Lakeland, and Clearwater. “It’s getting worse down south as you see here in Tampa, Florida. The outbreak of Lycanthropy is spinning out of control—rather rapid; it’s like an epidemic.”

“It’s nothing like we have seen before, huh?” Lopez said. He added, “We’re drawing the conclusion of perhaps it is the mating season of the Lycans and they are going all out. Didn’t Senator Lary Young say the Hybrid population was going up in D.C.?”

Mads was now fiddling with her microphone. “I—well, yes. He did. Congress has been discussing whether they were going to do something about this or not. Republicans have been very vocal lately, as we saw last week, the storming of Rochester, New York. The Republicans have been saying they wish to annihilate the entirety of the Lycanthropes and Hybrids. However, our President is against this. President Forthwyn, as we know, is a Democrat. Well…she has been quiet for the last few weeks.”

“I heard her daughter banged a Lycanthrope,” said the news reporter next to Mads.

“Sorry?” Lopez said, looking alarmed.

“Yeah,” the news reporter continued. His name on the screen appeared: Erik Petrov. “I mean, that’s what I heard some coworkers say. Missy Forthwyn—that’s the President’s daughter’s name, right?—had gone to Byd Cyntaf to be involved with them and ended up, well…” Petrov paused and had an awkward smile on his lips. “This is live, isn’t it?”

“You dickwad,” someone muttered off camera.

“It’s bullshit,” Lopez said, shaking his head. “Anyways. In Springfield, Illinois, there was a case of—oh, wait.” Lopez suddenly looked panicked and was walking forward when the camera aimed at him fell and tilted upward. “Ohh, fuck. Marty?”

“What’s going on?” Mads demanded, standing up from her chair.

“Jimmie?” Petrov said, startled.

Before Lopez had the chance to respond, his camera went out and there was static. The entire studio burst into chaos.

“Fucking hell!” Petrov blurted out, jumping up from his seat. “Someone change the goddamn channel! This is live!”

The news channel then went blank and Kami was now staring at a blue screen.

Kami’s nerves were shot with horror as she gawked at her tv. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. There was no way that the Lycanthropy stuff was going out of control. There was no way. Her chest was now heaving from near hyperventilation as she began wondering if she had to prevent her son from going to school when it began in September. This was bad—no, not bad, but insane. Unbelievable. Impossible. Kami turned the tv off and set her mug down, hand against her forehead. Now she was too distraught to feel tired. Kami shook her head. The world was a crazy place.

The storm was still raging outside, low thunder booming in the distance. Kami suppressed a shudder and headed upstairs. She passed Paradox’s room when she headed to the master’s room, but she paused. She couldn’t help but wonder if Paradox was even asleep in his room in the first place. She went back to Paradox’s bedroom door and didn’t think twice when she opened his room.

Kami wasn’t the type to normally invade or interrupt her son’s personal space. He was seventeen; he knew what he was doing, he was a good kid, and Kami trusted her son with everything she had. Paradox never lied—he was an honest, straightforward kid, and Kami appreciated that. But something inside of Kami wasn’t settling right so she entered his room without any forewarning.

And she realized his room was empty.

It didn’t process in Kami’s brain at first. Her initial thoughts were Under the sheets? but then it registered a bit later. Then it became pure panic: Where in God’s name is he? Her mother instincts kicked in and she began searching for Paradox in his room, checking to see if he was under his bed (nope), in the closet (no), or even behind the curtains (most certainly not). When Kami realized Paradox wasn’t in his room, she decided to check the rest of the house. She checked the bonus room, her room, the bathroom (the shower included), the linen closet; downstairs: the kitchen, living room, mudhall, pantry—he was nowhere.

Did he sneak out? When? How? Why? This was very unlike Paradox, which was freaking Kami out. Kami tried to rationalize her thoughts. Perhaps her son was at the Downes’ house and maybe he forgot to text her that he was going to spend a night there. But still, that was very uncharacteristic of Paradox.

Beginning to pace in the living room, Kami debated whether or not she should text Aurora, Caravel’s mother, but the doorbell went off, breaking Kami’s thoughts.

“Who…?” she murmured, confused, then paused. Perhaps it was her son. She bolted towards the door and didn’t think twice when she opened it. However, it wasn’t Paradox who had rang the doorbell, rather a male Lycanthrope.

Kami’s blood ran cold and she was about to slam the door but the male Lycan stopped her, quite literally. He grabbed her wrist. Kami screeched, trying to pull free but the Lycan’s grip was iron.

“Mrs. Feign, right?” the Lycan said.

“W-who are you? L-let go!” Kami yelled, heart thundering in her chest as she uselessly tried freeing herself.

“Cyrus Daemin. Listen Mrs. Feign. I just want to talk. Slamming the door at a guest is rather rude, wouldn’t you say?” The Lycan—Daemin—said.

Kami didn’t understand how this Lycan found her home, let alone even know her name. She was terrified that this Lycan might be a stalker and her life was in danger. But if the Lycan did hurt her, no one would help her. With Richie out of town, with Paradox missing, and the neighbors being asleep, she doubted anyone would care.

Daemin sighed and then let go of Kami, causing her to stumble backwards. He crossed his arms over his chest and then said with a tilt of his head, “Kid, I’m not dealing with this. You said you wanted to do this. Come out.”

Kid? Who was “kid”? Kami, despite feeling scared out of her mind, was curious. “Who…?” Kami said, but the Lycan shushed her. Kami felt indignant.

“Kid. This is your last warning.” Daemin said, his voice harsh. When he was received with no response he gave off a huff and held his hand up to Kami, telling her to stay put, and he went around the house. Kami watched him in confusion but when Daemin came back with Paradox, Kami’s heart dropped.

Daemin pushed Paradox rather roughly in front of him and now Paradox was in front of Kami. Her son looked embarrassed, guilty, and ashamed. There was so much shame on his face it shocked Kami. She never once saw him like this.

“I can explain,” Paradox said weakly, rubbing his arms with his hands. “I just…” He shivered, and Kami wasn’t sure if it was from the cold, the rain, or some internal emotion. Paradox shot Daemin a pleading look which Daemin shook his head.

“Your idea, your mother; it’s on you, kid.” Daemin said, shrugging.

“W-what’s the meaning of this?” Kami asked, voice trembling. She stared at her son in disbelief. Dread was pooling in her stomach as she looked at her son and the Lycan. A slow horror was coming over and she put her hand to her mouth. It hit her, then, and she felt her muscles go slack in shock.

Paradox was Marked. He had to be. There was no way around it. Why else would a Lycanthrope show up at her house with her son? Paradox had bedded with the Lycan and he claimed him. Just like that. Her son, her only son, was now owned by a Lycan. But that couldn’t be right. Paradox was a good kid, an honest good. He wouldn’t endanger his life by meddling with Lycans. Right? But the more she looked at the shame in Paradox’s face, the more she looked at the Lycanthrope, it was clear.

“What the fuck did you do?” Kami whispered, and Paradox looked at her in shock. “What the fuck did you do?!” She yelled. “How could you do this to me, Paradox?! You said-you said you don’t care about the Lycan World. You said you wouldn’t—how could you betray me like this?! Are you insane? After everything I did for you? This—this is how you hurt me?” Kami spat out.

Paradox was crying, body shaking from his sobs as he choked out, “Mom, Mom, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I fucked up, I fucked up. Mom…Mama, don’t hate me…” Paradox was crying into his hands. His sobs were raw and broken, body shaking uncontrollably.

Kami couldn’t control herself as she continued furiously: “Don’t you know what you did? You’re claimed now! You’re going to be taken away from me! You’re a kid, Paradox, a kid! You’re not even eighteen!” Kami was now fighting back tears of her own.

“Wait, what?” Daemin said, looking alarmed. “He’s…Kid, you’re not eighteen?”

Paradox was sobbing too hard to answer but he managed to shake his head.

The color drained from Daemin’s face. “Oh, shit. Um. Okay. Why did you—how did you get in the—”

“You took advantage of him?!” Kami screeched, rounding on the Lycan. Now she was infuriated. The Lycan didn’t know that her son was still a minor? Anger, horror, and disgust was rising inside of Kami. She wanted to punch Daemin, but she knew she shouldn’t so instead she raged: “What the fuck is wrong with you! Taking advantage of a child! You monster!” She turned to her son and said, “Paradox, Paradox, I don’t hate you, my love. Answer me: did the Lycan take advantage of you?”

“I—I…I just-just—we…I just…He did-didn’t—it-it’s m-my f-fault. I-I…” Paradox couldn’t form a proper sentence because of his jagged sobs.

“Mrs. Feign.” Daemin said.

Kami snarled, “What?”

The Lycanthrope had an apologetic look on his face, and he looked distressed. “I didn’t know, Mrs. Feign. If I had known your son was not of age, I wouldn’t have bothered him at all. See—”

“You liar.” Kami snarled at him. “You all are the same.”

“M-Mama, I f-fucked up. I-it was-wasn’t him. I just…” Paradox tried saying, but Kami silenced him with a hug. Paradox went stiff from the sudden hug but relaxed, sobbing into her shoulder. Paradox was taller than her, much taller. He was 6’1” and she was 5’5”, but he was still her baby, her only son. She stroked his back, hugging him tight, letting him cry.

Daemin was running his fingers through his dark hair. He let out a heavy sigh and said, “Kid. Did you sneak into the club? We only allow eighteen and up.”

Paradox pulled away from the hug and said thickly, “N-no. T-this female Lycan let me in.”

“You went to a club?” Kami screeched at her, and he flinched. Kami dragged her hands down her face, groaning. This was getting worse and worse.

“What did she look like?” Daemin said softly.

Paradox chewed his lower lip before saying, “She was tall. Almost my height. She had white hair, pale skin. Her eyes were silvery. She had a tight dress on—it may have been green.”

Daemin blinked and his expression went dark. He growled, “Stupid bitch. That’s her last straw.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and said, “Mrs. Feign. I promise you, if I had known your son was under eighteen, I wouldn’t have messed with him. I promise. I swear it. I’m an honest guy.”

“I hate you,” Kami muttered, glaring at Daemin.

The Lycan shrugged. “Hate me all you want. But you know how it works. Paradox’s mine now. But”—he said, holding a finger up to silence Kami who was about to protest—“you can have him until noon. You have him for the next eleven hours. Enjoy the time.” Daemin grinned, but it wasn’t a sly grin or happy grin—rather, it was dry and pitiful. He then put his hand on top of Paradox’s head and mussed his hair before kissing him.

The Lycan kissed her son right in front of her.

Kami stared in dumbfounded shock as she watched Paradox return the kiss. Daemin then broke the kiss and said, “Noon, kid, you got till noon. Be good.” And he was off, turning into his wolf form and running off in the rain.

Paradox’s expression was unreadable when he faced Kami. Then when he noticed that Kami had a shocked look on her face, his face went red. “Uh.” He said.

Kami shook her head. As much as she wanted to yell at her son for disobeying her and getting Marked by a Lycan, they didn’t have much time. She wanted to spend time with her son before he was taken from her.

“Do you hate me?” Paradox asked quietly.

“My love, I could never. You’re my son. My only son. My baby. You’re a blessing. I could and will never hate you.” Kami vowed. After all, what good did it do to hate her son?

Paradox gave a short nod and said, “I’m sorry, Mom, I just—”

Kami grabbed her son’s hand and squeezed it tight. “It’s okay. I promise. Now, let’s get you washed up and you should rest. It’s been an eventful night, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah…” Paradox said. He gave her a weak smile and then hugged her. “I promise I’ll find a way to see you.”

Kami knew the promise was going to be broken. He didn’t have control on whether or not he could see her. She knew. She knew how it all worked out. But at least he was home, even for several hours, at least he was hers.

When Paradox went inside, Kami looked up at the sky and noticed that the moon was a blood red. She couldn’t help but wonder what omens the moon was trying to tell her.