[Song for scene: Tom Walker - Leave a light on ]

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"Do you know what you've done?" Asked Marcellus, skin so dark it blended in the shadows of the unlit living room.

Yuè was silent. He wanted to say something back about how it was saving Gunter's life, but he doubted it would help the situation. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen. They attacked Gunter and I while we were by the lake." He explained. "He told me to run and I panicked. Then he showed up injured. I never meant for your father or anyone to discover me. I never meant for Emery or Gunter to get hurt."

Marcellus blinked and the candles in the living room lit up by themselves, the dark carpet holding an ember halo from their flickering light. He sat with one leg crossed over the other, his hand running along his chin as though he were trying to control the temper Yuè was well aware of. "You were right." Was all he said, thought kept his fiery gaze upon the Yuè.

Yuè's brows pulled together in confusion as he watched the man cautiously. "Right about what?" He asked. He felt like a cornered animal waiting for the wolf to strike.

"Why did I save you only for you to be a burden?" He stood up. "I regret it. I regret saving your life. I should've let Kayden and Hayes tear you apart!" Marcellus yelled, lifting the chair he'd been sitting in moments before and tossing it across the room.

Yuè flinched away from where the chair shattered. Backing up against the wall. "Then you should have!" Yuè screamed back. "You blame me constantly for everything. You ridicule me! You hate me!" He glared at Marcellus.

"I do hate you!" Marcellus spat back.

"Do you think I asked your brothers to come and attack us? Do you think I asked for Gunter to be hurt in that manner? Do you think I asked for Emery to be humiliated and hurt by his own father? Do you think I asked to go against your wishes?! What do you want from me? What do you want me to do?!"

Marcellus' breathing was ragged, his chest rising and falling, crimson eyes wild and feral. "Everytime I look at you it's like looking at a goddamn ghost!" His canines lengthened, voice sounding like two people talking. He growled, glancing down at his shaking and clawed hands. "Get out of my sight. Hurry!"

Yuè stared at him for a moment longer before rushing out of the room. Instead of going up to his room, he ran out of the house back towards the lake. The moon still sat high in the sky, a comforting presence in his heartache.

In so little time had his life been shattered and tossed to the wind. Everything he had ever known snatched away harshly only for him to be tossed literally to the wolves.

He missed his father's calming smile as he made them tea in the morning before Yuè went out to hunt. Missed the silent crackle of their fireplace on the days they were able to find good firewood. He didn't care if he was starving and cold.

He would take that over all the food he was offered here. Here he was treated with just as much scorn by the leader as he had been back home. Hated for something he had no understanding of.

His very should still felt raw from Edgar's betrayal, for the harshness of the villagers who he'd grown up knowing. People he had hunted for when food became scarce. How could they have been so cruel? Most of all, it ached for his father who was now alone. But he knew he would accept it if he could just be with his father again. The only person who had ever loved unconditionally and without hesitation.

Sitting at the water's edge, he stared down at his reflection. His tear filled mismatched eyes. Another thing that made him stand out. Perhaps his heart was too weak for this world.

He had done nothing but shed tears from the moment he'd been separated from his father. Gone was the fierce hunter he'd been raised into.

No longer did he have the same fire his father had been so proud of. He could not stand up for himself here where men shifted into beast and beast wore the face of his loved ones to taunt him. He was not strong here.

Yuè's palm skimmed over the top of the water. "Please," he whispered. "Show him to me. Show me babà."

The reflection of the moon on the water's surface rippled, illuminating a silver glow before an image appeared with a swirl of water.

There sat his father, hunched over at the dinner table, eyeing the chipped wood lifelessly. He was thinner than when Yuè saw him last, his dark graying hair lank and unkempt from the neat bun he usually kept it in.

"Babà…" He whispered pained. As though his father could hear him, Qiang looked up, dark eyes seemingly meeting his own. Yuè reached out a hand, pressing it to the reflection of his father's withered face.

"Yuè." His voice was a rasped sound from his father's lips. "Yuè, is that you?" He asked once more, the water rippling. "Where are you? I can feel you watching me."

Yuè swallowed the thick lump in his throat. He knew his father wouldn't be able to hear him. Even if he wanted to tell him where he was, Yuè would never endanger his father that way. So instead, he watched the image of his father before the image faded away. "I'm sorry babà." He whispered to himself, wiping his face with the back of his hand.

"Such trouble you caused today." A smoky voice came from the shadows that surrounded the lake Yuè was in. "I was quite amused."

Yuè's head shot up, looking around him to find the source of the voice. Of course something else would happen. It seemed to be his fate to only come across misfortune. "I suggest you seek your amusement elsewhere." He said sharply, standing from where he'd been sitting with a shiver. He still wore Emery's soaked clothing.

A low breathy chuckle followed his snappy remark. "It's Erosta day. Doesn't every wolf celebrate?" The man asked and the wind whistled through the trees, sending fallen leaves swirling around Yuè. "But I guess since you are claimed by the tragic son of Malachai, you aren't for the taking. Then again, you'd be in his bed or tent instead of standing soaking wet in a lake talking to yourself."

"What do you want? I am in no mood for games. If you are only here to mock me then you can leave." He said. "Better yet, I will. You can lament about your amusement to yourself." He turned back towards the mansion, planning to do just that.

The wind blew once more and an arm slung around him from behind. "I of all people don't play games." His breath tickled the back of Yuè's neck and he inhaled. "King Malachai would kill you if he knew what you really were…and from the outline the wet clothing revealed, you aren't a woman either."

Yuè reared his head back, slamming it into the man's nose in hopes he would let go. "You do not have permission to touch me." He hissed, pushing away from the strange man.

He only laughed, and when Yuè thought about it, his head had never struck anything to indicate his hit landed. "Not yet of course." The man replied coolly. "But eventually you'll be needing me, Paidí tou fengarioú."

His presence was gone. Although he hadn't seen the man once, he couldn't feel that someone was lurking in the shadows. Paidí tou fengarioú. Those words were in a lullaby his babà used to sing to him when he was young. Child of the moon.