Chapter 17: Divine Restraint

'God cursed the most perverted and bloodthirsty city of man and handed them over to their feral desires.' This was how the first werewolves came to be. They were banished from human civilisation and made slaves to violence and deception.

But once every four years, God gave them a chance to learn humanity. When the moon was stained red with his blood, they lost the urge to fight and made peace with one another.

Slowly but surely, the Red Moon Truce was how the feral werewolves recovered their humanity and they were able to shift back into human form at will. It was also how they built this orderly and domesticated pack system for themselves.

What Ran tried to do—holding Dingo down by the collar on the floor of the ballroom, one hand raised to strike— threatened to undo a millennium's worth of effort spent unravelling the curse.

The hand she had lifted to slap Dingo never struck his face. Rage roared in her ears but her hand hovered in midair, held back by an invisible force. The clamour of shouts around her turned into a hushed silence. It wasn't that she didn't want to pummel him with all her might. She could not.

'The Truce is real!' someone whispered behind Ran as she lowered her hand reluctantly.

'I thought it was just a myth,' another person mumbled.

'What'll happen now? Has Eridanus broken the Truce?' Etta asked.

'No, look at that, the Truce cannot be broken!'

Heat rose in her eyes and tears flowed to extinguish the flames. Acamar grabbed Ran by the arm and yanked her to her feet.

'Go to your room and stay there until you calm down,' he ordered. The fury in his eyes burned into her skull even though she kept her head down, too ashamed to look at him.

Static crackled as a different hand pried Acamar's grip open and electric warmth flooded between her fingers. Caph squeezed her hand. 'I'll bring her up.'

She had not done anything wrong. Dingo was the one who instigated her. Acamar knew that. All the werewolves at the Summit saw that. But reacting the way she had done was tantamount to threatening the Leo pack with war.

It was a confusing situation that had never happened at a Red Moon Summit before—and if it did, nobody recorded it or passed down reliable stories of what happened after. It would take a long time for the werewolves to figure out what to do about it.

'Most likely, everyone will just try to forget it,' Caph assured Ran.

She wiped her eyes and blinked until her eyelashes no longer clung to each other. 'No they won't. The rumours will become even more outrageous.'

The lift doors opened and they walked down the carpeted hallway quietly.

When Caph closed the door behind them, he backed her against the emergency escape plan and trapped her between his arms.

'Listen to me, Ran.' His voice was low. Serious.

She never heard him speak this solemnly before.

'Werewolves are not very smart but we have human consciences. Also, those present at the Summit tonight are the highly ranked of each pack. They won't run their mouths like your excited pack members back home. You didn't break the Truce. It's the opposite. The Truce prevented you from hurting Dingo.'

Ran blinked, uncomprehending.

What?

Caph tilted his head and his usual smirk returned.

'Do you want me to try giving you a hickey to test it out?'

The tips of her ears turned red.

'No way! What does that have to do with the Red Moon Truce anyway?' Ran pushed him away but he didn't budge. He licked his lips.

'It's like this,' he whispered, his breath hot on her neck, just below her ear, 'if i bite you when we kiss and the Truce does what I say it does, then there will be no blood.'

Ran's eyes widened. She jerked her head away from him. 'How did you come up with such a stupid–'

There was mirth swimming in the endless depths of Caph's eyes. 'Should i do it somewhere you can see?'

She wanted to slap him, or even better, kick him in the balls for his audacity. But it was still the evening of the Red Moon and no violence was allowed.

'Ah...' she realised, that was what Caph was taking advantage of.

If she couldn't hit him, he could tease her to his heart's content.

He took one of her hands which she held up in front of her defensively and kissed the back of it.

Why was he hitting on her though? He knew she only wanted to use him. No matter what he did, she wouldn't mistake it for genuine affection.

Ran froze.

Unable to pull her hand away.

Unable to speak.

As if she was still restrained by the Truce.

Genuine affection? Could it be...he liked her?

There was no pain but when he looked up at her with a beautifully cheeky grin, she could make out his teeth marks imprinted on her flesh.