CHAPTER 2: BLOOD RED HEAT

Anastacia moaned as her naked body became warmer and warmer as the pressure inside of her body and soul began building like a giant wave. Her body shook as she groaned and shook her head from side to side while her entire body trembled in both pain and pleasure. She pulled the scrunchy that held her hair up in a bun as she let her hair flow in waves on the sheets where she was laid on top of.

Anastacia was filled with ecstasy and love for her mate, as she lost her breath at the pressure in her body at how her mate was pleasuring her with every ounce of passion that he has, as she gave herself to him under the red full moon. It was a night that was meant for her and her mate, and she moaned as tears flooded her eyes at the pain of the heat in her loins that were aching to burst. 

"Please…" she begged as she groaned and tore the sheets that were covering her body, "Please, please, please…please, come..please come to me. Please, come" she begged while her body was covered in sweat and blood from the intense heat she was feeling, and from the scratches that were inflicted to her by her own claws. 

As Anastacia felt the covers under her, she also felt her body change into her wolf and her skin began to feel like it was on fire and she wanted to rip them off of her, and her bones began breaking like large branches breaking under pressure. Anastacia closed her eyes as she felt the pleasure of her mate licking every inch of her skin. 

“My mate, where are you…” she groaned the words out of her mouth as another wave of pressure began to build in her body. The beads of sweat on her entire body were bigger as she trembled.

Anastacia began to slowly open her eyes that had just turned gold, and she looked directly at the full moon that was visible outside of the mouth of the cave that she was in. There was no mate beside her. She was alone, and her mate was just a figment of her imagination to somehow ease the pain that she was feeling. A sorrowful scream came out of her as the realization made her transformation quicker.

She was naked under the sheets that she had prepared beforehand in a cave on a deserted island, and no one was there for her. She was in heat, and she knew that she didn't have a mate, as there was also none who could help her take away the heat that her entire body was feeling. It was like lava was running through her veins and was going directly into her core. It was dreadful, and she hated the fact that she knew her brother was feeling the same way as he too had no mate.

The last of Anastacia's ear piercing scream tore through the silence of the cave as the very last bone in her body bent, and a ferocious growl was heard while her skin turned to fur. A howl quickly came as she found herself completely in the form of a giant gold wolf with silver streaks on her fur. Her eyes were gold, and she was a female werewolf, but as a hybrid, she was built like a male werewolf due to her abnormal size. She howled a few more times, and a response from a different werewolf responded in the distance.

On the separate island, Anastagio howled back to his twin sister on the separate island as the two of them echoed the similar pain of not finding a mate at their age. The two hybrid wolves howled all their pain at the fact that they can never have real mates for eternity. Their wolves become uncontrollable whenever the blood moon was present, as their time to mate and lack of mates is causing both of their beasts to go feral and impossible to control.

“Anastacia, are you alright?” Anastagio asked his twin sister in a worried voice, as his howl was heard throughout the small deserted island that he was also in. 

Him and his twin sister were only a half kilometer away from each other, but they were both trapped on both islands. They have been doing the same separation during the red full moon, even when they were still young, because as hybrids who have no mates, they can lose themselves and kill each other in blinded rage.

However, the distance didn’t matter as they can speak through telepathy for up to two kilometers away, much more than a regular werewolf, but it took them years to master. Anastacia wasn’t responding, but he tried to push through her mind and asked her multiple times while both of their wolves began to scratch the walls of their caves, and attempt to either get out of the island or destroy whatever was around them.

“ANASTACIA!” He screamed in his mind in a desperate attempt to get her to reply, “Talk to me, sis, please, speak.” He whined as his wolf also howled and whined as it reflected his emotions. His wolf was one with him, but during the red mood, neither him nor his twin sister could be one with their wolves. It was too impossible to control the wolves inside them when they were also in pain as their wolves took over.

“I’m here,” Anastacia replied in a weak voice. She was losing her consciousness, and it took a lot for her to focus on her brother’s voice enough to send a reply through their telepathic link, “Anastagio, I think I would not be able to use this connection for too long. My wolf is taking too much energy from me and from my mind. I-I can’t focus enough.”

Anastacia was the stronger twin when it came to physical fighting and abilities, but it was her twin brother Anastagio who was strong mentally. His wolf affected him, but even during the red moon or full moon, he still had a strong hold on his mind. However, for his twin sister, she had more difficult times in controlling her wolf.

“Sis, rest, but remember, do not pass out. Just rest, but take deep breaths and calm your mind. I’ll keep talking to you as much as I can. Just stay with me,” Anastagio’s words were strong, but he knows that his sister could feel how he was truly feeling at the moment. 

He and his sister knew that he was indeed worried behind the strength that he tried to convey, because every time the scenario happened, Anastacia was getting weaker and weaker. He feared that one day, his sister would be completely taken over by her beast, and he would have to do the unthinkable and eliminate her himself. It was a fate that he can never fully accept, so he needed to be strong for the both of them.

“Ana, just a bit more, and you can go and rest. Please just stay with me until your wolf is able to calm down a bit and give you a bit more control.” He told his sister as he began to feel a bit tired from fighting off his own wolf. 

It has been two hours since their wolves began their agonizing ritual of rampaging on the island, and Anastacia was on the verge of completely collapsing in her mind. However, she knows that he needed to keep it together, or else, she might just lose herself completely, and it was something that she would never want to happen in her life.

With one last howl, Anastacia and Anastagio changed back to their human self. They were both naked, and looking at the red moon. Anastagio went straight for the hidden duffle bag that he secured near the mouth of the cave while trying his best to call for his sister by using their mind link. 

“Sis, Anastacia, talk to me. Come on, sis,” he said as he began to get dressed, “whatever you’re doing now, just don’t stop listening to me, please,” he begged through the mind link as he tried his best to reach his sister’s closed mind. He kept his breathing in check and tried to sound as less panicky as possible in order to focus on his sister’s inner voice in their link in case she was too tired to reply clearly.

Anastagio felt a sudden emptiness, and he swallowed hard as he took deep breaths to calm his heart and mind. The transformation sucked a lot of energy both in the physical and in their minds, and it was the first time that he didn’t feel his sister’s energy. He was somehow used to the weak connection with his sister after every transformation during the red moon, but it was the first time that he couldn’t even feel her presence, let alone her connection to him through their mind link. His heart beat spiked and he felt like he was holding his breath both physically and mentally. 

He tried to get up as quickly as he could on trembling knees and tried to find the key to the boat that he had a few miles away from the cave. It was hidden somewhere that his wolf wouldn’t be able to go, in case he or his sister were done with the transformation and they needed to go back to the mainland. His phone rang and it was Anastacia.

“What in the world would you use a stupid phone and not reply to me through our mind link, Anastacia?!” He shouted as he fell to his knees and gripped his phone hard. Anastacia gave him her familiar giggle.

“I’m sorry, my dearest brother,” she said weakly and a bit sarcastically, “I was just too tired to move and open my mind, so I just closed everything and sat still here in the cave for a while” she said as she sat inside of the cave with her body covered in scratches, blood, and bruises. She couldn’t move due to the power and energy that was drained from her during the transformation.

“Don’t move an inch, Ana, I’ll go and get you,” Aastagio said as he quickly got up and drove the boat while calling for his men to prepare a rescue ship near them. He knows that Anastacia would need it. The woman would be covered in injuries by now, based on the amount of energy that was drained from her. 

“Okay, Gio, I’ll stay here,” she said in a weak tone, but he could tell from her voice that she was fighting to stay alright without worrying him, “Talk to me while you drive, bro, I feel like my head’s about to drop at any moment, and this phone is the only thing helping me keep my mind awake and my eye sopen” she said in a weak voice on the phone.

“Sorellina, supererai anche questo ostacolo. Te lo assicuro”, Anastagio said in a soft voice as he spoke in Italian, which translated to ‘Little sister, you'll get through this obstacle. I assure you.’

“Non ti stressare, fratellone,” Anastacia said in a playful voice as she also responded in Italian, which translated to ‘Don’t stress, big brother.’

Anastagio arrived at the island and saw that Anastacia was now able to fully dress herself, but the cuts and bruises were still visible. His heart hurts, but by the look that his sister gave him, he knows that he too had bruises and cuts on his body that he was not able to notice earlier when he panicked about his twin sister.

“I’m still hoping for a cure,” Anastacia said with a bewildered gaze as the two of them got on the boat and sailed towards the yacht that was waiting for them, “We may be hybrids, brother, but we don’t deserve this. We deserve to be free of this pain at least,” she said as she wiped a stray tear from her left eye.

“I know, Ana,” he said as he looked towards the horizon, “I want a cure, too. But you and I both know we were made like this, and for now, we wait for a cure while we do our best to live and make him pay.” He said with bitterness in his voice.

“We will get the cure, and we will get our justice,” Anastacia said as she watched the yacht get closer.

“The war is just beginning, brother,” she said as a promise to her brother, and to their creator. It was a promise to the man who made them the hybrid that they were.