RISE OF THE LYCANS - Mates and Bonds

Lukas

Love is a curse disguised as a blessing.

From the moment we are born, we’re taught to respect The Moon Goddess and be thankful for the gifts and blessings she has given us. We’re taught to have faith and accept the destiny she has mapped in the stars for us. To unquestioningly accept her plan without challenge. No one teaches us what to do if we are unhappy with her plan. They don’t tell you that you have a choice or can reject her plan because if you do… your soul will be cursed.

I made my way through the trees, taking a well-worn path toward the northern part of the territory. My sister preferred to be away from the hustle and bustle of the mansion and had moved into a cottage in the northern woods. I was half expecting her twin, Rex, to move out with her because they had been inseparable since birth.

Storm has always been the silent type, strong, and observant. She was a strategist and a formidable force. I had long decided that when I became The Lycan King, Rex would be my Beta, and Storm would be my Zeta… the Warlord.

“Good morning, Alpha,” a familiar voice carried softly through the forest.

“Persephone, my father and your mother are siblings. That makes us cousins,” I tell her, though I consider her more like my little sister. “You don’t need to call me Alpha.”

“Speaking of sisters, are you going to see Storm?” she asked eagerly as she walked in step beside me. Her long dark hair, flowing in a tangled mess behind her, told me she had run to catch up with me.

“Yes, I am,” I replied, noticing the flowers she held. Persephone was one of my younger cousins and possibly the sweetest.

“I was just on my way to visit with her, too. Would it be okay if I joined you?”

I wanted to speak with Storm alone, but didn’t have the heart to disappoint her, “Of course.”

My father is one of four siblings and the current Alpha King. He’s held the title for over twenty-five years following The Golden Wars when the shifters’ council was abolished, and a monarchy was re-established. The last line of royal lycans lived a thousand years ago in Greece. Lycans were thought to have been extinct… until I was born.

I was the first lycan born in over a thousand years, and I was destined to become the first Lycan King since the downfall of my ancient ancestors. At least, that’s what the Ancient Prophecy foretold.

I come from a long line of powerful werewolf families with special gifts that allowed them to control elements. Elemental gifts often skip generations or siblings, but they were prominent in my family lines. Elemental wolves typically controlled one of the four elements: earth, water, air, and fire. It wasn’t until the recent century that some of us received the ability to control more than one element. It was part of some grand plan The Moon Goddess had for us. A plan I wasn’t too happy about right now.

“Is everything okay?” Persephone’s voice rang out.

“Yes,” I nodded. “I was hoping for some of Grandma Dori’s biscuits and gravy, but she seems to have disappeared this morning.”

“I didn’t see her in the garden this morning either.”

“Maybe she ran off to an early morning bingo game,” I told her. “Is Storm expecting you this morning?”

“No,” she hesitated. “I want to train with her, and she said she would think about it.”

“You know lycans don’t reach maturity until twenty-five,” I reminded Persephone. “You’ll have to wait to train with other lycans until after you’ve shifted. I’m sure Storm doesn’t want you to get hurt.”

“But you started shifting when you were a pup,” she replied. “And Rex and Storm started shifting when they were a few years old.”

I was the youngest to shift into wolf form at six months old, and my siblings were four years old. Aunt Demeter and her mate Balthazar also had lycan offspring, but they hadn’t shifted early.

“I wish I could explain why, but it seems The Goddess has her reasons.”

Werewolf shifters normally matured and started shifting at the age of eighteen. This was the age when they could finally scent and find their destined mates. Lycans matured and shifted a little later, at age twenty-five. They were both created by the Moon Goddess and given soulmates. A shifter’s soul was one half of a whole.

“I wonder why my brothers didn’t shift early?” She asked as we approached the back door of the cottage.

“That’s because they’re not little troublemakers like Lukas was when he was a pup,” Grandma Dori replied, poking her head out the door. The silver of her hair had been tinted pink, and it suited her in a strange way.

“Grandma, what are you doing here?” I asked. She was our great-great-grandmother, but everyone called her Grandma Dori.

“What? I can’t visit with my great grandpups?” She replied, and I noticed the wooden spoon in her hand as she pulled the door open for us. Magic happened when Grandma Dori was cooking in the kitchen.

“It smells delicious in here.” Persephone followed her nose into the cozy kitchen, taking a deep breath.

“Well, it’s a good thing I made extra. Come, have a seat… Storm will be down in a minute.”

“I’m going to put these flowers in water.” Persephone moved to the cabinets in search of a vase.

“Oh honey, they’re beautiful,” Grandma said. “I thought you and Cynder were going dress shopping today for your gowns?”

“The mating ball, where no one actually finds their real mate,” Storm said as she entered the room. “Why are they holding the ball again this year? Haven’t they figured out something is wrong?”

“Maybe you haven’t found your mate yet because you’re not twenty-five?” Grandma said as she plated biscuits with eggs and bacon. “Lycans don’t reach full maturity until twenty-five. It’s possible that you haven’t found your mate on account of your age.”

“I can count all the lycans on my fingers and toes with a few toes left over, Grandma. We’re all related, which means our mates are werewolves,” Storm told us. “If werewolves reach maturity at eighteen, then they should have already been able to sense us.”

“Only you, Rex, and Lukas started shifting when you were pups. It’s never happened before in the shifter world,” Grandma reminded Storm. “The others won’t shift until they reach maturity. Who knows, your other half could be a human, and you’ll need to be the one who senses them.”

She had a point. Our mother was still human, though now that I had my venom, I could turn her into a lycan along with my father. I had nothing against humans, but I already had my heart set on a particular she-wolf.

“Cousin Cyrus had a human mate that was turned into a lycan,” Persephone added.

“That’s right, and your father turned Cyrus and Esmeralda into lycans when he saved her from death,” Grandma continued as she set food on the kitchen table. “That was the Christmas we spent at Crescent Castle.”

“Mom still calls it The Christmas Miracle,” Persephone replied.

“You know what the real miracle is?” Grandma smiled. “Her cat! Pepita is still alive and well after twenty-something years.”

“Cat? You mean jaguar,” I laughed. “It’s Italy. The life expectancy in Italy is among the highest in the world.”

“Does it count if Selena has been visiting and giving the cat healing to keep her young?” Storm paused a moment, realizing she mentioned Selena’s name.

The she-wolf I had loved my entire life had inherited her father’s healing gift. Just the mention of her name stabbed through my heart. I swallowed the sting, pretending I hadn’t noticed, and quickly shifted the subject to our cousins in Italy.

“Cyrus is preparing to hand Nightshade pack to Valaria in two years when she shifts.” I took the chair beside my sister and started passing food around.

“She’s going to be a powerful Alpha,” Storm replied, sipping her coffee. “The first female lycan Alpha of a pack. Even in ancient times, lycans didn’t have female Alphas,” she scoffed.

“Do you expect anything less from Great Aunt Anabeth’s granddaughter?” I asked. “They called her Alpha Grave Digger for a reason.”

The rise of lycans was coming, and it was happening in my family lines. Ancient family lines that had produced the strongest Alphas were destined to lead and maintain the balance. Being the Lycan King was my destiny, but I wasn’t interested in what the Moon Goddess had in store.

“Selena has been traveling back and forth from Paris to visit with Valaria in Italy while she finishes that fancy fashion degree of hers,” Grandma said. “Maybe I should have her design me a gown for the mating ball? I’m not a fan of wearing those face masks, but I could still cut a rug.”

“Selena’s graduation and the mating ball are a week apart. She might be a little busy,” Persephone said, forking a chunk of melon. “Besides, I won’t need a dress after all because I’m not going to the ball.”

“What? Why not?” Grandma asked. “It’s the Palace of Versailles!”

“What happened? All the pumpkin coaches already rented out?” Storm snickered.

Persephone sighed. “Dad thinks it’s pointless since lycans can’t sense their mates until they’re twenty-five.”

“Your dad has no issue with the triplets attending before they’re twenty-five, but he wants to keep his baby girl safely tucked away at home. Sounds about right for an Alpha father,” Storm laughed.

“If you were going, he’d let me go,” Persephone looked at my sister with hopeful eyes.

“Cynder is going,” Storm replied, biting into a slice of bacon.

“Cynder is a mature werewolf. She has a mate out there that she intends to find,” Persephone said.

“Not if Wylder kills him first,” Grandma laughed.

“Uncle Ares won’t let him,” Persephone sounded alarmed. “Everyone knows you shouldn’t interfere with the plans of The Moon Goddess.”

“That’s just it,” Storm replied. “When was the last time anyone found their mate? No one has felt a mate bond or claimed a soulmate in so long.”

“It’s happened in other packs… hasn’t it?” Persephone turned to me.

There had been some mating ceremonies over the last decade in other packs, but I really didn’t pay too much attention to the details. “There have been a few, yes.”

“Right,” Storm rolled her eyes, and I could feel the frustrated static of her energy. “They could have just been chosen mates pretending to be destined mates. Look around Lukas, it’s not just you—”

“It’s been one year for me. I’m only twenty-six,” I replied. Though I didn’t want anyone else. Mate bond or not, I didn’t want whoever The Goddess had destined for me because it wasn’t Selena.

“There’s nothing wrong with finding your mate a little later in life,” Grandma told us. “You’re lycans, and you’ll live for centuries. There’s plenty of time to find that soulmate after you’ve sewn some wild oats, if you ask me.”

“Grandma!” Persephone gasped.

“What? Lukas’ namesake didn’t find his mate until he was thirty-three. Your cousin Cyrus was thirty-six, and Balthazar had to wait two thousand years to find Demeter.”

Persephone’s mother was my aunt Demeter. When she found her mate, Balthazar, they discovered he was a lycan cursed with immortality over two thousand years ago. He was frozen in time, living but never dying. The only way to break the curse was for Balthazar to find and claim his true mate. After he claimed his mate, he turned her into a lycan.

My father and his sister, Demeter, had lycan offspring, while his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon, were still werewolves, so they had werewolf offspring.

“It’s not just the lycans,” Storm shook her head. “All of the werewolf cousins, Ranger, Phoenix, Caspian, Coral, Cynder, Flaym… even Selena and Sol. No one has found their destined mate.”

“Selena and Sol are not our cousins,” I replied before I could stop myself. Sure, they were practically family, but we weren’t actually related. My beast was feeling uneasy just hearing her name and stirred. I didn’t want to hear anything about Selena finding a mate because I would rip his throat out when she finally found him.

“You know what I mean,” Storm continued. “Our cousins around the world… no one has found a mate or felt a bond.”

“Maybe she has forsaken us,” Persephone shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

“Maybe The Moon Goddess has plans for all of them to turn into lycans?” Grandma said thoughtfully and passed the bacon.

“So, there’s no reason to attend the mating ball…” Persephone looked around the table with disappointment in her eyes.

“Definitely not,” Storm agreed as a knock sounded on the back door. “Come in, Flaym,” she called out.

“Good morning,” Flaym greeted us before he kissed Grandma Dori on the cheek. “Ooh, bacon,” he snatched a slice from the plate at the center of the table.

“Honey,” Grandma started to say, “I made my biscuits and gravy—”

“Yes, please,” he replied before she could finish asking him.

Flaym and Cynder were our cousins on the Crow side of the family. They had both inherited their father’s red hair, though Flaym had also inherited his father’s appreciation for food.

“I’m surprised your father didn’t sniff out the scent of bacon wafting in the woods first,” Grandma said, passing him a plate.

“He left early with the others for Paris this morning. Something about last-minute dress shopping,” he shrugged.

“Flaym, how old are you now?” Storm asked.

“Twenty-one, you mean you don’t know?” He looked hurt.From NôvelDrama.Org.

“Of course, I know,” Storm replied. “When you shifted into your werewolf three years ago, did you find your mate?”

“You know I didn’t,” he replied, shoveling a forkful of gravy-soaked biscuit into his mouth. “I love it when you put the crumbled sausage in the gravy, Grandma.”

“Did any other cousins find their mates in the last few years… or decade?” She continued trying to make her point.

“I don’t know, I don’t keep track,” Flaym replied.

“We went to Alpha Vince’s mating ceremony two years ago,” Persephone reminded us.

Storm scoffed. “I’m certain they were chosen mates and not destined mates.”

“What makes you say that? How do you know?” Grandma asked.

Persephone shook her head in disbelief. “That would be an insult to the Goddess.”

“The rotten bastard hit on me just before his mating ceremony,” Storm said casually.

“What!” I held back a snarl. Rex had black hair and blue eyes, but Storm was born with silvery hair and blue eyes. She was uniquely beautiful and turned heads her entire life.

“Honey, are you sure he hit on you?” Grandma asked.

“He grabbed my ass and asked if he could have me instead,” Storm replied. “I wanted to alleviate him of his entire hand, but I settled for his pinky instead.”

Persephone gasped. “Wait! I do remember his hand being bandaged… you didn’t?”

“I shifted a single claw and took a single finger,” she smiled.

“What happened to his finger?” Flaym asked with fascination.

True to her name, my sister was a storm, and I expected nothing less. Her cool blue eyes shifted and swirled like a spinning galaxy in space, indicating her lycan was close to the surface. With a grin on her face, she replied.

“I gifted it to his new mate after the ceremony… told her if she ever catches him touching another female, I’d come back and remove both of his hands.”

“Delightful breakfast conversation,” Grandma said, reaching for a pitcher. “Orange juice, anyone?”

*****

4/29/24 - This book has been marked “complete” though we still have about 10 more chapters to go. I do this to give people a chance to discover the book before its gone. I write and post a chapter each day, once complete this book will move to publishing around May 12, 2024.

Do not wait to read this because it will be completed and removed in about 2 weeks