RISE OF THE LYCANS - Mates and Bonds

Lukas

I sat alone in my father’s office, mulling over Storm’s words this morning. Was it possible the Moon Goddess had forsaken us?

Werewolves had occasionally rejected their destined mates and selected a chosen mate. Producing offspring with a chosen mate was difficult, but it wasn’t unheard of. Unlike werewolves, lycans can only reproduce with their destined mates. Whether or not it was because lycan anatomy was slightly different or The Goddess had willed it on purpose, we didn’t know.

There were other differences between werewolves and lycans besides the age at which we matured. Lycans lived for centuries, while werewolves lived twice as long as humans. A born lycan could produce venom and turn a werewolf or human into a lycan. But a werewolf had to be born with the werewolf gene and couldn’t turn another.

Werewolf shifters took the shape of wolves, though they were bigger and stronger than regular wild wolves. They walked on all fours and could only shift their claws while in human form. Their wolf was a counterpart and had independent thoughts and speech. Only one was in control at a time. You were either in wolf form or human form.

A lycan was both all the time: half human, half beast. The wolf of a lycan was more feral and primal, running on instinct. A lycan had longer hind legs and preferred to run and fight on two legs. I could shift any body part at any time, which made me lethal in any form. We had other physical differences, but the most pronounced was that lycans were faster and stronger than werewolves.

“Lukas, where are you?” Rex’s voice came through the mind link.

“Dad’s office.”

“On our way,” he replied.

The office belonged to the Alpha King and would pass to me when I took my place as Lycan King. My father had intended to step down when I turned twenty-five, but I wasn’t interested in taking over. When I have my coronation, my Queen will be standing beside me. The only problem standing in my way was that the Moon Goddess had failed me.

Rex pushed the office door open, and Ranger followed behind him. Although Rex and Storm were twins, anyone who didn’t know them might believe Rex and our cousin Ranger were twins. The only real difference between them was that Rex had the LaRue blue eyes, and Ranger had inherited his father’s steely gray eyes. Ranger was Uncle Zeus’ eldest son and the future Alpha of Moon Realm West.

“Were you able to convince her to come?” Rex asked.

“Storm isn’t coming to the ball,” I told him. “You know our sister, once her mind is made up, it’s made up.”

“She’s as stubborn as Mom,” Rex shook his head.

“Don’t let Mom hear you say that,” I chuckled. “Storm’s convinced the Goddess might be cross with us because none of us have found a destined mate yet. She said she’d fly in for the graduation and then visit Valaria in Italy.”

“Valaria isn’t going to the ball either?” Ranger asked.

“She’s twenty-three. She thinks it’s pointless since lycans don’t mature until twenty-five.”

“Sorry, I’m late,” Caspian said as he entered the office. “What did I miss?”

“Storm and Valaria are not attending the mating ball because they’re not twenty-five yet,” Ranger recapped.

“Makes sense. Coral won’t be eighteen for another two months, so dad’s not letting her go either,” Caspian told us. Caspian was the eldest son of my Uncle Poseidon and the future Alpha of Moon Realm East.

“Phoenix isn’t going either,” Ranger said. Phoenix was his younger brother and preferred to spend most of his free time training. “He doesn’t think he’ll find a mate until after I’ve found my mate since I’m older.”

“Then, there’s no reason for me to go,” Rex added. “Storm and I won’t be twenty-five for a few more weeks. I’ll fly in with her for Selena’s graduation next weekend.”

“Ouh là là just opened last month in Paris, and it’s got rave reviews,” Caspian tried to convince him. “You’re going to miss the fun.”

“The new kink club?” Ranger asked, and Caspian’s grin pulled wider.

“If we’re there for the ball this weekend and the graduation the following week, we’ll have plenty of time to enjoy the nightlife in The City of Love,” Caspian told him.

“Count me in!” Ranger agreed.Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

“As much as I would love to,” Rex said. “I’ll sit this one out. It’s a lot of work dodging all the she-wolves trying to sink their claws into a lycan mate all night.”

“Easy there, Casanova,” Caspian chuckled. “Every she-wolf at the ball will try to dig her claws into Lycan King Romeo over here.”

“Looks like it’s just the three of us,” Ranger grinned.

“Four,” Caspian corrected. “Flaym is coming with us. He told me about club Ouh là là.”

“Are you sure we can’t convince you to come?” Ranger asked Rex.

“The jet will be ready in four hours,” I announced. “Better get packing.”

When Selena turned eighteen and shifted for the first time, she was devastated when her wolf couldn’t sense me as her soulmate. I was convinced it was because of my age. When I turned twenty-five, and there was still no mate bond between us… she ran away to study fashion in Paris.

My brother and cousins tried everything to cheer me up. Parties, vacations, clubs of every kind, and still, my beast only wanted her. I had supported her through everything in life, and now that she wasn’t mine, I found it harder and harder to do.

The selfish part of me was happy that she hadn’t found her mate yet. If I couldn’t have her, then I didn’t want anyone else to have her. I didn’t even want to attend the mating ball, but I was the future King and had to make an appearance regardless. If it were up to me, I’d mask my scent with evve tea and suppress my aura so that no one could sense or scent me.

I made my way through the mansion toward my room to start packing when I noticed Grandma Dori rolling a hot pink suitcase down the hall.

“Grandma, what’s that?”

“Well, what does it look like? It’s my pet pig,” she smiled.

“Are you going somewhere?”

She said something about running off to join the circus or seeing Cirque du Soleil, but I missed it because Flaym was mind linking me something about food.

“I’m sorry, Grandma, what was that?”

“I said I’m going to stay at Moon Realm East with Poseidon and Thalia while you all are off to Paris having crêpes without me,” she replied. “Persephone is going to spend the night with Coral, so I’m hitching a ride with her.”

“Here, let me help you,” I offered, reaching for her luggage.

“I may not be a spring chicken anymore, and I might have trouble digesting raw vegetables, but I can certainly pull a luggage on wheels around,” Grandma replied. “Now, try to have fun in Paris and bring me back some macarons.”

Relieved she didn’t tell me to bring home a new mate, I pressed a kiss to her cheek and continued on my mission.

We arrived at the small regional airport in Upstate New York, where we housed the family jets. We were taking the smaller Gulfstream because my parents already had the bigger jet in Paris. The ground crew was loading other luggage my mother had arranged to be delivered, which contained tuxedos, gowns, and custom masks for the ball.

“Alright, let’s get this party started!” Ranger called out as he boarded the aircraft.

“The others are already on board, Sir. We’ll be ready for take-off in ten minutes,” the co-pilot greeted me as he continued with his safety checks.

“Thank you,” I nodded. Something pink in the bottom of the cargo hold caught my attention, and then something red caught my attention at the door.

“Pizza!” Flaym shouted from the top of the steps. A small Toyota with a Gino’s Pizzaria sign on the roof rolled to a stop on the tarmac, and Flaym rushed past me to collect his order.

“You ordered a pie?” I don’t know why I was asking because I already knew the answer.

“I ordered two large pies… it’s a six-hour flight,” Flaym said as he followed me into the cabin and took a seat.

We dug into the pizza pies, waiting for take-off. Caspian rummaged around the steward’s cabin, looking for drinks. We normally contracted in-flight service along with the pilots, but since it was a six-hour flight and the jet would remain grounded in Paris with us, I didn’t bother. Caspian seemed just as capable as a stewardess when he returned with an armload of drinks.

“Good afternoon, and welcome aboard,” the captain’s voice came over the cabin speaker. “Today’s flight time to Paris Le Bourget Airport is approximately six hours. The time is currently five after midnight in Paris, and we expect an early morning arrival.”

“I was thinking about what Storm told us earlier today,” Flaym said as he bit off a large hunk of pizza.

“That you shouldn’t talk with your mouth full?” Ranger replied.

“About the Moon Goddess forgetting to mate us,” Flaym continued. “Lukas, Rex, and Storm are the only three to get elemental gifts. No one else got a crescent moon mark when they turned eighteen.”

The crescent moon mark on the nape of the neck appeared when a werewolf was blessed with an elemental gift. None of the current generation cousins from the Theodorus, LaRue, or Crow sides of the family had been given an element. Not only did I get my elemental gifts when I was a pup, which was highly unusual, but I also had the gift to control all four elements.

“Your point?” I questioned.

“Rex got fire, Storm got air, and you got all four,” Flaym said. “You three were the last to get elements.”

“We got them when we were pups,” I added. “Maybe the Goddess doesn’t think we need them anymore now that the wars are over and lycans have returned.”

“Just like she doesn’t think we need mates anymore?” Ranger questioned. “Without mates, there’s no new pups.”

“And without new Grandpups, we may as well let Grandma Dori run off and join the circus,” I shook my head.

A loud thud sounded from the back of the jet, and Flaym got up to ensure nothing had fallen over. He opened the bathroom door, but it was empty, and everything seemed in order. Flaym reached for the door of the closet compartment, and the jet hit a small pocket of turbulence that nearly knocked him off balance.

“I think the cargo below was just shifting around,” he said as he returned to his seat.

“Turn off the lights so I can get some shut-eye,” Caspian groaned. “I need my beauty sleep before we get to Paris.”

The cabin went dark, and I reclined my seat. Looking out the window, the moon appeared brighter and crisper because we were above the denser parts of air and light pollution.

My mind was still racing… first Storm, and now Flaym. Could we have done something to offend the Moon Goddess? The majority of werewolves used to find their mates soon after turning eighteen. Had she intended for lycans to rise and werewolves to go extinct? If lycans lived for hundreds of years, she might have intended for us to find mates much later in life.

What if I found a mate at the ball?

The last thought soured in my stomach at the idea of finding a mate who wasn’t my beautiful Selena. I closed my eyes and tried to stop my thoughts, but pictures of her floated in my mind. It had been nearly half a year since I last set eyes on her. She had returned for the holidays but didn’t stay long.

My breathing evened out, and my mind took me back in time…

It was her thirteenth birthday, and she had just given me my first kiss in the astronomy observatory at the top of the mansion... She was my Princess, and someday she’d be my Queen.

“Happy Birthday,” I reached into my pocket and removed the small wrapped package.

“Is that for me?” She smiled.

“It’s a bracelet,” I said nervously. “I collected all the crystals when I was at Crescent Castle. An elder at Crescent Village helped set them in a bracelet.”

She tore open the package and held it up. The crystals reflected light like a prism. She held it higher, admiring it. “They remind me of the stars in the sky.”

“Do you like it?”

“No,” she shook her head. “I love it!” She threw her arms around me, and I felt like I was floating with the stars in the heavens.

I smiled with relief. “I’ll name an entire constellation after you someday, Princess.”

“Good morning,” the captain’s voice rang out once again. “We’ve started our descent into Paris and have been cleared for landing. The early morning weather is a cool fifty-nine degrees or fifteen degrees Celsius, and local Parisian time is a quarter after six.”

“That was quick,” Ranger said, reclining his leather chair back in the upright position.`

“Are we going straight to the hotel or stopping for breakfast?” Flaym asked.

“I ordered two cars,” I replied. “You three can go to the hotel and get us checked in. The top floor is reserved for our family, so I’m sure a large breakfast is being prepared right about now. I need to run a quick errand and will be there shortly.”

“Want me to come with you?” Caspian asked.

“No, it won’t take me long.”

The jet taxied to the private hangar, and we quickly went inside to clear customs. A porter from the hotel had been sent to retrieve our luggage. The Parisian Grand was part of a worldwide chain owned by the LaRue side of the family and part of LaRue Enterprises. We were always treated like royalty when we stayed at the properties because, in our world, we are royalty.

“Don’t get lost,” Ranger called out and slipped into the first car with Caspian and Flaym.

I took a seat in the back of the second car. “Where to, monsieur?” The human driver asked with a heavy French accent.

French wasn’t my strongest language, so I replied in English. “Latin Quarter, Rue Dante.”

I knew today was her last day of school before graduation in a week, but I didn’t know if she was planning to move back home after graduation or stay in Paris. No one had mentioned it, and I hadn’t asked because I wanted to appear indifferent. I was so fucking indifferent that I set off to sneak a peek of her the moment I landed in Paris.

I wanted to see if she was sitting outside at her favorite café under the shade of the red-striped awning and big trees. Perhaps she was at the corner boulangerie she loved so much, getting fresh bread and croissants. There was a good chance she’d be at the hotel having breakfast with her parents and my family… maybe she’d think I was trying to avoid her when the others showed up, and I wasn’t with them.

I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, and my beast was restless. When she first moved away to Paris, I found myself hiding in the shadows, watching her like some obsessed stalker. The first time I saw her out shopping, she looked sad and lost. A month later, she was buying flowers and shopping for baguettes like a local. Three months later, she seemed happy and looked well. By the fourth month, she was going out with new friends, and I heard whispers she was dating someone.

Being in the same city with her had triggered me because my beast wanted to carry her away and tie her to the bed so she couldn’t leave me again. If she wasn’t my destined mate, I’d claim and mark her as my chosen mate. I thought about luring her back to the jet and taking her to the private family island in Greece, where no one would find us. I didn’t want to be the Lycan King without her by my side.

At this point, I didn’t care what the Moon Goddess had planned for me because my girl was all I could think about. I had been born into a role I had never chosen—a destiny I no longer wanted. Lycan eyes swirled when the beast within was close to the surface or felt strong emotions, and I knew my beast was feeling everything I was. Without looking at them, I knew my eyes were swirling.

I slipped on my sunglasses and watched as Parisians started a bustling Friday.