Chapter 68

Lucian

I felt the presence of a stranger in my territory. They were strong, whoever they were, powerful enough to send a shiver down my spine. If this was an Alpha coming to Challenge me for my pack, this might be the end of my campaign.

I walked to the front door. I was not going to wait in my office and I was not going to go out searching. I would face this Challenge with dignity, as a true Alpha, the way my father had.

Kieran met me in the entrance hall. He didn’t say anything. We both felt it. A part of me wanted to order him to run, to find Zara and save himself. But I knew he wouldn’t go, not even for her. We started this life together and we would end it the same way.

The door opened after only a few minutes. How had such a powerful Alpha gotten so close to the heart of our territory so quickly?

Zara was the first one to step inside. My heart stopped for a moment. I feared she had been taken hostage. But there was no fear in her scent. Instead, she seemed excited.

“Lucian, Kieran, she came!” Zara said. “Tabitha, my mother’s sister, she actually came. I invited her to the Alpha house to talk. Is that all right? I know I should have asked your permission first but…” she trailed off, eyes flickering from me to Kieran and back. “Alphas, what is wrong?” she asked.

It had been a while since this she-wolf used our titles, and it was enough to shake me out of my shocked silence.

“Is this… Tabitha… alone?’ I asked.

“Yeah, it’s just her. Oh! You won’t believe it,” Zara said. “She’s not a human, and neither was my mother. They’re Lycan! I’m half Lycan, not half human at all!”

“Lycan?” I repeated, shocked.

“But Lycan are a myth!” Kieran protested.

“That’s what we want people to think,” a strange voice declared from the doorway.

I jerked around to see an older version of Zara standing in the open doorway, arms crossed and foot tapping lightly against the porch.

“Now, aren’t you going to invite me in, young Alpha? Or are manners no longer taught in the packs?” she asked.

“Come in, and be welcome,” I said, the formal greeting floating up from memory. My mother had taught me those words when she told my brother and me stories of the world before the Barrier. The time of the Lycans. I thought they were just stories.

But I couldn’t deny the evidence of my senses. This woman was no werewolf, and certainly no human. Magic and power drifted off of her like mist rising from a moonlit clearing. My wolf scrabbled at the back of my mind, begging me to bow, to placate the creature who could tear us to shreds with a gesture.

I fought for control and made a simple, polite bow of Alpha to Alpha as Tabitha stepped into my home, followed by Sandra. My beta hesitated, and then positioned herself slightly between Zara and the Lycan woman. If I paid her, I’d owe her a raise for sheer courage.

Kieran

Lycans were not real. They could not be real. They were just stories elder werewolves told to scare pups into behaving.

Or so I thought, before one walked into my home like she owned it. My wolf whined deep within me and it was all I could do to stand still at Lucian’s side. My wolf wanted to flee, and I think my wolf was the smart one.

“Twin Alphas? My, my, Zara, I have to admire your ambition, if nothing else,” the Lycan woman, Tabitha, said.

“W-what?” Zara stammered.

“As your first mates.” Tabitha grinned as her eyes trailed from Lucian to me and then snapped back to Zara. “Now, they’re handsome men, I’ll grant you. But starting off with two Alphas at once? Pace yourself, child.”

“We-we aren’t mates!” Zara protested.

“What are you talking about? Child, I can see your mark on them as clear as day,” Tabitha said.

“Mark?” Zara asked.

I looked down at myself as though I expected there to be some visible sign of whatever Tabitha was talking about. Of course, I looked the same as I always did.

“Your claiming mark,” Tabitha sai.d

When Zara just stared at her blankly, Tabitha sighed.

“We clearly need to have a long conversation,” she announced, “Is there someplace we might sit, or shall we stand around in your entry hall?”

“Oh. There’s a sitting room,” I said. “This way.”

I led the group to a small, cozy room that didn’t really see much use. Tabitha took the couch, and patted the seat for Zara to sit next to her. Lucian and I took chairs opposite them. Sandra stood behind Zara for a moment, before announcing that she was going to fetch some tea.

I didn’t blame her for getting out of there. I really admired her courage when she returned some minutes later with a tray full of tea and little cookies.

“So, tell me what you know of Lycans,” Tabitha said.

Zara just shook her head, baffled.

“They’re a myth,” Lucian declared. “Supposedly, before the veil was raised between the human and werewolf worlds, there was a third race. They were shapeshifters like us, but they had magic like some humans. They didn’t form packs like we do, and mostly lived among humans in small clans. They were stronger than any werewolf, weren’t bound to the cycle of the moon, and even the weakest Lycan had a version of the Alpha Voice.”

“That’s… actually quite accurate,” Tabitha said, “except for the part about us being myths. Clearly we’re real. And we were the ones who set the Barrier. But that’s neither here nor there. The important thing right at this moment is your bond, Zara. You need to complete your claim, and soon. These poor boys won’t last much longer. Surely you’ve seen the strain it’s putting on them?”

“Their wolf bonds were damaged before I met them,” Zara protested. “And I can’t bond with them, I had a bond before! Well, an incomplete bond with my fated mate.”

“Dear, you’re a Lycan. You don’t have fated mates. You have compatible bonds, which you can choose to claim, or not,” Tabitha said.

“What? I don’t understand,” Zara said, speaking for all of us.

“Are you saying she’s our fated mate?” Lucian said.

Zara

Tabitha took a sip of tea before she answered.

“Well, I suppose she is. A Lycan can be a werewolf’s fated mate. But you aren’t hers, not exactly. You are simply compatible with her wolf.” Tabitha smiled. “The difference is largely academic, very few Lycan reject a compatible wolf if they are that wolf’s fated one.”

“If she’s our mate,” Kieran said, “Why does she collapse in pain when we begin to be intimate?”

I winced. Did he have to ask that?

Tabitha looked alarmed. “You’re in pain?”

“I mean, not now,” I said. “But when we go further than a few kisses, yeah. It feels like my bones are trying to twist out of my body.”

Tabitha winced. “Dear, have you ever shifted?”

“No, I can’t. I’m a hybrid,” I said.

Tabitha sighed. “You’re a Lycan. Wolf blood doesn’t matter, that much. The pain you feel is your first shift, which is often triggered by the first bonding claim. The more you put off the claim, the more it’s going to hurt. It could, eventually, kill you. And that’s just the consequences to you. These poor young men will go quite mad if you die, you know. Their wolves are barely holding them together as it is.”

“W-what?” Zara whispered. “I thought… I was trying to help them. Soothe their wolves. Without… without bonding because I thought it’d kill me.”

“Quite the opposite. Now, whatever you’re doing to calm their wolves is obviously working, so good job. But it’s only a palliative, my dear. You must claim them, or sever the bond completely. Either way, you must choose and choose quickly. Frankly, I’d advise you to take them to the nearest privacy and, well… choose.”

I didn’t think I was capable of blushing, but she was talking about sneaking off for a… a quickie! My cheeks heated and I didn’t dare look at either brother. I locked my eyes on a teacup that Sandra had shoved into my grip at some point.

“Oh, you’re embarrassed. How cute. Alphas who can blush,” Tabitha chuckled.

I looked up. I’d assumed she was talking about me, but no, both Lucian and Kieran looked distinctly uncomfortable.

I scrambled for a change in subject. “Why?”

“Why do you need to bond? I just explained that,” Tabitha said.

“No. Why… everything? Why did my mother abandon me here? What happened to her? Why did it take you so long to find me, if you were looking for me?”

Tabitha blinked. “Well. There is a lot to talk about, and I swear I will explain everything. But first you need to make a choice. Will you claim these two as your mates, or not? I can walk you through breaking the bond, if you’d rather, but you must choose. Now, before you do any more harm to yourself.”