*Rune*It had begun with dreams.Once, I had been a child, trailing after my mother for sweets and running after my knights with a wooden sword with a battle cry that I would deem rather pathetic, looking back on it.I had been oblivious then.I had been normal.Until we met.Rather, until I saw her. It had been the first time I felt him within me.I have always thought the wolves to have the greater privileges of being granted beasts they can tame just as easily as they breathe. Lycans have it worse. I have it way worse.Her wolf to her is what Hekate is to me.A cruel joke. One would think I may have offended the Goddess in my past life--perhaps, I did. To be leashed for all eternity to him, constantly struggling for control, constantly struggling to survive.I don't ever win.When he takes over, I stop being. I lose time. I lose everything I am in those moments, and I do not return until he wishes to leave.Others pride in their true forms, but I, Rune Wilder, Heir of the Lyca
The days pass in a blur that turn to week and weeks that become that are mostly uneventful. Classes resume in full swing and our teachers are harder on us than usual. I suppose I'm the only one who thinks that since the rest of the class is faring well. Master Kaelan doubled our routines and has the star students give us arduous tasks that left me with pain and human noodles for limbs. It isn't just Master Kaelan. It is Rune as well, unforgiving, hard and brutal in his trainings. All of which he ignores me for. He never looks at me or speaks to me. Not that he has a reason to. I've been doing my best not to slack off during training. Over the weeks, I got better. My form is near perfect and Dar thinks I might be very well hold in a fight against his kind now. I'll never have their strength, but I'm faster than most and more than lycans, werewolves have always been more aware than lycans in our true forms. It gives a great advantage to be in control in times l
What had been meant to be a light shove results in Darian being thrown across the room and he crashes into the wall. An image flashes through my mind, haunting me momentarily at the sight of Darian and the dent in the wall, and I shove it down, deep down, where the rest of my fears lay in deep slumber. Breath hitching and eyes widening with horror, I shoot to my feet, hands covering my lips. "Oh my, are you alright, Dar?!" He groans, peeling himself off the wall. More grunts and sharp breaths has me rushing over to where he tries to pull himself up but he raises a hand, stopping me. "Don't." His eyes flick to mine for a heartbeat, but is long enough to see the disappointment therein. But it is soon replaced with something that causes the hairs on my skin to rise. "Your eyes," he notes, standing. "They're black." I've been having a lot of those in the past month. Flashes of darkness, hazy visions that are filled with red, moments of unwarranted rage. It's
I'm angry. I don't think I have ever been this mad in my entire life. I have held it in, fuming for the entirety of the night. It only increased when I tried to sleep to somehow find a way to talk to Hekate. I had spent hours with my eyes shut, screaming into the darkness that was my mind, but he hadn't come. I'd thought of it as a dream, but he had really marked me, and now, my body is shifting. The flashes, the rage, the red haze, my hormones being haywire, my body getting softer, bigger, my colour becoming surreal, and my skin having the stupid glow that they do--I'm turning into a fucking Lycan! Sitting through classes, being unable to concentrate is a pain in my ass and as soon as the bell is rung, I am heading back to the Star Hall, where I know His Stupid Highness is going to be. Well, he isn't there for once with his betrothed. It just makes me madder and I know if I checked, there is smoke coming out of my ears. I find him a moment
It would seem the whole school wishes to witness the moment I get "suspended". Students are loitering about the hallways, rather than heading to the cafeteria for dinner. They're watching. Waiting for 'The Door' to be opened. Funny how I didn't go through any door when I got dumped here. The Goddess sure has a wonderful sense of humour. "It's only two weeks. I'll be back before you know it," I say, squeezing Dar's fingers reassuringly, but his frown remains. His golden eyes shift to the doors behind me and his features tighten even further. "That's a damn long time." I chuckle, punching his arm playfully. "Don't go all broody on me. I'll be back soon." His breath escapes in a sigh, a gentle breeze that stirs the air between us. Fingers, tender and warm, find their way to my cheek, cradling it with care. A feather-light kiss grace my skin, igniting a delicate dance of sensations within me and my toes curl in my favoured black boots. "I need you here
"Do not come any closer. I will jump from here if you do," the female says as I hurl myself through the doors once more, only to be repelled by an invisible force that will not let me leave this room. I have been trying repeatedly for a minute now but I'm stuck here. "Go ahead, Lorna," he says, eyes sparkling with wicked delight. "A few broken bones can be fixed in time for the ritual come nightfall." I rear back, stunned. Lorna? If she is Lorna and this situation is what I think it is, then...my eyes snaps to the male prowling closer to her. That isn't Rune. It is Hekate. Not that I know the difference between them anymore. The woman peers down from the window. "I would never survive a fall from this height." "You would," he cooes, bracing a hand on her exposed thigh that sits in the windowsill. "The shift is nearly complete. All that is left is the consummation of our bond tonight. A mere fall cannot break a lycan." I don't know
My brows knit together in a perplexed frown as an unexpected torrent of sunlight floods the room, rudely rupturing my dreamless slumber. Grumbling, I instinctively clutch my pillow, seeking reprieve from the sun's intense glare by burying my face beneath its soft embrace. But my reprieve is short-lived, as a loud clatter and startled gasp pierces the air. Jerking the pillow away from my face, I swiftly rise from the bed and my eyes that are weary from crying struggle to adjust to the sudden intrusion. There are maids everywhere, their hands bearing an assortment of attire, shoes, opulent jewelry, and even tiaras, rendering the room an impromptu dressing chamber. "What is this?" I mutter, rubbing my eyes with the back of my palm. "I didn't order for a wardrobe change." "Prepare the bath," my mother's command resonates from the threshold and my mind comes awake in her presence. Behind her, more maids pour in, bearing vessels brimming with liquids that have an into
"I don't understand," I whisper, my voice barely audible amidst the weighty silence that hangs in the air. Mother speaks, words laced with severity. "Upon Hekate's death, the Goddess expressed her wrath, and to the utmost surprise of our predecessors, she did not take our side." Wrapping my hair in a towel, she says behind me in a commanding tone, "Rise." I stretch to my full length and step out of the cauldron. I grab a towel from the hanger and drape it around myself. "So...she brought him back? Don't they say the Goddess forbids manipulating the states between life and death?" Inching out the door, my mother throws over her shoulder, "She was angry enough to keep his soul from crossing into the ether, seeing as he'd cursed every generation yet to be born, condemning all but the humans to death. It didn't make it any better that the curse had taken on a form of its own." Observing her as she raises a diaphanous blue gown and a red garment so deep it verg