Chapter 2: Prophecy

Ace waited until Max left and his footsteps were no longer heard before he turned to her again.

“Can you explain it to me now?” she asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Did you seriously not know this?”

“I meant what I said, Mikki. I wouldn’t lie to you, and I wouldn’t keep something like this from you either, you know that.”

She did. Ace was a few years older than her and Fitz, but he had always been honest with his siblings before. He had no reason to stop doing that now.

“Ok, I believe you,” she gave in.

“The council told me this a few days ago, like I said, and I was trying to come up with a plan to make you suffer the least possible, if that’s even a thing,” he rolled his eyes. “Apparently, this prophecy runs in the Royal Family since forever. No one seems to know why or how it started, but every woman in the family was and will be part of it. Or at least, that’s how it should be.”

“What do you mean?” Mikki questioned.

“Well, it doesn’t affect all royal women. The council thought that our mother would be the one to be affected by it, but when she married our father and nothing happened, they only assumed it was going to be passed on to the next generation. Since you’re the only royal woman alive today, they have every reason to believe that you’ll be the one now.”

Mikki’s head was starting to hurt.

“Can't it be the same with me then?” she asked. “Mom wasn’t affected by it and maybe I won’t be either,” she declared, hopefully.

Ace shook his head.

“I think it’s very unlikely, Mik,” he answered. “Mom didn’t have royal blood, which could explain why the prophecy didn’t work on her. But it’s hard to tell.”

“And what does it even do?” she wondered.

“The Prophecy of the Royal Luna says that the woman who holds the power of the Moon, once she's married and becomes a Luna, will have special abilities. I’m not sure of what it will do or what it even means, but it’s something more powerful than we can imagine.”

“So why can’t I marry anyone? Why does it have to be this Max guy?” Mikki’s voice cracked as she mentioned his name.

“Max is one of my best friends since I was very young. His pack is one of our strongest allies. The prophecy says you need to marry an Alpha, and to be honest, it’s a relief that he even offered,” Ace confessed, massaging his temples. “The other option we had was someone I didn’t even want to consider. It gives me nightmares to even think about him putting his hands on you. Especially on your powers.”

“Who is he?” Mikki wanted to know, as she felt Ace’s uneasiness taking over her. “And how would he put his hands on my powers?”

“Because the prophecy says that the Alpha that marries the Royal Luna will also be in hold of a great power. I believe he’ll be able to use some of your powers the way he wants to. Or even control you. I don’t really know how it works, to be honest. I think it's a partnership or bonding thing.”

“And what makes you so sure that Max is the best option? Is this other guy that bad?”

Not that Mikki wanted to change her first option. If she was to marry someone she didn’t want to or knew, she’d rather it be someone that her family knew and approved of, than someone dangerous. But she was curious to know more about this other guy as well, almost as much as she wanted to know more about Max. But she guessed she would get there eventually.

“This other guy is the Alpha from the Landalf Pack. I've never met him, but his pack doesn't really have a good reputation. They are one of our enemies and they’ve been famous for generations for trying to dethrone and destroy the Royal House.”

“What?” Mikki squeaked. “Why would they do that?”

“They don’t believe or accept the way we rule things, and they hate the royalty and the nobles. We can say they are a type of rogue pack, if you will. Except they are very strong and influential amongst wolves that don’t like us either.”

“This is so messed up,” Mikki complained, running her fingers through her hair.

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Ace smiled slightly. “I am really sorry, Mikki,” he added. “I would never put you through something like that if I had another option. I’m just trying to find a better solution. Max is a really nice guy, and I’m sure he would never do anything to you if you didn’t want to.”

Mikki could tell that was true. The fact that Max said he wouldn’t marry her without her consent was really chivalrous of him, even if she didn’t have a choice.

She also didn’t want to tell Ace, even though he was her brother before her King, that she felt weird things as she stared at his friend’s eyes. It would be totally weird. She never shared those kinds of things with him before.

Fitz, her second older brother, perhaps. They had a special bond and were almost the same age, so it just felt easier. But with Ace, she always looked up at him, always felt that fatherly feeling about him, so she didn’t feel like talking to him about that now.

“I know, Ace. Don’t worry, really. I’m okay, I think.” She tried to ease his mind. Ace had so many problems on his shoulders; she didn’t feel like adding one more to his infinite tab. “Do you think you could keep this a secret for a while? I don’t think I can take Fitz teasing me about it just yet,” she smiled.

Fitz was her best friend, but she also knew how playful he could be. She had to convince herself of her new reality before she could prepare herself for the greetings and best wishes from the others in her pack, and especially her brother’s provocations.

“Of course. And let me know if he becomes a pain in your a*s. I’ll find him some job at the other side of Tane Forest, so he can be busy for a while,” Ace joked.

“That wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Mikki laughed, grabbing the tray she brought a few minutes before, hoping the water didn’t get cold, so they could take a proper tea.

“You know, if you give Max a chance, I’m sure you’ll be very pleased with him,” Ace repeated, trying to sound convincing. Mikki knew he was only trying to alleviate his guilt, which made her want to hug him. “It was very honorable and unselfish of him to offer to marry you,” Ace added, as he accepted the cup of tea she offered him.

“Is it?” Mikki raised her brows. “I mean, doesn’t he benefit from it just the same? Don’t get me wrong, but he’d be married into the Royal Family and would also get some powers from me in addition,” Mikki said, trying not to sound arrogant. It wasn’t like she thought she was more valuable than others. It was far from it.

She never agreed to laws that separated different species of wolves and packs. In fact, that was one of the things that she had suggested Ace to change once he’d become King, which he agreed and tried, but strongly failed. The council was not as easy to convince as they thought.

That new law would benefit Ace more than anyone else. He had always loved someone from an old village pack; he told Mikki about it one night before he became King. They could never be together because, as an Alpha King, he’d never be allowed to marry whomever he liked.

They met when Ace went on a tour around Purnama City with their father, who was King at the time, so Ace could get to know his subjects and their struggles. Ankara was the daughter of the Beta from her pack, and Ace instantly felt the mate connection kicking in.

They had a brief secret affair, but his father made sure to tell him to bury that feeling deep down, because they could never be together.

For the first time in her life, Mikki had seen her oldest brother cry, and she felt so sorry for him, that they ended up spending the entire night drinking and comforting each other.

Ever since, Ace never accepted any attempt from the council to marry him to a noble woman. Mikki and her brothers still had hopes that one day he’d be able to change that sad fate.

“Max is not that type of man,” Ace took Mikki away from her trip down memory lane. “He never really cared about power before. He’s always putting his pack as his priority and even put himself at risk sometimes before, trying to protect the Royal House,” Ace explained. “I trust him, Mik. I really do, and I hope I’m not making a huge mistake by putting you through this,” he said, apologetically.

“None of this is your fault, brother. So, let's stop with these sad expressions and apologies, alright?” Mikki comforted him with a warm smile, gathering the cups and tray in front of them. “I will leave you to your work now. I’ll talk to you at dinner.”

“Alright, love you, sis.”

“Love you too, Your Majesty,” Mikki bowed excessively, teasing him, and left the room laughing as she heard him cursing behind her.