CHAPTER 4

            The King Star has been one of the greatest achievements of the underworld after the Great Lycan, it was the most terrifying and insanely great thing to ever happen to a person and it came as a blessing or a curse to whoever possessed it. The King Star held great powers, powers that could match up to what the Great Lycan could do, it started as a thought, an imagination after the appearance of the First Great Lycan and after its death and futile efforts to bring forth another Great Lycan, it became a reality. A few of the Underworld rulers broke out to form an allyand experimented on their first male children with the fur and stolen blood they had gotten from the Lycan before its death. This experiment blew up in their faces as the children were either weak to accumulate and manifest the Great Lycan’s power or too strong and couldn’t take control of it. The experiment was abolished as it was forbidden to mention or speak about the King’s Star, the children who managed to survive it was called the possessed and left to roam around the woods under the guidance and protection of the praetor wolves.

   “Anika? Where on earth did you hear that from? You can’t go around saying things that you do not know or understand and claim to know who has the King’s Star” Sofia started to say as she pulled her daughter into the study out of earshot and Jonathan followed behind, shutting the door silently after dismissing the servant in the room.

 “Young lady, there are certain rules in this house and one includes not eavesdropping on daddy when he’s having an important conversation”. Jonathan said and ran his hands through his hair, Anika looked at them and exchanged glances and the tension in the room was gradually becoming uncomfortable and unbearable. “Can you two for once listen to me and stop treating me like I’m some ticking bomb ready to explode.” Sofia sat down with her legs crossed and stared at her daughter.

  “Explain yourself then, since you think you are grown up and can speak about forbidden things… please I beg you to speak” Anika could sense the anger in her mother’s voice, maybe she shouldn’t have eavesdropped on her dad’s conversation and set to found out who had the King’s star, she heaved a deep breath and started.

“I apologize for listening in on your conversation daddy, but I only did it to help you and mum,” Sofia muttered under her breath and Jonathan nodded for her to continue. “I know I have been in so much trouble this past month”. “Few? Anika, I have received reports from the neighboring packs, you have been a nuisance and a terrible one at that.” “Mum, I did everything I did to make you proud. Everything you wanted in an heir, you have never acknowledged me as your daughter, sometimes I ask if you are even my mother, you want to know how I found out about Lucas, I will tell you. Daddy here was speaking to a member of the council early last month, when you were away on your annual vacation with those boring ass women, he made mention of the Alpha that didn’t surrender his son to be used in the experiment and how he was so against the idea to experimenting on children to achieve a very selfish purpose and I agree with that by the way, your generation is filled with old pompous ass-holes. Last week, this same member gave a tip to dad that this alpha experimented on his son, and it worked. The experiment was kept hidden from everyone; I’m surprised athow they found out about it. it took me some break-ins to daddy’s office and a few menacing in school to find out who our precious King star was. In all this, I respected you both, but now that I think of it, if I were a boy, you wouldn’t think twice before throwing me under the bus to meet my doom. You are despicable beings and you deserve everything coming to you… every single one of them.” She stood up to leave the room when there was nothing said back to her, she had finally stood up to my impossible and unpleasable mother, and it felt great. With heads held up high, she walked to the door.

 “Bring him home,” Sofia said as she stared into space, everyone turned to look at her and the mischievous grin on her face answered their unmentioned questions. “What did you say?”. “You heard me the first-time young lady, bring him home”. The two women shared a stare for a minute before Jonathan broke the silence. “Sofie, we can’t bring a stranger into our home. He could get suspicious about the sudden invite,” he said and Anika found herself nodding her support.

  “He won’t become a stranger after our lovely grown daughter brings him home for our annual ball,” she said and laughed. Anika steadied her breathing; her mother always had the last laugh and no one could take that from her. It then dawned on her that she couldn’t escape her, even if she tried. “You are indeed your mother’s daughter and you can never escape that. I am giving you two weeks to bring him over, our annual ball is fast approaching, I want to see sparks between you two before then…” “What are you saying, Sofie? You want to send our daughter out like she’s some slave, we have no idea if this boy has started manifesting his powers and how strong he is now, I cannot let you send our daughter to do our dirty work”. Sofia scoffed and her laughter filled the room.

“Our dirty work? You made him leave, he left before he could even see how beautiful this world is and what I could offer to him. You are the reason the praetor wolves are after us and if you think this investigation is over then I am so pleased to burst the news to you, THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING” Her outburst shook the entire room, the air became chill instantly and it began to rise and move everything in the room, the papers on the table flung to the ground scattered and disorganized, the books on the shelves fell one by one to the ground and when she calmed down, everything came to an abrupt stop. Anika held her breath all through the outburst, she had experienced her mum’s powers but everything it happened, it seemed as if it were the first time.

 “Sofie, please calm down, I am doing everything I can to bring us out of this mess, Harold was a mistake. A mistake I am entirely sorry for, I wish I could turn back time and make things right again, but that’s the past. I experimented on those children to find you the perfect son and I won’t stop till I get you your son back, just please don’t send our daughter to do this”. He walked towards her and slowly pulled her into a hug. There were a few sobs sounds and Anika was flabbergasted by what had just happened, but it only proved to her that her mother never wanted her, her anger rose as she thought back to when she was growing up, she had always been cared for by the servants and her dad. She couldn’t recall when her mum ever hugged her as her dad did, it was almost like she didn’t exist all through her childhood.

 “I will bring him home, but I need something in return”.

Lucas settled himself in bed even as his thoughts shifted from his conversation with his father and Louis to Lucian and Clarissa, he smiled at his thoughts, it was going to be an impressive year and maybe one that would be memorable. His phone rang and the caller ID was unknown, he was a fan of prank calls but hated when he became a target, he picked it up and started in a very dismissing voice but stopped…

 “Hi, Lucas. This is Clarissa”. The voice from the other end said, he stumbled back a bit and found his balance. “Hi, hey… what’s up? Sorry, Hi.” He replied as he mentally slapped himself.

  “Is this a bad time? I could call later if you mind.” She said and he tried finding his voice, when he finally did, it sounded croaked. “I should call later; you sound like you swallowed a frog”. “And you are very bad at jokes”. He heard a laugh and the butterflies in his stomach multiplied. “Why did you call?” he asked. “I am guessing you haven’t been on your phone yet. Well, we are partners for this upcoming project, I called to discuss your hours and how available you will be for it.”

 “I have been quite occupied and haven’t had time to go through my phone yet, I didn’t think there would be any difficult schoolwork at the beginning of the session.” He said and sat on the bed, a maid entered to announce his dinner and he immediately dismissed her. “Are you like royalty? It must be nice to have someone at your beck and call, I envy you. Anyways. Let me know what your hours look like, I don’t exactly like failing.” She ended the phone before he could respond and even though it didn’t last long, Lucas's eyes held a dreamy look as he couldn’t help the smile forming on his lips.

   Dinner was unusually quiet as Reginald stole glances at his son, he was unusually happy and grinning to himself, the chefs came into the dining room for a change of meal and as the cheesecake gently met the table, Lucas couldn’t resist the urge to sigh. It had a beautiful yellow color and its aroma was enticing which made his mouth water, he stared at the cake as his thoughts wandered off to Clarrissa, he imagined her in yellow, she would look radiating in it and illuminate anything and everyone in her way. She always had a hoodie on her, maybe his would look perfect on her, he cringed at the thought and took deep breaths, she was affecting him more than he could even comprehend.

  “Would you mind sharing what is giving you this immense joy and happiness Lucas?” Reginald asked as he made eye contact with him, his question was replied to with a confused look. “You seem to be having fun on your own, I was hoping you could share some of that joy with your mother and me.” he continued and slid a piece of cheesecake into his mouth. Lucas smiled awkwardly as he realized he had been caught, “It’s just school, I’m super excited about being in the open world and able to distinguish the humans from us” He lied and immediately bit his lip, his father was known for detecting lies easily and shielding the truth but he couldn’t stand the smell of blood.

   Reginald stared at him for a while and nodded, “I am glad to see you are enjoying the school, anything interesting coming up?”, “Not that I know of, but there’s this project for seniors and I got paired with this gir…” He stopped as soon as he realized what had happened, he looked at his father and the cocky grin had found its way to his face. “So, there’s a girl, tell me more about this girl,” Reginald said ignoring his wife’s nudge. “You knew I was lying and manipulated me into saying the truth… didn’t you?” Lucas rhetorically asked, if there was anyone whom he couldn’t lie to, it was his dad.

   “You should stop biting your lips, no girl would want to kiss a guy with injured lips,” Reginald said in midst of stifled laughs. “Stop teasing him, he’s a teenager and this is normal for him, this is the reason why we want him to mingle with people his age. Please, stop teasing him.” Ruby said and playfully hit her husband with her napkin. She loved their father-son relationship and cherished it so much, but she also knew they were two different people that saw things in different ways, Lucas looked up to his father and adored him so much, he was a real-life superhero to him, she worried about the future and how much he would grow to understand what exactly the underworld entails. Reginald squeezed her hands gently, calming and relieving her from her thoughts.

      “He is a growing young man now; he should know these things and many more” he replied and Ruby glared at him. “I am very sorry” he apologized and mouthed we’ll talk later to his son, who nodded discreetly. “She is just a classmate, by the way, nothing is going on. I am still trying to navigate my way around the school, how can I handle a girl?” Lucas said hoping to agitate his mum. “Of course, the goal is to make good grades and send you off to the best college” Reginald concurred, Ruby dropped her cutlery and the servants immediately rushed in to clear up the dishes. “This is what happens when you give a man a son, he turns his back on his wife and they both try their possible best to agitate her. I know you are both trying to well me up.” “I would do no such thing mother,” Lucas said in mockery.

  She eyed them as they burst into laughter, in as much as she cherished their bond, it always came back to haunt her. She was wrong when she said they were different from each other, they were two peas in a pod, thinking and acting alike. They stopped laughing and said their apologies to Ruby, the room fell into silence but it was a comfortable one and her thoughts wandered again. “Do you ever stop a minute and turn off your brain?” Reginald asked as he rolled his eyes. Ruby looked taken aback by the sudden outburst and felt hurt immediately. “Why would you say that to me? That is insensitive and hurtful” she said as she stood to leave the dining room.

   “You are doing it again Ruby, look around you.” She stared at the room, the air outside was chill as ice and the closed windows already had a frosted appearance, Lucas looked around the room in confusion and then to his dad, “What do you mean by that dad? Everything is in the right order and looks intact”. Reginald smirked as Ruby sat down back, her countenance changed and the room returned to its normal temperature. “Do you think it’s about to rain? I just felt a gush of wind leave the room” He asked still in confusion as to what his parents knew and he didn’t.

  “Lucas, it’s time for a story, a story that will explain what I meant and why we do not get your mum so worked up”.