Heart Of A Lycan King
Chapter 90

Confusion.

Wonder.

All were emotions I felt, or I was trying to understand. But it was hard to, because the harder I tried to understand what I just heard, the more I tried to make sense of it all, the more it just didn’t happen. Above all, I couldn’t understand where and how Aiden and I precisely fit into all this.

I opened my mouth and closed it twice because the words just wouldn’t come. After swallowing and working my jaw around, I rubbed my palm in a circular motion before I spoke.

“So, you were the Wolf?” I started slow.

’I was. I was the one who caused all of this. The pain. The hurt. The damage. I was responsible for it all,’ the Luna answered.

“But how do my mate and I fit into this? I mean, we weren’t even born then, and it’s not like anyone knew I’d get mated to him since he wasn’t my first mate,” I explained.

‘That was why we took the chances. When I explained to the dragon witch what I wanted, she told me a sealing ritual is nearly impossible to break. She explained how dangerous it would be to do something like that, especially considering the fight that happened before then and the innocent lives lost in the process. But I needed to, because it was the only option I had. Not even agreeing to marry the Lycan King would break the consequences of the oath that was already set in place. That was one consequence of the b***d oath, once the promise isn’t fulfilled and it’s set into motion, nothing can break it. At least nothing we know of yet. So I decided to take my chances and do what I can to save my people. I did the sealing ritual.’

“Was it not dangerous? I mean the whole sealing?’

‘It was, but I was determined to try. Yolanda, who was the dragon witch I sought help from, told me that if the ritual was finalized, for the barrier to be broken in time before the angered souls break through, a wolf with the Fiko b***d and a Royal Lycan needs to be mated. Just like me and Kabir Dakarai were. A union like that was Nyala’s choice, and until it happens, the entire werewolf packs would drown in the chaos of the angered spirits. Which you all know as the Mbems. I…’

“Wait, they weren’t shadows? I thought they were shadows of the people living in the forest or the dark shadows that harms anyone who steps into the forest as the legend has it.”

The wolf laughed, and her body shook from the impact. ‘They are shadows like you said, but they are spirits of the innocent souls killed, which I sealed with us all in here. Here, look at this,’ she hit her paw on the ground, causing the muddled water to splatter around us before it settled down. Then both her shadow and mine merged into one, as though we had always been that way before a flicker of other shadows appeared on the watery rock. They swayed with each movement of her paw, and stopped when she stopped.

When she finally hit her paw on the ground again, they vanished.

“You can control them?” I asked, wide eyed. “If they are spirits, how is that possible? How is…?”

‘I told you I’ll answer all of your questions. It is one of the reasons I brought you here so let’s take things one at a time, okay?’

I nodded.

‘For the sealing ritual to be complete, I needed to make a sacrifice,’ she said quietly, walking over to the wall that a moment ago, was beautiful before it turned into chaos and everything vanished. ‘We needed b***d for the ritual but I didn’t want to sacrifice anyone anymore. In the end, I gave myself up.’

Another twist in the story I wasn’t expecting. “So you’re also a spirit?”

‘You could say that,’ she turned to face me. It was then I realized that with each passing seconds, the vibrant violet color in her eyes shone even more, and the color on her fur was slowly disappearing. How is that possible? ‘My people still needed a Guardian with them. Before the ritual, I prayed to Nyala to help me with a way to protect them before the time came, and then, I found myself in my wolf’s form, and I’ve lived this way since we were sealed. Alone. Save for the growing numbers of the shadows, who like you said, are angry spirits.’

“And because you are their guardian, you are able to control them,” I said, making the connection.

‘Exactly.’ She smiled sadly. ‘It was easier to bend them to do my bidding, like when we first appeared to you, or when we saved your mate from the Fiandron roots, or when we helped him again for the second time with his cousin. They may be dark spirits, but the goodness in them still lives on even after all those years.’

“Wait, does this mean the presence Erin feels sometimes, and me too, and the glowing of the wolf tattoo was…”

‘Me trying to connect to you both. But it seems I always scare you every time I do, or your wolf gets weaker. Which is understandable because I’m draining both of your energies every time I do that.’

I nodded. Now, it all made sense. They saved Aiden because they needed something from us, because in a way, Aiden and I have a role to play in saving them. Guess that was why they told Aiden to save them like they saved him. I remember him telling me that.

‘Back to the story of how you and your mate fit into this. As I was saying, Nyala was angry we were tossing around a bond as sacred as the mate bond, and promised not to interfere until we fixed the difference between us and the mess we created. This is why Nyala punishes those who disregard the bond and treats their mates unfairly.’

My head was spinning. If that was the case, why wasn’t Matteo punished? The spinning continued and I tried to make the connection.

‘With your first mate, we knew Nyala would punish him, but as a way to appease her, we got the job done.’

I stared at her wide eyed. Now, she was sitting before me, wagging her bushy tail from side to side. Again, I noticed how the color on her fur was diminishing, and for the first time, saw one of her front paws starting to disappear. What was going on?

‘The pee was a little trick we tried to play him with, and it fits him perfectly. A good way to humiliate a good for nothing mate,’ she added.

Wow! Just…wow!!!

“Is the same thing going to happen to Phillison?” I asked. I needed to know because after that letter she sent, I was certain something must be wrong with her somewhere. Something somewhere was going on.

‘Who?’

“Phillison,” I repeated. “She’s a mate to Aiden’s cousin,” I added.

The wolf shook her head, as I watched, right before my eyes, one of her front paws vanishing. ‘She’s no concern to us. Our only interests are you and your mate and what concerns you. I don’t even know the woman you’re talking about.’

Ah, that’s it. Makes total sense.

“Okay. I get it. But I still don’t know how Aiden and I fit into this. Also, where is my MATE?!” I mean, as much as I was enjoying learning about the past and everything that went down the way, I needed my mate. I needed to know Aiden was safe, and if he was, I wanted to know why we both aren’t here together, listening to all this. Listening to how we fit into this twisted mess created by two people.

‘Like I said before, he’s fine and simply somewhere. If he does well and passes, then we’ll all be safe, and we get to know if the man we call a king truly deserves it. I promise you, no harm would come to him. At least not yet…’

“What do you mean by that?” I snapped, standing up. My robe clenched to my naked body, causing me to shiver as the cold water soaked me in even more than it already had done.

‘I mean that, we won’t hurt him, Natasha,’ she smiled, her right paw starting to vanish.

“Are you okay?” I asked, worried as I chewed my bottom l*p. “You…one of your paws disappeared and now the other is starting to.”

‘It means that my time here is soon done. So for now, just listen to me,’ she shook her head, her fur rising as though a breeze had ruffled it when in truth, there wasn’t any breeze around. ‘I needed to think fast at that moment, because if all the Fikoians are dying, how would we ever know if one of us is destined to be mated to a Lycan? You see, Lycans are hardly mated to wolves or other species. They are mostly a knitted circle to keep the royal b***d flowing without being tainted by that of a wolf. This means that in every few years, the chances of a Lycan getting mated to another wolf is very slim. But I needed to take that risk. And so I did.

‘Before the ritual, I asked Yolanda to take as much b***d as needed from different members of the pack and spread it around. There should at least be some wolves from other packs carrying our b***d if we ever wanted to survive and get out of this hole. She did as I asked, and transferred the b***d she took from two different families into two magical worms. According to her, one of them should help. Then she cast a spell on them before she set them free.’

“What type of spell?”

‘You see, there was no way for either Yolanda or I to know where or who the next mate for a Lycan would be, or how long that would take. So, she casted a spell that would help the worms find out a stronger bloodline with a trait of getting mated to the Lycan. And that was your ancestor,’ she said.

I furrowed my brows. That wasn’t what Inna said though. Inna said that they fed the b***d to my ancestor and…

‘Both worms did find a bloodline and sucked their ways in. As part of the spell, the b***d would only infuse itself on the person with the most likelihood to be mated to a Lycan. But years back, I felt the first b***d pull. Someone carrying the Fiko b***d was mated to a Lycan, the sad part was that it was never going to save us even if rejection was not involved.’

“I don’t understand,” I said.

‘You will if you let me finish,’ she said, coughing. There, right before my eyes, I watched as black b***d dropped from her snout and mouth. Her eyes were now bloodshot, and her other paw had already vanished.

Fear gripped me tightly and I wanted nothing but to find Aiden and leave. But also, I felt the need to help her. So, I walked up to her and sat down beside her, then stretched my legs on the muddy wet surface of the cave and laid the wolf on my legs.

She felt…light. And was it possible for a wolf’s fur to heat up? Because hers did. I ran my hand through her fur in a soothing manner, as though that would help ease whatever pain she was feeling as I can tell from her labored breathing.

‘Thank you,’ she murmured in a weak voice, coughed again then continued. ‘Since I was the Luna of the Fiko pack, I was linked to whoever ended up getting mated to a Royal Lycan. Just like I was linked to members of the pack. As soon as they met, and realized they are mates, I would feel it, which made it easier to find you. Without them meeting, there’s no way for the b***d to react and no way for me to find out who it was. Over the past twenty seven years, and yes, I counted the years because I needed to know how long I need to wait before another mating happened,’ she paused, coughed again before she continued.

‘Anyways, I felt the pull of the b***d reacting, which meant that someone carrying the Fiko b***d was mated to a Lycan. To my disappointment though, she was a dragon witch. A hybrid of a dragon and witch, mated to a royal Lycan. That was never going to help us.’

“Why?” I asked, watching as her right hind disappeared.

‘Only a wolf with the b***d and a Lycan could save us. Interspecies mating wouldn’t. And all hope of it probably working out faded because the dragon witch rejected her mate and left. And I lost all connection with her. But recently, I felt the pull again, just for the familiarization because I already found you, so perhaps, there’s another person out there born with our b***d.’

“But if that’s the case, why weren’t any of my relatives two colored wolves? Why only me?”

‘Because you are one of us. The Fiko b***d in you reacted the most because the trait of being mated to the Lycan in your bloodline stopped on you. This may have been Nyala’s plan, because like you said, you were mated to someone else before Aiden. So perhaps, she may have already decided you two would end up together, regardless of if your mate had rejected you or not. Either way though, we found you, and now, we need your help.’

That was a lot to take in. But even if the plan for Aiden and I to be together had been set from the start, we built it. We fell for each other on our terms, without the bond, at least, that was how it was on my part. With all the heat I had when I first met Aiden…the heat!

“The heat. The heat I got at first the very day I met Aiden, were you responsible?”

‘In a way, yes. Because without you two mating, you can’t be of help to us and we needed for that to happen fast because the barrier was getting weaker and weaker. The pull of the heat was stronger though, because of the reaction of the Fiko b***d in you when you met Aiden.’

“That was a terrible move if I may say. Because I didn’t know anything about Aiden then and I’d probably have ended up hating him for that. So that wasn’t your wisest idea,” I scolded.

She nodded weakly, thick black b***d rolling down her snout. How was it possible for a spirit wolf to bleed?

‘I agree. It wasn’t. Which was why we stopped forcing it after trying three times and decided to just wait.’

“So why give Aiden a mark? The High Priestess also mentioned that the burn mark on his back was another mark from you.”

Both hinds had now completely vanished, and only her body now remained on mine.

‘I sensed him carrying the protector aura when he came here with his brother. The moment he stepped his foot into the border of the forest, I knew he was part of the picture. But there’s no way to connect with him since you weren’t in the picture yet, so I decided to give him that. Plus, it was something like a punishment from us to him for his great grandfather’s mistakes.’

“That’s not fair,” I rolled my eyes, feeling the way her fur had heated up even more. “Why punish him for something he didn’t do?”

‘True. But it helped him realize how much his anger is going to cost him if he doesn’t learn to curb it right.’

Well, that’s right, but I wasn’t about to agree with her on that.

‘My job here is done, Natasha,’ her voice had gotten even weaker. ‘I’ll leave the rest in yours and Aiden’s hands and hope that one day, this forest is back to being a pack. A pack filled with love. A pack you and the King groomed. I had thought my people I sheathed using the witch’s magic would keep them safe. But as the years passed, the shadows fed on their energy till they finally all died. Every single one of them.’

“So it is true you sealed some of your people in here,” I whispered in awe. “How was that possible?”

‘The Witch’s potion,’ she answered, coughing again. ‘I could only save fifty of them at that time, but they are all gone now. Some day, however, I do hope that the pack returns. You have the b***d in you, and hopefully, that would help. Or who knows, you may find the dragon witch we lost,’ her eyes flickered, and shadows started to gather around us. Right in the middle of all that, appeared Aiden, looking disheveled, dirty, eyes puffy and red, and shoulders slumped down in a sad way.

“Aiden?” I called, pushing Fiko Luna off my lap and running up to him.

He looked a bit disoriented at first, and I felt the way his body stiffened for the longest moment before he wrapped his hands around me.

“You’re real,” he murmured in a choked voice. “How? What happened after I was knocked at the waterfall?”

Confused, I pulled back to look at him. “What waterfall?”

“What do you mean what waterfall? You were there next to me. You know, telling me to sacrifice Mama or Donald and…”

“I did what!?” I shrieked, horrified.

But before I could continue or Aiden could answer, I heard the Luna’s voice.

‘It was a test for him as the Lycan part. You have our b***d flowing within you so we automatically trust you. When we demanded for a pure soul for sacrifice, it wasn’t in the real kind of sense. It was a test to see if he would be willing to save us, or if he harbors the same ill feelings his paternal side has over us. And he passed the test, because he was as selfless as ever.’

“Wait…” Aiden called out confused. He looked like he had just woken up from a bad dream and tried to make sense of his surroundings. “It…it was just a test? What was then all that about being pure and impure? I sort of get that this is a test, but was the part we were called impure true? And why?”

Oh wow! Something like that happened?

The Luna paused a little while as if she was unsure of how to tell him. Or maybe she knew something she didn’t want to tell us?

‘While I don’t know the exact reason for why the Shadows deemed the other person impure and thus unfit, even if this was only a test, I do know that they did sense some darkness in him. Something they found out when we helped you save him. Thankfully you didn’t even consider sacrificing him, since this would have offended the Spirits to a great degree. The other parts however, were all part of the test.’

By now, the Luna was floating in the air, alongside hundreds of shadows.

Donald? Impure? What in the name of Nyala!

‘You both have proven you deserve the title you carry, and while your mate may be an Omega with no magical powers, she’s strong in her own way. If b***d guarantees one’s power, then she’d have been as powerful as we are. But a wolf determines one’s power and hers is an Omega. A strong Omega in her truest, purest form. You two would make great rulers, and I hope you two end whatever anonymity remains between us, the Fikoians, the Lycans, and the other packs.’

Erin stirred at her words, and I could finally feel her within me. Stronger than ever.

The Luna, however, was fading as she spoke, but she still hadn’t told us how we’d get out of here or how we’d save them.

“Wait, how do we save you?” I called.

‘You’ve both already done that. Just trust in yourselves and find the way back to the boundary. The barrier will lift itself and everything will go back to normal.’

Tears welled up in my eyes, the same way tears welled up in Erin’s. I was in pain as I watched the shadows slowly disappear, and while I couldn’t be sure, it was as though they were grateful for us.

Desperate for one last connection between us, I called her again.

“What is your name?”

‘Nikki. My name is Nikki.’

And then they all vanished.

But as soon as they did, before Aiden and I could speak again, light filled the cave. A blinding kind of light that had me squinting my eyes so I could see.

Right before us, was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Dressed in a flowing light blue dress, her hair, which weirdly enough looked so much like mine. Her face was radiant, with three straight lines drawn on either side of her cheeks. She carried a white staff, and on her head, stood a crown.

The power she radiated was so enormous that Aiden and I fell to our knees in seconds.

‘Thank you,’ her soft voice said.

And then she vanished.

It was then that I realized who she was. I turned to face Aiden and found him looking at me.

“We just met Nyala.” We said at the same time, then something knocked the back of our heads and we fell into a floating darkness.

Only this time, it felt peaceful and light filtered through the darkness.