The Lycan’s Curse
Chapter 4

Cassius

The limo pulls out of the gate one last time, and I settled back into my seat ditching the suit jacket with relief. Three days spent with the Wellston Pack was two days too many. However, due to the alpha's son's deterioration, a swift leave was not going to go over well. The last two days were spent bullshitting with worried members, unable to get a word in private with Dominic. Too many were around at all times to discuss if our theory was truth. "What did you uncover?" I question seeing the slight fury still smoldering in his gaze as he watches the gates become smaller.

"It was what we suspected, but even more so," Dominic states, his tone growing darker as he speaks. "The boy upon turning eighteen learnt that the girl was to be his mate. He refused to accept it, to accept a 'weak, mutilated mistake' like her-quote from his friend. He bragged that they were hunting her the night before her birthday, with a little persuasion of course."

I chuckle, even though I don't feel the amusement inside, but because I know that Dominic's type of persuasion is with the help of magic lingering from his mother's lineage. The boy wouldn't even know he'd said it after its effects wore off. His words slowly penetrate though, flooding me with anger. "Hunting her?"

"They were up for it before they knew what Noah truly wanted to do to his fated mate, and even more so afterwards. They took him home just after midnight of her birthday and swore they would finish the job before he scented her, and his wolf claimed the bond." "At which point, the animal would take over if anyone tried to harm her, regardless of what his human side wished," I state, cracking my knuckles to stop from turning the car around to kill the bastard. "They were unable to get to her though because the beta took her into town, mitigating her long and secluded walk."

"Yes, and my first instinct when I heard it was to kill the boy, but a slow, painful death seems more appropriate in this instance, does it not?" Dominic suggests and I fully agree.

"Should we find the girl on the last part of our journey, I will claim her, protect her."

Dominic's shocked stare tells me that I did not say that to my beast but with my words. My Lycan is once again slumbering even though the burn of anger fuels me. "Your Highness, are you certain of that? It will not disrupt the bond to that trash. That will cause issues, let alone what your father might do learning you have claimed a weak wolf to become the new queen in less than a year's time, regardless of his purported approval of you taking any mate you wish."

"With my Lycan strength, it should be enough to overpower any remaining bond, and it will give her strength. I will not take on a Lycan mate with my curse, the remaining ones should continue to keep our heritage going. With what this girl has gone through, I do not see her easily entering into a mating relationship. There is no fear with me that a pregnancy would harm her as well," I remind him ending the discussion.

The next month we continue to move through the country until we finally leave our last pack to head home. We stop in to visit a few Lycan groups that have settled away from the palace and a relief fills me when we finally return home. Father will not be happy that I did not find a mate that could 'help me' with my problems, but I will not subject anyone to the ridiculous attempts that he has taken to ensure another heir.

"Home at last," Dominic says as the car stops, showing off the fertile green forest surrounding us. The palace is located in northeastern Manitoba, the grounds spreading into Ontario, private, secluded. The forest sacred a place for our Lycan to run free. To humans that somehow stumble upon the palace, it appears to be a private university, and upon leaving the area, they forget they ever came across it.

"Another few months and you can claim your wolf," I muse as my mother comes out of the front doors to greet me.

"I've missed you so," she states, hugging me tightly. "Come, tell me about the trip. Your briefings to your father tell me nothing and he was always around when you happened to call. I want to hear it all."

Dominic gives us a nod before leaving us inside the entryway of the palace, heading towards his quarters. I'm certain he'll make a stop in to check on the wolf he's been eyeing for the last year. As Lycan, we choose our mates more as humans do, but that is not to say that there are not some which are predestined to become ours. It is merely more of a choice than an animalistic surge. The bond that true mates share which is undeniable, typically at least. "Where is Father?" I ask as we settle into my mother's sitting room.

"In meetings with his dukes, all day. Now, tell me everything."

The majority of the trip was purely and utterly trivial and I glaze over it quickly. Thoughts of Larissa and that sweet scent still linger, and I tell her what we learnt at the Wellston Pack.

"He was willing to have his sacred mate killed, solely because she was weaker than the rest of the pack?" she says in pure disgust. "Tell me that you have done nothing to find her, force her back."

"I am not Father. The trash allowed his friends to abuse the girl that was to be his mate. We learnt that while not nearly as blatant about it as other packs were, her peers were regularly abusive to her. The boys were constantly assaulting her, and the trash told his friends that the first one that managed to finish the act would become his beta when he took over. The closer it drew to her birthday, it changed into attempting to kill her. I would never allow anyone to force the girl into becoming his mate. What is happening to him is punishment from the stars which he rightly deserves."

"You have heard nothing on the girl since then?" Mother asks, and I shake my head no.

"We stayed observant in hopes of catching her trail, finding her in another pack perhaps. I'm going to send a couple searchers out to make rounds in packs to see if any has taken in a new member recently in a few weeks' time. If she is still searching for one where she will feel comfortable, it may take a bit. At that time, if I find her, I will offer her all the protection at my disposal."

"All your protection? You would take her as your mate to sever the bond?" mom says, and I nod. "Your father..."

"Would be against it, entirely, I know. As I am unable to truly mate with anyone, I feel this girl would be the easiest answer to the potential questions that might arise once I am king, and no new heir is born. Others may try to tell me to take a new mate, one that can provide an heir, one not so weak, but..."

"Should you act as though she is the greatest treasure, your deepest love, they will not risk harming one hair upon her head. The curse will not become public and as she has already been rejected by her sacred mate, there will be no other attempting to claim her. It is a wise move, if you can portray a man in love. It would require you to wake your Lycan and keep him prepared for any threat against her."

"And of course, finding her," I state when she doesn't. "I do not think waking my Lycan will be difficult should I find her. He did wake momentarily at her scent. Despite what she has suffered, there is a sweetness to it that is unlike any other I've yet to meet." "Keep me informed of your search for her but do not under any circumstance allow your father to know what you are doing before you claim her. He will not allow it. When you find her, you must immediately mark her or he will have her killed."

My mother's words are nothing I'm not already aware of, prepared for. As the future king of the Lycan, I can give her the ultimate protection. From what I have learnt of her past, it is something that I am certain she will not turn down.

We catch up on what has happened around the palace as the day turns to afternoon, and I head to my rooms to change for dinner. With the dukes still in residence, my father Rockwell, cannot disclose his displeasure for my appearance, nor can he question if I met anyone that fixed my problems. Though the latter bit should be evident that the answer is no.

A smile lights my lips seeing his eyes darken when I stroll into the dining room, clearly unaware of my presence here earlier than I indicated in my last call. Had he known when I was returning, he would have ensured there was something to keep me immensely busy and away from the rest of his court.

"Cassius, we were not expecting you for another three days," he states as I settle into my seat, the one beside me where my mate should sit still empty. Beside him my mother gives me a warm smile, sending her love my way and I wish could feel it. "We made excellent time and there were no issues at our last few camps. We chose to make the visits short, to ensure their schedules were not disrupted as they move to begin a new schoolyear."

"Wise choice, boy," Duke Hastings says from across from me. "The Crown Prince arriving at their camps right as they are to head off to school would cause serious interruptions with forgotten things needing retrieved."

"Yes, wise decision," Father states but I can tell he's displeased that I am here. Especially here interrupting his discussions with his dukes. The entire monarch is outdated, attempting to keep things as they were five hundred years ago. Servitude is one of the first items that I intend to change once king. An individual should not be required to serve as a maid, solely because their parents were ones, forced to perform as them.

I intend to see that it goes down through the packs and clans, until not one single person is required to do a job because they are told to, in exchange for food and shelter. No, they will be paid for the work they do, be allowed to choose what work they wish to do. Packs may choose to designate a fee, a reasonable fee, if the members would like to continue to have packhouse resources for food.

The only part of the Wellston Pack that I found admirable is that they have already implemented that in sorts, except they do not require a fee to have meals in the packhouse. They are established well enough to provide that to their members without any additional help. I'm certain not all packs would be able to do so, but a minimal fee per family should suffice with what we supplant to each pack.

The packs that seemed happiest were the ones that were free to be who they wanted, while still respecting the rulings of their leaders. That is what I want to find regardless of where I go the next time I visit.

Dinner is a long ordeal with the men arguing over new requests from their camps. Most of it goes in one ear and out another, until I hear Duke Daniel's argument.

"Another generation and there will be no way to create new Lycan if we are insistent upon mates only be allowed within our camps. It is nearly impossible to find unrelated Lycan already. You've seen what happens to packs that inbreed. They turn mad." "We school all camps together, why deny the Lycan the chance to choose their mates from all that they meet?" Duke Marshall agrees.

"I will take it into consideration," Father states, ending the discussion and dinner finally. "We will discuss more in the morning. Catch my son up on that he has missed."

That statement makes my brow lift. Never before have I been allowed in such meetings, despite the approaching timeframe in which I am to take over.

"You are to become king in less than a year's time, you're still young but it's time to get your feet wet when it comes to the inner workings of the committee," he adds, making the dukes nod in agreement.

They don't know that as soon as they're gone, I'll once more be forced out of things.

I know what my father's game currently is-to find a loophole out of handing over the crown. He knows it's pointless, just as hoping to break the curse on the family is, but he doesn't know I'm well aware that no loophole exists. If he attempts to kill me, the crown will still go to another family, and if he attempts to refuse to step aside, he will be killed. Either way, he'll only hold the crown for another ten months.

The conference with the dukes lasts another day, shorter I'm certain than Father intended, but with my presence there, knowing in a short time I'll be taking over, he can't enforce new rules upon the camps and packs. The next morning when I offer my services at breakfast, his glare is all I need to know he'd rather choke to death than accept my help.

"He takes it out on you to avoid blaming himself, sweetheart," Mother says after he storms from the room. "He'll never accept that he caused this with his reckless ways."

"I know and his dismissal doesn't bother me. You know I feel none of it."

"At least that is one part of the curse that is kind, you will never know the pain of it because you do not know the love of a father."

"Yes, only anger and physical pain can fill me, delightful, isn't it?" I mock, before heading out to train with the rest of the soldiers. My Lycan may not be awake, but he does make me stronger, and I have no troubles keeping up with the physical activity. The weeks slowly trickle by, and I send out searchers on the pretense of checking in on packs to see if any newcomers have had acceptance issues. It's not unheard of keeping their true search for Larissa silent.

As fall turns into winter, there is no sign of her and I stare at a map, trying to find a possible path she took to lose the Wellston Pack.

"Perhaps she turned to the human cities," Dominic suggests moving into the space behind me. His wolf is now his official mate and the constant pleased smile on his lips is growing old. A fine hint of irritation is building, the beginning stage of anger coming off my Lycan, and I wish he would drop it.

"I don't think she would. She can transition into her wolf, that is what the alpha said, but the animal is weak, unhealthy. Trying to stop the shift would only make that worse. The wolf wouldn't be happy staying inside four walls when she is out, which means that Larissa would need space to shift. She wouldn't risk being caught in wolf form inside a city."

"We ruled out her returning to any of her old packs, they wouldn't accept her back, and we've ruled out all of the packs through here," Dominic says, circling the areas closest to the Wellston Pack. "It looks like it's time to widen our search. It will require more than two to do so, Cassius."

"I know, we're certain they ruled out every pack in the search area, even the smallest ones?" I ask drawing a nod from him. "Then send out another to begin searching the remaining western parts. I want them to work backwards from where we went on our trip home. We may have simply been too early to find her after we left Wellston."

"Of course, and so you know, the trash, is faltering further. He's confined to his bed, unable to lift his head. Our best healers have been unable to help him regain any strength or stop any of the pain, not even the greatest of the potions have worked." "Good, he will get no sympathy from me. The sooner he dies, the sooner Larissa will be free from any of the bond."

"What if we can't find her because we were wrong and she's in a similar condition as the boy-or worse?" Dominic asks.

"She's not dead, if she were, the bond killing the trash would have broken and he would have recovered. No, I don't believe she's in any pain from being away from him." I will not accept anything but her being safe, finding her to ensure it. She may despise the very sight of me when I find her, but I will not allow her to be harmed once more.

Whatever pain she's felt up to now will be the last of it. I swear to the stars above it will be the last of it.