Mate Mistake

History In The Minds Eye

Three days. That's what stood between Lock and what he saw as the worst consequence of getting older. Most young men in his pack waited for this day with an almost neurotic type of excitement, driven by their wolves who want their mate in the worst way. Turning 17 was the moment they'd been waiting for. There was no better fit for a man and his wolf. After all, this was the person the Moon Goddess made just for them.

Lock knew better. He'd seen firsthand the consequences of an unsuited mate and the impact it could have on a pack. His mother, Luna Reyna, had served alongside his father, Alpha Urbhan, in the shadows. From the day Urbhan turned 17 he knew two things clearly. First, he knew that the Sun Goddess makes no mistakes - Reyna was his mate. Second, Urbhan knew that his pack would never recognize her as Luna if they'd known who she was and where she came from. Reyna's background was at the surface, grotesquely inappropriate for the Luna of any pack, let alone one of the strongest packs on the earth.

In an effort to shield his son from the knowledge of who she really was, Lock was told that his Mother, Luna Reyna was the daughter of a dangerous rogue who sought to kill Alpha Urbhan throughout his childhood. A rivalry that spanned across generations, the rogue, whose name Lock never learned, haunted Urbhan's childhood and adolescence. Finally, during one of the worst storms that the pack had ever experienced, the rogue made his final attempt at Urbhan's life and a bolt of lightning took down the rogue leader in a matter of seconds. It was undoubtedly a gift from goddess. Throughout the rest of his life, Urbhan would see without cloudiness in his minds eye, the defeated body of the rogue lying in the grass, and a small child emerging from the nearby woods to curl up at his side.

Years passed after that day before that little girl, Reyna, starved and deformed, crawled to the city gates begging for food and care. She was turned away, but not before 18-year-old Urbhan and his wolf, Crylor, bonded to her soul. She smelled of Lavender and they were filled with warmth and desire just glancing at her sickly body.

She was 16, and though she was at that time unaware of the fact that he was her mate, Urbhan knew that she felt something too. Of the 48 windows facing the castle gate, she looked directly at the one he was standing in. Her piercing gaze left a smoldering desire deep inside of him. "MINE," Crylor had whispered, as if to protect her from the ears around them. He had to care for her. He had to love her. She was his.

As for what happened between the two after that moment, all Lock knew was that the pack had seen Luna Reyna in brief ceremonies and passing through the garden at a distance, but they knew nothing of her spirit and soul. Their wedding had been done in private. Their pups had come into the world in private. He knew their love was deep, and it was out of preservation of that love that it remained sheltered from judgemental eyes and unkind words.

To be the next successful Alpha, Lock knew that his mate must be different. "The women of the pack need a Luna's guidance, Lock," his future Beta Trey had once told him. "The world is changing." Indeed, the world was. Gone were the days where women stood idly by, caring for their pups and passing time in free-spirited ways. Every pack surrounding them had a Luna visibly caring for their pack, and some even fighting rogues and shifting in public regularly. Lock could just imagine the looks on the faces of those in the Crimson Eclipse, if one of their women had shifted where others could see. They were running the risk of being stale and known to surrounding packs as being dangerously stuck in the past.

There was work to be done. But turning 17 left more fear than excitement for Lock, dreading the chance that he would suffer the same fate as his father and be mated to someone suited for him, but unsuited for Crimson Eclipse. After all, as future Alpha, whoever his future mate was, was undoubtedly tied to his pack as well.

"Lock!" the voice shouted, close enough to his ear that Lock threw up a shoulder and ducked to the side, throwing an elbow out blindly.

"What!?" shouted Lock. He turned and found Trey staring at him defensively, both fists blocking his face as if to ward of an incoming blow.

"I didn't mean to startle you, but I couldn't get your attention. I've been yelling your name all the way down the hall."

"Well, find some better way to get my attention," Lock snapped. Clearly, he wasn't in the mood for whatever Trey wanted from him.

"Your Father sent me to get you," Trey said as he promptly took down his fists and turned to pour a glass of mead from neglected spread next to him.

Trey was a good friend. He would be, without a hint of doubt, a trusted and worthy Beta to Lock. He would be loyal to a fault, and while Trey understood that between them was a level of brotherly love, he also had the ability to not take Lock's outbursts seriously. He accepted Lock exactly as he was, which is what made him more important than a great Beta, but an indispensable friend.

Lock pushed up the cuff of his sleeves and rolled up the scroll that had been in front of him. "His mood?," Lock asked, knowing full well that Trey would give him an honest reply.

"He's tired," was Trey's short, but meaningful answer.

It was a strange phase of life for Lock to enter into. His father, Alpha Urbhan, the steady, calm, trustworthy leader of Crimson Eclipse who was respected throughout the land and known for his energetic jubilance, was seemingly out of breath wherever he went. Not even a year ago, Lock could remember his father crawling across the floor of the great room with the castle blacksmith's three small children all piled upon his back, giggling with excitement. Those days seem so far away.

"He's always tired," Lock replied as he placed the scroll back in the gold case he had removed it from. He stood there, watching out the window for a beat too long. A silence went by, packed with unsaid understanding.

"It's just a number, Lock. 17, 18, 50, 5. They're all just numbers," Trey offered.

"Rogue sightings are increasing. The world around us is watching my every move."

"Our every move," Trey quickly said. "You are not alone here. Crimson Eclipse is as strong as it ever was. Your Father's health is a loss to us here who love and respect him, but it gives the world no reason to doubt the strength and leadership of the pack."

"Strength and leadership I don't worry about. The world finds us irrelevant. The Blood Moon pack sent this yesterday," he said, holding the scroll up for Trey to see. "Every single one of our trade agreements is being reconsidered," Lock calmly said as he set the scroll down and walked to the open window behind his desk.

"They can't be," Trey responded, "Blood Moon sits in the mountains and can't survive without our trade agreements. They'd have to make new deal with-"

"Black Fur," Lock interrupted. "Black Fur has an iron plough. It does the work of 30 men in half the time." He knew Trey would not reply. His mind played out every potential scenario in a matter of moments and each was clouded by the fact that in the middle of what felt already like a crippling crisis, his 17th birthday loomed.

He focused his attention on the landscape outside of his window. It was a beautiful day and Crimson Eclipse sat in a green valley full of wildflowers and mountains making a breathtaking backdrop. It was a picturesque home, but the entire pack was enclosed by a two-story stone wall. Lock often wondered if it was to keep the pack inside safe, or simply to keep the world out. He looked down at the garden below his window. A familiar figure crouched in the flowers, and Lock could feel his shoulders relax.

The purple cloak moved through the garden with grace and mystery. The view from his window did not allow him to see much of the person underneath, but he did know it was a girl, as she left a pair of small shoes under the great willow tree before she moved through the garden each day. A barefoot gardener - the thought made him smile. Her feet, he could see, were filthy. Their stained brown tint filled him with a strange sense of jealousy, but it was her ability to make her task seem new each day that drew him to the window repeatedly.

When the first snow fell in the previous winter, Lock saw the cloak lying in the snow just behind the great willow. Concerned she was ill, he opened the window latch and was ready to shout, when he saw her legs and arms moving up and down in the snow. That's when he heard her laugh, and as if the pied piper had called them, the children from the kitchens and barns came dashing out to fall in the snow next to her and move their arms and legs with bursts of great giggles and happiness. They stood, careful not to ruin their creations as they left. Lock smiled at the row of angels now imprinted in the garden snow.

Today, however, the grass was green and she was focused on a row of roses.

"Are those nails?" As quickly as he had fallen into the trance, Lock was awakened by Trey's words.

"What?" Lock replied?

"In her hand. Those are nails she's placing in the soil."

"Perhaps so," Lock answered, not wanting to seem interested. He grabbed the scroll and started heading out the door. Not slowing his pace or missing a step he turned his head to the side to speak to Trey who remained in the room as he stepped out the door. "A run later?"

"With pleasure," Trey answered.