The Golden Goddess

Chapter Four

Silias' POV

We had been running for hours. Ultimately, my party was forced to camp for the night in a valley between the Mountain range and Mountain Moon pack. Pack, what a joke. Just the thought of Alpha Koda made my blood run hit, but to hear he was stepping down and handing the pack over to that worthless piece of trash, he calls a son, made my rage fester into a heavy stream of lava. Even though I had never met these two Alphas personally, my father had told me plenty. He saw them as a problem under our reign, but now they were spreading like an infected wound.

The only reason my father had agreed to merge them into the Gibbous Kingdom, was the fact they switched sides in the Great Wars. Mountain Moon was nothing more than a large group of rogues aiding the witches in schemes aimed at our throne. They were turned by false promises and offers from the vile magic casters, but once the tide shifted into my father's favor, they quickly pledged their loyalties to him offering up all the knowledge they had obtained during the partnership. I was disappointed in my father's decision to accept just traitors, but it was his to make.

It disgusted me when he announced he was sending members of the kingdom on his behalf to the worthless backstabbing wolves to congratulate Waylen on his success. It was also to continue establishing their undying loyalty to the Kingdom, but no one but a select few were privy to that knowledge. I quickly found out I had no choice but to join this party, but I resented the fact that my father backed out, knowing damn well he was going to at the last minute when we discussed this the week before. That weasel knew that if I went in his stead, he wouldn't have to bother with such stupid traditional events.

I was thrilled that the old lycan was in the process of retiring and handing Gibbous over to me, but we had made a deal that he was only hanging on by a thread at this point. He and my mother would officially retire after I found the new Luna of the pack. My mother had disagreed full heartedly, arguing about how many years it could take for a lycan to meet their fated mate. I had to agree with her on that, most Lycanthropes never found their true fated mate; instead, they would simply wait out as long as their will-power provided. They would then choose a mate, marking them. I, on the other hand, placed great value in fated mates, taking in a chosen mate seemed wrong and like a slap in the Goddess's face.

My parents were lucky and found out early on they were fated to be together. My mother was my grandfather's mate's niece, allowing her to visit wherever and whenever she wanted. On her last visit to the Kingdom she took one look at my father and never left again. It was romantic and inspiring to lycans everywhere, and I wanted a love as strong as theirs, if not stronger. I portrayed myself as the cold strong emotionless Alpha around the pack, but the truth was I was a gooey mess at heart for love. I was my parents only child, sadly most lycans are blessed with only one child due to their fast and large pregnancies. It is extremely dangerous and rare for a lycan to carry or conceive for multiple children. My mother was no exception, although the Goddess had blessed them with a daughter, the baby died two months early. It nearly killed my mother both mentally and physically, but my father never recovered. He had always wanted a daughter, and was more excited than my mother about the second pregnancy. When the news came from the hospital, my father locked himself in his office for months. He refused to see anyone, except his beta, unless it was for official pack business.

He refused to leave my mother even till this day, hence why I was leading this travel party instead of him. If I was older at the time, he probably would have forced me to take the throne and be King, while he an my mother just turned into hermits. Thank Goddess for Devin, my father's beta; he rallied my father to somehow regain composer, at least in front of the pack, while continuing to grieve behind closed doors. I was only twelve at the time, but now it was ten years later and now that I was twenty-two, my father was itching to hand everything over. Father and mother still refused to go to events outside Gibbous unless it was unavoidable, so in a way they already sorta had. While they never abused me or let me go with, they didn't give me the attention an love a young child needs to thrive. I had to entertain myself, so much so, that I am still more comfortable with a group of strangers than my own parents. It was part of the reason my father had forced me to lead this group. He knew being alone while they were gone would only turn out one of two ways; one, make me worry about their safety till they return and annoy the pack with unnecessary training before they leave to ensure it, or two, give me more than enough time to show Gibbous a good time. Ezra smiled at the thought. He was always down to throw a good party.

"Prince Silias, we can't seem to find any place suitable to camp for the night. We will be exposed if we choose to rest for the night." My soon to be beta, David, said as he interrupted my thoughts.

I glanced around the small clearing we stopped at. It was large enough to house our entourage of lycans, but he was right, tactically speaking. If someone wanted to ambush us it was the perfect spot. We wouldn't be able to see them thanks to the line trees surrounding us, but we wouldn't be able to smell them either thanks to the breeze blowing down wind from our position. By the time we would notice, it would be too late.

"We will have to make it work. The soldiers can't continue on with only three hours of sleep and empty bellies." I complained, "We will just have to sleep in shifts. We can take first watch and allow the others time to rest and hunt."

David nodded, scampering off to instruct and divide the group into sections. I could hear the bitching already from the stuck up royals that were traveling with us through the pack link. I could feel Ezra's annoyance growing inside my head. I smirked and cut off the connection.

"Why are you so on edge?" I silently asked him.

"Your mother only gave us two years." He groaned.

My mother had agreed on remaining Luna and allowing my father to continue being King and Alpha for only two more years. If I and Ezra couldn't find our fated mate in that time limit, we would be forced into taking a chosen mate, or lose the throne altogether. I didn't mind handing over the throne, until I found out who was sniffing around for the position, Clergyman Johnathan. I could only imagine how he had gained so much support over the years to actually have his daughter be a threat to my region. Just the thought of him or his daughter, Caroline, taking over my pack was enough to make my claws itch.

"I know, but you also know we can't allow that entitled brat to rule over Gibbous." I sighed to myself, running my fingers through my hair, tugging at the curls that formed at the ends nervously.

"We could simply kill him." Ezra blankly stated.

I froze in place, shaking my head in disappointment, "You can't just fight every problem that is thrown at us Ezra. We rule over thousands of Lycanthropes and Were-wolves. We can't go creating wars and chaos over a few hundred we find annoying."

"They question us constantly. They make me look like a coward if it goes unanswered." He growled; his answer caused the hairs on my arm to raise.

"I understand,but we are soon to be King. We can not rule the Kingdom in fear and bloodshed " I countered.

He didn't answer, but I could tell this wasn't going to be the end of this discussion, it never was with Ezra. He was combative, vengeful, and had a sense of pride no lycan orr wolf could rival. Ezra never backed down from a challenge and never shied away from danger. At times, it felt like he did more action and less thinking really. He hated having to plan things out or schedules. He was eager to get to the action, even if it meant skipping a few corners. While his combat skills were higher than any Lycanthrope in Gibbous, his lack of organization and strategy have gotten us cornered on more than one occasion.

"We survived; why are you complaining? We are not weak." He uttered in my head.

"We only survived because I coached you through a plan. That is my point, you big goof. One of these days you are going to push it too far, Goddess forbid, and get us into something even I can't escape." I advised.

"Then we will take them all with us." Ezra said, licking his shoulder without a care for the weight his words carried.

I ignored him, pushing him to the back of my mind with a wall. I needed to calm down, talking with Ezra always had me a little on edge. His rage and thirst for combat could really grind on guy's patience at times. I didn't understand why the Goddess had given me such a stubborn lycan, when I first met Ezra, but throughout the four years I could see how he brought me out of my shell. I was forced into situations where I needed to persuade my people to rise up and lead them into the future. Ezra understood the importance of the past with traditions, rules, and rituals, but he was looking forward to the future. A future where no one cared to challenge him for what was rightfully his. A world where everyone could protect one another and the weak, but even the weak needed to stand strong and know the basics. He hated bullies and people who only looked to power and wealth to oppress and rule. He wanted to stand strong with his people as a united front, and I was human that would fight by his side as his brother in arms, slowly weeding through all the corruption in Gibbous.

I honestly admired him for this quality. He may look cold-blooded, but he was a gentle giant at heart. He wanted all mythical beings to coexist together and share their strengths, while protecting each other's weaknesses, like magic. Magic was the one that worried me the most. The witches were not exactly an assortment of welcoming personalities towards us lycans. Witches loved their magic and would do just about anything to expand it. I had heard countless tales of wars fought because of them from almost every supernatural creature throughout the world. If your pack or group had something they wanted, you could always expect a warning from them, swiftly followed by attacks and schemes to retrieve it.