The Sun and The Moon

Chapter 8

Two days later

Lucien

The soft sounds of conversation and moving silverware becomes my white noise. I hear and see them but they are unimportant. What’s important is that delicious scent pulling me in closer. My mind is a haze as my eighteen year old body and Lycan pulled me closer and closer to the prize I sought. My Lycan was ripping at me wanting to be free to pursue that captivating f*****g scent and I struggled to keep myself as its persuer. More white noise as my feet move with a mind of their own and pleasure curls in my belly like something solid. White noise, but there behind a curtain sat a small girl in a hat. There she is, my Lycan growled out. Mate! He roared in my mind as I stood staring at her. She was so tiny that she had to be a child. I felt myself beginning to panic as my Lycan continued to urge me forward.

“No!” I roar at him but he has taken control from me. He locks me inside his massive form and growls like a rabid soulless creature.

“Mate!” He howls and rips the curtain away from the ceiling and charges the doll-like child in a bonnet. She couldn’t be anymore than ten as my Lycan starts tearing her to shreds right before my eyes.

I wake up with a start and find Oni shaking my shoulder. He’s speaking but nothing is soaking into my fear drenched brain as I quickly scan the car for the girl. I see my Beta Cedrick looking at me with wild eyes. His platinum hair damn near standing on end as if it had been his nightmare and not mine. My father sits to his left in the limo seat eyeing me with concern. If my father, the Lycan king, knew my darkest secret he would look at me with a lot more than just concern. He would fear me! Oni sits to my right. He’s my gamma and one of my closest friends, but in his hands now I see the syringe barely concealed from my father’s watchful eyes. I know I have asked a lot of Oni and Cedrick. I’ve asked them to keep my secrets just as I’ve kept theirs. That is what a brotherhood is really about, keeping your other brothers secrets and helping them keep their s**t together.

Nightmare? Oni asks through our link and I nod. My father eases back without a word, I’m sure contributing my momentary lapse to the immense anxiety I was feeling.

Today should honestly be the best f*****g day of my life but something in me just would not let me be happy for once. I was finally getting to meet my Sun, my everything, my fated mate. Only the goddess knew how close that nightmare came to being reality that night I scented her. I was only eighteen and had just shifted for the first time maybe a month before this. It was a large kingdom event my father planned to celebrate my shift and also help me look for my mate. We invited everyone, no matter the pack size, power, or importance. All were welcome to celebrate with the Royal family. So many people came, and most of them unmated shifters. Oni, Cedrick, and I were like foodies at a buffet of beautiful women. They surrounded us, damn near choking us with their synthetic pheromones and high dollar perfumes. Oni left with a few and Cedrick quickly followed with his own harem, but I was still looking for my mate. Something told me she was there that night and I just had to find her. I searched for hours and finally I gave up and went inside a tented area in the garden. Little curtained gazebos lined the Royal gardens and I quickly sat in one feeling defeated. That’s when a soft delicate scent hit me. My Lycan whispered Mate! to me like it was a secret. No roar of claiming this time. My Lycan literally whispered to me and it unnerved me so badly. I didn’t know if there was something wrong with my mate or our bond but I was determined to find her. I started sniffing around but it took time because her scent was faint. When I got closer to where she was the scent became much stronger but not what I had expected from a fated mate bond. It was giving mouth watering though with magnolia and honeysuckle mix that had my head f*****g swimming in her. And my Lycan still didn’t cry out. He was rolling around in my chest fighting me to find her faster. He was excited, just odd.

When I walked up behind one of the curtained gazebos, I saw her sitting there in a sweet dress and little bonnet to match. She had on rose colored glasses and was laughing when I silently approached. The curtain gave her image an almost dreamlike quality but it didn’t hide the fact she was just a little girl. That was why her scent was so light. My mate hadn’t even gone through puberty yet! My mind raced with what this meant about me as a man. I thought I might be some kind of f*****g pervert as I stood there trembling between wanting to go to her and running the hell away. As I stood there I was thankful my body wasn’t behaving in a way that meant I wanted to mate with her. The thought almost made me vomit and I had to take a step back and really think about what I was feeling. It was odd because the sensation of wanting her seemed different from how a bonded pair would work. I did want to see her, hear her, and be with her but not in a s****l way. I really just wanted to know her, but how do you explain to a little girl who's maybe ten that she’s the next queen of the kingdom? How could I hurt her by wanting to take such a sweet young girl from her parents because I knew I wanted to smother her in my protection. Possessiveness flowed through my veins at the speed of light. No one could care for my mate the way I could! No one could protect her the way I could! The thoughts warred in my head as my eyes couldn’t seem to leave her round face. She glanced at me once through the curtain and I felt that one innocent glance scorch my soul. I swear it was like she pushed painlessly through my chest and squeezed my f*****g heart. I growled at her before I could stop myself and she was off and running through the curtains like a toddler sized torpedo. I laughed at her fleeing backside knowing she would never be able to truly get away from me now. I looked up at the gazebo roof and noted the number on top. That would tell me which pack she was from and there would be a list of all attending pack members grouped by packs.

“How much longer?” Cedrick asks and Oni chuckles.

“Are you like five now?” He asks and Cedrick shrugs coolly.

“Well, it’s a damn shame we can’t stay after you meet her Luce, but I want to see her face when you tell her Moon and her mate are one in the same.” A mischievous grin forms on the vamp’s thin lips and Oni chuckles.

“Poor girl is going to be blind sided.”

“No, I wrote to her and explained I was coming to visit her pack. I told her I had something very important to talk with her about.” I told him with a soft smile.

Something in me warned me of impending doom but I couldn’t help smiling when I thought of my Sun. I didn’t know her real name or even what she looked like. I wasn’t even sure which pack she was actually a part of. My father held all that information because if he had told my eighteen year old self where my mate was, I would have never left her side. My poor little baby mate would have had a 6’7 silver haired Lycan following her every move. If anyone had even looked like they wanted to look at her wrong, I would have gladly and proudly ended their lives. Even if those assholes were kids. My father saw it was going to be a real problem as he watched me stalking her through the crowd for the rest of the night. He had to sit me down and have a hard discussion with me about what was best for my mate.

“How will she know your Moon though? I’ve explained to you her mother’s strong biases. Her mother despises the fact that she’s mated to a Lycan and I worry she’s turned the girl against you already.” My father worries for me and my little mate. He’s told me over the years the pack she belongs to calls regularly claiming my little Sun needed money for one thing or another. I sent the money but I’m not stupid. I know all the things that damn alpha claims to need money for are never mentioned in the letters she writes to me. None of that matters as long as she’s being taken care of and safe.

“I brought her letters.” I explain and look out the window at the rolling hills. “She’s told me about what happened to her mother. The woman has every reason to fear for her daughter, because she is her mother. Once I get there and Sun and I meet, everything will fall into place.” I say firmly even as I have a sinking feeling.