Lycan's unexpected mate

Recognising Liars

Triton

Atalanta has skipped today's training without telling me. I wonder what is wrong because Perses's mate Aegle saw her with Tyche very early in the morning heading out of the palace. I waited for them to return which was shortly before the training was supposed to start and both of them looked haggard and beaten. They were leaning on one another and Atalanta seemed to be limping. I hope they weren't sparring in the forest because it could easily get out of control there.

Pontus stays quiet but he's observing everything through our eyes. I am waiting in my unofficial office where I usually discuss things one to one. The advantage of this room is the extra padding around the walls, the ceiling and the floor which isolates it completely from the outer world.

I look at my watch - it's 15:53. Atalanta is supposed to meet me at four sharp, so she still has time. I look at the papers in front of me, lying messily on the table. I need to review all these documents before the meeting with Alphas. They wanted to meet urgently and I know it concerns the rogue attacks. The meeting is scheduled in twenty days from today so that everyone can gather what they need to prove and support their points. The attack on the Blue Moon pack was the last nail in the proverbial coffin and all werewolves want to know where the ruling family stands and what they can expect.

For the Blue Moon pack, it was pure luck that Tali and her team were returning from another mission and they got redirected on the way home. But I can't allow any more close calls like this. Not now, not in the future.

My thoughts are interrupted when the door opens and Atalanta comes in with Johann in her arms. I smile at her and she looks at me sheepishly. "Sorry, Dad, my help has been called off due to family reasons. So, I had to bring Johann with me."

"That's fine. We don't have a physical workout today," I reassure her.

"Really?" She sits down on a visitors' chair and rocks Johann. "So, how are we going to do this lesson?"

"Easy," I begin to explain. "I am going to find out how much you can already do and we'll move from there."

At her nod, I prop my arms behind my head and stretch. "First thing first then. Tell me, can you tell when someone is insincere with you or when they are lying?"

She frowns at me and her eyes gain a quizzical tone she is unable to hide from me. I decide to get up to sit on the chair next to hers so that my desk wasn't in between us. I walk slowly just on purpose so that she can gather her thoughts and maybe calm her thoughts down. The atmosphere feels as if I have opened a rabbit burrow and the small bunnies are running around aimlessly.

"I know that you have already tried to lie to me or your mother several times during your adulthood, hmm?" I tell her. She bites her lower lip in anticipation of a scolding, but I continue: "How do you think we recognise it every time while others usually don't?"

She purses her lips in thought before answering. "I have always imagined you two have a lie detector in your heads," Tali says with a chuckle. "But now that you ask, I think it has something to do with my body language? Lying to you two makes me nervous."

"You're right." I nod to myself. "At least with me. I can't speak for your mother because she's on a completely different level."

Tali looks at me in surprise so I cough to hide me not knowing something about my Mate. "Well, I chose this for the first lesson because whenever you are meeting with someone, be it a Werewolf, a Lycan or a Sorcerer, there might be a situation when you or the other party needs to hide the truth. That's why knowing the tell-tale signs of lying can work both ways for either of you."

"You mean that I have to suppress mine and be able to see theirs, right?" she interrupts me carefully.

"Exactly. The thing is that you are still young and inexperienced in their eyes. Therefore, they will try to pull you to their side. The same or worse will definitely happen to your future Mate when he becomes the King."

She makes a disgruntled face but stays silent. Her eyes cloud over for a minute, so I know that Diana has her own point to add. I inhale deeply, then let the air out. When Atalanta's eyes clear up, I notice that she's somewhat unhappy. I know that she doesn't exactly fancy the idea of having a mate who will ground her with a family but she can and may change that during her reign. But she has to become Luna Queen first.

I pat her knee and offer my silent encouragement. "Look," I tell her, "the key part is that no matter what, you must never call other people liars in their faces. They may be hiding something or they may be telling only partly true information. You need to lead them on, pretend that you believe what they are saying to a certain degree, and ask for more details. If they are lying, they are going to mix up the situation, the names, the property and so on."

I watch Atalanta closely and she bobs her head in understanding. Then she wonders: "This is good advice but I still don't know how you and Mum see through my attempts to . . . um . . ."

"To hide the truth from us?" I finish for her. At her tiny shy smile, I adjust my sitting position and lean to her confidentially. "There are some more obvious clues and some less evident, depending on the experience of the person you're speaking to."

She blinks at me and leans towards me as well, holding Johann closely to her chest. " The first sign," I lift my thumb from a fist, "is that the person touches their face, mouth, eyes, or even hair repeatedly during the conversation because it gives them a sense of stability. They can also clear their throat a lot while touching their neck, the collar or the tie. Remember how you curled your hair on a finger when you were younger?"

"I do," she confirms for me. She scratches the back of her neck and asks: "Can't the subconscious movements also indicate nervousness?"

"Of course, they can, Tali." I smile at her proudly. She knows so much. "That's why you always need to have more evidence."

I lift my index finger. "The second thing linked to lying is watching the eyes. Usually, you don't look the person in the eye when you lie or you move your sight away or try to look behind the person instead of looking at the person. That's indispensable for you to remember if you need to hide the truth or your real feelings, okay?"

She hums, then exclaims: "So when I stared longer or blinked differently, it was also a sign for you, right?"

"You see, you know a lot yourself." Atalanta's face grows red at my praise. However, she is a born leader and she has learnt much from other races, too, although no-one else knows about it. She enrolled in a normal school but her classmates were Donovan's son and Maurice's daughters.

I know I can't let my mind wander, so I lift my middle finger and choose another sign of lying. "Also, you can hear a raised pitch to their voice. This applies mainly to us because Lycan hearing is better than of the others. However, you need to listen carefully and know how the person speaks normally and how they interact with other people. And it also depends on the situation. Traumatised people usually also have a distinguishable pitch to their voice."

"Uff, that's a lot to take in," she complains silently, but I know she will be able to process it just fine.

"There is some more, unfortunately," I inform her and lift my ring finger. "Another sign is that their sentences seem rehearsed and once you interrupt them, they have issues returning to the point. They'll use specific phrases to buy themselves time to come up with plausible details. Moreover, their expression won't completely match what they are telling you."

Atalanta is gaping at me and I touch the side of her face. She rubs her cheek against my palm then and seems to relax. "Don't worry, there is only one more sign left."

She laughs bemusedly as I retract my hand. "Those weren't only one sign each. Those were groups of signs. How am I able to use all that?" She lowers her head and checks that Johann is still asleep in her arms.

"Look, the last on the list is something you can also notice with our enhanced senses. And I promise that there will be no more."

She raises her right eyebrow and I touch my heart with my right index finger and middle finger. She accepts my promise as I finish my lecture with: "When someone lies, their breathing gets heavier. They take deeper breaths, they may even start sweating because they will be hot. It will also affect the tiny muscles in their face and you might notice the tiny millisecond-long changes in their expression."

"And that's it?" she asks with her eyes wide open.

"Yes, that's it." I agree with her readily.

She huffs and puffs for a while as she tries to take it all in. "I had no idea that the Royal training would be this demanding on subjective feelings," she states in the end.

I bite the insides of my cheeks not to laugh. I have never told her that this would be easy. But she's my blood, she will be a great Queen.

"Can we . . ." she starts, then she coughs and begins once more, "can we practice it right now?"

"Of course, we even have to," I announce confidently. "I'll just get us some water and we can start."

I get up and walk to the fridge in the back of my office. It's hidden in a cupboard so I open both doors and bring us both a bottle of fizzy water. I uncap both bottles and hand one to Tali. She smiles at me thankfully and takes a big gulp. She puts the bottle on my desk, then she assumes a relaxed position with Johann and looks at me expectantly.

"I'll be the first one telling the story," I suggest to her, putting my bottle away as well.

"Alright, Dad. I've always wanted to know what it was like for you and my mother after I was born. Now that I have Johann, I want to know if the clumsiness is only in me or if others are like that, too."

She's smiling sweetly and sincerely. I can detect real interest in the air so she really wants to know. But she has never asked about this topic so she surely wants to test something she knows.

'Well, I'm going to tell her about the meeting with Maurice and use some of the signs connected to lying, what do you say, Pontus?' I ask my Lycan.

He merely grumbles a 'yes' before he yawns and returns to his rest. He deserves it because he's awake every night, watching over Flora and our Mate when I am too worn out to do anything.

I blink back at Tali who has moved her head to the side. "Speaking with Pontus?"

"Yeah, we were discussing what to tell you," I admit with a shrug.

"Oh, I can't wait," she says eagerly and prepares for the story.

I cough and begin: "When you were born, it was a shock. I mean, you were a lively pup, you cried a lot, you occupied all of our time." I chuckle slightly. "It was strange that we had to organise our days based on you and your habits or sleeping, eating and sleeping."

I gaze at Atalanta lovingly and she mirrors the love in her eyes.

"But the one moment I will never forget happened about a month after you were born. There was a huge meeting between all races because the Sorcerers wanted to present their new ruling family."

"Are you talking about uncle Maurice and aunt Inaven?" Atalanta wonders, just like I would have. Good girl.

"Yes, yes, I am. Well, ehm, your mother was tired and she mixed the tags where each member should be seated. I was in this office so I didn't hear that there was a riot upstairs. I was preparing my speech and wishes and I forgot the time. It was my fault that people got unhappy then."

I rub my ear lobe and look at Atalanta to see if she has noticed. She follows my every movement calmly, blinking slowly and assessing me. I can see her mind working and putting the pieces into the full picture.

"Yeah, well, anyway, when I finally got upstairs, I saw Maurice and your mother being closer than I would have liked. And you were just between them in his arms! You!" I exclaim and then immediately lower my voice not to disturb Johann.

"And what's so strange about it?" Atalanta asks indifferently. "I was a baby and many people like holding babies and saying how cute they are."

"But you are my pup! Mine." I argue with her because sudden changes of temper can also indicate that something isn't right with the story. I also slightly raise the rate of my breathing.

"You are so possessive, father," she tells me teasingly and I grin involuntarily. "So what happened then? Did you get me back from that intruder?"

"Of course, I did," I say proudly and my left palm is hit with my right hand balled in a fist. "I even hit him in the face for trying to seduce my Mate and to steal my pup. Everything on him smelled like you. I was furious. But him being a witch, he cast a spell that got all our family flying to a wall when I tried to hit him. He was a coward, I would have shown him."

Atalanta is laughing silently at my expression and probably even at what I have said. I blink at her slowly and she regains her composure: "You have tried to distract me, I could see all the signs you have mentioned earlier. And if I didn't know better, I would say that you have made it up. But I know this is true because Mum told me about it a while ago."

"Oh, that wasn't fair!" I retort and frown at her. "This should be a training for you with situations you are unfamiliar with."

Despite my words, I can't bring myself to be angry with her. She deserves to know everything, at least from stories, and our lives are so long that the children don't seem to remember much from the first ten years of life.

She pats my knee and offers: "Let's do it the other way round. I will tell you a story and you'll try to guess how true it is."

I lick my lips and lean into the chair. "Shoot," I tell her and immediately regret it as she gives me a mischievous grin.

"I've found my true Mate," she announces and I cry out in shock: "What?!"