The Son of Hades and A Mermaid

Wizard Tracking

Andrea

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We walk into Eric's office and find Amber and him looking over a large electronic map they have placed on the wall.

They really are an attractive couple. Eric has tanned skin from being an avid surfer. All his time in the sun has lightened his brown hair. My sister is pale in comparison with our signature gold hair and gold eyes that we received from being related to Selene. Eric comes from a long line of Alphas, and Amber has two Alpha for parents...and her ancestor was in line to be the next Lycan queen. Between the two, they are the ultimate power couple.

"Any luck? Those chains will put off a large amount of energy. Regardless, he'll end up in the underworld. Those chains are a death sentence. But that takes time." asks Cole as he crosses his arms over his check and observes the map.

"What are the red dots?' I ask

"The red dots are tracking his habits. He keeps moving. He has to have a base somewhere. We've been trying to track the length that he is in places. We're hoping to find a pattern." replies Eric.

"So far, no surprise, he keeps returning to France," Amber says.

'... what's in France?" asks Cole.

'His daughter….. He stole her away from her half-sister and their mother. She was bound to her sister Dr. Moore during the battle we fought. That left him down a witch. Dr. Moore has reversed that spell, but we've had to keep her locked up. She can do just as much damage as her father."

"Can I speak with her? I know the first thing about abusive fathers. I have that common ground. Maybe I can get some information from her. "

My breath catches in my throat…

'..Hades abused you..?" I ask.

Cole's eyes turn cold. "Yes, in the name of discipline......But mentally, he was very manipulative. Which was worse. Most gods are pretty rough on their kids. They think that this makes us better leaders. But most of the time, it just ends up creating sadistic rulers. I've seen this in some of my cousins."

"... didn't your mother try to stop him?" I ask, surprised. The goddess of Mars seemed like such a strong person. I'm surprised that she'd let anything like that go on.

"My mother grew up without parents or anyone around her. She wasn't confident about what was normal. He convinced her it was discipline. She hasn't grown up around any healthy parents. Some gods and goddesses use similar tactics. I didn't realize it wasn't healthy until I made friends with some humans and watched how their parents treated their children."

This makes me so sad. I want to give Cole the biggest hug.

Instead, I take his hand…." Cole… I'm so sorry."

He half-smiles, "I'm okay; I survived."

I look back to Amber. She has a similar sad expression to mine.

"Just let me check with Alice, and then we'll fly to her," says Amber. As she does, her eyes glaze over, meaning she is mind linking Alice.

"Alice said that we are welcome anytime. She'll prepare rooms for us."

__

We're heading out to their private airport. Amber seems too excited about this trip. Apparently, Eric bought her a new, fast, long-distance jet. Amber was a pilot by trade before she and Eric met. She flies enough to keep up her license, but her Luna duties keep her too busy to fly more than that.

We walk to see a large but very modern-looking plane. We drop our suitcases off to be loaded and head inside. We sit down while Amber checks that the aircraft is ready for the flight.

"I bought her this plane as a wedding gift. I wasn't expecting it to be used for wizard tracking...but I'm guessing that its speed will come in handy." lets out Eric with a sigh.

"I hope that things settle down soon. So that you two can have some peace." I say to my brother-in-law with a half smile.

"Our love has grown and flourished in chaos. If we can love each other through all this, we'll be prepared for anything. Excuse me, I have some emails that I still need to catch up on." As Eric says this, he puts headphones on and opens a laptop.

"...what chaos is he speaking of?" asks Cole.

"When they met, my sister wasn't connected with her wolf. Which is not normal. They went through that. Then they had to find and connect all of us guardians to fight this wizard's attacks. We were all in different countries too. Most wolves never part from their mate, but they had to. They were forced to be strong leaders and multitaskers. It took them almost two years to finally be able to get married...which for werewolves is a very long time. Most couples meet, mate, and marry within months."

"Really… wow. That's a lot to deal with in a short amount of time."

"Yeah, it is. I admire them both. ."

"...wait you marry your mate within months...is that normal?" asks Cole with a surprised tone.

"I guess so. Having a primitive animal part of you heightens all normal feelings. Finding your mate is like finding the other half of your soul for a werewolf. So why would you want to be separated any longer than necessary? Some wait years before finding their other half."

"Hmmm, interesting. So a mate, as you call it, is supposed to be your soul mate. I wonder if that's still the case for us." Cole asks as a flight attendant comes over to let us know we are about to take off.

"... I'm not sure. Selene didn't explain that, but I trust her judgment. My being part mermaid made it harder to pair with someone. Most packs wouldn't accept me. Lycan or not."

"What does Lycan mean again?" inquires Cole.

"Oh right! I forget that you haven't grown up with these terms. A lycan was a royal werewolf. We came from the Moon Goddess's children, but our kind was wiped out in a brutal attack from the same wizard family attacking us now. There were seven princesses taken away and hidden around the world. Our lycan abilities only surface when danger threatens to wipe out our race again. Finally, there was a princess in line to become queen. We all think that is Amber. Because she is the most unique."

"...that makes sense. I can sense that she is a powerful being. Her aura of power actually feels similar to Selene herself. Does anything else unique come with this Lycan bloodline?" inquires Cole.

"All of our firstborns are daughters. All of them will eventually be paired with Alpha. My mother was the only one to break this, but I think that's because her mate died. We're also all stronger than your typical werewolf female, and we naturally lead those

around us."

"So if we had a child, then our firstborn would likely be a girl?" asks Cole.

"Yes, exactly," I say as I reach to buckle my seatbelt.

"Hmmm. That would mean that the underworld would have its first princess, and she would eventually become the queen of the underworld." muses Cole.

"What would that mean for her as far as responsibilities go?" I asked, generally curious.

"I'm not sure, to be honest. I know what is expected of me currently, but that is with my father on the throne. If I had children, I would try to change things for the better.".

"How many children do you want?" I asked. It feels weird to ask this question, but then again, we're engaged and this is something that engaged couples would know about each other.

Cole grimaces slightly, "I don't have a number. I never thought that I'd get married or have kids.

I'm taken aback a bit by this. I've never met someone who doesn't want to be married or have children. In the werewolf world, it is a huge part of our culture to find our mates and to start a family.

"Really?...do you not like children?" I asked, trying to piece together why someone wouldn't want a family, but Cole's answer made my heart stop.

"Being a god, you are always dealing with conflict or war. In times of war or conflict, it's not uncommon for gods to kill heirs as a way to gain power. That is something that I never wanted to bring a child into."

"Sorry to bud in to your conversation, but that used to be more common in the werewolf world. This was one of the reasons the Alpha council was started." said Eric, who had put his laptop away for take off.

"Well, the fact that it is considered a thing of the past proves that your kind is ahead of us. Not that I'm surprised", says Cole.

"So, by starting the Alpha council, that grab for power stopped?" I asked.

"Oh no, the grab for power is still there, but now there are consequences to any action that harms a pack." replied Eric.

I turned to look at Cole, who I found to be observing me.

"So I guess the question is, who would be powerful enough to start a council for the gods? I ask as I feel the jet start to move.

"No one.. yet. I wish that it was that simple. Right now, everyone is happy with their responsibilities as gods, but that could all change with a new heir and then alliances resume and war starts again." replies Cole.