RISEN: FORBIDDEN LOVE

Matei POV 8 Years Old. I couldn’t help it, I had to get away from my mom… I love her dearly, she took me in and has looked out for me. She loves me as her own, heck!… she even loved me before my dad even accepted me. She is the light of my life, but she broke my heart… I need to be close to Iris, I want to be close to her, it is something so natural as breathing… I imagined myself dancing with her, just like my Uncle Dante was dancing with my Auntie Charmaine… I wanted that with that girl… I promised her that one day that would be us. Iris was 6 years younger than me and was the daughter of King Dante and Queen Charmaine. Ever since Iris was inside her mom´s belly, I wanted to protect her, even my Lycan wanted to be close to her. I was an early bloomer. My Lycan spirit manifested within me at the age of 5 when most of the time came around 16 years old. I don´t know his name yet, but I can feel him, and I can feel how drawn and how protective of her we are. I have never felt anything like this for anyone in my life, it is intense, pure, magnetic, and overpowering. I can´t help it. I can´t help, but the way Mom looked at me. She was appalled at the idea of me dancing with Iris like that, the idea of me being close to Iris the way she is close to my dad, broke me. I ran away, not before asking Dominic to take care of her. I trusted him, as her brother, he would look out for her after me. I left… tears in my eyes and my heart was never the same… I know that she is my cousin, but I can´t help the way I love her... The crushing burden of not being able to show my emotions was drowning me. That day, my life changed forever. 12 Years Old. “Matei… can you watch over Greco for me?” Mom asked me and I nodded. Ariel, my Dad´s second chance mate, and Dad decided to increase the numbers in the family. So, 4 years ago, my younger brother Stavros came along, and later, Greco. They are now four and two years old. And now Mom is pregnant again. I am excited about having a new baby in the house… this time it is going to be a baby girl… She is almost here and from day one I have already loved her. “Come here, buddy…” I gave my little brother my hand and he followed me to the playroom. I sat on the floor and lazily played with him, rolling around some hot wheels on the racetrack. I mean I played while he crashed the cars, and almost ate them. We got bored pretty easily, so then I pulled out some coloring books for him to draw around. Of course, he didn´t know how to, so he just colored all over the page, not minding the lines. I was putting everything away, just like Mom had always asked us to clean after ourselves when she walked into the room. “Matty… I have great news!” She beamed, and then I sat there expectant to hear the great news she was going to deliver. “I just talked to your Aunt Charmaine… and she is inviting you to spend the summer with them…” She clapped excitedly. “Why?” I asked, confused. “Well, with your brothers being a handful and your younger sister arriving during the summer, I am going to need help, and you are old enough to travel alone. Besides, you have plenty of friends throughout the demon realm, and she offered to take you all to the beach house…” She said, and I could imagine the fun summer with my friends on the beach. “I will accept her invitation, only if you want me to…” She said, she always knew how to make me feel wanted. She was sending me away to mind one less child while she tended to a newborn. I was old enough to understand that it was not because she didn´t want me there, it was more for me to have a fun summer rather than for her getting rid of me. “Yes, I think it will be fun… instead of hearing babies cry, I can go and have fun with my friends…” I said to her and she gave me a soft smile. A month later, I went to the demon realm and met all my friends at the castle and were ready to go to the beach house… Angelo, Stephan, Darius and they even invited Cadmus… I have struggled to make friends with other kids in my realm, but I have a close-knit group of friends. There is Cadmus, Angelo, Stephan, and Darius. We are so close that every summer, vacation, or spare time, we see each other. It does help that my uncles are the kings of their realms, I always have a place to stay abroad. I packed and Dad took me to the portal that linked our home directly to UIncle Dante´s. My friends were already there, it was such an exciting moment. We will have so much fun. “Hey, guys! Are you ready to go?” Uncle Desmond said while picking up backpacks and loading them into the back of an SUV. “Are you going to take us?” I asked him. “Yeah, your Aunt Charmaine, your Aunt Liona, and your cousins are already there… your Uncle will catch up with us as soon as he arrives from Central City… “ He said and I nodded. Uncle Desmond is my Uncle Dante´s second in command and he is such a funny guy that I am super happy that he and his mate are tagging along. “Is your baby going to be there, too?” I asked him and he nodded. “She is not a baby anymore… Vicky is already 4 years old…” He said, “Dom and Iris are 6 now… I bet Dom is going to want to play around you…” He said chuckling, knowing that Dom was too young to surf with us on the big waves. “Yeah, he is cool… but sometimes we will want to play things for older boys…” I said and Desmond nodded. “Noted…” He winked at us. The whole ride to the beach house was all fuzz and buzz. My friends and I were super excited, this was way better than camp… it was our first bro trip… We arrived at the house; I have been there before. “Hey, Matty!” Auntie Charmaine walked towards me and gave me a big hug. Ruffling my hair, they always do that... It was a bit embarrassing having my aunt hover all over me in front of my friends. I allowed it because I loved her very much. Aunt Ayla and Aunt Charmaine were Ariel´s angel sisters, they accepted me and embraced me, no questions asked, and that´s why I love them the same way, unconditionally. “Welcome guys!” She greeted my friends. For all of them, it was very intimidating being this close to my aunt. She is the leader of the Central City Council… she was elected many years ago, and so far everyone wants her to continue… they even call her the Queen of Central City. “I prepared a room for you… just go upstairs and the last room to the right is all yours…” She said and we all picked up our backpacks and ran towards our room. We opened the door and it was a very big room. We all shared a bathroom, and it had two wooden bunk beds and one queen bed. It had stairs, little reading lamps for each of us, and even desks to play videogames. There was a walk-in closet where we could place our things and a third door. When I opened it, it was heaven on earth. There was a little playroom with a massive wide-screen TV and video games. A movie screen with surround system, and a dart board… This was a man cave because in a corner there was a bar, fully stocked with munchies and drinks… of course, all appropriate for our ages. “Man, this place is awesome…” Angelo patted my back, and I chuckled. Yes, it was… I have the greatest family… my uncles are the best… Everyone started unpacking, and we settled down in no time. “This is going to be the best summer ever…” Cadmus said. “Why do you smell like ashes?” A little voice interrupted our conversation. Her nose scrunched, looking straight at Cadmus, my dragon friend. I slowly turned around and there she was, the same pretty face I remembered from years ago. She was taller, of course… Her dark brown hair, just like my Uncle´s, and her hazel-amber eyes captivated me in an instant. Her hair was longer and she had it braided in two long braids. She was wearing a small two-piece pink girly bathing suit. I growled, scaring not only her, but my friends as well… “What are you doing here?” I was angry. My friends were there and they could see her all her belly. Her chin quivered, “Mom said there are snacks in the kitchen…” She said and ran away from the room. I wanted to go after her and hug her, but when I was about to do it, I remembered the stern voice of my mother saying that I was not allowed to be close to her… and stopped… maybe keeping her far away from me is for the best. We went downstairs and she was nowhere to be seen… We ate and then I asked Uncle Des to teach us how to surf… He was good at it… We took some boards and took us all to the beach. Uncle Dante arrived and he made a bonfire to have smores by the shore. Auntie Char, Liona, Dom, and Vicky joined us around the bonfire… “Where is your sister?” I asked Dom. “She is not feeling right… she wanted to go to sleep early…” Dominic replied. I have no idea why I felt guilty about Iris missing this fun time… I pushed the nasty feeling down and went ahead to grab a Smores kit to fix one for me. The rest of the summer, when I entered a room, she left… when we had dinner she barely ate or talked, and I couldn´t help but notice the sadness in her eyes every time I caught her looking my way. I won´t lie, it hurt, but it was for the best… I kept telling myself that. Iris played along with Vicky and Dom mostly. She didn´t dare speak to any of my friends or me… It bugged me, so by the end of the summer, I asked Dom… “Hey, What´s going on with your sister?” He shrugged his shoulders, “I don´t know, she was super excited that you were going to come. She had a bunch of games planned and she wanted to spend time with you…but suddenly she just closed off and she has been odd…she is not fun anymore…” “Do you think she is upset with me?” I asked him, “Maybe, who knows… she is a handful… I would be aware… because the moment you less imagine, she will go around creating havoc…” Dom said and I nodded. I had to be alert because, lately, I could feel she would do something because I caught her looking our way more intensely. I told my friends my suspicions based on what Do said and on her change of attitude. They decided that they will prank her before she gets to prank us. I was not comfortable with the idea, and I didn´t want them to hurt her… but I went along, at least I didn´t stop Cadmus on planning the whole thing. A few days later, we went to the beach to surf… and after riding the waves many times, most of my friends were tired, but I could keep going… So I stayed behind with Uncle Des, Uncle Dante and the rest picked the surf wear up and went inside the house, lunch would be ready any minute. I wanted to be the last to get in because I hated to wait in line to take a shower… so I would rather spend my time in the ocean. Uncle Desmond and I were cleaning our surf gear ready to hit the showers, when I heard stumping feet coming my way…. “How dare you…” A livid and crying Iris pointed her finger at me… “What?” I stood there like an i***t. “I understand you don´t want me around, but sending your friends to bully me, that…” Her eyes filled with tears… and I was more confused than ever. What did they tell her? “Iris, what happened?” Uncle Des asked, and she ran into his arms crying. “Tell him to go… I don´t want to see Matty anymore… He asked them to do it! He made them do this to me!" She said to Uncle Des and pointed at her head. “Matty, will you give us a minute?” He asked and I nodded. When Uncle Des moved his hand I could see the extent of the damage. When Cadmus said he would playfully cut a lock off her head, I never imagined he would be cutting her braids entirely. Where her long beautiful brunet braids once were some small remnants of hair… What the f**k these idiots did to her? I made my way to my room, I was livid… beyond pissed. “Cadmus!” I yelled to him, but all of them were lined up in front of Uncle Dante… even Dom. Uncle Dante was angry… “You are almost adults and hurting a girl like that, deserves some real punishment! Luckily for you, you are not my responsibility…" He paced around.l, "It doesn´t matter if she was going to prank you or what you thought was going on, she is a girl… and we protect girls… no matter what… we always protect them…” Uncle Dante made all my friends shiver in fear, he was using what we know as 'Alpha Command' “We are sorry, King Dante…” they all replied. “I understand you made a mistake… I don´t want to ever hear you dare hurt a girl, woman, or even a weak male… Is that understood?” He boomed, I was not even in the line-up and I replied too, along with my friends, “Yes, Your Majesty…” He was giving us an order… he was pissed, and he had every right to be. “Dante. They are kids… let them be…” Uncle Des placed his hand over his shoulder and he stomped away. I was grateful for Uncle Des at the moment. The next morning, we were ready to start our day when Uncle Des told us to pack up. Aunty Char, Liona, Vicky, and Iris were nowhere to be found… “Uncle, where are the girls?” I asked, “They have already left… Iris needs a new haircut…” My uncle glared at all the boys and we all shrunk. “Your Aunt left you some snacks for the road… it is time to head back… Your mothers will be waiting for you…” He said and we all piled up in the cars. We were never going to hear the end of it. All of my friends decided to go back with Uncle Des, and they left me with Uncle Dante and Dom. Traitors… “Uncle, for all it is worth… I am very sorry for what we did…” I gulped and he nodded. “You will regret what happened here one day, Matty… Iris is really hurting…” He said and I lowered my gaze… I didn´t dare speak another word. When we arrived at the castle, I wanted to go look for Iris, but Dad was already there. He gave me a glare that let me know I was in deep s**t. I was going to get the full backlash for my friend's idiotic idea. I know I didn´t hold the scissors and chopped her hair, but I knew what they planned and I didn´t stop him… I deserved whatever punishment my dad wanted to grant me. That was the last time I saw her… and after that trip, every time I close my eyes, I can see the hurt in hers.