The Lycan Kings Princess

Run... It's the word that beats inside my chest from the moment I had shed my human form, the word that had captured me the second my paws had touched the forest floor, the moment he looked at me with such sadness and agony that I couldn't help but feel it too.... He didn't need to say the words for me to know exactly what he was about to say...he didn't need to touch me for me to feel the ache that bloomed like wild fire through my veins. She had popped into my head like a balloon bursting out of existence...All she howled was run. They screamed after me, yelled my name, voices chased me through the doors of the packhouse and I didn't look back, the full moon had screamed at me through its beams of light and I felt my bones twisting, breaking, snapping. I had screamed from the pain, but it was drowned out by the blood rushing into my ears. Run... It's all I could do.... Aeris had full control, I was just a visitor in confusion occupying a small piece of what had once been my mind alone. She doesn't stop, I don't stop...not until we reach the cliff overlooking the ocean and the mountainous forest that my pack owns. As if it couldn't feel more pitiful...Aeris tilts back her head and howls to the sky in such pain, and I cry with her. I try to think back to what had just happened...How I got here... It started in the morning. 7:00 am August 14th, 2017 "Aria my darling daughter, time to wake up or you're not going to get a dress for tonight!" my mother's voice sang to me as she opened the door. I feel ugly in the mornings, I'm unkempt and not the image of anything remotely pretty when I open my eyes. It's a joke that is often made and probably the image only a select few people see of me. I, Aria Knightengale of the Evergreen Pack, am a messy sleeper. I own a queen sized bed mostly because I move so much in my sleep that my father had gotten me a bed I wouldn't fall off of in the middle of the night and crash on the floor. I used to wake up half the packhouse in the past when I would fall out of bed. The thunderous thump of my body hitting the wooden floor of my bedroom was jarring to everyone's sensitive ears. My hair looks like I have stood in the middle of a humid forest for several days with the amount of frizz it retains from my continuous rolling across the pillows and sheets, my pajama's are wrinkled, and my tank top rides up my stomach. Let's not mention the sleep clings to my eyelashes dangerously, as if it's punishment for waking up so early. I am pretty sure I've drooled somewhere on a pillow too. My mother thinks I'm the cutest thing though and always dotes on me, despite my dislike of looking in the mirror before a shower. "Oh my little songbird, come now, you want to look your best for tonight, don't you? Everyone will be here, even perhaps your future mate!" Songbird is my mother's nickname for me, kind of a play on the fact she had named me Aria to begin with. I guess she hit it on the nose though, because I love music, if it wasn't obvious by the instruments in my bedroom. A beautiful chocolate brown Cello sits on a stand in the corner of my room side by side with a mahogany violin I received on my sixteenth birthday. I sing too, one of my many talents. I've been praised for my voice often and my skill with my instruments, my focus having been on string and percussion. I'm only turning eighteen but I have even performed with the philharmonic. "Mama, please I can't find a mate." I groaned, sitting up, and I instantly saw the sadness on her face. I regret saying the words almost immediately. She sets down the tray of food she had brought me for breakfast on the endtable before settling herself on the bed with me picking idly at loose thread. "You never know songbird...there's a chance." I feel regretful for my poor mother, my poor father. I'm considered to be one of the most talented and intelligent in my pack, of course, but I know, deep down there's disappointment. Not from my parents, but others. You see, I'm a werewolf...without her wolf. It's not entirely unheard of, there have been rare.....very rare...cases where a werewolf didn't get theirs on time, typically it was due to a defect or disability. I don't have either of those. I was born full term, I was healthy, of good weight, and I progressed normally, perhaps even a little faster than most pups growing up. Tonight is my eighteenth birthday. I still haven't gotten my wolf. I haven't even felt an itch of it in my mind. My senses, while enhanced just shy of a werewolf's abilities, I don't hear, see, or smell the same. I'm slower physically, but I'm told that will all come with time. I'm not really hopeful anymore I'll get my wolf. My parents even indulged me when I asked for a DNA test because perhaps I had been switched at birth and their real daughter was somewhere out in the world. They did the test, the results came back as positive matches for both my parents and it left me wondering if there was something wrong. Maybe I had pissed off the Moon goddess and been denied my wolf, like in that Greek tale of Medusa and Athena. I didn't want to see my mother sad, "Mama, I...I can't find a mate without my wolf, maybe it will come but, let's not get too excited over it and be disappointed." I said, taking her hand, "I just want to have fun with everyone." I try to soothe. My mother smiled, "You're right songbird, it will come when its time." she pats my thigh and grabs the tray smiling, "I made you breakfast." I smiled back and took the tray. It's a pancake with a smiley face made out of fresh fruit, scrambled eggs on the side and two strips of bacon. My mother, Sierra, is our pack Luna and mated with my father, Alpha Skylar. They are quite young still, only in their early forties now, but both of them look like they are just shy of turning thirty. They met young and had me equally as young. My mom had just turned twenty when she had me, a baby herself in a way, but she had become a Luna and mother all within a year of meeting my dad. It was daunting, but she took the task in stride. I would love to be half the wolf she is. She was a busy woman but always made time for me in her busy schedule, like today. She had gotten up early, made herself look like a million bucks and even made me breakfast. It was a tradition of hers. Every birthday I was treated to this. My mother has beautiful long brown hair that falls in natural waves the longer it gets, side-swept bangs that frame her face and pale sky-blue eyes. Her skin is a lovely Oliver color and she has a very dainty frame, but don't let that fool you, her wolf Maze can rip a bigger wolf to shreds if she gets pissed off enough, especially when it comes to protecting her own. I take most of my looks from my father. I have his black hair that reached to just above my butt and dark sapphire blue eyes. I have my mother's facial shape though, and my dad's high cheek bones, my mother's olive-colored skin and her figure. I'm curvy but I have a thin waist. I take pride in maintaining a healthy weight and figure, I want to be strong for my pack and perhaps my future mate, but I won't be smug about it. I may look pretty, but I'm pretty disconnected from what most teenagers are like. I never once considered myself popular and if people thought I was, I didn't let praise get to my head. My father instilled that hard work, compassion, and kindness were key to being a leader and to bringing our people together. One day he hoped I would be the pack's Luna. When he stepped down, he wanted to know that my future mate and the future alpha of our pack would have a strong supporter. I had no brothers or sisters, it was just me. So, the future of our pack was on me. Not daunting at all, right? "Thanks mama, I'll eat quick and then get ready." I say as I began to tuck into the meal. The packhouse which we live in has its own kitchen staff that handles all the meals, but this is what I look forward to. It's a treat to eat my mother's cooking and it is really good, like she puts an extra touch of love into everything she does. The community hall in our packhouse is where all meals are typically served; our warriors, doctors, beta, gamma, and, of course, the Alpha and Luna eat there. I do, too, just like anyone who lives in the packhouse, I thankfully don't have to suffer, a stuffy atmosphere alone here. I'm, after all, not the only teenager living in the packhouse. My best friend and pack mate Carson lives here too. He is my father's beta's son. We grew up together. My earliest memory of Carson was when we both would play in the little pen set up in my father's office while he and my mother worked. It was convenient, especially for Beta Yulson Carson's father. You see, Carson's mom had died when he was about two years old. It was a really tragic accident. She had gone out on a patrol, wanting to stretch her legs and get some fresh air. It had begun raining and because it was night she had lost the scent of the other warriors, the rain was heavy. We live in a mountainous area, our territory is huge and surrounded by forests as far as the eye can see. When it rains, it's dangerous. A landslide happened that night and even with a werewolf's keen senses, a land slide is like a tsunami....you don't escape. It had apparently, (from what I had heard) taken over a week to find his mom. Yulson hadn't taken the loss well, but he had pulled through if only for Carson's sake. Losing a mate can be as good as dying yourself. Not all mates survive the loss. Carson and I are thick as thieves, we had each others backs no matter what, almost near inseparable. He was probably my one true friend. Our little duo, of course, became a trio when we turned fifteen. A pack had joined ours after losing their alpha and being unable to decide on a new one, had split up and searched for new packs to join. Elaine had come into our lives like a bullet. A blond, bouncy, energetic, and chatty bullet. People often found her well... too much. I sometimes found her too much, but she was a friend, a girl who I got along with well, shared a lot of secrets with and supported. Elaine was the one who helped me get through not getting my wolf when I turned sixteen. Carson had gotten his and Elaine hers. I was the odd one out. I was so depressed I refused to come out of the room for a week. She came with snacks, movies, and girl magazines to cheer me up. She even convinced me I was lucky...I didn't have to suffer the pain of breaking bones, and I didn't have to worry about accidentally ruining a favorite blouse. It didn't really make me feel better, but it got me through. I, of course, supported her as well, especially when she and Caron began to date. The two were silly to each other and while I felt like a third wheel, they never made me feel left out. I've ridden on Carson and Elaine's backs a couple times for full moon runs. While I couldn't shift myself, I have to admit, the sensation of the wind in my hair and the full moon on my skin is exhillerating, I feel the pull of its light and the mood goddess, but I don't feel my wolf....and that is the most frustrating part. They really are my best friends. As I finished the last of my peach tea, I heard my phone go off. It's an old flip phone (I don't really care or want a smartphone). I checked the message sent to me. It's from Carson. 'You up lazy bones? Probably not. It's probably too early for a sleeping troll to roll out of bed! Just kidding, happy birthday Ari, I'll see you tonight. Elaine is making me go shopping for a gift for you. Let's cross our fingers. Today is the day you get your wolf! Peace!' Leave it to him to call a troll, being one of the only other people to see me look this way when I wake up. My face heats up and I quickly write a text back. 'You're officially uninvited to my birthday party you phleb' I wait for his reply and it took barely a minute before I get the notification I have mail. 'Says the girl with the flip phone, and too bad I live there. I'll crash the party if I want to' I can't help the smile that covers my face. Of course, he would call me out for having a flip phone too. 'I'll bite you' 'Ooo scary, love to see you try! See you later!' With a shake of my head, I close my phone and get up, time to face the day 3;30pm August 14th, 2017. My feet hurt and I haven't even put on the heels my mother bought me. I've been taken to at least ten different stores, tried on over fifty different dresses and had at least six make-up consults to get the right look for the party tonight and I just want to grab a iced coffee from starbbucks and go home. My mother's idea of being pampered is a little different from mine. She thinks shopping is therapy. I call it a boring devil. If you've seen one store, you've seen them all. I had assured my mother I had plenty of dresses to choose from, she never brought me anything that was cheap and half the dresses I owned had been worn only once. I'm really frugal. Surprisingly, despite my parents being loaded and spoiling me rotten, I like simplicity, but I also like to look presentable. I'm grateful we're done though. We found my dress for the party, a dark blue off-the-shoulder dress with a sweetheart neckline and a sweeping train. A slit went up the right side ending just above my knee and I couldn't have been happier. My mother paired it with some lovely silver pumps. After going to the hair dresser and getting a full makeover, we had finally gotten home, my party would start at six pm. Everyone, including the alpha's from other packs, had been invited. No expense was being spared for my eighteenth and I had long given up arguing about the party being so big. I think my nerves are shot, I'm stressed that everyone will be looking at me to get my wolf and I'm going to disappoint them all. It's all that playing in my head, what happens when they are all looking at me waiting for it to happen and it just....doesn't? I don't want other Alphas to think my father is weak because he produced a useless pup... I'm shaking. I quickly scrunch my eyes closed and take a few deep breaths, it's fine, I'm fine, I don't need a wolf to make my parents proud, I'm as good as I am. It's a mantra I tell myself. It is not really effective, but it does what I want and helps me calm down. I only need to finish zipping up my dress and putting my heals on. Then I can go greet the visitors and guests with my parents. I can do this...I can do this... I can can't I? 7:30pm August 14th, 2017 The party is in full swing by this point, the ballroom is crowded with bodies, there's music playing and food and drink has been served. Everyone's mingling. I think I've shaken about a hundred hands at this point. I still haven't seen Carson or Elaine and we're already an hour into the event. In another half hour we'll have cake and then everyone will go outside to do a full moon run. It's a little ironic for me that the full moon landed on my birthday of all days. Like it's taunting me that I can't shift and run out with everyone. I gave a violin performance for our guests as thanks for their attendance and received a few compliments from the visiting Luna's. I have danced with a few available unmated sons of the visiting alpha's and still Elaine and Carson are nowhere in sight....I can't check my phone either because I left it in my room. It would be rude to carry it around while trying to be both a good host and a guest of honor. I feel fidgety and uncomfortable, like maybe something has happened to my best friends. My worst fear is to find Carson hurt or injured when he is off our territory. Worse still, if both he or Elaine got attacked by rogues or in an accident on the road. I feel like all eyes are on me suddenly and it's crowded and hot. I'm ready to sink into myself as the nagging beings gnaw at the back of my mind that the guests are waiting for something extraordinary to happen. I jump about ten feet out of my skin when I feel a hand land on my bare shoulder and I spin around, tears almost springing to my eyes as I see Carson and Elaine finally. "Happy Birthday Ari! sorry we're so late, we lost track of the time and hit rushhouse out of the city." He informs me and Elaine smiles sheepishly, "Yeah I had to get ready in the back seat of the car on our way back, happy birthday girl!" she looked embarrassed to admit she had to do such a thing but I'm just glad they are here, it feels better to have some extra support. I hugged them both, letting go a sigh of relief, "I'm just glad you guys are here, I'm ready to crawl out of my skin." I stated as I pull back,"I feel like everyone is waiting for me to shift and yell surprise or something." Carson looked empathetic to my plight, "Ari...listen, it's okay, you don't need to worry about your wolf, it's late, yes, but when it is time it will come." He rubs my arms gently, an encouraging smile covering his boyishly handsome features and I feel relieved, "Thanks." I utter feeling the nerves calming down, the itch it still under my skin though. Carson is quite handsome, he always has been. He had short fluffy brown hair and tan skin, his eyes a warm hazel and he's really tall, standing at 6'3. It's almost funny to see Elaine stand next to him in all her 5 foot 4 glory. I even stand taller than her at 5'9. "You got this Ari, we'll have your back no matter what." Elaine gives me a thumb up and I feel much better. This small interaction goes a long way to helping me through the next few minutes before the music quiets down and the lights go out, the crowd parts and through the large double doors leading into the ballroom, I see a massive four-tier cake being wheeled in on a trolley. It's covered in so many candles. I worry about how it hasn't caught on fire yet. Everyone in the room begins to sing Happy Birthday to me, led by my mother and father's example, as the cake comes to a stop in front of me and I look around it, stopping when I reach the back of the cake, a smile on my face. They really out did themselves this time. It was really beautiful with its cascade of blue and black flowers. I look past the cake to see Carson's face illuminated in the candlelight and Elaine hugging his arm, smiling. They both make a gesture for me to attempt to blow out the candles and I smile back.... I wonder if I hadn't blown out the candles, would things have turned out differently? The exhale of air that leaves my lungs and rushes over the cake puts them all out at once. My wish....to be a wolf everyone can be proud of...really proud of.... It's like a painful pop inside my head. Everything just becomes too much, a rush of sound invades my ears, the dark room brightens by like twenty times what it should be and smells invade my nose. One stands out; Honeysuckle and Pine. It's mouth watering and it makes me dizzy. I stumbled, grabbing the edge of the trolley while trying to cover my ears from the high-pitched sounds in the silent room, and looked up. It's like everything goes in slow motion, my mother's rushing through the crowd, my father's barking at people to back up. I meet Carson's eyes and a feeling so overwhelming fills my chest like fire. 'Mate' A word I wanted to hear, and yet I wish I hadn't. Carson's expression had fallen, his eyes looked dazed and he was almost as pale as a ghost. Oh no....no.... My head is screaming and suddenly I take notice that I'm not alone inside my head anymore. She is there, like she had simply just popped into existence like a balloon bursting. Love and need try to swallow me up and I see Carson's mouth moving, I can barely hear him and I know...I know what comes next, I don't need him to say the words he is about to utter out loud, I can see it in his eyes and I knew it would happen....I'm not angry though, but it doesn't stop this overwhelming feeling of pain that trying to tear through me as I reach to cover his mouth, not here...not in front of everyone, I can accept it...I can take it, I know he loved Elaine and I don't want anything to come between what they have had for the past three and a half years. Even if that anything is me. It's too late though, I freeze in place as I am ripped asunder in seconds flat. "I, Carson James Talbot, reject you, Aria Knightengale, as my mate." The room is silent but I feel like everyone is screaming in my ears as she howls in my head, my skin is hot, it's itchy and I want to claw myself out of it as I feel like I'm being ripped in two... "I.......Aria Knightengal....gale" I want to utter the words but I don't even know if I'm speaking, "I reject Carson....james..." its like the world is coming out from under my feet and I can no longer breathe. "Talbot as my...mate." It's like fire rushing through my veins and I'm running . I don't even notice when I lose a shoe. I burst through the doors to the patio that leads out into the garden, it backs directly onto the forest, leaving about a hundred feet between it and the packhouse. I know everyone's screaming for me. The moon above feels like it's screaming at me and I break the forest line. I feel the pain, my bones stretch and snap, they break and twist and I'm on the ground, my dress ripping to shreds and I scramble and claw at the damp earth. The smell of the forest invades my nose and I'm thrown to the back of my mind. I feel like I am shoved into a tight little corner and everything I see now is from my wolf's perspective. Run....Aeris will run... And that is all I know after that, the word run. My wolf's name is Aeris and she has decided she will run despite the painful ache in our heart trying to drown us under a river of cold water that feels like fire burning through our veins. My life is coming to an end when it has barely begun and I feel that....why did it have to be Carson? Why him of all werewolves? I don't know how long she ran, it's such a blur, but we howl at the cliffside, the pain and agony that swallows our heart as the rejection of our mate, though mutual threatens to eat us alive. I loved Carson, I still do...but I never wanted him to end up as my mate. I only hope he's faring better than I am, because I fear this is the last of Aria Knigtengale. 6:30am August 15, 2017. We howled all night until we could howl no more. I realized we had gone far past our pack's territory as we stumbled back towards home. I'm so weak...Aeris is weak, barely able to keep on her paws. Our vision is blurry and I'm sure this is it, we're done...I only hope we can get close enough to home before finding a place to die. I at least want my parents to find me after I do...I sense the familiar tugging of the pack's mind link, everyone's looking but Aeris and I are far too weak to respond. We find a mossy patch of grass at the base of a giant cedar tree and Aeris paws at it. If we're going to die...we can at least die comfortably. I hear her heavy grunt as she flops down heavily into the patch and onto her side, her head stretched out as she pants...this is it, I'm sure, as our sight grows darker by the second. If Carson survives this, I can only hope that he and Elaine live happily...I know he was planning to ask her to be his mate since he hadn't found his mate in the pack, well...until I happened. It's almost ironic, my wish came true....and it was also my undoing. I really want to see mom and dad one last time. As our eyes drift close, I almost wish I could smile, I can smell them..I can smell mom and dad. 'I'm sorry...I love you both...' I almost think I hear my mom call out to me before I finally give in and let the darkness surround me.