The Rise of the Rejected Mate: The Scion Book 1

Chapter 3

Davin

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I sat in the throne room attending to the complaints of the Alphas of the kingdom. The room itself had a vaulted ceiling with an enormous crystal chandelier at the center. The cream walls were adorned with centuries worth of family paintings as well as scenes of epic historical battles that the pack had been through. Rows and rows of previous kings were represented. 

The throne room was as old as the pack and although it had been extended and revamped many times it still had that sense of history. When I looked around I could sense the strength and will of my ancestors, their will to create a peaceful home for their families. My throne sat on a platform, overlooking the opulent room, the empty seat of my future Queen was next to it.

Most wolves envied my position as their king. They had no idea how much of it was dull and dreary paperwork, schedules, and duties. Responsibility. We had lived a very peaceful existence for many years, only ever disrupted by rogue wolves and the odd hunter. My wolf, Geri, and I snarled at the thought of the hunters. 

Decades ago the hunters were prolific and we were embroiled in a prolonged war. We had been fighting fiercely for years, neither side willing to give in. My grandfather was king then. All we wanted as wolves was to be left alone, we couldn’t be bothered with humans and their cities and were content to stick to our land and our lives. They, however, wouldn’t listen to reason, and, filled with ignorance and hatred, they hunted us mercilessly. 

We had no choice but to defend ourselves and so the war raged on. It seemed to be interminable, an almost evenly matched war. That was until they murdered my father’s little sister. They had targeted her specifically, sending an assassin to take her life. The moment she closed her pretty eyes and breathed her last breath, their fates were sealed. 

“As it should be,” Geri grumbled inside my mind. “They should not have touched our family,” he growled. 

“Yes, they paid dearly, still do and always will,” I agreed. 

Geri was a volatile wolf, easily angered, and had no qualms ripping the throat out of anyone he felt was disrespecting him. I often had to stop him from overreacting to minor issues. He grouched in the back of my mind and settled down again, although somewhat restlessly.

My grandfather and his kingdom were enraged when his daughter died and the hunters’ lives were forfeited. We pushed everything aside and pursued them with single-minded focus. We were unrelenting and ruthless, and we definitely took no prisoners. We hunted them to near extinction. We still did to this day, but their power had been stripped. The last few were no longer a threat and so now one or two warriors went out regularly to hunt them for sport. Life returned to relative normalcy but the damage had been done, she was gone and nothing would bring her back. 

I had been just a little pup back then but I remember the constant raw emotion in the atmosphere, the aura of sadness that took over in the quiet moments, my grandmother’s random outbursts. I didn’t really understand what was happening, I just remember missing my lively aunt, she’d often played with me when the others were busy attending to their duties. I understood it more and more as I got older. 

I thought of her often, wondering what she would have been like as an older she-wolf, she had always been gracious and kind yet was a fierce warrior as well. As always, my fond memories of her turned to darker ones, the war in the few years after her death. The hunting wasn’t pretty. It was vicious, murderous, and downright barbaric. The kingdom had ceased to care about being humane at all and the hunters paid dearly for taking her life. I doubted they would have done it had they known the consequences. 

Eventually, even the wolf most maddened by grief and the need for revenge, my grandfather, had spent his rage and felt that he had avenged his daughter when he took the head of the hunters’ leader. The man had been scarred on every visible part of his body. The skin had grown close over one eye socket. The scar of claws raked across his face made it obvious as to what had happened to that eye. The remaining eye was dark brown and hard, showing only hate. His long dark hair flopped over his forehead as my grandfather held him by the neck, his feet dangling well above the ground. 

He spewed his hatred even in the last moments of his life, shouting insults at our kind. 

“Death and destruction, that’s what you will cause,” he screamed, foaming at the mouth a little. “Death and destruction, you will be the cause,” he kept chanting.

My grandfather’s claws extended in a partial shift and ripped his head from his body, showering them both in blood. He wiped the blood from his face, his expression somber but satisfied. His beloved daughter had been avenged.

Curiously, not long afterward, my grandfather would be the one to keep our hatred of humankind under control. My grandmother, my father, and I thought he was being far too liberal. We limited our contact with them to the bare minimum at his request. He also forbade any wolf to attack humans unprovoked and in doing so, saved many of their lives, much to my father’s disgust. To say that we hated them was an understatement. 

Somehow my grandfather managed to keep my father in line once he was crowned king too so nobody was able to act on their resentment. It didn’t disappear or change the way we felt, instead it grew and festered. 

I was king now and had to keep the status quo. As time passed I could see my grandfather’s reasoning. It would not be good to have an outright war with humans. The balance of power between the supernaturals was always unstable. Many of them liked the state of affairs and should the wolves attack the humans, they would be dragged into it no matter how unwilling. All supernaturals would become a target. Humans could not even get along with themselves, much less a few more species. 

On the other hand, there were many waiting for an opportunity to pounce. Any show of weakness, a small c***k in our armor could incite the power-hungry to act. As such, I kept my hatred for humans under wraps. I tolerated them as best I could. I was as diplomatic as necessary. Thankfully there were no humans in my lands except for one. 

The old crone had apparently performed a great service to our family. My grandfather would never say what it was but he allowed her to live out her life in a cottage in our kingdom. Her cottage was in the middle of a forest far from any packhouses and she lived there as a hermit, hardly ever venturing to the palace or anywhere else for that matter. The forest became her domain and somehow she managed to live there without needing anything from anyone. She hadn’t been seen in years. Despite my distaste, I abided by my grandfather’s promise and left her in peace. 

“It is time, child,” a strange, yet familiar voice rang out from the door of the throne room. Silence fell as everyone turned to the door.

A cold shiver ran down my spine as a gentle breeze swept through while the old crone stood looking at me with milky-white eyes. Her face had minimal wrinkles despite her advancing age and it was clear that she had been an exceptional beauty in her youth. She still was; she had an air of grace and wisdom that went beyond superficial physical traits. Her curly grey hair wafted as the air played with it along with her lengthy layered skirts. 

She gripped her cane, she had had it for as long as I could remember and was never seen without it. I had been so fascinated by it as a child. It was made of a type of white wood, it was smooth except for the top which had some sort of runes carved into it. It was quite unusual. I looked at her in surprise as I felt her aura. It wasn’t aggressive like ours, it was soft yet immutable. It felt like standing before a full river, if one fell in, the only way out was to surrender and go with the flow. Once surrendered it could even be a pleasant experience. 

“Time for what?” I bit out, I hadn’t expected to be dealing with any humans and hadn’t had time to gather my resolve. I needed that time to ensure that Geri and I remained tolerant.  Her eyes glowed slightly, surprising me. What the hell was going on?

“The evil father stirs, ready yourself,” she said. “The Scion comes soon. You must protect her.” 

Her? The Scion was female? Wait, the Scion was real? I frowned in confusion; I’d always thought it was just a story, something to entertain the young. Also, everything I had been told about the legend of the Scion indicated that it would be a man. I mean, he was a powerful warrior who would hold the fate of the world in his hands.  

“The Scion is a silly tale for pups,” I growled, still not quite able to get a handle on my disdain. 

“Heed my warning, child,” she glowered. “Or you will drown in a sea of regret and desolation.” 

Her eyes glowed again and then she turned and left. The wind died down as soon as she was gone. She had startled me, this was her first visit to the Palace in many years. Geri had been eerily silent during the exchange. 

“Geri, do you know what that was about?” I asked him. 

“You should not disrespect the crone,” he muttered quietly. I bristled. 

“You hate humans as much as I do,” I growled, surprised by his reaction. “She is human, she doesn’t deserve my respect or consideration.” 

“She is powerful, she has the favor of the Gods and carries their messages. We need to do what she says.” That surprised me even more. Geri did not submit to anyone and getting him to agree to do things was always a lengthy process of negotiations.  

“What Gods are you referring to? We only worship the moon,” I asked sourly. I didn’t really care for any human Gods or whoever it was the crone worshipped. Geri was silent, he settled down again and just left me hanging. I knew there was no point in trying to engage him any further, he would just ignore me.

“Joe,” I used the telepathy we called mind-linking to talk to my Beta, the second in command of my kingdom. “Call the Elite Guard, we need to meet. Tomorrow at the latest,” I instructed. 

“Yes, Alpha,” he agreed immediately. 

My thoughts went back to the crone’s words. I had loved hearing about the Scion as a pup, often insisting that my parents or my aunt tell the story when putting me to bed. My aunt told it best. 

A great evil would arise from the ether spreading chaos and destruction. Despair would befall all realms until the coming of the Scion. A ray of hope, the light, and savior who would defeat evil and set the world aright. 

She had laughed when I said I wanted to be the Scion. She said I couldn’t be, because I would be the werewolf king and I needed to protect my kingdom, but I could and had to help the Scion. I could be his ally and help him in his quest.