Fated For Two

Complicated Past

I felt Felix and Calin's eyes on me but couldn't meet them. I needed to hold onto what little courage I had. They never said a word as they waited for me to continue. I steadied my racing heart and began. "There is something you need to understand, I never chose to be like this, I never wanted any part of it. You can't choose what you are born into. You need to understand that." I started, taking a breath before continuing, "The Ash Bane Pack, my father's pack and mine, is one of the oldest packs that still remain. Their lines originate from the first Lycans, and they are stuck in the past, in their old ways of thinking and seeing the world."

"They hold onto ancient traditions, bloodshed, and wars. They condemn anything and everything that is not of Lycan descent. To mix the wolf with anything else is punishable by death for tainting the bloodline. They would often hunt underworlders for sport, to prove that they were superior, and to gain recognition or move up the ranks within the pack. My father hated being in the pack but was forced to stay if he valued his life. My mother was a warlock. I never knew her. My father always told me she had died but never said how, or why. My father died when I was ten. He killed himself. I was raised by the pack elders, forced to suppress whatever abilities I had in order to stay alive." I paused as tears streamed down my face.

"Barely a few months with the elders, a man came. I never knew who he was. He wasn't a part of my pack. I can only remember fragments of him and his time there. He visited me often. The night before he left, he bit me. I remember the agonizing pain I felt burning through my body. I remember shifting for the first time a few days after that. I was told that the man that bit me was an Alpha like no other, a pure Alpha, a descendent of a generational line of royal blood from the first Lycan. He changed me somehow. I became something different than what I was supposed to be. That is the reason I never heard my wolf before you two found me. I didn't think I had one. All this time I thought he took that away from me."

"One night, years later, I heard screaming coming from the cells. I was cleaning the floor above them that night. I snuck down the back stairwell to see what was going on. I was never allowed down there. I should not have gone but I couldn't stop myself. There must have been over a dozen of them, underworlders, crammed into the cells. The guards were beating five of them a couple of cells away from where I was. I could hear their agony. I could feel their pain. Something inside me snapped. I remember being flooded with powerful rage, it burst through me and consumed me. I remember voices whispering in my mind. I repeated what they said over and over while my body felt like it was burning. I heard faint screams and then nothing. When I opened my eyes, everything was covered in ash as if the fires of hell had burned through. The strange thing was that the bars and walls were melted, the prisoners were gone and the guards, all thirteen of them, were nothing but shadows on the walls that remained."

I paused, trying to gain control of my emotions as I wiped tear after tear off my cheeks. "They ended up capturing me, forcing spellbound chains around my wrists and throwing me into one of the seven remaining cells. They left me there to rot for months. They told me I was nothing but a freak of nature, an abomination, nothing but a monster that needed to be killed. The night before my execution, a woman came to me. She set me free and guided me on a path away from them. Three months after my escape you two found me. I thought you were there to drag me back." I finished.

"Astra, how long did they keep you in that cell?" Felix asked softly. "None months." Calin looked up from her hands and at me. "What type of wolf was your father? Do you know your mother's bloodline?" Felix asked. I looked at him, then back at Calin as I answered, "My father was an alpha-beta, next in line to take over the pack. He never told me anything about my mother, just that she had died." I told them. Felix and Calin shared a concerned look before Felix looked away. "I am going to call a councilors' meeting. Calin, can you stay with Astra while I sort things out?" Felix asked as he got up. "Of course, kasis," Calin said, just as Felix walked out of the office.

"What does kasis mean?" I asked her. She stared at me for a second before saying, "It means 'my brother' but in its proper inflection it indicates a bond deeper than just blood." She explained before standing up, her hand outstretched towards me. I grabbed it as she pulled me out of the chair and then out of the office. We walked slowly, hand in hand, as she continued, " My brother and I are third-generation Alphas. We are what you'd call pure Alphas. Our bloodline is a perfect mix of royal and alpha wolves. It is a rare mix and most don't survive past their first shift. One only comes along every ten generations. We only have Alpha bloodlines, nothing below that ranking. It is unheard of that two pure Alphas are born in the same generation to a single pair of werewolves. Felix and I are gifted, it is beyond super speed and strength. Felix is telepathic and I am telekinetic. It differs from one of our kind to the next, each one is gifted in one area on top of our enhanced natural abilities." She said.

"You are what is known as a Theta werewolf, but not only that, you are also a hybrid from what you have told us. You have warlock abilities. We wouldn't know the extent of your abilities because you don't know much about your mother and her bloodline." "What is a Theta werewolf?" I asked her. "It is an extremely rare type of wolf. They are created rather than born. The first-born child of an Alpha that is bitten by a pure Alpha becomes a Theta werewolf. You have trace bloodlines to the original Lycan. Not much is known about them. It has long been forbidden for Pure Alphas to create Theta wolves, most don't survive the transition. Some go insane and become Ultima wolves, who are rabid and feral and can't change back into human form." She explained.

"Where are your parents?" I asked, which caused her to stop in her tracks. "They died, seven years after our birth, in a battle they should have won. They died fighting for what they knew was right." She said sadly. I cupped her cheek gently, her hand coming up to cover mine as if she was making sure I stayed there. "I am so sorry Calin," I whispered, just before her lips touched my own in a searing kiss.