A Mate Without Sin

Chapter 5, No Blessings

Lycan were different than Weres, and Bloodstone pack was different than regular Lycan packs. For one, it was huge. Most packs were only fifty or so strong. Zaire's pack had three times that.

Ziare hadn't been Alpha born, no. Almost no Lycan was. Everything in their world was taken. From romance to conquest, only the best could reap the profits. Ziare was Alpha made.

When he was young, his older brother had fought his way into the position of beta of Bloodstone pack. Not a bad place, but the furthest he could reach. Alpha Hugo, Fei's great uncle was a beast of a man, so terrifying that he'd held the Alpha position for close to fifty years. He'd never gotten himself a mate, though Ziare supposed that suited the old man just fine.

Ziare had grown up under his brother tutelage, his parents dead a decade before due to war. It was through this connection that he was present at the meeting when Alpha Hugo had met with his great neice, Fei.

The young alpha female was beautiful, even then.

Ziare remembered the fire that lit him and the stirring of his wolf, younger then like him. His eyes couldn't seem to pry himself from her. He'd snuck off to talk to her against his brothers wishes while the higher ranks were talking.

The fact that she had Lycan heritage was obvious, from the way she met his gaze without flinching, how she snapped at his fingers if he got to close to what she considered hers. Her mother had disapproved, much to his confusion, trying to tame her instincts into something more refined. He couldn't understand why she'd want to stunt such a perfectly wild female, but he'd kept his mouth shut.

Over the week, they'd played, even had short fights of which he'd always ultimately let her win- something he'd never done before and would savagely beat any other juvenile over if they pointed it out. He wasn't the Betas brother for nothing.

By the time she'd had to leave, he had half a mind to challenge her parents to keep her. Telling his brother so made the man laugh harder than he'd ever seen.

"The young Alpha girl? Ziare, you are fifteen, barely! Her father would eat you alive. Not to mention her uncle!" Ziare didn't appreciate this, but said nothing as his older brother threw an arm over his shoulder.

"Why her? She might be Lycan in many senses, sure, and if I were your age I might understand the appeal, but Ziare she is no Lycan. She is a Were, and she is moonblessed."

That night, Ziare learned about mates, a blessing from the goddess, and something he would never have. Fei was made perfectly for another wolf, and though Ziare had the abilities to destroy fate and take her as his own, her heart and soul may never be his. The next day, he watched her leave with a quiet heart and an even quieter wolf.

Despite his dominance, Ziare and his wolf would never force themself onto a female. She would walk her path to destiny, and stay on that moonlit road safe, loved and happy. He would walk his path of darkness and bloodshed, training each day viciously ever since she'd left.

His shift came an went, a wolf blood red, rabid, and easily as big as his brothers despite being years younger and less trained. Challengers came and went, only distant corpses behind him now. His wolf had one goal, the same as any other his age, a want for more and a desire to seize his place in the pack. He'd challenged and ripped apart each wolf ahead of him, taking their place if he could. And he did.

Other wolves took notice and stepped out of his way, understanding nature and greater wolves. Females came sniffing though he'd never noticed past mild irritation. Bolder ones tried to stake claim and were subsequently ripped apart by his wolf for being too weak. He would not tolerate a female who was not as much as him. Quickly others learned and he was left alone.

After Ziare turned twenty, he took on the Alpha. It was premature, even for him, and he almost didn't come out alive, but his will and drive wouldn't let him rest until he took out his oppositions throat. It was a legendary battle, his older brother had been stunned not only with the challenge but by the fact that his little brother had been successful. Sure, everyone had seen the young male growing at an alarming rate and had considered that he could be a contender for alpha in the future. Years from now, surely.

A fatal mistake.

Alpha Hugo was perhaps the only wolf Ziare almost regretted killing, though that was how it was done. He felt strange killing family of Fei, though he hadn't seen her in years.

He'd settled in easily, his brother as Beta, and had continued to bloody and grow his pack for years in an almost boring routine.

It wasn't until he was twenty five, Fei only twenty two now if he remembered correctly, that he heard word from the Blackwood pack. Sure, he'd gotten news when her father had passed, a shame really, but no one had been invited to the small funeral. It wasn't until his mate Alice died that his pack was given invitation to attend the memorial.

For any other pack, he'd ignore it. Death was part of nature and pack life. But remembering the little moonblessed female made his response immediate. Grabbing only a small handful of his warriors, he'd set out to his southwest border and crossed into their territory.

Stepping into the funeral, Feis scent was on him in a second. Forest and night time rain filled his nose as he inhaled deeply. His wolf was alert, but passive, interested in seeing the female again. Sure, she wasn't theirs, and as long as she was on the path of the moon she would be protected. But the second she crossed the threshold into the darkness, he made a promise to his wolf.

They would have their mate.