01| Death Of A Lycan King

It was once believed that a pure breed Lycan King would mate with a Light Oracle from the planet of Morzovia, and a Blessed One will be born. She will have enough energy on the tip of her finger to destroy the world, and if she incessantly uses it before the age of twenty-one, she will die a slow, agonising death.

Unless she meets her fated mate...

***

A howl resounded across the air, shattering the prevailing calm.

Mira woke up, gasping for air as she clawed at her throat before a heart-wrenching scream was torn from her lips. The air grew sickeningly thin around her and she knew deep down in the branches of her heart that something wasn't right.

She felt a shift of energy surge through her thrumming veins and she could see a bright light rippling in the red-tinged sky through the hole in the tent she shared with her father.

She sat upright, sucking in sharp breaths as she rapidly pulled the fur covers off her trembling body. With her hand still around the base of her throat, she staggered outside of the tent with the hopes of finding her father sitting by the campfire they had going every night.

Her steps faltered when she realized there was no campfire and her father was nowhere to be seen.

But she did notice the strong aroma of blood that was contaminating the fresh air as it drifted through the breeze, making her sick to her stomach.

"Papa..." She called out into the still night. "Papa, where are you?!" She called again, and that time her voice shook with uncertainty. 

She held her breath as she could sense that she wasn't alone. "Whatever you're looking for, I can promise you that you will not find it here!" She cried out as she bent down, and picked up a large stick. 

The sound of rustling leaves and bristling branches became louder by the second until she was greeted by two big werewolves with brown fur and streaks of white slashed across their backs.

She took two steps back. The urge to keep the distance between herself and the wolves was strong until her back was pressed against the flimsy tent.

At which point her heartbeat became so loud that it drowned out everything around her.

She swallowed thickly as she watched the Corbette twins shift into their human form as they walked between the towering trees. As the moonlit their path, they appeared naked and dangerously seductive.

Fear.

Real fear like she's never felt before engulfed her, causing her to panic, and she tossed the stick to the ground. Then she held both of her hands out by her sides with her palms facing upward.

Though she fully understood the consequences of using her source of energy before her twenty-first birthday. She was prepared to set everything in front of her ablaze. 

She was frightened, alone, and she was best known as the rogue that occupied the small patch of grass across the river on the east side. 

Where everything perishes for some unknown cause.

"Calm down little one," Tober growled with a shake of his head.

"What do you want? You are breaking the treaty by crossing the river." 

"We come in peace." Jagger chuckled, holding his hand's mid-air.

"That still doesn't explain what you are doing here?" 

"I told our mother it would have been wiser for her to come herself," Tober hissed looking sideways at Jagger. 

"It's your father Mira." Jagger swallowed, gauging her reaction the moment he mentioned her beloved father.

"Wh-what about my father?" 

Jagger took another cautious step toward Mira so as not to startle her even more. "You need to come with us," He said as he held out his hand, gesturing for her to take it.

But, Mira didn't.

She felt like shouldn't and because of that feeling, she just stared at his hand with a blank expression smeared across her beautiful features

"Mira, time is of the essence if you want to see your father before he is burned." Jagger continued.

"Bu-burned? Why will he be-"

"It is being carried out by his request. Before you were both granted access to this side of the woods, your father asked for his body to be burned. Something about him wanting to be one with the wind..." Tober interjected in a tiresome tone. 

He was the grumpy, impatient twin out of the two. Whereas Jagger, was more of a gentle soul and she could see why most of the girls in the pack fell head over heels for him.  

She placed her hand in Jaggers, and he led her toward the set of trees he and Tober had just exited. "I'm going to shift." He felt the need to inform her when he came to a standstill. "I want you to get on my back, wrap your arms around my neck, and keep your head down. Can you do that for me?"  He asked as he let go of her hand and took three steps back from her.

"Ofcourse she can, Jagger. She's fucking twenty, not ten, and she has seen us shift before." Tober growled impatiently as he looked back at Mira with a look of animosity gleaming in his eyes.

"Fuck up, Tober! Have a fucking heart will you?!" Jagger snarled. "Her dad just died... A Lycan King has fallen on our territory."

"Fine, suit yourself! How can you expect me to have a heart for an inbred rogue?! Sometimes you need to stop wearing your heart on your sleeve because that's what's going to get you killed brother. I'm outta here." Tober growled, hating that his twin brother was forever civil and that they were two completely different characters that came from the same womb. 

It made no sense to him, and he gave up trying to make sense of it a long time ago for it would drive him bonkers. 

He began running and he leapt off the ground, shifting into his wolf while he flew through the air, and by the time his paws hit the ground, there wasn't a trace of his human form to be seen.

He looked over his shoulder, baring his sharp teeth with a snarl, and he took off running through the woods, leaving them both behind.

Mira looked back at Jagger as he shook his head while he shifted his gaze to meet hers. "I'm sorry about Tober. He has no filter nor does he care for anyone other than himself... Are you ready?" 

Mira nodded her head, "Yes..."  

With wide eyes, she stood rooted on the spot as she watched Jagger effortlessly shift. It was beautiful and disturbing at the same time. She could only imagine how uncomfortable it must be for him to go through the transformation and wondered if it got any easier the more times he shifted.

Jaggers' wolf, Hunter lowered his head to the ground, waiting for Mira to jump on his back, and the moment he felt her arms wrap around his neck, he took off running through the woods.

Mira did as Jagger asked of her, she lowered her head and closed her eyes at the same time.

For she didn't need to see how fast they were going, she could tell by how cold the breeze was against her bare face.

As Hunter came to halt, Mira raised her head, opening her honey brown eyes and she was greeted by the council of the Midnight Pack as they surrounded her father's deceased body.

She jumped off Hunter's back and ran straight to her father as tears glazed in her tired eyes. 

"Papa!!!" She cried out as she threw her grief-stricken body over her fathers. "Papa, please.." She sniffled, "Please... Get up. You can't leave me, not like this..." 

Jagger's mother, Siren, stepped forward with glassy eyes as she watched Mira cry for her dead father. "I'm sorry child, but your father is gone and there is nothing we can do." She informed her as she laid a gentle hand on Mira's shoulder.

"I can try." Mira cried as she cocked her head back, meeting Siren's gaze, "If you'll just allow me to feed off your energy, I can-"

Siren's pulse spiked, and an abrupt snarl departed from her lips, "It is unsafe for you to draw on your source of energy right now. Your father made it very clear that your body is not prepared for the aftermath. It isn't safe for you or the pack, I'm sorry, but-" 

Mira was quick to pull away from her father and out of Siren's touch. Rage consumed her entire body and her gentle soul was screaming for revenge.

She stared at her father's body, her eyes took in every inch of him, trying to find the cause of his death with tears spilling from her tear ducts like a cascading waterfall.

"His heart... Where is his heart?!" She abruptly stood up and shrieked with surprise.

How could someone be so savagely brutal and steal a man's heart? She thought to herself as she could not comprehend what the use of the dead organ could be to someone or something. 

"We don't know. Beta Angel stumbled upon your father as he was out guarding the outskirts of the woods." 

Mira's gaze darted from one pair of eyes to another. Then she glared at everyone who was on the council that stood around the circle as she patiently waited for someone else to offer her an explanation. 

Who was she kidding? She couldn't trust anyone in the council. The only person she did trust with her life was presently laying in front of her, dead.

Regardless, she couldn't take Sirens' reply for an answer. There had to be a proper explanation and no one was talking. Irritation pricked her skin and her eyes shone brightly with amber rings.

Gasps swept through the air, "Your eyes, Mira." Jagger croaked out. He had returned to the circle fully clothed, and for the life of him, he could not tear his gaze away from her. "They... They're glowing." He looked on with shock. 

"You need to leave..." Siren's voice trembled as she stepped away from Mira with a trembling hand covering her mouth. "Now, you need to leave NOW!!!" She ordered with unshed tears glistening in her eyes. 

"Save your tears for another day, lady Siren. For I will find out who did this to my father and there will be hell to pay!" Mira sneered, setting her father on fire with her own bare hands, and as a consequence to her drawing out her source energy...

The blood that was thrumming through her veins felt like it was blistering through her burning flesh. 

She swallowed that pain, feeding off it as it was the only sensation that was keeping her from setting the Midnight pack on fire too.