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Chapter 2.2

Dinner smelled delicious. There was chicken; steak; pot roast; potatoes of all kinds: mashed, fried, baked; grilled cheese sandwiches; mac and cheese; black beans; green bean casserole; corn on the cob; stuffed green peppers; bacon wrapped jalepeños; several different salads; cherry and apple fritters; pie; and ice cream. As lycans, we eat a lot. A lycan’s metabolism is much higher than that of a human’s. We have to eat a lot in order to keep our energy up. And because of our metabolism, you will never see a lycan that looks out of shape.

After dinner, I followed my father into his study. It is a rather large room. It has to be, sometimes he holds multi-pack meetings in here, instead of in the war room which is mostly used for banquets these days. We sit in the gray wingback chairs in front of his wall of books.

“Alright son, what is it you wanted to discuss?”

“I wanted to talk to you about the mate bond. It’s just that I don’t understand how I could be mated to someone who is not a lycan...”

“Wait a second, did you find your mate?!” He interrupted me with excitement.

“I did. I know almost nothing about her. And she isn’t a lycan. I also can’t stop thinking about her. Do you think Celeste could make a mistake when making the bonds?”

“It doesn’t matter if she is not a lycan. Celeste doesn’t make mistakes, Shawn. She puts pairs together for a reason. Occasionally, she makes trios, but she hasn’t done that for almost a century now. If she has paired you with a non-lycan mate, there is a reason. Celeste knows what is in the future and she makes the mate bonds accordingly. There are no mistakes.”

“What if I told you my mate is a vampire?”

“Now that doesn’t sound right, are you sure she is a vampire? Alpha’s are never mated to someone who can not provide an heir. You must be mistaken, son.”

“I am almost certain she is a vampire. But she and her brother have heartbeats. They are much slower than a human’s. I believe they are half breeds, born vampires not created.”

“Ah, this makes sense. She will provide an heir. Half lycan and half vampire. Interesting.” He said as he continued to mumble to himself.

“There has never been a lycan-vampire hybrid. Father, are you sure?”

“Yes, I am sure. Hold on a second,” he said as he began looking for a book. After a few minutes, “here it is. I thought I remembered a prophecy about this.” He flipped through the pages of the old book. It looked like an old journal. “Alright, son. You haven’t yet officially begun your alpha training, but you are going to start now.”

“Why? The council leaders stated that training doesn’t begin until I am twenty-five. I still have a few years.”

“No you don’t son. Look here.” He points to a page in the journal and continues. “There is a war coming. Back when Celeste was making mate trios, there was a prophecy. You know the three sisters who are moon goddesses. Celeste, who watches over lycans; Selene, who watches over all supernatural creatures; and Cecelia, who watches over the witches. They have a brother no one ever talks about, Khenzu. He is a mischief maker. All those years ago when Celeste was making trios, it was because of him. Khenzu tried to get witches and lycans to go to war with each other. He almost succeeded. But Celeste made the trios. Each member of the trio had special powers and those powers complemented the powers of the other members of the trio and also boosted the strength of those powers when the trio mate bond was complete. There were many trios and each of them had a purpose. They weren’t just lycan. Some of the trios were mixed, lycans and witches. This is how the alliance between lycan and witches came to be. One of those trios had a very powerful seer, blessed by Celeste. She had a vision of the future. She did not know the time or the place, it was not clear. But she said it would begin when a vampire gave birth to the first lycan-vampire hybrid. The trios defeated Khenzu back then, we will defeat him again.”

I knew then what I had to do. I needed to meet this girl and keep her safe. It appears that she and I will be the ones to save the supernatural world from devastation. Khenzu will rise again and he must be stopped. I wish we knew how to stop him from rising but that didn’t seem to be a part of the prophecy. Strix is a half-breed so it won’t be easy for someone to kill her. If they did manage to kill her human side, her vampire side would still survive. Only a lycan or another vampire can kill a vampire. I will also need to meet the rest of her family. And I will finally be able to put Jason in his place.

I thanked my father and left for my room. I needed to figure out how to approach Strix without her running off. She needs to know I am her mate and once the bond is in place the desire to drink my blood will go away. I also wonder how the mate bond will affect her. She is half human and humans do not feel the bond until they are marked. She is also half vampire, which I am still trying to wrap my head around. Vampires can feel the bond but they can deny it unlike lycans.

I stopped by my mother’s office first to see if she needed anything. She did not, so I continued upstairs.

I walked into my room and I was immediately ambushed by my cousin, Kyle. He tackled me to the ground. I rolled over and flipped us, pinning him to my floor.

“Nice try,” I told him while I got up and helped him to his feet. He has been doing these surprise attacks since we were freshmen in high school. It is funny because he has not figured out that I can smell him and hear his heartbeat from a mile away.

“I’ll get you one of these days,” he said as he punched me in my arm. “Alpha asked me to bring these up for you,” he said, pointing to the books he put on my desk.

“Thanks.”

“So what did Alpha want to talk to you about?” Kyle asked.

“Actually, I wanted to speak with him. I found my mate today.” I was frustrated.

“Dude, seriously. You didn’t tell me or drag her home?” He asked playfully.

“She’s not a lycan, which is why I wanted to talk to my dad.” I sat at my desk looking at the pack tomes my father had sent up. “She’s a vampire, a member of the family that moved here last year. But I think she is afraid of drinking me dry because she got out of there pretty damn fast when she caught my scent.”

“Are you sure she’s your mate? I mean, how is she supposed to produce your heir?”

“She is half human. Dad says we would have the first ever vampire-lycan hybrid. That is, if I can get her to not run from me.” The frustration was really starting to come out in my voice.

“We can talk more on patrol. We’re going to be late.”

We headed for the security barracks to get ready for our shift. Most of the single guys and girls live in the barracks. I live in the pack house and so does Kyle. Our lockers are in the barracks though.

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