Kyran

Every night this week, I felt the compulsion to run to Selene growing stronger as each day passed. I’d kept to the woods knowing that the sight of me would undoubtedly cause distress. I watched as she’d pace her balcony at dawn, seeming to be unaware or almost as if she were in a trance and repeating it daily like a routine. It wasn’t until this morning that I realized that moment is also when I would wake underneath the blackthorn shrub, which I’d just noticed stands a few feet from the edge of the woods in front of her room.

Earlier as I was leaving, Hekate and Asteria manifested in front of me. We had discussed Selene’s situation and how they believe it is best for her safety that we spend time with one another. Asteria lightly apologized for her threats the last time we spoke, saying that she ‘renounces any and all vows she may have made against me’ and hopes we can have an amicable friendship. I voiced that I understood where she was coming from and harbor no ill will toward her, and that I would have acted worse if I were her. We three came to an agreement that Selene’s awakening is of utmost importance. I left feeling good about everything that has transpired, my trepidation melting away into a blooming hope that our collective efforts would help bring Selene’s wolf out of stasis.

Having just returned from Hekate’s woods, I need to shower and tend to a few pack matters before working tonight at the nightclub. Standing in my bathroom, I stare at myself in the mirror with Selene’s last words echoing in my mind, ‘you shouldn’t hide behind all this hair, you are a very handsome man’. Brushing my hair out of my face, my fingers lightly trace the spot where hers had branded me. Impulsively, I stride through my bedroom to my desk, rifling through the drawers until I find scissors.

What are you doing? Valdr inquires, mildly curious.

Ignoring him, I make my way back to the mirror, grabbing ahold of my unruly hair. Without hesitation, I shear off a handful of hair at the back of my head. Taking another chunk, I snip that just as quickly and black strands flutter around the sink to the floor. Clumsily, I continue until all my length is gone. Stepping back, I realize how terrible it looks, as if I let a pup hack into my hair with a pair of hedge trimmers. Groaning, I lean on the sink.

Well, that’s definitely one way to get Selene’s attention, Valdr drawls dryly.

Shut it, I growl at him. Thinking about it, I know of just the person to call on for help. Kyrre, I mindlink, meet me at my door, please. I need a favor.

Oh, this ought to be good, I’ll be right up! She instantly chirps back.

Pulling on sweatpants, I hear her footsteps on the stairs and walk over to my door, opening it just before Kyrre knocks. I give her a sheepish smile, running my hand through the mess of my hair. She stares at me a moment, her green eyes going wide and rolls her lips inwardly, releasing them with a pop. “Come with me,” she says flippantly, turning on her heel and jogging down the staircase.

Following closely and not really wanting to be seen, we go to her room and head straight into the bathroom. Kyrre drags a stool over from her vanity and I sit, watching her collect shears, a comb, and clippers from her drawer. Walking over to me, she assesses my head and turns me every which way with pursed lips. Choosing a guard for the clippers, she clicks it on and gets to work, humming quietly.

As the time goes by, I think of the tasks I need to straighten out for the weekend, some orders that need processing at Howler’s, and what I want for lunch. Kyrre shuts off the clippers, placing it on the sink and snips a few times before patting my shoulder. “Alright, you’re all set. Go jump in the shower,” she adds, putting away her tools.

Getting to my feet, I glance in her mirror. She gave me a tapered cut, pushing the front of my hair to the side with some layering just long enough to run my fingers through. “Wow Kyrre, I would’ve expected you to just buzz it short,” I jest as I grin at her. “It looks great, thank you so much for your help. I don’t know what I was thinking. Next time I’ll come straight to you.”

Smiling wide, she pushes me toward her door. Opening it, I step out into the hallway and pull her into a hug. She ruffles my hair, murmuring, “Whoever she is, she’ll be stunned speechless,” with a sly smile pulling at her lips. “Now go, I’ve got things to do, places to be. Muah,” she kisses my cheek before shutting the door in my face.

Laughing with a shake of my head, I make my way back to my room to shower. As I step out, I regard my face and decide to give myself a shave. I use a beard trimmer that's been buried under my sink for a while now, going down to just stubble and cleaning up edges. Wow, I look a hundred years younger, I think with a smile.

Crossing to the closet, I grab the broom and as I’m sweeping, I hear Trey’s urgent mindlink, Kyran, I’ve just got word from Sigurd. We need you, in your office. Immediately, his voice is tight with anger and my brow harshly pinches.

Dropping the broom, I rush out of my room still clutching my towel around my waist. Leaping down both sets of stairs, I burst through my office doors ten seconds after Trey finished speaking in my mind.

Around my desk hovers Treyvar, Sigurd, my head warrior, Jeger, the best tracker in my pack, and Vala, the lead hybrid warrior who also happens to be my ex-girlfriend. We had a rough falling out due to her despicable actions, but I chose to set my personal issues aside and allow her to remain in position for the betterment of my pack. I notice her eyeballing my towel and I glare at her.

Focusing on the matter at hand, I wait as they finish greeting me and paying their respects. “What’s happened? Speak freely,” I say sternly with my brow pinched in concern.

“I had been alerted to vamps crossing into our territory, a few wolves chased—”

“Two females have been abducted and four of our men were slain in defense of the attack,” Trey interrupts Sigurd, cutting him a sideways glare.

What the hell is that about? I wonder as my gaze flits between them.

“I tracked them a good distance past our eastern lands, but they seemed to have vanished mid-stride. I discerned at least five separate scents, all vampire,” Jeger explains quickly. “I mindlinked Vala to come to the place the trail ended to see if she could sense anything.”

Vala, being a wolf-witch hybrid, has use of some magical abilities, one of which is seeing magical footprints or auras. It is a very useful tool when disarming traps or spells unseen to the normal eye and especially if someone had been enspelled with a charm or curse.

Clearing her throat, she doesn’t meet my gaze and instead looks toward my chin when she elaborates, “I saw a form of transport spell had been cast but could not detect if it was performed at the location or remotely. I can confidently say that the vampires are working with at least one witch, though,” her sharp voice cuts the air with anger.

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Witches are not known to side with either werewolf or vampire, always choosing to remain impartial to our skirmishes. They neither help nor hinder, generally keeping to themselves and are hardly ever seen. However, if they do for some reason decide to become involved in any way, shape, or form, it drastically tips the scales in favor of whoever is within her good graces.

Sitting in my chair, I lean forward and rest my elbows on the desktop, pressing my fingers together. “That makes it six women now, just this year. Over a dozen last year, and that’s just from our pack. I spoke with the other alphas, and they confirmed the same is happening to them, not long ago,” I growl through my clenched jaw.

Sigurd steps forward, explaining, “I’d noticed that they’ve been—”

“The vampires are not selecting our females at random. A pattern has been discovered, each woman being under four hundred years and having blonde hair,” Trey cuts off Sigurd again with his eyes boring into mine. Immediately sensing what he means, I undoubtedly know we are thinking the same thing. Our mother was taken by the vampires, and dad ended up going berserk. He died because of it, because of me, my thoughts darken, and I curl my hands into fists.

They are looking for someone, Valdr realizes abruptly, the vampires have been taking our women, the females of all packs, for centuries now. It’s a search, but for who?

“Fuck!” I snarl, slamming my fists on the desk and startling everyone. “The vamps are searching for someone specific, they have been for centuries,” I reiterate Valdr’s words aloud.

My mother’s disappearance sent a shockwave through our entire pack which was amplified by the death of my father. Although it was necessary, he was still revered as a good leader and the aftermath of their deaths gravely impacted everyone here.

Rising to my feet, I bark out orders, “I must contact the other packs. Trey, get the victims’ families into the Great Hall and I will meet with them shortly. Vala, find any female of any age who has blonde hair—natural or dyed—and color their hair dark, preferably with a spell or charm if you can. I cannot have this happen again, especially now that we have this information. Jeger, do a sweep of our immediate perimeters near the villages and see if you can find any other traces from anyone not of this pack. Sigurd, stay a moment.”

Watching as the three quickly nod and depart, I turn my focus to my warrior. “What exactly happened, Sigurd? You were patrolling the eastern fields and woodlands yourself, last I checked. Explain,” I cross my arms, watching him closely.

He looks at me warily with regret showing in his eyes. “I was ambushed, during one of my patrol runs. A few of them crossed my path, distracting me, while more came upon me from behind. Before I had time to alert anyone else, I had been thrown against a tree, momentarily knocked unconscious. When I came to shortly after and mindlinked the warriors about vampires being in our territory, it was too late. I was being overwhelmed with distress calls about our females’ capture, and the vamps left without me finding them,” he lets out a breath, dropping his head in defeat.

Something does not feel right, Valdr bristles, do not let on your suspicion, but be mindful of him. He is not outright lying, but he is not speaking the full truth, either.

Nodding my head slightly, I meet his gaze. “Take the rest of today to settle yourself, I will meet with you and the other warriors tomorrow,” I say brusquely, gesturing toward the door.

“Yes, Alpha,” he mutters before leaving my office. I’m dialing the phone on my desk before the door clicks shut, calling my only friend outside of my pack, Alpha Felagi of the Northeast Region pack. We could mindlink, but out of respect we use the phone lines, intending to not intrude on one another unless under dire circumstances. Using mindlink at that distance is also quite mentally exhausting and generally causes intense headaches which none of us choose to deal with.

After three rings, my friend’s booming voice greets me, “Alpha Kyran! It’s been some time, how the hell are ya’?”

“Alpha Felagi, I have pressing matters you must be made aware of. I’d like nothing more than to catch up, but let’s leave that for the approaching Convocation, my friend. I’ve had another attack from vamps, again abducting females from my pack. What I need you to know is, every single woman that has been taken is no older than four hundred and all have blonde hair. They are searching for someone in particular and we have no way of knowing who or why, only that now we can try to better protect any next potential victims,” I bite out, anger making my voice tense.

“Shit. Shit. I’ll let the others know immediately. Thank ya’, Kyran, I too have lost women recently, and thinkin’ back on it, they’ve all been light-haired. Every one of ‘em. How could I not see this?” his voice trails off, most likely thinking of his mate.

Shortly after my mother’s capture, Felagi called my father completely distraught with the news of the same thing happening to him with his mate. He was not at home when the attack happened in his pack, or else he surely would have been bitten as well, suffering the same fate as my father. I remain silent, unsure what to say at the moment, thinking of anything else that could be connected to this long-sustained issue.

His hushed voice crackles over the line, “She’s still out there, I can feel her. She cut me off shortly after her disappearance, but I know she’s alive. I can’t bear the thought of it at times, my mind imagining " the most horrid things possible,” he sucks in a breath and the line goes quiet.

I feel great sorrow for this man, his mate’s death would have been an easier thing for him to get past than this. He’d spent many years searching the earth for her, never being able to pinpoint where his broken bond led him, saying it was as if she wasn’t exactly on our plane of existence.

“Let me know if you find anything more about this. I’m always here for you, remember that,” I add sincerely, waiting for a response. When the line remains silent, I deposit the phone on the receiver and drop my head into my hands with a sigh.

Feeling my shorn head, I am abruptly reminded of Selene. Guilt washes over me, feeling responsible for my distractions this past week for this to have taken place. If only I had been paying better attention to my duties…I berate myself.

Do not think this way. They would have figured out a way regardless, you are not to hold sole blame, Valdr admonishes me.

I sit at my desk reflecting on everything that has transpired in such a short amount of time. I take some time to collect my thoughts before setting out to the Great Hall. I spend a while speaking with the families who’d been directly affected by the vampire attack, consoling them and reassuring them I will do everything in my power to find the ones responsible and seek retribution. I let them know to come to me directly for anything, at any time of day. A few hours pass by quickly from meetings with my warriors, holding lengthy conversations to form a concrete timeline and compare recollections.

I briefly check in with Vala, who together with the help of the other hybrids had created bracelets charmed to glamour the wearer into having dark hair. Made with elastic material that withstands a shift, the bracelets maintain the glamour in wolf form. I commend her for her ingenuity and instruct her to notify Treyvar once every blonde female was wearing one, making certain she stresses the issue to never remove it.

Feeling a bit worn out, I trek up to my bedroom and I lie on my bed with my hands behind my head staring at the clouds passing by through the skylights. I have a few hours left before opening Howler’s and take the time to rest. Friday and Saturday are always the busiest nights, typically pretty full from open to close and I usually don’t mind the mundane work. Treyvar enjoys working at the busier club bar, whereas I generally run the lounge bar. Vala occasionally will waitress, mostly on the bigger income nights such as weekends or when events take place, and she always puts the money she earns in tips toward our community in the form of clothing or food supplies.

Closing my eyes, I smile as I imagine the chance of Selene coming to my bar, hoping she’d remember our brief discussion. Psh, wouldn’t that be something? I muse with a dry huff of a laugh and shake my head at the thought.