Kyran

Taking a deep breath, I relax in Selene’s calming jasmine scent and slowly sit on the couch. Gently, I lay Selene in my lap and hold her close. Glancing over at Hekate, I catch her gaze and she finishes speaking with Asteria, taking my place in the armchair.

“You heard that, right? Her wolf spoke to me, she recognizes me,” I say quietly in disbelief.

“Yes, I did, and it almost made me cry. I haven’t heard that voice in so long. She—” Hekate clears her throat, “she is a beautiful soul, Kyran, just wait till you meet her,” she looks past me, shaking her head slowly.

“I wanted to ask you, before, about my bond. How is this possible? I’m trying to understand, knowing now who she is and the story behind her, but it still is not making sense to me. My mark appeared a few years before my mother was taken, it seems to be around the time you say Selene woke from stasis,” I tell her, pulling my brow up in confusion.

Hekate narrows her eyes at me in thought and replies, “I know, I haven’t been able to find a clear answer or reason for this as well, since you first started coming here and especially when you showed me your mark. My only explanation I can find is perhaps when she awoke and her wolf did not, due to the nature of the stasis, the mate bond became broken without her presence to accept it. I’m guessing the magic was disrupted by Selene’s human half resurrecting alone, so to speak,” she wonders aloud and looks past me in thought.

I nod my head slowly, her words making sense. There is no way to understand fully since Selene’s wolf is different from the rest of us. How am I her mate? There could have been thousands of better options for her, why me? I think as I look down at her peaceful, sleeping face.

Feeling Hekate’s hand on my knee, I look up to see her smiling sadly at me. “I could not understand why Selene did not wake when I pulled Asteria from the stasis, she remained there for hundreds of years regardless of our attempts to remove her. Now I feel that I do understand,” she speaks softly, giving my knee a pat before withdrawing her hand.

Puzzled, I look at her curiously and she gives me a wide grin. “It’s because of you, Kyran, her soul was waiting for you.”

Astounded, my lips part slightly as I stare at her before gazing down at Selene. “But, why?” I whisper, glancing back at Hekate. She doesn’t deserve to be with someone like me. I’m not worthy of her, I sternly reject as I trace my eyes over her beautiful face.

Enough. She is our mate, and you will prove to her our worth so she chooses to accept our bond, Valdr demands, his indignation rolling through me hotly.

“Crazy how things are all connected, hmm?” Hekate murmurs, her gaze distant once more. With a slight shake of her head, she pulls her eyes back to me and smiles warmly.

Resolving myself, a thought occurs to me clearly and my chest tightens with it. “I think I can awaken her wolf. I’m not sure exactly how to do that, but I feel her pull growing stronger since I’ve spent more time around Selene,” I say firmly, feeling the truth behind my words.

“I concur. You will need to discuss this bond with her, soon, I feel. Who knows, she may even show you the path without either of you knowing it,” Hekate raises her eyebrows in thought and shrugs a shoulder.

“Could I ask you something?” I murmur, my thoughts swirling with the new information I’d absorbed from earlier.

She nods her head once and holds my gaze, waiting.

“The Guardians, the ones you created with your rage in retaliation to the vampires, you said they were immortal because of Selene’s wolf. Does that mean that Selene is immortal? And what happened to the Guardians once she was placed into stasis?” I ask hesitantly, unsure if I want the answers or not.

“Ah, yes, I suppose I didn’t clarify that, did I? To answer your first question, yes, Selene is technically immortal, her soul is a direct piece of the goddess’ thus tying her existence to every werewolf’s. When she roamed about, wolves in her vicinity would become more empowered, naturally drawn to her like moths to a flame. Her immortality only lies in her lifespan, however. She can be killed like any of you, although with her full abilities, that would be one hell of an achievement to accomplish.

"As for the Guardians, they continued on for a time after she went into stasis, and one by one Caedes had managed to eradicate them. Their bloodlines however, live on, though their magic lies dormant. As I said earlier, I believe once Selene’s wolf awakens, the Guardians will awaken as well. Only through an Alpha’s blood can the Guardian powers be passed,” she looks at me knowingly, sitting back in her chair.

A few moments pass as I think about what she’s said, her past words echoing in my mind. Realization crashes over me like a tidal wave and my head snaps up as I gape at her. “You kept Eirene from meeting with me, didn’t you?” I accuse her and she smirks in response. “That’s why you kept referring to me as ‘Custos’, I have Guardian blood, don’t I? How did you know?” I ask incredulously.

“I met your father’s ghost, as he crossed realms. I meet each one of you as you die and make your way to the underworld. As he was passing my crossroads, I sensed the Guardian spirit in him and he surprised me by asking me to look after his son before he moved on. Curious, I followed his essence first to your younger brother, not sensing the spirit in him and searched until I found you.

“I was saddened to see a young wolf, covered in gore in the fighting pits, recognizing his rage as my own. The reason you feel that intensely is from your ancestral lineage, unbeknownst to you. The way your father abused that trait was despicable and I commend you for pulling yourself through it all, even though you feel as if you haven’t. I am sure that upon his death, your father had come to realize the mistakes he had made concerning you and wanted me to rectify that. I have not intervened in any aspect of your life, I have simply observed you from afar,” Hekate informs me as she gives me a small, sad smile.

“I remember meeting you, when I was very young. You severed connection with our pack that day, with my father. That was when Selene awoke, wasn’t it?” I mumble and as she nods her head in confirmation, I ask, “how come you didn’t sense my father’s Guardian spirit then, in person?”

“I cannot sense it as it is dormant in this realm. Only once the essence of your wolf separates from your human side at death can it be found. I try to assess each werewolf that passes to the underground for this spirit and trace them the way I found you, but sometimes your kind dies in droves and it’s difficult to find,” she mutters with a shake of her head.

“My grandfather, I never met him, but my father told me he died in a great battle between wolves and vampires. You don’t suppose—” Hekate’s sly smile catches me off guard and I falter, pinching my brow. “No shit, huh?” I say on a breath. “My grandfather lived over fifteen hundred years ago, and he was one of the original Guardians?”

No wonder why we’re so badass, Valdr says arrogantly, making me snort.

Hekate laughs loudly, her voice resembling the caw of a crow. “Like I said, crazy, hmm?” she waggles her eyebrows with a grin.

Selene stirs a little, pushing her face into my neck as she sleeps. “I’m going to bring her to her bed,” I say quietly, getting to my feet and carefully cradling her to my chest.

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Walking over to the stairs, I look back at Hekate. “Thank you for including me here, today. I have a much better understanding of things, especially with myself and aspects of my life. I will do my best to help Selene and her wolf in any way I can. Once I put her to rest I’ll be outside, if you need me,” I add, placing my foot on the first step.

Hekate bows her head briefly in acknowledgment then meets my gaze. “No need, Custos. She did ask for you to stay, no?” she grins widely before vanishing with a light breeze.

Blinking a few times, I hear Asteria’s sharp laugh from the kitchen and I smile as I carry Selene up to her room, following the trail of her sweet scent. Stepping over the threshold, I take in her airy room, the walls painted a soft pastel green with a light pine ceiling and matching trim, a plush white carpet, and her small bed with a cozy blue and white comforter. Leaning over, I pull the blanket back and gently lay her in the center of her bed, covering her carefully. Selene rolls over with a sigh and remains asleep.

Mindlinking Trey, I tell him, Hey, I’m just letting you know I won’t be home until some time tomorrow, I’m fine, so don’t worry. Noticing the moon rising high outside, I rub my hand over my face, feeling worn out. Crossing her room, I sit by the balcony doors and lean back against the wall, facing Selene’s bed.

With her calming scent surrounding me and the sound of her steady breathing, I tip my head back, close my eyes and drift off to sleep.

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SELENE

I wake with a yawn, peeling my eyes open to the soft, early morning light streaming in through my balcony windows. Immediately remembering yesterday, my eyes fly wide and I abruptly sit up, looking around my room. Frowning, I slump back against my pillows, staring at my ceiling fan as I wonder how long Kyran stayed after I had Ria put me to sleep. There’s so many things I want to ask him. I want to see his wolf again, too, I wonder.

Sighing, I roll over, reaching for my phone on my nightstand and stifle a gasp, as I find Kyran asleep on the floor beside my bed. I watch the way his broad chest rises and falls slowly, noticing how soft he looks while sleeping. There’s no hardness to his features, no rigidity in his posture. Smiling, I carefully lift my phone and snap a photo of him, rolling onto my back once more. Opening the editor on my phone, I start drawing on the photo, making cute little clouds and stars surround him. Intending to send it to him as a joke, I open our text conversation with a grin, typing out a sarcastic message.

“Were you gonna stick my hand in a bowl of warm water, too?” Kyran’s voice rumbles softly close by, startling me.

I accidentally drop my phone on my face, groaning as he chuckles and turn to glare at him playfully. “You’re really quiet, you surprised me. I’m sorry if I woke you,” I say softly, placing my phone back on my nightstand.

Kyran pushes to his feet, stretching. “I was already awake, I just…didn’t want to seem like a creep, just sitting there staring,” he mumbles, rubbing his neck.

I laugh as I wiggle back, patting the bed beside me. Taking an extra pillow, I fluff it up as Kyran carefully lays down beside me and hand it to him. Propping my head up on my elbow, I give him a smile and ask, “I have some questions, if you don’t mind answering some for me?”

He lays on his back and pulls his arm up, resting his head on his hand and turns to look at me. “Sure, ask me anything,” he says with a small smile.

I take a moment to think about where to begin. Deciding on what I heard last before needing to rest, I ask, “What is meant by ‘mate’? Could you explain this, please? My mother hadn’t mentioned that, I don’t believe. Maybe she did, there was a lot to process yesterday,” I mumble, thinking back on our conversations.

“She did not discuss that, no, you are correct. There’s a lot involved with this, if you’re ready to learn more,” he lightly clears his throat, turning his head to look at the ceiling when I nod. “When Hekate created the werewolf race, she tied in the magic of what we call a mating bond, a spell that connects soulmates. This is the only way our race can reproduce, no pups are born outside of a mate bond. The only exception to this is if a witch lays with a wolf—bearing what we call a hybrid—but witches seldom choose to do so, for whatever reasons. Unmated wolves are virtually sterile and I have never heard of one having a human parent.

“Humans also cannot hold the mate bond, meaning they remain separate from our lives mostly, only interacting with each other in general living senses. Werewolf mate pairs, or soulmates, are usually born close in age from one another. This allows for their chances to meet to be higher than if one was born a few hundred years before their mate and died without them ever being old enough to search for them. It’s clever, really, the way Hekate designed this magic. Sadly, though, there are wolves who spend their entire lives never finding their mate. I know of one, her name is Stjarna and she is just over seven hundred years old, still hopeful she’ll find him someday,” Kyran’s voice is quiet for a moment, before he turns to look at me once more.

“Once a wolf’s mate dies, regardless if they have bonded or never met, a patch of their fur color appears on the living mate’s chest and is shown in their wolf form. With mated wolves, due to the nature of the bond, the devastation that a death can cause most often results in the death of the living mate as well. The pain of it either drives them to seek reckless behaviors that kill them such as fighting or thrill seeking, or they take their own life to cease the endless suffering. I personally know and am close with one wolf whose mate has passed and he still lives, though he carries the weight of it every day. His strength is commendable,” he stops speaking as he clenches his jaw, turning his head away toward the windows.

I ponder this for a moment, finding it romantic in a way, though knowing my mother created this bond it doesn’t surprise me. She has always held a soft spot for love, as far as I’m aware. My brow suddenly pinches as a thought occurs to me, “Kyran, when I first saw your wolf, he had a light colored spot on his chest. I don’t recall seeing any other coloring, he was completely black like a shadow. Did—did you lose your mate?” I whisper, my chest constricting at the thought of his pain.

He takes a deep breath and releases it slowly, looking back toward the ceiling. “I had not yet met her when my mark appeared,” he replies quietly.

I let out a breath as I whisper, “The grief you must have felt, must feel, for the bond you never had,” I shake my head, “oh, Kyran, that is so awful. I can only begin to imagine the anger, the sadness it must have brought with it when there should have been joy and love,” I murmur as tears well in my eyes at the thought of experiencing something like that.

His only response is a grunt and I realize this must not be something he’d like to discuss. “I—I’m sorry, Kyran,” I whisper, placing my hand gently on his arm.

At my touch, he quickly turns his head to look at me with his brow creasing before sitting up and leaning back against my headboard. I pull myself up as well, turning to sit cross legged in front of him, trying to understand his confused expression. Did I misinterpret something? I wonder worriedly as my eyes flick between his.

“Selene, there is nothing for you to apologize for, everything you said is true. It was devastating to one day see my—our—reflection in the water and find that mark on our chest. I felt destroyed inside, my only hope of ever feeling something, anything other than—” he abruptly cuts himself off, rubbing his hand over his face with a heavy sigh before meeting my gaze again. “It is not a feeling I would wish upon anyone. But, now, I don’t think you fully understand, Selene. My mark appeared around a hundred and fifty years ago, which I now know was the time you woke from stasis,” he says lowly, watching me carefully.

Connecting the dots, I press my hand to my mouth, perplexed. “Last night, I—you—we heard…her. She said ‘mate’, was she speaking to you?” I breathe out and my eyes widen as he nods. “But, your mark…this doesn’t make sense at all. How could—but I’m not even sure, ugh,” I drop my head into my hands, feeling frustrated as my mind races.

“I spoke with your mother last night for a while about this. She thinks because you awoke but your wolf did not, it might have disrupted the magic that forms the mate bond, triggering my end of it as if she had died since she wasn’t technically living, at the time. We both still don’t quite understand it, but that’s the only explanation we can come up with,” he murmurs, holding my gaze intently.

“Wait, wait. Hold on, my mother knows? Did you know about this, before?” I ask incredulously.

He sighs, nodding his head slightly. “Yes, I did, but please hear me out first, okay?” he leans forward with his brows raised.

I narrow my eyes at him, a million thoughts and accusations crossing my mind before I nod my head silently, waiting for his explanation.