The Unseen
~
Lycus
~

It was once told throughout Lycus's younger years, that the bloodier the claw and sharper the edge, the more Alpha one would become.

Lycus's claws were curved at the tips, stained red from bloodshed. Gabriel's were straight and crystal clear, with no dent in sight — he had not caused much damage like the others.

Cole Canus's claws were hooked and embedded with an overgrowth of crimson beneath the bed of the claws. But even then, there was a delicacy to them, lucent and transparent, despite the amount of bloodletting they had invoked.

They would have grown back by now, like normal human nails, and Lycus wondered, would they be stronger or weaker?

Would Cole's claws be strong enough to slash into silver?

"Would you like some tea, Vaela?" Accalia came to the threshold of the dining room, her tense stature leaning against the doorframe with her sleeves rolled up.

Lycus noticed she did that when being on edge. Roll up her sleeves or oftentimes, hugged herself, splaying her arms around her middle.

He wanted to be the one she attached to, not herself.

Vaela shook her head and dabbled her long fingernails along the wooden table. "No, thank you, Luna."

Accalia disappeared back into the kitchen and avoided Lycus's prying gaze.

He couldn't help but stare at her ever since the oracle made an appearance back in the woods. As soon as Cole's name resurged, Accalia cocooned into her shell and fell into an uneasy silence that Lycus couldn't break through.

He despised it, with her stitched-up back and worrying thoughts, he didn't want to lose her all over again.

Lycus requested Vaela come to the Fenris manor as the werewolves' howls had become unbearably painful and Lycus didn't want to be in the oracle's cabin with strong herbs and a watchful one-eyed crow.

He also wanted Accalia to take part in the conversation.

Lycus heard Accalia's heart thump loudly before her feet did and she came back into the dining room to take a seat.

Lycus instinctively swept his arm underneath the table and reached for her, placing his hand on her thigh and she didn't push him away.

"When you were scratched, Accalia, we retracted Cole's claws from your back," Lycus told her and levelled his eyes at her to ensure she was listening.

Accalia swallowed nervously and nodded at him.

He continued, "They were shards of his claws and Vaela wanted to look into them with her abilities, that's why she's here. She might give us the insight we need."

"For a war?" Accalia mumbled and Lycus's heart galloped at the look she gave him. Heavenly benevolence. A look he shouldn't be given because he didn't deserve it.

"For the war."

Accalia and Lycus watched as Vaela placed the fragments of the claws onto the wooden table, her eyes mystified by the pull of the moon.

"Forgive me," Vaela said serenely, face misting over with delight. "I hear whispers, sweet tunes ... I had to come to seek you out."

Lycus muted the howls shattering through the forest and ignored the hallowing moon peeking through the window, casting them in the moonlight.

Vaela seemed to bathe in it, her nails tattering across the claws as she probed and spoke solemnly to herself.

"You will find eyes to see the unseen, you will find eyes to see the unseen. Those are the whispers that speak to me, I'd rather receive a prophecy than whispers." Vaela's eyes spun bright silver as she spoke.

"If this was a curse placed upon you by something higher than us, trust me when I say, they knew what they were doing. Your claws hold memories, Alpha, the memories of being in your lycan form. Cole Canus's memories are all over the place."

"What do you mean all over the place?" Lycus asked, leaning forward.

"This is where I became hesitant to come to you," Vaela closed her eyes and a bead of sweat gathered on her forehead.

The oracle shuddered. "When I was looking at the claws that held his memories in his lycan form, I could see his visions, but a question arose throughout my studies, why would his memories fade to black?"

"If that was happening ... that would mean something was blocking your abilities," Accalia realised and pried forward with concerned eyes.

Vaela nodded slowly. "The unseen."

Lycus froze, his skin becoming cold as a lick of ice chilled up and down his spine. "You're saying you can't access all of Cole's memories?"

"Yes," Vaela confirmed with a nod. "Alpha and Luna, this can only happen for three reasons, and three reasons only. Either, he is beyond redemption, his mind is so twisted beyond measure that he himself blocks out his memories. The second reason? He is in contact with someone so experienced they block out my gifts, which falls under another idea: compulsion."

Lycus sighed through his nostrils, a hefty, heavy sigh. That was something to consider. He and Gabriel did dabble with the thought of more being out there, lurking deep within the shadows.

Lycus's gaze lifted to Accalia, only to find her warm eyes were already upon him; benevolent and soft. Everything he wasn't. Everything a vampire wasn't.

"You're saying that could be a vampire?" Accalia reasoned.

Vaela shrugged gracefully and leered down at the claws. The memories she would have to witness. Just to see. "Only a vampire could."

Lycus's head spiralled with annoyance, disliking the bittersweet side of an oracle knowing so much, but conveying so little.

"Is there anything else?" Lycus questioned and rubbed his forehead. He didn't know if he wanted to hear anything else, but he knew he would have to. They had to consider everything and anything.

"I have a theory: Cole isn't always in his lycan form," Vaela declared reading through Lycus's perplexed eyes and simmering thoughts.

Lycus breathed out and leaned back, completely floored. "That can't be true, Cole prides himself in his lycan form, he detested the humanity that was his human self."

Not only did he detest it, he wanted to be unsalvageable, tear his human side out and be nothing but a beast. Cole wanted that, made it wide and known to every pack that would hear him. He wanted to be corrupted to a point of no return.

And destroying his mate was the turning point.

"I believe he could turn human, Lycus. His claws tell me so with the bones cracking and the sheep clothing covering the fur. As soon as he shifts everything goes black for me, I can't access his human side. Only his lycan side from the claws." Vaela said to the Alpha.

Lycus hadn't seen the withdrawn and aloof boy with grey eyes for many years. All Lycus saw and knew was the carnal beast with no trace of humanness in him.

"So you can't access his memories when he turns human but in his lycan form, his memories also fade ..." Accalia trailed off, losing her train of thought and slumped against the chair.

"Another reason. All I see is when Cole is around something in his lycan form, I can't access any interactions he would have with them. It blocks it all out. Like someone is covering their tracks." Vaela said to Accalia.

Accalia drummed her fingers across the wooden table and a harsh look showed on her face. 

"This makes no sense, who would be seeing Cole and why would they cover it up?" Accalia said cautiously.

"Covering it up?" Lycus asked her, wanting to know where her thoughts were leading.

Accalia leant her arms across the table as she fiddled with her fingers. "Someone is covering their tracks, right? Vaela, how often does Cole see this happen and is it only in his lycan form?"

Vaela perked up and retreated into herself quickly after that, reclaiming the insight she gathered over the past weeks to grapple for an answer. "I would be able to tell if he turns human when he receives the visits because I'd see him slowly turn human, but he was always in his lycan form when he saw them because the memories fade away like it was blocking everything out."

"Any location, names mentioned, does he say anything to anyone beforehand?" Accalia pried further and Lycus wanted to kiss her for it, all the questions she had didn't play into his thought process to ask.

Vaela looked off distantly, silver moon eyes dulling at the many questions and she settled on the full moon outside of the window. "From what I saw, no one knows. It's almost like a secret. Locations? Cole is quite social from what I've seen. Parties at his pack frequents human bars and spends a lot of time in the woods with his people."

"He goes to human bars?" Lycus said with raised brows. "Do you think he would see the person who could block out the memories in his human form?"

Vaela gently shrugged and said, "I would have to be around his human form or at least someone to be around him and access their memories to know."

A dead end Lycus came and he slumped in his seat.

"What about Melina and Zenith Thrax, does he communicate with them, is their pack still joined?" Accalia asked.

"From what I saw, they're allies, not joined packs. The claws gave me a few months of memories and Zenith isn't in the picture much, especially with the latest memories I have seen. Melina, however, communicates with Cole frequently. She must be Zenith's Beta after Tate's demise. They speak a lot of revenge and want to kill the lot of you." Vaela explained simply.

Lycus laughed bitterly and shrugged carelessly. "That's a given. Is Zenith sending his wolves to our pack?"

Vaela shook her head in response. "That's mainly Cole. It's more a game right now, they want to rattle you."

Lycus licked his lips, suppressing a growl building in his chest and said, "We can't go after Zenith's pack without going after Cole — his pack is dangerous with the number of lycans they have."

"Zenith didn't appear ready for war," Vaela announced and the both of them swivelled their gazes back on her. "He was stalling because he knew he couldn't go up against Lycus with the number of werewolves he had compared to lycans."

"I call dibs on killing Zenith and Melina," Lycus cracked a grin.

Accalia ignored him and signalled with an encouraging hand for the oracle to continue.

"Cole seems to have a piece of humanity left," Before questions could topple on Vaela like a tone of bricks, she carried on, "The point of the curse is to be disconnected from your humanity and human side. But the extent he had gone, killing his mate, cannibalism of his kind, the very little humanity he had mixed with his lycanthropy curse."

Lycus felt his head shake from side to side in disbelief, wondering if this task Vaela was given had tipped her over the edge. The oracle tended to bury herself in her gifts, searching and prying until she unearthed the dirt and met the roots.

Lycus sent a look to Accalia and only found her as puzzled as he felt right now.

"But Cole doesn't have any humanity that's why he's a lycan all the time." Accalia pointed out.

Vaela picked up the claws and fiddled with them, eyes narrowing. "Not exactly. Not when he turns human and when he has an interest in a type of female."

Accalia moved her thigh away from Lycus's hand and he sensed the intensity coiling around her body like a snake. Hesitantly, he reached under the table again and searched for her hand, encompassing his fingers through hers and she allowed it, stilling against his touch.

He won't get near you again, Lycus wished to say to her.

"What type of female?" Accalia drew in a breath, her fingers tightening around Lycus's as if he would let go at any given moment. He wouldn't, he wouldn't dare to.

Vaela picked up one claw and eyed it with a grave expression. "Women with black hair, pale skin and blue eyes."

Lycus clenched his jaw so hard it could snap. "His mate looked like that. Why would he have an interest in other women that looked like that?"

Lycus recalled seeing Cole's mate at meetings many decades ago with onyx hair and bright electric eyes. She would always sit on his lap, like a crowned queen and they would drink the night away.

The only reason the Alpha of Alphas remembered her so vividly was because she had a mouth on her that would have led to an early death anyway. She was a siren who never silenced herself, barking orders and challenging others.

It came head to head when she dared to challenge high-ranking Lunas and Betas.

Shortly after, she met her death and Cole revelled in the fact that he did it.

"Maybe they remind him of the humanity he once had?" Accalia suggested thoughtlessly.

Vaela firmly nodded. "That was when he turned human. That was another time when I couldn't access his memories."

Lycus believed Cole's life only spun with cannibalism and war-causing. Through the lens of an oracle, he still had ties to his humanity and the sappy fool still found black hair and blue-eyed women to pull at his black heartstrings.

"He's such a bitch," Lycus laughed, throwing his head back.

"Well, he had us all fooled," Accalia sighed.

Lycus couldn't hide his smile from the two women and he trained his attentive gaze on Accalia.

Accalia's brows knitted together and her face hardened. "Why are you looking at me like that."

"Accalia," Lycus breathed out, sending her a cheeky look that made her pull further away from him. He couldn't help but lean closer. "My beloved, you know someone with black hair and blue eyes."

"Gabriel?"

"Cadence has a friend — I don't remember her name, but —"

Accalia's eyes fell wide and she stood up, kicking the chair back. "No, Lycus."

Lycus pursed his lips, wanting to kiss away that look on her face that blazed with grit and stubbornness.

"She could be our eyes and ears, divulge any information when it comes to Cole ..."

Her pale skin, black eyeliner that flared her icy eyes and black hair that brushed around her face as a veil. If Cole had a semblance of humanity left, one that still connected with his dead mate, he would want that. He would need it.

"I don't care." Accalia snapped and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not putting Erisa in a situation like that."

Lycus rose from his chair, not standing down and said, "Erisa could get close to him and Vaela would be able to extract her memories from the encounters she has with him. We might even figure out who this visitor is and if Cole is seeing them in his human form."

"Vaela said this thing that is blocking the memories is well-hidden. Vaela can't even see beyond that, so it would be useless." Accalia fired back.

"Which is why we have Erisa. She will be right on Cole's radar if he sees her. We could—"

"No!"

Lycus looked to the ceiling, tuning in his senses to track through the room down the hall and to where Cadence was. Her heart rate was normal, her breathing deep as usual as if she was constantly on the run, and from what Lycus could hear, she wasn't doing anything.

Lycus ignored his mate's face, knowing as soon as he looked at her, he would crack and do what she wanted even if it was not what he believed. "CADENCE!"

Her heart rate spiked up and she ran out of the room as if something was after her. "What?"

The huntress's footsteps clambered downstairs before she received an answer and she dashed into the dining room, looking war-like with her dagger stitched to her side.

Since Rexton told Lycus he was mated to her, he saw very little of them both. It seemed his little brother had a dark cloud upon him and began to rain a storm that kept him away from the outside.

Lycus still didn't understand the pairing, even if he compared his own. He came to a deserted and dead-end road. Nothing to show of what lay ahead and nothing to go back to.

At least with Accalia, Lycus was at a crossroads with her — too many roads to take with different futures ahead. He wondered what lay ahead with the daggers piercing from Accalia's eyes and shooting holes into Lycus's head.

"Nothing, Cadence." Accalia lied to her before Lycus could share a word.

Cadence wasn't convinced and flickered her eyes to the oracle, following her every move.

Vaela was no longer in her seat, but standing in the middle of the dining room, jutting a condemning and warning finger at Cadence as if she had just cursed her.

"Well, I was clearly called down here for something. What's wrong?" Cadence demanded, an edge in her voice.

Lycus was about to question her — not Cadence, but the oracle. That was until a sound went off in his head and he heard him before he saw him. His soft steps nimbly pattered down the hall and Rexton came around the corner.

Times stilled, but unspoken secrets did not.

"How long has Cadence Larren been mated?" Vaela declared, her voice in a trembling whisper and her finger settled on the boy in the corner. "To him."

~

I think I may have revealed the secret too soon, but I also did it to move along in the plot.

— Caranyx.