Lupus Princeps

1.8 - The Great Awakening

His heart was the first organ to freeze.

He knew the moment it happened. It was not painful. It had simply stopped. One last beat before his blood stilled in his veins and it grew cold. He never felt any physical pain, not for the centuries he had been trapped in a body of stone. 

Not until now.

Not even when his eyes dulled and eventually closed, not even when the harsh winters would seep in and icicles had clung to the back of his ears or when he grew so hungry and starved he dreamt of gnawing off his own limb to dull the ache. It had all been painless compared to this.

He knew exactly when she had passed the woodland and broken through to the cusp of the mountain, he could practically feel her eyes scanning over his land- their land. He felt it when her foot stepped into his territory and yet he couldn't be close enough. 

He wished to see her face, gauge her first impression of their land. Would she be proud of her land? Would she be satisfied? Did she realise it was all hers?

He attempted to lift his fingers, perhaps her presence alone could unchain him, however, when his body refused to loosen, refused to move and refused him of seeing his mate, his Lycan roared.

Rage consumed him in a fiery abyss and he was incapable of stopping it.

Go. To. Mate.

Bitter irony leaked into the edges of his mind and if he had the physical ability to do so he would be laughing, for the consequences of his Lycan's rage had imprisoned him in this very tomb, his own personal coffin. His Lycan's rage would be of no help now, only a persistent thorn in his side.

His internal battle continued for hours, stuck in an endless cycle of rage, desperation and hopelessness. 

By the time he counted the third hour of his Mate being within walking distance from him, he heard the door of his tomb slide open.

"Woah! It's so shiny!"

Little voices greeted his ears and he would have grinned with relief if he could have, the sound of joyful innocence was a sound he missed. He ignored the pang of longing as he realised his Mate was not with the two children.

One broke through the barrier of the tomb, braver than the other but hesitated in the dark.

"Look at the jew-wels!" 

"Don't touch them!" One of the girls wailed and he heard her little heartbeat flutter with fear, "We'll be Reckoned."

From the pumping beat of their hearts alone, he could tell they had not eaten nearly enough. A sluggish sound that tugged on his long-forgotten instincts, an ache of worry sprouted in his mind as he hoped his Mate did not have a sluggish, neglected heart.

But the children's laughter didn't last long before one gasped. He could only assume that they had spotted his figure.

"Marcy wait! Stop!" The girl shrieked, "There's something over there!"

"It's a Blood monster! It's gonna kill us!"

That was all it took for his buried and neglected Alpha instincts to surge forward, pressing on the forefront of his mind. Connecting the thin threads that had decayed and linking them together once more. 

Icy betrayal reflected onto his own self and his own careless mistakes. How could he have not sensed it? He had unknowingly put the lives of children in irrevocable danger and he would face his punishment without a single objection.

Find Mate. Save Mate.

His Lycan clawed beneath his skin to rip out and complete the shift, take control of the situation and defend the defenceless girls, yet his body refused once more.

He begged the Goddess to be released from his immobility, to find his Mate and steal her away from all the dangers lurking in the dark but she would not grant him this.

Only when the two girls had slammed the door of his tomb behind them and were running into the distance did he pause and listen for any sign of danger.

His lungs had frozen and his heart had stopped for centuries now, therefore any scent would be unidentifiable and completely useless since he couldn't even take a breath. It would have been the easiest way to identify a Blood Demon or any threat for that matter. 

So instead he relied solely on his hearing. He could pick up the group's individual heartbeats effortlessly, even without trying at all. He wondered which sound would belong to his Mate, pumping to keep her alive.

He could recognise the flapping wings soaring fifty meters above his territory, yet when he stilled and all the noises flooded into his mind, he still could not pick up the familiar gurgle of the Blood Demon the children claimed to see.

He leaned towards the Lycan in his mind, which was not difficult considering the amount of control it took to restrain him on a good day and allowed the Lycan's heightened senses to overwhelm him. He felt the change occur in his pupils as his Lycan surged forward, drinking up his control.

No Danger. Find Mate.

His ears perked to the sounds of the children's wailing, listening intently as they cried to their mothers.

"It looked dead."

"Was it moving quickly?"

He was sure that if his heart could beat, it would be wild with adrenaline. 

Her voice was like melted silver, the sound rippling through his ears and setting his Lycan wild with need, chanting demands to find her, mark her and mate her. He ignored his Lycan and thought about her silky voice, veiled with anxiety and listened as all the heartbeats of the group thud with fear.

"No, it wasn't moving at all."

It didn't take much else for him to connect the dots together and realise the children had been spooked by him. 

His mind wandered to the day of his heart's death and realised he was chained and wrapped in the linen from centuries ago.

His own selfish vanity didn't want his Mate to witness him in such a state and his Lycan wanted to prove he could provide for her, not looking as vulnerable and disgusting enough to scare children. But he accepted there was nothing he could possibly do.

By the time he had convinced his Lycan to settle beneath his skin and regained control, the voice of a woman met his mind. 

"Look at the snow." The woman gasped, but his mind hadn't processed a single word.

All he knew, was the fact his Mate was meters away from his body.

Her presence alone set his mind on fire, aching with the need to tether his soul to hers, unknowingly the room increased temperature, if only slightly. It was the first sign of his mind regaining the power it once had. He couldn't help but try and draw his Mate closer to him.

He tugged on the new forming thread connecting their souls together loosely and tried to settle her fear and replace it with need. The tomb grew hotter in response, not by enough to settle his Mate, he noticed as her heart still fluttered like a hummingbird's wings, he knew his body was still weak.

The door slid open, quicker than he had expected and he could only listen as all the torches lining the walls of the tomb simultaneously lit in a burst of flames. His Mate was closer now, so close he could feel the heat of her body permeate the room, it satisfied his Lycan. 

Not for long, however, when the second woman in the tomb spoke again, drawing his Mate's attention away from him and attempting to stop them being closer than they had become.

"What are you doing! Wait!"

Kill human. Take Mate. Keep safe.

His Lycan growled angrily but the women's words of warning did not sway his Mate. He felt a coil of pride swirl in his mind at her curiosity, her bravery, but also a stab of anger. His Mate was under the impression that there was danger in the tomb and yet she came willingly to investigate? Did his Mate have a death wish? Blood Demons were no joke and should not be taken lightly, he knew that first-hand.

A while had passed, with the only sound in the room being the women's racing hearts and jagged breaths and quiet murmurings, all the while he battled with his Lycan trying to remain in control of his thoughts and the temperature of the room but eventually, his Lycan won.

His Lycan emitted a tantalising scent, hoping to draw his Mate closer, a buried instinct meant for Mating and Marking, not for simply drawing her closer. 

Even though it was dulled and weak, from his vulnerable state, it had worked wonders. His Mate was close enough for him to feel her warm breath blow on the exposed skin of his face. 

It was too much for him to bear, his patience snapped and his Lycan's concentration was gone. His Beast retreated to the back of his mind once more as his Mate leapt back, startled by something.

He could feel the weight lifted from his chest before he heard the jewel clatter to the ground.

His lungs screamed at him, begging him to draw a breath for the first time in centuries, to taste his Mate's scent on his tongue and his muscles tightened under his armour, filling out and flooding with strength. The armour that had kept him trapped for years, was now useless against him, the chains linking his limbs served no purpose.

He fought his Lycan, more so than ever. He couldn't bear to think what his Lycan would do to their already terrified Mate if he so much as moved an inch, especially how terrified she would be if he let him take control. 

His Lycan's thoughts pierced his mind, showing the intimate, delicious things he wished to do to their Mate.

Mark Mate. Claim Mate.

He had waited this long for her; he would be damned to the deepest caverns of Hell if his Lycan scared her away now. 

The other woman had left, too scared to return and it pleased his Lycan that they were finally alone. No one could stop him from snatching her away and chaining her to his bed if that so pleased him. It would certainly please his Beast. No one could stop him but his conscience did. 

 His thoughts were rocked out of his mind when something tapped against the skin of his face. Rustling lightly, he knew it wasn't his Mate's fingers but rather a plant, or a stick. It irritated his Lycan, not being his Mate's true touch, he hated the barrier between them.

After a moment, the thread connecting the two of them loosened and he knew she was walking away. Away from him, his Lycan and their bond. 

He stood up before she could blink and before it could even register in her slow, human mind that he had moved at all. 

He stood directly in front of her. 

His Lycan's eyes peering through his own, glowing a brilliant green, no doubt. His Lycan had full control. 

His eyes soaked her up, her sheer beauty stunning him. He wanted nothing more than to slam her against the walls of his tomb and have his way with her, he wanted to see her dark lips part and hear all the sounds she could possibly make. 

In all his years of waiting and all the years of his Lycan's rage, he had never felt that side of himself so subdued, so calm. A part of him didn't want to touch her in fear she may break, as he noticed the thinness of her arms, her rich skin clinging to bones, no meat, no muscle. 

Her heart was weak too. Pumping as furiously as it could go, being as sluggishly slow as it was. 

It was the sound of her heart that forced his Lycan back down onto the podium, willingly surrendering over to his human self, not wanting to frighten her heart so much it would snap in two.

The thought of breaking his Mate's heart had him scrambling back to the podium and freezing his motions for her to register. 

She would only see a twitch and what felt like an eternity later, she was far away again. 

Away from him. 

But the scent of her still lingered in the air and for that moment, it would be enough.

He waited until the sun had long set beneath the horizon and darkness cast over the valley before he removed the foliage and rocks barring the tomb. That part was easy, a flick of his wrist in strength, easy.

Hard, however, was allowing his Lycan full control, falling effortlessly into the change and standing at the treeline bordering his Mate, hardest of all was not going to her. 

His Lycan couldn't help following her scent to the treeline immidiatly after escaping the tomb, waiting and patrolling around the small cottage the group resided in.

He wanted to know she was safe and for a small moment, his Lycan believed she was. 

Until the scent of a Male lingered in the cottage, and then he was in an agonizing battle against himself once more. 

Kill Male. Take pretty Mate.

Agony. It was agony, trying to pull his Lycan away from the edge of the treeline, yanking on the reigns of his control when the Lycan's bloodlust was in a frenzy, his Lycan wouldn't understand anything other than the fact that no man should be near his Mate. 

Moments passed and his agonizing efforts had kept his Lycan partly subdued; the rage was evident in the snow beneath his paws, claw marks etched into the frozen ground showed his restraint. 

It had all been worth it, until the door of their cottage slid open and his gorgeous Mate peered out. 

It collided with him full force, not only the scent of her and everyone in the cottage, but his Lycan smelt her fear. Clinging to her like a second skin, fresh in it's torment. It drove his Lycan crazy. 

He only regained a slither of control when he realised his Lycan was stepping out of the treeline, towards her. 

For the first time, their eyes met. Though it was his Lycan's eyes, not his own physically. She was staring at his beast, and she didn't like what she saw. The scent of her fear intensified, until it was thick like smoke around him.

His Lycan lifted his nose into the air, before retreating into the shadows of the woodland, not wishing to cause her any more fear. 

Her reaction had his Lycan whimpering before completely releasing control and thrusting him into his human form. 

He was left with the taste of disappointment in his mouth, curling around the edges of his lips and pulling them into a frown. His Mate was not pleased with him. She had not felt their connection.

"It's still early." He sighed. He had time to change his Mate's perception of him. Change her reaction so that his Lycan wouldn't feel so thwarted and small. 

But their connection was fresh and he made a promise not only to himself but to his Lycan, that his Mate would accept them. It was still early. 

He had time.

(2578 Words)

So this chapter really needs some editing, I'm not very happy with how it turned out, but I hope you guys enjoyed the change of perspective! (This chapter might be revamped in the next weeks btw)

Did you notice how his name is never mentioned? It'll be revealed in the chapters to come.

What do we think of our leading man? 

Do you like seeing his POV?

Let me know and as always I hope everyone is staying safe! :)