Honouring fate
~
Accalia
~

Accalia didn't know why she stood in front of the wooden door in the morning, but she did, and she was left with the annoyance of wishing she wasn't here at all.

She already knocked. Three times. And yet, no one opened the door.

Maybe this was the perfect time to go, she thought.

Knock and run? Classic. Accalia, Tristan and Cadence would always play that when they were children.

And it seemed Accalia would play that right now as she turned on her heel and went to scurry down the woven path.

A creak met her ears as she took a step and a voice cracked down on her like thunder.

"Luna Accalia, what do I owe the pleasure of you coming to see me?"

Accalia cringed, feeling her stomach drop and spun back around to meet those silver orbs you would only come across in the world of lycans and Alphas.

"It's Accalia, just Accalia." She felt the need to say it. Accalia was no Luna nor would she ever be.

"Accalia," Vaela beamed, her lip twitching and she moved away from the door to welcome her in. "Please, come in."

Accalia ambled in and could sense the sudden shift from being outside. It was hard to describe, but it was oddness with hard-hitting scents and mismatch in the room with objects being in strange places. The cottage was cosy but out of place.

"That's a pretty crow," Accalia stated, eyeing the one-eyed. It was perched by a stained glass window and twitched its head to the side, giving a slight craw to Accalia as though to say hello.

"Thank you, Lu—Accalia." Vaela came to Accalia's side, a lot smaller than her, standing at 5'2 compared to Accalia's 5'8 height. However, her spirit was above anything else, almost god-like with cascading dreadlocks that were intertwined with flowers and donning a purple dress.

"You huntresses are quite tall," Vaela observed with a smile and gestured for Accalia to take a seat.

They both took seats on the wooden chairs and sat across from each other, the circular table having crystals, cards and sage on it.

"My family are tall individuals, Cadence is taller than me though. 5'10." Accalia responded.

"Ah, miss Cadence Larren, quite a character," Vaela mused and placed her elbows on the table, eyeing Accalia with curiosity as though to try and pick her apart.

Accalia smoothed her hands down her jeans and gave a slow nod. "I guess you could say that."

"You seem a lot gentler than her. Easy to converse with." Vaela noted with conviction.

"I crave connections with others, Cadence doesn't. She thinks she doesn't need them." Accalia said. It was true, Cadence felt she didn't need anyone and could drift through life with herself as a company.

"And yet, you have one of the deepest bonds you'll ever experience in your lifetime and you hold him at a distance," Vaela uttered silverily.

Accalia stilled to the spot and felt an invisible jab knock the air out of her.

"I have my reasons for that," Accalia recovered quickly and sat up straighter.

Vaela gave a tight lip smile. "I know. So, what brings you here, Accalia?" She leaned back against her chair, a passive look spawning her features as she gauged Accalia's stance sat rigid and tense.

Throat going dry, Accalia dabbled with her reasons for being here and came to a dead end. When she woke up in the late morning, she knew she wanted to get out of the house and walk somewhere. And somehow, she landed here, drawing her every step to the oracle's little cottage and wanted a sense of clarity. Guidance. Oracles also provided that.

Accalia didn't know what was on though, she thought she did. It was all based around Lycus, of course.

A dashing image flashed through her mind and she clenched her jaw tightly, wishing it would disappear. Him. The kiss they shared two weeks ago and the sudden avoidance they were both perfecting. Hardly acknowledge each other and deem their presence nonexistent.

Accalia didn't know if she hated it or valued Lycus's new tactic of avoiding her.

Swallowing, Accalia found her words. "Guidance? Am I on the right path? I thought I was lost when I was with my family, but now—I feel even more unsure."

Vaela squinted her eyes at Accalia and scoped her out with keen interest. "In the world of lycans, Accalia, the right path is with your mate. Always is. Always has been. But it's much different for you and Lycus, you're made to be his enemy."

"I know," Accalia confessed and hung her head low. "I just don't know if I should move past that."

"That there could be something more?"

Something more? Couldn't be. Impossible.

"I can move past the animosity I have for lycans," Accalia assured strongly. "The hate for them is something generational that has been embedded in me to be the best huntress I can. Although, I failed in that regard. But something more for Lycus and me? I doubt it."

Vaela scoffed and clutched her deck of cards, shuffling them and rippling them together as one. "Let's see what the cards have to say. I hope you're not as rude as Cadence."

Accalia gave a light laugh and moved forward as the cards caught her attention. "Cadence isn't open to much, but in this world, you have to be. I apologise if she was disrespectful towards you and your craft."

Vaela didn't seem offended and waved Accalia off. "I sense darkness in that girl. Greatness, but darkness. As an oracle, I can read the future, but as the moon phases through its cycle, my abilities fluctuate. I can read people very well but I must say, your cousin is something different."

Of course, she is, Accalia brooded and thought of her cousin who was sleeping the morning away.

"Your abilities aren't consistent?" Accalia questioned.

Vaela laid the cards out, faced down and thought over Accalia's question. "Yes. I not only serve lycans but the moon also. My gifts are tied to the moon and as it phases, my powers heighten. This is why I use crystals, cards and other matters to bring forth answers. I can't just rely on my foresight."

Fascinated, Accalia grabbed one of the crystals off the table and brought it to her face, observing it. "This one is pretty."

"It's a moonstone. Now pick three cards," Vaela instructed gently.

Accalia stared down at the laid-out cards and concealed her confusion. Just three cards?

"Do I just choose what I feel or—"

"You choose what you feel, what you feel drawn to, Accalia," Vaela explained to her and Accalia bobbed her head up and down, taking all of this in.

Maybe overthinking would be the thing not to do, Accalia stressed to herself and proceeded to tap at three cards. One near the centre, the other at the end and the final card right at the centre.

Vaela pulled the three cards out and flipped them over for Accalia to view.

"The tower. The lovers. And death. Three major arcana cards." Vaela announced, an edginess in her voice as she peered at Accalia.

"I have no idea what any of this means," Accalia admitted, dumbfounded.

The first card, the tower, was exactly that, a tower. But there was more to it; a person falling from the building as it erupted in flames.

The second of the three almost made Accalia recoil, a man and woman entangled in a passionate love as if they were two souls tied together as one as an angel looked down on them. The lovers.

And the final card read only one defining word: death. The head of a skull and draped in blackness, the reaper of death.

A sheen of iciness pooled over Accalia.

"I'm not going to die, am I?"Accalia blurted out.

Vaela quaked with laughter, shaking her head and gently touching her cards like she was gathering information from them. "Always the first assumption. No, this speaks of your journey with Lycus Fenris. It seemed everything was falling apart with the tower here. When you first met — devastation. Change. Upheaval. I feel you've come out of that, even in such a short time. That's in the past now. The lovers: it is rather self-explanatory, but it also speaks of soulmates, choices to be made and being at a crossroads. What calls to you, Accalia? This is your current state. Death will be held in your future, but that's not to say someone around you will die, although — in this world, death is a calling we are used to. But an event will end, for something new to begin."

Accalia nodded slowly, encompassing Vaela's statement around her like a wall and each word stamping deeply as she tried to conclude all of this. The tower represented their past, the lovers their present and the future set sailed with death.

Did the death card mean she would be free of Lycus? And for anew to begin, away from him?

That could be the case, Accalia concluded thoughtfully.

Her gaze lifted to the silver-eyed being and she smiled graciously. "Thank you for this, Vaela."

Vaela mirrored her smile and said, "You're welcome. Be on your way, I don't think Lycus will enjoy his mate hanging around the woods all on her lonesome."

~

Accalia didn't want to wander these woods for much longer. There was no being but her here — as though it was intentional. She knew Lycus had a tight leash on his hounds to not bother Accalia and Cadence, but she still felt on edge with every step she took to the Fenris manor.

She just came off the track to the oracle's home when a drizzle of rain, only warmer and smelling of sheer metallic dropped onto her arm as she strode back to Lycus's home. She came to a stop. Looking at it, Accalia grimaced at the droplets of blood that travelled down her bare arm with streaking gracefulness.

Like rain, coming from above, Accalia lifted her head and stifled a shrieking outcry.

Mangled and mauled, an animal dangled lifelessly from a tree as though it was specifically placed there. Could be a fox, a deer or even a hound. She couldn't tell. She whipped around, watching the bushes bristle, leaves crack beneath her boots and birds take flight as a sudden muteness overcame the woods.

Accalia reached for her pocket, only to find herself empty-handed and completely defenceless.

Head racing, she looked back at the sight of the dead animal and the wind shifted its course, taking the carcass off the branch and onto the earth with a mighty slam.

Accalia caught a whiff of the rotting meat and blood and wanted to vomit her guts up. Its fur was torn, its rib cage ripped open and its organs of it missing.

Flies swarmed the creature and Accalia shifted back, wishing she had a dagger on her.

She needed to get out of here, out of the wood and to ... Lycus. It was late morning, the sun evading the cloudless skies and she doubted Cadence would be awake, sleeping off her wretched nightmares. Accalia saw no one when she left the house and she hadn't the faintest idea where Lycus would be.

Something would have done this. Ripped it apart, stole its organs and hung it up on a tree. A thought occurred. Something had played with its food.

Something wanted to play with her.

A snarling noise rocked around the wood and Accalia moved to the sound, twisting her body around.

She almost hurled at the sight. A male, short and stocky, scarred skin and brazen with a bloody mouth — brought something to his lips before he bit into it. A heart.

From here, Accalia could hear gnarling chewing and her inside swirled with sickness. She tried to ground her footing even though all she wanted to do was drop where she stood.

Accalia couldn't register the person a distance away from her.

Were they from this pack? Accalia couldn't tell, the tellings of pack members being depicted by physical attributes altered long ago but something caught her eye. This being eating an animal's heart wasn't an act the Fenris pack did. Of course, all lycans and werewolves were carnivores, their diets thrived off it, but not like this — not this vile and raw.

Unless they were in their other form.

This could only mean one thing and Accalia had her father to thank for it. Making her read and read until her head brimming with pain and then numbness. Reading to ensure every drop of word she drank she knew each pack by their traditions and lores.

And Accalia knew of this one. This pack followed instinct that made the Fenris pack look like Saints. Carnal. Animalistic and predatory — the lowest of the lycanthrope curse where there was no return for one's humanity. How could they gain their morality back when they killed the only source? Killed their own mate.

Before Accalia, stood a Canus pack member. A pack member that most likely followed her to see Vaela, watched and stalked her as a predator did — waiting to strike. Killing that animal was only to startle her, to play with her and now he stood in front of her, where the fun would truly begin.

"A human," He said and swallowed, tilting his head to the side. His hard gaze raked along Accalia's form. "A human I'm supposed to send a message to."

Accalia clenched her fingers into fists, prepping herself for the attack. It would come, she knew it would, bloody and brutal with no way out. She wished she had silver on her.

"What message?" Accalia demanded.

He raised his brows, amused by her tone. "A message from my Alphas, of course."

Alphas? If Accalia's assumption was accurate, this male was of the Canus Pack and his Alpha was Cole Canus.

"Alpha Cole as well as Alpha Zenith are rather disgusted by this union with your mate, Lycus. Even more, repelled that you hunters seemed to have infected this pack with your human ways. Lycus killed Beta Tate for you, there will be a cost." The male wolf explained, grinning ear to ear at this.

"The packs have joined together?" Accalia dared to ask.

The male nodded with a toothy grin. "They have. The Alpha of Alphas is no longer our ultimate ruler, especially after being paired with filth like you!" His tone roared with venom, the bite of a werewolf and bared his canines at her.

"How do you even know I'm Lycus's mate?" Accalia questioned, shifting on her heels.

"Little Princess, Melina Thrax told us about you. Thick black hair, brown skin that should be cut up and eyes ... eyes that bleed with humanity. I must admit, you're not as ugly as she said. She seems to harbour rage for you and your cousin — how much she wants to tear her claws into your cousin's throat."

Accalia stepped forward and felt her face redden, narrowing his eyes at him. "What do you want?"

He quirked his brows in amusement, crossing his feet over the other as he almost skipped along the ground. "Rather feisty, aren't you? I just want to bite into your skin — taste the huntress blood in my mouth."

Accalia revealed a fraction of nothing, even as the urge to vomit built up in her throat. "Your Alphas want to end Lycus,"

"We just want to cater to our natural needs and desires ..." the unnamed wolf crooned before his eyes shot Accalia daggers and launched at her. A wolf cornering its dinner.

Accalia watched as the apex predator lunged, impatient and reckless, wanting its catch as his arms readied to embrace her and tackle her to the ground.

The huntress just managed to widen her stance when a bouldering and massive form was in front of her, posing as her armour for battle.

And it would seem he would be her sword as the lycan stretched out his arm and his hand pierced through the wolf's chest before ripping its heart out with light force.

Accalia watched the wolf that was going to eat her alive fall to the ground, a bloody hole shot through his chest and orange eyes opened, face still wrenched with hunger and desire. His heart dropped by his body.

The lycan before her turned around and Lycus's body bristled with fur, canines fixed out of his teeth and claws reaching out to Accalia who stood frozen in place, unable to move in the slightest.

The tip of his claw brushed against Accalia's skin, to her cheek then running along her jaw. His claw didn't nip at her skin hard enough to draw blood or to nick a flicker of pain.

Lycus didn't want that, he wanted something else without losing control as his talon retreated into his nail and the touch of tender hands cupped Accalia's face, blood painting her skin as well as warmth.