FENRIS

"Our creator, the Moon Goddess, has finally decided to bless us, to give us a new hope. The long-awaited search for one's mate has come to a still. The future Alphas of two packs have been blessed with their mates thus, giving us hope that our species will thrive and that we have hopes for new pups to be born.

You are invited to be witness and to bless the mating ceremony of

Lycidas Volkov, future Alpha of the Moon Stone pack, with Caliana Farkas, Alpha daughter of the Mystic Shadow Pack.

Aztec Shaw, future Alpha of the Samara Pack, with Avery Lowell, Beta daughter of the Moon Stone Pack.

As the new found mates are still in training, we have decided to make it a public ceremony to celebrate the first two matings after two decades. The ceremony will take place on the school grounds on the eve of the full moon."

I read out the letter sent by Elder Alarick to my adoptive parents and try hard not to yearn for my name in that letter as a wolf to be mated. Of course, the elders wouldn't celebrate the mating of an adopted son of the beta pair of any pack, but I think as I found my mate with Lycidas and Aztec that is after such a long time of two decades, there were chances that my mating ceremony would've been celebrated too. How desperately do I want to show off my mate to the world! To show that I finally found the one person whom I can call mine in the absolute sense.

It has been two weeks since, the Alpha revealed to me about my princely heritage and I am sure that he is misinformed. Sure, there must have been some prince Lucian but I certainly do not think that I am his son.

"Time passes by so quickly. It seems that only yesterday, Caliana was running behind you to play pretend mates," says Yuki. I smile at the memory.

"I know all of the new found mates. They certainly fell in love at first sight," I reply fondly remembering the way Lycidas had introduced himself even when he and Caliana knew each other from childhood. They surely hadn't met each other after Lycidas turned 21 as he was already in training.

"Do you feel the same about your mate?" she asks me making me freeze.

"I feel a lot of things for her, mother, but I do not know if I love her. After all, Avery Lowell who is the same age as that of Sierra, accepted her mate but mine asked for more time. She denied me of my right as her mate by asking me to hold my claim," I say unable to keep the bitterness out of my tone and hope that it would be misunderstood as sadness and not jealousy.

"She must have been overwhelmed by you, Fenris. I remember how territorial and obsessive you were regarding your things when you were a child. You did not even let Caliana touch your things and she has been a very close friend to you. Maybe that must have made your mate think that she will lose her freedom with you. You should give her some breathing space," she explains in that motherly tone and I feel my anger growing.

"I am very territorial about some things because I have no one," I say and my mother pales at the words but I continue.

"I have always been a loner even when you all made me feel like I am home. I couldn't feel that because there was always a look of pity and sympathy in your eyes which I started resenting. That is the reason why I left the pack at nineteen, a year early than the norm. Just so I could get away from you and the pity," I shout unable to control my anger at being misunderstood again.

"Behave yourself, Fenris. This is not a way you talk with your mother, the one who accepted you without reservations," says my dad standing defensively in front of my mom's trembling form.

"Yes, she did accept me without reservations because she wanted to fill in the void of not being able to bear pups. And you allowed it because you wanted to make her happy. I was like a personal toy to you, wasn't I?" I say and with each word my voice comes out louder and wilder showing the agitation of my wolf.

Both of my parents are now stunned into silence and I sense their resignation as if they have nothing to say to defend their actions. Their defensive stance forces me to accept the fact that I was taken in just to fill in the void and if they already had had a kid of their own, they wouldn't have ever adopted me. The realisation leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

"I understand your feelings Fenris. It is true that I wouldn't have accepted a random pup into my family if I had my own pup but I never neglected you," she starts but I hold up my hand to stop her excuses.

"The problem is mother, you loved me because you pitied me and that made me feel lonelier."

"Can't you be grateful that you were accepted as our own and given a roof on your head other than die at the hands of that rogue who was bloodthirsty for your father? Or are you too smug about the fact that you are no longer an orphan but the long-lost prince?" snarls my father and my mom's head perks up immediately.

"What prince? Wasn't the child killed by rogues?" asks my mother and my dad starts panicking.

"You have a good time explaining yourself to her," I say and leave the house.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"You know, it is not good to take out your anger on someone else."

I turn my head towards the familiar voice and see Alcina lounging in the chair on the front porch of the house. Being in my wolf form, I cannot verbally reply, but I can surely growl, which I do, scaring her. I enter my adoptive parents' house, to my room to shift back. I have some apologising to do.

Knocking on my parents' door, I wait for the door to open with my hands in my shorts pockets and nervousness wafting off from me.

"What?" My dad opens the door with a scowl on his face but fails to keep the hurt out of his eyes. It makes me feel guilty and so terrible of myself.

"I came to apologise to mom. May I?" I ask for entrance in their room.

He tries to object and stop me from entering when mom's soft voice asks me to enter. My dad huffs but allows me to enter.

Mom is sitting in the rocking chair and has a very sad aura around her. Clearly, I made a terrible mistake in lashing out at her like that. I took my anger on her for no reason. I enter the room and walk to my mom and kneel in front of her and lay my head in her lap.

A second later, I feel her hands on my head, caressing. I close my eyes and savour the moment. How can a person be so selfless and so forgiving towards someone who hurt her so badly?

"I am sorry mom. I am upset that he allowed you to adopt me because you weren't able to have your own kids. He agreed that he adopted me out of duty and not because he really wanted me." I say, my voice hoarse with the roiling emotions.

"Randale can be very practical sometimes. Even if he adopted you out of duty, I loved you as if you were my own flesh and blood. I apologise if you ever felt that I pity you. I just felt bad that your own mother was deprived of the opportunity to love her son," she says continuing to caress my head gently, and I feel like kicking my own ass for hurting this mother.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scenting someone following me, I slow down and take a whiff. Scenting Zion, I slow down to a lazy stroll and wait for him to speak or shift.

"Do you believe my dad?" he asks leaning lazily yet alert on the nearby pine tree. He throws me a pair of shorts and I shift not caring about him seeing me naked.

Shrugging on the shorts I reply, "I am yet to come to a conclusion."

"Didn't you sense that he is telling the truth or lying?" he asks and I am not surprised to see that he knows about my witch abilities.

"I sensed that he is telling the truth but I need some proof to know that I am really some prince," I say willing him to understand my problem.

"I get it, man. To not know yourself when everyone else seems to be concrete on their decisions regarding you," he says and now I get it remembering how he was told to live up to his father's expectations.

"What is this thing with the witch?" he asks.

"She says she's my cousin and you need to stay away from her, cousin or not," I glare at him.

"I won't even touch her hair but, damn, she's hot."

I growl and he puts up his hands in surrender.

"What do you want?" I ask knowing there must be some reason for him to interrupt my patrolling.

"Elder Raoul has come to meet you and is waiting for you with my dad," he says.

Why would the come all the way here and how did he come here? Zion starts walking towards the Alpha's home and I follow.

"I see you have met your witch cousin," says Elder Raoul in the form of greeting, gesturing towards Alcina. I just nod and take a seat beside her in front of the Elder on the dining table at the Alpha's house.

"Can we proceed with the purpose of your presence here?" asks Alpha Zac in his Alpha tone to hide his anxiety.

"Did you tell Fenris about how I found him and gave him in your care?" he asks.

"Yes," replies the Alpha.

"There have been some killings around the school territory and death threats. We also recently found that Elder Amaruq has been betraying us with information as well as access into the school to kidnap she-wolves," says the elder looking at me and I clench my fists at the anger remembering how Sierra was kidnapped.

"How can I help you?" asks the Alpha.

"On further investigation we found that there are chances that a witch is helping them as we cannot detect any scents around the borders," he says and looks at Alcina who immediately open her mouth to defend herself.

"I don't think she has anything to do with it, Elder," I say on behalf of her and to show that I trust her. She gives me a small smile but I can sense her nervousness. I smile to reassure her.

"Very well. I trust you. I would like to stay here for tomorrow and get to know Alcina. I would like to know if there are any chances of a witch helping the rogues. After that we can all leave for the mating ceremony of your daughter," says the Elder.

"Yes. You can stay here, Elder and we would like you accompanied us to the school for the ceremony. I hope my daughter's doing well," says the Alpha with a concerned note.

"Your daughter is a very talented young she-wolf. Her mate deserves her and will take good care of her. They will make good leaders for the Moon Stone pack," says the elder with a smile.

"Thank you, Elder. Zion will show you to the guest room. We leave for the school grounds day after tomorrow in the morning," says the Alpha and the elder nods his confirmation.

I get up to leave but am stopped by Elder Raoul's hand on my shoulder. I step aside from everyone and he joins me waving his hand to create a soundproof bubble around us.

"I came to check up on you," he says.

"Why? I am home. I'll be definitely safe here," I say with a bite in my voice.

"This is not your home, son. I knew that the witch has found you and that you now know that you are the royal heir but don't believe it. I have come to give you that proof and the witch will help me," he says.

I glance around us and see that no one is there except for Alcina but she seems to be thinking hard about something.

"Tell me."

"Be ready tomorrow at 5 am in the morning. I have already informed the witch and I'll let Zion know. He also needs to know some things." With this, the elder starts walking towards the stairs and Zion comes out of the kitchen to lead him.

I look at Alcina questionably but she just shrugs and gives me a small smile. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

I shift and decide to take a quick run before heading back home. Running through the pack grounds feels exhilarating and I pick up speed to feel the air through my fur. The pack territory has changed a lot since the last time I was here. I wish Sierra were here, running besides me in the wild. Thinking of her, I howl with the yearning for my mate but whine when it is not returned and run faster to take my mind off her. Thoughts of her are messing with my mind making me realize that I don't want to live alone anymore. Finding out that I am her mate, now makes me yearn for more, that I want to give her the world and that is why finding out about my past is necessary, to confirm whether, I am really a son of some rogue or the royal heir.

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