Heart Of A Lycan King
Chapter 89

NATASHA.

I trudged behind the wolf into a narrow cave where at first, I had assumed I wouldn’t be able to walk through due to its narrow path.

But the deeper we got into the cave, the wider it got, the more my anxiety spiked, and the more scared I got.

Just where was I? And where was Aiden? The last time I saw him was when darkness had clamped us. No sight of him. And no feel of him through the bond. When the darkness dissipated, I found myself in the woods, with thick twined trees that smell real bad, a flowing stream with water that looked dirty and sticky, and finally this cave, with the two colored wolf standing in front. To add to my panic, I couldn’t feel Erin. I also wasn’t wearing the black robe Inna had given me, instead, I had a long white robe paired with a large trouser.

This wolf I was seeing now was the same wolf I had been seeing in my mind over the past few months.

At first, I hesitated, my heart thumping at the boundary between light and dark. But then it felt only right that I followed the wolf, so I did. From the overhead clumps of moss, cold drops plopped into my hair, a water clock ticking away the precious seconds. A musty smell filled the entirety of the cave as I walked, and I wondered if it were from bats? Or was there something more sinister in this cave?

My toe caught a rock and I stumbled, catching myself against the slimy wall. My fingers traced the strange markings on the walls, which I noticed for the very first time. But I had no time to check what they were because the wolf kept trudging on.

I couldn’t stop thinking. My mind kept reeling with the thoughts of where Aiden was, and if he was safe. After we got separated and I found myself in the woods, I could still feel the coldness of his hand against mine that he had held. I could still see flashes of him withering on the ground. Above all, the resounding hallowed voices that demanded for a sacrifice kept resonating in my head.

I shook my head quickly, because I didn’t want to think about that. At least, not until I found Aiden and knew that he’s safe. There’s a strange feeling in my heart that wouldn’t settle. It was like a bubble, boiling at the bottom of my chest and seeking a way out. I didn’t know what caused it, or why I felt that way. Perhaps it was because I couldn’t feel Aiden nor Erin.

I touched the rock beside me to steady myself when a wave of dizziness hit me. But the ‘ssshhh’ sound that drifted into my ears caught my attention. I stared blankly at the sizzling smoke rising from my hand. Was my body that hot?

Quickly, I brought the back of my left hand to my neck and winced at the heat I felt there. What was going on? Oddly enough though, the more I stayed there, the hotter my body got and the higher the pounding in my head was.

I g*****d and continued to drag my feet, following the wolf that had stopped when I had, and was patiently waiting for me. When we resumed walking, it felt like a hard task, one I was forcing myself to do, but one I couldn’t stop myself from doing.

There seemed to be something pulling me towards wherever this wolf was taking me, and for the love of Nyala, as much as I was scared, I was also willing to replace out what that was.

Finally, we stopped in a large clearing with rocks scattered around. And as though it was a miracle, I felt a better part of the pain I felt earlier slowly diminish, albeit the hollow feeling in my heart was still present.

Here, the markings on the wall were more prominent than the ones I had left. I walked over to one of the drawings, and found it was a drawing of a man holding a torch lit on a stick, with the drawing of burning flames. Kneeling before him was another man, mouth wide open as though he was screaming.

I shifted my gaze to the next drawing, and this one was different. It had the drawing of children dancing around a fire, with elders sitting behind them. For some weird reason, it reminded me of dandali. Those times when I visit my maternal family and we’d sit round the fire listening to late night stories by my maternal grandparents.

I swallowed a lump as I recalled them, before I shifted my gaze to the next drawing, which had a man holding a sword with b***d on it, and drawings of people lying in pools of b***d. The drawing was surreal, and for a moment I felt like I was witnessing it happening.

The drawings went on and on and on, until I got to the last one on the left, where the rock ended and water trickled down. Far ahead though, seemed to be the continuation of the drawings which water most likely had washed off already. Some of the drawings made sense, and the others didn’t. At least, the one I was looking at now didn’t.

It had a wolf, standing on what seemed to be like a rock. It was staring down at the wolves below. Beside the wolf, which was two colored, exactly like Erin, stood a grey colored Lycan. It was weird how these drawings were carved from the rock, and yet, had colors on them.

A familiarity stuck to me as I continued to stare at the drawing, until finally, the clearing of a voice behind me caught my attention. I turned ever so slowly, and surprisingly, only the wolf was standing there.

I furrowed my brows in confusion, looking around to see if there was someone around besides the wolf and I.

‘Look nowhere. I was the one who cleared my throat. A wolf’s throat was clogged,’ a voice said.

I know I have a wolf counterpart, and I know it is absolutely normal to speak to my wolf. Thing is, I’ve never really seen a wolf speak without its mouth moving.

‘This shouldn’t be so surprising though,’ the wolf continued. She was sitting on her hinds, her tail wagging around. ‘I called you here.’

More confusion. “Wh…who are you?” I finally managed to speak.

‘The Fiko Luna,’ she frowned. Or perhaps, that was what my eyes saw. ‘Isn’t that already obvious?’

It clicked then. She was the same wolf I normally saw. However, my mind was occupied with so many things to make the connections. I stared at her, the violet tint in her eyes was more prominent now that I was looking at her face to face. She looked like Erin. I mean, the similarity was too much.

I didn’t know what to do. If I should bow and greet her or if I should run away. My brain and mind were jumbled with different things, different scenarios, and so many what ifs.

“Where is my mate?” I asked one of the two questions bugging me. “And why can’t I feel my wolf?”

She chuckled. The Fiko Luna literally chuckled!

‘Your mate is safe. Or will be so, if everything works out. As for your wolf, I’m not sure how to answer that. Maybe you’ll never feel her again?’

“What do you mean by that?” I snapped, my body already shaking from both fear and anger.

However, the Luna simply shook her fur and turned around. ‘Follow me,’ she said and vanished into a corner that led to who knows where.

I could hear the loud thumping of my heart in my ears. I could hear my heavy breathing. To be honest, I could taste my fear at the tip of my tongue. Yet, my legs pushed me, and I found myself following the Luna.

This part of the cave was darker than the one we left, but there was something up ahead. A flash of lightning that somehow gave me hope. I didn’t know how much hope it gave me, until I found myself staring right back at the source of lightning.

‘This was once my home,’ the wolf said.

Jaw slacked, eyes wide open, I looked at the scenery. It wasn’t real, but it felt like it. It was another drawing on a large rock, and the same drawing was glowing with light from it.

From the beautiful waterfall swishing over rocks, to the people bathing in it, to others with clay pots on their heads as they fetched water from the pool nearby, to the lush greens scattered around. To the laughter. To the joy. To the raw happiness.

I felt all of that. Every single smile, every single laughter, everything. It was as though I was a part of them.

Suddenly though, everything vanished, replaced by darkness. B***d. Anger. Cries. Sadness. Pain.

My ears rang with the screams. My heart squeezed with the amount of pain I felt. My body burned, for what? I had no idea. But I felt all of that, and it made no sense.

Tick!

The single sound made everything stop. Both the beautiful scene I had seen, and the dark anger vanished. And before me was just a rock, glistening from the water on it, and the Fiko Luna.

It was then I noticed that I was crouched down on the ground, my hands clutching onto dirt and moss scattered around, the sticky mud sticking to my palms and staining my white robe. That, and the fact that I was crying. I was crying so hard, as though I had been told someone I cherish just died.

The hurt in my heart was too much. Too painful. Too raw. My heart squeezed with each jerk my body made as I cried. The pounding in my head doubled. This sadness eating at me…this soul eating sadness that was threatening to knock me out of my breath, was something new.

I was overwhelmed by the sadness. Not the normal sadness I felt when I couldn’t eat chocolates as a kid, and certainly not the type that I can’t contain inside. No. This was far worse. And it was slowly crumbling me from the inside. Tugging at me. Ripping me apart.

‘That emotion you are feeling, was something most of my people felt,’ the wolf said sadly as she hovered above me. ‘You are feeling only a certain percentage of our pain and sadness.’

I sniffed, the loud sound echoing in the cave as I tried to stop the tears. “Wh…why are you doing this?’ I whispered, my voice hoarse.

‘It is not deliberate, Natasha. I didn’t do that. You did.’

“I did?” I asked, confused. I was tired of crouching down, so I sat on the wet ground, the mud sticking onto me even more.

‘Not directly. But the b***d within you felt the sadness. The pain, and reacted to it.’

Realization dawned on me. “The Fiko b***d.”

‘Yes,’ the wolf nodded.

“Why do I have it when neither of my parents are Fikoians? I mean, Inna did explain that it was fed to my ancestor but how…”

‘I’m here to answer all of your questions, Natasha Maina. But first, I’m going to tell you a little story.’ The wolf said, settling beside me.

‘Once, there existed a peaceful pack in the Kingdom of Zambele. This pack was considered an outcast due to how powerful they were, in essence, it was hard to interact or relate with members of other packs. Not even with the closest pack to them, the Malakari pack. Despite their numerous tries to fit in and have the other packs interact with them, it never worked. So they stopped trying.

‘Over the years, women and men from the pack started to realize that they were mated outside of the pack, however, they rejected them. According to the Fikoians, they had always been alone and the mate bond wouldn’t change that. So they choose their mates from within the pack.

One woman, though, was mated to a Lycan and it didn’t turn out well. She didn’t reject the Lycan like most of her pack members usually did. The Lycan never wanted her though, and ended up having her kept locked away for days, with no food, and no water. And then she was whipped for days using silver chains. But she never broke down. Each day, she held onto the hopes that she’ll replace love, that perhaps that person would see light some day.

It never happened. But then, when she left the capital, she was pregnant. When she returned to the Fiko pack, she hardly spoke, nor interacted with anyone. Since she was carrying a Lycan pup, she had to shift so her wolf could carry on the pregnancy. But her wolf was too weak for that, and with no mate to support her, it became a hard task to do. At last, after the birth of the pup, she died,’ the Luna paused then, a foggy look like Inna’s shadowed her eyes for a while before it cleared up.

I listened without interrupting, because I didn’t know what to say. I do know however, this was going to be a long story.

‘The pup grew with no mother, nor father. But it survived. As though that wasn’t enough, another wolf was mated to another Lycan. This time, it wasn’t just any Lycan, he was a royal. But unlike the first Lycan, he wanted her, while she didn’t want him. A few months after the Fiko Wolf had rejected the Lycan, she married the Alpha of the Fiko pack.

‘And that seemed to be a grave mistake. Because not only was the Lycan coming back for her, he was determined to take her with him. To win her over. Finding out she was already married to another didn’t sit well with him and that was when the problem started.’ Again, she paused, and I furrowed my brows, trying to make a connection with the story she was telling me and what I already knew about the Fikoians.

‘He was determined to get her back so the wooing game started. But this Wolf had already let go of the idea of them being mates, especially since she had rejected him, and that she was already married to another. But the Lycan wouldn’t relent and slowly, the Wolf started to let her guard down.

‘Little did the Lycan know he was being played. The Wolf made a vow to make the Lycans pay for what they did to that first wolf mated to a Lycan, and all the pain her pack members had suffered over the years by being ignored, and sometimes, rejected just for being different and powerful, and she was using the love the Lycan had for her to get her revenge. It seemed as though she had forgotten that the Fikoians started the rejection. Although, safe to say that every part has a role to play.

‘It worked, because slowly, the Fikoians began to get more freedom because of the royal Lycan. But they still did not mate with the others, because the Fikoians now deem themselves too powerful for measly lowly wolves, as they call the rest of the packs. In return, the other packs started to reject them as well, instead of the normal scenario of the Fikoians doing the rejection. This means that they had no time to prepare to counter attack the rejection pain, and so, when it hit, it was worse for them. This caused so much bitterness to grow and the Fiko Wolf tried to get the Lycan to force the relationships, and that started a problem in their relationship too.

‘Slowly, the Lycan was getting tired, especially since the Wolf still wouldn’t leave the Alpha she married and was simply playing with him. At one point, he told her he had given up and since she looked the happiest with the Alpha, which was what he was after, he’d leave her be. He accepted her rejection and left. Two months later, he married a wolf from the Kalmanshe pack.

‘But he knew he had been played and that angered him. He knew the Wolf never wanted him, yet she gave him hope. Told him things would work out when in turn, she was only using him.’ She turned to look at me, a small smile on her mouth. ‘You know what they said about making decisions in anger?’

I nodded. Decisions made in anger only causes a lot of ‘had I known’ scenarios and never turns out well.

‘That was what happened. The Lycan, in his rage, placed an embargo on the Fiko pack, and no one purchased anything nor sold anything to them. It became hard to meet desperate demands and hunger was slowly eating at everyone. Angry, the Wolf marched to the Lycan and demanded he stopped what he was doing. The Lycan, in turn, demanded that she return to the capital and be his mistress for playing with his feelings. They made a b***d oath, and the Wolf promised to return to the capital in a month.

‘You know what is wrong, Natasha? It is making a promise you can’t fulfill, especially one which involves the b***d oath. If the Wolf had known better, she’d never agreed to make that promise, nor agreed to make that oath. Because that oath cost her her people, her family, her home, and everything she once cherished.’

I swallowed hard, my throat hurting in the process. Wetting my dry lips, I shifted just a little and spoke for the first time since the wolf had started the story.

“What happened?” I whispered, ´scared to know the rest of the story, but I knew I had to.

‘You see, making a b***d oath binds one soul to the other. The soul of the one who promised, and the one promised to will be tied together until the promise has been fulfilled. Normally, that was how it was between wolves. With Lycans, however, it was different. It doesn’t just bind the souls of those involved, it also binds the family of the one who made the promise. In some cases, a whole pack, like the case of the Luna. The wolf didn’t know about this, and thought she could use her power to flip over the promise when the time came.

‘That wasn’t what happened. When a month arrived and she didn’t go back to the capital, members of her family began to die. With each passing day, a new member died until she finally lost ten of them before she realized that her promise was the reason behind it. And then she hated the Lycans even more, when in reality, this was her own mistake. To save the remaining of her family, she summoned a dragon witch and asked for help. Then with her manipulation powers, she went to the capital, in hopes to cut off the promise and leave for good.

‘But the Lycan was already on his way to the Fiko pack to destroy it. If he broke the pack and took away its members, there wouldn’t be a Fiko pack anymore and he could, in turn, scatter the members of the Fiko pack into various packs. He was tired of the disunity. A huge fight broke in the process, most of the wolves he went with were killed. That wasn’t his plan, but seeing other people get killed kicked him in the guts and he attacked as well. In the end, the fight turned out to be bloody and every part suffered severe damages.

‘When the Wolf found out what happened, she got mad and cried to Nyala for help. Nyala told her never to play with the mate bond, went on to tell her how sacred it was, and that both the Fikoians and the Lycans should fix the mess they created. With the b***d oath still taking away members of her pack, she decided to go through with the plan she and the dragon witch made, but before that, they needed to replace a way to break it in the future.

‘To cut the story short, she sealed the Fiko forest with the remaining members of her pack, and broke the chain of the oath that way. But for it to completely break, and for the chaos wrecked by the Fikoians and the Lycans to come to an end, a Lycan and a Fikoian need to mate. And the dragon witch said it’ll most likely never happen or take too long to happen.’

I was crying again as she narrated the story, and when she paused, I couldn’t help but feel the pain in her floating voice.

‘That Wolf was me, and the Lycan was the current King’s great grandfather,’ she said.