The Lycan King's Fated Mate

Chapter 5 - Nightmare

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Eli

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I stand there in the quiet corridor, still pumped full of adrenaline, my mind a whirlwind of confusion. Before I can gather my thoughts, a familiar voice to my right calls out my name. I turn to see Darnel running towards me, his expression mirroring my own bewilderment.

“Eli! What the hell, man?” he asks, his breath heavy from the run. “What happened? Who or what were you chasing?” His eyes search mine, seeking an explanation, and I open my mouth to respond, but no words come out. I’m still grappling with the aftermath of what just occurred as my mind races to make sense of the inexplicable.

Darnel adds that I scared him, and I can see the genuine concern etched on his face. “I... I thought I saw someone,” I finally manage to utter, my voice barely audible over the echo of my own racing heartbeat and he raises an eyebrow, waiting for more details. “Who?”

I don’t have a straightforward answer. Darnel is not a werewolf, so it’s not like I can just tell him I was chasing after a scent I thought was my mate’s. So, I simply repeat, “Someone,” as I start to walk back down the corridor and he follows, persisting with questions.

"Are you still going out?” he asks, and I mean to answer him, to assure him that everything’s fine, knowing he’s worried and confused, but I’m still in a daze.

The realization of how I lost myself to the scent hits me like a ton of bricks and my steps falter, earning another concerned-filled look from him no doubt, but I don’t even look at him, my mind consumed with thoughts of the overwhelming force of the mate pull. It was like a spell had been cast on me, and for that moment, nothing else in the world mattered—not my dad, not even Malia.

A strange sensation swirls in the pit of my stomach at the thought and my father’s words come flooding back to my head. This is almost exactly how he described it, but worse, and now the inevitable heartbreak for Malia feels like an imminent reality, and this feeling sinks my heart to the pit of my stomach.

“I take it you are no longer going out." Darnel’s voice pierces through the fog and it’s only then that I realize I’m standing at my door. I turn to him and confess that I’m not feeling well and his eyes narrow with concern—an unusual sight for me. I’m a wolf, so my health is always at a peak and even though he doesn’t know that, I don’t recall ever using the excuse of feeling unwell.

He asks if there’s anything he can do, and I shake my head, assuring him I just need a moment to lie down. He mentions heading to the slopes and suggests I find him there if I start feeling better and I nod in acknowledgment. As he leaves, he glares back at me with concern still creasing his features.

The dissipation of the earlier adrenaline flood leaves me feeling weak and I plop onto the bed, frustration etched on my face as a cascade of questions floods my mind once again. If that mysterious woman was our mate, shouldn’t she have caught our scent too? Why did she walk away? Wasn’t she supposed to be consumed by the same magnetic pull that drew us towards her?

She was supposed to

Orpheus responds in a quiet voice, and I ask him why it didn’t happen then. He’s more familiar with the concept of mates than I am, but he claims not to know why she would run away from us.

Maybe she doesn’t know about the bond and the sudden revelation overwhelmed her.

He says after a moment, but I counter that her wolf should know, just like he does. He falls silent at that, and I sense there’s more to his hesitation.

I don’t know.

He replies but why don’t I believe that? Why do I feel like he’s holding back, afraid of confronting a truth that might break both our hearts?

“Maybe she saw us and didn’t like what she saw,” I say out loud, and the response is a whimper from Orpheus, an acknowledgment that I am right; he knows and doesn’t want to break our hearts. Silence ensues after that as we both take a moment to ourselves before I hear him speak again, questioning the inexplicable vanishing of the scent.

Even so, even if she ran, what could possibly conceal her from us? It doesn’t make sense. We were supposed to follow her until the ends of the earth, or wherever she led us. The scent never vanishes, and a wolf is never wrong about its mate, and it never loses its mate’s scent once it gets a whiff.

I don’t have the answers, so I start to tell him that if she ran away from us, then whatever happened is probably for the best. Why should we chase after someone who doesn’t want us after all? But my phone's familiar ringtone interrupts my train of thought. I hastily grab it, and the caller ID reveals it’s my father.

As I answer, a frown creases my brow at the sound of his voice, coming through as if he’s in a moving vehicle. It’s well past 10 p.m. for him, so where is he going? My concern spills into the question, and he explains he was called in at work to fill in for Jonas, Malia’s dad, who couldn’t make it. Jonas and my father are friends and colleagues, and it was Jonas who facilitated my father’s job. He is aware of our supernatural nature. Malia knows too.

He was checking in to see how my first day went and I recount the events of the evening. As I tell him about the mysterious mate, his confusion mirrors mine. He grapples with the vanishing act as much as Orpheus and I do, and despite his best efforts, he can’t make sense of it.

He ends up agreeing with Orpheus that maybe she panicked and ran. Speaking with my dad brings a sense of reassurance and as we move on from the mate business, I confess that the strange occurrence is not the only puzzle of the night, my mind drifting to the blond version of me I was chasing when the bizarre incident took place.

If my dad had another son somewhere, he would have told me. The guy doesn’t look older than me and my father would have never cheated on my mother. So, the guy can’t be my brother.

But what if he’s my cousin? My dad never saw all his brothers die, as he was quickly sneaked out that fateful night when his family was killed. He only knows all of them died from research he did later on. What if one of them survived and he, too, has been living in hiding? What if that’s his son out there? It would explain why he’s human, too. Maybe, unlike my father, he wasn’t fortunate to find his mate in hiding and ended up with a human.

“Dad, I saw someone today." I begin to tell him about the guy, how he eerily resembles me and everything, and how shocked I was. I’m about to ask him if he thinks it’s possible that one of his brothers survived when I realize he hasn’t said anything since I started the conversation. “Are you there?” I ask even though I can hear him breathing and I’m about to ask again when he replies with a tone I can’t decipher, asking me if he had blond hair.

I open my mouth to say yes but stop realizing I hadn’t mentioned the hair color yet. Right at that moment, the realization hits me. He doesn’t sound surprised at all. He knows.

“You know him?” I ask to hear a heavy sigh on the other side before he says we will talk about it when I return. My stomach churns as the idea that he’s my cousin, suddenly feels like it wouldn’t warrant this kind of reaction from him. So before I know it, I ask if he’s my cousin—the urge to know suddenly overwhelming and my father’s answer hits me like a blow in the chest:

“No, he’s not your cousin.”

“Then who is he?”

“This is not the time to talk about this, Helios-”

“-I don’t care! I want to know right now. Is that guy out there my brother? Do you have another son you never told me about?"My voice rises of its own accord in shock as I leap to my feet and my father says yes, Lio. I ask him why I had to run into him here to know that and he begins to tell me that we can’t speak about this now again, but I tell him to stop saying that.

He’s had twenty-three years to tell me and he never did. I switch the call to a video call, needing to look him in the eye, and he pulls over to the side of the road, his eyes heavy with guilt.

“Did my mother know about him? Did you cheat on her? Is that why you hid him?”

“Helios, you don’t want to do this right now. Come home and then we’ll talk about it. I will tell you everything.”

“Stop saying that. I want to know now! You kept this for twenty-three years. I found out by chance. You have no right to tell me when it is and is not the right time to tell me about it. I’m asking you, Did my mother know about him?"

“Yes, she knew.”

“So you cheated on her! You cheated on your mate!”

“I never cheated on Lucretia Helios! Your mother was already pregnant when I met Lucretia."

“What?”

“Helios, listen to me. It’s better if you come home and we talk about this," he says, but I cut him off. It’s too late for that now.

“You said my mother was already pregnant when you met Lucretia? What does that mean?” I ask and just then, the phone goes dead; he cuts the call. I redial, my fingers scrambling for the screen, and the phone rings, but just then, I hear my father’s voice in my head, mind linking me.

“It means Lucretia was not your mother,” he says and I fall on my ass on the bed, the room beginning to spin as I ask him who my mother is. He says her name was Kathrine and the word "was'' has my hands clutching my stomach as I whisper it back and he confirms she passed.

My father says my mother was a human and that he took me from her right after she gave birth. She decided it was better that he raised me since she knew nothing about wolves. He says she was also still living with her parents when she had me, and it would have been difficult to hide what I was.

“The young man you saw out there is your twin, but because he is a human, you were born months apart. I’m sorry I never told you, Helios, and I swear I will tell you everything you need to know when you come home. I can't do it like this," he says, while I sit there, frozen in shock, feeling tears gathering in my eyes as if someone has pulled the rug from under me. My whole life has been a lie.

“I’m sorry, son. I'm sorry you had to find out like this,” he adds, but I cut the mind link and run out of the room, propelled by a soul-numbing urge to look for my brother.

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Author’s POV

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Dame brushes a few strands of Clio’s hair away from her face as she lies there, finally asleep. The evening took an unexpected turn as Clio began feeling weak. Concern etches across Dame’s face, his worry deepening as he watches her peaceful slumber, wondering if he made a good decision by agreeing with her.

He had insisted on taking her to the hospital, but Clio convinced him otherwise. “I’ll feel better when I wake up,” she assured him. But still, Dame is torn. His hand instinctively reaches for her forehead, checking for any signs of fever, but the absence of heat doesn’t ease his worry. He also thinks that she might have declined a trip to the hospital to avoid disrupting their plans.

Leaning against the headboard, he gazes at her intently before recalling the moments leading up to this. The dinner ambiance, and the romantic setting. He tells himself that if she still doesn’t feel 100 percent in the morning or if he notices that she’s getting worse, he will take her to the hospital despite her insisting she doesn’t need to.

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Clio

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I wake up to the soft glow of a dimming sunset filtering through the curtains. Blinking away the remnants of sleep, I sit up on the bed, realizing I’m alone. The strange sensation that had plagued my body is gone, and I feel completely fine.

But confusion settles in as I wonder about the time and day. When I went to bed, it was well past 7 p.m., and now, looking outside, it seems to be around the same time.

Did I only sleep for a few minutes, or did I slumber through an entire day and wake up the following evening? My body doesn’t feel like I’ve only slept for a short while.

A glass of water on the bedside table catches my eye, and I reach for it, taking a sip—the cool liquid refreshing me as I try to make sense of the situation.

Placing it back down, I get off the bed. “Dame?” I call out, heading out of the small cabin bedroom, wondering where he went. But just then, an unexpected noise reaches my ears—laughter and the distinct sounds of sledding coming from outside. Perplexed, I frown, trying to reconcile the sounds with the setting of the luxury resort as I make my way toward the door, and it doesn’t make sense.

“Dame?” I call out again, my confusion growing as the noises get louder and I reach the door and rip it open. My eyes widen at the scene that unfolds before me. I’m still in the cabin, but it’s no longer nestled within the familiar resort. Instead, it’s surrounded by a pristine blanket of snow, suggesting I’m in the midst of a ski resort and people are skiing up and down the slopes—the air filled with the exhilarating sounds of winter sports.

Just then, a couple of skiers zip right past me, causing snow to splatter on my feet. As I watch them, everything around me feels like a whirlwind and I ask myself what’s happening. Taking my eyes away from the couple on the slopes, I call out for Dame, but instead of him responding, another familiar voice pierces the crisp air, calling my name.

My head snaps to my right to see Lio zapping towards me, clad in a white ski suit. He stops in front of me, a smile on his face as he says he’s glad I’m feeling better and before I can fully comprehend the situation, he places a gentle kiss on my forehead and pulls me into a tight hug.

“I love you,” he says in the hug, but instead of reciprocating, I ask him what is going on, too confused to process anything else. However, suddenly, Lio is ripped from my arms—the force sending me tumbling into the cold snow face first.

Just then, the serene ski resort transforms into chaos, with screams filling the air. I scramble to my feet, my eyes frantically searching for Lio as I spit out the snow and I find him scrambling to stand, terror etched across his face a few feet away from me.

My gaze follows his, and a scream tears through my throat as I see a beastly-looking man running on all fours toward Lio, a horrifying sight that freezes my blood. “Lio!” I scream, my heart pounding in my chest and the man’s head snaps towards me with chilling, blazing red eyes—the same eyes that gazed upon me as my mother screamed for me to run.

Everything blurs as the scene shifts, and I run toward Lio, desperately trying to reach him while continuing to scream his name. The snow hinders my movements, making it a struggle to navigate the slippery terrain, and just then, more beastly figures emerge from the surrounding forest behind Lio, their growls echoing in the cold air.

My hands stretch out towards my brother, the distance between us seeming insurmountable while people run past me, some falling as the world becomes a chaotic whirlwind of snow, screams, and terror.

But just as my fingertips graze Lio’s shoulder. A sickening, crunching sound tears through the air, followed by a warm splatter on my face.

My hands fly to my eyes to wipe off the liquid, while an impact on the snow echoes in my ears. I come to an abrupt stop, everything happening too fast, and when my eyes blink open, a nightmarish scene unfolds before me.

My brother’s headless body collapses onto the cold snow and a guttural scream tears through my throat.

“No! Lio! No, please!”

The world ceases as I drop to my knees scrambling to reach for his lifeless form, still thrashing, blood spraying from where his head was, and soaking the snow as I cradle him in my arms—the world crumbling around me.

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Author’s POV

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“Clio! Clio! Baby!” Dame calls out, shaking her as she continues screaming and writhing on the bed and her eyes finally snap open. “It’s a dream, baby. You were dreaming; it’s okay,” he tries to reassure her, but she continues crying, pleading, “Don’t leave me.”

“Clio, it’s okay, baby. Nothing happened to Lio; it’s a dream,” Dame tells her, holding her tight, having heard her calling out Lio’s name as the nightmare unfolded. It takes her a moment to calm down, and she asks him for her phone, her hands shaking as he hands her some water to drink first.

“It was horrible, Dame. It was so horrible,” she says, and he pulls her into a hug again, reassuring her it was just a dream while she insists it felt too real.

“I need to check on my brother,” she says as they pull back from the hug. Dame tells her it’s okay as she gets off the bed, placing the phone against her ear. The phone rings, and moments later, Lio answers. But Clio struggles to speak to him, tears streaming down her face as she breaks down on the phone.

Dame gets up, takes the phone, and speaks to Lio. The reception is poor on Lio’s side, and he keeps breaking off, but Dame manages to explain that Clio had a nightmare about him getting hurt, and she’s too upset. Lio asks Dame to hand the phone to Clio, and he reassures her, saying he’s okay and that he’s walking back to the hotel. He promises to call her when he gets there and she nods, still struggling to find her words.

“He’s okay,” Dame mutters, pulling her into another hug, feeling her body still shaking, and taking her back to bed.

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Eli

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I take off in the direction of the mountains since he looked like he was going skiing, my head still racing and the world a blur. All this time, I had a brother— a twin. But the closer I get to the mountain, the more anxious I start to feel.

He’s a human, and I’m a wolf, and I don’t know what our mother told him about our father—about me. But the anxiousness is soon replaced by another feeling: love. I have so much to tell him and so much I want to know about our mother. Before I realize it, I’m using my wolf speed, and I quickly compose myself, hearing the hollering and hooting of excited skiers above.

However, as I climb the steep hill, the scene suddenly shifts as a blood-curdling scream pierces the air. The running like a human s**t flies out the window, and I switch to my wolf speed as more screams follow, sending chills down my spine.

In the blink of an eye, I make it to the top, seeing people scattered in panic, some almost bumping into me. “What's happening?" I mutter, running in the direction everyone seems to be coming from but I'm soon halted in my steps by a stench of blood. My head snaps in its direction and my heart ceases in my chest.

“No!”