Breaking the Bond that Binds.

Chapter 2 - The Bond

The first thing I will do when I turn 18 is legally change my name. I use Virgil Nikola, a simplified version of my family name, at present. Officially changing my name is the last thing I need to do to feel like I have left the past behind. It won't purge my mind of all the bad memories but it will cut all ties. Virgil Nikola will start afresh.

But back then....

At 15 I was tall like my father but thin and wiry. I could run like the wind, faster than any of the other boys. Like all the others in my pack, I had olive skin. I had my mother's light green eyes but mine were heavy-lidded and cold. I was often accused of all sorts of things because of them, laziness, rebelliousness but mostly arrogance. My face was the bane of my life. I didn't inherit the square masculine jawline or the wide forehead of my ancestors. These genetic characteristics were visible in every other male of my pack. It defined us as Purebloods.

My face was long with an angular jawline. It was atop a slender neck that made me look soft and weak in comparison to the ruggedness of the other males. I had high cheekbones and faint straight eyebrows. While my brothers had light beards and hair on other parts of their bodies at my age I was still as smooth as a baby.

I also had my mother's thick wavy hair which fell halfway down my back and tied in a long plait. Being Purebloods our hair is very important to us. It's left uncut until we reach maturity at 18. Then it's cut in a special ceremony by our parents. The plait is then placed in the Chapel vault like all our predecessors had done before us. It signified we were no longer the children of our parents. From that point on our loyalty, our whole existence was solely for our mate.

At 18 we found our mate. That thought still makes me shudder.

I was an embarrassment to my family, who already suffered discrimination for being lowborns. I was an outsider in a pack known for its wealth and power. The Pures were the only Pureblood pack in the country. The Alpha and his family are well respected in Lycan society here and the Homeland..

We all lived within are small area of the city. A community of five suburbs that ran down from the top of the hills to the river. The elite families lived high up in large houses, while lowborns like my family lived by the river. The children of the pack went to one of two schools, Wentworth Academy or Albury Public. I went to the latter. The Alphas, The Pure, and higher ranked went to the Academy.

At school, I was occasionally bullied but mostly ignored. The half-hearted bullying stopped when my wolf made a sudden appearance when I was 13. My symbiont other half, was nothing like my human form, in fact, the absolute opposite. He was a big black bristling wolf with red hungry eyes. It took a long time for us to meld together into a comfortable partnership. We were wary of each other and trust had to be earned. People thought twice about how they treated me after that. I much preferred being ignored than beaten.

I knew I was smarter than the other boys. I had taught myself to read and write in French. I knew the history of our pack better than most. I was good at science and maths. Still, all this did me no good as I was a lowborn and my delicate appearance did me no favours. I was shunned by the pretty girls I approached. They preferred the rough, aggressive boys who flirted with them. The boys didn't come near me unless they had to. Some of them looked at me in a way that made me uncomfortable and I knew they were curious about me in a different way

....

The day my life turned upside down was the same day Damien Costas, the only son of the Pures Alpha, turned 18. His coming of age was a big occasion for our pack. I had seen him before at other special events. He was a big brooding hulk with all the required physical characteristics of a Pureblood leader. I remember an occasion when he and his family came to our school and I watched him from a distance. At the time I thought he would make a good Alpha someday.

The ritual should have been straightforward. All the pack members were to be in attendance in the sports auditorium at Wentworth Academy. Damien, would have his hair cut and then find his mate in the crowd. They would feel each other's presence from the moment he turned. The craving would start as a slow burn that would grow and consume them until they met face to face. Damien would acknowledge his mate in front of the whole community. Then we would be presented with our future pack leader and his mate. It was all very civilized.

But The Goddess had other plans. She didn't want neat and tidy, she wanted chaos. Her reason for this pairing was a mystery, and no one saw it coming.

Virgil POV Past

I woke breathless, a heavyweight on my chest that didn't let me catch my breath or let me lift my body from the bed. I lay in a pool of sweat, pressed down and tortured by the inferno inside me. There was a trembling in my body that terrified me. I felt as if my heart was pounding so fast my veins were about to explode. I could feel wolf, who normally growled quietly in my ear to calm me, writhing and whimpering oblivious of me.

The thought of going to the Alpha's celebration was the last thing I wanted to do. I felt dreadful and I wanted to be alone, crawl into a corner, and die. The internal heat became worse as the morning went on. My skin was hyper-sensitive. It sizzled like it was burning from the inside out. My intimate parts felt the worst. I wanted to lie in a cold bath and ease the tingling that was making my cock stand erect, stretched painfully hard. My nipples were hard as pebbles and it was agony when they rubbed against my shirt. My neck...oh my poor aching neck. The muscles spasmed and twitched. I was starting to fear for my life, what terrible ailment was this?

No excuse would be accepted for not being at the auditorium so I forced myself to get ready. I combed my wild mane back into a tight plait that lay neatly down my back. It accentuated all the angles and curves of my face and my eyes. Which was probably not a good thing. When I looked at my face in the mirror I didn't see weakness because the lines were soft, I was just a little different. I dressed in my best clothes. All the while feeling shaky, my face was flushed and sweat poured from me as if I was standing in a furnace.

The auditorium was full when I arrived and I stood at the very back near the main doors, ready to leave as soon as I could. I hated coming to these affairs and that day was worse than usual. If I could have crammed myself into a crack in the wall I would have. Between the heat in my belly and the blood pounding in my ears, it was an effort to stand. I tried to concentrate on what was being said, but it was impossible.

They were droning on and I held the wall for support. There was a loud cheer and then a gong sounded three times. It meant the ceremony was complete and the future leader of the pack was searching for his mate in the crowd. I imagined every eligible young female was praying he would stop in front of her and claim her.

I was in my own world of pain, and other sensations that I couldn't fathom. I was only vaguely aware of my surroundings and all I wanted was for it to end. I closed my eyes, trying to slow my erratic breathing. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I waited like everyone else, to find out who the lucky girl was.

It was only when the sound of feet shuffling away and waves of angry whispers registered, that I forced myself to open my eyes. At first, all I noticed were the shocked expressions on people's faces. Why were they looking at me? My breath caught in my throat when I saw Damien walking in my direction. His eyes burned into mine with what I can only describe as pure hate. The pack fell away on either side as he made his way towards me. When Damien stood a few feet in front of me, his chest heaving, he looked like he wanted to strike me down.