Blood Ties

P R O L O G U E

The boy in the coffin
~
Before ...

"Morrow, morrow there will be no tomorrow for he will be veiled and untraceable." The prophet praised and sang.

"Speak to me, witch," Lycus Fenris seethed, teeth baring. "What do you wish to say to me through our supposed creator?"

The oracle grew squeamish, her veil hooding the top half of her face, but not the bottom half where her mouth sat slanted and her wrinkles gleamed waxy against the candlelight.

"Brother, have we thought this through? Do you not realise the harm we would be causing him, causing us?" Gabriel questioned desperately from Lycus's side. Any more desperate and Lycus's hearing senses would cease to exist.

Ignoring the oracle's peculiar behaviour, Lycus turned to his brother and flashed him a glare. "Are you not tired of this seer? Every year, she has come and incited a future that we cannot control. A fate out of our hands and in another's. We act now, Gabriel."

The specifics of the oracle's timing were unfaltering, but always impactful with every sentence that came out of her mouth. Whether that be of the boy, the hell he will bring and scorn. To the unknown, what they want to claim and take — they want him.

Gabriel fell into silence, fumbling with his loose sleeves that were ridden in dirt from their travels. "Yes, Alpha."

Lycus cautioned his efforts back to the oracle that swayed with the aimless wind, dancing and praising with it. It had not been long since becoming the Alpha of all Alphas. He was only crowned weeks ago and had yet to grow used to the pleasantries that came with it — even if it was his birthright. A right he had not expected so quickly to befall him. He almost wanted to give it to Gabriel to carry the title.

"Ah, I can see it! Amongst the stars and many moons, Lycus, you will not forever be doomed. One day you will see, see the silver she carries and the warmth she holds." The oracle chimed, the hood swishing enough to catch those silvery eyes that spun with glow and brilliance.

"I am here for the boy! Speak of him now or I will make use of my claws. I haven't killed in some time."

He had people to do that for him now, thanks to the demise of his father.

The oracle laughed, whacking her cane and cackled into the frosty night. "A power he is to all. A power he is to them."

"Who is them?" Gabriel questioned, puzzled.

"You must put him away, tuck him away for safekeeping. Oh so he may weep and cry, but do not fret for he will be all right — he would have died. Died to others, died for us — died so he cannot be found. Tuck him away for safe keeping because he is a gift ... a blessing to only one, a gift to her but claimed by others, the makers and destroyers."

The oracle leaned forward, fog leaving her mouth and swarming around her in a misty cloud, her moon eyes shining through it. "Hide him away! Forever, if you must. They will want him to bring hell upon us all. They will come, hounds and blood. Keep it safe, keep it away, keep it gone."

The Fenris brother left the shack in trembles and all, no more words for the oracle to say.

"What must we do, brother?" Gabriel seized the question wanting to float in the air and disappear. The choice no one wished to make.

Lycus breathed out, revelling in the cold and how it will soon turn warm in the upcoming months. Facing his brother, he watched as those blue eyes of Gabriel's dimmed and became bleak like dark waters.

"Round up some wolves," Lycus ordered, surprising even himself from the softness tracing his tone. "We hide him. We feign his demise."