Blood Ties

18

Lunatics
~
Accalia
~

Accalia wanted to pray the first time she found out she was mated to Lycus Fenris. Fall to her knees, tie her hands together and beg for it not to be true. Plead for it to be nothing but a lie, a punishment bestowed upon the wrong person, an error in the system.

Because what being believed a hunter and lycan should be fated? A lunatic.

Accalia wanted out, she wanted the tether torn and snapped. She wanted this punishment bestowed upon her like a brand mark burned out of her. She wanted nothing to do with Lycus, no bounds, no ties — she didn't even want him as an enemy if it meant getting away from him.

But he was an enemy that refused to let her go and refused all she wanted and needed. Some days she wondered if had forgiven him so easily. If she gave him the benefit of doubt too quickly and signed her life away a little too soon.

Did she? Accalia didn't know, no matter how much pondered and fought at the thoughts. She hated that the most about the mate bond.

It was made for a lycan to have their humanity again, finding their anchor and not letting go. It was a way to breathe without snapping, a way to live without killing and a way to survive without the monster.

Has Accalia become that to Lycus? Another question she was at a loss to. Accalia noticed the difference in Lycus, through the days and weeks, his control that became protectiveness. His snark that became affection. He wanted her wherever he went.

Then again, Lycus always lacked personal space.

Accalia couldn't even help her father, her strict father hellbent on perishing lycans. She didn't know how to help Tristan, through his recklessness that made him turn too quickly to catch onto his next move.

She didn't know how to help Cadence. The orphan, the huntress, the girl plagued with hate and disdain. Did Cadence even want help? Isn't a mate intended to be the source of someone's humanity, the shovel to dig into the dirt and bring back the humaneness one lacks?

Accalia wondered who needed that more, Rexton or Cadence. Who would dig first and find the treasure both have lost?

"This—this can't be right," Accalia stammered and wiped at her tired eyes to wake herself up, shock her senses awake. "Rexton is a hybrid, he can't—"

"He's part lycan, lycans have mates and Rexton has found his," Gabriel informed Accalia and she closed her eyes, a laugh wanting to spill out of her.

"Rexton and Cadence aren't mates."

"We are," Rexton stated softly and submitted his gaze back to the floor, avoiding Accalia who wanted to throw something at him.

"No, you're not." Accalia snapped at him and looked at Lycus expectedly. "Tell him it's not true. Tell him they aren't mates."

Lycus stood mute and a second wave of shock washed over Accalia.

"It explains a lot of Rexton's behaviour when being around her," Gabriel said to Accalia who wanted to cover her ears with her hands and wish away all this nonsense. "Always looking at her, wanting to be where she is, feeling guilty and apologetic. Maybe even being drawn to her blood when he was first freed. They are mates, Accalia."

"How am I supposed to tell her that?" Accalia's voice cracked, blurriness damping her eyes as her heart cracked beneath the surfaces.

A shot of wind bustled by and Lycus was at her shoulder, sliding his hand into hers. It offered no comfort.

"Cadence isn't wired this way," Accalia muttered to the Fenris brothers, but made a point of sending her words to Rexton. "She won't see the mate bond the way I have come to see it. This will weigh her down."