Blood Ties

45

A wild war
~
Accalia
~

It didn't feel enough, not nearly enough. Accalia could say it again and again, but she was still left to wonder, would it be enough? What would it take?

Accalia clutched Lycus's wrist as they stalked deeper through the woods, everything seeming darker than before as the branches blocked out any natural light and were left with the resources of burning fires and filth.

Lycus stopped in his tracks, falling against her as if she had all the power.

"Accalia, what's wrong?" Lycus demanded, searching into her eyes and picking apart what more, besides war, could be evoking so much anxiety within her.

"I love you," Accalia stated simply.

Lycus smiled, a set of teeth showing. "I know, you told me."

Accalia shook her head, ignoring all of the Fenris lycans and wolves shrouding around them in a flock — a murder of crows preparing to strike down at their wrongdoers for continuous wrongdoings.

"No, I need you to know that I love you." Accalia pressed, her tone hitching higher. Wholly and truly. She needed him to know before it was too late.

Lycus's smile didn't falter and he brushed his lips across her forehead. "My beloved Accalia, I love you more."

His lips planted against her lips in an aching and slow caress that neither wanted to part from, but once those roars spiked louder into the night, Lycus pulled away, taking the momentary bliss with him.

As Lycus prepared, Accalia followed by him, side by side.

Under sunless skies, the ground beneath them began to rumble and the staggering stampede of moon-bound hounds broke through the line of the Fenris lands.

They could not be seen, but from a distance, yowls and screeches could be heard.

Accalia looked over and found the colossal lycan next to her, no Lycus left except for the flecks of torrid amber shining through, reminding not just her, but him that a fragment of humanity remained.

The beast lowered his head to Accalia in recognition and a slight growl of appraisal slipped through his canines the more she stared wondrously at him.

His scarred and muscular form towered every other lycan in sight. Another person saddled next to her and despite her irritable side that was always bound to the full moon, Tala managed to excel in self-control, connecting to her inner wolf that showed in her glowing eyes, sharpened teeth and claws.

Accalia flickered her thoughts to her family, Tristan and Cadence, and how their fierce, wild hearts will take the disasters of war. With silver and sword.

Accalia settled for doubt, a doubt that drifted to Erisa. A fighter despite all the tormenting shadows that dared consume her.

Nina and Gabriel, and their unborn baby blooming in such wretched times. They had granted Accalia such hope, ensuring her to feel safe even when she wanted to escape Lycus. Accalia couldn't bear the thought of their child being parentless, an orphan. She couldn't bear losing either one of them, not for a second.

Finding comfort in lycans ... she would never have imagined.

And Rexton, who lay in the depths of a dungeon for his protection. He concealed again, a different cage, but confinement no less.

Accalia had to remind herself why she was here, her feet planted into the earth as the lands before her became a battleground.

Wolves revealed themselves as they emerged over a hill, a collection of them dotting every inch of the borders.