Raised Mateless (On Hold)

Chapter 6

In Greek mythology there’s a legend that the God, Zeus, was the true reason behind soul mates. As he was terrified the power humans possessed with four arms, four legs, four eyes, two noses, and two mouths. He feared to lose his ultimate authority over them, and thus split each human in half and left them to wander aimlessly through-out their mortal life to find their other half.

My father always told me what his father told him, that our soul mates are other reincarnated souls that recognized each other from a past life as friends or lovers to complete their life path. The only way to move from the third world to the fourth world, the spirit world, was to complete the soul’s path of life. However, if it fails to traverse through a part of life in the third world the spirit will be sent back over and over again until it completes its true journey. A soul mate is another reincarnated soul that intertwines with each other’s past life, and is meant to assist in the completion of each other’s spirit life journey to the greater animal spirit world.

When I was a little girl I heard the legends of my people, who told many different versions of how and why we have soul mates, yet I always found the Ancient Greek legend to prove true for Ryan and I. Now, gazing up at another man destined to be my mate, I finally understood that the legends of my people made more sense than I ever credited them with.

I had always assumed we had one true mate, as humans have one soul mate, I never considered the fact that as we grew through life we changed and grow. So why can’t we have two true mates? Maybe more than two, there are over seven billion people in the world and close to five million of those are creatures of supernatural blood, to ensure our kind doesn’t parish there must be multiple ways to populate.

Our Moon Goddess believes in breeding being a sacred act between two lycans, yet in the last few centuries our breed as grown to inhabit traits of other supernatural breeds as well. Originally we were bound to the moon, only to shift into true form on the night of our Goddess in her full form – a full moon. There is a legend of a lycanthrope man, who fell in love with one of the fae maidens and bonded to her as a mate and the act of blood binding gained him the abilities of a an extended life span, increased healing, and a stronger pull towards the elements. As his mixed blood moved from generation to generation lycanthropes broke their ties to the night of the full moon and the instincts to kill, and connected with the spirit world. Since their human soul was still bound to their body no other spirits of man could bond with a lycanthrope, but the essence of a God could.

Our Luna Goddess punished the lycanthropes for breaking their bonds, by forcing spirits to inhabit their bodies to hold them under control, and restrict their freedom. Hence, began the story of how Lycans gained our greater animal spirits, and turned into shifters, whose true form now resembles their animal spirit’s form.

Lycans still exist; I'm a true lycanthrope – a werewolf, due to my shifted form to be none other than a greater representation of a wolf. There are stories of shifters changing into wild cats, birds of prey, and even the predators of the deep, but it’s rare to meet one. Animal spirits are born to lead, thus their form is never less than the top of the food chain. Even at the top of the pyramid we pine for the comfort of someone, something, to complete us – our mate. Our spirits aren’t complete without finding a partner for their journey back to the spirit world.

Ryan Foster was the love of my life since I was eleven. I know that, it’s normal for me, routine, and I can comprehend our mate bond. At least, I used to be able to. If Ryan was a forbidden fruit of desire, then Chris is the ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. Is it possible that shifters are more human than animal; can bond to more than one lover?