Epsilon [Werewolf]

Chapter 25

I snorted. "Yeah, in maybe a hundred years he'll forgive me."

Raina smiled. "That's fine. We live far longer than a hundred years."

I turned to look at her, eyes wide. "'We'?"

She paused, before bursting out into laughter. The noise itself was enough to quell the miserable storm within me, just a bit. "No-one ever told you?"

I furrowed my brows, shaking my head. Raina giggled. "Us werewolves live for much longer than any human does, Kyra. I thought your human television shows would have told you that!"

My eyes widened. "How long?"

She shrugged. "Two-hundred and fifty years, give-or-take. But that's just for us red-blooded wolves -- True Alphas live for much longer."

"How much longer?"

She shrugged again. "It varies. They're semi-immortal -- so anywhere from six-hundred to eight-hundred years."

I gawked. "And how old's Azriel?"

"Oh, he's young. Only three-hundred-and-fifty."

Young?

"Then why does everyone look like they're in their twenties?" I asked, aghast. Raina shifted in her seat.

"I assume you mean we look like humans in their twenties. We age much differently from humans. You see, werewolf age is categorized in three ways: pre-prime, prime and post-prime. I, for example, am pre-prime," she motioned to herself. "I look younger than many other werewolves here, and that's because I'm only fifteen. The next stage is Prime, which would be you, Lord Azriel, Lord Zion..."

"But how?" I stammered. "How can I be in the same category when they're so much older than me?"

"Because they're not," Raina explained. "Well, maybe in the mathematic sense, yes, but in the werewolf world, a Prime 100 year-old-wolf is considered just as old as a Prime 18-year-old wolf."

I nodded, though not fully understanding it. "And what about post-prime?"

"They're our elders," she explained. "Though you may not see many of them. You see, once a wolf exceeds a certain age, it will begin to rapidly age -- usually at around the two-hundred-and-forty mark. At that point, they're considered Elders."

I blinked. "So a werewolf only spends most of their life as a Prime?"

Raina nodded. "Correct."

I gazed at the wall, trying to take in all this new information. Raina seemed humored by my dumb-founded reaction. 

"Do you know what a mate is?" she asked, poking me in the side.

I gave her a sideways glance. I'd heard of werewolf mating -- at least in werewolf shows and books. I wasn't sure if the same applied here. "I think so, though I can't say I'm fluent in the topic."

Raina gave me a half-smile. "What do you think they are?"

I pondered. "Well, in the books mates are two werewolves destined to be together. They would do this weird marking thing, and... a werewolf could only ever have one mate. And they could sense their mate upon meeting them. Oh, and, a Moon Goddess chooses the mates?"

Raina barked a laugh. "That's what they tell you? What kind of sappy romance shit is that? And a Moon Goddess? Please--"

I frowned as Raina continued to giggle, slightly disgruntled. "Then what are they?"

"Well," Raina began. "A mate is, as you said, someone you're destined to be with. But that's where similarities end. The first difference is that it is possible for a werewolf to have multiple mates."

I raised my brows. "Multiple mates?"

She nodded. "And sometimes, in unfortunate cases, someone may be mated to someone who isn't mated back to them. Those are known as dud mates, and are often the cause of many heartbreaks. It's not as uncommon as you'd like to think."

I scowled. "What other differences are there?"

"Well, that thing you said about a wolf knowing their mate as soon as they meet them; it's not quite how it works. Mate attraction is developed over time, and it is only a certain point in the development in which one can 'sense' another as their mate."

I nodded. "So like a surprise egg."

She gave me an exasperated look. "Yeah, like a surprise egg, whatever that is," she added with a snort.

We continued to talk about werewolves and mates and other jazz. Turns out Raina was much more of a romantic than I initially thought, and she seemed to go doe-eyed and dreamy every time I mentioned the word 'mate'.

Before long, the sun and had sunk below the horizon, and it was time for Raina to do her palace chores.

I felt a strange sadness wash over me as she stepped off my bed. Once her hand was on the door, she paused, turning to look at me. 

"Don't feel so put-out, Kyra," she said quietly. "Everything will get better in good time; trust me."

I nodded, and though I felt slightly lifted by Raina's kind words, I couldn't help but feel that things weren't going to get better. In fact, I had the sinking suspicion that they'd only get worse.