Beasts & Monsters
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Accalia
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"He tore his heart out? Was it like pretty quick or — like bloody and gory?" Cadence questioned, eyes fit wide with fascination.
Accalia's mouth fell ajar and she couldn't help but shake her head at her cousin. "Er — both, I suppose."
Cadence gave a loose shrug, "Nice."
"Is that a compliment, I hear?" A voice crooned from the corner of the room.
Cadence turned to face Lycus who leant against his wall, leg crossed over the other and arms folded as he quirked a brow up at the huntress.
"You saved Accalia from being mauled to death," Cadence noted, narrowing her black eyes at him, "I guess I can say I'm thankful for that."
The awkwardness quickly shifted with Accalia getting off the bed, scooting over to Cadence and lightly shoving her with her hand. "Now that you know that, you should know that he was a Canus pack member."
"Yeah, I gathered that Lilybelle." Cadence retorted with a grin and went to pinch her cheek.
Accalia slapped her out reaching hand and Cadence's smile only widened. "Stop calling me that. He was sent from Zenith and Cole's pack, they're a united pack, Cadence."
Cadence made a face and got to her feet. "Serious?"
Lycus leant off the wall and strolled to Accalia's side, not enough to brush against her but to shroud her body in his presence. "He was sent as a messenger, maybe to kill Accalia, but ultimately to be a symbol of war. It seems they've grown tired of my ruling and want me gone, including my mate." Lycus explained.
Accalia hadn't got that far ahead in giving her cousin a thorough explanation of the turn events that recently unfolded — not with Cadence's constant blubbering and questioning. As soon as she heard that a werewolf trespassed into Lycus's lands and started on Accalia, Cadence couldn't be informed of anything without growing vengeful.
And Accalia hasn't even gotten to the best part yet. The part where Cadence will want to leave a hellfire in her wake as she wielded silver and a mighty force to take down everyone in her path.
"Melina Thrax has it out for us, Cadence, she described the pack what I look like and who I am to Lycus. Before the male died, he said she'd be after you for what you did to her arm." Accalia told her cousin.
For a moment, Accalia stood baffled at her cousin's reserved nature, stoic and rather placid toward the information being given. That was until she faced Lycus, a grim expression fixing across her face.
"I don't know whether I should kill you or kill Melina, perhaps both will do." Cadence took a step toward him and Accalia immediately stood between them.
"No Cadence," Accalia warned, her back brushing against Lycus's hard chest.
Cadence looked over Accalia's head and sent Lycus a look that would send any sane person running. "Why, huh? This is all his fault. If he didn't let us go when the Alphas were on their way here for their stupid get together, we'd be in the all clear. Don't deny it Accalia when you damn well know it."
Accalia looked down, not going against her cousin's words when she knew was right, brutally and righteously right. But she had to move past that now more than ever.
Past Lycus locking her in a cellar for being at a loss of finding her as a mate. Push aside his relent to let her go for both their sakes. Being ridden of Lycus sleeping with a she-wolf that is hellbent on killing her and Cadence and face the matter at hand of Alphas wanting Lycus dead, including the people he's connected to. Connected to hunters that would never consider being a part of this unless it would be to string lycans up and have them killed due to their wretched curse.
Accalia couldn't drown herself in this anymore. She couldn't find it in herself to forgive Lycus, she didn't know if she ever could, but she needed to find a middle ground.
And if Cadence would stick around here, she had to as well.
"I'm not ignoring that, Cadence. I know what he's done and what he's caused, but —" Accalia looked over to Lycus, his eyes dropping to hers and face hardening. She steered her head back to Cadence. "—but he wants to protect me. He doesn't want anything else to worsen."
"Unless it's to kill Zenith, Melina and Cole." Lycus piped up from behind her, tedious malice lacing his tone. The need for bloodshed.
Accalia rolled her eyes and gestured back to him. "That too."
Once Cadence took a step back, throwing her hands up in frustration, Accalia moved to Lycus's side and dabbled with the sentences to put together.
Evident annoyance plastered Cadence's face and her eyes shone like the blackest of night skies, jaded with voided fury. "So the Thrax and Canus packs have joined to overthrow Lycus and by doing that they need to start a war. They're also angry at you for allowing hunters in your lands, aren't they?" Cadence speared the question to Lycus with a sneer.
Lycus curled his fingers into fists as he gave the huntress a confirming nod. "They wouldn't like an Alpha being paired to a hunter, it would be deemed ... degrading. But the fuckers don't like me or Gabriel anyway. They've been wanting a war for a long time, but as Zenith is the most populated pack, he's also the weakest. He needed an alliance."
"How is he the weakest?" Cadence asked.
"He and Melina, maybe a few others are the only lycans within their pack. They've either been killed by hunters or wiped themselves out. They mainly survive on werewolves, but they don't compare to other packs that are mainly lycan populated." Lycus explained.
That made sense, Accalia thought. Even though werewolves derive from lycans, they are met with the curse of the Moon, whilst lycans are dealt the Lycanthrope curse. Two different things but of the same root that weaved a blooming tree.
A lycan dominated pack could conquer anything in their path, a werewolf populated pack were pups in comparison to lycans ... they are the fathers, mothers and ancestors.
Zenith would know that. Hence, his need to incessantly create humans into werewolves. But even then, a wolf isn't a creature to be contained and controlled. They're fierce, deadly and all bite and snarl.
Accalia could consider it a blessing not all werewolves could harness their curse to their will.
"So do you actually have a war on your hands or are the packs just playing knock and run?" Cadence questioned, rocking on her heels. She stood pin-straight, like a hunter ready for commands but that mask of annoyance couldn't fall. Cadence looked like she could be elsewhere ... her attire spoke of it. Ripped denim jeans and an oversize brown leather jacket.
"With what Accalia told me and what happened to her a few hours ago, I don't think this whole 'knock and run' thing is over. It could progress into war, If there's one thing I know about Zenith and Melina is that they're vengeful bitches. Cole has always craved power, he's killed a lot of mates and wolves for nothing. They wouldn't have united their packs for anything. A war could arise."
A grave and haunting expression swallowed Lycus whole and Accalia tried to unveil it through its many layers. It was almost welcoming, a bracing twitch of his lip and eyes searing like burning ash. He could be the bringer of death, many graves would be met by his hands and claws.
It hit Accalia like a train, the severity of who stood before her and the threat he posed. She needed to remind herself that she was mated to the oldest and strongest Alpha walking the earth. After being around him, through the warrens of retorts and disregard for each other, it was an awakening realisation — no, a reminder of who Lycus Fenris is. A war for Lycus would be a walk in the park, but why did tension reign his face? Even more so now as he turned his head to Accalia, his throat bobbing as he caught her watchful gaze.
"Lycus, what's wrong?" Accalia asked softly. A gagging noise rang behind her and ignored the urge to flip Cadence off.
"I'm fine with a war being on my hands, I could care less if I'm the cause it — especially with packs like Canus and Thrax, but not when it involves ... my mate." He couldn't meet her eyes, drilling a hole into the floor and continued, "with my wolves being killed on the full moon, Cadence being kidnapped, I can't help but believe something else is around. Like a fucking ghost haunting me."
"Well, you have many enemies Lycus, what do you expect?" Cadence countered, no trace of snark tainting her tongue. Simply stating a fact.
Lycus would have many things to haunt him. He has killed many, could create his cemetery for all the individuals he's slaughtered and leave nothing but a ghastly grave for ghosts to be bound to earth, bound to haunt the one that lead them to their demise.
"Do you think it was Zenith or Cole that caused the massacre with your wolves?" Accalia asked, catching onto the waging rage brewing in Lycus's face.
She needed to sidetrack him before he completely flipped out and hurt someone. The more this conversation dragged on, the evermore a spiking and unveiling truth fell upon Lycus. He's at fault and Cadence had every intention of making him see it. Accalia had no choice but to keep things at bay.
"It would make sense. Going after my wolves, then my mate — it's going to get worse here in out." Lycus muttered.
"How do we make it stop?" Accalia asked pensively.
"I make it stop by killing the Alpha. It's old lore, by killing the Alpha, you destroy the pack. I'd need to kill Cole and Zenith. And I have every intention in doing it." Lycus affirmed curtly.
Accalia shuddered, heeding the threat like lightning striking into the seas. It's been done before. Done by Lycus's father, leading with an iron fist to destroy anything that damned to cease a wedge of threats and whispers into his lands. Lycus would do the same, his eyes fading into darkness proved just that.
"And you don't have any leads in who could have kidnapped Cadence?" Accalia followed up, weighing all possibilities and chances. They hadn't discussed this in a while and Cadence was all the happy to act nonchalant about the matter. Not Accalia, she needed to fit everything together like a puzzle.
Cadence shrugged carelessly and said, "let's not get carried away, Accalia. Nothing has happened since then with me and I hardly remember anything — even now. If it was those mutts that did it, I wouldn't be here."
"So what? You're just going to sweep it under the rug and act as if it never happened?" Accalia shot back, bewildered but unsurprised.
Cadence's face hardened and through clenched teeth, said, "for now, yes. Your mate just said there could be a potential war on his hands, I say you guys worry about that for now."
"Of course, you want to just shove it aside," Accalia bellowed, "whenever it comes to anything happening to you, anything remotely bad — you gotta act all tough and indifferent about it. You're a pain in the ass, Cadence."
Cadence opened her mouth to say something, perhaps a promise devastatingly true or wickedly unfair, but she sealed her lips to a close and replaced it with a casual shrug, dismissing the conversation without another word.
That only got Accalia more riled up and the idea to shove Cadence into a nearby wall to knock an ounce of sense into her threatened to pose as a possibility.
A brush of wind bristled past her and she looked up to see Lycus by her side, securely hip to hip and feebly brushing his warm fingers tips down her bare arm. "Are you alright?"
"Do you guys need me to leave the room or something?" Cadence barked.
Biting her lip hard enough for it to bleed, Accalia made a point of moving away from Lycus and tried to escape the clouds hazing her mind. Heavenly clouds of peach and lilac swaying her vision. She didn't want to escape the touch.
"Should we expect other packs siding with Cole and Zenith?" Accalia asked sullenly, having escaped the cluster of mists and meeting reality. A harsh reality where a potential war waited on the horizon.
"Lycans are naturally territorial and possessive. Alpha lycans like what's theirs and don't like to share. Why do you think me and Gabriel had to take on different lands? Cole and Zenith are joined, but they'll make a point of being separate. The only other pack I can think of that would side with them is the Hala pack, Larissa Hala is the Alpha."
Larissa Hala. Freeing, bold and undoubtedly forbidding would be a good way of describing the she-wolf.
"I've heard she's quite ... free-spirited," Accalia stated plainly.
"The Hala pack like to play by their own rules. You would most likely see members of their packs fucking under the moonlight and then see them ripping their throats out. Larissa is whiny but commands everyone's attention. She'll most likely side with them because she's bored." Lycus explained, irradiation painting his face as his black eyes became darker like a pool of onyx. He went on, "Alphas such as Koda and Soren are admirable. They won't stand for this or tolerate it. They reside in nature reserves, keep to themselves and are mainly lycan populated. They'll side with Gabriel and me."
Accalia frowned after a moment, dwelling her thoughts to another Alpha who had yet to be mentioned.
"What about Calla? Calla Lacuna?"
A knowing smile danced across Lycus's lips and said, "Calla Lacuna is the most regal Alphas I've come across, which only makes sense since her predecessors were nothing short of prosperous and resilient. Although, Calla probably wants to knock me on my ass whenever we're around each other. She resides in the mountains, neighbouring Gabriel. Many refer to her as the Alpha Queen."
Lycus spoke of her with such regard and respect, to a degree that left Accalia almost mesmerised by his description. Even more so, that Accalia wished to meet this regal Alpha to see if she truly lived up to his words or surpassed them.
"With all my training in hunting, I've never heard anything bad about Calla." Accalia commented.
Lycus nodded at her and said, "Her mate was murdered decades ago, but it only left Calla with more compassion. Within her pack, she's not only their Alpha but Queen."
That shock didn't slip from Accalia's face as she swallowed at the news. "Is there anything else we need to know about Cole?"
"He killed his mate, he believed she was an obstacle in his path to his lycan side. Once she died because of him, something within him ... altered. He completely lost his humanity, became nothing remotely human. He takes pride in killing mates, especially high ranking mates such as Betas and Alphas. He'll — he'll want to have his hands on you, Accalia. Especially because you're a hunter."
Cadence took a step forward and gestured to Accalia. "He'll want to hurt Accalia because she's your mate?"
A filling emotion passed through his eyes and it quickly vanished like it was never there. "Possibly."
The plight continued to be dug and deepened. It was endless and continuing, a cycle of killings and unstopping lunacy that could never cease the undying flames. The fire would reap through every pack, cursing humans, spreading to the duty of hunters and evading Alphas into what they do best. Spill bloodshed.
A set of knocks bounded off Lycus's bedroom door and the voice that spoke through it belonged to his Beta. "Alpha, I need to talk to you."
"I'll be back shortly," Lycus murmured to the girls and left the room.
The door sat ajar and Accalia expected Cadence to escape through it.
"Listen, I'm sorry for what I said—" Accalia began to say but that meek shrug that Cadence made caused Accalia to stop in her sentence of apologies.
"Don't worry about it." Cadence said after a moment and took steps to Lycus's desk.
"Well, I am worried about it." Accalia countered honestly.
Her nosey cousin looked around the desk rather bashfully, picking items up, placing them back down, opening desk draws, closing them again and prying at every corner and area she could set her eyes on.
"Why are you snooping?" Accalia's voice came out as a hiss. This wasn't their room, nor their house and better yet, their territory either. It was one thing finding refuge here for the time being and another thing entirely to take it up oneself to stick your nose in others' business and see what you could find.
"No reason," Cadence drawled lazily, closing the lead of a glass box. Tying her hands behind her back and she waltzed through the big room.
Accalia shook her head and threw her arms in the air, exasperated. "What are you, a peeping Tom? Get out his sock drawers, Cadence Larren!" Accalia bellowed to her cousin.
Cadence's response was a laugh and closed it with a wham. "Relax, Accalia. I'm just curious about the big bad Alpha and what he has to hide."
Accalia made a face with wide eyes, bewildered by her cousin's odd actions. "This is an invasion of privacy, how would you feel if he went through your weaponry bag."
"Stab him with a butter knife?"
Accalia rolled her eyes and fell back on the bed, the silk sheets smooth against her skin. "You're unbelievable."
Accalia suddenly felt her ankles being lifted by a hand from the ground and seconds later toppling back down with a slam. Blanched, Accalia sat up and sent Cadence daggers.
"Why are you looking under his bed?" Accalia seethed with demand. "What on earth is wrong with you today?"
Cadence did a full circle spin around the room and when it seemed nothing caught her interest, no spark in those haunting black eyes, she faced Accalia. "Well after that whole conversation of war being upon us and other useless shit, I came to find you to say I'm heading up town to go buy a charger ... then going to meet up with Erisa."
It was anger that first surged through Accalia's blood, ceasing through her veins until she was overwhelmed with complete frustration, eyes drilling wide and hands up in the air. "Are you stupid or just downright insane?"
She didn't care if she screamed the roof down as long it shot Cadence with a seed of sense to sprout into some form of awareness of what's at stake here. She didn't care if Lycus came bustling in with a whole pack behind him. She was close to throwing a punch in Cadence's direction any minute now.
"Accalia, stop being so protective, I'll be fine. I'll be back tomorrow."
Accalia could almost taste the carelessness, the downright disregard Cadence had storming up in her head and she knew that storm would not only spread but plague through and through.
It was as if over these past few weeks, something had Cadence in a chokehold and had no intention of letting her go.
While Accalia wanted nothing more but to throttle her cousin, she instead, weaved through her many thoughts that resided a personal keepsake just for Cadence.
"Is this about being here? Being around werewolves and lycans?" Accalia asked, trying to gauge Cadence's unreadable expression.
Cadence's face didn't fall, she wouldn't let it unless it was for a toothy grin and a snarky remark. "It's a place to stay, right? It's practically hell on earth, but beats anything else for the time being."
"Is this about the nightmare you had? Do you want to stay at Erisa's?" Accalia followed up with more questions, questions that could delve enough to coax an answer out of Cadence. She understood if she would want to. She didn't need to be here, she didn't make a deal and wasn't bound to another's soul.
And Accalia saw something, a fraction of a flinch coursing through Cadence at the mention of the dream.
"It was just a nightmare, Accalia. Who cares. I just want to go out for a couple of hours and I doubt you'll be able to come with me."
The door pushed open and Lycus's head brushed past the door frame, stepping into the room. "I heard yelling." He claimed and immediately glowered at Cadence as though she was the cause of it and if she wasn't, she'd suffer the brunt of it either way.
Accalia waved a dismissive hand. "Everything is fine, Cadence is heading uptown. If it's okay with you, can she please borrow your car?"
Cadence grumbled at the request and Accalia said, "If you want to go and be stupid, go ahead, but at least let me try and slow down your will to get yourself killed."
Lycus raised his brows and pulled out a set of keys from his jean pocket. He tossed it to Cadence but not before laying down the law, "just bring the car back untouched, got it?"
Cadence dangled the keys and went to give them back to him. "You're very trusting of me, all things considering, but I'll make a point of crashing the car."
"It wouldn't the first time, kid," Lycus remarked.
A fiery expression shook across Cadence's face and she clasped the keys with her fingers. "I'll catch you two later."
"Not too late, Cadence," Accalia said to Cadence's back that strolled to the door. "Don't travel at night, keep your head low and senses up. Be careful."
Cadence looked behind her shoulder, her fringe brushing long the eyelid of her voided eyes and gave Accalia a wide and cheerful smile.
"I know," Cadence said to Accalia and spared a few words to Lycus, "Try not to set your wolves on me, Lycus."
The smile met her eyes as it would meet an incomers soul. That was the thing about Cadence Larren, the rare smile she bade to others left a mark, simply because you didn't know when you would see it again.