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."
"A burden?" Gabriel questioned.
Accalia shook her head. "More than that. Cadence doesn't like having ties to others, she only has very few people that matter to her and that's it. She hates affection, she hates anything to do with outward emotion and she will see this as a threat."
"Why does Cadence feel so threatened?" Rexton mumbled, twiddling his fingers together and finally looking at Accalia.
Accalia dabbled with her thoughts, almost needing to find a key to the safe box that hid deep in her mind when it came to her younger cousin. "Cadence has always been ... indifferent towards people. She doesn't necessarily relate to others and she doesn't care to. She doesn't care about relationships or family relationships, she can end them easily."
"But why so threatening?" Rexton pressed.
Accalia sighed, leaning into Lycus and wondered if she would come to regret this in the morning. But she wanted Rexton to see. See that this isn't a pair founded in fondness and love — it would never be that because Cadence wouldn't allow it.
"When you bit her, you took something from her, not just her blood but what she stands for as a hunter. Her mother was one of the greatest hunters anyone has ever known and she died when Cadence was young. Cadence's siblings and father died the same night. They couldn't fight back that night and because of that, her hate for lycans and werewolves has only grown.
"She doesn't take kindly to threats, she immediately feels the need to eliminate them. She has killed others that have hurt the people she cares about, the lives of others mean very little to her. Cadence won't want this bond, she will want to eliminate it and by doing so, that would be taking you out, Rexton. You need to sever it."
Rexton turned to Gabriel, eyes pleading and almost on the brink of desperation. "I repel her that much?"
Gabriel placed a hand on his shoulder. "There is no way of severing a mate bond or rejecting it, Accalia. But Cadence is human, she can't feel it as strongly as a werewolf or lycan can — the longer she is around him and he around her, the stronger their bond will become. You have to tell her."
Accalia clenched her fists, keeping her mouth sealed shut for Gabriel's benefit. Did he not understand what she just said, spilling out Cadence's story through the cracks when her cousin preferred everything locked away?
Cadence would feel bitter towards Accalia for speaking about such things to lycans, but she did it so they could understand, and see how this wouldn't work.
"You said she can't feel it, right?" Accalia questioned Gabriel.
Gabriel nodded, face passive and said, "the more she's around him, in the same proximity as they have been, they will feel drawn to each other, but parted, only Rexton will feel it because he's part lycan. Some lycans need their humanity, Accalia, they need someone to help them, have you ever thought maybe Cadence needed someone?"
Accalia felt Lycus's hand tighten against her skin and she glared at Gabriel, not thinking she'd ever feel frustration toward someone that had helped her so much. "Cadence doesn't need Rexton."
"Our supposed creator seems to think so, they're connected through dreams, they mimic each other and Cadence freed him." Gabriel countered gently.
"Gabe, shut up with the 'our creator' shit. Accalia is right, from what I've seen of Cadence, she won't want this, she will want to tear Rexton a new one. Accalia hardly tolerated me when we first met, how do you think Cadence will deal with Rexton?" Lycus grumbled at Gabriel.
"I can't have anything, can I?" Rexton argued, his voice weeping with defeat. "I can't be a lycan, I can't have a choice and I can't have a mate. You must want me to suffer."
Lycus croaked with laughter and shook his head. "You've suffered enough, little brother, I fucking know that. All I'm saying is that we don't tell Cadence and Rex shuts his mouth."
Accalia stood silent, not against the idea and wanting it more than anything. Cadence doesn't need to know.
"That isn't your decision to make, Lycus." Gabriel countered. "This is Rexton's and Cadence's bond, not yours and Accalia's."
Lycus rolled his eyes and threw his hand in the air. "Which will be fucking disastrous!"
"She's my mate!" Rexton snapped. "You can't keep me away from her."
"You sure she won't be your personal blood bag?" Lycus said with a twisted grin, knowing where to pull at Rexton's heartstrings.
"Lycus, don't say that!" Gabriel ordered and gripped Rexton's upper arm, reeling him back. "That was our own doing and you know that."
"I also know that this mate bond won't end well. Cadence won't kneel to a connection like this and Rexton enforcing it won't help matters either. We're not telling her." Lycus hissed to his brothers.
"That isn't your call to make," Gabriel swivelled his eyes on Accalia and his teeth bared, "nor yours."
Accalia folded her arms and had nothing more to say to them. She thought Cadence could have been dead when she received the call from Erisa. Rexton took her because he felt it was his right to do so, he fed from her because he wanted to and now he wanted to claim her as his mate.
Accalia wouldn't have it, not in this lifetime or any other.
Cadence wouldn't submit, bow or kneel.
After a while of being with Lycus, Accalia sought his comfort and affections. She wanted to be around him and in his arms as much as he would give to her. Accalia wanted Lycus, even now and she eternally would.
Could Cadence have that?
"We aren't telling her," Accalia's voice rang out in command and she looked to Gabriel somewhat desperately but not enough to beg. "Gabriel you told me you made a vow to yourself to always protect the mates that were ever mated to the Fenris brothers ... I'm asking, for right now, we protect her from the truth."
Gabriel lowered his head to the ground, a hiss falling from his lips, but nodded, meeting Accalia's eyes once again. "For now. But they both have the right to know and they both deserve to find out what they want within their bond. A friendship wouldn't be too far-fetched for the both of them, I believe."
"But an enemy will have to do," Accalia told the Fenris brothers.
Torn apart, Accalia could have perceived Rexton at that moment. Those amber eyes dimmed, swimming in sorrow and face paler than before, like a corpse needing colour in his face but unable to with immortality in his contract.
Accalia turned on her heel and headed for the stairs. She came around the corner of the second story when she heard the brothers conversing amongst themselves, uttering words Accalia didn't need to hear.
"I'm leaving for my pack soon and you haven't seen the land yet, you could come with me." Gabriel cooed gently.
Gentle refusal filtered through Rexton's words, "but—but I want to stay. Just to see ..."
"Let's get some sleep, Rexton." Accalia heard Gabriel say.
"I can't sleep," Rexton mumbled through the echoey halls, "not with nightmares waiting for me."
Their steps retreated from below and another pair trod upstairs. Before Accalia could leave, a string of guilt eating away at her, Lycus came around the corner and pulled Accalia into him before she could make a move to her bedroom.
"Spying, I see," Lycus whispered into her ear with a lustful growl and pecked her on the cheek.
Accalia flushed and let his hands slither wherever he wanted them placed.
"I can't lie to you, can I?"
Lycus grinned down at her, placing his forehead against hers and his features softened. "To anyone else? Yes. But never to me, I'll be able to tell."
"How?"
Lycus's eyes refilled with evident lust, the greed too hungry to deny and he collided his lips with hers.
Before the flame could burn, Lycus pulled away and Accalia's head swayed weightlessly, heart pounding untimely.
"Because I get to do that and no one else can."
Accalia didn't smile and tugged away with a glint in her eye. "I'm not that easily swayed, flirt."
Lycus hissed, pulling her into him once again and his arms planted her in place. "Don't tease."
Accalia raised her brows, pulling her wet lip into her mouth and wondered how on earth Lycus escalated matters so effortlessly. For a mere moment, she forget all that went on downstairs.
"I'm not teasing, if I was I would do this ..." Accalia whispered, her lips nearing his once again and his anticipation for her blooming. She simply pecked him on the cheek and pulled away.
Lycus's canines bared and shook his head, smiling against his bane fangs that wanted to mark and claim. "With those lips ... you could do more than teasing."
"Yes, like saying good night."
Lycus's grin twisted, eagerly excited to go wherever she went. "Your room or mine?"
Accalia pressed her lips against his cheek once again, her smile caressing against his skin and gestured to her closed bedroom door. "Cadence is in there and I don't want her alone right now. Especially with ..."
Lycus shifted away, seriousness crossing over him like a veil and he nodded. "Rexton. He won't do anything — I know it seems like he will, but he won't try anything now. He slipped away when Gabriel was on the phone with Nina; turns out, Gabriel watched his every move and Rexton was just waiting to run."
And what if he seized that chance again? Creep into Accalia's room and watch Cadence from afar just to take her again?
Accalia couldn't picture it, not without her stomach turning and wanting to take both her and Cadence away from this place.
Lycus brushed the pad of his thumb across her swollen lower lip and shook his head, mirroring her thoughts. "He won't. We were in Kara forest for a while and he told us about them being mates. Rexton couldn't tell, he didn't know if it was guilt or the connection, he was trying to understand things in his own way."
"It doesn't justify kidnapping her, Lycus." Accalia countered and gave him the cold shoulder, wanting to bite his finger off that had yet to move from her flesh.
Lycus locked his arm around her wide hips and shoved her into him, eyes seizing hers with wild hunger. "I know that. But he doesn't understand, he's trying to — but he doesn't. That's why we took so long, we had to explain to him that the mate bond will work differently for him. It went well with Gabriel being paired with Nina, a match made in heaven. You and me? I wanted you all the time and I wanted you away from me. Rexton? He'll want to comfort Cadence whenever she's angry, which is all the time. He will want to be her friend, but that can't happen."
Accalia went lax against Lycus, pulse racing and nodded faintly at him, hearing his heart thump beneath her ear.
"Do you still want me?" Accalia asked, looking back up at him with thoughtful curiosity.
Lycus's eyes blazed and a light growl slipped out of his throat, "I haven't even had you yet, not completely," his lips passed against her ear in a faint whisper, "and when I do, you're mine forever."