Fate of The Lycan King's Mate

Elle looked around frantically, only to be met with a creepy moonlit forest with the most horrifying noises that hurtfully pierced through her eardrums. Before she realised what she was doing, she had been running endlessly without looking back as if something had been chasing her.

All of a sudden, she found herself in an ancient mansion with a terrifying ambience. As she walked down the hallway of the mansion, she came to an abrupt stop and was met with the sight of a pair of eyes that carried a unique amber fire. These eyes were eventually revealed to belong to a wolf.

In an instance of freight, she attempted to run in the opposite direction, but as she turned, her body was met with the back of an unknown person.

"I should ask for help," Elle thought to herself.

"Hello! Excuse me! Do you know where this is? Do you perhaps...know the way out of here?" She asked in a shaky voice. Instead of the voice of a human being, the figure growled in a fearless might that led her to look around frantically in severe panic mode. Where was she? How had she gotten there? Where was her dad?

Once again, she found herself back in the moonlit forest. While walking down, she came face to face with a pale-faced person who looked like her friend, Oliver. She went closer to him "Oliver? Is that you? What are you doing here? Where are we?"

"RUN AWAY. ELLE!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. His words sent a scary shiver down her spine. After speaking, he disappeared amongst some bats. Best believe, she was desperate to leave "Run? From what? How do I do that? I feel like I'm stuck here!"

The experience reached an even more bizarre climax as she found herself in a crowd witnessing a female leader of an unknown group of creatures slaughtering someone. The crowd was made up of different creatures with fangs, wings, one-eyed creatures, and even half-human, half-monsters.

Elle gasped in terror as she looked up at the female leader about to slaughter someone. It was her. The person possessed her face and body. It was like staring straight into a mirror.

Right when her eyes met that of the female who looked so much like her, she woke up in her room sweaty with her heart beating fiercely against her ribs. Trying to catch her breath, she looked around her room just to be sure that what she had been experiencing was indeed a dream. This was not the first time she had had dreams of that sort, but this time, it all felt too real. It felt like more than just a disturbing lucidity.

Even more annoying, it was already getting bright outside. It was time to start getting ready for school. She sighed in frustration and got about the beginning of her day. As an 18-year-old high school senior, Elle dreaded attending school. However, for the sake of her dad, she wanted to get it over with before leaving her home to explore what she was interested in, the existence of the supernatural world.

Moving to Ashfalls had been one of the most traumatic decisions her father, Sheriff Locke, had ever made. The night they moved in three years ago, because of her father's job, marked the beginning of her lucid nightmares that were never-ending.

She had never told anyone about the nightmares. She suffered them in silence, and as a result, they took a toll on her mental health. Generally, she had slowly stopped doing the things she liked and focused solely on her liberation from the nightmares. Due to the same nightmares, she lacked social skills, and her only two friends were Saffron and Oliver.

Today, she made up her mind to open up to Saffron about it. During lunchtime, she went over to Saffron

"Hey, Saf!"

"omg hi, Elle! I've barely seen you around. What's the occasion?"

In as much as the two were best friends, they barely saw each other. This was because Saffron understood that Elle was someone who valued her privacy. If she needed to see Saffron, she was only one call away and vice-versa.

"I need to talk to you about something... now!" she said in a barely audible voice. They both made their way to an empty classroom to discuss better.

"So, what's up?" Saffron started.

"I'm going to be simple about this. For three years, I've had these disturbing lucid nightmares that constantly repeat themselves. I thought about it and I realised that there must be some weird reason behind all of this."

Saffron placed two fingers on the bridge of her nose "I don't understand so well. What do these nightmares entail?"

"These might sound ridiculous, but sometimes I see myself killing someone. Or a person turning into a wolf or seeming human beings feeding on blood or I sometimes even get chased by animals that are not completely animals. Even crazier is that I see people flying and casting spells. It's all so creepy, and there are even some constant characters like my friend, Oliver. And also there's this random dude I see who doesn't speak but growls instead. Do you understand? Or am I saying complete nonsense?" She said in one breath.

"Breath Elle! Have you considered seeing a therapist? You know, dreams are only a figment of your imagination"

On the surface, Saffron appeared as a regular high school student. Deep down, she was a witch. This directly meant that she perfectly understood what Elle was speaking about. Elle is unaware of the fact that Saffron is a witch. No one knows her true identity.

There was a major reason she needed to hide her identity. A long time ago, in this town called Ashfalls, werewolves, vampires, and witches openly lived amongst humans without having to hide their powers. However, as humans sought immortality, these supernatural creatures became endangered, so they decided to go into hiding. After this, humans gave up on the quest for immortality, and gradually, these creatures became forgotten.

Knowing that Elle's father was a Sheriff, she could not risk exposing herself to the public. However, she still wanted to help out. She stylishly placed her hands on Elle's to use her psychic powers to find out what might be wrong with her. She was surprised when she could not sense anything but only found herself in the moonlit forest that Elle had spoken about. This meant that it was not just nightmares that she was having. They could have either been little pieces of memories or events relating to her future or past. Saffron could not place what exactly was going on.

Snapping back to reality, she could only find a way to make Elle think it was all due to her imagination.

"Look! Don't think about it. Maybe you should get some rest. Or even hang out with friends more often, you know. Go for one or two parties, just to unwind. Most importantly, you need to make more friends" Saffron said in her soothing voice.

"I don't think you understand how serious this is, Saf! They keep replaying in my head. Constantly! I'm sick and tired of all of it. And I'm willing to get to the root of it." Elle replied as she swiftly ruffled her hair in frustration.

Elle felt suffocated, having to hide all of those things to herself. The one time she had decided to voice out, she had been misunderstood by her friend. If she had wanted to get a response concerning therapy, she could have just gone to meet her dad.

"There has to be more to this Saf! I need your help to find out more about what might be happening to me" Elle slowly picked her words one by one. She had never been the kind of person to ask for help from anyone.

For a split moment, Saffron thought that her grandmother, the oldest witch in their lineage, would be able to help Elle because she understood her position as a trusted friend to Elle. On the other hand, she could not dare to reveal the secrets of her world to her. She was not allowed to do that. It was so forbidden that Saffron could even get killed for it.

Elle had already concluded, with or without the help of Saffron, that she was going to make her findings anyway. She knew that the journey ahead contained multiple uncertainties, but to keep her sanity, she needed to get to the absolute bottom of the nightmares. As much as she desired a companion for her journey, she was not going to try too hard to convince Saffron. It was going to be totally up to her to be interested or not.

"Saf, it is fine if you don't want to have a hand in this. I know how scary it might be. I'll take my leave now," she said as she motioned towards the door. She was stopped by Saffron.

"You're not doing anything without me. Count me in!" Saffron said. She had made up her mind to become a double agent. She planned on hiding the truth and, at the same time, helping Elle for the sake of their friendship. 'Nothing could go wrong' she thought to herself.

"Seriously. You don't have to do this."

"Uh-Yes, I do" Saffron replied with a sassy eye roll.

"OMG! If it's fine with you, then yes, please," Elle responded with a smile on her face. It had been a long time since she last smiled the slightest bit.

"But promise me one thing, Elle! We need to stop if it gets too creepy or dangerous"

She nodded frantically in approval "Of course! I just need to know a bit, so the nightmares can end!"

Now that Elle had gotten a partner to support her, she could start making her findings. The past week, they had been trying to find books or anything at all that could be of help.

"Still nothing?" she sighed heavily.

"Nothing here, too. Why don't you see a therapist... Maybe?" Saffron suggested even though she was fully aware that it was not a therapist that Elle needed. She needed a form of liberation, and the link to her liberation had something to do with the supernatural world that Saffron is from.

"Look! I'm not crazy Saf! I don't need a therapist!" Elle said to Saffron in a fit of frustration.

The major reason why she never spoke to anyone about the nightmares was majorly because she was afraid to be labelled as crazy. She decided to give the internet another shot by opening her laptop again. "There has to be something!" she thought to herself.

She typed in the search bar "The Existence of the Supernatural; Myth or Reality?"

After endlessly searching various articles, she finally came across a website in the dusty corners of the internet that contained already archived information. There, she found an article titled "Living with unknown creatures". Naturally, this piqued her interest, so she clicked on the link.

"I FOUND SOMETHING" She screamed as she motioned for Saffron to come take a look. Her other hand hovered across her laptop screen in excitement. In disbelief, Saffron went over to her. She doubted that Elle found anything tangible. She was sure that all history of the supernatural had been erased from existence. At least, that was what she had been told.

"What did you find?"

"Hmn. Let's check it out together. Look!"

Saffron widened her eyes in shock at the realisation of the content of the article as they both read out loud "The supernatural exists, and I have proof. Years back, different creatures lived amongst human beings but had to go into hiding due to human greed. They will be back soon! I managed to breach into their community, and I realised all the vampires and werewolves we usually saw in fiction are actually real. I am posting this here in case something happens to me. On the night of 9th July 2004, I was initiated to join a pack of wolves, or else they would get rid me! They even have a hierarchical system. Their major base is a town called Ashfalls-"

Before they could finish reading, her laptop suddenly went off.

"Oh no, no, no. Don't do this to me" Elle said frantically.

By the time the laptop came back on, the article had disappeared.

"What just happened?" Elle said to Saffron.

Saffron shrugged in response. She could not risk exposing her family and other supernatural creatures for Elle's curiosity. She was the one who turned off the laptop with her powers, and somehow, she also managed to get rid of the article.

At this point, Saffron dealt with mixed feelings. She was stuck in the dilemma of either being a disloyal member of her family or being a good friend. After a moment of silence, she finally let out, "It is a dead end now. Back to square one", and Elle nodded in agreement.

Elle, on the other hand, found it all to be too much of a coincidence. Why did it have to be that same moment when she found a clue to what she might be going through that her laptop had to go off? Why did the article suddenly disappear?

"Saf! Don't you think it's odd?"

"What's odd?" Saffron inquired.

"I mean, why did my laptop suddenly go off and even more disturbing, the only article we vanished all of a sudden"

Elle had too many questions that should be left unanswered.

Saffron decided to drop the topic and talk about the school camping trip coming up. She pulled Elle to the bed "Let us forget about this for a second. And...yes! The camping trip is coming up this weekend. Are you coming along? I think it's going to be FUN"

Everything Saffron continued saying about the trip only faded before Elle could comprehend because her mind wondered off to somewhere else deep into her thoughts.

At the realisation that Elle had been absent-minded all along, Saffron said to her "Earth to Elle?"

This brought Elle back to reality "You were saying?"

"Do you still have the nightmares on your mind? You can just go for the trip to get your mind off of it, please? We can go together and do something different."

Elle had no interest in a so-called camping trip when her mental health was at stake "I'm not interested. You can just go with your other friends "

"I heard this time it's going to be different. Please? Please? Please?"

She finally gave in to Saffron's request and decided to go for the trip. What was the worst that could happen?

"WE ARE LITERALLY IN A FOREST" Elle screamed at Saffron as they arrived at the camping location. The place was surrounded by too many tall trees that gave Elle the shivers. What was she supposed to do for fun? It looked like a bear could pop out of one of the corners and attack them.

"I'm going back to town", Elle said, approaching the bus.

"Uh. No, you're not!" Saffron said as she pulled her back to their major campsite.

A pale-skinned boy approached the two girls in excitement. "Lovely to see you here Elle"

"Hi, Oliver! Saffron forced me to come here" Elle said timidly.

Saffron and Oliver shared a glance. Oliver was a vampire, which explained his pale skin, and Saffron knew this. At the same time, he was aware of her identity as a witch. However, none of them dared to talk about it in the open. They both felt bad for not being completely honest with Elle.

Elle and Saffron knew that Oliver had a crush on Elle. As quiet as Elle appeared, Oliver had been one of the first males who managed to approach her on her first day of school. He was, in fact, the very first person, even before Saffron.

From the very first moment, she noticed Oliver. She had always been curious about his pale skin, but his excuse had always been the fact that he was born like that. After getting this response from him a few times, she gave up on her curiosity and just assumed that he had unique genetics from his family.

To Elle, talking with Oliver was more peaceful than talking with Saffron. Not that she did not enjoy Saffron's company, she just much preferred the chill vibe she shared with Oliver.

All along, she had been aware of the fact that Oliver had a crush on her. However, since she did not feel the same way, she chose to turn a blind eye towards his feelings. Was that a selfish or cruel decision? She did not care what kind of decision it was as long as she still had her friendship with Oliver.

"It was nice talking to you, Oliver; if you need us, we'll be setting up our tent" And with that, Elle was pulled by Saffron once again. Oliver watched the two girls leave his presence.

As she followed closely behind Saffron, she whispered to Oliver "Let's hang out later?" and he nodded in agreement. Little did Elle know that what Oliver had for her was more than a crush. It was more like an underlying romantic feeling that had been in his heart since he got to know her person. It was deeper than a crush. He was willing to do anything to protect her.

After an hour of setting up their belongings, Elle realised that she had not agreed on where to meet with Oliver. She managed to escape Saffron and began her pursuit to find Oliver somewhere in the camp but to no avail.

She brought out her phone in an attempt to call him, but as expected, there was no cell signal in that location. "Oh shit!" she whispered as she pointed her phone towards different angles in an attempt to find a cell signal for her phone.

She walked deeper into the woods, and suddenly, she saw a shadow pass by her swiftly. Thinking it was Oliver, she decided to follow it. "Oliver? Are you here?" She called out.

When the shadow came to an abrupt stop, she also stopped in her tracks. Before long, she realised that all along, he had been following a shadow, but there had been no body around. She took a longer look at her surroundings and the sky.

It was already getting dark, and she was lost. She could not believe that she had been stupid enough to follow a mere shadow. The environment started to feel familiar. She started to feel like she had been sent into her lucid and terrifying nightmares.

She ran as fast as her legs could carry her but only ended up wandering deeper into the woods. She eventually found an old woman coming out of a cave approaching her direction.

"Elle Locke?" the old woman called out.

Elle jolted in shock, and with a shaky voice, she asked, "How....how do you know my name?"

"I know everything. I'm only here to tell you that a curse lingers around your soul. You were cursed by an aggrieved creature......get rid of it...." The old woman said as she faded away.

She fell to her back in fear as she started sweating profusely and shivering. The air had suddenly become cold. A person had just disappeared right in front of her. And most importantly, she was cursed?

The night was extremely cold, she thought, compared to the muggy summer night. Elle knelt with an uncontrollable shaking of her body. The woman was gone, and with her went the terrifying echo of her words. A curse? The idea felt like something out of a horror novel, yet the fear gnawing in her heart was undeniable. Trapped, lost, and marked by some invisible force of evil: the nightmare was only just beginning.

At this time, Durian Hathaway was the Lycan King. He possessed a youthful appearance but behaved anciently. His case, as the first-ever Lycan King to be cursed is unprecedented. He inherited the position from his late father, and ever since, he had been devoted to his affairs of protecting the werewolves, well, except for the aspect of having an heir and finding his mate.

His lineage tradition always had it that the Lycan King could only produce offspring with his fated mate that he would be irrevocably in love with. Having been cursed with the inability to love someone, he had not been able to produce an heir. Multiple times, Durian got many breeders to get offspring with but to no avail.

While chasing one of the rogues sent to spy on him, his attention suddenly got drawn away by the intoxicating scent coming from a specific location. With his incomparable speed, he made his way to where the scent had been coming from.

He observed an old woman talking to a young girl about being cursed, and he chuckled as he muttered to himself, "Oh, what are the odds? Another cursed being. How interesting!"

When he saw that the old woman finally disappeared, he laughed at the reaction of the girl before him. He wondered why she had been so shocked at the revelation she had heard. To him, it was no big deal being cursed since it was something that he had lived with his entire life. Seeing as the girl was still in shock, he approached her.

As Elle still shuddered from the situation that just took place right before her eyes, she noticed a figure hovering above her.

"Are you lost?" Durian asked.

She sighed in frustration and looked up to be met with an unfamiliar face.

"Now, who are you?" Elle asked him. At this point, she would not be surprised by any more encounters in the woods where she found herself.

In an attempt to have more fun, Durian changed his eye colour to one with an amber fire. This made Elle let out a terrifying scream, and this time, she fainted on the spot. Luckily, he caught her head in his hand.

"Humans are so fragile," Durian said as he laughed hysterically, looking at the fainted girl before him. He carried her into the cave that the initial old woman had come out from and waited for her to wake up.

As he waited, he continued to sniff her body. He noticed that she was an ordinary human being, but she possessed a wolf-like scent that had him intoxicated. There was something special about her that he could not place his hands on.

At that moment, Nyx joined him in the cave. She was the messenger of the mood goddess, and she served as a sort of personal assistant for Durian as the Lycan King.

"My King!" she started. "Why did you chase off that rogue on your own?"

"I was bored. They caught him already, yes? I would have dealt with him myself but I got distracted by this human being"

Nyx looked in between unconscious Elle and Durian for a few seconds before she finally spoke up. "How did she get through the barrier?". The barrier that Nyx was referring to signified that the territory they were on was strictly for werewolves and only with adequate permission could other creatures come into it.

Durian nodded in agreement with Nyx "My thoughts exactly. More surprisingly. I am intoxicated by her scent! Why do you think this is?"

Nyx usually had an answer for everything, but for the first time, she was confused. "I might have to consult with the moon goddess herself for this one. However, there's a high possibility that she might be your mate"

Durian let out a mocking laugh. "Why would a mere human be my mate? I am Durian, the Lycan King. There would be no way that my mate would be an ordinary human girl"

The two dismissed the topic as they decided to consult the moon goddess at a later date.

Back at the camping site, everyone was in a state of panic as each person took a flashlight shouting for Elle. It was already midnight and they still had found no trace of Elle. She had been missing for hours and the security claimed to have searched the entire forest.

Saffron got an idea as she saw Oliver. She whispered to him, "Can't you try to find her by tracing her scent or something? You vampires are good at that"

Oliver had tried to do that but to no avail due to the barrier. This barrier had been the major reason why they had not found Elle. It was a form of spiritual barrier that was not visible to the ordinary eye.

"I tried that. But it stopped working when I got closer to the barrier. Do you think she somehow got into their territory?"

Saffron suddenly got scared. She figured that maybe Elle must have found out the truth about the supernatural creatures and somehow managed to venture into the territory of the werewolves. "But Elle is only human. There is no way she would enter through the barrier. Some other thing must have come up. I'm sure of it. Because, if even you could not go through it, then how would she?"

"I have to find a way to get through it. I need to protect Elle at all costs. The Lycan King Durian is unpredictable. What if she meets the terrible fate of coming across the rogues? What if...?" Oliver continued to make too many assumptions.

Saffron interrupted him "Stop making assumptions. We need to come up with a plan to get her out of their territory if she is stuck there."

Oliver nodded in agreement "You distract everyone while I find a way through."

"How do you plan on doing that? I mean trespassing their territory?"

"I don't know. But I will find a way. We need to find Elle"

"Be careful!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, Elle woke up hoping that all that she had experienced earlier on had only been one of her nightmares and nothing more. To her surprise, it had already been bright outside. She remembered that she got lost right before nightfall and the memories of the old woman and the eyes with Amber fire that she came across flashed through her mind.

Unfortunately, she realised that nothing was a dream; the events took place and happened right in her presence, and she was not crazy. She convinced herself that she was not losing her mind.

"I'm fine" she whispered to herself.

Engulfed in fear, she scurried, trying to find out what had happened to her. "Where am I? I need to make my way back. Everyone must be worried", she said.

In an attempt to head back to safety, she hurriedly made her way out of the cave since she had only been a very short distance from the entrance of the cave. She was stopped by Durian. "Where do you think you are going?" He said, his voice laced with arrogance.

"Let me go! Or else....." she said as she took multiple steps back.

"Or else what? What can you do?" he countered as he moved closer to her.

The speed rate of her heartbeat doubled up, and she could feel as though Durian could hear her heartbeat. Nevertheless, she gathered as much confidence as she could and let out "Just so you know, my father is a Sheriff, and you can get arrested once they find out that you kidnapped me!"

Once again, Durian laughed hysterically "Are you aware that no one would ever find you here? No matter how much they tried! Do you want to know why?"

Her previously gained confidence dissolved as she shook her head to answer his question.

With a wry smile on his face, he said "This is my territory"

This time around, it was Elle's turn to laugh hysterically.

"Your territory?" She asked in between fits of laughter. "Where do you think you are? Who do you think you are? Your territory? Tell me something funnier, or preferably, something more believable."

Durian stared at her in silence before taking in a whiff of air. He was still intoxicated and obsessed with her scent.

"I will not let you leave this place, then, will you believe that this is my territory?"

Elle scuffed at the ridiculousness of his claims and pushed him away. She pushed him away too easily only because he allowed it.

She wandered through the forest for two hours but always ended up back in the cave.

When it was the tenth time she arrived back at the same cave, she looked at Durian in frustration. "Is watching me get lost a form of entertainment for you?"

He ignored her, and she screamed over his head, "Hey you! I'm talking to you!"

"My name is Durian and of course! It's splendid to meet you, Elle! Now do you admit that this is my territory"

Elle's eyeballs wandered up and down the man who had just introduced himself as Durian. Who was he and how did he know her name? The last person that knew her name in this forest had been an old woman who suddenly disappeared. The mere thought of that scene sent cold shivers down her spine.

Thinking back at the article she was reading about supernatural creatures, it suddenly disappeared too. Everything was happening too fast for Elle. Too fast for her to even process anything. However, to her, one thing was certain-Supernatural Creatures existed amongst them.

It was as if her thoughts were suddenly brought to life by an explosion of sound. The ground shook beneath her feet with a faint grumbling coming from somewhere deep amid the trees, nearer, and nearer still...