Marking Territory

Present Time

The kingdom of Lycans.

Known to be the deadliest kingdom of all. It is said that the beings residing in this kingdom are the deadliest immortals with no morals.

Once a kingdom who was famous for it's loyalty, wisdom and strength was now...

A kingdom filled with liars.

A kingdom filled with cheaters.

A kingdom filled with blind beasts.

Everything changed about this kingdom but you still can't win from them when they fight to protect their own.

Because even after all these changes it was still a Kingdom filled with the most deadliest warriors. . .

They are blessed by the Goddess of Moon. Blessed with strength, immorality and a mate. Once a lycan finds his mate he can't take another female to his bed because he won't get hard for anyone once he find his mate who is given to him by the goddess. The beast inside them won't let him take any other female once he claims his mate.

In their kingdom a woman is equal to weakness. A mate is only a weakness to them. The mates they were given to strengthen their race was now considered a weakness by them.

There was time when in the supernatural world, beings of diferent species ached to be a wolf's mate. It was said that a wolf cherish his mate more than anyone else in this world. If their mate dies the wolf follows. But now everyone detest even the idea of being their mate.

The wolf's had fallen from grace...

And the reason of there fall was their king himself. The king of the Lycans, who was currently lying draped in the finest silk, his partner from last night still asleep besides him. Darach King, the only wolf who doesn't care about his mate or kingdom.

He's their Alpha King but they called him 'Mad King' and indeed he was more mad than any other living lycan. Darach was as old as the dirt and living so long without a mate had pushed him towards madness. There was a time when he convinced himself that he can live his eternal life without a mate but in reality he can give anything to just experience what it's like to have someone to protect, provide and love more than your own life, to know what it's like to be loyal to your mate until death.

"Your highness your brother requests to meet you." Darach's most loyal wolf's voice echoed in his head.

In his long life Darach has met mortals who wanted to become an immortal.

Fools. . .

They don't realize that immorality is not a blessing. It's a cursed life. A life you have to live without your loved one's because everyone you know dies before you. They are fools to wish for such a life filled with loneliness and madness.

Darach walked in his office dressed in a pair of slacks with his chest bare. Nudity was not an issue for Lycans. They are more comfortable without clothes.

His brother was sitting on the chair in his office, upon his arrival he scrunched his nose probably because Darach's body still reeked of the shewolf from last night.

They all wanted be his queen. They think they can satisfy his hunger but they seem to forget that no one can satisfy the hunger within him, no one but only his true mate. . .

"You wanted to meet me." Darach said to his brother, ignoring the disgusted look he was giving him.

"Lucia is missing." Connor said, his eyes flashing golden indicating that he was a second away from turning. 'And they say that I don't have any control on my wolf...' Darach thought sarcastically.

Lucia is their sister. In there kingdom females were not permitted to go anywhere until they find their mate and when they find their mate they can't go anywhere without him. It was an unspoken rule of their society. It was surprising that how could she went missing when her mate Jordan was always attached to her hip. . .

"So what..?" Darach asked nonchalantly while sitting on his chair, staring blankly at the wall.

"She's our sister Darach! How could you not care?" Connor asked, anger dripping from his tone.

"Why would you care..?" Darach through the question at him instead of answering him.

"Because unlike you I'm not an ass who doesn't give a fuck about his responsibilities! Who just want to be a womanizer. Have you ever thought how would your mate will react when she will came to know that her soulmate has fucked half of the females in his kingdom."

Connor asked.

"That's funny coming from you, the man who wasn't able to protect his own mate. And last time I checked you weren't on taking terms with Lucia. And she has a mate so it's not our problem if she's missing. I'm sure Jordan can find her after all our beasts love the chase." Darach replied in a bored tone.

It was useless to get involved in their issues. If Lucia was missing her darling mate will find her. It's in our blood to protect what is our own.

"Being living without a mate for so long had turn you into a cold bastard Darach. What if it was your mate who disappeared Darach. She's not the only one who disappeared, a large number of females from this kingdom have been missing as if lost without a clue to track them. Their mates are going berserk on everyone. They are a step away from madness. They want your help Darach. They need their Alpha King for once to act like one." Connor snapped the last line.

If it was any other wolf Darach would have killed him without a thought for this blunt disrespect but Connor was different because it was no good to kill someone who is already dead. Connor had seen his own mate die in front of his eyes.

It is said that the most painful thing in a lycan's life is to lose a mate. If your mate dies you follow! There is no in between. Connor is the only one who survived this loss, no one knows how. . . Even there are bets placed on him all over the kingdom. Everyone wants to know that how long he can survive.

Even Darach wonder how long. . .

"Darach you don't have a mate but I had one, once. I know how it feels to be separated from your other half. It's like someone is splitting your soul and you have no power over it. You are a king Darach, act like one. . . At least do something that your mate should be proud of. . ." Connor said before leaving.

It's understandable that why Connor find this matter so important. He had lost his mate and he knows the pain. But what he doesn't know is that Darach didn't have any mate to make proud. When a wolf's other half is born he can feel it deep in his bones that someone's there for him to protect and provide. Like every lycan Darach felt when she was born. Like a love sick puppy he went to an Oracle. It's hard to find one and they are bat shit crazy but he found one only for her to tell Darach that his mate's dead.

Dead before he had a chance to know her. . .

I'm blessed that I didn't met her before she died. Because in my kind once a lycan meets his soulmate he's bound to her. He can't bed another because his beast won't let him get hard for anyone other than his mate just like Connor...

Darach didn't want anyone to find about her and the sole purpose of hiding her death form everyone is Connor. He doesn't want them to pity him like Connor. Darach's their Alpha King!

He can do what they can't, even overcome his mate's loss. . .

On the bright side Darach can bed any willing female lycan as a distraction from this lonely eternal life, Connor is not as lucky as him. He is living on the memories of his mate more than he lives in present. At least this mission can serve as a distraction for Connor. It's the least Darach can do for him. . . .

Fate has a way to turn impossible things into possible. A person can fight his fate all he wants but in the end things always turn out how fate wants them to be. Just like Amber. She is a living proof of the games that fate plays.

Amber a woman who was thrown in the woods in the dead of winter by her own mother. She was given to nature for a low agonizing death. Who thought that the little girl her mother and her people though they got rid of was as alive as the wind.

As a little girl she was not even given a little space in her parents kingdom. And now as a grownup she has her own queendom where she decides who stays and who leaves.

Pretty much ironic!

They say ignorance is a bliss and indeed they are right. Amber can give anything to remain ignorant. Amber was always a curious little thing. It was her curiously that lead her to find about her origin. She has an ability to remember. She remembered her first memory of her mother, when she had forsaken her. She had witnessed disgust in the eyes of the woman who gave her birth. Amber wasn't a mother but she wants children of her own. She could never look at her own blood like her mother had looked at Amber. At first she didn't knew who the female in her memories was, not until she stepped into immorality and learnt to control her powers.

Amber is the offspring of the most powerful fractions of the supernatural world. She had abilities beyond her control.

She's the first of her own kind.

A being having the power of a Goddess. . .

At the early age Amber had lounged for acceptance, for someone to call her their own but she got nothing. And than she had made a queendom where she decides who stays and who leaves. Now she's the one by whom beings lounged to be accepted.

Amber had made an Empire of her own in the same place where she was left by her mother to rot and die.

Tsk... After freezing in immorality and spending centuries on this wasteland Amber had turned it into a land full of greenery and beauty with a shield to protect it's boundaries. You can enter this land but once you leave without a permit you'll forget the location of this land.

The first time Amber used her powers was when she was merely born. Her mother dumped her on this wasteland covered with deadly snow. Her back was burnt by the snow and she was on the verge of dying when her power to control the elements had saved her life. Her back is still decorated with ugly burn marks, a gift from her mother. The skin on her back can easily disgust anyone who looks at it thats why she always wears a cloak to protect it from judging and pitiful eyes.

Amber has unique powers like controlling the elements, unnatural speed, control over others body and many more. All thanks to the three fraction that made her very being.

"Amber there's somone who wants to meet you. Come!" Rebecca shouted on top of her lungs. Hearing her voice pulled a smile on my face. Rebecca was the very first resident of her self made Queendom.

"They all wants to meet me girl. Tell me what's new this time. . ." I rolled my eyes at her.

When I reached her a female was standing behind her. Her hairs were a huge mess of black color. Golden eyes were staring at me as if sensing a threat.

Definitely a lycan on verge of turning. My land was filled with different fractions of supernatural beings but most of them were wolfs. There were rumours that the lycans had fallen from grace. From the past few decades a large number of lycans had moved to this land, most of them just wanted to hide from their brutes aka mates.

"Aah another Bitch! What's her problem..? Lemme guess! She must be miserable with her disrespectful mate and just wanted freedom from their shitty customs..." Amber said while clapping my hands in a child like manner.

The wolf lunged at her but was thrown away with a flick of Amber's fingers. A boom sounded when her body hit the old oak tree. Blue light was still emitting from Amber's palm.

Disrespecting beings!

"Hell..!!!" The female bellowed in pain. Her screams were making Amber tired. They were all the same.

Fools!

It literally bored her to death to show them who's the queen here. Most of them call Amber evil and unstable. . .

An Evil, Unstable Queen who's protecting the sane one's.

"For someone who came here for my help you have guts to attack me bitch! I'm the Queen here and I don't take shit from anyone. I serve it to the one's who deserve it. Never attack a being like me, you will regret the outcomes."

"Amber...!" Rebecca snapped. Amber looked towards her.

"Ooh I was not supposed to do that..? My bad!" I gave her an innocent silly me look. She's a softy, can't even handle a little violence.

"She needed help. . ." Rebecca said with tears welled up in her eyes. Shit! I don't want her to start her water work here. Rebecca is a female lycan so its totally logical that she feels pain of her kind. I helped her to escape her abusive mate and now she helps other who are in the same condition as her. Rebecca is broken doll who can't be fixed so she tries to fix others to make herself feel better.

Rebecca the fragile little wolf. . .

"She can stay if she wants it's the least I can do after breaking her bones. I was just messing around with her. I hope she didn't took it on her little heart. . . Plus tell her that she won't be able to locate this place if she decided to leave, it's a one time invitation." I said while blowing a kiss to Rebecca.

Rule number one to maintain your rule over other immortals here, you have to show them who's the boss here.

It's difficult to survive in this world, you gotta be a Bitch to keep people in their place.

In my world you kill or get killed and I have killed more immortals than I can remember...

Do I regret it? Never. . .

"What the hell is she..??" That female asked Rebecca.

"The Cold Queen you should not mess with Lucia!" Rebecca said in a cold voice.

Ahh.. only if Rebecca had told her that before she had attacked me. It would have saved me from the upcoming fatigue.

"I'm not getting any good vibes from here. This place is literally giving me creeps man!" Connor suppressed a shudder.

"Don't worry I have been here before. It's not as bad as it looks." Darach replied without looking at his brother.

The last time Darach was here he had almost burnt this building in his blind rage. He still remember the day when he came here to know the whereabouts of his mate from this oracle. She had looked at him with her lifeless black eyes with sorrow.

'You are late my child she's dead, murdered by her own kin.'

In that moment Darach had felt as if someone has pulled his backbone out his body. All his life he has waited for his mate and she was taken from him by her own kin. Not taken MURDERED! He was boiling with

Hate. . .

Rage. . .

No matter how many times he begged her to tell him the location of his mate's kin she never uttered a single word. At the end he even threatened to kill her but she only gave a sadistic smile on his threats as if she found his threats amusing.

Now after centuries Darach is back at the same place to know the whereabouts of the Lycan's missing mates and his sister. He had nowhere else to go. Oracles are rare, finding them is like finding needle from a bundle of grass. Even if you find them they are very tricky and a breath away from madness. Instead of giving answer to your questions they talk in riddles which lefts you with more questions than answers.

Connor entered before him through the old wooden door which was hanging form it's hinges. It was a small wooden cottage covered with dirt, located in the middle of dark forest. It seems like it would fall at any moment. There was a small cot in the corner and besides that there was not even a single piece of furniture or any other belongings in the cottage.

The hair on the back of his neck raised as he got a sense of being watched. Darach turned around only to come face to face with the Oracle.

She wore a clean black gown with not a single dust particle on it but her black hairs were a mess as if she had mopped the floor with them. She looked not a day above twenty five, like a small girl with her young features and beauty. Her black soulless eyes were the only thing that indicated her age.

Her eyes were unfocused like she was seeing things or was on another plane. Suddenly her eyes focused on us.

"The King and his warrior, so determined to slay their people's demons while refusing to face their own." Her voice echoed in the small cottage.

"Oracle we want our sister's location." Connor said, ignoring her ramblings.

"Ooh what a shame... I thought that you want your own mate's location." She said looking at Connor with a sorry face.

"Don't play games with me witch! My mates dead." Connor warned in a low growl.

"Is that what you think..? Poor wolf. . ." She gave him a pitted look.

Connor's eyes flashed golden. His body was changing. I inserted my claws in his arm, trying to divert his attention.

"Not today Connor! We are here for Lucia." I snapped. The Oracle's a fool for taunting him about his dead mate.

"Lucia... She's been attacked, arm and three ribs broken, lying on grass and bellowing in pain. Poor she wolf must have messed with someone wicked powerful." Her word were enough to pull Connor out of his rage.

"How can we reach her?" Connor asked but the Oracle ignored him and turned toward me.

"I would have killed him for disrespecting me or for simply being a lycan. He's lucky that I owe you dog...! Only if you had came early we could have saved your mate child." She said with her voice softening at the end, eyes shinning with tears.

It's the first time Darach had seen a being like her to show this much emotions. He didn't knew if he should be angry at her for bluntly calling him a dog or thankful for her condolences. Beings like her were rumoured to be the most viscous fraction of immortals. They rarley show any emotions.

"You lost your mate?" Came Connor's surprised voice. He had a look of pure terror on his face.

"Go North! Go to the wasteland where the snow is as deadly as hell fire. You'll find them there." She said with a distant look on her face. Connor was ignored again.

"Them...? Is that all you're going to tell us?" I asked.

One moment she was standing near the door and in the next she was a breath away from Connor, staring at him creepily. It shocked him that how she moved with such a speed that she was undetectable even to his own eyes.

Fuck!

He had underestimated her. She has more wisdom and power than she reveals.

A deadly creature!

"Change before history repeats itself. Last chance wolf!! Don't fuck this up again. Change, accept and respect! It's not that hard." She gave a light pat on Connor's face and than she was gone as if disappeared in thin air.

"What the fuck!" Connor uttered in a shaky tone while rubbing his hands on his face.

Darach felt the same. She made no sense. Why would she owe him? He had done nothing for her besides threatening her life to extract his revenge on his dead mate's kin. And why would Connor change?

"Utter a word about my mate in front of anyone and you'll be as good as dead." I warned Connor and than left the cottage. It will be a cold day in hell if I let anyone pity me over my dead mate.

At least now we have a location to find Lucia and the others.

For the first time in his long... long... life Darach was feeling thrilled to see where this mission will lead him. His inner Lycan was pacing in his cage as if waiting for something. . . The Oracle had filled his head with more questions than answers.

Why the hell would Lucia go to the wastelands...? You only go there if you have a dead wish. The climate there is deadly even to a lycan not to mention the unforgiving snow and creatures of dark residing there. If Lucia was fool enough to go to the wastelands than someone was already there who had attacked her. But than the question arise that who the hell is strong enough to reside there. . .