Chapter 80
80 Chapter 80 : Blood halves
Three wolves halted in front of the tall dark gray castle that was covered in a thick blanket of snow. Wintershold keep was a massive structure in the center of the nosferatu city of Wintershold, a city in the heart of the snowlands filled with vampires of all ages. One would think such a place would be dark and gloomy but in fact, Wintershold was a lively citadel with functioning stores, markets, residential areas and many other facilities.
Other than the fact that the place was filled with pale looking humans with fangs, pointy ears, who could float, it was just like any other town.
The three massive lycans slowly morphed into their human form when the guards approached them. “Alpha Edron of the silver pack,” the tall dark haired nosferatu guard spoke in a loud bellowing voice. “Very unlike you to show up unannounced, the Kaiser doesn’t take kindly to uninvited guests.”
The handsome alpha slicked back his hair and tied it in a ponytail as he walked towards the two gaurds who were blocking the entrance to the castle. “It’s a matter of urgency nosferatu, step aside.”
The dark haired man narrowed his eyes dangerously at the pack leader and then trailed them to the two men who were standing behind him. “Very well, but they have to stay out here.”
“Boris is my Beta,” Edron replied with his thumb pointing at the big man with bulging muscles on his right side, “and Remus is my guard, I go nowhere without them.” The silver haired alpha inched closer to the guard and stared at him condensedingly with his deep golden eyes. “Now like I said before...” the man spoke as he proceeded to tauntingly dusting some snow flakes off the nosferatu gaurd’s shoulder, “... it’s a matter of urgency, now step aside.”
The nosferatu gaurd stepped back, he was a strong vampire, that’s why he had been appointed as the head of the royal guard by the Kaiser. But this man, Edron the alpha of the silver pack oozed danger and killer instinct. The gaurd was sure he wouldn’t last one minute going toe to toe with this dangerous man, he stifled a gulp and turned around, “very well then, follow me.”
Marceline was walking down the grand staircase to the lobby when she saw the gaurd walking in with Edron and his men. She creased her brows and walked briskly towards them, the aura that Edron was radiating screamed urgency. “Edron?”
“Marceline,” the alpha greeted the beautiful woman with a bow, “where is your husband? I need to talk to him urgently.”
.....
“I can see that,” the woman responded. She gestured the lycans to follow her to the chairs and settled down. “You never come unannounced Edron, what’s going on?”
“I need to speak with Stefan,” The silver haired lycan repeated himself, his voice indicating that he didn’t have time to explain himself.
“KAISER Stefan..” a deep voice echoed throughout the study. A tall man with side burns, a beard, black hair and piercing blue eyes floated into the room. His shoulder length hair was slightly tasseled and his tall slender body was covered in long dark cape. “Have we forgotten our manners Alpha?” Stefan spoke as he settled down on a chair next to his wife who rolled her eyes and broadened the gap between them.
“Stefan this is not a war meeting I have no need for titles,” Edron responded with an eye roll. “But come to think of it, it might turn into one.”
“What are you taking about?” The Kaiser questioned Edron.
“It’s about your daughter, Melissa.”
Marceline jolted upright, her blue eyes as wide as a plate, “Melissa? What about her? Did something happen?”
Edron leaned forward and took one of the cups from the tray that had been placed on the small center table by a maid, and poured himself a cup of wine. “How do I put this..” he responded and took a sip of his wine. “Your daughter and my son are married.”
Stefan rose his brows in shock, “Married? What do you mean they’re married?”
“Has the concept of marriage become so foreign to you Kaiser?” Edron spoke in a mischievous voice, his gaze switching between Stefan and Marceline.
“That is uncalled for lycan,” Stefan growled angrily. The topic of his marriage was a sensitive one. True that it was no secret that things were not going smoothly ever since they gave Melissa up, but rubbing it in his face was not something he took lightly.
“What I’m saying old friend, is that your daughter Melissa and my son Elric are husband and wife, vows and all. She’s his mate.” The alpha added on.
“Mate?! Are you sure of this?!” Marceline responded. “Because I-”
“My son told me himself Marceline,” the man responded, “you honestly think he wouldn’t be sure of his own mate?”
Marceline pursed her lips and looked to the side.
“There is a bit of a problem though,” the silver haired man added on, “Tauriel’s son, he stole Melissa from Elric.”
“Edron what are you going on about?” Stefan responded, “no one can just swoop in and steal a lycan’s mate. If they really are mates then Melissa would have never allowed it.”
“Didn’t you hear me say the elf stole her?” The alpha spoke sternly, downing the last of his wine, “it was against her will. This is a classic case of the elves thinking they can take anything they want, like what happened to Aiden.”
“Don’t bring him up!” the Kaiser bellowed, making the glass jar of wine crack slightly.
“Okay okay..” Edron spoke apologetically, “what I’m trying to say is this thing is going to implicate our strategy to take back the central continent. We should be fighting the humans not stealing each other’s mates! We need to get Tauriel in line and reunite my son with his mate before we fight among ourselves.”
The silver alpha poured himself another cup, “besides, my son needs a queen by his side in meria.”
“What?”
Edron cocked his head and Boris sat up straight, “The prince was crowned king of meria,” the Beta lycan explained, “he has managed to assemble the half breeds as one and is planning to extend his reign towards Gavaria and the surrounding kingdoms.”
“You see, while the elven prince is stealing women,” Edron spoke, “my son is conquering kingdoms. He has single handedly carried out our plans all on his own. Uniting the races and-”
“If you think your son will rule us all because of this you’re solely mistaken Edron,” kaiser Stefan interrupted the silver alpha, “the monarchs of each race will remain, this was already decided. Elric will rule the lycans and the lycans alone.”
“But he married the heir to the nosferatu throne,” the man pointed out, much to Stefan’s displeasure, “correct me if I’m wrong but that makes him king of the nosferatu as well doesn’t it?”
“Not yet!” Stefan rose to his feet and gave the lycans a dismissive stare, “If that’s all you had to say, thank you for the information Edron, you may leave now. But your son..” the Kaiser scoffed and turned to leave, “he will not rule the four races.”
“But what about your daughter? Are you going to leave her in the clutches of Tauriel and her son?”
“Operations to retrieve my daughter are already underway,” the blue eyed man responded, “now if you’ll excuse me.”
Edron stood up and teasingly bowed at the Kaiser, “as you wish my in law.”
“Leave Edron!”
The alpha chuckled and gestured his men to follow him out. When they reached the outside of the castle, they transformed into wolves and dashed away. As they ran through the snow, Edron gave instructions to his men to send out two of his best trackers to locate the princess, after which he would give the location to his son who would lay down the law of mates on those self righteous elves and put Tauriel and her son in their place.
Back in Wintershold keep, Marceline walked slowly towards her chambers with a confused look on her face. She nibbled the inside of her lower lip as Edron’s words echoed in her head.
“Melissa is Elric’s mate..?” the woman muttered to herself, “...but that can’t be.”
In the same way that Lycans had mates, partners they were bound to for life and marked by the male lycan’s bite, the nosferatu had ‘blood halves’. Usually this type of bond happened when a male nosferatu saw a female nosferatu and fell in love with her, though it could happen vice versa. This bond was so strong, drawing the two closer till one could not live without the other. The bond was further solidified when one of the nosferatu took a small intimate bite on the neck of their blood half and tasted their blood in a practice known as a blood bond. This practice bound the two individuals for life and only death could do them part.
Marceline had sensed that Melissa had formed a blood bond with someone a little over a week ago, how was that possible if Elric had marked her as her mate? Was she wrong? The bond she had sensed was a little bit different from the one she shared with her husband, maybe she was mistaken, but it felt so vivid.