Chapter 42: Rejecting A Wolf

Tom rubbed his eyes tiredly as he held a file in his hand. He could feel a headache forming as he stressfully read the files. It was impossible for the council's high-profile movements to be hidden, not because they were doing it discreetly, but because they were doing it in a high-profile manner.

After reading the new report, how could Tom not confirm it was done this way for him? His good sister-in-law knew he had saved Aurora and intentionally did it like that. And even if he knew, what could he do? Runaway? His older brother would hunt him down and, not to mention, his pack members could not be abandoned by him.

He had to evacuate the pack, evacuate his friends, and shield Aurora even if it cost his life. He would not let the people he swore to protect be harmed by the council. The very same council he believed in with all his might.

Lycans, everything was for the revival of Lycans.

Even with the little clues deliberately left by Astrada, Tom easily figured out what happened in the Lunar pack. To think something like that happened so close to them, a stroke of bad luck to run into such a messy situation, even worse luck to be thrown in the middle of it.

Thinking about the past had Tom glum. The council was the place he was raised, brainwashed into the doctrine of lycans. Tom knew how important reviving lycans was. After all, he was an important part of the hierarchy in the council before he was sent into the depths of hell by the same beliefs that shaped his life.

They would never let Aurora go. A half-Lycan with an alive mate was worth celebrating. He knew what that meant better than anyone else. They'll treat her like a breeder, to be bred by Alaric like some type of animal. The thought of that alone had Tom slamming his fist on his desk in a rage.

The purity of the werewolf race was extremely important to the council. All wolves come from one source, the Lycans. A Lycan was a shapeshifter. It was not restricted to shifting into wolves alone. It was able to shift into anything living, including plants. Somewhere along the way, Lycan began to mate with animals.

Tigers, bears, wolves, and panthers were among their favorites. The offspring of the union was naturally given preference for their parent's animal. For example, if a Lycan mated with a tiger, the pups would be weaker at shifting into other animals, but it was easier to shift into tiger form.

Lycans had subpar reproductiveness among their own race, thus with the creation of this new way to have offspring, it's not a surprise that the Lycans, as a powerful race would disappear due to underpopulation. With each new generation of this new species, the Lycan blood was whittled away bit by bit.

In accordance with what was written in the history books, after centuries of doing this and the Lycans were basically gone, the new races went to war with each other. To reign over the others, most Lycans had a preference. They preferred wolves, as wolves mated for life and closely resembled them. Wolves reigned supreme over the other races due to their sheer numbers.

As for what happened to the other races, it was written that just like the Lycans they had subpar reproductiveness. They didn't adapt fast enough, but wolves did. They took humans and mated them, creating the wolf society known today, while the other races whittled away like Lycans.

It was also written that werewolves would birth Lycans back into the world. This was drilled into the heads of council members since childhood. Lycans was where they came from. They would never let go of the chance to birth a full-blooded lycan.

But after all his experiences, Tom knew what was being taught was probably based on lies.

Why were werewolves the only race descendant of Lycan to mate with humans to continue on the bloodline? Why do werewolves have mates? What is the purpose of mates to begin with and how can rejection among wolves give birth to half lycans in the first place?

Why is it some wolves turn into half-Lycans but some don't? Why is it that rejecting a mate outside of the werewolf race doesn't stimulate such a reaction as turning into a half-Lycan?

Why are some wolves stronger than others? And why did the council advocate the purity of the werewolf bloodline? Going as far as making wolves who were mated outside of their race reject their mate. Tom had a belly full of questions he knew he'd probably never get the answer to.

Tom believed that they mixed truth with lies and perfected it until it was their truth. Who knows if werewolves are really the last descendants of Lycans? Or did werewolves make it so that they were the only ones?

Nobody truly knew the truth, he knew this because he dug into it. But one truth was abundantly clear to Tom and that was he had to give his all to protect everyone. Even his new mate.

Aurora was not safe and having her here wasn't safe, but she was his mate. Tom was certain of that. It was just like it was back then with his first mate. Tom's eyes darkened, he would shield her, and his brother was in charge. And the very fact she was his second mate would protect her.

But this could only buy some time. With their collective obsession, they may even kill him to get his brother to comply. It would be easy just like that time. As thoughts swirled around in Tom's head, he decided to send Aurora away with Nick and Dillion. It's better this way, that way they'd be on the run for the rest of their lives. But it would be better this way.

Tom would use his life to shield the retreat, if they could delay departure until she awoke, that would be best. He'd at least wanted her consent and Tom wanted to talk to her even if it was once.

He never thought he would get to have a mate, even when he found his first mate. He knew it would end badly. His stubbornness killed his first mate. If he had just done what they wanted, she would have been alive.

Shaking off his gloomy thoughts, he got up and made his way to the makeshift hospital room they had Aurora in. As he stepped in he saw her sitting upright with her head down. He dreamed of seeing her awake. He dreamt of hearing her voice and seeing her eyes, his body tensed.

Nick, who was sitting at the desk making notes of Aurora's condition, saw Tom and hurriedly stood up and dragged Tom out before Tom could even move in Aurora's direction.

"Nick!" Tom exclaimed in shock as Nick pulled him out and locked the door. "What the hell?"

"I'm sorry, but she's not in a talking mood." Nick grimaced as he thought of how empty her eyes looked when he stared into them.

"She's my mate!" Tom growled. Anger bubbled up in him as he stared Nick down. His wolf snarled within him, angry that someone wanted to keep him away from his mate.

"I have a good reason, okay!" Nick hurriedly defended himself, "Before you talk to her, I took it upon myself to inform you she's not in a state to be stimulated. I checked her. I even touched her. She just let me touch her. No defenses, nothing. Just emptiness. Not at all like someone who just woke up in a strange room with a strange man and experienced what she did."