Jamal Kunis
I stood on the balcony of my castle looking into the vast plane. Boring my eyes into the deep horizon, testing to see if I could see right through it.
It was nearing the time. The time I had dreaded for so long. But at the same time, the time I had overlooked for so long as well. I had never expected that I would be in the situation that I was in today. As the years pulled nearer, the severity of my situation began to display itself in my memory. The terrible dreams began to flood my head. I knew they were no more than the leftover from my overthinking in the last few months but the way they came, so vivid and so real he felt the impacts when he woke up. They had to be more than dreams, omens maybe. Or worse, prophesies.
As the bad time approached, I kept on thinking about her. The Dark Witch, the one who had made his whole life this miserable. It happened very long ago when I was a young 18-year-old wolf who had just risen into the rank of Lycan King. I had met a woman. Fair in her appearance. The most beautiful specimen of a living creature I had ever set my eyes upon and in that instance, I fell in love with her and she with me. We had shared so much in common. Or so I thought; so she made me believe. We were inseparable. Where she was I was and where I was she was. It was like a man and his shadow under the sun. There was not a time I did not think of her when she was absent. It was not love; it was an obsession fuelled by black magic.
But I was too naive to understand. I had always thought she had my best interest at heart. Never had I spoken evil of her or thought any evil concerning her intentions. For they were to me pure as snow on the northernmost top of the earth.
There were times I would leave the ruling of my people to my beta just so I could be with her and on the night we first became intimate, it was as if I had shaken hands with paradise. Her lips were magical, her bosom surreal and her maiden part out of this world. However, it all came crashing down that day she backstabbed me and sent the world of werewolves into utter chaos. She had started a mutiny and capitalized on it to seize control.
Our love was strong. But my love for and devotion to the pack was stronger. And sadly, it took the death of my parents to discover that. The Dark Witch had murdered my parents and a few of the werewolves who were loyal to the pack. I knew I had to do something. War against the one I loved was the only option. The battle that day was great. I still remember it as if it was a mere hour ago.
I had killed some of my own because they had been persuaded into destruction by her false message. She had enchanted them to dance to the tune of her rueful music. As epic as the tale might sound, it was half of that for me. It was unheard of that the world of werewolves should fall and it was very close to that. Not to speak of the fact that it would have happened during my name, hence, etching my name into the immortal papers of history for all the wrong reasons. And even more so, the mere thought that the catalyst behind my fall was a woman I had trusted my life into would do nothing but add salt to my wounds and shame to my name and tale. I was fighting for more than my throne or the unity of the werewolves world, but for my name as well and that of my father and his father before him. Hence, I fought with all urgency and strength.
I overcame at last, but overcoming came at a price. It was difficult to rise against the Dark Witch. Perhaps because of an enchantment I knew nothing about, or perhaps because of my lingering feelings for which I constantly denied. But at the end of it all, a curse was placed on me by the defeated Dark Witch. She took away my ability to sense my true mate - no surprise considering how long she had had my feelings tied to her - and gave me a condition that if I was unable to get an offspring by age 35, the whole werewolf world will fall to pieces.
Some days I relive the memories wishing they had not all been a deceit. An elaborate plan for conquest.
I was currently 33, and the doom day was two years away. I had already begun to see signs of the curse coming to pass. Mini mutinies and grumbles even within the very castles I rule from. I knew the curse was real even though I had struggled all my life not to believe it.
I have had three wives. All three of them turned out not to be my true mates and as a result, died on the night of our wedding. This had an impact on the attitude of the females towards me. I don't think I'll ever remain the same.
Howbeit, every cause has a counter curse or in my case, a solution, a ritual that possessed the ability to dispel the effect of the curse. I was ready to do it until I heard it. After consulting with the White Witch, I was asked to take an 18-year-old female human as a mate in order to break the curse. It was said that it was only by giving her child could I was able to break the curse.
Humans were weak, feeble things. Having to cross with one would be an injury to my name and offspring. They'll never be as strong as their other kinds because their pure breed would be mixed with the fault of humans. Half-breeds were never the best. But some choices are not hard to make when you are left with a harder alternative.
It was either that or plunging the entire werewolf world into the ruins of war. I could not afford to do that. I kept the solution secret from the rest of the pack as I sent out Conrad, my beta since the day I was anointed as Lycan King, to go in search of a suitable girl for my surrogate. I never warmed up to the idea of marrying human so the best I could settle for was an arranged marriage. Just something where she gets me a child and she is on her way back to her land. Nothing more. I was not ready or even slightly interested in meddling in the affairs of men nor was I interested in letting men meddle in my own affairs or the affairs of any member of the pack. I had never thought good about them nor have I held them in a position of respect before.
Methis Delis POV
Before I knew about the arranged marriage and was sent off, something unexpected happened. My stepmother had taken me to the hospital for what she claimed was a regular check weeks before the revelation of my sales. I was tested for all manner of things, all the STDs you could ever think of I was tested for it. It was a bit queer because never in my life had I been taken through this intense amount of test; not even by my late mother. But she was doing it. She said she cared about my health and she had just finished reading a health article and watching a documentary about how regular checkups were important.
If only I knew what I intent was. She was trying to get my health details to see just how much she proposed for my sale.
I became very suspicious when I was led into a white room with one bed and was asked to disrobe. It was an awkward moment but eventually I did and was given a white clothe to cover with. A few minutes later a doctor came in and requested I place but my legs on an extended platform. So there I was in front of this man with my legs spread wide apart. It was the very first time this had ever happened to me and I became very anxious. I was uncertain and sweat began to trickle down my face. My thoughts began to stray into unholiness and I think it he could sense my arousal as he looked up at me, a little judgemental. I apologized and he continued with his work. Eventually he was done and before he left, I asked him what he had just checked for and he simply nodded and said: "virginity."