Unwanted Mate Of The Lycan Kings

~Zirah~

Zeke's brooding quietness fills the car like an oppressive fog, matching my own turmoil. Regan's deeds echo in my mind like a vile melody, the images of the detained citizens forever imprinted on my eyelids and my brain, I know it will haunt me. The wound of my severed bond with him throbs with every beat of my heart.

Anxiety gnaws at me. Not for Regan, not for his doomed reign, but for what's next. What horrors lie ahead in Zeke's kingdom? What sins lurk in his shadows? Of all the brothers I find I worry about the condition of his kingdom most. He never tried to hide the monster he is, instead I've seen it in full force.

The road ahead unwinds like a black ribbon, stretching through the heart of the wilderness. The only sound is the low purr of the car engine, punctuated by the occasional sigh from Zeke. Lost in thought, he absentmindedly pats the head of his pet wolf Hunter.

"Are you upset I rejected him?" I venture, my voice cutting through the thick silence.

Pulled from his thoughts, Zeke shrugs. "I don't know, I think I am numb,” he admits.

Numb. The word hangs in the air, fitting for our shared state of mind. It's as though we're on the precipice, teetering between the known and the unknown, waiting for the inevitable plunge.

I remember my conversation with Zeke's father, his scornful words. "Your father said none of you were worthy of the high kingdom. I understand why he said Regan wasn't. I also understand why he would believe Lyon wasn't. His kingdom doesn't flourish in an economic sense. What about yours?" "We are all slaves to our curse, Zirah," Zeke replies, his gaze focused on the darkness outside. "No matter what, in some way, we can't escape it."

"But Lyon isn't," I counter, remembering the simplicity and peace of Lyon's kingdom

"He is," Zeke insists. "He lives with the guilt. We all do. Only he managed to twist his into something good, but also something miserable. He sacrifices his own wants and luxuries out of a deep desire to redeem himself, yet he also punishes himself for it. His people may be happy, but they're also without.”

"Without what?" I probe, struggling to reconcile his words with my memories of Lyon's kingdom. "For one, they live happily, content in a sense, but much is old-fashioned. They live off the land when they don't need to. They work from sun up to sun down, hard labor. Yes, there is freedom in that, but the children are uneducated. They don't have the required medical needs. All they know is how to harvest, and how to do hands-on work. They wouldn't survive or would struggle to in a normal world."

I mull over his words. On the surface, Lyon's kingdom appeared ideal, a stark contrast to Regan's. But beneath the facade of peace and contentment, a different story unfolds. The world is complex, twisted by the sins and shortcomings of those who rule.

"And your kingdom?" I ask, turning to face Zeke. "What sin is it ruled by?"

"Gluttony," Zeke answers simply. My confusion must show because he adds, "You'll find out soon enough.”

I awake to the sounds of hollering, the limo's abrupt stop jerking me from my restless sleep. Rubbing my eyes, I peer out the window. Zeke is out there in the darkness, talking to a silhouette I can't quite make out. My wolves frolic about, their playful howls echoing through the silent night. Clambering out of the limo, I step into the chilly air, its cool caress waking me further.

Zeke hears the car door and turns to look at me. He shrugs off his jacket, draping it over my shoulders as he approaches. The sudden blast of floodlights forces me to squint, the harsh brightness revealing a quarry of sorts. The moonlight is swallowed by the floodlights that line a worn path down the center of the mine entrance. Behind the floodlights is a chain link fence, barbed wire running along the top. Yet, looking at the mountain, my lips part as the lights reveal it

A monstrous valley of coal and metal stands before me, the ground littered with discarded pieces of metal. From ore carts to broken bits of machinery. The mine's entrance is a yawning black maw, a dark wound in the Earth, a gaping black hole carved into the side of the mountain.

"Zeke?" I whisper, my voice thick with confusion and fear. "What is this place?"

"You asked what sin my kingdom was ruled by. Here's your answer," he gestures toward the mine shafts.

My heart thumps wildly in my chest as I strain to understand. Suddenly, hollering erupts once again, followed by cries, "They're coming!" I whip my head around, my breath hitching as figures begin to emerge from the darkness of the mine. The moans and cries and whimpers of the people echo throughout the mine, sounding more like wounded animals than men, women, and children.

I gasp as recognition hits. It's them. Regan's people, those condemned to die. The surrounding air is thick with despair. My skin tightens and crawls at the ghostly touch of what I witnessed back at Regan's broken kingdom. The dark figures emerge from the mouth of the mine like candle flames in the night. I see their faces, their eyes wide with horror and desperation as they take in the trucks. "You asked what my sin was? It's gluttony. I have the most overpopulated kingdom," Zeke declares. His words hang heavy in the night air, but there's more. A glimmer of something, something akin to redemption. Yet, why does he sound so sad about it?

"You've been saving them?" I gasp, my eyes wide as I take in the sight of the newly freed people. "Depends on how you see it," he replies. "My kingdom is the most luxurious, but we are so overpopulated, the poverty rate is also high. There aren't enough jobs, enough resources. Lyon's kingdom can't house this many people, and I can't take them to my father's kingdom."

"Why not?" I ask him.

"Because if Regan knew his condemned lived, I worry he would start finding other ways to punish them."

I stare around in shock, then at the trucks. "You've been shipping them out, but how?"

"The drones don't enter the mines to check, just force them in. I have someone on the inside, he oversees the mine drops. We placed netting at the bottom of the old tunnels. Every month, my men are waiting at the bottom to lead them here.”

"But you said it yourself, he went out of routine,” I ask. Zeke nods.

"I know; that is where I went before I came back to get you. My men weren't prepared, so I came and met them myself. They've been waiting for the trucks to arrive.”

"So they walked the entire mountain to get to the other side?"

"Straight through it isn't that far. The roads here go around the mountain, not through it; the tunnels aren't safe, not for cargo or transport. They're too narrow, but they're perfect for smuggling people out. Only my trucks had just made a drop to Lyon's kingdom, to trade resources. It's why it took so long to get them here." I watch, amazed, as people are loaded into the trucks, shocked. All these faces I thought I condemned by leaving them behind. Yet all along they were never in danger. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I needed you angry, Regan would expect that. He doesn't know." Zeke tells me. I nod seeing his point, yet I lived with the guilt of not breaking those fences all night, yet I am glad to know they're all alive. "So, where is your kingdom?" I ask, wondering how much further it is. Zeke grips my shoulder, spinning me in the other direction, he points ahead and when I lift my gaze, all I see is lights down in the valley below.

Peering up at him, I smile, relieved he isn't like Regan. "Don’t smile yet. You haven't seen the place.” "I don't think it matters, Zeke. Look at all the people you've saved.”

"But did I save them, or condemn them, Zirah. I don't think you're understanding. I may not be killing people, but I'm also not saving them either, I don't have the resources to house this many people, yet I can't leave them to die either.”

"Gluttony, you can't stop saving them, you can't turn your back on them,” I answer. Zeke nods. "We are restricted to our kingdoms, and these people once there, have no place to go, no homes, no jobs, they're alive, but they aren't living,” he tells me.

"Surely there has to be places they can go?" Zeke shakes his head. "The vampire kingdoms? Where they'll become blood bags, fed on until they die, or Lyon's where they would quickly run out of supplies, not only condemning these people but his own; a place where there is no schooling, no medical. Lyon's people are happy, yes, but they die of things they shouldn't, fevers and diseases that I have vaccines and the resources for. Still, I also don't because I am struggling to supply them to my people and my father's kingdom; Regan runs, only he abides by my father's rule, I can't take them there, or I'd be condemning them all over again," he tells me. I see his predicament, but there are always solutions, we just have to figure them out.

"We'll work it out,” I tell him.

"We will?" he asks, and I smile.

"Yes, we will. Regan has no control anymore, neither does your father, you'll have the resources you need."

"How?"

"By bringing all four kingdoms together," I tell him.

Looking at Zeke, the monster he portrays himself as is merely a facade, he thinks he's done wrong but there is no wrong in choosing to give someone a fighting chance. I realize now his intentions to drive me away at the start were merely that, based on fear. He's no monster at all, he just lets everyone believe he’s the villain, trying to cover up a sin he somehow warped into a virtue. Suddenly everything he has done to me, seems not so bad when I look at the good he's done for these people, even if he doesn't see it. I may not forgive the pain he caused me, but I know I can look past it for the good he did for them.