**Myra**
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Every 10 years a great trial was held at the Bloodmoon pack, a contest in which warriors from all packs gathered for a chance to be in the King's Army. One of the greatest chances for all werewolves. Once a decade, even Rogues could join the trial. Once a decade, she-wolves were finally able to show off their skills!
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There was nothing she wanted more!
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Her father was one of the strongest Gammas, sheer brute force was his gift. Her mother, well, she had been a most gifted fire user. They had been taken from her too early, but she had never forgotten them, nor had she forgotten the ones which laid waste to her pack. Vampires.
Goddess only knows how she managed to survive. She could still remember that dreadful night. The screams of her pack. The nightmares didn't allow her to forget. Nor did she want to forget a single second of it. Every day she woke up was an opportunity to prepare, get stronger, faster, able to take down her enemy.
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She was 8 then, 21 now. Finally, the time has come! She was more than ready! With her backpack thrown over her shoulder, Myra stepped out of the small makeshift cottage deep inside the woods. Saying one last goodbye to the place that has been her home in the past 2 years, she walked away.
This was it! She could feel it in her bones. Her wolf felt it too. That foreboding feeling of fate acting right here, right now with each step she made! Grinning, Myra no longer cared of the distance, the 3 months she had to cross through the wilderness by foot, or by wolf. This would be the beginning of her life!
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**Rhage**
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His life has been a never-ending trail of fake smiles and pleasentries. Court life tended to be like this. He couldn't wait to get out and do some hunting. Be it rogues or vampires, he didn't care, nor discriminate. Maybe that's why he spent about 4 months on his last "hunting trip".
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Getting back home with the party he went out, Rhage was met with the most dreadful of news one could ever face. His father, the Alpha King was on his death bed. He was barely 250 years old! Kings lived up to three centuries! He was still young, strong! How was this even possible?!
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Rhage rushed to his father's bed chambers and found his poor mother crying silently as she held his father's hand, kneeling next to the bed. Air went out of his lungs. The stench of death clung in every corner of the room.
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"Son..." the once strong and demanding tone was now but a mere fading whisper, a shadow... His hand twitched near him on the bed as if to point out his father beckoned him closer.
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Rhage's heart squeezed, but he went forward, his feet led him there. This couldn't happen! It wasn't true! That man couldn't be his father! He looked so... so... weak! His cheeks mere hallows, his skin tone so ashened...
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"How was your hunt?" his father asked as he saw his mother turn her head to the side, she wiped away her tears before turning to face him. The agony was clear in her eyes, but her face now showed that motherly tranquility, that silent and caring strength any Luna worth her salt should have.
"Successful..." Rhage answered, dreading and hating himself for missing the last months of his father's life. Even his wolf told him, as gently as he could that his father won't make it through the night.
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"Good, good..." his father answered with a small smile before he grimaced, probably from the pain of whatever ailed him. "Rhage, my boy, I need you to listen to me now. I don't have much longer. I need you to promise me..." the bolt of pain shot through him as he groaned through gritted teeth.
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"Anything you wish!" both Rhage and his wolf agreed on that. Anything for his father. Anything it was...
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"You need to find your Mate..." his father went on.
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Anything... But that! Don't get him wrong, he was not against the Mate bond, not against mates, but... The last thing he wanted or needed was to be tied down by some godly force! Maybe that woman wouldn't know the first thing about ruling! Or worse... That girl.
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Rhage was almost 40, still young for a werewolf, younger still for a Lycan like him. Lycans could live up to half a millennia. Why the hell would he want a mate now?! Only to lose her 3 centuries later if he was lucky??! It was mental!
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“Listen, Rhage, a King would only be strong once he finds his Luna. You will soon become the Bloodmoon Alpha. Our pack must endure. We must be strong and you must rule.
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"When the council gathers, you will need to agree to the ritual, as all our forefathers had." there was concern in his father's eyes, probably guessing the anger boiling in him. He wasn't named Rhage for nothing... His anger was his gift, one of the many. It was the name the Moon Goddess, Moira, gave to him. It was the name of his wolf, of his Lycan...
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"I know how you feel about it, son, but you must trust the goddess knows best. She has made the bond for you, as she had made it for all of us." his father insisted.
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"Just as she is taking you from us." Rhage couldn't keep that snide comment to himself.
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"Boy, I did not raise you to be impertinent!" his father boomed, then coughed, but for a moment there he was the Alpha Rhage would always admire most!
Rhage bit down, seeing even his mother disapprove.
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"Once you complete your coronation you will be faced with the goddess..." his father begun...
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Didn't he knew it... He was faced with the goddess even when he would do just about anything to be out of her "graces". Truth be told, she didn't like him much and he enjoyed a leash even less.
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"If it's your father, I will agree to the ritual... And the coronation." something Rhage added only to have his father strain less... He could see the pain, the agony, the struggle he had to put. He would deal with the goddess later.
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"Don't you dare make ruckus with the goddess! This is my time, son! Everyone must die at one point or another." his father must've developed telepathy in the past months...
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Well, everyone must die, but must it be his father, must it be now? Was he even ready to say goodbye to his father? Was it fair towards his mother? She loved him with all her being and now her half was...
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"Father..." Rhage wanted to ask if he would be a good King, if he was ready... But all he could muster now wasa lump in his neck.
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"Don't fret, my dear boy, there's a time for childish things and a time to mature. Your mother would be here with you, for as long as you and the pack may need her.
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"Mourn, but let the people celebrate your reign. And remember, a king serves the people. You are now the father of our race and they your pups." his father said "Now, please, allow me these last hours with my mate."
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"As you wish." Rhage bowed his head to his father and leaned in, kissing his mother's head. He wished he could share his strength with her, his health with his father, but these were things he couldn't do...
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His mother nearly broke in tears, sobbing, his father cooing her, whispering sweet words of encouragement as Rhage left the room, closing the door as he looked at the guard.
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"Let me know when it's done. Do not delay, do not inform anyone else, just me. Understood?“ he wasn't asking, he was commanding and all the people knew his temper, his personality all too well. None of them dared to look him in the eye or deny him anything. The man bowed his head, holding the spear, the grim expression remaining long after the prince who would be King come dawn has departed.
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"The King has died! Long live the King!“ the howl came in the throne room bouncing off the walls as the crown laid heavy and cold on Rhage's head. His heart broken, a piece forever missing as he was once again reminded of the difference between him... and them. Life span. Mortality. How many of them would be attending his funeral? How many would he have to bury?
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His father wanted a Luna, his mother wanted a mate for her son, the people needed a Queen and the council demanded one. His childhood ended. The King must now reign. And a man keeps his given word, only a child whines in protest. He would be the King his father groomed. He would honor his memory by furthering the legacy!
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Standing tall, Rhage took it all. Fate had a twisted way of turning things around.
