In other words, this rational (most of the time), articulate lykanthrope narrator before you is an evolved version of my ancestors.
Because of the vengeance taken upon Hades for his kidnapping of her daughter Persephone, the goddess Demeter changed the course of the vampyres, blessing them with fertility and diluting their undead souls with the light of humanity, until eventually adhering to the laws of the Daylight Coven, they withheld from killing humans.
The last century saw the calm before the storm. The Midnight Coven had dissipated into a mist, a near invisible layer of destruction that touched those who did not seek it. We Daylights waited with bated breath, aware that our enemy had retired a fearsome, aggressive strategy. The Midnight Coven had become wary of the war spilling over into the human world and instead embraced a far more threatening silence.
But then the attacks started.
The subtle desolation of individual supernaturals: communities of vampyres and packs of lykans, packs like mine, who wanted nothing to do with the war and had lived in relative peace until that point.
Other than the faeries who shared their beliefs, only the daemons—the beasts created from Midnights’ own magik—are allied with the Midnight Coven. The Daylight Coven, with her allies of faeries, lykans, and vampyres, could only hope to act fast enough to discover the target of the next Midnight attack in order to prepare the target for war.
Some supernaturals escaped disaster.
Others slipped through the cracks, targeted without warning, without preparation.
That’s how the war stood.
Unbeknownst to me at the time, Gaia, already weary of being called down upon both sides, had set in motion her plan for the war’s end many generations before.
My pack, Pack Errante—untouched by the war, unpolluted by the world—was pulled into this chaos. My name is Lucien Líder. I am Alpha of Pack Errante, and our story begins in 2010.
We were going about our business, living in the world of humans, keeping our secret. Little did we know that from the heart of us would spring the culmination of all Gaia’s designs.
1
Hidden
Caia recognized his ruddy face and chocolate eyes from long-ago memories, memories that poked and prodded her heart and set it racing, her ears burning hot with the sudden onslaught of blood rushing to them.
Life was going to be very different from now on.
His dark eyes settled on her only companion these last eleven years, Irini, and shifted from soft concern to steely determination.
“It’s finally safe for you to return her, Irini.” His gaze flickered to Caia, as if trying to gauge a reaction. He would get none.
Irini sagged down into the sofa beside her. “Dimitri, please promise this is for real.”
He smiled. “I know you have lived alone for a long time but it’s finally time to come home.”
“What happened?” Irini asked in disbelief.
Dimitri managed to fold his huge, muscular body into the small armchair before them. He looked to be in his forties, but Caia knew he must be much older than that. He was an Elder, after all.
“Five years ago Lucien returned to reclaim the pack.”
Caia’s attention bounced between the two lykans. She’d been seven when she was removed from the pack, but she still remembered Lucien, a young, headstrong male. Irini had told her he’d fallen out with his family and then ran from the pack at seventeen. A year later, Lucien’s father, Albus, Pack Leader, had been killed by the Hunter.
Irini looked shocked at this news. “And the pack welcomed him with open arms?”
“After Albus’s death, no one else tried to track the Hunter. Everyone was far too caught up in who was going to be Pack Leader, what with Lucien being AWOL. While you were stuck in this goddess-forsaken place under Marion’s protection, we were trying to reassemble our lives. Then Lucien returned. He didn’t give us much explanation … but he told us what he had been up to.” Dimitri seemed to pause for dramatic effect. “He killed the Hunter, Irini.”
They both looked at Caia. She was puzzled by their guarded expressions. Shouldn’t they be happy? The Hunter had killed her father and mother and had wanted to murder her as well. If it hadn’t been for Irini taking her into isolation, the Hunter would have killed her. As it was, Albus, a beloved leader, was gone because of his determination to see her and Irini returned to the pack. Caia’s father had been Albus’s greatest friend.
“I suppose that gained him his rightful place?” Irini sneered.
Dimitri shook his head. “No. Magnus and I were willing to see him take up the mantle of Pack Leader—”
“How could you after—”
His hand came up, shushing her accusation. “Irini, he is extraordinary. Everything his father was and more. He just needed time.”
“Time?”
“Time. Of course, there were others, some younger males who felt the need to challenge him. We felt it only right that those who challenged him were truly willing to risk everything for the mantle …”