Chapter Two: Hungry Like the Wolf

Luka began to follow the scent of his mate. He was unfamiliar with the streets of New York City. The city made him anxious and he hated all the smells. He and a few of his clan were here on a business trip. Before he'd found his mate, he'd wanted nothing more than to return to the Scottish Highlands as soon as possible. Most Lykaes detested the city in favor of the countryside and mountain ranges. There they were free to run on the full moon without risk of exposure. But, it looked like things had changed, and he'd be here for awhile longer.

Kira realized it was almost 4AM, and paid her tab before heading home. This part of town was mostly deserted, so she would have to walk the 4 blocks home. Kira shivered as the temperature dropped and it started raining. She was used to the hot humid nights of New Orleans, where you could hear jazz performers playing in the Quarter, and everyone was dressed in barely there clothes. She missed home more than she thought she would. The House of Witches lived in a manor called Andover. To human eyes it looked like a normal 3 story home with a white picket fence, but to those who could look past the glamor it was anything but. It was slightly run down, but it had been her home ever since her mother's death 500 years ago. There were snakes and toads littering the front yard, big trees and an iron fence that encased the entire property. She missed all the other Witches that lived there and she missed movie night at Val Hall, where the Valkyrie coven lived. Valkyries didn't eat, so mostly they threw popcorn at anyone who got in front of the TV. Kira's thoughts of home were interrupted by a feeling of Deja Vu, The ally she was about to turn on was the same one from her premonition.

 It happened exactly as it did in her premonition. She heard a noise, turned around, and there he was. Blood red eyes starred at her with intense hungry. A half crazed smile tugged at his lips. He started towards her, and she braced herself. No way was she going down without a fight.

Luka stopped dead in his tracks when the smell of blood and death hit him. A vampire was somewhere close....and so was his mate. The beast inside of him was clawing to get free, and he let it.

Trying to concentrate on conjuring a sword while there was a vampire about to rip into your throat was more than Kira could handle.  She wasn't very skilled in combat, but having a pointy object would help her in this situation. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw another man seem to appear out of no where. If a man was what you could call him. He was more beast than anything. Huge fangs protruded from his mouth and long black claws shot out of his fingertips. A Lykae, she thought. She'd only seen one or two before, but she was sure that was what this new creature was. The vampire was too consumed by his blood craze to notice the huge claw-tipped hand rise next his head. In one swift motion that her eyes could barely follow, the Lykae struck out and completely removed the vampire's head from the rest of his body. As it flew, it slung blood all over her and landed about 50 feet away. It took everything she had not to throw up right there. She wasn't used to the horror or gore of battle, and had only seen something like this once. Mostly, Witches were only concerned with trading in their spells for money, not the glory of fighting on a battlefield.

Luka tried to rein in the beast, but it was no use. It wasn't satisfied with the single vampire, it needed more bloodshed. The man in him knew his mate was terrified of him, and he didn't blame her.

KIra stood, shell-shocked, and starred at the Lykae in front of her. Blood dripped from this face and his hands. His eyes was ice blue, but it was what she saw in them that made her fear triple. Hunger. Not the same as the vampire's, this was sexual hunger. Oh, Hekate. What have I gotten myself into now?


The Lykae took a step towards her and she froze in terror. "I'm no' gonna hurt you." he said in a thick Scottish accent. 

"Please, I appreciate the help in taking down the vampire. I don't know what it is you want from me, bu..."

"Help?" he interrupted and gave her what could only be described as a wolfy grin.

"Ok, fine. YOU took out the vampire, but that doesn't mean I owe you anything. I didn't ask you to do that."

"I doona remember asking for anything." he replied.

"Look, it doesn't matter. I just want to go home and shower to wash all the blood off."

"I'll walk you home." "No, that won't be necessary." she told him as she backed away from him slowly. She didn't want to risk running away. For all she knew he got off on the chase.

"I doona remember asking if I could do that either." he bit out. The Instinct inside Luka was trying to take him over.  If he didn't get away from her soon, he'd have her pinned on the asphalt while he ripped off her dress. But he didn't want her to walk home alone, so he tried to appease his beast by learning something about her. "What's your name, Lass?"

"Kira." she answered, annoyed that she was caked in blood and the Lykae didn't seem to want to leave her alone. But she wasn't stupid. As long as she could at least play nice, it was possible that she wouldn't end up as a pile of shredded meat on the ground.

 "Luka" he said without her asking.

As they started towards her apartment building, she silently surveyed him as they walked along the sidewalk. Now that his face had returned to normal, she couldn't lie to herself. She found him attractive. He wasn't classically handsome though. He had a roughness about him. He was surprisingly graceful as he walked and she could see the bulge of each muscle through his shirt. His eyes were what caught her attention though. They were a beautiful golden color, almost unnaturally so. I really need to get laid soon before my standards drop lower than they already are. she thought as they walked up the stairs to her apartment complex. Wait a second... "How did you know where I lived?" she asked him suspiciously.

"Your scent." he replied as if that was a good enough reason as any. He didn't want to let her go, but knew she had been through a lot tonight. The Lykae Clan reveled in food, touch, and sex. And if he didn't leave soon, he would satisfy at least two of those needs.

Kira was about to walk through the door, but stopped herself. Something didn't add up to her. "Why did you save me from the vampire? Why is that you seem to care about someone who is not of your kind?" she asked.

He didn't know what else to tell her besides the truth. "Because you're mine." he simply answered.

"Yours? Your what? I'm not a piece of land, you can't just own me." she said agitated at him, despite the fact that she wanted to dig her nails into his pectoral muscles.

"My mate. Lykae's smell out their mates and you're mine." He said proudly.

Well she didn't mind being the one to burst his bubble. "I don't know you, you don't know me. I am not yours. You don't own me and you never will. Obviously you're wrong, because you and I aren't going to work out." She said, annoyed that he thought she belonged to him.

"I canna change what you are to me, Lass, no one can."  He said and simply turned and walked away. Kira stood in the door, shocked at the way tonight had turned out.



Kira walked up the stairs, unlocked her door, and headed straight for the bathroom. She stripped off her clothes and got in the shower. She scrubbed the blood off and let the hot water fall on her body. She thought back to her first memory of a Lykae. Her and a few other witches were at a Lore bar hanging out with a few Dream Demons. One of the Demons hit on a pretty blonde girl sitting at the bar, not knowing she was mated to a Lykae. The demon had laid his hand on her upper thigh, and then a roar so deafening shook the entire bar. Kira had never heard anything like it. By the time that Lykae was finished with the Demon, they had to scrap some of him off the ceiling. Violence was extremely common in the Lore, but they didn't mean Kira was used to it. She admitted to herself that she'd been a little more protected then most. When her mother died, she was raised by the older witches at Andover. It had been awhile since any children had grown up there, so they coddled and shielded her from the world. The Valkyries had broken through that shield a little, but nothing prepared her for the carnage a Lykae could accomplish, and apparently one of them thought he was mated to her. Kira got out of the shower, dried off, and put on an old night shirt. I need a drink...or seven. she thought as she headed to her newly conjured bar.









 Kira grabbed the bottle of demon brew she'd brought with her from New Orleans and poured some in a glass. She started to take small sips, but the more she thought about her predicament, the faster she started drinking. By her fifth glass she was feeling warm and dizzy. She knew the drinking wouldn't help solve anything, but it made her feel better, because she still couldn't get the last thing Luka had said out of her head, "I canna change what you are to me, Lass, no one can." No one? she thought. We'll see about that. 

A mile or so away, Luka was quiet since he'd returned, covered in blood, but no one said anything. After he showered, he sat around the fire with some of the members of the Lykae Clan. "Are you gonna tell us what happened?" Darius asked as he sat on the floor.

"I doona want to talk about it." Luka growled.

"I've known you for over 300 years, Luka. You have never been this quiet and all to yourself. What's going on?" Darius persisted.

Luka decided to break down and tell them. "I found my mate"

After some congratulations and even a few looks of envy, Darius said, "So what's the problem. Is she no' what you expected?"

"No. She's....Other." Luka replied.

Everyone hushed at once. This time Leland spoke up beside him. "You need to be cautious, Luka. My cousin's mate was Other. He wasn't able to mark her before the full moon. When the beast surfaced, it wanted it's mate."

"What happened?" Luka asked.

"He chased her through the forest and she ended up falling off a cliff. A rock ledge decapitated her as she fell. It was a freak accident. The beast in him completely took over and he was crazed with sorrow and pain. He went on a murderous rampage before someone could put him out of his misery." Leland answered sadly.

That was one of the Lykae's biggest fear. The beast taking over completely, and the sure way for that to happen the the death of a mate. They only got one, and if he or she died the beast, nor the man could handle it. "I canna let that happen." Luka said, hoping that wasn't what his fate would be.

"You need to mark her before the next full moon, Luka, or else you may no' make it to the next one." Leland cautioned.

Kira woke up the next morning. After dressing in a sweater to fight the chill in the air, she called her coven in New Orleans.

"Hello. You've reached the House of Witches for all your witchy needs. If you're sexy, you may get a discount. Tell me what you're wearing." someone on the line purred.

"Arabella?" Kira asked.

"Oh. Hi, Kira. Have you eaten the worm out of the apple, or however that human saying goes about New York City?" Arabella asked.

"Umm, no. Listen, I've run into a little problem. I need to know how to get rid of a Lykae. He seems to think I'm his mate."

Arabella busted out laughing. "Hey, you guys. Kira got herself a Lykae lap dog." she heard Arabella tell the rest of the coven. After a few outbursts of laughter and whooping, she heard someone else say, "Has he tried to hump her leg yet? If so, did she like it? That remark was followed by another burst of laughter.

"I'm serious, dammit." Kira said annoyingly at the phone. She couldn't blame them. She would have done the same thing if it hadn't been her.

"Kira, I don't know. Did you try hitting him on the nose with a rolled up newspaper? I hear dogs don't like that." Arabella replied.

"Is there no one else there who I can talk to?" Kira asked, growing impatient with her friend.

"Ok, fine. If he thinks you are his mate, then there is only one thing you can do."

"What's that?" Kira asked.

"Kill him." Arabella stated. "You're his mate, Kira. He will never let you go, and I suggest you do it before the next full moon or shit will get real."

"You can't be serious? Kill him? How the fuck am I supposed to do that, heal him to death? I have no defensive power."

"Hekate, Kira! I can't come up with everything, but I do have some advice. If he comes over, you may want to put down some newspapers or something so he doesn't mess up your floors." Arabella joked.

"Oh yes, you're so hilarious." Kira said sarcastically.

"Well, listen this was fun, and I hope you fix your pet problem, but Helenia just came over with the karaoke machine, and if I don't go the Valkyries will hog it. Kisses!" Arabella said and hung up on her.

Kira sat down at the small wooden table in the kitchen. She felt worse now than she did before the unhelpful phone call. Kill him? I can't kill him. One, I don't have the power to do that, and two, he did save my life. There has got to be another way around this mating thing. I'm not ready to settle down, and even if I was it could never be with a Lykae. I'd never hear the end of it. Kira's thoughts were interrupted by a knock at her door.

Kira got up and answered the door. "YOU!" she exclaimed when she saw Luka standing on the other side. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"You know why. Look, can I just come in so we can talk."  he asked.

"Fine. Just keep your claws to yourself."

"I would never hurt you, Lass." he said, hurt that she would think that.

"That's not what I was talking about."

"Oh, well that I canna promise." he said with a smile. Kira started to shut the door in his face. "Wait, I'm sorry. I'll behave."

Kira sat down on the couch and he followed. "Alright. Talk." she said as she folded her arms against her chest.

"I know you doona understand how our mating process works, so I'll try to explain it to you. Each Lykae has one mate. One is all you get. If something happens to them, our beast takes over and we go insane until someone puts us out of our misery. Each full moon, our beast comes out and we canna control it. If we have found our mate and they haven't been marked by then, things could get....bad for you."

"How bad? And what do you mean marked?" she asked, taking in the information.

 "Like, me chasing you through the city, ripping your clothes off and fucking you in the dirt like an animal." he shamefully replied, but not able to hide the hunger in his eyes.

In her head she could picture what he'd said. Hekate, that sounds hot! Hmmm, he smells good. Like earth, trees and rain. WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING TO ME!? I need to remember he won't be the sexy man that's sitting next to me. With his rippling muscles and unnaturally golden eyes and...STOP! He'll be the crazed beast from last night, with saliva dripping from his fangs and.... "Marking is when a Lykae sinks their teeth into their mate's neck. It marks their skin so other Lykaes know they are off limits unless they want to fight to the death."  Ok I'm definitely over it now. She thought, after he told her that last bit of information.

"You expect me to let you bite on my neck like I'm your fucking chew toy?" she asked disgusted.

"It's no' like that. It's the Instinct. I canna control it any more then you could stop your magic. It's who I am." He replied, defending himself.

"How did you know I had magic?" she asked surprised.

"I can smell it in the air. What are you? Witch? Sorceress?" he asked.

"Witch." she answered. Suddenly, Kira began getting dizzy as the future tried to pull her in. She grabbed the edge of couch cushion and let the vision flow through her. She learned early on to never fight them, unless she wanted her brain to feel like someone was hacking at it.

"Kira!" she heard Luka yell as her body slumped forward, and her mind went some where else.

"I think we should talk about having bairns." Luka said.

"Children?" Kira asked as she propped herself up on his chest.

"Yes." he answered as he looked at the mark on her neck. It had been decades since they'd been mated, and he was ready to add to their little family. "Is that no' what you want?" he asked.

"Of course it is, Luka.  I'm just worried about bringing a child in the world during the Accession. I'm grateful that we have the Lykae Clan allying with us and the Valkyries, but I don't know if it will be enough against the rest of the Lore. My mother was killed during the last Accession, I don't want my child to grow up without their mother or their father." she answered truthfully.

"You doona think I can protect you and any bairns we might have?" Luka asked, his pride a little hurt.

"It's not you that I'm worried about, Luka. It's me. We are physically the weakest in the Lore. If you aren't there and I get attacked, I have nothing to fight back with. A fallen Vampire, Fire Demon or any other number of Loreans could kill us in about 20 seconds flat." she confessed.

"Lass, have I ever left you unprotected? No, I haven't, and I never would. You canna worry about things that could never happen."

Kira thought about what he'd said. Nothing could over power him, and it was true that he'd never left her once in the 30 years they'd been together for more than a day or two, and even then he had one of the clan watch out for her from a distance. It drove him nuts, which she enjoyed, but that was also the last time she would ever joke to him that she and his friend were making goo-goo eyes at each other. That didn't end well for his friend and she wondered if that guy's arm finally grew back. She only did it to prove a point. She didn't need a babysitter, and she was furious when she found out he'd gotten someone to watch her, but that was before her child could be in danger, and not just her. It was true that he always made her feel safe, and she knew their son or daughter would get the same treatment. "Ok, fine. When do you want to start this?" she asked.

"How about right now?" he growled, as his eyes flashed ice blue and he pinned her beneath him.

When Kira came out of the premonition, she was gasping for air. "What happened to you? Are you ok?" a frantic Luka asked. 

Kira stood up and tried to walk off the slight headache she had from the vision. "No! Don't come any closer." she said as she threw her hand up protectively. She was angry with him. She wasn't ready for any of that and she felt like he was trying to push it on her. "I can't do this with you right now." It was easier to be angry with him then to admit to herself how that premonition really made her feel. She needed to fuss at him about something, anything. "You had someone watch me like I was a prisoner! Like I couldn't even take care of myself!"

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?!" he exclaimed. "I doona understand what happened!"

She felt a twinge of guilt at the look on his face. He looked confused and tired, like he had the entire world on his shoulders. "Just please, go. I need some time to sort things out. I know you don't understand why I can't just go along with your mating thing, but I can't. I don't love you and you don't love me. Do  you?"

"No, I doona love you. That's no' something that usually matters. We mate because the Instinct tells us to." he admitted.

"I don't have that, Luka. I don't have something inside of me, telling me you're the one. How can you ask me to be with you when neither one of us loves each other? For the rest of my life? We're immortal, it could literally be forever." she said, trying to get him to understand.

Luka thought for a minute. It was true he didn't love her, but he knew he could. That's how it worked. The Instinct worked by finding your ideal mate, someone each Lykae could love and spend the rest of their life with. He knew that, but she couldn't accept that one day he would love her. Then again, she was Other. She might never come to love him back. He had less than 20 days before the next full moon. If he was going to do this, he'd have to do it fast. "Let's get to know each other then, spend some time together." he offered.

"What happens when the full moon comes?" she asked.

"I'll control the beast until you're ready." he lied, hoping it wouldn't come to him chasing after her in the city.

"Alright, fine. I'll spend some time with you, but no more mate talk. Ok?" she asked.

"Aye." he agreed.

After Luka finally left, Kira rubbed her temples with her fingers, trying to get the raging headache to stop. Premonitions sometimes caused them, but she hadn't had one this bad in awhile. She couldn't believe she agreed to give him a chance, especially since she was contemplating killing him this morning. But, not only could she not kill him, she didn't really want to anyway. There was something about him that seemed to call to her. Witches didn't have destined mates, but there was something about him that she couldn't shake. She replayed the premonition in her mind, letting everything really sink in. She felt completely safe with him, which was a first for her. She learned at a young age that there was no safe place in the Lore. Her mother was one of the most powerful witches in the world, and the only one to belong to all 5 castes and she had still died from a careless mistake, but Luka had seemed to erase the last 500 years of her experience, and gave her the comfort of feeling safe in her premonition. She wasn't sure what she was going to do about him, but she would keep their agreement and give them a chance. Her vision had given her a glimpse into the future, but that future wasn't set in stone. It was however, messing with her head. She always felt like she was there in her premonitions, in her future body. She'd felt his soft skin under her hands, saw the hurt in his eyes when she questioned having children and felt the excitement when those eyes flashed from golden to ice blue when he pinned her down, because she'd known what was coming. She needed to try and forget her vision, because she needed to think with a clear head. It was hard to do that when Luka's naked body sprawled out on the bed kept flashing through her mind though....


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NOTES:

Whew! This was a long chapter by my standards, so I hope you guys enjoyed it. I had a hard time trying to end it, but hopefully that didn't show. I wrote this in between reading other legacy stories, so there may be a bit of a flow issue. I just know everyone liked my sweet, awesome Photoshop skills though. Haha. This chapter had a lot of information and I hope everyone understood everything. If not, just ask! This generation really had nothing to hide, but for my future generations, I will be hiding the marital structure and number of children, because I have plans for those who are supposed to be single. *evil laugh* I also noticed that since everyone is supposed to be immortal, I'm going to have to time jump around in my story. I don't need to get too carried away, because before I know it we will be in the year 5000, and that's not where I'm going with this. I hope Luka's accent was done halfway decent. Obviously, I'm not Scottish, so I struggled with that a bit. However, if there is anyone who is familiar with it, I'd appreciate any help you could give. Thank you guys for reading and leaving comments. I always love reading everyone's comments, and I appreciate it when you guys take the time to leave them. Seriously, you guys are amazing. Thanks again!