[Two & a half years ago]
Softly, he took a breath in and exhaled. The mellow sunlight from the wide window reflected upon his eyelids, coating his vision in a world of red-orange hues, and thus, preventing him from going back to sleep. As if on cue, another obstacle to his peaceful slumber had blocked his view of the lush gardens outside that lie beyond the glaring afternoon sunlight.
The so called 'obstacle' crossed arms over her chest.
"Aren't you quite relaxed for someone planning a rebellion?"
From the preceding soft sigh, to the huffed out breath that was much harsher than the first, Laris demonstrated his annoyance at his twin, Letitia Ashraf, for more than a couple things.
"Were my warnings last night nonexistent to you? You want to advance your date with the guillotine?"
Letitia rolled her eyes before she sat at the armchair opposite of Laris.
"If I'm too chicken to talk about such matters with you here, then I shouldn't have supported you with your big plans from the start", she retorted, knowing fully well that she had placed their loyal guards by the door of their study.
"It's better to be safer. If you want to talk to me about such things, just say it through our link."
For years, they had stayed in this country house, isolated from most noble Lycan-kind. Even other human-kinds were driven away by the guards that King Vaughn had placed around them. It wasn't easy roping a few to their side.
Most were afraid of the consequences of rebelling against the terrifying Alpha King but things have gone way smoother when Laris had successfully gained the covert support of one of the three cities.
The Lycan Kingdom used to be divided into three packs; the strongest being Blackshade Pack, followed by Clearwater Pack, and the last being Evergreen Pack. After the merge, three cities born in commemoration of the three packs were made.
It was easy for Laris to gain the support of the Evergreen Pack. Their mother, Lucille, was the daughter of the previous Alpha's pack, who was currently the city's Overlord.
"How's Theo", Laris asked after a while.
Theo was the new member of their camp that recently joined. Laris had a few of their trusted members to monitor the person. Theo was a Healer-kind that had decided to live with his mother when her mother remarried a Lycan guard, but having died of corruption, Theo was left alone in the end, and the Lycan guard already made it clear that he did not owe him anything. The only saving grace was that the guard left the house to Theo as he took to living at the guard's dormitories in the wall instead.
Theo could barely get by with the low quality potions he had managed to study and concoct with his own blood. More times, he wasted his blood with the many experiments he did on himself to test the medicine's efficacy.
He couldn't heal anyone by touch anymore. If he continued to do so, it won't be long until one day, he too could succumb to the corruption in his body caused by absorbing illnesses in order to heal others. Then, he'd have no family or other Healer-kind that could relieve this incurable corruption that only the same Healer-kind can cure.
He was the only Healer-kind left inside the walls of the Lycan Kingdom. To be honest, he had not met any other Healer-kind ever since young, except for his late mother.
There was nothing holding him back now, and yet he was not allowed to cross those tall walls that surrounded the Lycan Kingdom. He needed to escape. He wanted to live by his own decree, and not somebody that wasn't even the same race as him.
And so, Laris chanced upon him and offered him a position in his camp—Laris wanted to create a pack of his own, but packs needed to be registered in any of the tree cites before they are made and acknowledged in the Lycan Kingdom.
Once a pack is formed, each pack member is mentally linked to each other by the ritual they make, and this pack's link is connected to the mental link of the whole Lycan Kingdom. Sort of like how a router of a local network connects to the internet, the Alpha of that pack is responsible for maintaining that link. Compared to Omegas and Betas, only the Alphas are strong enough and deemed capable of such, and the Alpha King Vaughn stands high above the others in maintaining and supporting the whole kingdom's link. You could say that he was groomed for it.
Even if by some miracle, Laris and Letitia may be allowed to create a pack by some miracle, both of them would not be allowed to be Alpha of that pack, though their blood and mentality are superior to most. Half-lycans weren't permitted to be Alpha as they didn't live as long as the purebred.
The twins felt a bit suffocated by the tight grip King Vaughn has upon their necks for years, yet here they are, thriving where King Vaughn's eyes cannot see; where his mind link cannot reach.
The more he focuses on squeezing our necks, the more oblivious he is to how far our shadows stretch, Laris said to himself.
Letitia gazed at her brother, who had a faraway look in his eyes.
It wasn't easy to trick the Alpha King into letting them inside the Lycan Kingdom once more. Their mother, Lucille Ashraf, had paid such a heavy price just to make sure that they escape this wretched place, and yet, here they are once again.
Wouldn't anyone with half a brain be frustrated to death by this?
But guessing by the tight supervision that the Alpha King had upon them, Letitia knew that he was suspicious.
Lucille had died trying to get them out and into her lover's arms of safety. Yet, here they after a few years of Lucille's escape. A hunting pack caught them by a cottage in the woods; no sign of an adult in the house, just two kids with empty, dull eyes, and the corpse of their mother lying on the bed.
Of course, it could have been that the twins never got the chance to meet their father. Perhaps the father was only amusing himself with Lucille?
King Vaughn could have laughed it off, but what if it wasn't? What if it was intentionally done to make it look like they have been caught? The Alpha King's cautious nature was taught first-hand by his closest confidant and the death of the previous King made him wary of choosing the wrong decision. He knew that only through strong power could he silence all threats, that way he'd never take his father's path and die foolishly like him.
Can't blame the Alpha King for being vigilant, but it's not like he can disregard what we have to offer either, Letitia thought.
『 Let's go for a visit, shall we? 』
Laris had stood up from his chair, and talked to his twin through their minds, something that was only possible between them, as they were twins born of the blood of a Lycan mother and an unknown intelligent father. They don't require a ritual to be mentally connected—it was already an inborn prowess. If they were an ordinary pack-less Lycan, they would be isolated and unable to connect mentally unless they join the guards.
『 To where? 』
『 Anywhere. 』Letitia heard Laris sigh. 『 I want to make the most of the time we have left before we go back to that wretched palace. 』
The sister hummed in agreement.