"What did he even meet your parents for?" a young woman asked Lucas, whose head was resting on her lap. Her name was Ashley – the niece of Augustus they were fighting about last night.
They were at Lucas's place – he lived alone in an apartment in the early 20th-century building on one of the quieter streets close to the downtown. Most werewolves, especially the ones born with the curse, lived in magical communities in areas hidden from non-magical humans. Vampires and spellcasters lived there as well, and a few of those communities that started from a small district of a town grew into their own settlements. This was the case with Lakewood which now had a population of forty thousand.
"There was the Winter Spirit celebration at the beginning of January, a month before I became an alpha," Lucas replied. "I remember you attending, you wore a flowing emerald dress that suited you great…"
"Oh, you do remember it," she giggled.
"I do, it went nicely with that necklace with black stones…"
"Black opals, that's my grandma's," Ashley smiled and started caressing his hair.
"Yeah, anyway. Most people had their family members there, so I also brought a hoax. I thought it might help me get in contact with high ranks if I showed that I'm not some kind of an outcast with no roots."
"Seems to have worked since you're the pack leader now."
"I wouldn't think so – it's more the fact that I shattered the previous alpha's jawbone."
"You're really strong," Ashley put her free hand on Lucas's shoulder and felt the muscles.
"Are you flirting with me?"
"Does it work at least a bit?"
"Honestly, it was my initial intension…"
"But?"
'But I'm your uncle's fated mate and you have no clue,' Lucas thought, sitting up, before replying. "It might be complicated with Augustus. You know, as the pack leader, I should be considerate of other alphas. At least sometimes."
"I won't tell him anything."
"Then, I might consider the options," he said in an airy voice and came closer to her face. His hand touched her cheek softly and they both leaned for a kiss.
The moment their lips met, he felt a sharp pain on his forearm as if something cut him.
"Ouch," Lucas moved away and saw a small cut that started bleeding.
"I'm so sorry," Ashley got a little startled and took his arm in her hands. "Must be my earring or something."
"Don't worry, I won't die from a tiny scratch," Lucas smirked and took his hand away. Ashley took off her earrings that indeed had a sharp edge. He then softly turned her chin to face him and kissed her again.
Lucas felt a painful sensation once more. "Could her earrings have a silver coat? Seems to heal poorly," he thought without bothering to check this time.
They kept on despite slight burning from a cut on his skin, one of his hands on her neck and another a bit higher above the knee. A few moments later, Ashley already sat on his lap with knees on each side of him. He wrapped his hands around her waist, and she slid one of them lower.
A second later the pain turned from mild tingling to a stinging jab, and Lucas could not ignore it any longer. They stopped and he looked up at his forearm.
"What happened? Why is it still bleeding?"
Ashley was just as confused and she sounded really distressed. Normally, a cut like that would be healed in a matter of seconds. However, this one only seemed to become deeper.
"Is there a chance there was a silver coat or… wolfsbane on your earring?"
"What? Of course not, how would I be able to wear it? What if it isn't from the earring?"
"What is it from then? You have truly magical hair, but I doubt it's from that either."
"You find any excuse to try and flirt, huh? Wait…"
Ashley's face suddenly went wary. She stood up and looked Lucas up from head to toe.
"Last night, was the ritual successful?"
"Why does it matter?"
"Oh, for fuck's sake, why are all young and handsome men mated already?"
Ashley seemed more disappointed by the fact that Lucas was "taken" by his unfortunate fate rather than the fact that he didn't tell her about it, which he saw as a good sign.
"So what if I'm mated? We don't like each other anyway."
"You don't? That makes it better," she breathed out in relief and pointed at his forearm a moment later. "But that might be an issue."
"Yeah, I see. What is it though, some kind of divine punishment for not following my destiny?"
"Kind of. These are so-called 'unfaithful marks'. If you cheat on your mate, whether you accepted each other or not, you'll get a permanent cut. It will heal up but leave a scar."
"Oh well, they say scars make men more attractive," Lucas smirked. The cut was no longer bleeding and seemed to mostly seal up. "Do I just get a new one every time for the rest of one of our lives?"
"Basically," Ashley shrugged and nodded. "Luckily for you, I was a typical teenage girl with stereotypical teenage girl's interests not so long ago. There is a way to reverse it, I just don't know if it actually works."
"I am willing to try anything."
"Then you'll have to find an astral witch or wizard, wait until the new moon, and put the spell on someone else."
"By 'put the spell on someone else' you mean switching up the mates? Can't I get rid of it in general?"
"I don't know. Probably? To be honest, I read about this one in a magazine for teenagers when I was like 16. Maybe you should look for an astral spellcaster first and ask them."
While mainly residing in magic settlements, werewolves, vampires, and spellcasters were free to travel outside of their communities and even leave them for good and interact with humans as long as it did not endanger their secrecy. The magic communities adopted many human inventions – including social media, the radio, and teenage magazines with various fashion and love advices of course.
"That makes sense," Lucas nodded and took a look at his arm once more. "Yep, it leaves a nice, ugly scar."
***
The next morning, Lucas woke up in a bed that wasn't his. It wasn't Ashley's either – she was a dark blonde and the sleeping woman was a brunette.
"Well, at least I found an astral witch," he muttered, checking out the new scar on his forearm that was significantly bigger than the first one.
"Astral witch? Oh, honey, I am an aerial witch," she turned around to face him, giggling sleepily. "You'd have to be more than just hot to find one to toy around with fate."
Lucas was a little upset that he made such an obvious mistake and blamed it all on that last shot at the bar he had with a friendly but a little shy vampire whom one of his subordinates introduced as her fated mate.
There were many specializations for spellcasters: general, elemental, medical, necromantic, and a few others. Astral spellcasters were considered one of the most powerful of their kind – some of them could not only read one's future but also change it.
"Do you know anything that could be useful?"
Lucas turned to his side, facing the woman, and cuddled up to her. She didn't seem to mind, moved closer, and put a hand on his chest.
"I don't know any astral spellcasters, they are rare and not likely to be willing to be found. But, since you're so nice, I can tell you what I know about those marks. I'm sure you know what they are and that there's one for each new person?"
"Per person? I thought it was per occasion."
"No, it's per person. It opens up again each time though, so it can get nasty very fast. Luckily for you, spellcasters can partially subdue the effect."
"Is this an invitation?"
"See this however you want," she looked up at him and smiled playfully.
She did not lie – a spell she cast beforehand prevented the scar from opening up and it didn't hurt as much, only tingled for a while.
After they were finished, Lucas went to check the contents of the fridge. He thought it would be a nice gesture to prepare breakfast while she was in the shower.
"I've heard of a thing with accepting your mate. What does that mean exactly?"
"That's when you go public basically. You have to both acknowledge your relationship and get approval from pack leaders. In your case, alphas of friendly packs."
"Is it compulsory? What happens if we don't?"
"Nothing much. You just don't get the perks of being accepted mates, those include power-sharing. Before you ask, it means that your strength will considerably grow whenever your mate is nearby."
"Huh, that must be why... Nevermind, just talking to myself," Lucas smiled, putting two big plates with toasts, fried eggs, sausages, and Greek salad on the kitchen table.
"Handsome, young alpha that cooks, what a catch," she smiled back. "So, you're an alpha but you don't know anything about werewolf mating?"
"I haven't been a werewolf for that long. I was turned two years ago and had other priorities since."
"Only two years ago and already the leader of the main pack? Without a werewolf background? Just how strong are you?"
"Strong enough."
"I'm not sure if that's hot or terrifying."
"I hope both," Lucas winked and sat down to eat.
After the brunch, he had to hurry home to change – the pack leaders and participants of the Red Moon ritual were leaving that day. There will be two main packs left in the county again – his and Augustus's.
Lucas was unprepared as always and had to think of an outfit at the last minute – he just wore the first appropriate-looking, fresh, and already ironed clothes he had. Those happened to be white summer jeans and a lavender-pink shirt – the only summer shirt he had left after ripping the other one to shreds.
"So no fighting anyone today or I'll have to go shopping tomorrow," he thought, trying on a wide-brim wicker hat and sunglasses. "Tequila Sunrise in one hand – and I'm ready to be a white man on a tropical vacation."
He checked the time and realized he was already running late. Without a chance to change into something more fitting, Lucas left the house as he was, wearing a hat with a small white bow.
"Did you have a photoshoot for a gardening magazine on the way here?"
"I arrived in time though," Lucas smiled charmingly to Augustus who met him at the entrance to the 19th-century villa that was used as a restaurant and a place of official meetings and visits nowadays.
The villa was located on the edge of the town, not far from the lake where the ritual took place. It was renovated and a few things were altered in recent years – the kitchen was expanded and equipped with modern tools, and the bedrooms were redesigned as studies, conference halls, or utility rooms. There was also a spacious terrace and a garden.
They went inside and separated for a while, busy looking over the last-minute preparations for the final banquet of the mating season. As Augustus later instructed Lucas with much reluctance, they were going to be introduced to the newly formed couples and had to accept or disprove them during the banquet. There weren't that many this time: besides a few others, one in Augustus's pack and two in Lucas's.
"I saw one of mine yesterday – she and her vampire mate went to the same bar. They seemed to like each other," Lucas chatted away once Augustus came into his sight.
"Good," he said without looking at Lucas, "mine don't want to talk to each other."
"That's too bad."
"I bet," Augustus sighed and went upstairs.
"What did you do to make him avoid you even more than usual?"
Lucas turned around to see Ashley standing behind him.
"Hey, is it my hat?"
"Probably," he gave her the hat and hurried upstairs.
He caught up with Augustus on a balcony connected with the hallway.
"About that accepting thing, does it absolutely necessarily have to be tonight? Can't they come to ask for the approval some other time? The couple from your pack I mean."
"No, they can't, it has to be done during the mating season. Why are you so concerned about them?"
"Well, you know, one of them might have a mother to save from a demonic curse…"
"Your story gets more unrealistic the longer you talk," Augustus finally turned to face Lucas.
"What if it is real though?"
"Or you just want to overturn the council and get hold of other packs."
"Why would I do that?"
"For the same reason you fought me – because you were bored or something!"
"I didn't fight you out of boredom," Lucas made a step toward Augustus but he stepped back and crossed his arms across his chest. "I did it because I think you are the strongest member of the council, and I needed to see where it puts me."
"Which only confirms my theory."
"I don't want to overthrow the council," he was getting annoyed by this argument. "If I wanted to, I wouldn't start with openly fighting you."
"Then what do you want to do?"
"I want to break the curse!"
"There is no curse! I've looked into it after you told me those weren't your parents at the Winter Spirit celebration. Your father is a middle school teacher from Brooklyn and your mother owns a floral shop."
"These are not my biological parents!"
"There is no record of you being adopted," Augustus felt very agitated but kept a somewhat calm voice. "And you're not Italian, you actually have German and Irish roots."
"Look at my birth date…"
"You were born on Yule, so what? You're grasping at straws."
"If you trust me just this one time…"
"Can you be trusted?"
Augustus passed by Lucas on his way to the stairs without bothering to look at him.
"The guests will arrive soon."