Michael 1988
The moon goddess had a strange sense of humor.
Everything was changing for the second time in my life, and I didn't know what my path would become. A week ago, I'd been a rogue living on the kindness of a pack in New England. Now I was on a plane heading to Cuba. Things didn't feel like they fit together anymore, and I wonder if they ever will again. So what did the fates have planned for me next?
"You know, for your first time in a plane, you're doing quite well." Yusuf sat beside me, a glass of white wine in his hand. "I remember my first commercial flight. I was terrified."
"I think this is awesome." Since we'd taken off in Houston, I hadn't stopped looking out the window. I was fascinated by how small everything suddenly got; now, we were so high that the clouds were close enough to touch. "Is this what it's like to be a dragon?"
"Oh, no," The older man chuckled at my enthusiasm, but it didn't sound condescending. "This is a million times better. You don't get exhausted from the flight. It's temperature controlled, you can sleep through the flight, and they serve you whatever you like."
"But you can control where you go, fly wherever you want…." I understood what he meant about comfort, but wouldn't it be incredible to fly in whatever direction you wanted, whenever you wanted?
"Not as much as the old days," with another sip of his drink, Yusuf leaned back, a contented sigh on his lips. "Humans keep better track of the skies, so we're more careful when flying around."
"I get that… We have the same problem." My mother used to say that the more civilized humans became, the less magical we became. "It would still be something I'd like to try."
"That won't be hard, young one. There will be plenty of dragons more than happy to give you a ride."
It takes all my willpower not to act like a kid. Like the ocean, I never thought I'd fall in love with the sky so quickly. I should feel like a spec in the universe from this height. If something went wrong, we'd plummet into the ocean, and unless the dragons on board changed in time, we were all dead. Yet, I felt like I was supposed to be this high up all the time. How crazy was that?
"So, what happens when we get there?"
This was all moving so fast. They'd moved Grace to a clinic in Austin a few days ago, and she was doing well so far. The doctors stabilized her kidneys, and she could eat and drink a little. That was worth anything I was about to go through, but Yusuf and Anna hadn't explained why we had to leave the country. The only thing they'd told me once the doctors assured me Grace would be taken care of, was that we were leaving and that the pack would be taken care of while I was gone. I didn't even get a chance to pack a bag. They said I wouldn't need anything.
"You'll get a day or two to rest, get used to things, and then your training begins."
"I hope you know my Spanish is rusty." It felt weird going to South America. The king lived in Africa right now, and the courts were stationed in Europe. "I speak better German than Spanish."
"Your language skills will improve with practice," Yusuf gives me a knowing grin. Like he knew exactly what I was thinking. "And German will serve you in Germany, not here. The courts adopt the language of the country they're stationed in. Don't worry. It looks daunting, but you'll get used to it."
"Stationed? But… the royal court is in Germany."
"Ah, you mean the court itself. Yes, it's currently located there. That's where the Entit'a senate meets, and the laws are passed, but you can't imagine we keep all of it there."
"Isn't that where everything is?" That's what we'd known all our lives. The royals lived and worked in Europe and sent officials around the world.
"No, every country has a court system in place. Even the islands, though they're much smaller." He shrugged as if it wasn't that interesting, but how did none of us know this? "You can't imagine we can do our job from one location?"
"If that's how it is, why does no one know?"
It wasn't fair. If the royals were stationed everywhere, why didn't they help more? I'd traveled long enough to see the courts' lack of care for supernaturals. I'd been nowhere where packs didn't suffer because of human interference, and they weren't the only race. So what was the point of being easy to locate if they didn't do anything? That made no sense.
"You'll start to see how things work after you're trained. Things aren't easy, Michael. There are millions of supernatural beings in the world, each needing the court's support to find their way, and there aren't enough of us to do the job. Then there's the reality that we're doing much of this as we go. Humanity… caught us off guard."
What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well… to put it bluntly, humans moved on without us." There was a hint of sadness in his voice, making me wonder how old Yusuf was. "In the last century, something changed in all of them. We'd started to see it before, but there was still a sense of progression that we were used to… Then… they found a way to exist outside the old world, and now we're the ones catching up."
"You act like it's a bad thing. I've lived with humans all my life. What they've built helps us too."
"I agree, it does, but they forget us, Michael. They don't need us anymore."
"I don't think they ever did." I'd heard that argument before. Of course, some supernaturals felt that humans owed us something because we had powers, but I'd done better acting like a human than I had as a wolf.
"And that's what we're having to come to terms with," with another melancholy sigh, Yusuf holds up his empty glass for a stewardess to take it. She bowed respectfully to both of us before going back to the front of the plane. "The gods know what they'll have in twenty years, but it affects us too. Their innovation comes at a price, and we have to counterbalance it."
"So, are you saying the courts want to retake control of the world?" That sounded outrageous, but why have a mandatory military when we'd never had a war?
"Heavens no," finally, I turned my attention away from the window and focused on Yusuf. I was still trying to figure out what he was, let alone his age. He looked only a few years older than me, but how he spoke told me he was much older. Not only decades but centuries. "There's not enough of us to mount that kind of campaign, and if we did, we'd lose."
"You don't think we'd win the fight? Why?" That genuinely surprised me. I would've thought any royal would be under the belief we were better than humans, and here Yusuf was telling me otherwise.
"First thing you need to know, Michael. This world… belongs to humanity. To exist here, you have to have human blood."
"You make it sound like it's them against us."
"No, there is only them. We are human, too. You mustn't forget that. Yes, we're supernatural, but in the scheme of things… we got the short end of the stick."
That has me thinking. As sad as it is, he's right. If I look at my people's history and that of humans around us, it's hard to deny it. While others figured out a way to do more than survive, we'd struggled to do more than exist. Werewolves were bound by the rules of our customs and traditions and our instinct that drove us to be wild animals. Humans could choose to walk away from disaster. Most didn't, but they could.
"So why pick a werewolf? Of all the races, we're bound to our ways."
"Haven't you figured that out yet?" If I had, I wouldn't have asked. I must've been giving him a look because Yusuf started laughing at me. "Well, you said it yourself. Elena."
"Elena?" The court chose me because of a hurricane? How would they have known about it anyway? "I only mentioned that the other day when I was talking to my father. How did the courts hear about it?"
"You have no idea how famous you are. Do you, Michael?" He laughs again, resting his head back and closing his eyes. "Michael Branker. The werewolf who looked into the heart of the storm and changed his fate. The wolf who was brave enough to give his throne to his brother the spare and become the poor rogue. The lone Alpha who traveled across the land, leaving his mark wherever he goes."
"I didn't change my fate. My father kicked me out... And my brother isn't a spare. He was always meant to be Alpha, not me. So it was just a mistake that I was born first."
"Has it occurred to you that the title you were meant for was something else?"
What?
"You assume you are your father's son. Which would make you Alpha of your pack, but what if you were your mother's son instead? What would that make you?"