* Listen... You might be tempted to hunt me, the dear author after this, but remember if me is gone, we won't know what happens next aye. So be nice... ishh?
***
[GREALOR]
"No!! Please No!" Alpha Ashton screamed as he pulled the covers off of him, the cruel reminder that he had been having the century's worst nightmare.
Zula, who had long given up hope of the alpha ever waking up, rushed into the room, surprise on her face as she saw Alpha Ashton awake. The alpha had been unconscious for the past three weeks and frankly, Zula had slowly begun losing hope.
"Hey, Ashton, relax," Zula said as the alpha looked around erratically like he was trying to understand what the hell was going on.
"Where am I? Where is Tamiko and Igor? Where are Gabe and the warriors? What the hell happened here? And the damn wedding, what the fuck happened?" Ashton rambled on as a confused Zula stared at him hopelessly.
She knew that this was common for patients who had been in comas for long, but she hadn't expected that the alpha would be this tormented. It made her wonder what the hell the poor man had been thinking of and dreaming of.
"The infirmary. You have been out since your fight with Tamiko. And No, Tamiko hasn't been sighted in Grealor since he went with the Lycans. You're safe, Ashton. No one is coming to harm Grealor," Zula said, in a bid to calm the alpha down.
However, the alpha didn't seem to believe her, and she wasn't certain that he would, especially given the raw fear on his face. He looked like he had seen the devil himself and that made Zula's heart break for the man.
"I'll help you sleep, Ashton. You'll be fine in a few hours," Zua said and the alpha looked at her with pleading eyes, as if to tell her that he was being tormented a lot. However, Zula didn't listen.
She put him to sleep, as she wondered what the heck could have happened to make the man that worried.
Perhaps it was because of Tamiko again? Well, there was no telling what the hell had happened with the young Lycan who was out of Grealor at the moment.
"You'll be fine," Zuna soothed as the alpha went back to sleep thanks to Zula's magic. She knew she would have a lot of explaining to do later, but until then, she would pretend like the most powerful man in Grealor wasn't haunted by his choices.
****
[KAWAI]
"How was your day out with the deadly king?" Igor asked his erasthai once he was back in the palace. It was a little past midnight and Tamiko looked exhausted, so much so that the only thing on his mind was sleep.
"That king has a lot of energy in him. We went hunting, and well, It's safe to say that I was bested. Not once, and definitely not the thirtieth time. I think we took out nearly all the deer in the Avalon forest.
"Remind me to never agree to go hunting with him again? My limbs hurt and I feel like my body is not mine," Tamiko whined as he plopped on his bed, in the room that was between Lord Sadako's and the Lycan king's room.
What had begun as a light hunt had ended up in the ultimate bonding session for the father and son, in a way that only they could enjoy.
"It couldn't have been that bad—" Kosta said even though he knew that his mate was truly worked up.
"Bad? It was crazy. I had so much fun, but somehow my limbs stopped working and King Zaffuto had to carry me on his back to the door of this room. I wanted to tell him to let me walk, but I couldn't even feel my legs.
"He's got a really broad back too, and he smells good, which is strange since we were all sweaty and fuck. I just want to sleep, and hopefully don't wake up with amputated legs," Tamiko whined and Igor chuckled.
He had thought that the hunting idea was crazy and dangerous, but it turned out that it was just a crazy experience, one in which they got to learn that the king wasn't as bad as he had been made to seem.
Then again, the only person who knew the king best was Lord Sadako. Everyone else was left with illusions and notions of how the king was and could be. None of them ever really understood him, but it seemed like Tamiko had fun with the king.
"Come, I'll wipe you," Kosta said and Tamiko groaned helplessly as he looked at his mate, as if to ask whether he didn't hear the part where his limbs weren't functioning. So, the young Lycan just let himself sleep, while his mate just wiped his body.
The rest of the night was a blur to Tamiko, even as he woke up alone on the huge bed in the room. He tried to get up, worried about his limbs that had been stiff the previous evening, but to his delight, he was no longer in pain.
If anything, he seemed normal, way too normal and energized for someone who had been out in the wild.
Walking out, Tamiko assumed that Kosta was somewhere in the kingdom being the dutiful Lycan chief, so he didn't bother looking for him in the mind links.
Instead, he walked down the long stairs, to join the Lycan crowd that seemed to have formed outside the palace.
"What's going on?" Tamiko asked the nearest Lycan when he reached the confused crowd.
"You're alive?" one of the warriors from yesterday asked as he looked at Tamiko, roughly assessing the young Lycan as if to see for themselves if this wasn't just an illusion to them.
The reputation their king had wasn't exactly the most heartwarming, but somehow, seeing Tamiko here and alive was giving them hope that maybe, just maybe they still could hope for a better Kawai.
"Barely, man. If he didn't carry me to my room, I know I could have crawled my way into hell," Tamiko said casually, as his eyes brightened at the sight before him. The entire catch from last night was out there.
Now that he looked at them, he could see why the Lycans were confused. The deer were huge and the fact that they were here, and dead with hunting arrows in them was wild and unexpected.
"I see someone had fun with the king last evening," Lord Sadako's voice came through and Tamiko just watched in silence. He didn't want to be too excited, even though he was happy to see the only other sane familiar face there.
"Take these to the butcher and make sure they are ready for the lunch feast today. The king will be joining in, courtesy of his new friend," Lord Sadako said to the warriors who stared at Tamiko curiously.
Their entire lives, they had been used to a cruel king. Queen Liana had been the only hope they had and when the queen died, they went back to having the dark king's aura coating the kingdom.
"Did I do something wrong?" Tamiko asked Lord Sadako when he realized that all the attention was on him, the young Lycan who managed the impossible.
"No, Hinata. You did great. So great that Zaffuto is throwing a happy feast today," Lord Sadako said proudly as he side-hugged the young Lycan, once again ignoring the curious stares of the Lycans around.
Perhaps there was hope for them after all, right?