The Damned Princess

We were all sitting in our living room. Liam asked, “what’s wrong sorellina, why did you want all of us here”. “We have a problem we need to discuss”, I said. They looked tensed. I took in a deep breath “there’s another lycan here brother and he says he’s V’s mate”. “What”, Liam asked, “what are you saying Enna”.

I repeated everything that happened today. “I don’t trust him at all Sienna”, Liam said. “Neither do I”, I said. “But what if he’s not lying, what if V’s actually his mate” Becky objected. “Yes, and he didn’t look like he would do you guys any harm”, Jay said supporting Becky.

Liam and I groaned simultaneously, “he can’t harm us anyway, it’s you and V that I’m worried about”, I said. “And we can’t let him in our lives and in V’s without being sure” Liam added looking really agitated.

“Guys how come even you both didn’t realize his presence around us for so long”, I asked Piero and Cristofano, slightly irritated. “Yeah, you guys are professionals, hired for this purpose only” Liam added. Both of their eyes were trained on the floor, I knew they were ashamed.

“Sincere apologies your highness. We are highly ashamed that we were not able to fulfill our jobs properly” said Piero. I sighed “I know, don’t apologize”. “Your mate’s so handsome we couldn’t move our eyes off him” Cristofano joked.

Jayson grunted showing his annoyance. I sheepishly smiled at him, let’s just say he was not excited when he found about two men always watching him. He rolled his eyes at me.

Piero smacked him on his head, “you’re not supposed to talk to the Princess like that”. “Shut up dude, your Princess is my childhood friend” Cristofano whined. They are both mates, Cris has been friends with me since forever, he’s no less than family to me.

When he found Piero, I gave him the opportunity to leave the army and live his life with his mate. He did not want that and even Piero wanted to join with him. They have been with us since forever and these are the only two people outside my family whom I would trust enough to open up about my mate.

Piero is the serious one, never loosens up when he on his job but Cris, well he’s the exact opposite. They were still bickering. “Guys stop, we’re discussing something really serious” I groaned. They both apologized.

“Piero you find every detail about this guy, every little thing and Cris you keep an eye on him but from a distance, I can’t risk V being alone with him” Liam ordered them. “But who will watch Jayson”, Cris asked.

“I don’t need a babysitter; you guys can leave me alone” Jay groaned. “Don’t worry I’ll always be with him” I said. Becky gave me a suggestive look making me roll my eyes. There was a small smile playing on my lips though, the idea of spending every moment with him will never get old.

“Okay, we’ll get on to it right now”, said Piero. Cris was about to say something and with how much I know him, I am sure he would whine about always working but his mate’s glare stopped him. They both bowed down and left.

“Guys what if he’s actually V’s mate” Becky questioned. “I don’t know Becks; I don’t know what I even want the truth to be” I sighed. Jayson pulled me closer to him and kissed my forehead. I snuggled more into him. “You guys can ask V if he’s actually her mate or not”, Jayson said.

“I don’t think he would have told her our truth even if he actually is and she’s a human she cannot tell it for sure”, Liam said. “I think she can. I’m a human but I always felt this pull towards Amore which I could never describe. And the electricity that runs through my veins when she touches me, I knew it wasn’t normal” Jay said.

My mate’s words made me blush, “I think Jay’s right brother, I and Becky can plan a girl's time with her, and then we can indirectly ask her” I said. “If you say so, maybe we’ll get some idea”, Liam said.

We all had dinner together. After we were done Becky and Li went to their room leaving us alone in the living area. We both were cuddled up and sitting quietly. “Amore” Jay said softly, “hmm” I replied. “Who made you so paranoid”, he asked.

His question raised panic in me. I know what he wants to know and I know I should have told him everything already but I’m scared. What if he does not like who I was. What if he chooses to leave? All these thoughts started rushing through my head.

He made circles with his thumb at the small of my back, “you don’t have to tell me if you’re not comfortable” he said. I pulled myself away from him and sat facing him he also straightened up.

“I want you to know everything but I’m scared that you’ll not like me if you knew”, I said. He smiled “I don’t think that’s possible”. He grabbed my hand and kissed the back of it, “whatever happened was your past Amore, you’ll have to let it go someday”.

I took in a deep breath, “it’s a long story”, “we’ve all the night” he said. I nodded, “the most important purpose of a lycan’s life is to find their mate, after we’re adults, we try our best to find them. Some find theirs very quick, some spend centuries looking for theirs”.

“I also looked for mine”, he smiled sadly at me. I continued “I went all around the world hoping that I’ll find my mate somewhere unfortunately, I didn’t. I lost all the hope and believed that I’ll never find you, that maybe the moon goddess didn’t give me the blessing”.

He slightly pressed my hand trying to make me feel good. “It was really lonely; my heart ached every moment. I forgot what it felt to be happy”. A few tears fell from my eyes and he wiped them. “You don’t have to tell me baby”, he said.

“I do, you should know”, I said and continued. “I changed; I was never the sweet little princess type girl. I was always the one to go with my heart but loneliness made me empty. I would do anything to not feel the emptiness, to divert my mind”.

“So, I let my monster take over me. I did what I wanted. I hurt people, I killed many. I didn’t follow any rules. If I thought someone was guilty of any crime, I would do my own justice and nobody had the power to stand against the spoiled brat princess”.

“Meanwhile some humans started to become aware of the supernatural creatures. This gave rise to hunters. They would kill whatever they didn’t understand, no matter if they were innocent or not. In the late eighties, a tribe of hunters came to Italy. We let them in because we wanted them to realize that not everyone was a monster”.

“They promised they would not kill anybody, they lied. They killed innocent wolves, they didn’t even spare kids. I never trusted them but the king wanted peace among humans and us, so I couldn’t stop them from coming to our country”.

“First the deaths were subtle and the reasons were not clear but I knew it was them. Slowly the rates started increasing and one day we found 2 families slaughtered. There were kids who hadn’t even phased into their wolf yet. I couldn’t control my rage anymore”.

“The right thing would have been to take them to the king for the trials but me being me, I took it in my own hands. I tore them apart, every man in that tribe. I didn’t touch the women or the children because I knew they were innocent. When they left, I made sure they were taken care of until they could handle themselves on their own”.

“You did the right thing, Amore they deserved it”, said Jay. I was so ashamed I could not even look into his eyes. “You won’t think the same when you’ll find out who they were”, I said, my voice a little shaky. “Just because they were my ancestors doesn’t mean I’ll not see their cruelty”, he said.

I was shocked, I looked at him wide-eyed “you know”. “I do, everything you said was written in that diary of Edmund Hunter. Even he thought you did the right thing” he smiled. Tears fell from my eyes, “you don’t hate me” I asked. “I told you nothing can make that possible”, he said and pulled me to his chest.

I thanked him so many times for understanding my part. “You know, when I found out everything, I was scared I didn’t understand anything, which is why I didn’t come to you for so long because everything described you as a monster”.

“But keeping a distance from you was one of the hardest things I ever did and when I read his diary, I realized that you’re anything but a monster. I’m sorry I hurt you Amore” he said and kissed my head.

I pulled back and kissed his cheek, “you don’t have to apologize”. “Do you want to continue your story”, he asked and I nodded. I continued, “after I finished them, we went to the house of those who were killed to say them a proper goodbye”.

“In one house, I found a crying infant hidden under a heavy pile of clothes, his parents must have hidden him and the hunters didn’t find him. I fell in love with him the moment I picked him up in my arms. He was like a bundle of joy in my lonely life. I took a decision to raise him as my own. I named him Heracles, after the demigod Hercules”.

Tears were falling from my eyes remembering something I like to keep buried. “I raised him, gave him my father’s name, made him a part of my father’s pack. He was the only wolf who got respected like a lycan. I gave him everything, the things he asked for, and the things he didn’t. I’d do anything to make him happy”.

“From his initial days, I made him practice to fight with me and Liam. A werewolf wouldn’t dare to stand in front of me, I trained him to have the strength to beat me. I was always so proud of him, so much that I was blinded by the pride and love”.

“Our aging process slows down to a great extent after we turn eighteen, so it didn’t take much time for him to look like he was of my age, a year or two older even. He was known around as the royal wolf. His presence demanded attention and respect like ours do”.

“He was stronger than any wolf and was equal to lycans. While I looked at him like a proud mom, I didn’t realize he had something else going on inside his mind. The power he got from us got to his head and he started treating others like dirt. He would do as he pleased, not caring about the rules, I basically made him the worst version of me”.

“One day he killed a beta of a pack because he dared to look to him directly. Father was really mad but I took care of everything. He promised nothing like this will happen again and I took his word for it. I made sure no harm comes to him and the beta didn’t get the justice he deserved”.

“This was the biggest mistake I made while raising him”.