Lycannar


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    Tension weighed down on me, and I almost groaned aloud. I still had enough to worry about, and now


    this?


    But wait. How had Jurrek Bane spoken to my sister, swayed her heart to the point she had the audacity to sit my brother and me down to confess such feelings?


    “I should have taken her with me to the demon realm,” my brother Hades murmured from across me, and I turned to him. “But this is Mearez. She would never say such things unless she believed them to be true. What do you think?”


    I lowered my gaze, sighing.


    “Jurrek Bane is… nice. An Ashmere warrior. I think he fought in the second wave alongside Zephyrine. When I’ve looked into his eyes, all his worry, all his longing, was for Ash Pack’s safety.”


    “Nothing for my sister?”


    I thought quietly, then shook my head.


    “Maybe he hid it from me. Mearez went to Ash Pack ahead of me. She stayed three days before I arrived for Zephyrine’s ascension ceremony as Alpha. Perhaps that’s when my sister found her love.”


    “Or maybe before then. Has she been there before? Earlier than recently?”


    I racked my mind and then it clicked. My gods. Could it have been then?


    “During my coronation. The invitation scroll was sent first to Ash Pack. Serena was supposed to oversee it, since she handles the kingdom’s activities, but she was upied. Mearez stepped in for her. That must have been the first time they met.”


    “And you didn’t know?” Hades asked.


    I shook my head. <fn6179> ???? ????s? ???????s ?? F?ndNovel</fn6179>


    “I’m sorry. I should have been more careful with them.” I rubbed my temple, weighed down by another surge of emotion spilling from Zephyrine through the amulet.


    When I looked back, I caught Hades studying me.


    “What?”


    “You look like someone in pain.”


    I shrugged.


    “It’s Zephyrine,” I muttered, ncing at the anklet on my bare ankle. “She’s been dealing with thingstely. I gave her an amulet ne. When she wears it, we’re connected. I feel what she feels, and whenever she’s in danger.”


    7:30 pm P P P P


    “What has she been dealing with?” he asked.


    I leaned forward.


    “Her brother, Varyn… the warrior from five years ago. Can you believe he never made it home?”


    Hades went utterly still, his eyes widening in silence before he asked softly.


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    “I meant to ask about him. Since your woman turned out to be Ashmere by blood, she has an older brother. Why is she Alpha, not him?”


    “Because he never returned from the battlefield. Zephyrine told me he never came back.”


    “Really?” His brow furrowed. “Are you sure? We let him go. We saw him ride away, didn’t we?”


    “I remember that part clearly. He was sent home. But how he didn’t make it back I still don’t understand…” My voice trailed when I saw his cautious stare. “What?”


    He stayed silent, gaze fixed on mine, before finally asking.


    “Apex, you don’t remember much from that battlefield, do you?”


    I raised a brow.


    ‘Did I ck out in battle?” When he gave no answer, I pressed, “What’s there to forget? I didn’t forget anything.”


    ‘Right. You didn’t forget anything.” he said as though trying to nt that in me. But then I recalled.


    ‘I had a nightmare, though.”


    ‘You?” His surprise was sharp. “That’s not what the first hybrid do. Your mind was sealed by spells, wasn’t it?”


    “This nightmare felt more like a fragment of memory. I had it after returning from Ash Pack, after the ceremony.”


    I swore I saw Hades freeze at that. His voice dropped.


    “What did you see?”


    “That… I was released from the steel chamber. Still in my demon form. My senses blurry, voices urging me to kill, to spill blood. Everything hazy until I heard your voice. You were asking who had let me loose, and you sounded stunned. Like you hadn’t expected to see me there.”


    “There? Where?”


    I shook my head.


    “I can’t see it in the nightmare. It’s all haze and blur.”


    Silence followed. Hades stared at me for what felt like forever before moving to sit beside me, patting my shoulder firmly.


    7:30 pm P P P


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    “Little brother… maybe your foremother, the Moon Goddess, shields you this time. You see… Varyn, your woman’s brother… maybe it is the Goddess’s will that he remain lost.”


    I frowned.


    “Zephyrine is looking for him. She has always tried…”


    “He cannot be found.” His voice cut in like a warning.


    I swallowed hard at the deadly seriousness of his words. Before I could reply, he asked,


    “Tell me, little brother. How far will you go to keep your woman?”


    “Every limit,” I confessed, and he gripped my shoulder, jaw tight.


    “Listen to me. No matter what happens, right or wrong, you know I’ll always stand by you. You know that, don’t you?”


    I nodded.


    “I will also stand by you, whether you’re right or wrong.”


    He leaned back with a heavy sigh, as though crushed beneath memories.


    “Then hear me tonight. If you truly want that fiery Ashmere, her brother must never be found.”


    “But… why?”


    His silence was long, his weight heavy, before he finally said,


    “Not everything lost is meant to be searched for, Apex. And not everyone missing is meant to be found, for some absences are mercy in disguise.”