~ The Midnight Guardians pack ~
"Come in…", Axel called when he heard a knock on the door of his room, and he stood up to welcome the regal middle-aged woman who appeared when the door opened.
"Mother. What brings you here?"
Sophia Lightrider is Axel's mother and one of the two Alphas who are ruling the Midnight Guardians pack. The other Alpha is her mate, Axel's father, Isaac Lightrider.
Sophia is focused on the internal affairs of the pack, while Isaac is dealing with external relationships, but other than this division of their focus, Sophia and Isaac are equals.
Having two Alphas is not the only thing that is differentiating the Midnight Guardians pack from others.
Their location and size are kept a secret from other packs and except for a few members who are authorized to venture into the outside world, other members of the Midnight Guardians pack stay within their borders.
How can they maintain this uncertainty about their whereabouts? Only a handful of people know how to reach the Midnight Guardians pack, as everyone else is put to a sleep-like trance while they are being led through a maze of caverns and passages their ancestors left behind. The territory of the Midnight Guardians pack is like a separate dimension and there is ancient magic that casts illusions and unless one knows where and how to reach the entrance, they will pass by it without noticing anything.
This contributed to various stories related to this pack, some more fantastic than the others, but no one can deny that this pack is concealing secrets.
There are people who believe that they are self-isolating because they are outdated, and some believe they are hiding immense treasures, while others spread tales how members of the Midnight Guardians pack mixed their bloodline with witches and faes, and that they have fantastic powers.
Well, there is no smoke without fire, so some of those rumors have specs of truth.
Most of the members of the Midnight Guardians pack will find their mates within their pack, but the ones who don't are allowed to venture into the outside world. Once the mate is found, they will return to the pack and stay there. No one lives outside; this is one of the practices that contributed to the mystery surrounding this pack and whoever snooped around in search for the Midnight Guardians pack, disappeared without a trace.
"Your father told me that you are leaving again.", Alpha Sophia said with a small frown of concern on her face while looking at her son.
"Yes. Tomorrow. Kai and Tyler are coming with me."
"Is your destination the Dark Howlers pack?"
Axel exhaled helplessly. "Why are you asking if you know?"
"I guess I am trying to see if you thought about the consequences of getting too close to outsiders."
Axel puffed his cheeks. "Yes, mother. I know. But we can't stay isolated completely. Besides, Alpha Damon is different. Ask father. As long as we are not a threat to his pack, he won't bother with us."
Sophia narrowed her eyes at Axel. "You are not going for Alpha Damon. It's that girl."
"THAT girl is called Talia. I told you about her. Aren't you curious?", Axel asked and paused to give his mother time to respond, but seeing that she only pursed her lips, he knew that she doesn't approve. "She might be one of us, mother. She might be…"
"Enough!", Sophia snapped. "If she is who you think she is, it's better to leave her there. Stay away from her and pretend you didn't notice her. She will find a man if she didn't already, and as long as he is not her mate, her powers will not awaken."
Axel shook his head in disapproval. "I can't believe you."
"You don't need to believe me, but I hope you will believe in Cassandra's prophecy."
Axel pressed his lips into a line. The whole Midnight Guardians pack knows about the prophecy that Cassandra, the pack seer, made several decades ago.
It was about a child of their pack that will be born on the night of a full moon with a destiny so great that even Selena, the Moon Goddess will be present and bless the child.
What only a few people know is the second part of the prophecy that Axel discovered accidentally.
A little background first...
As the future Alpha of the Midnight Guardians, Axel was training and learning from his early teens.
Before being allowed to venture into the world outside their pack, Axel got access to various confidential documents.
There, among many records, Axel read a document describing a night when an epic storm came suddenly, bringing heavy clouds that covered the full moon, but when the cries of an infant girl filled the space, clouds parted and moon rays fell on the child, making it look like she was glowing in silvery light. The child's cries morphed into giggles and the clouds vanished faster than they came, revealing the moonless starry sky.
Axel was not sure why this information was with the top-secret files of the pack. There were no names or dates mentioned and it looked like it came from one of the stories that elders are telling to children around bonfires. But then Axel found another handwriting on the back of the same paper which contained information about Cassandra's prophecy, revealing that the child gained not only Selena's blessings, but part of the Goddess's power as well, and whoever knows about her true nature will be consumed with greed and bring calamity.
Naturally, Axel remembered the decades-old prophecy, and his interest was piqued. He went to his parents to see if his hunch was correct. Was that the same child? Is there more information? The expressions of his parents told him that he was not supposed to find out about it at all.
"I am the future Alpha of this pack", Axel tried to reason with them. "I need to know what happened. Who is this child? Is she still in this pack?"
"We don't know, and it's better to keep it like that…", his parents responded. "For everyone's safety."
Axel was not sure if he should believe them. Both Isaac and Sophia are powerful Alphas, each with their own mystical powers. How can they not know where this child is?
If this child got powers from the Moon Goddess, she might be vulnerable and potentially dangerous.
Can she see the future, like their seer Cassandra, or move objects at will, control the elements, fly, turn invisible, read minds, or explode things? Anything is possible.
Actually, every member of the Midnight Guardians pack has a supernatural ability that awakens only after one finds his (or her) fated mate.
In order to preserve their magical lineage, they are all sworn to celibacy until they find their fated mates because mates of choice won't awaken the mysterious abilities, and their offspring won't have it either.
Old records also say that when one gives their first time to a non-mate, they will lose their chance to awaken their ability. No one is willing to give in to temptation and test this theory, as every member of the Midnight Guardians pack is proud of their lineage, and they want to preserve it, so they chose celibacy.
This information is one of the most guarded secrets because if others find out about it, they will start catching stray members of the Midnight Guardians pack to use them for their benefit or to experiment on them.
That's why only unmated members of the Midnight Guardians pack are allowed to go outside of the pack. If they are captured, they will be just like any other regular werewolves, and this includes Axel as well.
Without his mate, Axel's powers are dormant, and he is not qualified to take over as the next Alpha.
Alpha Sophia and Alpha Isaac both told Axel to give up on finding this person, but Axel was unable to let go of the hope that he will find her.
Axel went to Cassandra to get more information, and she performed her ritual during which she told him two things among a bunch of gibberish.
The first thing that Axel understood was that the person in question is not within the territory of the Midnight Guardians pack, and second, the Moon Goddess takes care of her children and gives them what they need.
Cassandra's power is to see glimpses of the future, but her visions are often blurry and open to interpretation.
Axel left Cassandra's house with more questions than answers.
The information that the person is outside their territory only meant that his scope of search exploded exponentially, and it also confirmed that someone within the pack took the child away because outsiders can't come and go as they please.
The second part of Cassandra's words related to the Moon Goddess were cryptic and not useful at all. But it also gave Axel hope that the mystery person is alive, and out there… somewhere.
Axel had no idea how or where to search because he didn't know what's her name or how she looks like.
When he saw Talia, Axel felt something. A small whisper in the back of his mind increased when he found out that Talia's background is uncertain, and he remembered the prophecy. Is she the one?
