Curse of Ice and Blood

In a time long forgotten, there lived two men—Brothers in every way but blood. The inseparable duo were hybrids: half-man, half Lycanthrope, a more powerful race of shapeshifters. The first Alphas. An Alpha of peace and another of power made to balance each other out in perfect harmony.

Years grew into decades and further into centuries, the world ruled between the two leaders in matrimony.

Once the balance was tipped, it couldn’t be restored. The first mate was found, the Alpha of peace finding his other half of his soul shook the order that had been founded. She stood between the two Alphas.

The Goddess of beauty, a female half Lycan, she was known for her stunning looks, and a heart said to be made so pure she was an angel inside and out.

The Alpha of power grew jealous of his brother soon after and in spite he broke the tranquillity the world was kept in. Blinded by envy, the Alpha of power murdered his brother in cold blood, enraged by his brother getting what he had always wanted.

It was believed that the Goddess of beauty died that day when she tried to save her mate while the remaining Alpha became the most powerful shifter in all existence. The death of his brother caused him to lose his humanity and become a full Lycan, the first and only of his kind.

Although the Goddess did survive, she fled far away. After losing her mate it broke her, she wasn’t as strong as the other Alpha, she was only half-lycanthrope and was no match for his newfound power.

Months later the Alpha of power was crowned king of shapeshifters, he took a beautiful she-shifter as his chosen mate, never finding his own. The same night he completed the mate bond with his chosen a young girl was born far away hidden from his knowledge, and a curse fell upon the Alpha of power.

The baby, the first descendant of the Goddess and the dead Alpha. Hidden from the world but just as strong as her mother and father, except as fate would have it, she would never grow strong enough to challenge the king and would have to hide her entire life.

The curse left ugly words tattooed harshly across the king’s back. “Until blood is cleaned, forevermore, may each firstborn lose his fateful core.” No matter how hard the king tried to remove the words, they stayed and would be passed onto each firstborn son of the king’s bloodline.

The curse affected both lines but in different ways: All firstborn children descended from the Alpha of power was always a male; each possessed the strange poem across their back, and the male was never able to find his mate. It was said the curse took true love away from them so they could never find their other half and must always take a chosen instead. Their ancestor ripped apart a true mate bond which caused no others of pure Lycan blood to be able to find their mate.

The other line got the luck, the Goddess of beauty found a second mate, a gift from the gods, a miracle never to happen again. A king lost his mate, and a Goddess found hers.

Every firstborn of the Goddess’ bloodline was a female. Both families were almost total opposites to the other except both were forever cursed until the hatred between them was peace once more.

***

Remaining hidden as an average family for hundreds of thousands of years the story became a myth, only the true tale was known by two families, one hidden and one royalty, complete opposites but also so similar.

As each new king took a chosen and each newly mated pair of Goddess’ descendants found their mate, both gave birth to their next heir as the curse foretold, one girl and one boy, always born decades apart. The royal family came to believe the Goddess of beauty was truly dead after many centuries, but the goddess’ descendants did not so forget the royals. The two bloodlines never met face to face but in time a pair would.

Nobody knew that the stars aligned perfectly when both the new king-to-be and the latest descendant of the Goddess of beauty were born. Nobody ever realised they both were the one-hundredth generation in their family, both dating back to the first true Alphas. It was never noticed that the newest descendant of each line was born within a few years of each other, something that had never happened before, so close yet separated by years of hatred.

While each descendant of the Goddess was charming, they always differed in looks and each new king would hold the ugly words destined by fate on his back, that truth held only in their blood.

Until one of each was born different, a girl with a heart just as beautiful as the true Goddess of beauty and a male born not with the poem but red flowers detailed across his back. A young baby almost identical to the true Goddess herself and the firstborn son who didn’t have the poem across his back, both miracles that were overlooked.

It was fate that replicated itself, true to the poem, ’until blood was cleaned each child borne would never find his core’, his centre, his other half, always missing a mate, but now one was different, could blood be cleaned or had it stained?