Lunar Dance Ch. 03-04

Demir bristled with indignation, but before anything could come of it Marshalls interrupted. "Your highness, your mother has called and requested to see you." Marshall said, perfectly articulated, and perfectly measured.

Demir turned to Kayla. His voice quite and deadly as he said, "You can tell Jozlyn that I'll be seeing her soon." He turned on his heel and walked over to the black luxury town car. Girls on either side of the car vied for his attention, but he ignored them all. He climbed into the car, and drove away.

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"You left last night." The quite words resounded across the room. Demir had just enter the room, and he quietly closed the door. His mother, queen Veronica, was longing on a day bed on the other side of the room. Her gaze cast out to the luscious garden landscape, and forests behind them.

For over three centuries her family had ruled this land. But with every great achievement comes a great price. Veronica turned her eyes from her garden to gaze upon her son. Such a striking resemblance to his grandfather, she thought. At times it almost hurt to look at him. She had loved her father dearly, but he had died in a terrible accident when she was only 15 years old, leaving her mother to rule the kingdom. But her mother had never been a woman bent on power, she was far to delicate for that. So Veronica had married right after her 18th birthday. She had married Ivory, Demir's father, and she had kept the family secret from him. She had wanted to tell him she wasn't just human, but her mother had forbade it, and she had made Veronica promise not to tell him. When Demir had been born, she had hoped and prayed he would not be afflicted with the curse, but right on his ankle there was a crescent moon with a star, and she knew then her son was cursed too.

"Why did you run? You know it is close to the full moon! Did you change?!" She nearly yelled, fear creeping into her voice. She saw so much of her own father in Demir. Her father, the late king Henry, had died when he had been running with the full moon. It had been a hunting party, and they had shot the wolf that had been running through the kings forest. The hunters had known that shooting anything but deer in the forest was illegal, and hunting at night was forbidden, but with most rules, they were broken. Her father had paid the terrible price for their insolence, he had paid with his life.

"I was feeling trapped mother. My wolf wanted out. I had to compromise, I would run in my human form and allow my wolf to come to the surface, but not actually change. I never changed mother." Demir said, coming across the room and sitting beside his mother. He grasped her hands between his and she cringed. She feared everyday for her soon, for herself. "You must not change. You must not." Veronica whispered near tears. The words, I must not change lingered in the air. They were one and the same.

"I know mother, I know." He said taking her slightly shaking body into his arms and rocking her. Yet even as she tried to deny the curse set upon her family, she knew it was futile. They would change, both Demir and herself, as the full moon came into the sky. I was their curse. they were always at war with their other selves, their animal selves. They were werewolves, and on the full moon their animal natures would take over.

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Demir had calmed his mother, and then left her. She had been looking out into the forest when he had left, a fearful expression marring her face. His mother had always hated her animal nature. She had been taught to fear it. She hadn't even claimed his father as her mate, but Demir knew that Ivory was as much his mothers mate as Jozlyn was his.

But he was not like his mother. He wasn't scared of his wolf, he relished in the fact that he could take the form of a jet black wolf whenever it suited him. His mother thought it was a curse, Demir found it to be a gift. But after seeing Jozlyn, having her come beneath him in utter rapture, his wolf had howled delight at having found their mate. If not for his other half, his wolf, he would have never found Jozlyn, and that was why he found his wolf to be a gift rather than a curse.

Demir moved through the castle, heading to his rooms in the east wing. I have to have Jozlyn, he thought. Which meant he had to come up with a plan. He reached his rooms, and closed the door. Looking around for Marshalls and not finding him anywhere in site. His wolf paced restlessly inside his head, telling him to go back and claim Jozlyn. He tried to calm his wolf, We will have her in time, he soothed, but for now we must plan. His wolf whined a little but settled down so Demir could think. They would have Jozlyn, it was only a matter of time.