DEFINE GOOD

No one knew exactly when, but Leon had heard a story when he was a pup, about how the first agent came to be.

An Alpha who had his gentle luna torn from his side and cruelly abused to her death, his pups beheaded, his pack just as heartlessly annihilated, his packlands burned to the ground. All this before his very eyes... and although he too was pierced multiple times against a tree before being left for dead, he survived.

It would have been better if he were dead. There was nothing but horror left in the empty space where his love and all his pack once resided. Like the black stain burnt into the ground of what used to be his pack's little town.

(So I guess I shouldn't have complained about the movie's darkening plot. The real life story sounded even darker right off the bat.)

With nothing left to lose and nothing in his chest but a vacuum where the pain echoed incessantly, the Alpha did what any madly desperate wolf would do. He climbed up White Mountain and sought out the Tyger King.

"I wish for my revenge!" The Alpha told the Tyger King.

"An eye for an eye." The Tyger King answered, "For your wish to be granted, you must offer something of equal value for exchange."

"I have nothing but my own miserable life." The Alpha said, "I will offer you the rest of my life for my revenge."

"Just your life is not enough." The Tyger King informed him, "Give me your life, and the life of your first born son, and every first born son after that."

"Very well." The Alpha agreed, for his son was dead, and his gentle soul mate was dead, and he was sure the contract would end with him.

"Give me my revenge." The Alpha demanded.

The Tyger King beckoned the Alpha to approach his great throne, and then he touched the Alpha on his right shoulder, "From now on you are my right arm. And just as you extract vengeance for every injustice done against you, you will spend the rest of your life extracting vengeance on my behalf, as would every first born son of your bloodline after you."

A searing pain burned in his bones and the Alpha fell to his knees as the dark curse consumed him.

"This mark will be a sign that you are my property, and every first born son of your bloodline will inherit it." The Tyger King told him, "There is no running away. If you betray me, the mark will leech away your life force in the most agonizing way."

"I am not afraid of pain." The Alpha said, "Nor am I afraid of death. But as long as vengence is mine, I will do as you say for the rest of my life."

And that was how the first agent came to be. The Agent Zane was the direct descendent from his bloodline, because despite getting his vengence, and living the rest of his life carrying out the Tyger King's dirty work, he eventually, quite in spite of himself, fell in love and had a family.

From the day he held his first born son, he was determined never to die. How could he wish such a fate on this pup?

But those who live by the sword will die by the sword, and eventually, he did die.

Neither Leon nor Laru knew their own origin story. Like Zane, they too were the first born sons of their own families, born with the same cursed birthmark. Unlike Agent Zane though, Leon and Laru's families both had the tradition of naming their first born son Leon and Laru.

They were the sacrifice who would be grown and trained until they were of age, and then they would be sacrificed to the Tyger King. In return, the Tyger King would release their fathers from service.

Every generation would have a Leon who would one day be sacrificed for his father's freedom. Same for Laru.

"The only difference is, Leon was treated like a noble prince by his family, while I was treated like a miserable outcast." Laru informed me. He poked Leon in the shoulder.

The real Laru was very different from the one in the movie, "My family is a cold as a snow wolf's last breath. I was actually glad to go."

After hearing the origin story of Zane's ancestor though, Leon decided, "I will be the last Leon."

Unlike Leon and Laru's family, Zane bore a different name than his father, or any of his forefathers, "One day, it will end. Perhaps not with me. But maybe my son will find a ways to break away from this generational curse."

Leon had decided to simply never get mated or have pups.

Laru decided to do the same, "I mean, it's not like anyone would miss us."

The Royal Agency had long disbanded. Actually, at the end of King Ignatius' rule as Tyger King, he released all of them.

There were good Tygers and bad Tygers. Since none of these three agents would procreate, they had run with all kinds. King Ignatius wasn't a terrible Tyger King, despite his short temper, constant verbal abuse, and electrical charges, he was a good king.

"It's probably because of his Luna." Laru pointed out.

King Ignatius had a Luna who was soft and pure like the sun light. He was very much in love with her. From planting fruit trees to championing justice for the common wolves of the Colored Mountains, he did it all to please her.

He also released the three agents at the end of the rule at her request. And after that, it wasn't like any of the Tygers wanted to pick a fight with Ignatius over a few agents, so the three of them had a spell of freedom.

Until Bell came to power. Now they were bound to Bell.

"I told you we should've left the mountains with Zane." Laru told Leon crossly.

Zane had left for the plains where no Tyger would think to go. He wanted to fulfill his forefather's dream to break away from the cursed bondage.

Leon didn't want to return to his family, so they both returned to Laru's family castle for a bit of retirement, but soon got bored.

Ignatius offered to pay them to work for him again, so they went back - but as employees with contractual rights, at least that was what they thought until Ignatius lost a bet with Heller and had to transfer one of them over.

And then just to please Bell, both Ignatius and Heller handed them over to him when he asked for someone to manage his affairs in the Colored Mountains.

On the day they swore their allegiance to Bell, their cursed marks resurfaced, with all their agent abilities. Since they bore the mark of the Tyger, they also wielded his powers. All the agents could travel through portals at will, they could be summoned as a tyger by a strong wish, and they were able to control the cursed fumes to varying extents, although neither could master it as Zane could.

Zane was so well-versed with the dark curse technique that he could draw out swords made purely of dark curse.

"I'm the worst at it." Laru confessed, "Even Leon can send the curse through his shadow. Right now, I still have to physically touch something to curse it."

It was like listening to something straight out of a lycan legend. It made my heart stir the way a very good lycan legend would. Sometimes they could start off a little dark at the beginning, but if the characters met the hero and followed him, I felt sure they would all find their happily ever after.

"Don't worry!" I decided, "I'll help you find Zane!"

"You would?" Bell sounded surprised.

"Not you." I told him, "I'm helping them."

"What?" Laru sounded both surprised and confused.

"It's obvious that you need Zane." I told them, because that was exactly how a lycan legend would go, "The fact that the cursed mark resurfaced means that you were never really free, just on bail. If you want to break the curse, all three of you need to do it together."

"Sam, do you know what you're talking about?" Ben asked.

"Princess, why are you helping my agents break free from me?" Bell asked somewhat amused, "Do you plan to replace them with your betas?"

"Don't you see, Bell?" My beautiful Luna needed to look beyond his own plans sometimes, "That's the theme of every lycan legend - they need to break free to find themselves to find their happy ending."

"I honestly don't mind the current arrangements," Laru informed everyone.

Leon nodded, "His majesty is a good king."

Which surprised me more than I could say.

I took a moment longer in a bid to process this titbit of information, but couldn't.

"Define good." I finally said.