Eighteen Years

It had been eighteen years, and no one knew where Hera and Hermes were.

The people of Alexei had gotten hopeless at some point, especially since they could feel a connection to their true rulers, but never saw them anywhere. However, that meant that the kids were never really dead.

For eighteen years the werewolves had suffered silently.

They had lost more than they would ever be able to recover in one lifetime or even generation. The only people who would understand their pain were those who had been alive and older when the attack happened. 

All of them were traumatized. 

No one had wanted to stay and watch what would happen next. 

It would be so much of a burden to carry.

With all that had happened, it was understandable.

The connection they felt gave them something to look forward to, a future in which they were home again. A life that would give them something to hold on to. 

Alexei was never home again, and where they currently were, was their personal hell. 

The werewolf world was one that was unique on its own. The people either loved each other or hated each other. Whatever happened between them did not stop them from being ready to die for each other whenever a battle was bound their way.

Unfortunately, the werewolves were living different lives now. They experienced so much pain and suffering that the history books would never be able to express in one lifetime. This was the kind of hurt that they would never forget.

However, even with the circumstances, they held onto the little hope of the kids being alive.

Maybe they would be able to see Hera and Hermes again, but would they really fit their expectations? 

Maybe the children would have gotten each other and responded to the links that bound them. 

Most of the werewolves wondered whether Hera and Hermes had gotten the basic werewolf training or even if they had a mentor who understood what it meant to be a werewolf. They wanted to know if their leaders were prepared or the fact that they were all living human lives ow also affected them. 

They were worried about the changes the alpha kids would be undergoing.

Was their alpha king really strong enough? 

Was their luna queen gentle and ready to fight and protect them? 

Were their leaders trained in how to fight or had they been left to grow and lead mundane lives?

Were they even aware of what the ranks meant, or even the mind linking process were they aware that they were bound to each other and chosen specifically by the moon goddess? Did they know that their lives were bound to a whole generation and race of wolves? 

Were they even ready to fix Alexei?

The wolves had a lot of questions, most of which would take a while to be answered. Maybe they would get these answers soon enough. Maybe when they actually saw their real hope. 

They had wishes, prayers, demands, and pleas that they wanted to present to their rulers, but were their rulers really aware of the power they held?

Had they felt their wolves or they were dormant shifters? Were they aware of the perks of being a werewolf or were they also weakened by the death of their people who had died all those years ago?

Maybe they were mates, and the pull would get them together. That would be a very good thing for the werewolves because the alpha and luna being mates meant then their family was one step to being whole again. That is what everyone wanted and wished for. It was the prayer of every werewolf.

Even the rogues who had thought they were better off living plain lives.

They would always want to come back home.

The place they were needed and where they didn't have to hide their fangs whenever they were angered.

The place where they didn't have to worry about their tempers, amenities, and the social requirements of the human world.

The humans had way too many expenses, most of which the werewolves hated. They hated the fact that even though they were a family, they didn't have the ability to mind link each other. After all, they were not a pack anymore.

They even had fucking bills to pay. It was a complete shift from the life they had led when Alexei was still their home, when they didn't have to worry about hiding who they truly were. However, they had to survive, and survival meant laying low.

Their lands were so close to being inhabited by greedy humans. They had been trying to bring down the barriers to the werewolf world especially since they thought that the werewolf world was just a myth.

They wanted to know how to get through the barrier because honestly, the lands were too fertile. The lands were enough to sustain the people of the moon goddess for a long while.

They would never have to worry about the bills, or even security issues, which would definitely be caused by them. They would never have to worry about so many things. Most of the werewolves lived poor lives.

With them in the packs, the lunas would have ensured that everyone in their pack was well fed, and properly taken care of. They would always endure that their children were okay. The pack doctors would always treat them without asking for bills because it was the gift the moon goddess had given to them.

The warlocks had able to make things happen because that was also a gift from the moon goddess. Their lives as wolves were easier. All they ever had to worry about was the hunt, or why or whether the eighteenth birthdays were okay.

Living as humans felt like the worst curse of their lifetimes, but did the werewolves of Alexei even have an option?

When they had gotten away from the packs, they were denied the power to know who their true mates were, since they had run away from home. 

They wanted a human life, and that was their punishment. As wolves, it would have been easier to find your soulmate, and start a new life with them. But as humans, they had to go through different partners, but that never ended well.

Eventually, they gave up looking for partners.

The only way a werewolf would ever have a kid was if they were with their true mates. Otherwise, it would always be pointless coitus. It was like their generation had been purposefully halted. Even the people who had remained in the tiny packs were denied that gift.

When the werewolves were born, they already had mates destined for them. But the natural order was already broken and tampered with when the attack happened all those years ago. 

They would only be able to go back to normal if they fixed the natural order. But that was dependent on Hera, and Hermes.

The worst part of everything was that no one really knew where Hera or Hermes was.

No one.

All they had to keep them sane was the faint connection they felt to their leaders, but would it be worth it in the end?