Story Behind The Scars

Aleksandr lounged back on the log of a fallen tree, staring up at the green canopy of leaves.

His fingers stroked at the scarred skin of his throat idly.

He was stuck in the past. His thoughts in a constant loop of his time at sea.

He missed those days; they were far more simple than these modern times.

Call him old fashioned but he'd rather be back in the past than here.

Zeke had been searching for Aleksandr, the man was nearly always in the forest and he never made it particularly easy to find him.

After a short walk he had managed to find the mans scent and followed it directly to him.

Zeke paused for a moment, watching him quietly, his mind seemed to have wandered off somewhere else.
The younger mans eyes widened slightly as he noticed a rather large scar across his neck, something he had never noticed in their previous meetings.

He walked over slowly, the fallen leaves crunching beneath his feet, he stood a few meters away from the alpha and took a seat, leaning against a large rock.

"Hey."
He said softly, still eying the wound.

His eyes flickered, the dull silver brightening as he broke from the loop of memories.

His eyes turned to the younger wolf and his lips quirked into a small smile. "Afternoon, Zeke," he murmured.

His fingers continued to stroke his scarred flesh idly.

"How's the day been treating you so far?"

Zeke nodded his head softly and smiled, it was a full moon tonight and of course he could not help but feel a little on edge, but in comparison to how most full moons felt it was not too bad.
After spending the night curled up with Moe he felt more relaxed then he usually did.

"Not too badly to be honest, it could be worse."
He added with a soft chuckle and looked back over at the man.

"You look like you have seen better days, I've not noticed that scar of yours before."
He said, nodding toward the man.

"It'll get easier," he murmured softly.

"The anger and edginess. Eventually it'll get to the point where you don't even notice." He had reached that fairly recently.

Well, recently to him. It had been nearly a thousand years since he had flown into a fit of rage without real reason.

"Hmmm? Oh this?" He traced the raised flesh again. "I've had it for fifteen hundred years."

"I hope so, it's frustrating not being able to control yourself."
Zeke said, rubbing his hand over his eyes, he had a few close calls of losing his temper in the last two days.

Zeke's eyes widened slightly, that long and the scar had not healed over.

"It must have been pretty nasty if it scarred like that."

"You've been around Wolves all your life; that makes it harder. I only truly started making a pack when I turned the twins." Before that he had been alone out at sea with humans.

Being around mellow creatures like humans had definitely helped with his patience and endurance.

He was easily a thousand year old before he started really interacting with other Lycans. Before that he had been alone since he escaped Slavery.

"She nearly tore my throat out and left me to bleed out. The scar has healed considerably since it happened."

Zeke nodded softly.
"Moe has the opposite effect on me, taking the way the fact that we are a couple, her presence, I don't know what it is, just quells the rage in me when I feel myself about to erupt."

Other than her, being around other lycans did hype up is anger to the point where it was nearly unbearable in large enough groups.

"She?"
He asked, not knowing who he was talking about

"She has that effect on many people. She has a beautiful soul. She calmed Coilean down and he was worse than Aodh."

He'd never understand how Moe had managed to calm Coilean down form the angry creature he had been. Aleksandr had never seen someone so angry and unstable as Coilean and then Moe was born and... The man just flipped.

"You know of the Vampire Elder, yes? She own this place. Everything from the fields to the beach."

Everyone in the mansion at least knew of Giacinto.

"We have a rather long history with each other that goes back to when I was as young as Sprout."

"Giacinto, yes I know of her, saw her for the first time the other day at the fight."

He said with a nod.

"You must have really pissed her off if she did that to you, she seemed pretty mild mannered when I saw her."

"Me?" He gave a short laugh. "No, no, I was innocent. I was her lover at the time."

He sat up, pushing his hair out of his face. "Her crew was the source of her anger. They had done something stupid to anger her."

The man stretched, moaning softly as his back cracked. "I played blood bag for her for over a thousand years. And that one day she had been just a little rough."

"She wasn't always as mind mannered as she is now."

"You and Giacinto were lovers?
I can't say I could imagine you with a vampire, Aleksandr, not quite sure why."

He thought back to the night they had met, the way the vampire Drago had spoken to him, between him and Alexis vampires seemed like less than desirable companions let alone lovers.

"So you were simply the one that got to deal with her anger? Seems unfortunate."

"Not all vampires are unpleasant creatures. Some make for great companions and lovers. And, if she hadn't been so unfortunate, mothers." Alek had impregnated Giacinto a number of times in the past. But, due to both his fits of rage and her past of abuse and failed pregnancies, none of their children had been carried full term.

And the small number that did were either stillborn or couldn't handle the strain of living out at sea and died in infancy.

"She has dealt with my anger on many occasions. This scar...It's nothing compared to what I've done to her both mentally and physically."

"I see."
Zeke suddenly understood why Alek had told him that he would hurt Moe eventually, whether he meant to or not.

If Alek himself had not been able to handle his rage around his lover than chances were the same would happen with him as well, it was just part of their species.

"You're probably right, I guess I just have not met any of the good ones yet."

"I'd try and find out Giacinto. After you've made it clear you won't let her bed you she'll be a pleasant companion."

He had finally accepted that he wasn't going to get together with his mate again and that she was a Succubus. She needed sex and that was something he couldn't always provide for her.

"She's rough around the edges at times but that makes her interesting."

Zeke looked at him quizzically, was it common practice that the woman would try to bed anyone that crossed her path.

"What happened between the two of you, since you're obviously not still together?"

They had clearly been together for a long time and were on good terms if they could live in the same coven together without feuding.

"She left. The same night she nearly tore out my throat."

His tongue ran over his lower lip. "I understood her reasoning but I was still upset by it. I tried to follow her. For fifteen hundred I tried my damned hardest to catch up with her. But when she doesn't want to be caught, that woman is impossible to catch."

Alek sighed and laid down again. "And he we are fifteen hundred years later. I found her. But that fifteen hundred years apart changed the both of us. We're not the same people we used to be. And the spark that we used to have died."

"That makes sense then."
Zeke nodded softly and leaned back, he could not help but feel sorry for Aleksandr, from what he had heard of the mans life he knew it had been very rough.

"That's a shame, all that searching."
He could not say it was for nothing because he had obviously made a home here.

He shrugged half-heartedly.

"I should have guessed it'd happen. In the time we've been apart I've had sex a handful of times and I was never really attracted to any of them."

His eyes slid closed and he hummed softly. "I'm pretty close to asexual. An asexual man and an embodiment of sex wouldn't have worked in a relationship at all."

"Regardless, to put that much effort in to finding her only to have it not work out must have been devastating."

Zeke shook his head softly.

"Seems like life hasn't been too kind to you Aleksandr."

"No... No, it wasn't devastating." He pursed his lips. "At first I wanted to find her to get back together and be the perfect happy couple again. But as I slowly lost interest in sex, I lost interest in becoming her partner again."

"For the past seven or eight hundred years the only reason I've been chasing after her was just to see her again. Just to know that she's still alive and well."

The man gave another careless shrug.

"I've been dealt my hand and I'm still in the game. That's got to count for something." Yes, fate had been less than kind to him, but he didn't particularly care. He was doing what he could with life and he was scraping by just fine.

Zeke smiled softly as the man spoke.
"I see, well then that is slightly better than I first thought."

He scratched the back of his head softly and sighed, Alek was the last wolf in the pack that he had to tell about his proposal to Moe.
Though he suspected that he would be the easiest to tell.

"I have some news Alek."

"You didn't expect it, did you?" he asked, cocking his head to the side slightly. "For someone - a Lycan, in particular - to be so calm even after so much has happened."

"If you have any troubles about anything, you can come to me. I can give help in most situations based on experience." His pack was his family. Alek was a very family orientated man.

He arched a brow at the man and gave a flourish of his hand. "Do share."

"No I didn't, if I had lived through as much as you have I would be bitter and spiteful, being calm after all that just seems so...unreal."

"I appreciate that Alek, I will keep it in mind next time I get myself into trouble, which will probably be fairly soon."

He coughed softly and looked up at the man again, a smile appearing on his lips.

"I've asked Moe to marry me."

He chuckled, a grin spreading onto his lips, showing off straight white teeth. "I was bitter and spiteful once. Back when I was just a new pup wondering why, of all people, I had been chosen to become a Lycan above all else. I was older than most; weaker than some and less co-operative than a lot of the other slaves so it made no sense that I'd have been chosen."

He laughed again, as if mocking his younger self for being such a hateful creature.

"You can deal with your trouble yourself, Zeke. I'm here for advice," he chuckled

The man's silver eyes widened in shock before they melted into a warm smile that spread across his face. "Congratulations, Zeke."