The Silver Guardian B. 01

A huge thank you to my editor Tex Beethoven for another amazing job and collaboration, thank you Tex you rock!!!

Book 1

Chapter 32

The lycans were seated in a conference room at the Four Seasons after they had eaten dinner and gathered for the meeting. In attendance were Alpha Thomas of the Crater Moon Pack with his mate and Betas, Alpha Jerome of the Yellowstone Pack with his mate and Betas, Alpha Lisette with her mate Raphael, her Top Beta Sebastian and three other Betas, and finally the wolves of the O'Connor Pack, including Odin and Victoria, Lily and Dante, Ben and Sara and two other Betas. Everyone looked to Lisette, waiting for her to start. Once she had everyone's attention, she began.

"As we all know, thousands of years ago when our Mistress the Goddess Luna witnessed humans encroaching on our forests and reducing our numbers, She empowered her Great Champion to push back the advance and destruction of man. He roamed far and wide, defending the wolves and the wilds for many years. Eventually Luna selected another wolf to become lycan and to serve as his Great Love, to share his burdens and responsibilities, as well as of course, their mutual love. Together they fought and misdirected the humans on behalf of Luna and Her vision, achieving many successes before Luna in Her great Wisdom gifted them with the very first lycan Pack. It is from these wolves that all lycans are descended.

"The original Champion and his Great Love became the first Alpha Pair and began the Royal Line that governed our race for millennia. The line was cruelly taken from our race over 1000 years ago, and was thought to be lost. Our society fractured and has remained broken ever since.

"However, there was an oracle near the time of our split after the death of the Royal Line, and she prophesied the return of our hope and the reestablishment of our Royal Bloodline. Over the centuries most have forgotten this prophesy, but some still remember. Our Pack immigrated to America from the Grand Est region of France and we always remained true to the old ways, and passed down the prophesy as a hope for our people. I was just a little girl when I first heard it, but I have always remembered.

"The prophesy is as follows;

'When the hearts of men and wolves turn blacker than the moonless night sky, a beacon will shine once again like the silver light of Luna herself. The Royal Bloodline of the First Champion will once again walk the land, guarding those wolves who have kept in their hearts their faith and their love for their Goddess. A new Guardian will be born to rejection and raised in exile and suffering, yet Luna's blessing will be placed upon his heart, for her blessing will shine like silver moonlight from his soul, so that all may know of the Silver Guardian and his great task. The burning fires of pain and suffering will consume him in a fierce blaze, but from the ashes he will be tempered and forged with a heart of steel that can never be broken. Like the First Champion before him, he will walk alone for years before he first comes home to his destined place and finds his other half. Heir to the Patron of Warriors, his Great Love will be born again, and with her he will reside, and together they will unite the wolves under Luna's love and care. She will be his sheath and comfort, for he will face pain and suffering before his task is even begun. The blackness lying upon the land will recede when the Holy Light of Luna shines as he walks where shadows lie, as the Silver Guardian will unite the wolves and the wilds once more. In his gaze will be reflected the Judgment of our Mistress, as his Great Love will be the only one able to calm the storm that he will bring.

Only she will be sufficient to restore him and bring him home when the rage of battle has consumed him. May Luna have mercy upon the wicked, for the Silver Guardian will not.'"

Every single person's eyes were wide as they absorbed the ancient saga just lain at their feet. Lily was holding onto Dante tightly and Dante was staring at his lap with his eyes closed tightly and his hand wrapped around Lily's, while yes, she soothed him with her touch. Everyone in the room had tears streaming down their faces as words sounding so legendary made so much sense as they awakened so many long-lost dreams. Even the implacable Alpha Odin and his mate held each other closely as they sobbed together.

Alpha Lisette had managed to contain herself barely long enough to complete her recitation before she too had broken down in her sobbing mate's arms, and it was many minutes before she was able to compose herself sufficiently to speak again, and the rest were able to listen.

"Judging from everyone's heartfelt responses, I take it that we all now understand the implications of what we witnessed today. Nevertheless, I'll explain a little more.

"When I first met Dante, there were several things that gave me pause and tickled the back of my mind, but I couldn't put my finger on what they were. After what we all shared today, and how well everything matches the prophesy, there can be no doubt any longer. With Dante, the Royal Bloodline has returned to our people, and he is the Silver Guardian, sent to us by Luna. His eyes are the liquid silver of the moon, he has the warrior mark of Luna with his twin crossed swords and the moon branded upon his chest by Luna Herself. We all saw the glow of the silver-blue moonlight shining from him today, and his Great Love Lily is an O'Connor, which means 'Patron of Warriors' in the Gaelic tongue."

She turned her gaze to Dante and Lily. "My dears, your children will be the first of the Royal Bloodline to return your birthright to our people, and the light of the Champion will shine upon us all again. In the fullness of time you and Lily will lead us, and unite our people once again to be blessed under Luna's gaze and thrive under Her Love for Her children."

Everyone absorbed the gravity of Lisette's pronouncements before they all turned to look at Lily and Dante. Each Pack had been communicating through their bond, sorting through this revelation and what it meant, before they saw Dante and Lily nod to each other.

Finally Dante spoke having been silent the entire time up to now, "Prophetess Lisette, I will accept this responsibility and burden as I must. In time when I am called upon to do so I will lead our people, but only with Lily at my side. We will always act together, and we will defend our family and ourselves against our enemies without mercy and with extreme prejudice. We shall not be slain. History will not repeat itself with us.

"That being said, the O'Connor Pack is our home and our Pack, and we will not abandon them or leave them vulnerable. We will lead all who are worthy alongside us, unite our people, and usher in a new age for all lycans whom Luna deems worthy. Those she does not feel are fit to stand beside us will be wiped from our world, and we will hunt them down and cleanse the lycan race."

Dante took a deep breath as Lily leaned in and kissed his cheek and stroked his face, giving him strength and comfort. As he had spoken to the others, their bond had been wide open, and she had agreed with every word... some of them she had even supplied, during moments when he'd sought clarity.

After a minute of total silence in the room, Dante spoke again, "I will need help and support from everyone; new alliances will need to be formed and old alliances reaffirmed. I don't know where to even start, but we have some time to lay plans. This prophecy has only come to light for the first time tonight, and fulfilling it will not be done in a few weeks or a few months. It will likely be years before we see such dramatic change and such a resurgence of hope. But hope is what we shall offer, and what we shall jealously guard for all those seeking better days for our people."

Lily spoke next, with great conviction and strength as she visibly set her shoulders and straightened her back. "I too must pledge. I pledge to stand beside my mate forever, serving as his Great Love and Sheath against the violence that will threaten him and threaten us all. My Silver Guardian shall always know of my Great Love for him and of his for me, and he shall be able to rely upon my devotion and unwavering support for all time. We shall remake the Royal Bloodline ourselves, as we lead our people back to Luna's grace and love. We shall not falter and we shall not waver. Luna has chosen us for reasons we cannot know but for reasons nevertheless, and we shall always honor Her and trust in Her judgement; whatever She wills shall be done."

Odin addressed the room after some conversations within Packs had broken out and subgroupings talked amongst each other.

"This fulfillment of prophecy will mean war. There is no avoiding it, and it will be coming just as surely as the Moon rises in the night sky. Dante my son, I don't agree with you if you were indicating just now that we will have sufficient time to make plans at our leisure, although I am certain that much of such planning must be done under your leadership. But we must all begin to prepare immediately to make plans together.

"Dante and Lily must be protected above all others. We need to be able to meet, plan, share knowledge and resources, and toughen ourselves into the rocks that the wave of battle will crash upon. We don't know how or when we will start, I believe Luna will let us know, but we must begin planning and preparing now; there is no time to waste."

Everyone, including Dante, agreed with his words, and plans were tossed around the room as ideas were bounced off each other.

Alpha Jerome spoke next, "I think it will begin with President Victor and his Pack, and the faction of Packs that he leads. The darkness mentioned in the prophesy is emerging before us even as we speak, and we have seen the dark, aggressive thoughts and actions emerging at this very Conclave and recent ones before it. We should begin to investigate and monitor Victor and those associated with him, as well as the rest of the Council, immediately. We should all utilize of our wealth, connections and resources to get the jump on this, so we won't be caught unawares. In particular, we need to find out if there is any connection between the rogues and President Victor and his allies. It can't be an oversight that Victor has made no mention of these rogues. We need to find out what his goal is and what he is after."

The meeting lasted long into the night; they knew that others would realize Dante's heritage soon enough since they themselves had already done so, and developments would begin happening fast. Out of the meeting several things were decided.

-Recruitment of Packs and wolves sympathetic to their goals and the prophesy would be sought out.

-Defenses would be quickly but quietly increased in all their Packs.

-Training for combat would increase dramatically for all Packs.

-Many of the security measures that Dante and Ben had put in place would be utilized by all the rest too.

-Dante's Triple S Company would get busy sending everything out and getting them up and running, and he would be paid well. He was giving everyone amazing discounts, but there were heavy costs incurred in developing and assembling his products and services, and he would be paid for them.

-Lastly, the leadership of this new alliance of Packs would meet once a month to discuss anything that came up. The meeting's location would be a floating one and the time and location would be given out only a week beforehand to maximize its secrecy: security and secrecy would be paramount.

When the basics had been hashed out, everyone retired for the night. Dante and Lily had initially planned for an intimate night, but all that had changed with the revelations from Lisette. The meeting had gone late into the night, both were exhausted and neither wished to disrespect the other by being half asleep while they made love, so they decided to make some time the next evening to sneak away from everyone. Then Dante would get his 'victory sex', and Lily would get the all-consuming submission to her mate she craved. They fell asleep curled up in bed with Lily in her favorite spot.

***

The next morning once again saw Odin and Victoria, Lily and Dante, Ben and Sara and the other two Betas meeting for breakfast at their hotel. Lisette and Raphael and her Pack joined them too. To avoid arousing anyone's suspicions by changing their routine, the wolves from the Yellowstone and Crater Moon Packs stayed away. All four Packs would speak and act normally at the Conclave to avoid speculation and raising suspicion of any kind. Over breakfast, the two Packs quietly discussed some of the topics from last night, but didn't go into much detail since they didn't want to be overheard.

When breakfast wrapped up, they travelled to the

Conclave

Building and mingled with the other wolves and Alphas as they would normally before the start of the morning's meeting. Dante happened to see Dmitri skulking about; he was very obviously worse for wear after his beating at Dante's hands, but he was subdued, at least for now. Alpha Thomas and Alpha Jerome both stopped by and chatted, as well as a few other Alphas who had been impressed by yesterday's events. Soon it was 10am, all the Alphas were seated in the meeting hall and everyone else was situated in various other locations throughout the building and the meeting began.

For the most part it was more of the same as the previous day: aggressive suggestions, intimidating tactics from President Victor and his cohorts on any conceivable pretext, war mongering being tossed around, and an overall dark pall had fallen over the gathering.

There was a surprising motion to loosen the mating rules by lowering the mating age from 18 to 16. Fortunately such license for exploitation didn't pass, but rather than rejecting it out of hand, it was tabled for discussion at the next Conclave. If anyone needed further proof that darkness was invading the hearts of those in positions of power, that alone dispelled the doubts. It was clear that lines were being drawn between three factions of Alphas. The most vocal one was comprised of those who supported the bellicose attitudes of President Victor and the council. A quieter one consisted of those who were more traditional, wishing to preserve a balance with the humans around them, who were having cautious conversations, seeking out others of like mind. The quietest group of all was taking a 'wait and see' attitude and maintaining silence on all controversial subjects. A conflict was on the horizon, and many could see the writing on the wall.

The gathering wrapped up that afternoon, and most were returning to their hotels and would be flying back home to their Packs the next day. For Lily and Dante, it was now time to slip away and get some time alone with just the two of them. Dante was planning on taking Lily to dinner and then returning to their room for some long-awaited playtime.

***

Dante had picked out a neat beachfront eatery called Lique that was on the waterfront and was a jewel of a restaurant. He and Lily got a table on the patio right on the water, and just relaxed after the overwhelming past two days. They ordered mojitos, having enjoyed them so much their first night, and sipped on the refreshing drinks while gazing out over the water. They started off with an appetizer of scallops on the shell, and munched on the fresh seafood while they discussed everything that had happened in the last couple of days. The prophesy and what it meant for their future together was their primary topic.

Lily said at one point, "Between the prophesy and the burden that lays on us, the coming war and the Royal Bloodline resuming with us and our kids and all of that, it's all pretty heavy. I'm afraid all this portentous stuff will take away what we have, and how we began together. Things have gotten so big, and I don't want them to devour the small things that we treasure so much. I don't want outside influences to define who we are, and to shape our lives without our consent. I need to know that even if you're the Silver Guardian and I'm your Great Love, that it will still just be we 'plain folks' Dante and Lily who are kissing and making love and laughing and cuddling in our Cabin. That we don't lose the simple things that mean so much to us. I don't want to lose us while we save the world, as everyone is making it seem. Do you know what I mean?" Lily was concerned, and even fearful.

Dante took Lily's hand, running his thumb over her fingers and hand comfortingly and smiled reassuringly at her. "I do understand you love, really I do. Those are my fears and worries too. I'm not willing to give up our life together for a prophesy we never before knew about, and that had no impact on our lives until yesterday. I'm not willing to lose any of what we have, our passion and love, and especially not the little things. Yes, our lives are going to change and yes, I'm confident we each know our duty, but I won't allow the things that are important to us to be sacrificed. I promise we won't ever lose the special things about us that we love. We will still go on dates, we will still love each other at our Cabin, I will still sing to you, we will still cook together and tease each other, we will still make love and fuck like bunnies every chance we get. We will allow this to add to our lives, not to diminish them."

Lily felt much better and calmer, hearing him voice the same worries and the determination that they wouldn't change their love and lives any more than was required. They would grow stronger, not apart, and Lily was so grateful and thankful to her mate. He really was the best mate she could ever ask for, and he really was always taking care of her. She sighed dreamily thinking of all this, "I love you so much Dante, I won't ever let us drift apart for any reason!"

Their dinners arrived shortly after their heart to heart. Dante had ordered the Colorado Prime Lamb Chops, while Lily ordered the Seafood Risotto with mussels, scallops, calamari and tiger shrimp. It was a decadent treat for them both, and as was typical for them they shared bites back and forth as they smiled and loved and laughed, constantly flirting with each other and letting their worries drift away with the tide, which happened to be receding even as they dined together. It was a wonderful evening, and after paying their tab, they headed back to their hotel for some playtime that was significantly overdue.

***

Lily and Dante entered their suite at the hotel and made their way to the bedroom, with Lily leading the way. They hadn't spoken a word since entering the hotel; none was needed, since Lily's eyes said it all:

My darling, hold me and love me forever. Forsake all others for me and show me your passion and devotion. Take me and claim me as yours alone.

Dante slowly and with great care undressed his mate, running his fingertips across her skin, his lips trailing along behind them as he removed her clothing and exposed her creamy skin. Lily was breathing deeply with little gasps and pants in response. When she stood naked before him she placed her hand on his chest to indicate 'my turn' as she took over and started to undress him. Every inch of Dante's skin as she revealed it was treasured with the gentlest whisper of a kiss as her lips graced his sculpted body. She kneeled to remove the last of his clothing, his boxer briefs, and he stood over her in his masculine glory.

She smiled up, not at a prophesied icon but at her own Dante, as she took him into her mouth and slowly made love to him with her lips and tongue, making him moan with passion. She gently ran her tongue up his length and across the underside of his cock, teasing him into further hardness. She suckled on him and stroked him for several minutes until his legs were trembling in need, before he gently nudged her to stand up.