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Astra Filium

Summary:

Louis’ father, Markus, had extinguished the hearth’s fire and picked up his younger brother while the Omega pried himself away from daydreams. Markus offered his son a half-smile. “You will be good for him, and he for you.”

 

 

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter 1: Prologue

Notes:

Dedicated to users sexystylinson, nocontrol_lou and Thousandstimes

Chapter Text

“You’re going to be Astra Filium, and it’ll be the hardest thing you ever do.” Louis’ father, deceptively youthful in appearance despite his ninety-four years, relates to him.

They were sitting in front of the hearth in their family cabin three nights after an estranged but not unbidden suitor – an Alpha – came calling. Granted, that was after Louis stirred quite a scene in the Alpha’s domain.

“Comforting.” Louis murmured through a half-smile.

 

Of his twenty-three years, he’s been an Omega wolf for ten and never experienced fear so leaden that it prevented him from acting on a conscious decision. Trepidation perhaps has made an appearance or two. Like now in the company of his father and dozing little brother the emotion settles its unnerving tendrils on his core and tugs every so often to remind the Omega it’s still there. But the frigid talons of dread have evaded Louis all his life. That’s his blessing, his mother seems convinced; his grandmother was the bravest Alpha to lead their pack and she also was unburdened by fear or self-doubt. Her name was Aelia and she was devotedly fierce in the protection of her pack.

When Louis was born two days before his revered grandmother died, she had been in self-imposed isolation that is a tell-tale sign of a lycanthrope’s end. Aelia prepared to lay down for the last time by drawing away from her loved ones and her dear pack members; her mate, Marcella, had died a year earlier and Aelia was eager to be reunited with her.  

Six months of hiding herself came to a shattering halt when Aelia made her way to the packhouse for Louis’ birth. She stood at the door, distant but not detached, as her first grandchild took his first ever breath and spoke two words in a voice that was coarse and grating from disuse:  Ex Astra.

“From the stars.” Louis’ mom had told him when he confirmed as an Omega and the stories of his mischievous childhood were being told, with some tweaking. “She was much like her old self when she approached you that day, though she never tried to pick you up.”

Louis felt a pang of melancholy when he thought of his illustrious grandmother, a touch of misery and a tide of admiration. Not everyone could harbour love for her, but respect for her was standard. They shared a birthmark as well, a fact that always felt like a blanket of reassurance and comfort when Louis traced the patch of skin. Sitting under a tree at the breach of winter he would study the ‘diya’ shaped mark on his wrist and smile; the wind would pick up just a little when he did, he mused to himself. The diya is an Eastern festive lamp used once bring the blessings of the Gods to peoples’ homes and Louis hopes that the slightly irregular imitation on his wrist is more than a coincidence.

Now, he tended the subduing fire and rested his head on his father’s knee in tentative recollection of his meeting with the Alpha that he is going to Bond with, Harry. Mordere is what the old wolves called it – the mating act that binds two souls and the subsequent bite offered to the Omega by their dominant as a private homage to the unity. Recent laws were passed to grant Omegas the right to resist a Bond mark as one could see it as archaic, but many were honoured to bear their Alpha’s bite.

Louis planned to grant Harry permission for the Bond mark. While the Alpha managed to render unease in nearly every person within earshot – he had been stepped on as a pup by his father’s aggressor and the injury left with a permanent soft grunt at each exhale – Harry also holstered a prim devotion to the wellbeing of his pack that only ancient bloodlines could master.

Harry had ancient eyes; Louis could describe them in no other way. They had travelled through time, garnering eons of knowledge and perhaps arrogance as they awaited the birth of this Alpha. Or maybe they had lived in many heads, gazed through hundreds of perspectives and deposited all that agedness into Louis’ future mate. Slightly weathered marble was washed in saffron then a blue dye from the woad plant by an ancient and developed the alluring emerald green of Harry’s eyes. Broad but not freakish for a dominant lycanthrope and pale enough to render some concern in Louis, was the Alpha.

“You like him.” Louis’ father interrupted his shameless thoughts.

The Omega’s hum was distant. “I don’t loathe him.”

“That is the standard your mother held for me when we Bonded. Your nest will prosper, I feel.”

“He still does frighten me.”

“He is an Alpha from a bloodline of domineering Alphas, his great grandfather was the most hellish by far.”

Of course, everyone heard tell of Cassius. Harry’s great grandfather had lost his right to be pack leader when his son challenged him and won. Cassius took on the name Vetus Lupus in their pack which means ‘Old Wolf’ and it enraged him so that Cassius bided his time in hostile peace until Harry’s birth. Cassius never took a mate and lived an unnaturally long life – many accused him of practising the darker arts to attain this – which allowed him to challenge Harry’s father, Asher, when the pup was born. Their nest was at its most vulnerable, but Cassius was defeated, and Harry was injured. Unfortunately, Harry’s father suffered fatal injuries and died a day later. With a new-born Alpha pup, Harry’s mother, Anne, could act as pack leader until Harry came of age.

There had been a brief verbal tussle the day of their meeting – very minor if you ask Louis – and things were tense between him and Louis. That is a story for another day. Regardless, in a moment of lapsing stiffness, Harry angled his piercing stare at Louis with the blank concentration of a student or admirer. His stoic expression did not give as he respectfully nodded at Louis’ parents then the Omega himself before leaving.

The two weeks that followed were not unlike the rest of Louis’ days spent assisting in the cabin that took care of pups or preparing the meat that Alphas brought back for supper. Unbeknownst to him, Harry’s mom dispatched a sort of courtesy letter to them in fervent apology of the poor outcome of their meeting. Louis’ mother took one glance at it and imposed it on her mate along with a soliloquy about how fate itself would bring Louis and Harry together if not them.

In the letter Anna had spoke in jest of her talk with Harry not seven nights after leaving Louis’ home. According to her: ‘If I am to call myself proficient in reading my brooding boy son, I’d say that he could be smitten. At least to a degree his stoicism allows. Can you believe he tried to describe your Louis’ eyes as ‘encapsulated stars on the brink of victory or collapse’? Dare I say, when did he get a close enough look?’

The mention of stars rang too similar to Aelia’s name for the Omega and Louis’ mom, Johannah, was thrilled enough to drag her son across part of their wilderness for a meeting of reconsideration. Thankfully, Harry had not bothered with any other possible mates and – if Louis would be so bold as to admit – the Alpha looked pleased at their reuniting. That was four days ago, and a day later Harry had brought some of his wolves to partake in an informal festivity that familiarised their packs and eased nerves going forward.

A bonfire was lit. Pairs and trios danced in the warmth of the dancing golden flames, crying out at the moon in song and drunken delight. Though the impending Bond of Harry and Louis that united two distinguished lineages and packs were being celebrated, the two did not have a moment of privacy.

Harry seemed to frighten the pups enough that they’d yap or playfully snarl up at his towering dignity and he would simply stare back at them like he’d never seen a pup before. Louis had to save a few from aggravating him too much. Mostly however, Louis would catch Harry’s eye over the bonfire or glance up from the meat he was slicing to find the Alpha’s gaze fixed studiously on him.

Louis’ father, Markus, had extinguished the hearth’s fire and picked up his younger brother while the Omega pried himself away from daydreams. Markus offered his son a half-smile. “You will be good for him, and he for you.”