Growing up my family was very close. We got together for everything. Any little excuse to have a big dinner together or a day out on the lake. Barbeques and ice chests and lots of laughter with stories being shared over games and drinks. My uncle, Anthony, was a wonderful and kind hearted man but he could never find the perfect woman to be his wife. He had married and divorced four times over the years. But the love always seemed to fade and no children ever came of any of his marriages. My mom and my Aunt, Rachel, both had three children. My mom found love with my brother and sister’s dad but it didn’t last and then she met my dad and they had me. My aunt had similar luck with her husband, but she walked away with three children from her first marriage. Her youngest, my cousin Abby, and I were very close. Considering all her siblings were brothers and mine had a decent age gap between us.

When I was 16 my uncle found ‘the one’. He was absolutely over the moon with her. It was like a light we didn’t know was there was flipped on within my uncle. Lynelle was her name, a tall beautiful woman with long blonde hair, dark green eyes, and an absolutely perfect build. Muscular but curvy. She was just as wonderful and kind hearted as my uncle was. There was just one thing. None of us knew anything about her besides her name and her personality as a person. Eventually a time came when a select few family members, those deemed most open minded and trustworthy. Lynelle and my uncle sat myself, my sister Jenna, my cousin Abby and my aunt down and let us know that Lynelle had been granted permission, with proper judgment, to allow four members of my family to know more about her.  

This was the day that I learned the world wasn’t as it seemed. Werewolves, vampires, and lycans did actually exist. Yes, I said werewolves and lycans. I had a hard time understanding that at first too. I thought Lycan was just another name…a more technical name for werewolf, but that apparently was not the case. Werewolves and lycans are very similar but similar in a way how there are cats and then there are lions or tigers. Werewolves are three times stronger than humans, heal quickly, but live about as long as humans do. Lycans are three times stronger than werewolves, heal even faster than them, and live about three times longer than humans. This is what I learned when my Uncle Anthony and Aunt Lynelle told us of her background. She was a lycan. One of the best warriors and commanders of the Royal Moon Fire Pack. It was a lot to take in and wrap our heads around. I was glad it wasn’t just one of us that was told because I think it would have been harder to cope with by ourselves. But we had each other to talk about it and talk with my aunt and uncle as we adjusted to this new idea of the world around us.

The question did come up about the werewolves and the moon and turning people they bite. Which turned out to be true to an extent. Aunt Lynelle explained that it's rare and only happens if a werewolf has been exposed to a certain disease. They call it The Madness, and it's something similar to rabies. A werewolf who contracts this madness loses their control over when they turn and the full moon makes the instinct to turn even more intense. They are far more violent and wild and this is where they will often cross paths with humans and bite them. Due to similar genetic makeup between werewolves and humans this means that humans are susceptible to the madness as well and this is how the human legend of becoming a werewolf if bitten by one came from. Lycans are resistant to the madness so it is something they have been working to find a treatment for to help the werewolves hopefully someday rid the world of the disease.

Over the next 2 years I learned that their differences don’t stop at strength and healing abilities.

Werewolves let their emotions to the surface far easier. This meant their emotions had a steady up and down flux, albeit intense. While lycans tend to keep themselves collected most of the time. But when a lycan lets their emotions rule or overwhelm them it can be very intense and dangerous even to other lycans. Both are territorial, Lycans are far more possessive. Lycans are also far less in population than werewolves and live much longer than them. For these reasons werewolves respect lycans, even treat them as royalty among them. Lycans tend to also be unbiased in werewolf matters. As a result, lycans tend to have some governing hand in werewolf packs. A point of reason for them. Werewolf alphas will seek council with lycans in territorial disputes or for advice on issues they find themselves at a loss for.

The only reason I learned these things over the last two years was because myself, my cousin Abby, my sister Jenna, and my Aunt Rachel have all been allowed by the Alpha or in this case, the Lycan King to visit his pack as we please. We have this privilege because of the respect from my Aunt Lynelle’s position and the value my uncle brought with him when Lynelle identified him as her mate. 

Despite being human my uncle has proven his own value to the pack and is well respected as a strong asset to them. He was a doctor who specialized in internal medicine and had a secondary study of infectious disease. Before he became a doctor he had been an accountant and when he realized it wasn’t for him and he wanted to help people he decided to use his accounting to get himself through med school. These skill sets have allowed him to help Royal Moon Fire Pack to become even more financially stable than they were before and now he is putting even more focus on his infectious disease knowledge as he works side by side with other medical lycans to try to find a treatment for The Madness. He has had The Royal Moon Fire Pack and even had other packs, werewolf and lycan alike, request his services when they learned of what he did and is doing for his own pack.  

The Royal Moon Fire Pack is one of the oldest and most powerful Lycan packs which is why they have the respect and position they have among Lycans and werewolves. This rich history is one of the many reasons I personally loved coming to visit my uncle. While some areas of the pack house castle were restricted to me, the library was extensive and beautiful. All the architecture here is breathtaking with a mixture of Gothic and Renaissance architecture and sprawling gardens. Their territory is huge and is surrounded by forests. I’ve always loved the outdoors and here within the Royal Moon Fire territory there is so much to enjoy, take in, and do. 

Now that I’ve told you more than I probably needed to, let me bring the focus to me at this point in time. My name is Lily, I just turned 19, I am five foot two with a…healthy build, fiery, curly, auburn red hair, and the feature I am proud to be blessed with, two different eye colors. My left eye is blue and my right eye is green. When I was 15 my mom passed away, just before Uncle Anthony had met Aunt Lynelle. My dad had left when I was little and barely participated in my life. I was okay with that. He had his choices and missed out on things he could never imagine or get back. That was his loss and I wasn’t going to let it ruin anything for me. But when my mom passed away my Aunt Rachel took me in. My sister would have but she had her own two babies to care for and raise. And as far as our close family bond, a majority of those family get togethers and barbecues happen at one of two places. My Aunt Rachel’s house or my Uncle Anthony’s house. 

After I graduated high school I was still 17, late summer birthday, I started working as a receptionist in a corporate office as I geared up to start going to college to study international relations. I wanted a career that would have me travel the world. I am also a hobby artist. It has been a little over a year now. I am doing well in school, I love my classes and the friends I have made so far. I am also one of the supervising receptionists at work now! But it is the week after my 19th birthday and it is my summer break from school. I was finally able to get a few days off from work, a small vacation. And I am packed up and ready to go visit my Aunt and Uncle in their pack territory with my cousin Abby.