Chapter 1

EDEN CITY

ONE WEEK AFTER THE BATTLE OF FREEDOM'S PLAIN

There was not much left that wasn't touched by destruction in some manner. The High Coven frigate had laid waste to Eden City in a way their ground artillery couldn't. His home was destroyed, one of the thousands across the landscape of the city, the buildings and skyscrapers they had built in the past year now nothing but rubble, broken glass and twisted steel. He felt a pang of regret touch him as he gazed on the city below him.

His city.

It had been slightly more than a year since he had returned to earth after the passing of the comet. That hunk of ice and gas that had passed between earth and the moon had set in motion a chain of events that had brought him five hundred years into the future, into a world he could never have imagined, and it had irreparably altered the course of his life forever. That comet had brought him the answers to the questions that had plagued him throughout his thirty-three years of life. Well ... the thirty-three years he knew about anyway he mused.

The questions he had asked his whole life about who he was and more importantly what he was.

A year ago if someone would have told him he was actually three thousand and twenty-five years old and he was actually a wolf that could take the form of a man he would have attempted to have that person committed, if he hadn't shot the person for being insane first. Martin Leonidas couldn't contain the small chuckle that escaped his lips at that thought.

He was a werewolf.

The mythical creature from ancient earth history meant to terrorize small children in stories and movies and nightmares. And not just any common horror story werewolf, but a werewolf that wasn't even from this planet. Martin Leonidas shook his head gently as he sipped the mug of strong coffee he held in his hand.

He had begun life under the impression he was a man genetically created to be a superior soldier, crossbred with animal DNA to make him stronger, faster and harder to kill. If he had known the truth then, he had no doubts he would have gone insane. He discovered at a young age that he had the ability to focus his mind and shift his physical form into that of a very large, raven black wolf. There were two others that discovered this ability the same time he did, and they were told by the man who supposedly created them it was due to their animal DNA. Even then part of him didn't believe that.

When the Genome genetic program begun by the United States began to unravel and their super soldiers began to mentally snap at an alarming rate, Martin and the two others like him acted. By now he was leading a team of elite Navy SEALS, all genetically enhanced soldiers, and when they saw what was afflicting the other genomes, Martin and the others took it upon themselves to bite their team mates and make them something different, passing on their genes through their salvia and blood. In essence he created the first full fledged werewolf unit in the world.

Or so he thought.

The comet had changed all that, as well as his perceptions on everything he had ever believed.

They had been assigned as the security force for an International Base on the moon. EDEN it had been called. When the comet had passed between the earth and the moon, gravitational forces generated by the comet began their history altering events. The moon's rotation came to a halt, while the earth's rotation increased. Martin didn't pretend to understand it, but when all was said and done, they had come four hundred and seventy-eight years into the future, and the world as they once knew it no longer existed.

Those first few hours were the worse, everyone and everything they had known was now gone with no way to get it back. Their first mission back to earth resulted in the discovery of things that had once only existed in their legends and minds. A hundred new species of elves now inhabited the earth, not to mention many not so nice creatures and genetically engineered beasts that had been created to serve the High Coven.

The Vampire High Coven or The Alliance as it was called on earth. More creatures that had once existed only in movies and books, and they were far more sinister and vile than he had ever known. Martin had never believed that earth was the center of the universe or that life existed only on this planet. Yet what he had discovered in the last year went far beyond the breadth of that belief.

He was a Lycavorian ... a werewolf ... and his people were not from this world. They had come to earth as early as 950 B.C. earth time, to hide and escape the persecution and slavery that the High Coven had inflicted on them. In 519 B.C., in an act to save their last hope, the Lycavorian King had ordered his unborn son and ten thousand other fetuses spirited away to earth to hide and perhaps one day return and save their people. That unborn son and those with him were implanted into the wombs of ten thousand women of the Greek City State of Sparta, and so began the true history of Sparta, and not the one told in ancient earth history books.

That unborn son became King of Sparta, the most militaristic state in the area, and also the most brutally efficient and deadly. The Spartan mystique was advanced even more with the countless victories they had over the years, even before the rise of that King. When he took power they were elevated to the status of legend.

The history books still considered it one of the most brilliant displays of courage and fighting skill even to this day, The Battle of Thermopylae and the stand of the 300 Spartans. King Leonidas had led three hundred of his Spartans and several thousand allies to stand against the invading Persian army. They held out for three days, slaughtering close to fifty thousand Persian soldiers, nearly half of them vampires. King Leonidas knew what he was ... who he was, and he knew who the Persian leader was as well. Xerxes was the son of the Vampire High Lord. When Leonidas refused to bow to the Vampire Prince, a rebellion that still waged across the stars to this day began. Leonidas had two sons, one who was but a child when he died, the other still within his mother's womb.

Martin was that unborn son. He was the son of the Spartan King and a Lycavorian. And now he had taken his father's place as the King of Sparta, and of the Lycavorian people.

"Talk about out of this world." Martin muttered to himself as he let his eyes wander back to the landscape of the city below him.

He wore only a loose fitting pair of black pants, his upper body bare. The sculpted muscle was reminiscent of the sculptures of the Greek Gods Achilles and Hercules. His six foot two frame was deeply tanned, the muscles lean and ripped to perfection. His black hair hung almost to his shoulders now, his goatee neatly trimmed and evenly layered. His eyes were deep dark brown pools of liquid that could pierce your soul if he so desired. Black flame tattoos extended up his arms and across his shoulders as well as across his rippled abdomen. The result of a drinking binge in Taiwan so many years ago that it seemed like forever. He now had half a dozen scars in the last year along to add to the collection that adorned his body.

Nauta Melme? (Bounded Love)The soft female voice slipped into his thoughts with ease, like soft wind chimes coming together in the breeze and Martin Leonidas turned slowly.

Did elves exist? All Martin had to do to answer that question was to look at the five foot seven frame of the female that stepped onto the patio with him. Her platinum hair hung to the middle of her back, long since washed of the blood and grime from a week ago. Her deeply tanned skin was flawless like soft satin, and the sheet wrapped around her did nothing to hide the lean muscular figure that spoke of pleasures Martin had explored many times since she had come into his life. He watched her step out fully onto the patio, one hand gripping the mug of coffee like him, the other going up to tuck her silky hair behind the one thing that made her so very different. Her ears were elegantly rounded and almost three inches in length, curving gently to a point.

This delicious woman was an elf. And not just any elf female, but she was his Queen, his lover and one of the deadliest females walking the planet right now.

Melda Min. (Beloved One) He told her as she stepped up to him on his left side and snuggled her lush body up against him.

We wondered where you went. Dysea spoke softly as she sipped her coffee.

Martin turned as the two remaining women who shared his life and his bed stepped onto the patio, both with coffee in their hands.

Anja ... her Persian red hair shining in the rising sun wore only one of his old buttoned down shirts, the tails of the shirt falling to her firm tanned thighs. He had known Anja the longest of any of his Queens ... their relationship progressing through many natural and unnatural obstacles before they both realized they were meant to be together. She was the shortest of the three at only five foot three, but she was all muscle and curves, her large breasts straining against the confines of his old shirt. Her soft jade green eyes bespoke of great intelligence and compassion, and it suited her since she was the most skilled doctor and genetics engineer Martin had ever met. Many took her short stature as an advantage for them and tried to intimidate her because of this. They soon realized that Anja had the shortest temper of all of them when it came to arrogant and pompous men and women, and she was also one of the most lethal women walking the planet at this time.

Then there was Aricia.

Martin inhaled her lavender coco scent deeply as she moved around in front of him while Anja took much the same position as Dysea on his opposite side. Aricia was wrapped in a similar sheet as Dysea and she pressed back against him holding her coffee with both hands. She was the youngest of his Queens, but she was also a Pureblood Lycavorian like himself, and it was Aricia who could make his wolf blood sizzle like no one else. Her five foot seven height was all muscle and firm lush flesh, having been born in the city of Sparta. Even today the men and the women still trained intensely, forging their bodies into temples. Aricia's hair match Martin's in its blackness and it fell even longer than Dysea's to the middle of her perfectly shaped buttocks. Her skin was tanned to almost a bronze color, her cheekbones high and regal. Yet it was her eyes that caused Martin's heart to do little flips every time he looked into them. A sparkling azure blue color that never ceased to look upon him with love and the promise of pleasures unlike he would ever experience.

As she pressed back against him Martin dropped his head lower and gently nuzzled Aricia's neck, hearing her sigh in blissful contentment. He did the same with Anja and then Dysea, nuzzling her sensitive elf ears and watching as her eyes closed in warmth and love.

Martin loved them all with every fiber of his being, but as his free arm draped over Aricia's shoulder and she nuzzled his forearm, pulling his arm closer across her firm breasts, he knew that Aricia was the one he could not survive without. She was of his kind, a Lycavorian and a Pureblood, and she held a part of him that Anja and Dysea would never have. They knew this fact of course and it mattered not to them. They all loved Martin with everything that they were, and that love was returned to them by him, and it also extended to each other as well. They shared the same bed, the same man and each other, and were not in the least bit shy or ashamed of that fact. All of them knew it was meant to be. All of them knew they would add one more before they were fully complete, but that would come about of its own accord.

I wanted to watch the sun come up. Martin told them.

This is how they spoke when it was just the four of them. Lycavorians were all telepathic, some more powerful than others, and it allowed them to communicate with their minds. When Martin had turned Dysea and Anja they too had absorbed this ability, and now they were the four most powerful telepaths on earth and with few exceptions, anywhere in the universe. Their people called it Mindvoice and it is how they had chosen to speak with each other when they were alone. It brought them closer together.

Would you like to try again? Anja asked with a small laugh.

Tell others that my love... Aricia spoke now. Do not try and tell us the same thing. What are you thinking about? Share it with us.

I'm thinking about ... I'm thinking about all that we have lost to get to this point. Martin replied knowing he could never lie to them.

Yes. Dysea spoke evenly. She had been a Queen before, and would be again, of far more people and worlds, but she was also the most politically astute of them. We have lost much, but we have gained so much more Nauta Melme.

Have we? Martin asked gently, Anari; Dekton; Julie; Tari; Eden City in ruins, almost four hundred thousand dead, equal that wounded. He shook his head. That does not include the thirteen thousand Spartans and twenty odd ships that were destroyed. I've never ... I've never been responsible for the loss of so many who follow me.

Nauta Melme ... you did not force this upon anyone. Do you think we did not feel the pride that swept the field that day? Those who fought beside you, Spartan and elf and man, they wanted to be there. It was their choice. Just as it is their choice to remain here within this city we have built and return it to what it was. And even more.

We have waited so long for you to come to us my love. Aricia spoke softly, pulling his arm tighter around her, Our own people ... the elves. You are our King and we would die for you.

What if I don't want people willing to die for me Aricia?

Aricia didn't turn her head to look at him. What if the sun did not come up in the morning? Or set in the afternoon? There are some things that we can not change Martin. You are the son of King Leonidas. You are the King our people have waited over three thousand years for. You are the King the elves have waited five hundred years for.

They don't follow you because of who you are Marty. Anja spoke now, pressing her body tighter to him. They follow you because of what you represent.

What do I represent?

Hope. Aricia said. Just as your father represented hope. Your aura projects hope my love, hope for the future, for the present. It inspires everyone around you to do more than they thought they could. You ... you make them better. That is why they follow you, and that is why they will die for you.

Martin leaned over and nuzzled the back of her neck. How exactly did I manage to come across you three again?

We were asking ourselves that same question last night. Anja spoke. We were wondering whether we should trade up for a better model maybe. The one we have has been decidedly lacking in attention giving the last couple of days.

Martin turned his head to look at her, and Anja smiled when she saw his eyes change to those yellow/gold orbs they all adored so much. Martin lowered his psychic shields and hit them with the full force of his Alpha wolf aura. He saw Anja's eyes close in instant arousal and felt both Aricia and Dysea push back against him as it swept through them with love, hunger and desire.

I'll show you attention! Martin snapped.

Aricia let out a small yelp of surprise when he lifted her into his arms and tossed her over his shoulder as he turned. Anja and Dysea were already scrambling back into their borrowed home giggling like school girls.

Melyanna what have you done? Dysea teased as they saw him following them quickly. You've created a beast!

Anja chuckled. I guess we'll have to surrender to this beast and tame him then.

They turned to watch him enter the small room and slam his hand against the panel on the side closing the door. He and Aricia were already locked in a blistering kiss that was sending heated waves of passion and hunger through both their auras and passing it to Anja and Dysea. They looked at one another with hunger in their eyes now.

I like the beast. Dysea spoke.

LYCAVORIAN LEONIDAS-CLASS ATTACK CRUISER

LEONIDAS I

ORBITING EARTH

Martin still could not believe he was walking on a starship.

And not just any starship; but a starship that bore his father's name, and a starship that was nearly two thousand meters long. He had almost hyperventilated when he first came up to this ship three days ago, and his mind was still attempting to grasp the sheer size of it. Not to mention the hundred and thirteen other ships of equal or slightly smaller size. The remainder of the Lycavorian Home Guard Fleet had broken all engineering protocols in reaching earth when they did, burning out what Martin now knew were the LSD coils of their ships. The Light Speed Drive coils that allowed them to move through the stars at faster than light velocity. Riall had told him what they had done to reach earth as they had, breaking all known speed records not to mention dozens of engineering violations.

Martin watched his mother's mate as he led them through the long corridors, ignoring the looks of shock and awe he got from the crewmen they passed. Andreus found it quite amusing as he walked beside his King. He had developed a unique relationship with the King he would die so willingly for. Martin held nothing back from him, and in some respects Andreus was his single most important confidant. Part of that Andreus knew was due to his sister being one of Martin's Queens, but the largest part was that he and his King had been together for almost a full year now, and in that time they had survived enough to last ten years and they had formed a bond that would never be broken.

Riall waved his hand over the small panel on the bulkhead and the doors slid open to reveal a small greeting room that connected to the larger conference room with earth as its backdrop. Martin wasn't staring at the blue green planet below as he entered the room; he was gazing at the dark haired beauty that was his mother.

Riall watched with a smile as his young King strode across the room and lifted his mother into his arms, hugging her tightly and breathing of her warm spice scent. Gorgo for her part could not contain the smile that split her face as she embraced the broad shoulders of the son she had thought lost nearly three thousand years ago. They had hardly been apart the last few days, attempting to regain what the Coven had taken from them. Gorgo was no longer afraid to speak of her love of Leonidas or Martin's older brother who was murdered by the High Coven. Her love for Riall was strong enough to withstand anything now as they had been mated for over two thousand years, and she had regaled her lost son for hours with the answers to all of the questions he had longed to have answered.

Martin set his mother down and looked at her. "It's been a long time mother." He said.

Gorgo laughed and squeezed his arm. "It was only eight hours my son. Even we wolves must sleep." She replied.

Martin nodded slowly. "Yeah ... well sleep's overrated right now."

"We will have many more hours together Martin. There is so much I want to show you. And you must meet your brothers and sisters when we return to Apo Prime." Gorgo said sniffing the air around him. "And you need to stop pestering your Queens and get some sleep. You have bags under your eyes and..."

"Gorgo ... he is a grown man." Riall stepped forward now. "And I don't see the Queens beating him away with sticks either."

Martin turned to look at Riall. "They did this morning." He spoke with a grin.

Gorgo rolled her eyes and shoved him away, "Men!" She exclaimed. "You Alphas are all the same! Where is Aricia? I would rather spend time with her than listen to you to speak of your conquests."

Martin chuckled. "She's helping Anja and Dysea in the main hospital." He answered.

"Good ... then I get to spend time with all of my son's Queens." Gorgo spoke as she headed for the door.

Martin looked at Riall as she left the conference room. "I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing." He said.

Riall smiled at his comment. "After two thousand three hundred years I still ask myself that same question sire when she tells me that."

Martin looked at him for a long moment. "I can feel the happiness and love in her for you Riall. Please don't think that my returning from the dead has changed that."

Riall shook his head and moved closer. "Your mother loved your father sire. With all that she was. We traveled on that ship for nearly two hundred years together and not a day went by after you were placed in the sleep chamber that she was not beside you for at least part of the day. When she lost you ... I did not think she would survive. She is far stronger than I sire, and I count myself blessed to have her love now." He smiled and motioned with his arm into the larger conference room. "Perhaps if you'll allow me sometime I will tell you of our early time together, but for now the others are waiting sire."

Martin took a deep breath and walked into the larger conference room where he saw Daniel speaking with Walter at one end of the table. General Vistr who he had met on the surface and Admiral Ceneu were present, as were two other men.

Legsim got to his feet as the son of Leonidas entered the room and he was struck by the incredible similarities between father and son. There were many images of the senior Leonidas, and with the exception of the length of his hair, this young man could have been him. He stepped into the middle of the floor and watched as Martin went to where Daniel and Walter were getting to their feet. He and the giant black man embraced like brothers Legsim saw, and he saw that the rumors and stories that had been circulating were true. These two men were like brothers of the blood, and nothing would keep them apart. Legsim was fascinated with Daniel, as he had not one, but two female elves as mates. The stunningly beautiful red haired female that he had turned and the enticing dark skinned Drow. And if the rumor was true, Daniel's two mates were similar to Martin's three Queens in that they were not shy about the affection they shared for each other.

The Drow elves had become something of a treasure to those elves within the fleet. The Lycavorian Union did not have elves with such unique coloring, especially of their shimmering white hair. That they were as lethal as they were unique made them very popular among the elves in the fleet, and they could be found among these Drow whenever he saw them on the surface.

"Sire this is Ambassador Legsim ... the elfin representative to the Union Senate." Riall spoke as he motioned to Legsim.

Martin looked at the tall male elf and held out his hand. "Ambassador ... it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I understand I have you to thank for landing your ship where you did and ordering your gunners to provide us support."

Legsim bowed his head slightly. "It seemed like the right thing to do sire."

Martin nodded. "It helped save our asses." He said.

Legsim looked at him, "Milord?" He asked.

Riall smiled. "I have discovered Legsim that the King has a unique vocabulary we will have to grow accustomed to over time. His comment was a show of thanks and respect."

Legsim smiled and nodded, "Thank you sire."

Martin looked at him and nodded. "I got a lot to learn I guess uhu?" He spoke.

Legsim looked at Martin somewhat startled, "Sire..." He said after a moment. "Perhaps not so much as you might believe."

Riall squeezed Martin's arm pulling him away from Legsim. "Sire ... this is First Commander Ranati. I took the liberty of assigning him to your personal team. Your Royal Captain tells me you have your own personal group of seven that you prefer to work with. Ranati will be able to answer most questions you might have."

Martin nodded to the Lycavorian man. "Welcome aboard."

"Thank you sire," The young man asked, looking a little shell shocked to be in such a position. He was a junior First Commander of Intelligence, and had been stunned when Riall came to him to fill this position until they returned to Apo Prime.

Martin nodded and went to the table where he settled into the chair between Walter and Daniel, surprising those in the room. Ceneu looked at him.

"Sire ... you ... you should sit at the head of the table." He spoke.

Martin looked at him. He knew who the reptilian looking Admiral was now, he was kind of hard to forget, but Martin had taken a liking to him for his blunt nature and straight talking mannerisms. "Why?"

"You are King." Ceneu spoke as if this was obvious to anyone. "It is your ... it is your right and your station."

Martin leaned forward across the shiny steel grey marble top of the table. "Ok ... let's get something straight right now." Martin spoke calmly. "I'm King ... I get that part ... really I do. Helen ... The Oracle ... she made me realize that, but I am not a fucking god, so please stop tap dancing around me concerning all things! We got business, so let's get to it!"

This shocked everyone in the room except Walter and Daniel, who had smiles on their faces. Legsim settled into his chair with his own smile forming on his face. This was going to be an experience he would remember for quite some time.

Ceneu got to his feet quickly and went to the map chart on the wall. "Milord ... we have completed repairs to all ships damaged in the battle. The rest of the Home Guard Fleet has arrived in system and I have deployed them in a standard planetary defensive grid. Two additional Fleet Groups have departed Apo Prime and will arrive in four days, following our route."

"So fast?" Walter asked from his chair.

"They left three days after we did Senior Polemarch." Ceneu replied. "Prime Minister Deia felt that you would want to secure earth permanently sire."

Martin nodded. "I do."

Ceneu nodded. "The two Fleet Groups will be accompanied by a hundred Class Six cargo ships bringing food, medical supplies, and building materials. Four of the six major Engineering Corporations in the Union are sending large work forces to begin building defensive platforms and a Jump Gate to connect with the corridors already established. They will also lend their skill to the skilled men and women you already have here sire. What you built here Milord, the city below, in only a year? It was truly a work of genius. The Prime Minister also sent the three most qualified individuals she could find that you can consider for Earth's Governor. She..."

"Wait ... what was that?" Martin asked quickly. "Earth's Governor?"

Legsim nodded. "Every planet within the Union is allowed to choose a Governor to oversee the disposition of forces and trade routes and such Milord. It's a fairly mundane position, but it carries some prestige to it."

Martin shook his head. "Earth already has a Governor, if that's what you are calling it, three of them in fact."

Riall leaned forward sensing he was about to tread very thin ice with his King over this. He had noticed over the last few days that the son of Leonidas abhorred any type of political posturing and favors. "The Prime Minister felt it would be prudent to have someone ... more experienced to handle things sire."

Martin shook his head again. "Tarifa, Aihola and Selene have my full and complete trust. They will be the ones in charge when I leave."

Ceneu looked at him, pressing further. "Sire ... one ... one of the female elves you speak of..." This news caused Legsim to look at Martin surprised. He had talked briefly with the female elf Tarifa and found her to be competent, but he hadn't known the King was going to eave them in charge. "She is a..."

Martin nodded. "Yep ... she's a vampire. And her Drow lover is a vampire. And Aihola is half vampire and Tarifa is now one of us. I get that entirely Admiral. Tarifa was and is a Queen in her own right, as is Aihola. Selene is one of the finest administrators I've ever seen, and between the three of them I have no doubt they can handle whatever might come up."

Legsim leaned forward now. "Sire ... these ... these positions also have some political importance."

"I thought you said it was a mundane job." Martin said looking at him.

"It is sire ... but it does give the individual certain..."

"Certain what ... Ambassador Legsim?" Martin asked his eyes steely.

"Certain political clout sire," Legsim replied unfazed.

Martin sat back in his chair and nodded his head. "So they are positions of favor really?" He said, "Rewards for being good little boys and girls."

Legsim nodded, "Harshly put sire, but technically accurate." He answered. "The three individuals Deia is sending were next in line for such a position."

"Tough!" Martin spoke. "They can suck it up and drive on. Tarifa, Aihola and Selene will govern Earth, period. There will be no discussion there and the Oracle is already making plans to have homes built for them in Sparta. They will be going back and forth between Eden City and Sparta. Sparta will hold all the Senate meetings and Council deliberations, while Eden City will be the actual seat of power. They will decide what is in Earth's best interests, and no one else. What's next?"