The Lycan Hunter (The Gardinian World Series)

T
HE
L
YCAN
H
UNTER

A G
ARDINIAN
W
ORLD
N
OVEL

B
Y

K
ELSEY
J
ORDAN

Booktrope Editions

Seattle WA 2014

Copyright 2013, 2014 Dewonna Costello

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Cover Design by Greg Simanson

Edited by Jacy Mackin

Previously published as
The Lycan Hunter (A Gardinian World Novel)
, Kelsey Jordan, 2013

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to similarly named places or to persons living or deceased is unintentional.

Print ISBN 978-1-62015-431-1

EPUB ISBN 978-1-62015-421-2

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2014909416

To my not-so-little bundle of awesome and my equally awesome husband: Thank you for enduring the rough patches where the house wasn't as clean as it could be; nights when dinner was something quick, easy, and unhealthy; and moments where I was nothing more than a zombie hopped up on caffeine. I love you!

Anyone who says that they wrote a book alone is one of two things:
a liar or delusional. Luckily, I am neither, so a huge thank you goes out
to my beta readers. Without your guidance and criticisms this book
wouldn't have happened. Special thanks go to: Alyssa L., April Rankin,
Autumn P., F. Alexander, and finally, Dominque N. Thank you for
everything you have done.

To my Booktrope team: You guys are awesome! Jacy Mackin, thank
you for the laughs and all the red ink. Nothing says you care as an editor
like an abundance of corrections. Jennifer Gilbert, thank you for your
general awesomeness and for being my book manager. Greg Simanson
, thank you for the awesome cover. I promise this is the one.

Lastly, thank you the bevy of voices who jabbered when I should
be asleep, nagged when I tried to mute them, and made me laugh out
loud at the most socially awkward moments. Without their stories and
the muse who dropped them in my lap, my life would be a tad less
interesting.

My final thank you goes out to the coolest group of people I know.
You know who you are, so here’s to you!

NARN PAUSED ALONG A PATHWAY
among the roots of Liflasir, the world
tree, to marvel at the full and radiant moon.
Othion
, God the Sky, claimed
no one appreciated the beauty of his creation, but on this unusually
bright night in Gardas, the realm of the gods, her father’s luminous orb
would serve as her inspiration.

Silvered tendrils of light stretched deep under the tree, leading the
way to Nunginn, the sacred grove where all life energy returned once
it was fit to be reborn. Hidden in the depths of the grove, under the
transformative glow of the moon, Narn gave birth to her creations.

She called them Lycans, as they
were a marriage of human and beast
forms, yet they were neither man nor beast. Only after their First Shift,
which was tied to their inborn strength and their ability to resist the
power of the moon on the eve of their creation, did they gain the ability
to shift at will.

Narn also bestowed each of them a true mate, their Soul
’
s Mate, so
that they would never know loneliness. When she was finally done, her Lycans, a total of six species, became her mortal guardians of the wilderness. Their existence was to be a secret, as creation was not her domain.

Centuries passed, and the time went unnoticed by Narn, who had
quickly lost interest in the Lycans. That was until a day came when
Ethus–creator of mankind and Oblivia, the realm of dreams in which
Ethus called home–revealed the existence of dual-natured abominations t
hat were slaughtering a small sect of Ethus’ human charges.

Nivar, God of Gods, Creator of the Universe and of Time itself,
eventually
discovered
Narn's
brief
foray into his domain of creation. Among
the gods, few things were more offensive than an overreaching god.

For Narn
’
s crimes, Nivar stripped her a
ccess
to Nunginn. Furthermore,
he stipulated that only when the last of her creatures ceased to exist
could her access to the holy grove be restored. Narn had momentarily
rejoiced, but Nivar, wise as he was, stated that the Lycans must perish
by mortal means only. Through it all, Othion had stood helplessly by while she was regulated to merely a figurehead of her domain.

However, Othion’s hands didn’t remain idle long. In his rage, he cursed
her creations to die by the silver of the moon, an apt punishment
in his mind as they were born into creation on the eve of a brilliant
moon. To further aid in her quest for redemption, Othion found it fitting
to create a prophecy into being that stated:
When the Lycan and the Hunter
come to an accord, the fallen goddess will be restored.
That way, should all
else fail, his daughter would be restored by other means. He also brought
together other gods and goddesses who sympathized with Narn
’
s plight.
In secret, they crafted a plan that would allow for her restoration in the
most expeditious fashion.

Together, Vili, the God of Wisdom; Jordis, the Goddess of Weaponry
;
Tuyir, God of War; and Lelah, the Goddess of Life and Death imbued
humans with Gardinian essence, elevated senses, and the skills they
would need in order to hunt down and eradicate all Lycans. At that
moment, the Hunters were born.

The Hunters had an impressive start of ten thousand soldiers to
combat the ever-expanding force of Lycans. The Forever War bloomed
in secret, a seemingly eternal crusade that paid homage to Lelah with
ribboned flesh and rivers of blood. The goddess welcomed both sides
into her timeless grasp. Death, like Life, chose no sides.