by Sarah Louise
“I wanted to watch the sunrise,” I simply stated.
“Do you want to watch it outside?”
“Yes, please,” I nodded. Anakin lifted me into his arms and carried me down the hall and out the front door. From there he sat me in a rocking chair on the wraparound porch and took a seat in a matching chair next to me. From what I could see we were situated in a valley surrounded by the Appalachian Mountains, the mists hanging around them giving them their distinct “Smokey” aesthetic. Watching the sun rise from between the peaks was one of the most beautiful things I’d seen. I would never take something as simple as watching the sunrise with my mate for granted again.
As I continued to breathe in the fresh air and stare out at the mountains, I noticed a large blob start moving in between the mountain peaks towards the house.
“Anakin! What is that? Are we in danger?”
“No, darling, we aren’t in danger. That’s just Nicolae coming back from hunting.”
“Oh, is he one of your pack’s avian shifters? He is quite large, what species is he?”
Anakin chuckled, “No he is not one of my pack’s avian shifters. Just wait, you’re in for a treat to say the least.”
I looked at Anakin skeptically who just smiled at me in return. I moved my focus back towards the shifter making his way towards us. The closer he got the more in awe I was. He was a fucking dragon! Like King Arthur and the Knights kind of dragon! As he landed in the front yard I noticed he was easily as large as the house we were in.
Mine. Mate. Tala whispered through my mind.
“He is mine?” I asked Anakin.
“Yes, they are all here. Nicolae though found me after I was attacked and helped me to rescue you. The others showed up not too long after we reached my pack here.”
“Is it safe to approach him? I want to get a better look.”
“He says to look your fill. We can all communicate telepathically with each other because we are originals. Once you mate with us, you will be able to as well.”
“Thank you.” I stood up and made my way slowly down the porch steps and onto the grass. Nicolae had laid himself down in the front yard so that I could look and see all of the details of his dragon form up close.
I started at his snout, it was wide with small horns poking up from his nostrils, you could see some of his longer teeth peeking out from his top jaw onto the bottom. I ran my hand over his muzzle, the scales warm to the touch. I walked my way towards his eyes which were reptilian in nature, vertical pupil surrounded by a gold iris. I could see a transparent second eyelid move across his eye when he blinked, that probably came in handy when he was flying. The majority of his scales were all various shades of red and his underbelly held a plated look of oranges and yellows. His wings were reminiscent of a bat; long, spiked red fingers providing the frame with a golden orange membrane in between spines. The wings themselves were tipped with a golden claw, similar to a rooster’s spur. Nicolae was truly a thing of beauty, and to know he helped rescue me in my time of need made my heart swell with feeling for him. It was almost overwhelming. As if he sensed my energy waning from standing and studying him for so long, he began to shift back. One moment a large dragon, the next a gorgeous, and absolutely naked man.
He was tall with defined muscles, olive toned skin with a dusting of dark hair on his chest leading down to his very impressive cock. If that was any indication of how he felt, I had nothing to worry about. Seven and a half inches, the perfect amount of girth and slight curve to the left. I realized I was drooling and snapped my eyes up to his face. He was smirking at me with those golden eyes and as if he knew how his muscles bunched and moved, ran his hand through his shaggy mahogany hair.
“I’d say something about ‘if you liked what you saw’, but I’m just so damn happy you’re awake I don’t have it in me. You look like you’re about to fall over. Can I pick you up and carry you back to the porch?” I nodded, unable to formulate words at the thought of him holding me close. He scooped me up into his arms and I buried my nose into his neck on instinct. He smelled like a campfire, smoke and tinder on a crisp autumn night. It brought me back to that secure feeling that only my mates seemed to evoke from me.
“Ah woman, you’ll be the death of me snuggling into me like this. Makes me want to say the hell with it and convince you to let me claim you right now.”
“You honestly wouldn’t find too much of a complaint from me, you smell amazing.”
“Are you sure you’d be ready for something like that?” he asked.
“I haven’t been fully asleep the whole time I’ve been out. I’ve been locked inside my mind, with Tala, healing. I understand what happened, logically I know James can never hurt me again, and that you and my other mates will keep me safe. I’m sure I’ll have moments where I’ll flashback, but I have a feeling none of you will let me suffer alone. If that’s what you still want?”
“Of course it is. I’ve waited my entire life for you. Nothing would drag me away now.”
“Well then, that’s that. We keep moving forward.”
Chapter 9
Nicolae carried me back up to the porch, setting me down into the rocking chair next to Anakin who looked like he was dozing off again.
“Anakin, do you need a cat nap?” I joked, tickling him along his ribs. He jerked up out of the seat and glared at me. Though it was a halfhearted attempt as he couldn’t hide the humor from his eyes.
“Actually, a nap sounds good right about now. Are you ok with Nicolae taking you to the kitchen for breakfast and to meet the rest of your mates?”
“That sounds good to me. As long as there is bacon and coffee, I’ll be a happy camper.”
“Then I leave you in Nicolae’s capable hands. I’m going to sleep.” Anakin turned and walked back into the house. Nicolae took his seat in the rocking chair next me.
“So, what is for breakfast besides bacon and coffee? To be honest I’m starving,” I said.
“That would be because you’ve been surviving on broth and an IV for nutrients. We could get you to move around for the most part to take care of other needs, but eating was the hardest. And it’s been three weeks that you’ve been near catatonic.”
“I’m sorry for worrying you.” I plucked at pieces of invisible lint on my dress, a silky green night gown I’d never seen before. “I’m sorry you had to go through such great lengths to care for me, that it took me so long to heal, and that I wasn’t stronger for you,” I whispered the last bit, choking up as tears formed in my eyes. It seemed silly to be so upset over something I couldn’t control, but in the back of my mind I worried Nicolae and my other mates would only ever see me as a burden.
“There is nothing for you to apologize for, Aylin. Moving forward, remember?” He reached over and squeezed my hand.
“Quite right you are, now let’s go inside and see about breakfast? Yes?” I smiled, the insecurities banished for the moment. I could feel his love and acceptance through the tentative bond that had begun forming while he took care of me and it helped me to feel more settled than I was earlier.
Nicolae offered me his hand and assisted me to the kitchen. As much as I wanted to stand on my own two feet, I was still shaky after not really having moved much over the last few weeks. Thank goodness for my shifter healing abilities or my muscles would have atrophied.
The kitchen was beautiful, definitely a piece of magic come to life, or at least my Pinterest board come to life. It was a shabby chic, farmhouse style kitchen complete with a wash basin sink and shutters surrounding a breakfast nook table looking out onto the pack lands. The island was stocked with all the latest equipment, the cook back at James’s house would have had a fit over all the supplies.
“Doesn’t Anakin have a cook?” I asked Nicolae.
“Not here in his personal cabin. He is fully capable of cooking for himself. Though his pack rotates kitchen duty in the pack house a mile over for the members who want to eat together. Everybody pitches in and rotates duti
es in the pack, unless it’s a specified job.”
“Wow! That’s kind of amazing.” Nicolae stopped in the middle of gathering his food supplies to look at me curiously.
“Why would that be amazing? That’s common sense.”
“In my old pack the job you were given was based on your species and your power level. Prey got the mundane jobs like serving the Alpha house or cleaning. Predators were in charge of things like finances or they were supposed to be making money in the humans’ territory, though I am not sure what many of them actually did,” I replied.
Nicolae turned back around and whispered softly, “If I could kill him all over again I would. Except this time, I would make it long and painful. His death was too quick for the injustices he served upon our people.”
I got up and treaded softly by the sink where he was standing and wrapped my arms around his waist, laying my head on his back.
“Thank you for caring, even about those you do not know.”
“We take care of our own Aylin, especially those weaker than us. That is how a pack is meant to function. An alpha is meant to protect and provide, not lord his power and wealth like a feudal king demanding everything his peasants have to give. If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll show you we aren’t all like that.”
“You already have,” I whispered. I kissed his back and made my way back to the barstool by the island. I sat while he cooked pancakes and bacon and made coffee in companionable silence. He brought me a cup over and it was utter perfection. Strong, but not too bitter. It was damn good coffee.
“Why do you look like you are cooking for a small army?” I asked as he flipped what looked to be about his twentieth pancake.
“Well as soon as the smell of food hits the room upstairs, you’re gonna have three, extremely powerful and ancient shifters wake up. We require a lot of sustenance to stay in peak condition. They’re also probably going to lose their shit when they realize you’re awake and we didn’t let them know first thing.” He turned to face me. “I know you haven’t met them yet, but they are every bit as devoted to you and protective of you as Anakin and I are.” He turned back around to finish cooking. He set aside a plate with three pancakes and a heap of bacon, he brought that and two empty glasses and set them in front of me. He then filled one glass with orange juice, the other with milk, and brought over a bottle of syrup.
“Now that you’ve changed for the first time, and as powerful as you are, you’re going to need to eat a lot more too.” I nodded as a tear slipped down my cheek. Nicolae wiped my cheek. “Why are you crying little one?” he asked.
“I’ve never had someone care enough, other than my adoptive dad, to make me a big breakfast. We never had the opportunity to do something this nice for each other. I don’t know, just the thought of you caring enough about me, about my other mates, to cook enough food for us all touches something inside me. I don’t know how else to describe it.”
“Oh, Aylin,” he cooed. He moved in and pulled me against his chest hugging me close.
“Why are you hugging Aylin?” a voice I didn’t recognize asked. I peeped up from Nicolae’s chest to look at who had joined us in the kitchen. I was greeted with the gorgeous site of a half-naked version of another of my mates. This one was tall and built solid. He had white hair down to his ass. Not platinum or blonde but pure white. He had one clear blue eye that he was still rubbing sleep out of, the other was covered with a leather patch. A scar going down from the top of his head, down what looked like through his eye and continuing straight down the left side of his face. He was wearing black track pants and no shoes. Even his feet were well formed. The scar did nothing to detract from his attractiveness; especially to me. I pushed farther away from Nicolae so he could properly see me.
“My name is Aylin. Anakin is taking a nap.” He stared at me, silent for an awkward minute, like he couldn’t wrap his head around the fact I was there in front of him. “Would you like to join us for breakfast?” I asked, gesturing to the bar stool next to me. He nodded and moved slowly to sit next to me, never breaking eye contact with me, and Nicolae moved back around to the stove. I didn’t know if he was playing some kind of dominance game or what, I just knew I would never back down or hide in submission again. I could hear Tala stir and rumble in the back of my mind, my eyes bleeding into the amber of her eyes as she lent me her strength. I could hear Nicolae turn to us as we continued to stare at each other.
“Gunnar! What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“Trying to figure out how strong she is and what fate has in store for us. The possibilities surrounding her are too cloudy to tell though.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Reading your future dear, it’s my gift, among other things. Sometimes I can force a vision. I wanted to see if anything had changed now that you’re awake.”
“Couldn’t you have just asked?”
“Where would the fun in that be?” He grinned, “Besides you’re more dominant than I am so me staring at you only irritated you because you didn’t feel threatened.”
“It that true Aylin?” Nicolae asked.
“Well yeah, I’ve never had trouble meeting anyone’s gaze. I just pretended to be submissive to not draw attention to myself.”
“I guess we will have to go through that a few more times,” Nicolae sighed.
“Why?”
“Because we will need to establish where you fit in the pack hierarchy. It will help keep our animals off edge and it’s important to have a chain of command. Especially in a family unit that will be as large as ours.” I shrugged my shoulders in agreement and turned back to my pancakes. Gunnar, as I’d heard Nicolae mention, was already stuffing his face full. I had barely finished swallowing my last pancake when Nicolae added another plate in front of me and sat at the island to join us. I definitely wanted to eat more pancakes but I was also feeling decidedly mischievous since Gunnar’s little ‘test’. I looked at Gunnar, he was so focused on eating he wasn’t paying attention to anything else. He hadn’t even touched his side of bacon yet. I looked at the bacon, looked at Gunnar, back at the bacon, and then at Nicolae who just smirked and shrugged his shoulders. Quick as a lick, I shot my hand out, grabbed his bacon and shoved it in my mouth all in one bite. Gunnar looked up at me incredulously.
“Did you just eat my bacon?”
“No.”
“You’re literally chewing it”
“No, I’m not, that’s a figment of your imagination.”
“Fine, then I guess you won’t mind if I imagine your plate of bacon in my mouth.” He went to reach for my plate, and just as he thought he’d gotten away with it I kicked his barstool out from under him causing him to fall on his ass. Out from the hallway I heard yet another male burst out into peals of laughter.
“Well she was definitely meant to mate with me too if that’s how she handles herself. Don’t be too angry, you deserved that mate and you know it.” The unknown male offered a hand and helped Gunnar up. While he was doing this, I took the time to study this new mate of mine. He was tan with a light dusting of freckles across his face, auburn hair and moss green eyes created a compelling combination. He was wearing sweatpants and a button down white linen shirt with the sleeves rolled up. I never knew forearms could be so sexy. His were muscled with defined veins and it did something to me I couldn’t control.
Chapter 10
My newest mate introduced himself as Liam. He fixed himself a plate and joined us at the island. All of us eating breakfast in a comfortable silence. Suddenly a giant hawk flew through the open window of the kitchen and landed on the floor behind us. I reacted without thinking, picking up my butter knife and executing a perfect throw aimed straight for the intruder’s heart.
“NO!” All three of my men and Tala screamed at me. Luckily Nicolae moved quick enough to grab the knife before it hit the hawk.
“What in the world? He is an intruder.”
He is your Mate, idiot! growl
ed Tala in my head, angry at me for almost harming our mate
“Oh,” I turned back to look at the hawk who had transformed into a man of middle eastern descent. He had curly dark brown hair and deep chocolate brown eyes. One of the other men had given him a pair of shorts to cover himself with. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize you were my mate, and I guess I’m a little jumpy after everything that happened. My name is Aylin.”
“I know who you are, I’ve been watching over you for the last few weeks you’ve been catatonic. No need for apologies I shouldn’t have surprised you like that. I was just so excited to see you up and awake after I returned from patrolling the perimeter. I’m Jacobi.”
“Thank you and thank you all for taking care of me when I couldn’t do it myself. I know we all need to have a serious discussion about many different things, but my energy is starting to flag. Do you mind if we pick this up after I’ve had a nap? I feel more settled now that I’ve set eyes on all of you and Tala is calmer now, too.”
“Of course, little one,” Nicolae responded. “Do you need one of us to take you up to your room?”
“No, I’ll be ok getting there myself. Please stay and eat breakfast. Goodnight.”
A chorus of good nights followed me as I left the kitchen and went back to the room I had woken up in early this morning. I opened the door to see Anakin sprawled across the bed, I guess I’d been hijacking his room during my recovery. Not one to waste an opportunity, I slipped in between the covers and snuggled up close to him. Breathing in his pine scent and letting his steady heartbeat lull me to sleep.
***Gunnar***
My brothers and I watched her leave the kitchen to take a nap wishing like hell we all could join her. We may have put on a good face for her today but she had already put us through hell and back. It’s a mate’s driving instinct to protect and care for their mate so when Liam, Jacobi, and I caught up to Nicolae and Anakin only to find our mate in a regenerative sleep and then near catatonic state so that her body and mind could recover from the torture her previous Alpha had inflicted upon her, most of us had a hard time controlling the instinct to want to go out and kill and break something. I had continually tried to use my powers of prediction to get an idea of when she would wake up and what kind of state she would be in, but she was shrouded by the misty cloud of fate. There were things the Goddess Selene didn’t want me to see or know regarding my Aylin, probably because it was too closely tied to my own destiny and one shouldn’t know too much about their own future. She was so strong, my mate. She didn’t even flinch when she took in my scar and eye patch covering the missing orb. She held my stare for dominance without even breaking a sweat. I had no doubt that she would be more dominant than all of us. The only one who maybe had a chance of coming out on top was Nicolae. His dragon was immense and powerful. I couldn’t wait to see what this unknown future with my little wolf would hold.
