I needed something, anything and a nap sounded wonderful compared to the pain I was currently in. I closed my eyes and trusted Andre to take care of me. We made it back to the house and through my double doors. In our absence, Andre had apparently cleaned up my room and changed my bedding. He gently laid me down on my soft bed just in the nick of time, before the next spasm ripped through my body. I screamed and arched lifting my back off of the bed. My muscles tensed and burned from exertion. Sweat broke out along my entire length and ran off me in streams. My bedding was getting soaked.
I heard a heavy thud and Dimitri cry out, about the same time my pain spiked. There was nothing I could do to help him or myself at this point. He must have been on the phone because Andre quickly took it from him.
"Elena, it’s Andre... Aurora is ascending and it’s affecting the big guy too. Can you make it here? Yeah, I have the tea, I’m brewing her some now. She lost something, like at least twelve hours yesterday, and her wolf went all homicidal." I can hear him pacing my room and then he went down the hallway.
Eventually, I felt the side of the bed dip and opened my eyes to see Dimitri: he looks like shit. I feel like I’ve been put through a food processor, I can’t imagine what he’s feeling because of our bond. "I’m so sorry D... If I could sever the bond so you wouldn’t suffer I would." Guilt was all I was feeling at the moment, a soft lull in the sea of pain I had been in.
Dimitri raised his large hand and rested it on my sweaty cheek. "Don’t worry little one, we bears are tough. We can survive anything, as for the bond." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "That will only be severed when you choose your first mate. And that's something we don’t want you to rush... that bond is forever. I don’t want to see what happened to your mother happen to you." He looked down and away before getting up to sit in the recliner near the bed.
"What do you mean D? Are you saying my mother was forced?" I quickly sat up straight and stared at him. My wolf flared to the front with that thought. She didn’t like the idea of being forced to do anything.
"Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying happened. Vlad her Lycan mate, forced their bond so he was the first mate. Her second mate, Marcus wasn’t met with any resistance, he was a bear like me. Nicodeamus, your mother’s third mate was a true mate. Their animals loved each other. He was an ice dragon. Your mom’s fourth mate, Liam was a dire wolf and he met with no resistance either." He stared at his hands as he explained my mother’s history and then it dawned on me.
"Wait! Only a true mate can produce offspring." My eyes were focused on my hand as I shifted it. My fur is white as snow, and small white scales covered my fingertips near my talons. "Nico is the reason my fur is white isn’t it?" I look away from my hand to Dimitri and he just nods slowly. Shit, my father is a dragon. Who knows how fucking long I’ll live now?
Footsteps sound down the hallway. I look up to see Andre with the tea in his hands. Soft scents of lavender, honey and hibiscus drift to me. There are a few underlying scents mingled in that I can’t identify. "Baby girl. Elena said it's time to start drinking the tea she gave us. Without a mate she said your temperament will be unpredictable. She said she needs to make several phone calls and in three days time, at the end of your cycle, she'll be here with the last single Lycan males she can find." Slowly, he extends his hand out to me offering the tea. I carefully took it and drank deeply from it. It honestly doesn’t taste too bad. Honey always makes everything better in my opinion. "If that’s what she thinks is best then I shall sleep. I don’t want D suffering because of me." I offer him a sad smile before looking back to Andre. "Question for you. If in theory a suitable mate was presented to me, how will I know?" I mean seriously I have two very good-looking males in front of me, granted one is gay, the other straight, but I’m not drawn to either. It’s an honest curiosity.
Dimitri decides to answer me. "Your mother said it was like seeing a rainbow for the first time. Like breathing for the first time. Everything just clicked. That’s how she described meeting your father." He watches me carefully trying to gauge my reaction.
"I understand. Thank you D." Without warning I start to yawn. My eyes drift to my glass before I raised the remaining tea to my lips and finished it off. I yawned again before laying back down and snuggling myself deep into my blankets. "Wake me when Elena arrives.“ I yawn once more before falling into a deep sleep. Over the next three days I only wake for short periods of time just to eat and use the restroom before being given another glass of tea.
The morning of what I’m guessing is the fourth day, I smell bacon and lilacs. I’m all about the bacon. I crack one eye open to find Elena sitting in the recliner with a plate of bacon, Gods I love this woman. It’s been over a hundred years since I had last seen her and she’s barely aged. Being almost five hundred looks damn good on her. At most she looks like she’s in her mid-thirties, black hair, blue eyes, and a rather light build for a Lycan female. "Morning Elena" My voice is scratchy and rough from lack of use. I stretch out my stiff body, before accepting the plate of bacon from her.
"Princess, it’s good to see you looking so well. You look so much like your mother. She would be proud of the female you have become." She smiled softly as she watched me inhale the plate of food. "I have brought you the last single Lycan males that I could find." There’s a quirk to her lip and she tilts her head to look at me before raising one eyebrow. "I've also brought you my son. He isn’t mated and about a hundred years older than you. I believe you two may be a good match. I do have to warn you though, he has a female that he’s been considering. Her father has been in talks with us about a betrothal. In the meantime, Dimitri and Andre are getting the boys ready for your inspection."
Ok now she had my undivided attention. I have males. Willing males wanting to be inspected? What the fuck was I supposed to be inspecting? "Ok, I need a shower before I go inspect hotties. Oh, and coffee plenty of coffee..."
I hear Elena giggle as I head into the bathroom and take the world’s fastest shower. I mean seriously I think I was in there like fifteen minutes max. I waltz out of the bathroom to find Andre and Elena holding a robe and coffee. "Why the robe?" I question as I slip it on before taking the coffee. I down half the mug in a few gulps. The coffee was definitely needed.
Elena stifles a laugh. "Because more than likely if you scent your mate, your wolf will make herself known at that exact moment. It won’t happen with the second one, but the first it’s like BAM! Here she is!"
My eyebrows shoot up at the explanation, Andre in the meantime is laughing his ass off. "Ok Elena how does this work?"
She moves and opens the double doors so we can look into the yard. "Each male is standing in a different part of the yard, so their scents don’t mix. All you must do is walk up and sniff. Your wolf will do the rest." It was said so matter of fact that, yeah ok, not a problem.
"Andre put Sanitarium, from Metallica, on for me. It's kind of fitting." I listened for the first few notes to echo through the yard, before I stepped out onto the deck. Which way to start? Well that question was answered for me quickly, because Elena pushed me to start on the right side of the yard.
I guess counterclockwise is the order for the day. Slowly, I move towards the male, his body language screams anxious, which doesn’t make my she-wolf happy. She assesses him as a weak male, not worthy, even before I get close to him. I can smell the fear rolling off him, I lean in and sniff at his neck just under his ear. The acrid scent of urine fills the air. I can’t believe he actually pissed himself. A growl escapes my lips and he scurries backwards. "Wuss."
That was the first and last word spoken to the coward. I snort a couple of times to clear the urine scent from my nostrils as I move towards the next male. He’s standing stock still; his frame is slightly muscular. Typical dark hair, dark eyes, and he’s about an inch taller than me. So far, nothing exciting to write home about. I get closer and begin to circle him. I want to see if I can throw him off his game. Nothing yet. I lean in from
behind him, in a very dominant move, and sniff at his neck. I smell perfume on him, and his male musk. Apparently, he took this meeting very seriously... Not. I grab him under his arms, sinking my now extended talons into his ribcage, and throw him away from me. “Next time you visit a potential mate, don’t smell like your last conquest."
The words were growled out, my full alpha power behind it. He visibly paled, then ran off into the woods. Two down, two to go. Hopefully, one of these two have balls and common sense. I swear what has happened to guys? They just don’t make men anymore. My eyes sought out Elena, Dimitri, and Andre. The three amigos were up on the deck laughing their asses off over this bullshit. I flip them the bird and stalk towards the next contestant on the male is wrong. Poor thing, someone forgot to tell him he was male. He was built like a human male and shorter than me, WTF!
I mean really, has the gene pool gotten so shallow that I’m built heavier than these so-called males. I am so disgusted by what I see I bypass him and start towards unlucky number four. I stop in my tracks when he looks up at me. His eyes are sky blue, his hair is black as pitch. He’s muscled, but not overdone. His skin is a golden brown and scars litter his body marking him as a fighter. Finally, an actual male! We lock eyes and he doesn’t back down. My wolf makes her presence known, and I feel my eyes turn to liquid mercury.
He smirks and his wolf surges forward, his eyes are almost a white-blue. His wolf’s eyes are beautiful. Only another Alpha can stare down an alpha and trust me we are staring at each other. He begins to move towards me, and I freeze in my tracks. This is starting to get interesting. I hear Elena gasp and the guys hush her. I’m studying this bold male, and in the back of my mind I’m hoping he’s the one. We stand about a foot apart, his nose is in the wind catching my scent, his nostrils flair and his wolf rips into existence. He’s beautiful, thick black fur, white-blue eyes and long talon-like claws. If I had to venture a guess, he has to be about nine foot tall and is thickly muscled.
Ever so slowly he lowers his muzzle to me, I tilt my head to the side, granting him access to my throat. I just submitted to this male without even realizing what I was doing. Once his nose touched my neck, I got a good whiff of his scent... he’s mine. My wolf didn’t want to wait to shift, she tore free and began to sniff at him rubbing her muzzle along his neck and chest. Damn bitch was the happiest I’ve ever seen her. Clapping erupted behind us, snapping us out of our little bubble. Elena had tears in her eyes as she ran down the stairs and hugged us both.
"My baby has found his mate!" She wrapped her arms around the male wolf, jumping up and down while holding onto him. Her eyes moved to me before she pounced and hugged me. "Princess you chose my baby boy, you bring so much honor to my home, thank you!"
Hold on, back that train up. I backed away and shifted back. Andre was ready with a pair of beach towels, and handed me one. "What do you mean your baby Elena?" I looked puzzled back and forth between her and this stud, of an Alpha, before me.
"Oh, forgive me Princess, this is my son Sebastian Lupi. My first-born son. He has trained for over two hundred years in the art of war, and every known fighting style." She beamed with pride telling me of her son’s pedigree.
I nodded slowly as I moved back towards him and wrapped my arms back around his taut furred waistline. "Mind shifting back big guy? I’d like to get to know your human side too." I smiled looking up into the wolf’s eyes, he leaned down and licked my cheek before I felt his body starting to break and shift back. Sebastian was easily 6'5 and quite easy on the eyes.
His arms tightened around me as he held on. "I never thought you'd accept me." He spoke so softly and with such reverence, tears threatened to break loose. "I’ve waited for what has felt like, forever for you. I saw you as a baby in Dimitri's arms, you were so tiny and precious. Your scent had called to my wolf, and I wanted to protect you." He buried his face in my ice-blonde hair, I feel his warm breath upon my shoulder.
He’s shaking slightly, overcome with emotion. I squeeze him tightly to me, holding on to him like I was afraid he would vanish. My protective instincts were kicked into overdrive because of his emotional state. I raised my eyes to look at Elena, who was also crying. "Did you know what I was to him? Why did you keep him from me?" I was crying, sensing my mate’s pain. Wait, I was feeling Sebastian, not Dimitri... My head whipped up and I stared at Dimitri, and he held up his left arm. The scar was gone. I looked down at my arm, my scar was gone as well. I ran my fingers through Sebastian’s hair in a soothing manner, as I waited for Elena to answer me.
"Yes, child I suspected but you were far too young to have a male that was getting ready to ascend around you. His wolf would have demanded to complete the bond long before your body was ready." I just nodded slowly and nuzzled Sebastian, as he scooped me up. Ever so carefully he carried me up onto the porch, and sat down situating me on his lap. "I don’t think he’s going to let go for a while child, you may have to get used to it."
I just giggled and nuzzled his cheek. "That’s ok he can hold me for as long as he wants to." A muffled 'forever' was said by Sebastian, and all I could do was smile like a lovesick puppy.
"We still have one matter to attend to Princess, before you can complete the bond." There was a sadness in Elena's voice that made me raise my head to look at her.
Slowly, I nod and look to Sebastian and kiss his temple. "Let’s get this over with. If I must battle, then I must battle." I stood and stretched, my bones popped and cracked as I looked back to Elena. "Set it up, have the witnesses ready, we do it the old way, wolf on wolf. Winner lives and the loser dies." Apparently, I had stunned the group into silence. Quickly, I turn and start heading towards my bedroom doors, when a large hand grabs my wrist. I look down and notice it's Dimitri's. "Say what you must Bear. You have prepared me well, I am battle ready." My tone is nothing short of full-blown Alpha and bleeds dominance. “No bitch will take what’s mine without a fight.”
"Aurora, I do not doubt your training. Though, with so few Lycan females left you may wish to fight ‘till submission." Dimitri was wringing his hands, looking at his feet.
I know he didn’t want to question my desires, but I understand where he’s coming from. "I will consider it D, as long as she’s not some insolent wench." I bare my canines at him and then look back at the group. "We leave in an hour." I watch as Sebastian battles his wolf, to leave with his mother. I know he wishes to remain at my side, but until that other bitch dies or submits, honor states, he’s not completely mine. I head in and pack only a day bag to take with me. The boys are quick to pack as well, thankfully. Honestly, the wait is killing me. I want to go. Within minutes we are heading to the battle grounds.
How could I be so dumb to accept the advances of Ravenna? I knew I had a mate, but a hundred years was a long time to wait. Now I've basically sentenced both females to a battle to the death. My mother is yelling at Ravenna’s father about protocol and traditions. He’s insistent we sign the contract now, before Aurora arrives so that its binding. You can’t ignore a mating call, it’s impossible. I’ve scented my mate now in her adult ascended form, and damn, she is powerful. I almost feel sorry for Ravenna, almost. Here she is, strutting around the compound, in what she calls an outfit that barely covers anything. From what I’ve been told, she’s slept her way through the pack trying to find a suitable mate. I look at my watch, for the millionth time. When in the distance I hear the tell-tale sound of a diesel motor coming up the road. My wolf is anxious, he knows his mate approaches. To be perfectly honest, I’ve never been happier in my life. Once this battle is over, we can complete our mating bond and move on to find the others she requires for her harem. Dimitri and Andre hop out first and move to open the back-passenger side door. My mate looks stunning as she slips out of the truck. Her long snow-white hair is braided, and on her muscular form, a blood red Bodycon dress.
She turns to assess the crowd before starting to walk barefoot on our soil. Her eyes are swirling liquid pools of mercury. You can practicall
y drown in the power coming off her. Aurora lightly dips her head to me then locks eyes with Ravenna. Ravenna attempts to keep her eyes locked with Aurora but can’t, she can’t even look for more than a few seconds at a clip. You can tell Aurora is out for blood, the look on her face screams rage.
Aurora snorts then looks to Elena. "I am ready to battle my elder." In a show of respect, Aurora drops to one knee and lowers her head to my mother.
Elena looks to Ravenna. "Are you also ready child?" Mother is wearing her priestess robes for this occasion, a sign of her station within the pack.
A growl rips from Ravenna’s lips. "There's no way she's lycan! Look at her hair! She’s an imposter! I demand my right to be mated to be honored!" She crossed her arms and just smirked thinking she had won.
Surprisingly, Aurora remained calm and stood slowly. "I am Aurora Marelup, daughter of Anca Marelup and Nicodeamus Tepish, dragon mate of my mother. I bare the royal brand." She turned her arm so her right forearm could be seen. As clear as day, the black raised seal of the house of Marelup can be seen. Most of the pack dropped to one knee, including me. My true mate is the lost princess. She continued to stare down at Ravenna, and canted her head to the right. "Get in the ring bitch. Let’s see who the real lycan is."
Aurora turned giving Ravenna her back which was the ultimate insult. Without warning Ravenna charged at Aurora. Just before impact Aurora turned, gripped Ravenna by the throat and threw her into the ring. A slow shake of her head was all that was offered before Aurora shifted. Her wolf had gained mass that almost rivaled my wolf's size, she was easily seven almost eight foot tall and heavily muscled. Her claws looked more like talons, and on her muzzle she had snow white scales. Ah, the ascension must have gifted her access to some of her father’s gifts. This should be interesting, to say the least. She stalked forward, growling continuously at Ravenna, who still hadn’t shifted yet.
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