The two titans began to circle each other. One more terrifying than the other. Height wise they appeared to be equally matched. Both have white fur matted with blood. Before today I’ve never seen the wendigo now, I’m wishing I never did. Aurora takes a quick swipe at the Wendigo’s chest ripping a layer of flesh off it. The creature didn’t even seem phased by it. But the look on Aurora’s face told me she noticed something we can’t see from where we are sitting.
I turned to Sebastian. “Is she ok? I mean I know you can feel her.” His eyes never left her in the ring.
“She’s fine, my mother told her about the Wendigo and how to kill it. She’s just making sure what my mother knew is accurate before she goes on the attack.” My eyes return to watch Aurora move about the ring testing the creature.
“It’s better to test than to be sorry. She’s very wise.” I walked over to Jayce who’s still beside himself and I wrap an arm around his shoulders. “She’ll be fine you’ll see!” I had to have faith in our future mate. I refused to have any negative thoughts about the female my wolf had chosen. The Wendigo suddenly roars and charges at Aurora. She barely gets out of the way in time.
Unfortunately, the Wendigo’s claws catch Aurora’s ribs slicing thin lines along her right side. The scent of Aurora’s blood has put the creature into a frenzy. It’s not thinking straight, and Aurora takes full advantage of it and charges. Quickly she drops down and sweeps the legs out from under the creature causing it to land flat on its back. Talons came down swiftly severing the horns from the Wendigo’s head. The creature’s high-pitched scream filled the arena, blackened blood oozed from where the horns once were. Aurora grabbed the horns and drove them down into the Wendigo’s arms pinning it to the earth below it.
Aurora’s taloned hands took on an unearthly glow as frost began to gather in her hands. She drove her talons into the creature’s chest and ripped up quickly. Within the now hollowed rib cage lay a human curled up in the fetal position. It was the man the Wendigo possessed to enter this world. Aurora’s wolf studied him before ripping him free of the creatures remains. Once free the Wendigo’s corpse ignited, burning blue in the center of the ring. The man was covered in a black viscous material almost like a cocoon. Aurora canted her head several times studying the man before ripping his head free of his shoulders and throwing the severed head into my father’s balcony.
She roared again looking around the arena calling for her next challenger. The huge doors on the far side of the arena opened. A bellow echoed throughout the arena followed by a blast of blue flames. The temperature in the arena dropped quickly as frost and ice began to coat the available surfaces. The ice dragon lumbered into the arena. His head was mere feet from the roof. His white scales were thick and armor like. Each individual scale had a thick raised ridge with a sharp spiked tip. Not only would the scales protect him but they would also slice his attacker to ribbons. It was quite scary to see such a battle hardened warrior lumber in on three legs and missing one wing. His scales told the tale of his years of battle not only here but in his past. His silver serpentine eyes searched the arena then locked on Aurora. He raised his head high and blew his flames down upon her. Wave upon wave of blue-white flame encapsulated Aurora. The flames themselves seemed to roar and crackle as they fell from the dragons great maw. Aurora didn’t even try to evade the dragon fire. We couldn’t see her as the flames began to coat the arena floor.
My eyes shot to Sebastian and he was calm as all hell. How the fuck could he be calm when our mate was getting burnt to a crisp? He smiled? The fucker just smiled... Sebastian exuded an unearthly air of confidence that was a bit unnerving, slowly his eyes turned to me. “They are showing how powerful Aurora is. She’s immune to dragon fire because she’s his daughter.”
Well now that made more sense. The crowd was quiet as the flames receded. Aurora stood there, her fur cleaned of blood and her wounds healed. She began to walk towards the dragon and shifted back to her human form. The dragon lowered its great horned head to her, and she placed a hand to his cheek and kissed his muzzle. Aurora turned to face the crowd, she chose this time to partially shift. Her hands looked like white armored gauntlets all the way down to her black talons. Her legs broke backward and were that of her lycan. A light dusting of fur covered her most intimate of parts. Aurora walked to the middle of the arena and locked eyes with our father. Her rage was evident by the trail of frost she left in her wake. “How dare you imprison my father! Your lost Dragon King! You have betrayed the Royal family! You have betrayed your people Lucian!” Aurora called out our father the alpha.
He clapped his hands and started laughing. “What does a little bitch like you think you can do to me? I have five hundred Dire wolves at my command.” He raises his arms as if to gather his forces, but none move. Not one single being except my eldest brother, his beta, move to his side. All the others begin to move to the far side of the arena behind Aurora and her father.
Aurora looked over at her father’s dragon. He was missing his front left leg and wing on that side. She began to growl low in the back of her throat. “You want to see what I can do, so be it. My people, I’m going to apologise now for what I’m about to do.” She shifted the rest of the way rapidly and howled... ripping the wolves from all of us. None of us had control when her wolf called to ours. My body broke and reshaped to that of my Dire Wolf far faster than I've ever shifted before. I look to my right to see Sebastian and Lucian both had shifted just as quickly.
She had summoned our animals, only a true Alpha could force the shift of an entire pack at once. We leapt down from our balcony to flank Aurora. We moved in sync to stand at Aurora’s side. Her father stood like a great Sentinel behind us. The rest of the pack filled the arena slowly closing in on my father. Did I feel bad for father? Not one bit. The way he treated my brothers because of whom they love. He deserved everything he was about the receive.
Aurora broke free of the pack and bolted towards my father’s balcony. The dragon's wing shot out about midway between her and the balcony. Aurora leapt up and grabbed onto her father’s wing tip and used it to launch herself up and into my father’s suite. Next thing you know my father is flying through the air with a great white Lycan hot on his heels. They landed within seconds of each other, Aurora monopolized on her momentum and pinned him to the ground. Her head lifted to lock eyes with her father.
He shifted back to human and approached Aurora and my father. “You killed my family. You allowed the Strigoi passage into the castle. You took my arm, and in my grief you made me a slave in your games.” He nodded to Aurora and she shifted back to human, only to grip my father by the back of his neck to lift him off the ground. “My daughter was swept far away to be raised without me, because of you.” He extended a single finger and touched my father’s stomach. The flesh turned to ice spreading slowly over his body.
“The time for me to show mercy is long over Lucian. Now you will know my pain. But know this, the Strigoi will die and my daughter will be Queen in her castle. You on the other hand will just be a memory. A blip in time to be easily forgotten in years to come.” Ice covered my father's body completely. He was frozen solid, kind of like Han Solo in carbonite. Nico took my father’s frozen body from Aurora and threw him to the ground smashing him to bits. Johan came out of nowhere sailing through the air with father’s rapier in his hands. He was heading towards Nico and closing the gap quickly.
Before he could get close enough Sebastian’s Lycan slammed Johan to the ground. The force of Sebastian’s impact knocked the rapier from Johan’s hand and the air from his lungs. Aurora was way to calm for what was going on. Her eyes locked with her father’s and they just stared at each other for a moment. I’m guessing they were having an in-depth conversation in the middle of a foiled assassination attempt.
Nico made a graceful sweeping motion towards Johan and Aurora walked over to where Sebastian had him pinned. With every step Aurora returned slowly to her human form till she stood beside her lycan
mate.
Aurora threaded her fingers through the fur on the back of Sebastian’s head. A single hand caressed Sebastian's ear as she leaned down to stare at Johan. In typical Aurora fashion she spoke to him in the most condescending tone she could muster. “Poor little Beta thinks he’s wolf enough to attack my father.” She kept tilting her head side to side assessing him. “You have been weighed and measured. You simply aren’t wolf enough to breathe the same air as me.”
Her gaze fell on Jayce and me next. “Please forgive me for what I must do next. We will not be safe if he’s allowed to live. His heart and mind have been poisoned by your father's will.” Her eyes remained bouncing between mine and my brothers as her fingers glided through Sebastian's fur.
This dominant as fuck female before us, is asking for our forgiveness. My brother and I chose this moment to shift back to our human forms. We glance at each other quickly and just nod our heads at her. Jayce makes a heart with his hands being the softy that he is. That little gesture earned him a smile from Aurora before she moved before Johan again.
“I sentence you to death for the attempted assassination of my father the Dragon King.” She raised her hand and shifted it allowing her talons to catch the light in the arena. The talon on her index finger touches the artery on the right side of Johan’s neck. Ever so slowly she applies pressure. We watch the skin flex and bend before finally granting passage of the sharp tip of her talon.
Every beat of his heart a little more blood pumped out and ran down his chest. Aurora almost seemed fascinated watching the blood flowing. Carefully she removed the talon from that artery and moved to the other side to repeat the process. Now two streams of blood flowed slowly down my brother’s chest. With surgical precision Aurora pierced the brachial artery in his right arm. Yet another stream of blood. She’s bleeding him out slowly. For some reason she skipped the other arm and went straight to his femoral artery and sliced it open just above his left knee. Now that one really pumped the blood out. His face grew pale and yet he didn’t utter a word. Johan didn’t beg for his life or even to be spared.
Not that I think Aurora would have spared him at this point. She had finally gotten her father back and Johan had tried to kill him. I understand she needs to make him suffer but to what end? Her head tilted one last time and moved forward.
“It’s nothing personal, but you tried to kill my Father after your Father tried to kill me. It’s only fair.” Just before he lost consciousness, she used her talons to rip his heart out. Her eyes locked on the final twitching of Johan’s heart before she offered it to her father. Nico took the heart with a smile before Aurora walked off toward my father’s remains. Her talons gained purchase on his frozen skull as she lifted it off the ground.
Careful measured steps carried her back to her father. She dropped to one knee and held up my father’s head to her father. He took the offered head then pulled Aurora up into a hug. It was probably the most surreal thing I have ever seen.
He was holding his daughter with his only arm with my father’s hair wrapped around his fingers and my brothers heart dangling off of his pinky. “My baby... My beautiful powerful baby. I never gave up hope I would see you again!” Nico nuzzled the top of her head softly crying into her blood-soaked mane. Aurora also started crying just holding tightly to her dad, afraid she would lose him again. Nico shook his hand freeing him of his presents to grip his daughter better. Aurora looked like she had a Kung Fu Ninja death grip on her father. Lord help the being that tried to end this hug fest. I think there would be another body hitting the floor quickly.
Sebastian moved up slowly and cautiously. “Aurora love? We should appoint someone to watch over the pack until we need them. And don't forget we have Dimitri and Andre waiting outside for us. You know how Andre gets, he’s like an old mother hen.” Aurora’s head lifted and nodded slowly. Her eyes found her smiling father looking down at her.
“Daughter? Dimitri and Andre still live? How can this be?” Nico looked puzzled, because by all rights those two should have been long dead by time alone. Both types of shifters were not very long lived by shifter standards.
“Yes, father they live. The Elder Dame bound them to me till I found my first mate Sebastian. I fear now they may not have much time left.” She turned to face me and Jayce. “Can we trust Alexander? Will he lead in our stead while we are gone?”
My brother and I thought long and hard about it. “Yes, we believe he would. Father always mistreated him because he’s gay. Trust me, he will be thankful and most faithful to you for freeing him from our father.”
Out of the corner of my eye I notice, Sinclair, my brother’s lover. Jayce stood stock still watching him approach, afraid of what Aurora may do to the competition. Jayce’s fear was palpable in the air as he watched his lover approach. Without a second thought Sinclair closed the distance and hugged onto Jayce for dear life. I was prepared to intervene if needed, but what could I do? It was my mate and my twin, having to possibly choose between them was breaking my heart.
Aurora shocked me as she moved slowly and touched Jayce’s shoulder. “If this is where your heart truly lies, I can and will release you from this fragile bond.” Her eyes were the pure mercury of her wolf. She was anxious, you could scent her sadness in the air. Aurora was trying to do what was right by my brother. My older brother Alex heard the whole exchange and waited to see what Jayce chose.
Jayce took in a deep breath and kissed Sinclair hard on the lips. “I’m sorry. My wolf and I want her as our mate. I never thought I’d find my mate, I thought we had forever.” He glanced back to Aurora whom had tears streaming down her face. She was ready to release him if that’s what he wanted even if it caused her pain.
Aurora shifted quickly and ran across the arena. She leapt high into the air and landed a good twenty feet off the ground. Her talons sunk into the wood and mortar as she climbed higher and higher till she reached the alcove just below the roof. It was the first time apparently Sebastian witnessed his mate run from anything. Sebastian stood there in a state of shock. His eyes swirled between his normal sky blue and that of his wolf. It appeared that they were battling each other for control.
“Sebastian!” I yelled at him to knock him from the trance he appeared to be in. Slowly he looked at me then back in the direction Aurora had fled. To be honest everyone was watching that alcove. “Why did she run?”
Sebastian drew in a deep breath, now he had everyone’s attention. “She’s not good with handling anything outside of rage, desire or apathy. The possibility of losing a mate before really having him fucked her world all up.” His eyes found Jayce’s. “Choose whatever will make you the happiest. She wouldn’t have offered you an out if she didn’t mean it. Besides, I think you’ve figured out that she doesn’t hold back when something pisses her off or gets in her way.”
Jayce nodded and looked towards the alcove then back to me. “Dom please go talk to her. I need to talk with Sinclair a bit and I’ll bring Alex up to speed while you try to make Aurora happy.”
I smiled at my brother and brought him in for a quick hug before heading to the side of the arena. A hand gripped my shoulder it was Nico, and he was smiling. It’s kind of terrifying that he’s smiling at me right now. “Son she’s hurting, and volatile. Tread softly and talk with your heart. Her beast isn’t going to listen to reason right now.” He spoke from a place of years of wisdom, that and his bond with his daughter was a huge help.
“Is it safe to approach her? I mean we’re not bonded yet and she’s wedged in a small area.” I wasn’t afraid of being attacked I was more afraid of setting her off on a rampage.
“Soon as she can scent you, you’ll be safe. Be patient with her. Perhaps the company of your wolf would help her once you get up there.” He smirked at me because there was no visible way for me to get up there.
I stared at where she was hiding then looked back at Nico. “Mind giving me a lift. My wolf isn’t like hers and I can’t climb walls like she can.”
<
br /> Nico started laughing and walked away from everyone before he shifted back to his dragon. He looked from me to the alcove and back again before opening his huge taloned hand waiting for me to walk into his grip.
Well here goes nothing. I walked towards him, poor Jayce was in panic mode and Sebastian had to hug him to keep him from chasing after me. Once I was in the dragon’s grip, he reared up on his hind legs and stretched out his arm and placed me on the ledge of the alcove.
Glowing mercury orbs found me swiftly. She was curled up against the back wall hugging her knees to her chest. I slowly shifted into my wolf and belly crawled over to her whimpering the entire distance. The great white wolf in question laid down and curled up around my wolf. Never in my existence have I felt like a small wolf till now.
Slowly she started licking the back of my head grooming me as if I was the one that needed comfort. When she moved to get a better angle, I was able to start to groom her.
After a while she stopped grooming me and shifted back to her human form. “Your wolf is beautiful Dom.” Her fingers threaded through my thick fur as she examined the path her fingers blazed. “Father must like you to lift you up here. I’m sorry I took off like I did. I was afraid of Jayce’s rejection. I was afraid that my wolf would kill his lover in retaliation.” She lowered herself to lay her head on my ribcage curling into me for comfort. “I’m glad you’re here Dom, I don’t think I could take Sebastian coddling me.”
Her fingers continued their exploration of my wolf’s body. Her fingertips were getting dangerously close to my sheath. I could feel my body responding to her proximity. Her own scent was starting to change as she scented the change in mine.
I turn my head and nip at her exposed shoulder. I didn’t expect that she would move her head to the side to expose her neck to me. My wolf was ready to claim her right here right now. He wasn’t giving me control anytime soon. We nudged her with our muzzle, and she moved onto all fours. Apparently, our princess was a bit of a freak behind closed doors. My wolf was in the driver’s seat as he moved behind her. His long broad tongue lapped from her clit through her soaking wet folds to her engorged entrance. Her moan made our fur stand on end. We licked her like an ice cream cone enjoying her sticky sweet taste on our tongue.
Hide Little Wolf: The Aurora Marelup Series Page 9