Deprived (Daughter of an Alpha Book 2)

by Kaitlyn Taylor

  “What are you doing in here?” I asked Juda as she came into view. I continued to walk closer to her only to find Luna, Nova, and Deja were here, too. “What’s behind you?”

  They seemed to be circling around something behind them but the four of them made a pretty good wall, so it was impossible to peak between the gaps. I tightened my grip on the towel holding closely to my body as I took a few more steps in their direction.

  “We thought you would need something to wear on your big day,” Luna smiled as she broke away from their formation they had established. Juda, Nova, and Deja followed Luna, revealing what they had been hiding from me.

  A mannequin came into view with the most beautiful dress I had ever seen draped over it. It was a long white dress, with sleeves down to the wrists, a high neckline, and a natural waistline. Appliqued flowers and leaves were delicately sewn onto the lace with small diamond jewels covering the entire piece from top to bottom.

  “Where did you guys get this?” I whispered as I stepped closer to it, putting my hands along the waist of the mannequin in order to feel the fabric for myself.

  “Kya and one of our seamstresses worked all night to make this for you,” Nova answered as she walked up to my side. She wiped a tear away from my cheek and then smiled as she waited for me to speak again.

  “It’s perfect,” I continued to speak softly. I could feel the burn in my eyes as I examined the entirety of the dress. The others hovered around me as I had a moment to myself to process what they had done for me.

  “Just because it’s a half ass binding ceremony doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be dressed for the part,” Deja broke the silence making all of us laugh, my tears disappearing as my chuckle shook my chest.

  “Come on,” Luna pushed passed the four of us and reached for the dress. “Let’s get it on you.”

  She was able to get the dress off the mannequin much easier than I ever would’ve and before I knew it, my towel was off, and I was stepping into the dress. Juda zipped it up and then pushed me in front of the full-length mirror sitting in the corner next to the closet. It fit perfectly. Not one part of it was out of place or wrinkled. I couldn’t believe this was actually the dress that I would be wearing for the ceremony.

  “You must thank Kya and the other seamstress for me,” I remembered as I admired the fabric that clasped to my body. “They did a brilliant job.”

  “We gave them a simple design and then they did the rest,” Nova told me. “I never could’ve come up with something as beautiful as this. They truly are talented.”

  “Wait until Nathan sees you in it,” Luna smiled into the mirror catching my eyes. “He won’t be able to wait to get it off of you.”

  “Hopefully when he does my brothers will have the sense to stay away from my chambers,” I muttered, rolling my eyes as I looked down towards the ground to admire the detailing.

  “What is that supposed to mean?” Juda questioned looking horrified as she stood behind me. I was able to see her in the mirror although, I don’t think she noticed me staring.

  “It’s a long story,” I laughed as the girls sat me down in a chair and began messing with my hair.

  Chapter Four

  Deja

  Watching Kota get ready for the Binding Ceremony sent me into a huge line of questioning with myself. Our parents had been wanting all of us to go through this and had pressured us during this last year to go through with it, but they could not even convince our brothers who should have already been bound if you considered their age. It was not that we did not want to do it it was more that we wanted it to be our choice. We did not want to be pressured into doing it and we wanted to know the person that we would eventually be bound to. It seemed to be a really hard concept for our parents and the Council to understand but at least our parents tried, and they made a lot of effort to hold back the Council from making any demands. I did not want to be Dion. He was pressured more than any of us and it has only gotten worse since he became the Alpha. The Council is convinced he needs to bind to someone and produce an heir as soon as possible but it is easier said than done. My father had found compatible partners for all of us using the same blood ritual that Uncle Theo had used for Luna and her brothers. I had not met the woman Dion was matched with, but I have been told by Deni that our brother had been spending a lot of time with her lately.

  I was matched with Gavin, the brown haired, purple eyed fairy who has wiggled his way into an everyday presence in my life. He was Dion’s second in command, and when he first took up the position I thought it was so he could be closer to me. I may have argued with him about it one night. Actually, I did argue about it with him, but I do not remember it. It was on the same night that I had more than one glass of wine and since I do not remember our conversation, I think it is safe to assume that I had too much. He had to tell me three times that Dion asked him to take the position and that he did not go searching for the job before I finally let it go. I was thankful that he has a forgiving personality and has never brought it up again just like he promised.

  We have been pretty much inseparable since that day. I am still not sure how we went from drunken arguments to spending every free moment together in just a month’s time. There have been no serious conversations about our future together but the closer we got to one another the more I was able to picture the plan my father had for us. I was not in a hurry to go through what Kota was going through today but I am not pushing it away the same way I was before my father died.

  Kota looked beautiful, standing up from the chair that faced the mirror. Luna had been messing with her hair for the past half an hour and had finally moved out of the way long enough for us to see Kota’s bright red hair styled in an up do with the length of her hair running down her back. It may have been put together in less than a day, but this Binding Ceremony was turning out to be the most beautiful occurrence in all of our lives since Luna’s birthday last month. There was a part of me that worried about Kota rushing into things with Nathan just so we could get a message to him during our hunt for Malachi later today, but I have been watching her and she and Nathan interact with one another and I truly believe this is what she wants. She looks so happy wearing her dress and looking gorgeous for the big day. I know Nathan adores her, but I wanted to make sure the feelings were mutual, and I am one hundred percent sure that they are. It may not be the way we thought it would all go down, but it was happening, and I was so happy that she chose to have the four of us stand by her side.

  “I hate to interrupt your girl stuff, but Nico says it’s time for the five of you to join us downstairs,” a familiar deep-toned voice called from outside the bathroom. I gracefully walked towards the door and turned the door knob, releasing the door from its closed position. In front of me stood the tall, muscular figure that I had grown to love even though I did not want to admit it out loud just yet. His dark purple eyes stared into mine as we silently connected with one another.

  “We just finished,” I finally said after shaking myself out of the trance his presence put me in. “We’ll be down in a few minutes.”

  “You look beautiful,” he smiled before he turned away, his hands tucked into his black pant pockets, and his white shirt untucked framing his muscles.

  “Will you just jump him already?” Luna spoke bluntly and after seventeen years of knowing and loving her and would not expect anything else from her.

  “What makes you think I haven’t?” I responded, whipping my head in her direction wearing a devious smile.

  Her jaw dropped as I exited the bathroom following Gavin out of Kota’s chambers. He was still in the hallway, leaning up against the wall to the room we had just left, almost like he was waiting for me to follow him.

  “Took you long enough,” he laughed, crossing his arms against his broad chest. “I was starting to think you weren’t going to come out.”

  “It was only a minute,” I chuckled as I stepped closer to him. His back was still up against the wall as I closed t
he distance between. I leaned into his chest as he wrapped his arms around my body, resting them on my lower back. He was extremely tall, and my head only came up to the middle of his chest. I must have looked like a small child compared to him. All the men in my life were big and tall like Gavin, so I should be used to it by now, but there was a small part of me that really wished they were not the overachievers they turned out to be.

  He bent down towards me as I looked up in his direction. Our lips met sending a warmth through my body. It was comforting even though it was just a simple kiss. I never thought something like that could make me feel so safe, but it did, and I craved it more and more each time we physically touched each other. I was still unsure about our relationship but when he placed his hands on me all those doubts in my mind disappeared and everything is right again. Well, not everything. My father was still taken from me far too early in my life, but Gavin made it a little bit easier to cope with it all.

  I rested my head against his chest when he pulled his away from me and we just stood there holding onto each other as if we had nothing better to do. The only thing that pulled us away from each other were the footsteps on the other side of the wall coming in our direction. He planted one last kiss on my lips and then we separated making it look like we were just having a conversation. The door opened, and Kota appeared, ready to make her way down to the ballroom for the ceremony to begin. Luna, Nova, and Juda followed behind her looking proud of the work they had just done on our sister. She was naturally beautiful but there was something stunning about her that was different. It was almost like her confidence was shining off of her, zero doubt in her mind that this was the right thing to do.

  “You ready, Kota?” Gavin asked as her chamber door shut behind the girls. He did not look at her the way he looked at me, but I could tell that he noticed the change in her. It was hard not to. His arm reached for mine and without any hesitation we linked together and led the girls downstairs to the entry way. As we got to the staircase we came close to running right into Roman who was sent up to get us when Dion assumed Gavin had failed in his mission to get us downstairs. I saw the way Roman’s expression changed when he caught Nova in his peripheral vision. The four of us were dressed in simple white dresses that were very similar but the way he looked at her you would have thought she was the only girl in the hallway. I guess that is how it is supposed to be. It was still hard for me to believe though. I had seen Gavin look at me like that every day since my drunken accusations, and even though I told myself it was not real, I always believed that it was. I still refuse to say any of it out loud. The second that I do, it means it is actually happening and it will all get ruined. I do not want anything to change. I have had too much change in the last month already.

  Kory and Kody were waiting at the bottom of the stairs for their sister to join them. Since Uncle Alex was not here to walk her into the ballroom it made sense that her brothers would do it together. It amazed me how calm Kota was throughout all of this. It was more than just believing it was her duty to go through with the Binding Ceremony. I wanted to know her secrets so that I could figure out how to present myself in the same way. Being a fairy, I should already be calm but these days I was anything but that. I noticed that Aunt Penelope still was not here, and it crushed my soul to think she would not be here to see her daughter bound to the man she would spend her life with. My mother was not here either, nor were Aunt Vivienne, Aunt Scarlett, or Aunt Elizabeth. It was becoming much harder to be understanding when they constantly hid themselves away like this. My mother and my aunts may not be Kota’s mother, but they have always been motherly towards her just like Kota’s mother was with the rest of us. It was upsetting because I know how important it is to Kota that her mother is there. I know Kory and Kody tried but it was beginning to look like nothing was going to get my Aunt Penelope out of her chambers.

  The staff at Werewolf Castle must have worked all night to get the ballroom ready for the ceremony. White and pink flowers covered the arched outline of the entry into the ballroom and a long line of the same flowers made a path to arched alter that looked like a mini version of the entry. Chairs were lined up on each side of the lined flowers where the Council members and their families sat. No one was happy to see them. I did see Nathan’s father sitting up in the front row. Nathan looked just like him and thanks to our slow aging his father only looked about ten years older than him. He had an angry look glued to his face, but I am almost positive that he was not upset at all. His son was joining the Alpha family and I think he thought that meant he was joining it, too. Someone should tell him that that is not how it works. Only the one binding into the Alpha family is actually joining the family. Nathan’s father would never come close to being associated with the family especially since no one in the family actually likes him.

  My arm was still linked with Gavin’s as we walked into the ballroom. While I was standing with Kota, Nathan had asked Gavin to stand with him along with Declan, Roman, and Hudson. When we got to the end of the path, Gavin and I separated but not before he winked in my direction. I smiled as I waited until the last second to turn away from him. Declan and Luna followed us and then Hudson and Juda. Roman and Nova were the last to come down before Kota since this was Nova’s home. Our brothers were all seated within the first two rows on the same side that the girls and I stood. The only seats that were still empty were Kory and Kody’s and the seats that were reserved for our mothers. I think we knew by now that those seats would stay empty. The last to walk down was Kota with Kory on her right and Kody on her left, their arms linked the three of them together.

  I never thought of Binding Ceremonies much growing up. There were times when I was convinced that I would never be a part of one. Watching Kota walk down the path and seeing the beauty within the ballroom made me slightly jealous. I loved every bit of it even if it was put together last minute. It was simple but still meaningful and I wanted that for myself. All I had to do was say the word and the Council would make sure it happened but that would give them too much satisfaction. Knowing me, I would wait until the last possible second to have a Binding Ceremony of my own and it was all because I hated the Council that much.

  A man I did not recognize walked up to the altar as Kota stood next to Nathan. He was wearing robes similar to the ones the Council members were wearing except theirs were black while the guy standing in front of Kota and Nathan wore white. I was able to sense that he was not a Werewolf. He was definitely a sorcerer, but I guess that makes sense since the two standing up there with him were also sorcerers. They made not have been able to hold the ceremony at Sorcerer Castle, but the Council made sure that a sorcerer conducted the it. The politics of it all bored me.

  I am not sure what title the man held but he was holding a large black book in his hand. He opened it to the middle and then began to speak although I am pretty sure he was not reading from the book, so I am not sure what the point of it was. He spoke about what binding to someone meant to start but then he moved onto what it meant to be bound to the Alpha family. This part was directed at Nathan even though the guy did a really good job at making sure he was talking to everyone. He was older. Maybe closer to three hundred with a bald head and a large stomach. He seemed very plain in every way. He was monotone, and he just stood there looking at each side of the path every few seconds. It was clear that he had to remind himself to do this. Nathan’s father looked around at the other Council members as they secretly congratulated him on such a good match for his son. I could not believe they were doing that during the ceremony. There was a time and place for everything and this was the wrong time for that. He had nothing to be proud of. Nathan should be proud of himself for getting to where he is without his father having an active role in his life, but his father had nothing to smile about. I swear the Council live in their own little world.

  Kota and Nathan said nothing throughout the whole ceremony just as we all knew that they would not. Their only job was to stand there and l
et the guy talk and then bind together by slicing their hands and holding them together while the man in the white robe tied them together with a piece of rope. I knew this was the part that Kota was dreading but I assured her that I would heal it as soon as the ceremony was over. I could not believe how long this guy was talking. I stopped listening about ten minutes ago, so I am not even sure what he was muttering on about. The only thing that caught my attention was when he pulled a small detailed blade from a pillow sitting off to his right. I recognized the blade the second he showed it to Kota. It belonged to Uncle Alex. It was the same blade that he had carried in his boot wherever he went. Kota was silent no more. She was not loud our dramatic, but a small cry did leave her body, and everyone understood. Even the Council sat respectfully as she calmed herself down. It was about time they acted with respect. Nathan comforted her the best he could and after a minute she was fine again. She turned around to Kory and mouthed ‘thank you’ to him since he was the one who inherited it when Uncle Alex died. Kory knew that Kota would want to use it during the Ceremony. At least one parent of hers was present today.

  The robed man started speaking again and after two short sentences he reached for Nathan’s right hand and held it in his own. He opened the palm and moved the blade across it, letting the dark red blood drop into a gold bowl sitting on a small table in front of them. I have no idea where that table came from. I do not remember seeing it when I walked down the path but, then again, I was not paying that much attention to the altar and what surrounded it. I felt like I would have noticed a gold bowl, but I guess I was that distracted. The blade was wiped on a pink colored towel, very similar to the flowers surrounding the ballroom. He then reached for Kota’s hand and repeated the process. I saw her wince as the blade pierced her palm but, surprisingly, she stayed calm. Her own blood dripped into the same gold bowl while the man handed off the blade to a woman who was standing behind the altar. She was a small woman, at least half the size of the guys standing on Nathan’s side. Everyone was small compared to them, but this woman barely came up to their waist. She was older, her hair a light grey color and her skin wrinkly. She seemed gentle though and I could not help but smile at her when our eyes locked on one another.