by Hana Blue
“You may be bigger than me now, but you will never be faster.” I laughed at him, spitting onto his chest before getting up.
Dominic looked at me for a moment, unsure of what to do, so walked over to him. “This is Josh, Micheal’s son.” I said matter-of-factly, pointing at the teenage boy who laughed as he stood. I turned to face Josh and gestured to Dominic behind me. “And this is Dominic, my mate.” The phrase stunning me as I said it so naturally.
I felt Dominic go cold and clammy behind me as the red eyes of the boy approached him, extending a hand.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to freak you out, man. She’s been picking on me since I was a kid, gottatake the opportunities given to get her back.” He laughed and waved at us before leaving, Dominic settling behind me.
“So this is your pack?” He asked wearily.
I turned to face him, shaking my head. “No, but they are my family. Maybe you could learn something about these demons of the forest, here.” I said, sarcastically making air quotes with my fingers as I remarked one of the very common names they had given my kind over the years.
“Come on,” I sighed at him shrugging my shoulders.
He followed me out to the back courtyard where Caireen and Micheal were already in their beast forms. Micheal playfully trying to egg Caireen on to attack. Her gentle nature left her attacks shotty at best. I could hear Dominic swallow hard behind me before he grabbed me protectively. I chuckled.
“What are you doing?” A low growl rumbled from his throat.
I turned to look up at him, confused for a moment. Other than myself, he must have never seen us this way before. Fear and protection glossed over his eyes as he watched. His arm snaked around me, holding me close to him. I turned back to watch as Caireen cowardly swung at Micheal, missing completely. Crying as she swung her paw at him again.
“He’s training her.” I whispered to Dominic, hoping it would calm him some, but it didn’t.
His grip remained tight around me, his eyes glued to the two large black creatures that bounced around each other in the center of the courtyard. I knew that his action by all rights should have made me feel protected, but coming from him, it didn’t.
I sighed, closing my eyes for a minute, letting Lilith words ring in the back of my mind. “No one is going to get hurt.” I whispered again, instinctively reaching for his hand. Without even thinking, doing as Lilith suggested, I let go. My fingers laced with his and I squeezed his hand. He looked down at me, surprised. “Thanks to you, she now knows about it, so it finally came time to help her understand it. So I brought her to the man who helped me.”
“Who is she?”
I looked up to him with a prideful smirk, then returned my gaze to the meal creature trapped in the beastly form in front of us. Smiling to myself, recognizing her sweetness even under the strong outer exterior.
“That is Caireen. My baby sister,”
Thirteen
Warrior
DOMINIC~
“Well, I’m surprised to say the least.” Smoke rolled from Ethan’s lips as he spoke.
Standing his rightful place to my right side. I nodded slowly, watching out at the back courtyard that was bustling with a mixture of different wolves setting up tables and food. Scurrying around, laughing and joking as they prepared for a celebration. A celebration for my mate and I. Most of them completely oblivious to the beginning of all of this.
It was incredible to watch them, doing something that was highly unheard of in my life. They were a family, living in harmony amongst each other as if no tension was ever built between them. That all the tales and legend that followed each other’s breed was nothing but fictional points that landed upon deaf ears.
The younger sister bounded around on her toes, mingling with everyone around her before linking arms with two blond girls around her age. Both of them donning white eyes. My mind bustled with confusion as I watched the two girls, natural enemies of the tall lanky blood born, playfully giggling with her. Holding each other’s arms like a chain swaying round to the sound of the guitar one of the others was playing.
“So, correct me if I’m wrong, but are you looking to take part in this mate thing?” Ethan questioned, throwing the butt of his cigarette onto the ground, blowing out the last bit of smoke.
“Don’t know what you mean.” I muttered, shrugging my shoulders dismissively.
“Yes, you do.” He retorted. “Seriously. What the hell happened? You wake us up early in the morning, drag us hours away from home. To what? Sweep her off her feet?”
Shrugging again, I watched as Aine exited the house, an enormous platter of uncooked meats in her arms. Two other wolves stood next to her, and she was giggling with delight at something they said. Naturally walking over to the grill where that damn handsy fuck was cooking. She set the platter down next to the grill and said what I assumed to have been a joke. The two of them laughed together, and she slapped his arm playfully. My blood boiled.
The minute she contacted him, my mind burned with a jealous rage. The same jealous rage that drug me here in the first place. Forced me here without my control. It was like I was watching her hand touch his arm in slow motion and the only thing I could think of was her touching him; him touching her. Leaving her feeling the way she did that drove me to madness the night before.
Never in my life have I been a jealous man. No woman on this earth mattered to me enough to care. It was a suffocating feeling. One that I couldn’t shake, could push back. I didn’t like it; I didn’t enjoy feeling so possessive, too easily pushed to violence over something so small as someone touching her. Feeling like I could easily slaughter anyone who looked in her direction. But as I stood there watching the two of them talk, it blazed through me like a damn wildfire.
“She must not value his life all too much” I grumbled to myself, recalling that it was because of her he was still breathing.
“That right over there is why we are here.” Ethan looked over at Aine and flashed a cocky, knowing smile.
Having had enough of this crushing feeling, I crossed the courtyard, lighting up a cigarette out of habit, coming to stand behind her. There was no way to stop it. I needed to make myself known; I needed to put him in his place, frighten him a little. I needed to make it very clear to her, and to all of those around her, that she was mine, and mine alone.
I smiled at the man I so desperately wanted to kill deviously as I wrapped my arm around Aine’s waist, pulling her tight to my side. She flinched a little. Obviously uncomfortable, but I couldn’t be bothered with that. I was here to piss him off, and make damn sure that that man knew he had fucked up the minute he looked at her. I causally let the cigarette hang from my lips and I chuckled, tightening my grip on her.
Daniel wordlessly eyed my hand, and I gave her hip a good squeeze. He watched my hand bitterly as I snaked it down into her front pocket, glaring at it before looking back up to our faces, searching Aine’s for some sign that she needed help. Curious to see, I looked to her. She tensed a little from being put on the spot and lowered her head. Taking her eyes off of Daniel, dropping her gaze to the floor.
I squeezed her thigh gently through her pocket and pulled the cigarette from my lips with the other hand. “Good girl.” I purred next to her face before looking at him challengingly.
“I’m going to go help Lilith.” She croaked, taking my wrist in her hand, pulling mine from her pocket.
She walked away, but I grabbed her wrist, pulling her in to kiss her. It was short and sweet but did the trick. By time she was back into the house, the stupid fool at the grill was ready to kick my ass. I loved it. If one perk came from this jealousy, it was fun to trigger it on others around me. I took a drag off my smoke and grinned back at the snarling face in front of me.
“You’ve got balls, I’ll give you that.” Coyly I smiled, rolling the cigarette around between my fingers.
He shut the grill slowly and turned to face me. A glacial expression forming. “She told me what you d
id, I saw what it left behind too. What makes you think you deserve all of this?” He waved his arms around, signaling the party that was being set up in Aine and I’s honor. I shrugged, taking another drag. “You fucking marked her without her consent!” He bit back at me again.
I rolled my eyes and put out the cigarette. “She didn’t seem to mind.” I retorted.
A low rumble came from the man’s chest, no doubt angered by my words beyond measure. I took a step closer to him, lowering my face down to his, enjoying his anger and pain from all of this far more than I probably should have.
“In fact, I think she quite enjoyed it. I know I did. Sinking my teeth into that soft, sweet flesh of hers. I’d do it again and again, the best part, she’d let me in a heartbeat.”
I backed up, throwing my head back to laugh. With a roll of my eyes, I made my way back over to Ethan who stood there watching, laughing his ass off.
“Time to explain?”
I shook my head in amusement. “Poor bastard loves her. Also, no doubt saw that she was marked and mated and still thought it was a magnificent idea to fuck her. Unfortunately, I got a front-row seat for it, so to speak. So we are here to make sure it never happens again.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Not in the slightest.”
“So, you’re going to set aside the wanting her dead thing? Actually be her damn mate?”
I shrugged. “We will see.”
Ethan looked at me, disappointed. “You know this isn’t a game, right? You keep trying to play it like it is, you’ll end up in to deep.” He lit another cigarette, taking a drag off of it slowly, looking up at the sky. “You willing to wind up that deep into it?”
I rolled my eyes.
“You know, Allea used to irritate the shit out of me. Couldn’t fucking stand her for the life of me. Felt like I got cheated. Being mated to some mouthy shit who couldn’t shut up for two minutes.” He confessed.
I chucked at his response. Relating to his words. Agreeing that Allea was in fact a mouthy shit, but also not being able to understand why I was mated to someone I couldn’t stand.
“Even still, couldn’t fight that pull to her. Slowly, everything that irritated me about her became the things I loved the most. Before I knew it, I was head over heals in love with her and there was nothing I could do about it. Couldn’t keep my hands off of her, couldn’t keep my thoughts off of her. I fell hard. I don’t regret it.” He took another drag thoughtfully before turning to me.
“What makes you think you can fight that off? Fucking look at you. Wanted to kill her, but couldn’t. That asshole over there taps her and you go running to stop it. You look at her like she’s the most beautiful thing on this damn planet, and you only just learned her name today. Hell, you can barely keep your hands to yourself when she’s around, you look like a damn addict.”
I scoffed at him, looking forward. Irritated that he was right.
“Don’t you scoff at me. You want her? Fine. We all support you in what you want to do. You want to go back to that witch and break the bond so you can kill her for being “a beast” fine. We support you on that too. But you better makeup your mind on it. Because the longer you stay around her, the more you touch her, the harder that choice will be. You either be her mate, or just fucking kill her, but don’t play it like a game. Mate or not, you are still bound to fall in love with her.”
I rolled my eyes and turned back to the house, feeling her presence return. I eyed her over, her tall, sleek frame carrying herself proudly. A leather jacket hanging open over her shoulders, her hair flowing freely around her. Her whole look screamed of trouble. Looking like the bad girl you’d never tell your mother about.
“She isn’t like those bimbos you like to prey on Dom. Hell, she’s basically you. That damn woman slaughtered one of our friends. Looks like she’s seen war. She a damn fighter, one you can’t control. She’s perfect for you. I know it, you know it. It’s only a matter of time till she owns you,”
* * *
AINE~
My nerves were on fire as I helped clean up after the dinner. Having just sat directly next to Dominic throughout the meal, his hand gently gracing my thigh the entire time. I would be lying if I said that it didn’t scare me just a little. Yes, I enjoyed the feeling, and some contentment came from us pretending to be what I always saw mates to be like. And damnit did my body crave his touch. But the reality of it loomed in the back of my mind, dragging back to running for my life through the forest. Something I knew I wouldn’t soon forget.
Joyous sounds came from outside as the younger wolves danced and celebrated with each other. A few of the men playing guitar and singing. Celebrating like this was very common here. Micheal’s pack truly being one large happy family that jumped on any opportunity to spend time together with drink and song. That was something I always loved about this place. The calming aura and happiness that filled them made me envious. Despite partaking in it, I never felt it the way they did. I tried, god knows I tried. But I always was drug back into the sad reality that I knew I had to face the minute I left.
I finished scrubbing the last dish and set it on the drying rack. I grabbed the towel that laid next to the sink and dried my hands.
“Are you coming or what?” Caireen’s voice chirped at me. She came to stand next to me and pulled the towel from my hands. “Come on, come dance. You know you want to.”
“I’m good.” I replied taking back the towel, sloppily folding it before setting it back down.
“Come on, try to enjoy yourself. This is a celebration for you and Dominic’s mating.”
“WE ARE NOT MATED! He is my mate, enormous difference. I don’t recall ever marking him, so as it would go, we are NOT officially mated!”
She took a step back, looking at me frightened.
I slammed my hand down onto the counter, looking at her expectantly. Wondering how she could witness all that happened and still stand there beaming at me like this celebration wasn’t just a sham. That there couldn’t possibly be some sick, cruel manipulation happening.
“Have you so easily forgotten that he tried to kill you, not that long ago in fact?” I heckled her.
In return, she swallowed hard, regret filling her eyes. “But he didn’t.”
“BECAUSE I FUCKING STOPPED HIM!” I screamed at her, throwing my hands in the air.
“He seems like he is really here to make things right Aine. Can’t you try to open you mind to it. You are his mate, its not like you can just get rid of him.” Her voice was unsure, and she refused to look at me as she spoke.
“Make things right?” I scoffed. “MAKE. THINGS. RIGHT.” I laughed satirically “This is why I never thought you were ready to go out of the cabin on your own. This right here is why. You are far too naïve for your own damn good. You go out there and take one damn good look at that man and tell me he isn’t the devil reincarnated.”
I shook my head at her and left the kitchen. Refusing to look back, knowing if I did I would see the aftermath of my words. I would see the hurt in her eyes as a consequence of them. That was something I didn’t need on my conscious right now. I needed to put on a brave face and play along with whatever sick game was taking place.
Once making it into the courtyard, it swept me up in the festivities. I joined the other women who were twirling and swaying to the sound of the guitars. Trying my best to fully immerse myself in it. But with almost every spin I could feel his eyes on me, leaving me nervous. I’d turn to look, and every time he was still watching, casually smoking and talking with some others who surrounded him.
“You guys sure know how to have fun.” A familiar voice called out to me.
I spun around to see Allea coming over to me, seamlessly blending into the group. I gave her a smile in return. She seemed nice enough. I felt like somehow she wasn’t much different from me. She had a strong attitude and stance to her I appreciated greatly. She wasn’t afraid to be aggressive or brash, but obviously knew when to be respectful
as well. I admired it.
I welcomed the conversation with her, listening to her chattering on about their pack, and about how interesting it was being here. She tried to egg on some answers about what I was, and how a few of us were still around, but I deflected them quickly. I wasn’t feeling in the mood to go on some history lesson debate.
She caught on quickly, making the conversation lighter, and before I knew it I swayed and danced to the music with the two women that came here with Dominic. Strangely I felt at ease around them, and under different circumstances I was sure I could have befriended them both.
* * *
DOMINC~
I took another drag, pushing the smoke out of my nose roughly. Ethan’s comments rushing my mind like a stampede. Love. I scoffed. I struggled to maintain a conversation with those around me, unable to keep my eyes off of her.
‘Before she owns you.’ I heard Ethan say in the back of my thoughts.
I swallowed hard, my eyes following her like prey, watching her twirl under the glow of the hanging lights. Her face full of joy and happiness. Not a trace of defiance or anger to be found. Showing a gentleness that I couldn’t really imagine her having. She glided around, mingling and swaying with Allea and Ciri as though they were old friends. Every movement she made seeming as though she was dancing on the air.
“Your reputation really proceeds you, you know” Micheal’s voice broke me from my trance that I had found myself in.