by LeeSha McCoy
“Yep. I think it's about time you had one of your dreams come true.”
I think my heart stops beating. “Which one?”
“You'll have to wait and see. Ready?”
My eyes widen. “You're taking me now? Does mom know?”
She laughs. “Of course she does.”
“Oh… And she's okay with it?”
“It's not up to her or anyone else how you live your life, Karrisee. I thought we'd established that by now?”
“Yeah, but we're going to the world.” Oh, God, why did my stomach just twist in knots when I said that?
“So? Do you not wanna go anymore?”
“Hell yeah, I do, but… I'm a little nervous.”
“Don't be.” She gets up to pull me to my feet, then stands in front of me. “Come on, let's get you properly dressed.”
“Why?”
“Because, you just need to. How would you want to be dressed if you were gonna meet your ideal man?”
My heart skips multiple beats. “Am I going to meet a werewolf?”
“Just dress,” she snaps. “Damn, I thought he was bad.”
“Who?”
“You'll soon find out if you hurry up.”
Panic torrents through me. ‘How should we dress Malika?’
‘As ourselves, please.’
‘But—’
“She's right,” Ariella says. “As yourself.”
I struggle to brush off the sudden rush of self-conscious thoughts. Ariella is beautiful, slimmer than me. What if all the girls there look the same as her?
She frowns. “They don't. We're all shapes and sizes. Please, just be you.”
‘Exactly,’ Malika agrees. ‘Why are you comparing yourself to others again?’
‘Ugh, I’m not.’
‘You fucking are. Stop it.’
I swallow hard when I see Ariella looking at me like I imagine Malika would. “What about my eyes?”
She frowns. “What about them? Mine used to be a different colour before I changed and became an elder. Can you calm down? You're thinking way too much into this.”
“Well, it's hard not to,” I retort. “This is a massive deal. Especially if a werewolf guy is involved…”
She holds my shoulders. “Look, I know you’re still on your journey to discover who you truly are, but please just take this moment for what it is, and relax. Dreams do come true, so believe.”
I nod. “Okay.” She always knows the right things to say. “Can I just have a minute?”
“Of course.”
I walk over to the mirror and take a deep breath. Maybe this is a test, so I need to try not to screw it up.
If I were going to meet my ideal man, who liked me for me, I’d look like this…
Waving my hand, I change into a gold, V-shaped, floor-length gown, with blush red embroidered rosillia flowers along the hem. I don’t wear heals too high, deciding to go for comfort, especially as I don’t know where we’ll be going. I go light on the make-up, too, settling on a little blusher, mascara, and a little eye liner to enhance my eyes. Then I release my hair from its tie to let it fall straight down to my hips.
I then debate whether I should wear my tiara or not. Not to be too much, but it’s part of who I am. A pretty important part of who I am, too. Maybe just a little one, so it’s there but it’s not the show. There… And a little perfume.
Now I’m ready. At least on the outside. Internally, I’m a mess.
‘Perfect,’ Malika says proudly. ‘I couldn’t have chosen better myself.’
“I agree. You look stunning, as always.”
I turn to face Ariella behind me. “Thank you.”
“A little more fitted here, though,” she says, tightening the gown around my hips and waist.
My eyes widen as I glance down at the curve of my stomach. “But—”
She rests her hand on mine when I attempt to cover it up. “Trust me.”
I bite my tongue. “Okay.”
“Right. A few things you need to know. You won’t have use of your magic there, at least not yet, but all your senses will be the same. It’s night-time where we’re going, but you’ll still be able to see and hear as you usually do. And just to warn you, it feels a little strange when we pass over. Like tingling, alright? But it's normal.”
“Alright.” Hell, I'm so excited and nervous at the same time.
She claps her hands. “Me, too. Ready?”
I nod. As I’ll ever be.
After a sharp tingling over my body and a blink later, we arrive in a dark wood full of trees I've never seen before. They’re not as tall as the ones back in the kratius, and the smell of them is much different. I can't place it, but it’s earthy and musky at the same time, and even a little sweet.
It's also ever-so-slightly raining, but before any disturbs my makeup, an umbrella is placed in my hand.
“This is England, which would be the equivalent of an island off the kingdom of Mirada, and it rains here, a lot.”
“I see…” Malika and I continue to look around at all the things we can see, the fallen golden leaves on the ground, small shrubs with rose and white coloured flowers, and even small blue ones that look like bells. “Everything is so different already, but beautiful all the same.”
“It is…”
I startle when a bird with an orange-tipped beak and a white breast flies overhead, and then a rush of more come. Some black, some orange, even lime. The ground begins to tremble, too, so I step closer to Ariella. “What's that?” I whisper.
“The softer vibrations are deer, which is one type of animal that wares like to eat. Look.” She points to a four-legged animal with brown fur and spiky thorns on its head, running through the trees in the distance.
“They resemble what we call caribou.”
She nods. “They kinda are…”
A number of deer pass all around us, but the quakes in the ground deepen. “Are more coming?”
“No.” She holds onto my shoulders and turns me around. “That heavier pattern is… Him.”
I blink a few times, trying to focus and make out what I’m seeing through the greenery in the distance, but the dark brown fur and form of something I have only ever dreamt of soon disappears before a figure of a man comes into view. I blink again, but this time, it’s because I’m not sure that what I’m seeing is real.
At least not where I come from.
‘He is,’ Ariella confirms. ‘One hundred percent real.’
The man, dressed in some type of fitted pants and the palest of yellow shirts, slowly stalks through the trees towards us, and with each step, my pulse quickens its pace. His eyes are wild, fierce, and something untamed, but as wild as they seem, they quickly soften, intrigued instead.
And they change colour…
His shimmering gold orbs suddenly darken to a light copper. Enrapturing… They're fixed on me in a way that makes my entire being shiver with not only excitement, but something I've never experienced before. It's more than desire, more than curiosity, and even more puzzlingly, not only does the entire moment scare the living hell out of me, the closer he comes, the calmer I feel.
As if his aura is a balm to my nerves.
While his own gaze wanders, so does mine, and my stomach flutters when I notice that not only does he have a beard, his long hair is braided—not loced, and that the little moonlight that seeps through the leaves above us makes the blonde strands throughout them glitter.
Wow...
Malika swarms wildly inside me. ‘They don't make them like that in the kratius.’
I agree. ‘Definitely not.’ Not even my dad is that big, and he's huge...
He stops in his tracks when he's a few yards away, and then finally, we look straight at each other. He quite literally takes my breath away, but before I hold my next breath, I smell the familiar scent that’s been consuming my dreams and my skin ripples with goosebumps.
I just know that’s the beast within him.
“Pr
incess Karrisee of Caro, this is Amarey. Amarey, this is Princess Karrisee, eldest daughter of Queen Vallessa and King Scarva of the kratius.”
He gives Ariella a brief look, but then we say ‘hey’ to each other in unison, and I blush profusely.
“I'll let you have some time alone,” Ariella says. “I'll be back later to take you home, Karrisee.”
I turn to her, wide eyed. She's leaving me here? With him? Alone?
She smiles. ‘You're in safe hands. Believe me.’ Then she disappears.
I swallow uncomfortably when I turn back to Amarey.
My God, look at his arms…
Twenty
Amarey
Ells appears on my porch, just as I’m leaving out for a hunt, but instead of stopping to talk to her ass, I carry on walking.
“Nice of you to show up.” I'm feeling stressed ‘cause she left me hanging after our last talk. She said to give her a few days, but it's been almost two damned weeks.
“Sorry, little bro, but you know how it is.”
“Yeah.” I pull off my t-shirt and jump the steps. “Not to be impatient, but do you have any news for me yet?”
“Maybe…”
A low growl rumbles from my chest. “Not in the mood for those kinda answers.”
I ain't thought of nothing else but our last conversation. I haven't been able to help it. I swear, just knowing my mate is my age and out there has blocked me from finding interest in much of anything else. I need to just pick up a scent of a deer so I can release some of this fucking stress.
I’m straight up about to eat my feelings.
She blocks my path by appearing in front of me and resting a forceful hand on my chest. “Sorry. Yes, I have news. I'm going to bring your mate to visit you.”
That gets all my attention. I look down at her. “Swear.”
“I swear, but first, I need to tell you a few things.”
“Go on…”
“She can't know I'm your sister, not yet. She doesn’t know mom and dad have any other children and shouldn’t ask for a little while yet anyway, so don't bring it up.”
“Why?”
“Because, her knowing who you are or knowing I’m your sister might make her act differently, and you want her to be herself, don’t you?”
“Course I do.”
“Good. Next, remember she doesn't know anything about our world, so I'd encourage you to start by answering her questions. It’ll be a good way to get to know her. Y’know, they don't even have televisions in the kratius, or music like ours.”
“Okay.” Shit...
“Yeah. And finally, remember she doesn’t eat like us. She can have fruits, and I’ll put a bowl with the ones she can have on your table, but apart from those and blood, that’s it. I'll leave a bottle in your fridge for her, just in case she gets hungry.”
“So she can’t drink from me?”
Her expression tells me she can’t answer that, and I roll my eyes.
“Fine.”
“She knows a lot about our histories from the books she’s read, so although she knows about werewolf mates, she won’t clock that you and her are because she’s not a werewolf, so don’t bring that shit up until she asks either.”
Shit, this is gonna be tricky as fuck.
“You’ll be fine. I'm gonna bring her into the woods, so go hunt. It will be a good idea for you to burn off some steam before you two meet anyway.” She smirks. “We don't want things getting out of hand on your first meeting, do we?”
I roll my eyes, again.
Hers narrow. “Hey, don’t underestimate this shit, alright?”
“I've seen enough mates meet to know that, sis.”
“Yeah, well, just a little word of warning, she's not a ware remember, so your relationship isn't going to run the same as you're used to seeing. She also won't have use of her magic here in the world yet, so she may feel a little vulnerable. It will be your job to make her feel secure.”
Double, shit. “I will.”
“Her senses, and her strength will be the same, though. She can see in the dark like we can, and her hearing is even better than ours. Alright?”
Damn. “Aight.”
She breathes a sigh of relief. “Go on then. You'll know when we get here.”
She disappears, leaving me even more in my feelings. Nerves and excitement also cause my heart to race. What’s she gonna look like?
Shit…
I hope she carries weight…
***
I pop another mouthful of deer while I strip the rest of the meat from the carcase, but then I still mid-chew, ‘cause I catch scent of something that makes me turn in the direction of the east.
Fuck, they must be here, ‘cause I’ve only ever picked up a scent like that in my dreams.
“This is England, which would be the equivalent of an island off the kingdom of Mirada, and it rains here, a lot” I hear my sister say.
“I see…”
I jump to my feet. That's her. The voice I hear in my dreams.
“Everything is so different already, but beautiful all the same.”
“It is…”
Damn, her voice. Her accent is so different, too, nothing like anything I've ever heard. Hella sultry, and although it’s clearly feminine, there’s a hint of a dominant masculinity laced all up in it. Like she could switch from taking orders to giving them.
The thought of that is hot as fuck.
I drop the chunk of meat in my hand and run towards the scent, my heart pounding even harder than it usually does when I'm in this form. I’m almost out of my head thinking about what she’s gonna look like, what her mind’s like, and if her body’s gonna be like what I’ve imagined it to be. I hope she ain’t short either.
And please have some curves to hold on to…
“What's that?” she whispers.
“The softer vibrations are deer...”
My excitement grows as I listen to their conversation. We’re mates, so I know she’s gonna be attracted to me, but her not being my kind has me suffering with another emotion I’m not familiar with.
Self-doubt.
“Are more coming?”
I slow as I see a flicker of gold through the trees. ‘Ells?’ I say inside my mind. ‘Should I shift? Are you gonna dress me?’
‘Just come a little closer first, and think about what you wanna wear.’ “No,” she says to the woman with her. “That heavier pattern is… Him.”
I take a few steps closer, then just as I make out the form of a gold gown, I'm forced to shift, and I'm dressed in jeans and a shirt.
The entire scene before me looks like something out of a damned fairy-tale, because the woman beside my sister looks like a fucking princess. I blink in confusion. Hold on… Is that a tiara on her head?
No fucking way is my mate a real-life princess…
Her scent overpowers my senses the closer I get, the moment becoming more surreal with each step, but that’s because when I really look at her, I can't believe how perfect she is.
Long, blade-straight hair, skin just as dark… so damn dark, the most perfect nose, naturally pouted lips, a soft jawline, and her body is full in all the perfect places.
Damn, she's even got a little belly on her.
And she’s tall.
I swear my legs feel weaker with every step.
She's sexy as fuck.
I lift my gaze back to hers, immediately intrigued by the way the yellow and red in her stunning eyes blend together, and how they dilate, as if to take more of me in. What is she thinking? Is the attraction the same for her? What does her pire think? Hell, what does she think?
I stop when I'm a few feet away from her, then I’m suddenly overwhelmed with calm. Like peace. Her breaths calm, too, and her fingers stop trembling, so I know she’s feeling the same.
The fuck is that about?
Her attention wanders again, to my lips, my hair, to my arms, and then I see goosebumps ripple all over her bare upper chest and ne
ck.
I'd love to know if the rest of her body is covered in them.
“Princess Karrisee of Caro, this is Amarey. Amarey, this is Princess Karrisee, first daughter of Queen Vallessa and King Scarva of the kratius.”
I shoot a look at my sis. ‘Vallessa’s fucking daughter?’
She smiles, like it’s funny. ‘Surprise.’
‘Fucking surprise? Sis…’ I return my attention to Karrisee. I even love her name.
“Hey,” I say, at the exact time as her, and then I watch a blush replace her goosebumps.
I’m fucked.
“I'll let you have some time alone,” Ells says. “I'll be back later to take you home, Karrisee.”
Karrisee quickly turns to her, wide-eyed, but my sister just smiles back at her before she disappears.
Then she finally turns back to me, gulping as she does.
I take one for me, too.
Thank fuck I hunted…
Twenty-One
Karrisee
“Are you okay?” Amarey asks, taking a step closer to me. His scent’s much stronger than it was in my dreams, and it almost makes me delirious. I can barely smell a thing over that animalistic aroma emanating off him.
I wonder if he tastes like that…
‘I bet he does,’ Malika says dreamily. ‘Imagine—’
I block her thoughts. “Yes.” However, I'd be better if I could get over the way his voice sounds. It’s almost as intriguing as his eyes are. It’s not like Ariella's either, which is what I was expecting. His pronunciations are more evenly stressed, melodious even.
And smooth.
But rough, too…
“Are you?” I ask in return, being prompted by Malika to remember my manners.
“Yeah…” His eyes lighten again, and I release an uneven breath.
My nipples begin to tighten, too, which makes me panic, so I step around him but stumble over what I think is a tree root. I’m grabbed around my waist but released as soon as I'm steadied, then he offers me his arm.
I take it with a muttered thanks, avoiding eye-contact. I’m flustered as hell being in this man’s presence, but I also feel safer than ever. It’s throwing me completely off.