CHAPTER 1: The Mating Ceremony

Alora POV

“He is here again”, I murmured to myself as I could feel the air shift in the room. 

I pulled my nightgown down to cover myself as cold and warmth enveloped me in a soothing embrace. 

It felt like a warm blanket had been wrapped around me. He smelled faintly of dark vanilla and something musky, something warm. I could feel his breath on my skin before the bed dipped. 

He pulled me closer and wrapped his hands around me. I closed my eyes and waited for his soothing murmurs in my ears. 

“Did you miss me”? He moaned into my ears.

I gulped, nodded, and tried to look into his eyes but somehow I could not see his face. I desperately needed to see the face of the person who made my insides turn to puddles.I needed to look into his eyes. Were they dark, blue, brown, or hazel like mine? 

Then he began to trace his hands along my arms sending shivers down my spine. I whimpered and burrowed closer, but not close enough as I would have liked.

Then a shrill sharp sound rented the air. It was my alarm clock.

No, no, no…not now…damn it!!! I muttered, gripping the sheet as I woke up drenched in sweat. 

My body, still tingling from the warmth and memory of my dream. Another erotic dream. 

It's been like this for months. The same dream over and over again. The same figure…tall, imposing, alluring, and awakening feelings I had never thought I had. 

This mysterious being, I assumed from his build and his deep voice was a man. He had large hands, that I knew because he always wrapped them around my tiny frame. 

He also had large forearms with tattoos of a fierce-looking wolf with red eyes that seemed to stare into my soul each time he drew near. The tattoo stretched across his chest and disappeared behind his back. 

The mysterious thing about these dreams was that I never saw his face. 

For some weird reason, I couldn't seem to raise my face to look at him no matter how much I wanted to in those dreams. 

I could feel myself getting aroused, and just as I reached down to help myself, a sharp banging sound rented the quiet morning.

Bang, bang, bang!

I jumped out of bed, holding my hands to my chest. 

"Shit," I muttered and winced from the sound.

I knew that knock. Mr. Jacob. My landlord. The last person I wanted to deal with when I was still tangled in the haze of my dream.

"Miss Lance! I know you're in there!" His annoying voice filled with irritation and disgust echoed into my room. 

"You're behind on rent and I know this isn't news to you because I have been singing it every morning for weeks now. 

You have only twenty-four hours before I throw you out on the street. Pay up or leave my house!”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head as my eyes traveled across the so-called house. 

This was not a house, this was a dilapidated rundown with cracks everywhere. The walls were sprouting moss and there was no ceiling. 

When it rained, I had to adjust my bed to avoid the leakage but it was better than sleeping on the street and it should be illegal to pay rent for this slum.

I sighed, dragging myself to the door. By the time I opened it, the landlord was already stomping off, mumbling something about ‘useless tenants’ and ‘no charity cases in my building.’

Great. Just great.

I shut the door and slumped against it, the action making the house rattle. My stomach twisted in hunger. 

I had no money. No job. No food. And in less than a day, I wouldn’t even have a place to sleep. 

Sister Charity had said I would not survive outside the walls of the orphanage. She had said I was making a mistake. She was wrong, and I was going to prove her wrong. I’m this life, not the next. 

To prove her wrong I needed a miracle. Or at the very least, a job. Fast.

***

It was almost midday when I finally stepped out of the house in search of a job. 

I scanned every restaurant and bar I could find. Maybe I could have the crumbs at the end of my shift but it was proving very difficult because I had zero experience, no degree, and neither was I a very lucky person. 

It was tough luck for me because I was getting to eighteen with nothing to show that I had lived.

My feet ached, and hunger gnawed at my insides until my eyes began to get blurred, but I kept walking...until I stumbled upon a gathering in the park.

As I entered the park which was packed to the brim at the far corner with sophisticated dressed guests.

I was thrilled that I had walked into an actual ceremony with food. Nobody will notice the outsider or so I thought. 

Everybody was dressed beautifully in mostly black traditional attire I was not familiar with. I was not bothered because it was not as if I had a social life. 

The last time I was at a wedding ceremony was when I was still at the orphanage and I had gone against my will. 

My stomach grumbled at the sight of so much food. All sorts of dishes but mostly healthy-looking meat filled the table.

The guests were dressed mostly in black and neutral colors while I dressed in baggy jeans and a yellow tank top. 

Fear began to gnaw at me but the bite in my stomach overpowered my fear and pushed me forward. 

“Nobody will notice a nobody like me” I kept repeating to myself like a mantra. 

Immediately I got close, it felt like I had crossed an invisible threshold. I felt a lump in my throat and my body felt rigid. 

“Fear…it's just fear but I am starving”. 

I gulped and stalked closer. Everywhere was quiet except the person who was dressed like a priest and addressing the couples.

The couple whispered their vows in an ancient language that I didn't understand. 

“The couple may now complete their bond” his voice echoed in the quiet crowd. 

If I could just sneak in and pick a plate. I tried as much as possible to blend into the crowd so no one would see me.

That's when I saw it 

The woman who was dressed in barely anything except a transparent lace fabric that clung to her skin tilted her head, baring her throat to the man in front of her. 

He pushed her closer and growled…he growled because I could feel the vibration in my core before sinking his teeth into the side of her neck. 

She gasped, her body going rigid for a moment before she melted into his arms, her eyes rolling back like someone in a trance. Then all of a sudden, her face was transformed into pleasure mixed with pain. 

What. The. Hell? I made a strangled sound and instinctively began to stumble backward in fear. 

Every eye in the park turned to me and I began to shake like a leaf. I was about to turn and take flight when I bumped into a warm hard body. 

Then, the figure turned and stared at me, his brown eyes blazing like fire. I shrieked and was about to take flight when I noticed two guards walking towards me.

Oh, dear God!