Chapter Eleven

Tara

After our bath, we were pretty well wrecked. He carried me to the bed, and we lay down together, exhausted, unintentionally falling into sleep

A while later, light filtered in through my bedroom window, casting a golden glow on the floor, along with shadows from the trees outside.

Crap! My parents! We never made it to breakfast.

They probably knew what we were up to. Ugh! Embarrassing! Again, but what could I do? I guess they understood, as weird as that was to think about.

I stretched under the sheets, sore in all the best ways. Mac lay behind me, one arm draped over my waist, his breathing slow and steady. Trinity was purring in my mind like a satisfied cat. My entire body felt… different. Like the air around me had changed. Like I had changed.

I carefully wiggled out from underneath Mac’s arm to run to the restroom. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I stared in shock at my eyes, and my body.

My eyes had turned from green to lavender, and my body! I was amazed, my muscles were bigger. Everything was bigger.

I remembered Mac saying I might take on some Lycan characteristics. I was taller, too. How had this happened so fast? We weren’t asleep for that long.

I searched inside my head for Trinity.

“Trinity! Wake up!”

“Oh, come on, I need my beauty sleep.” She rolled onto her back dramatically.

“Okay, Miss Fancypants, we have to go see everyone. I’m kind of freaking out here.”

“Why? You are not on a schedule. You just went through a bit of a transformation—as did I. There is a Lycan in here too, and she’s batshit crazy!”

Wait—what?

I searched my mind, and sure enough, there was another presence. More like an extension of Trinity, like a Trinity with no filter (a terrifying thought, as my wolf didn’t have much of a filter to begin with).

I lay down next to Mac again, intent on waking him up without giving in to these primal desires that kept surging every time I looked at him. But he was so FINE. I was mated. Claimed. Marked. And not just by anyone, by the freaking Lycan King. The one I had dreamed about, that I thought was just a silly crush.

My birthday had turned into the most life-altering night of my existence.

I rolled over to face him. Mac’s eyes were already open, watching me with a softness that I never would have expected from someone so powerful.

“Good morning, my Queen,” he murmured.

I groaned, hiding my face in his chest.

He chuckled. “You’ll get used to it.”

We got dressed, finally. I grabbed a clean sweater and leggings while Mac threw on something far too tailored for just breakfast. The man couldn’t not look like royalty.

“I look like crap! My hair!” I said aloud, trying to tame the chaos in the mirror.

“You look like a Lycan,” Mac told me with a smile.

“A Lycan having a bad hair day,” I grinned.

He winked and picked up my hairbrush, somehow managing to tame my wild hair, making it sleek and smooth again. And he did it without yanking half of it out of my head. How did he do that?

“Was there someone else whose hair he brushed?” Trinity snarled.

“Knock off the jealous vibes,” I told Trinity. Whatever Mac had done in the past didn’t matter. What mattered was that he was my mate, and I instinctively trusted him. “Besides, I doubt just anyone could make us feel like that, and I bet it’s the same for him. Why would he want anyone else now?”

“True. We are pretty awesome,” Trinity the wolf-lycan agreed. “Sheesh, I’m so emotional. But everything is more vivid, more exciting. You upgraded to Trinity Max.”

I snorted. “Don’t go all crazy on me. From the looks of it, I just got a lot stronger, and I was a good fighter to begin with.” I warned her, and she nodded, tail wagging.

“Talking to Trinity?” Mac asked, brushing a lock of hair behind my ear.

“Trinity the wolf-lycan. She seems to have a jealous streak.” I would keep nothing from him, he’d been so honest with me.

“That’s normal,” he said. “It can be tough to control at first, but you get used to it. Then again, if I saw anyone try to touch you…” He trailed off, a flash of anger in his eyes that disappeared as quickly as it flared. “You see? It’s okay. They are emotions. It’s okay to feel them. You just can’t let them get the better of you.”

“Hopefully I’m up to that task.” I grabbed his hand. “Shall we?”

We made our way downstairs. The Pack House was buzzing with energy. Whispers trailed behind us like echoes from the future.

“I heard he found his mate last night. That she’s from Blue Moon.”

“Who could it be?”

A hush fell over the room as they finally began to notice us. All the Pack House staff, guards, a few warriors, They all got down on one knee and bowed their heads.

“The King and Queen,” someone whispered.

“Oh hell yes!” Trinity did a happy dance in my head. She was loving it. Of course she was.

I looked up at Mac, who said calmly, “At ease.”

They stood back up, all eyes on us as we headed toward the kitchen.

“You’ll get used to it,” Mac said again, noting the flabbergasted look on my face.

But would I? I wasn’t so sure. I thought we were doing okay until we walked into the dining room and everyone stopped talking.

Cue the awkward silence.

Then my mom burst out of her chair, pulled me into a hug that could have cracked a rib, and squealed, “My baby girl! Your eyes are gorgeous!” I hugged her back, and she relaxed a bit.

“Thanks, Mom.”

Dad greeted Mac like a son-in-law. He actually gave him a hug, one of those awkward man-hugs, but Mac didn’t seem to mind. My dad looked at me, a strange mix of pride and sadness in his eyes. “My Tara Bear,” he said, hugging me. I smiled, he’d always called me that.

I still felt like I was in a dream, like I’d been plopped into the middle of a fairy tale. I felt like the luckiest werewolf in the world, but I was also terrified of screwing it all up. Like at any moment I would wake up, or someone would pop out and tell me I’d just been pranked.

Talia and Christian were already seated, glowing like the smug, freshly mated couple they were. Talia had two marks, one on her neck and one just under her collarbone.

I raised an eyebrow.

She smirked. “I couldn’t let you be the only one marked now, could I?”

Christian looked like he’d run a marathon, he couldn’t stop smiling. Blissfully exhausted. And my parents were just watching us, all smiles, like they were staring at a box of puppies.

“Are we seriously talking about this right now? Just shoot me,” I groaned.

Breakfast, or rather brunch, considering it was almost noon, was still delicious. My family and my mate chatted like they’d known each other for years. It was all going surprisingly smoothly until Talia checked her phone.

Her face froze.

“Uh… Tara?”

“What?”

“You’re trending. On WereTok.”

I choked on my orange juice. “I’m what?”

She turned the screen toward me.

There it was. A grainy but unmistakable video clip: Mac and me, emerging from the woods at dawn. My hair was a glorious mess, but thank the Goddess, it had shielded my face. The problem? Our matching mate marks were very visible, and the internet was blowing up.

“The Lycan King’s Secret Mate? Mating Marks Caught on Camera!” The caption read.

I wanted to crawl into a hole and stay there until the apocalypse. Reality hit me like a freight train. Everything I did was going to be picked apart in public, scrutinized by everyone. I was going to be on tabloid covers. The world would dissect every post I made on social media.

Shit just got real.

Mac leaned over. “They got my good side.” He mused, clearly used to this kind of thing. He put a reassuring arm around me.

“I’m going to die,” I muttered. “Actual death. Right here. Goodbye.”

He squeezed my shoulder. “You’re not dying, your star is being born.”

“Same thing.”

Trinity, on the other hand, couldn’t have been more pleased. “Trinity, this is not cause for celebration,” I told her.

“Speak for yourself! You just don’t see it yet.” She retorted.

Talia sighed, leaning back in her chair, shooting me a sympathetic smile. “Well, this ought to make Cindy implode. I wonder how long before you have more followers than she does?”

A bright spot, at least, just enough to stop the implosion going on inside me.

Christian pulled out his phone. “It’s everywhere. Blogs. Supernatural news sites.”

“They think you’re a ‘mystery omega from a forgotten bloodline,’” Talia read, snorting. “Wow. Okay. Drama. Not to mention wrong.”

“Can we skip to the part where someone does something scandalous and the world forgets all about me?” I muttered.

“Not likely, you’re mated to a celebrity, dear.” My mother smiled, “you’ll have to learn to shake it off.”

“Okay,” Mac said, setting his fork down like he was preparing to issue a royal decree. “Let’s rip off the bandage. We’re announcing it. Formally. No more mystery.”

“I’m not ready,” I whispered.

He looked at me gently. “You’re ready. I’ll be beside you the whole time.”

Trinity practically bounced in my head. “Let’s go Queen it up!”

She would say that.

The clearing was packed within the hour. Mac stood tall, regal, radiating a “ruler of all things” energy he carried effortlessly. I stood beside him, fingers trembling slightly until he took my hand.

“Wolves of Blue Moon, Moon Shine, Crescent Moon, and any other packs present that I have left out,” he said, voice calm but commanding. “It is my honor to formally announce that I have found my fated mate.”

A collective hush fell over the crowd. He turned toward me. “This is Tara, daughter of Beta William and Natasha of the Blue Moon Pack. She is my equal. My Luna. My Queen. “

I felt the ripple of shock through the gathered werewolves like a wave of warm thunder. Then, cheers. Applause. A few whistles. I smiled and waved, relieved that no one shouted, “Head for the car!”

But not everyone looked thrilled. Enter Cindy. She strutted forward in a too-tight dress, arms crossed, eyes radiating toxic energy. “Seriously?” she sneered. “Her? The Lycan King’s mate? That has to be a mistake.”

Behind her, Jake, Moon Shine’s resident narcissist, snorted loud enough to wake the dead. “You marked the wrong girl,” he said, stepping forward. “Tara belongs to me.”

Gasps echoed through the crowd. Trinity went on point in my head.

“Oh no he didn’t.”

“He did,” I replied, watching the train wreck unfold.

Mac… smiled. But it wasn’t a happy smile. It was the kind of smile that made you wonder if your last will and testament was up to date. He stepped forward, his presence darkening like a thundercloud.

“She does not belong to you,” Mac said, his voice a sharp blade. “She is mine. Marked by me. Chosen by the Moon Goddess. Speak of her that way again, and I’ll rip your tongue out and hand it to your Alpha as a warning.”

Jake paled so fast I thought he might pass out. “I-I didn’t mean— I just—um, shit…”

Mac growled. A real, deep Lycan growl that rumbled through the ground. Jake stumbled backward like the coward he was, nearly tripping over his own feet.

Satisfied, Mac turned back to me and offered his hand again. I took it, somehow managing not to faint on the spot. That should’ve been the end of the drama.

But no. Cindy wasn’t done being Cindy. She opened her mouth to launch another verbal grenade, and then she froze. Her eyes locked onto one of Mac’s elite guards, a tall, broad-shouldered Lycan with storm-gray eyes.

The color drained from her face like someone had unplugged her soul. Aha! Mate bond!

Mac raised an eyebrow. “Ah. Looks like you’ll be joining us on the journey home.”

I nearly choked. Cindy went pale, then red, then pale again. She looked like she’d just bitten into a lemon that grew a hand and slapped her.

The guard stepped forward, gaze steady. “Hello, mate. You look beautiful. Name’s Wesley.”

She tried to resist, tried to scoff, but the bond was already pulling her in. Within seconds, she was in his arms, blinking in confusion… and smiling.

I cheered and whistled. The rest of the crowd followed. She glared at me. I shrugged. Guess haters always gotta hate… and then get fate-mated! Truly, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to laugh, cry, or run screaming into the woods.

“Why,” I asked Trinity, “must fate be so twisted?”

She howled with laughter. “Plot twist, baby. And now your bully’s stuck in your royal entourage. Karma, delivered express. She serves you now.”