Athena stretched out in the morning sunshine, she had brought us to a creek bed in a large clearing to drink and sun before we returned. "You must show him he cannot cow us into this role he wishes to fill. Submission is not what we were designed for, if he wants submission, I will make HIM submit." She ranted, "Demand partnership and trust, we have proven our strength and shown we are committed to this, that we can be trusted. Claim your respect, we are mates, and I will not tollerate this treatment for much longer, it is unnatural." She huffed, dropping to her belly and nipping at the grass between our paws. "I will, hopefully he will hear me out. But, if he throws us in a cell, perhaps we can study the behavior of the captives that we are supposed to question." Athena snorted and rose to her feet, taking off in a graceful lope back towards the direction of the castle. Towards certain doom. With every step, my spirits sank and her temper rose. I would need to deescalate things as
Eli made short work of my panties with one hand, as his other hand worked at my center, stimulating me until my hips were rocking back and forth, up and down along his length, my slick juices drenching him until he couldn't take it anymore. Rolling us both to the edge of the bed, he threw his legs over, moving into a sitting position, he jerked me to the side, so I was kneeling next to him, leaning over his lap. Jerking my hips to his face, I yelped as he swung me upside down, crushing his face to my core, sucking my bundle of nerves into his mouth. Some kind of gutteral animal noise escaped me as Athena purred with pleasure, and I grasped his thighs to steady myself, already shaking as my body wound tighter, ready to explode for him. His arms tightened around my waist and I let go of his thighs, grabbing his hard length with both hands. Even two hands wouldn't cover it, it throbbed and pulsed in my hands as I sucked the tip into my mouth, tasting the precum at the tip, snarling
Eli was nowhere to be found when I woke up, I could see a note on the desk he'd had prepared for me, but my anger, while not as raw, was still fresh. I didn't want to know where he was, I didn't want to be in his room, in his suffocating scent, bending to his suffocating will. I had slept for almost an entire twenty four hours it seemed, and the sun was maybe an hour away from setting. I could hear rythmic drumming and howling, and it reminded me of the summit mist pack runs, where the whole pack would gather to run and hunt together. Athena pushed to the surface, and I let her take over as I opened the bay window and allowed her to shift just as she had the last time we left this room. Throwing a little extra magic at the mental steel walls I used to block out Eli and his mind link, I sent a tentative question out towards the direction of the pack. I felt surprise, and a little anger, but mostly curiosity from the wolves who now reigned over their humans. In our purest form, our wo
I had been sending out summons all day, organizing all of the documents I wanted to review with Willow. I had told her we would review them this morning to get her up to speed, but I left before she woke up, choosing cowardice over ...I'm not sure what other choice there was. I was afraid to face her. For her to attempt to break the bond. It would never work without a powerful spell, or my acceptance of the rejection, but the pain it would cause would be very real, and it could weaken me, and the entire pack at a perilous time. I could feel stronger already, and I hated that I took the choice from her, having given too much control to my wolf and my anger, but what's done is done, we were made for each other, so maybe she is the piece that I have been missing to unite the packs against our common enemy. I've been mulling over how to talk to her about this in the back of my mind all day. It hurt to feel her anger and her tears last night, and I didn't want to take anymore from her,
Pheobe had summoned all the tomes containing any scrap of information about breaking a mate bond once a mark was in place, but first the wanted to do a cleansing, and help repair some of my wards. I was so tired, down to my soul, I was depleted. As I sat with my feet in the stream, the massive pine above me groaned, its branches bowing and descending slowly. Vines snaked out of the brush and intertwined with the pine branches, and branches from nearby tree that reached out. Just like out last night in the holding sanctuary, the forest responded to my magic, offering me shelter. It started about two feet into the stream, allowing the water to still flow, keeping my connection with pheobe intact, and formed a sort of tall dome abound me. When it was finished I finally felt relaxed enough to lay back and close my eyes, listening to pheobe chant in my mind, feeling the sweet, soft caress of her healing magic. It reminded me of my mothers cool hands, and my fathers warm hugs. Pheobe sens
Eli didn't knock, but he did hesitate once inside, before shutting the door and moving towards my spot by the fire. He crouched down beside me, taking in my appearance. My hair was tangled and contained a few pine needles and leaves that I'd need to work out with conditioner, dried mud streaked my feet and calves, and I'm sure the bags under my eyes were big enough to fit all of the luggage we would need when we left to visit Summit Mist. If Eli agreed to it, that is, and if Ransom agreed to a truce for the time being. Eli reached out to me, hesitating when his hand was inches away from my jaw, but I refused to flinch away, refused to give him power over me. When he finally traced his thumb over my cheek, down the line of may jaw, hushed sparks trailed along with him. I closed my eyes and focused on using my magic to cage the mate bond, the feelings it made me feel, and lock it away within myself. After a few minutes of trying, Eli had already taken a seat a few feet away from me, o
The bond didn't feel the way I thought it would. It didn't force me to fall in love with Eli, but it did strengthen the longing I had for him. The sparks intensified, and I allowed Eli to pull me into his arms, standing under the steaming shower stream, we just held onto each other, neither of us wanting to pull away. I had expected him to want to mate, for Ridley to come forward, for Athena to go wild in my mind, but all was quiet and peaceful, I didn't even feel evidence of arousal from Eli, even though our naked bodies were pressed together. I only felt peace, and relief. I was still tired, but the bone deep exhaustion I had been dragging around with me seemed to have lifted. Eli's touch was like a balm to my wounded soul, even if I didn't want to admit it. He finally let me go, stepping out to retrieve towels for both of us. Once we had both dressed and finished getting ready for bed, Eli scooped me up and slipped under the covers, positioning me so that I was facing him, wit
My heart thundered in my chest, filling my head with it's rapid fire beat. I gripped Eli's arm so hard that I nearly broke my fingers, until he growled at me, interrupting the buzzing sound filling my ears. "Sorry," I hissed under my breath, trembling before the double doors of the great hall, "I'm just a little scared." Eli moved his hand to the small of my back, pressing a kiss into my temple, and just like that, the doors are open, and we're moving forward. The low hum of chatter comes to a complete halt, even the clink of silverware stops, and everyone watches as we make our way to the kings table, the roaring of my heartbeat filling my ears again, our echoing footsteps a distant echo at the back of my mind. As we reach the kings table, I realize that only one seat is available, and counsil members are seated on the kings right, and left. Scanning the table, my stomach dips, anxiety rushing through me like electricity. No place has been prepared for me next to Eli, but one sea