OUT FOR THE FIRST TIME

Aria’s eyes fluttered open as she woke up to the soft crackling sound of the fire in the hearth. She glanced up, and her sharp eyes spotted the unfamiliar roof.

The sheets of the bed were tangled between her legs. She grunted slightly as she sat up on the bed.

She frowned,

For a moment, she was lost, her mind puzzled. “Where am I?” she wondered, her eyes immediately growing clear.

The intense memory of Lucien and their night together flashed through her mind, and a blush began blossoming on her face.

It was all coming back to her now.

Her cheeks grew hotter as she remembered the wild and intense night she had shared with him. She remembered the weight of his body on hers as he pleasured her. Her body grew hotter, her pulse began rising as she put her head down.

She could still feel him inside her.

“I am no longer pure.” the thought hit her like a sledgehammer. She had a mate now, and so it wasn’t expected for her to be pure, but she could not come to terms with the fact that she was no longer a virgin.

With the blush still on her cheeks, she glanced around at his side of the bed and frowned.

He was no longer beside her.

A scowl tugged at her lips, she looked down as tears threatened to escape from her eyes. Why did she feel hurt already?

“Was last night a mistake?” she wondered,

She stood up slowly, her eyes daring towards the hearth, the dancing embers reflected in her eyes as she stifled the panic rising within her.

That was when she spotted him, standing by the hearth. He had stood so still that when her eyes had darted past him earlier, she had not spotted him.

He was shirtless, his back was turned to her and she could see his scars. She had felt them last night, the long scars that ran down his entire back. She could tell that these were claw marks.

In between the pleasures they had both shared, she had sometimes heard his pained grunts whenever he moved.

She could see that his fingers gripped his obsidian cane, while he tightened a leather strap over his shoulder with slow movements.

When he was done, he stood up and, with his back still turned to her, said, “Get dressed.” he ordered, his tone low, his voice steady, “We have things to do.”

Aria swallowed hard, her brows furrowed as she heard his cold tone. “Is that it?” she thought, “Why is he acting like nothing happened between us?”

“Oh… okay.” Aria muttered, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Good.” Lucien grunted. He turned around to face her and stopped. His sharp gaze noticing her troubled expression. “When you are done, meet me outside.”

Aria gulped and nodded, she took a step back and made herself look smaller. Just like she did back at her Clawhold.

She felt pained, but this wasn’t her first time being ignored. She had been ignored all her life, she could take it.

She could take it.

Lucien limped slowly out of the room, taking care not to overstep on his wounded leg. His back was to Aria, so he did not notice her expression.

Nor did he notice a single tear dropping from the corner of her eyes.

When Aria stepped out, the sunlight was brutal. The scorching rays burned her skin slightly. She squinted her eyes and smiled lightly.

The snow had fallen heavily last night, so everywhere she could spot was completely covered with snow.

She noticed Lucien standing a couple of feet from her. She clenched her fists tightly and walked up to him.

Her head was held down, her breathing stifled as her body settled into its familiar rhythm. She had learned to make herself appear smaller. Growing up, it was the only way she could reduce the curses and insults thrown her way.

“Raise your head up,” Lucien ordered, his tone hard as he looked down at her.

Aria flinched and with a quick nod. She followed his orders.

Lucien’s gaze softened as he saw her panicked and scared expression. He had not meant to be that forceful, but he hated seeing weakness in others, and he wasn’t going to let his mate embarrass him like that, Stillblood or not. She was still his.

Lucien’s home was located on the outskirts of Clawhold. It was far enough that it only had a single road leading down to the bustling clan.

As Aria walked down the snowy winding road with Lucien towards her new life, she found herself unconsciously moving closer to him.

Towering pine trees loomed on either side of the lone trail. Their branches sagging with the weight of last night's heavy snowfall. Aria walked quickly, the snow crunched loudly beneath her feet as she spotted the end of the trail.

She had not noticed it the last time she had passed through there, but the center where they had their mating ceremony was a trading center. It was the market for low bloods, the gammas.

Wooden stalls stood in rows across the trails, the stalls filled with wolves going about their business. The noise hit her first, the bustling sound of the lively market was one she missed. The market was one of the few places back in her clawhold where she could disappear. This market was different though. It was larger, more lively and filled with more wolves than she had ever seen in one place at the same time.

When they reached the bustling clan market, it quietened immediately.

Conversations halted, eyes darted towards her, some were wide with astonishment, others were filled with amusement, others had disdain in their eyes. None of them bothered Aria though, she had become used to it.

What actually bothered her was the fear in the eyes of the Unblooded as they stared – wide-eyed at her.

Every wolf kin grew up with the stories of the stillbloods. It was a story used to scare children and it worked. All the kids hid behind their parents.

The silence expired and the murmuring began.

A tall female warrior – an oddity in a market that was typically filled with gammas, walked up to her. She was one of the ones with pure disdain in her eyes,

“Well, well, well, look who we have here.” She sneered, her eyes darting around Aria’s body, “We actually have a cursed one here. Did you even get claimed?” she chuckled, her eyes flickered to Aria’s exposed collarbone where she could still see a red outline of a bite mark.

She frowned and stepped closer. “Collar me surprise. She actually did get claimed,”

“She didn’t even shift to earn her spot.” Another warrior, this time a man, called out, “What’s a stillblood even going to do in a mating bed?”

The market erupted into laughter.

The murmuring increased.

“She doesn’t even look clean.”

“She shouldn’t be here.”

“What if she transfers her curse to the unblooded?”

More and more people spoke up till the market was whooped into a frenzy.

Aria looked down, just like she always did in situations like this, she shut down her mind and retreated back into the solace of her mind.

With an apologetic look on her face, she took a step backward, her eyes already beginning to fill up with tears.

She suddenly stopped when she felt a solid wall behind her.

She looked up, her eyes panicked, her lips open, but she stopped.

It was Lucien who had stopped her, and he was pissed.