I won’t scream, I won’t cry, I won’t beg for mercy. I tell myself this repeatedly, but I don’t listen to myself as I break the cuffs free and grab my hair, screaming and crying for them to stop. They don’t stop; they only laugh as my screams continue; not one single soul but the three vampires around me can hear me. Why can’t anyone hear me? I’ve broken the cuffs free; why don’t I have my powers? Why can’t I stop them? I sink further into myself as I throw my head back and arch my spine as I come for them. I try to scream at myself to stop, not to give them that satisfaction, but there’s no one there. I scream some more as I wa-“Allie cat! Aylin, love, wake up! Wake up! It’s only a dream,” I hear a familiar voice yell as I try to grab onto it and pull myself out of this agony. I scream again, then I feel my body lift up, and my head slams back down before my eyes fly open, and I see my father. This wasn’t abnormal; in the past, there were times I blasted him or Azrael off

The following day, I’m out as soon as the sun rises with Amara. I have to admit, despite my distaste for Earth, especially its sun, I look forward to this every day. Training was a daily activity of mine; my magic can get volatile if it goes too long without being used, but training with my sister, whom I spent over 20 years waiting to meet and help her with her magic, really and truly brought me great joy. It brought me joy when I helped train Azrael too, but it’s different with Amara. Once she has the extent of her power under control, she’ll easily be able to defeat me; the only reason she hasn’t already come down to skill and practice; I have over 250 years of training on her. Yet there’s no question in my mind that she truly was meant for this power, she learns quickly, and the magic comes naturally to her; I don’t think it will take her much longer to dominate me on the field. When I think back to my own training, the magic-wielding also came to me quickly, but control was alwa

"You going to finally explain to me what the deal is with you and Damon and why you had a shield around your room last night when I came to talk to you?" Azrael says, opening the door to the packhouse for me as we walk towards the dining hall for breakfast after our morning trainingI heave a sigh; he'll find out eventually"He's my mate," I say bluntlyAzrael stops in his tracks, looking at me wide-eyed"I thought so, but hearing it come from your mouth…" his eyes darken. "Want me to kill him?" he saysHe truly would if I said yes, consequences be damned, I snort, shaking my head"No, he's too vital in this war, and after that honor goes to me. The bastard rejected my rejection." I say with a growl, the hatred in me only growing.I didn't want to know if he was the one who led the invasion that night…I knew he was there. It would be a new level of fucked up if he was in the castle…I don't care that he "did what he had to do." Not when it affects my people, not when it almost ruined m

Unwilling and unable to think about what I've just done, I portal myself and Damon's eerily still body down to the Underworld hospital. Despite knowing my mark will heal him, unreasonable panic is still coursing through me. Thanks to said panic, I have so very little control over myself and my power right now, causing a tempestuous storm to swirl around the hospital. As I land, I hear cries of alarm, either in response to my less than peaceful appearance or to the violent thunder that now paints the sky of my kingdom black. I hear them but don't fully acknowledge them enough to get a grip on myself as I run into the emergency department. The staff momentarily freeze in their spots when they see me, but given the panic that's likely written on my face, they snap out of it and move quickly as I slam my mate down on a stretcher by the nurse's station. "Save him. He's my mate," I choke out, and a beat of silence passes as everyone absorbs that before they frantically move into action.

Any supernatural knows the story of how the mating bond came into play, a fae-tale where Selene fell in love with the song of the wolves as they howled to her moon at night. After centuries of listening to their song, she gifted the wolves a human body so she could choose one to love, eventually finding one that suited her, taking on a human form, going to him, and they lived happily ever after. Only they didn't. The wolf she fell in love with, Malachi, did not know she was the Goddess he sang to every night, and one night when she had taken upon her human form, she found him in bed with another. It was said her wails could be heard and felt throughout all three realms, and after banishing him and his lover to the River Styx with Hades' permission, she created the mating bond. She weaved the mating bond into the most primal and feral of the wolves' DNA, making them incapable of touching one another. If they somehow defied her, the mate would feel physical pain the moment they were