-Roman-
Daphne and I finally went downstairs, joining the party. We were being greeted left and right by everyone who had attended the party, and when we came into the big ballroom, we knew the show was really going to begin. We had barely taken a few steps. Then someone was calling out to us, wanting to talk, and wanting to get to know Daphne better, as if they hadn’t known her forever. It was all very… fake, really, but Daphne she was the perfect hostess and she was the perfect queen. I was more and more certain of it as the night went on. We would make the official introduction a little later in the night because I knew once that was over, we could escape the party, or at least I could.
“Roman!”
Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice call out to me, and a smile spread across my lips as I saw Shane coming closer. He was a distant relative of mine, but I always referred to him as my cousin and he did the same. We were very closer, and had known each other all our lives. He was a good few years older than me, but the age difference mattered little. We had still always been closer and only gotten closer when I became an adult. We ended up having more things in common. When we got closer, we hugged each other. Then he pulled back, looking at me.
“Always clean up so nicely,” he teased.
“Oh, saying I look good?” I joked.
He had his friends behind him, and I greeted them all as they congratulated me. Shane focused on Daphne, who stood a little nervously behind me. She knew them, of course, but tonight she was a different person. Her position had changed. She was queen, and I knew it felt like things had changed between her and the ones she had known for a so long.
“The crown suits you,” Shane joked, and she chuckled, shaking her head.
“I am not wearing one.”
“Well, then that’s this fool’s fault,” he said and nodded towards me.
“You don’t think crowns are a bit outdated?” I asked.
He shook his head.
“Not when your queen looks this good.”
Daphne chuckled again and waved a hand through the air, as she blushed. “Oh, please.”
We all laughed together, and I wrapped my arm around Daphne, bringing her closer, but as I did, I saw those eyes again, of course. The one who truly wished, or maybe even believed, we could be more. I knew that hope also pushed her to say yes to me, but I knew it would not happen. I hoped she realized that soon enough, and it didn’t break her heart too much.
“So, when will you be official introduced?” Shane asked.
“In just a few minutes, and then I can get out of here.”
“Why?” Daphne asked. “The night is lovely!”
“And I have been counting down the minutes,” I said, making Daphne shake her head, but Shane and his friends just laughed.
“Yeah, you never liked these sorts of things,” Shane said, and pointed to me before he sipped his drink.
“Just not my scene.”
“Or maybe you need something to loosen you up?”
“Oh, you mean get drunk before I take the stage?”
“Exactly.”
Shane winked at me, and I shook my head.
“Actually, I do think I will take a few minutes of fresh air before I get up there.”
“And you never liked to be the center of attention, either. Tell me cousin, what kind of king are you?” he joked.
I just shook my head and then turned to Daphne, who smiled sweetly at me.
“You okay by yourself for a moment?”
She nodded.
“I have dealt with your cousin before.”
“Hey! Why am I the problem?” Shane asked.
We all laughed again, and I shook my head a little.
“You sure?”
“Don’t worry, I will go mingle,” she said. “I see my friends further away.”
I kissed her cheek, and then let go of her before I pushed through the crowd, going to the nearest exit, but just as I was on my way, my feet suddenly froze. A scent hit my nose… it was faint and very masked in everything else going on in the room, but somehow… somehow, I picked it up anyway.
Lavender… it smelled like lavender…
I looked around, confused where the smell came from, but there were so many people, and many of them were trying to get my attention, so they could talk to me. I couldn’t let go of the scent, though. Something in me told me to find the source. Like it was important that I knew where it came from. I tried my best to hold on to it, and it led me through the crowd of people and over to a bar. The source of the scent became stronger, but I couldn’t find the person it belonged to. I looked down and saw a glass in front of me. It was empty and the ice cubes had almost melted. I told myself I was crazy, but I stilled grabbed the glass and smelled it. It smelled… heavenly! And it was mixed with the delightful scent of Scotch. I liked that a lot, but it still didn’t lead me to the true source of where it came from.
Now that I had picked it up a little better, though, I was able to follow it easier. I placed the glass down and went through the crowd again and out of the ballroom. There were fewer people in the hallways now that most had gone to the ballroom where the new queen would be introduced. I knew I should go back. I was the one who had to make the introduction, but I couldn’t… No, my body felt tense and my heart was going crazy inside of my chest. The source of the smell only became stronger and stronger as I went down a long hallway.
Suddenly, though, it seemed to stop. I looked around, confused. Why had it stopped? I could still smell it strongly. But when I tried walking further away, it turned faint. I walked a few steps backwards, feeling it overpower me, then I turned my head and saw a door to my right. I stood there feeling my heart going crazy. It was pumping wildly as an ancient need rose inside of me. What was this? What was going on inside of me? I couldn’t move. I just stood there breathing heavily.
Mmm… that scent.
My wolf woke up, growling darling inside of my head. He moved around uneasily inside of me, growling in a way I had not heard before.
I like it a lot.
“What is it?” I asked.
Open the door.
I took a step closer to it. I felt a little nervous, though. As if I knew behind that door there was something world changing behind it. And I wasn’t talking about the entire world would change, but my world was going to change. I needed to know, though. I had to find out what was going on. I reached out and was about to open the door when it was opened from the inside. The door swung open and in front of me appeared the most beautiful little werewolf I had ever seen. She stopped, shocked, when she noticed me standing in front of her like a wall. She slowly looked up at my body, her eyes growing huge, and then they met mine. Hers were beautiful blue and reminded me of the color of water. Goddess, who was she?
Mate! That’s our mate!
Mate? You mean…
Take her! She is ours!
The little wolf in front of me seemed as frozen as me, but that ancient old need only turned stronger now that she stood in front of me. I reached out and grabbed her by her neck. She gasped shocked, and then I pushed her backwards, closing the door behind us and locking it. Yes, she was trapped now with the big, bad Lycan King.
-Anastasia- I had a few too many drinks as I stood with my cousin and his friends. They laughed and joked around, while I stayed quiet in between them. I knew I had a job tonight, but I didn’t want to alarm my family. I knew they would tell me it was time to let the obsession go. Since my family there had been no violent deaths like theirs. No one who had been brutally murdered like they had been. But why my family then? Why not someone else? Did my family have enemies I had not known about? Most likely. As I had said, my family was not a small pack. They were influential and powerful. My father sat on the council for werewolves. The lycans truly ruled it all, but it was still important for the alphas to work together and have a connection. Besides, the wolves were already outnumbering the lycans. It wouldn’t be long before they ruled everything and made the decisions. But this only gave me motive. Where were the culprits, though? I looked around the room, looking at all the people to
-Roman- I couldn’t stop myself. It barely felt like I was the one moving my body, but I was. My wolf Verlon might have nudged me forward, but I was the one who grabbed the little wolf and pushed her inside the bathroom. I locked the door and pressed her against the wall behind her, having her completely at my mercy. She was a tiny thing, wasn’t she? But really, she was just a normal sized werewolf. It was us lycans who were just taller and bigger. Shit, how would a little wolf like this be able to handle all of me? Could I be as rough and wild with her as I wanted to? Or did I have to go slow and gentle with her? She was breathing fast, her chest just moving up and down and bringing my eyes right to her wonderful breast, which the material was being stretched over. It was then my eyes noticed the scars on her chest though and followed them down her left arm. What or who had done this to my little mate? And if it was a person, who did I have to kill? No one hurt my little mate… Shit.
-Anastasia- I had hoped I would find my family’s killers tonight. I had hoped that I would run into them and I could start planning their deaths. I thought I could really finally find some peace. But the night had taken an unexpected turn as I ran into the Lycan King. I had been so surprised when he was standing there waiting for me on the other side. I did not know what he was doing there, but then my wolf had claimed him as her mate. She had tried fighting it, not wanting to find our mate and especially not in a lycan, but there was nothing to do. It wasn’t really up to any of us. He had seemed pleased though. Actually, he seemed very pleased, even if I was nothing but a wolf and him a powerful lycan king. The one throwing this party to present his new queen. So, why stay in this bathroom with me? Why not reject me? But he didn’t. No… he asked me my name. I was so stunned. I couldn’t find my voice, and he found it almost funny, teasing me and nibbling on my skin, making warm feeling
-Roman- What was going on with my little mate? Why was she fighting this so hard? I could scent how good I made her feel. I could even feel it despite our bond had only just woken up between us. I could sense the need I brought out in her. It scared her, though. It was clear no one else had made her feel like this. Had my little mate never been touched before? Was I really her first kiss? I wanted to know more. I had to know more. Especially why she hated lycans. It made her clearly close off to me, and I found it hard to reach her. She was trying to block me out, and so was her wolf. I wasn’t going to allow her to. She would quickly see I was good for her. That our bond was not something she could just turn away from. Many would jump at the chance to be my mate. Others really wanted to be my queen, but not this little one. No, she was stubborn and tough. I liked it a lot, though. I didn’t think I would, but there was something that turned me on like crazy when she fought me. With Dap
-Anastasia- It surprised me when the king asked me if I had ever been kissed before. I shouldn’t even allow him to get so close. He was a lycan! I kept repeating it to myself, but it seemed to carry no power with the king. Like it didn’t matter if he was a lycan, a wolf, heck he could even be a human, and it wouldn’t matter. Something about him made me… made me feel… No, he just made me feel. It was strange, though. It was a strange feeling after being so numb for years. I wasn’t used to it and it scared me a little. Like when he told me to reject him. I knew he was right. We couldn’t just go back to our lives if we did not. If I rejected him, I would be free of him, but I had been taught since I was a small kid never to reject your mate. It had really terrible consequences if you did, and it was a shameful thing to do. Only if you had an abusive mate was it different, but the king hadn’t hurt me like I said. I had enjoyed it. I found myself almost asking him for more, though I would
-Roman- It had gone so well. My little mate had finally begun to let me close. She had told me she wanted me to kiss her again, and she had even told me her name in exchange for another kiss. If she had not wanted to give me her name, it would not have stopped me from kissing her. I still wanted to feel those soft pink lips against mine, and taste her sweet taste. She tasted like the Scotch she had drunk, and it was a nice little spark to the kiss. It turned me on so much just kissing the little wolf. But one knock on the door, and it was like she turned into a different person. She looked at me like I had… I wasn’t sure… defiled her? Like I had forced her to kiss me and tell me her name, and she pushed away from me. Her reaction shocked me so much I had no time to react. She stormed to the door and ripped it open after unlocking it. The person on the other side was just a normal female wolf too, and she looked at Ana shocked, as she ran down the hallway. “Ana!” I yelled after her, a
-Anastasia- I ran into the enormous crowd, finding my cousin fast with his friends, and letting out a sigh of relief when I did. I knew getting close to another alpha was a good way to mask my scent, and I hoped I could get him to agree to leave with me. He might just be able to be my cover without him knowing. Jackson smiled though as he saw me and waved at me. He and his friends had joined some female wolves and were charming the hell out of them. I knew he would probably not be so happy I wanted to go now, but I needed help to escape the Lycan King who was right on my heel. “Hey, there you are,” he said and smiled, as he had his arm around a female wolf I didn’t know. They all looked at me with wide eyes, seeing the scars on me, and I knew they were no different from my aunt’s friends. They thought I should cover up too. “Yeah, here I am… hey,” I said and waved my cousin closer. He looked at me, concerned, and moved closer to me. The female wolf did not like that and crossed he
-Anastasia- I was lying in the hot bath, not sure what to do with myself. The next morning I had felt… lost. I was just so confused after everything. I had only told my cousin a small thank you before I had escaped to my room. He had asked if he needed to come help me get in bed, but I was told I was already feeling better and that the car drive had helped sober me up. I had run into my room and I had locked the door. I had just thrown myself down on the bed, memories suddenly floating through my mind, showing me pictures of the king. My lips tingled as I thought about our kiss… my body turned warm thinking about his hands on me… and my ass when it hit the covers stung a little, making me remember the delicious punishment he had given me for being disrespectful. I shouldn’t like it, but I had. I had liked it a lot. I wasn’t sure it could even be called a punishment. Shouldn’t a punishment not be hated and not enjoyed? What was the king doing to me? Why was he suddenly making me feel l