Rains' P.O.V. As the SUV pulls up to the front of the castle, Orian stands at the front door, waiting on us. And as we get out of the SUV and make out way up to the door. Orian greets us with a laugh as he bows to me and then kisses Jess. Jess asks him what he's laughing about. "Sam and I had a bet on if y'all would be late or not." He says with a smile that screams I won. "Yea, we got caught up with the plans for the renovations and everything at the orphanage," Jess says, and I nod in agreement with her. "I knew y'all would. That's why I won twenty bucks." He says, and I can't help but laugh. But then I'm suddenly hit with a lot of guilt for being late to prepare for my own mating ceremony. "Don't worry, my Queen. You're right on time. Your mother, the makeup artist, and the hairstylist only arrived about twenty minutes before you. There's plenty of time." He says with a smile. "Thank you, Orian," I say and turn to Jess and Odett. "Let's go,
Zions' P.O.V. While Sam is gone to get the ingredients for Lady Ezmereldas counter spell, Lady Ezmerelda, Oriand, James, and I discuss the situation, and she explains how the spell works. It's basically a curse because unless the witch that cast the spell decides to remove it, you would feel everything with a true mate bond unless you reject or are rejected by the other person. And even then, you would feel the bond severe and the pain of the rejection. "So that means that this so-called Luna is working with Douglas?" I finally ask her. "Most likely. And possibly even Alpha Max, his Luna, and Alpha Ian." She says. "We shouldn't rule any of them out." "On the plus side, the Super Natural Council will all be here for our mating ceremony tonight. I will call a short meeting with them to quickly fill them in before the run of the wolves at midnight." I say and look at Orian. "I'll make sure everyone knows, my King." He says, and I thank him through
Rains' P.O.V. As I stand at the back entrance of the castle watching, my mom and Jess walk down the aisle and up the stairs to the stage, followed by Odett as she throws flower petals into the air with each step. I can't help but smile and ask myself if this is what a human bride feels on her wedding day. "This is technically a wedding. As with everything, wolves just have a better name for it." Dosha says, and I giggle a little. "Yeah, I guess your right. So, are you ready for this?" I ask her. "Absolutely, We were born for this!" Shy replies with such determination. And I walk out of the shadows, making my way to the double doors, and look down at the beautiful carpet with our marks embroidered on each corner. "Don't forget to smile. We wouldn't want people thinking we aren't happy." She jokes, making me laugh. "Oh yeah. I forgot that part." I joke back, giggling at myself, as I continue to take small steps like Nikky and Krist told me. "He
After the impromptu council meeting and my outburst at my friends for hiding things from me, Zion and I stayed back while everyone else went downstairs to join the party. When we're finally alone, Zion grabs me by my waist, lifts me up, places me on his desk, and stands between my legs. He puts his head into the crook of my neck and inhales my scent. "You said we were a team. I understand why you didn't, but you should have told me." I say as tears threaten to spill from my eyes. "I'm sorry, my love. I promise it won't happen again." He says as his hands caress my cheeks while he kisses my forehead. And I melt into his kiss as the tingles from the mate bond calm and soothe me. "I love you, Zion," I say. "I love you too, my Queen." He says, then he slowly trails kisses down the side of my face to my neck until reaching my mark, where he gently bites down, making me moan. "My love, we really should be joining the party. We are the guests of honor, after all." I say as I
Zions' P.O.V. After our dance, we decide to go to the bar to get some champagne, and we ran into my cousin, who I hadn't seen in years. He is a very knowledgeable and popular Alpha and keeps up with all the rumors that spread around, so I decide that now would be a good time to introduce Rain and maybe even get some information regarding Alpha Max and his pack. "Let me introduce you to my mate and the future Queen, Rain," I say as I turn her to Mathew. "This is Alpha Mathew of the Silver Crest Pack. His pack is close to the border of our kingdoms' territory." "It is nice to meet you, Alpha. I hope your trip here went well. I know it was short notice." She says as he bows to her. "She doesn't need to be so polite to him." Ryker jokes. "She is a proper Queen. The Queen should always be polite to everyone in public, even if he is family." I remind him. "Do you plan on telling her that he is your cousin?" He asks me. "Of course, I'm jus
Rains' P.O.V. After Zion announces the run will begin soon, I tell Odett that we'll be back soon. We both give her a kiss on her forehead, she runs to my mom, and we make our way out to the courtyard. Once we reach the courtyard, Zion helps me up the stairs of the stage left here after our mating ceremony. When we make it to the top of the stage, we look around at all the wolves howling, and the crowd becomes quiet when they see us. "Thank you, everyone, for joining us in this tradition. Now without further ado, Let the run begin." Zion says as he looks at me with a huge smile, and I nod in response, showing him I'm ready. He walks us behind the divider placed on the stage. He helps me remove my gown and kisses my shoulder before he gets undressed, and we shift into our wolves. When we walk out from behind the divider, everyone becomes quiet, which makes me very nervous and self-conscious. Suddenly, Dosha lets out a loud earth-shattering howl, show
Zions' P.O.V. Once the fight is over, I see Rain running to start healing the more seriously injured. I stop Rain, who seems to have forgotten that she's now naked after shifting back. I hand her a large black T-shirt I grabbed from one of the dry boxes where we keep clothes for situations like this. She looks down at herself, clearly embarrassed, and quickly puts the T-shirt on. "How could she forget that she was naked?" Ryker asks in amusement, and I shake my head. "Remember, she isn't used to all of this. It'll take her a bit to get used to everything. After all, this is only her third time shifting. " I answer Ryker as I ask Orian to get a head count and see if we lost any warriors or witches. Thankfully we didn't lose anyone, but one of our warriors did lose his arm. Mathew lets me know he found three rogues still alive. "We need to keep them alive long enough to interrogate them. We need all the information we can get at this point." I say, an
Rains' P.O.V. When Odett and I got right outside the door of the kitchen, I heard the servants standing around gossiping about the attack and how I'll be a horrible Queen because instead of coming back to the castle to help take care of the women and children, thanks to my wolf hearing. Apparently, I ran and hid and even left my bastard child with the orphan mother. According to them, I was a coward. I looked down as Odett looked up at me, and I knew she heard it all too. All I could do was shake my head in response as I squeezed her hand to reassure her that everything was okay. "How dare they assume anything! And they even have the guts to talk about our daughter? We can't let them talk about us like that!" Dosha growls in my head. "We will let them believe what they want. They will find out the truth eventually. We do not owe them an explanation." I tell her as we walk into the room to see only two servants preparing the snacks for our