Chapter 31

Mikalina

A week later

It had been seven days since I'd gone through the mating ceremony with Ren, and although it felt like I'd known this male my entire life—the connection that strong—I was also experiencing this new life with him and reveling in it all.

I thought about the phone call I'd made to my parents, telling them I planned on staying in Romania indefinitely. What was the biggest hit was the fact that they didn't seem the least bit upset about it, that they didn't even ask when they'd see me again. Was I so forgettable to them?

I lay in the massive bed we shared and stared at the hearth, pushing away those feelings, because in the end, it didn't matter. What did matter was knowing that the man beside me was mine forever and that there would never be a hole in my heart as long as I had him.

I thought about my new home, and a smile formed on my lips. The castle was massive, and although it had been modernized, there were still the aesthetics of it being old world. The fireplace wasn't necessarily needed, but it was lovely, especially during these chilly nights.

I thought back to just last week and how things had gone great… until shit hit the fan, so to speak. My mating ceremony, although making me feel like I was thrust into another world, had been perfect and felt so right. And when Luca actually made an appearance, congratulating Ren and me on our mating, I knew that meant the world to my mate.

It meant the world to me, because I knew how much Ren needed to see his brother, and because I knew it was probably so hard for Luca to be around everyone. Especially during our mating, since he was still without his female.

I was learning so much about this strange new world. It was confusing at times, frightening and awe-inspiring, but I had Ren at my side and knew that as long as he was in my life, I could get through anything. Even if it seemed like a massive fairy tale.

I rolled over and curled up against my big, strong, Lycan male. He slept soundly beside me, his sometimes harsh and masculine face now at rest. His dark eyelashes were crescents along his cheeks, and I found myself smiling. He curled his hand around my waist, still asleep, but always having to be touching me, as if he couldn't stop himself from keeping me close.

He slowly opened his eyes, the irises flaring light-blue from his Lycan being pleased at seeing me before slowly changing to that warm whiskey color I loved so much.

To know my life had always been leading me here was still a shock. I remembered Mini's words that first night of my arrival to Dobravina, how it was said long ago about my arrival. I may not know every little detail about folktales, prophecies, or the like, but what I did know was that everything I'd ever gone through in life had led me to the moment where I met Ren.

"My female," he growled in pleasure, and I couldn't stop from smiling at how that deep, serrated sound always had me instantly ready for him. But reality and my thoughts were a bucket of cold water on my growing desire.

"What"s wrong?" Ren asked in all seriousness, my protective mate hating to see me distressed. Heck, I stubbed my toe last night walking up the stone steps, and the way he acted you would have thought I'd gotten a limb torn off.

"Do you think Luca will be okay? Do you think they'll let him have her?" I didn't know why I thought to talk about this right now. We'd spoken of this a few times during the last week, but it wasn't like Ren knew any better than me—or hell, even Luca for that matter—on how things would play out.

Ren exhaled and pulled me in closer, tucking me against him and just holding me. "She's his mate, and he has every right to her, but she's also the daughter of the Scottish Lycan King, and the younger sister to very protective older brothers. That in itself will be complicated. His biggest roadblock. Or maybe it'll be that she won't want him.

I felt my eyes widen. "A mate… may not want the other? I don't understand. I thought it was all… like, for sure." I sounded so very ignorant, but Ren just kissed me on the top of my head and pulled me in even closer.

"She no doubt feels the connection and pull toward him. And I have no doubt she wants him, but she's very young, from what I know of her, and her family coddles her. She's probably not experienced any of the outside world much, and if she has, it's been under the watchful eye of those overbearing males in her family." He exhaled slowly. "But I can't say her family doesn't have reason to be weary of my brother."

I leaned back slightly to look in his face. "I don't understand. Aren't you happy about this, about Luca finding his mate after all this time?"

"Because my brother hasn't been right here—" He tapped his head. "—for a long time, my female." He smoothed a hand over my hair, then leaned down to kiss my forehead. "So I understand their weariness. If I had a daughter, I'd probably keep her away from a Lycan who'd gone mad too." He smiled slowly at me. "But my brother is resilient. He's held on this long, and there's no way he's giving up that female. They have a fight on their hands with Luca. Gods save them." He chuckled, and his lighthearted attitude gave me hope that things would work out.

I may not know Luca all that well, only met him for that brief time at our mating ceremony, but my heart broke for him, and he was family now. My family. How strange—again—I felt more of a connection with a virtual stranger than I did with my own parents.

"No more thinking about this, Mikalina. No more worrying about what we have no control over."

I didn't like thinking like that, but I knew Ren was right. I had no control over this. It was fate, destiny, whatever you wanted to call it. But I was glad Luca found his mate, even if he had a fight on his hands with her and her family.

The longer I was pressed against Ren, the more my stress faded and my body heated.

"Mmmm," Ren growled, no doubt sensing my arousal. "Is my mate hungry?" He rolled his hips, and I moaned at the feel of his massive erection rubbing along my belly, the tip slick with pre-cum. And then I made a surprised noise as he pulled me on top of him.

My legs were on either side of his muscular thighs, and a gasp of pleasure left me to feel that stiff length pressed right to my bare sex.

"I'm always—" I ground myself against him, already pleasantly naked from the last round of making love we'd done just earlier in the evening, "—hungry—", my mating mark on the side of my throat warmed, hummed. Arousal and heat swirled within me, "—for you." I moaned again. "And only—" I rose up, placed the thick tip of his cock at my entrance, and sank down, crying out, "—for you, Ren." Only ever for you.

And then he fucked me for the rest of the night... exactly how I wanted him to.