"This is an abomination." My father spat.
We were all seated around a large oval table. By all, I was referring to myself, my father, Cressida, Calla and lastly, Demetrius.
My father ordered the meeting on the grounds of 'a break of the treaty conditions' of which Demetrius was more than willing to attend. He had tried to approach me when he arrived but my father stood between the distance and urged me to take my seat at the table. But his eyes never left my figure as he too took a seat across the table, his gaze didn't even falter when my father spoke to him just now, but I winced in his place. My father thought it was an abomination that I had a soulmate, a werewolf at that.
I didn't necessarily disagree with him, but the idea that I had this soulmate waiting to cross paths my entire life made me feeling giddy inside, like all the boys who had disappointed me growing up no longer hurt my ego to think about.
"I don't expect any less from a werewolf, but my own daughter to betray the Pride like this, to betray me like this." He yelled. "Do you have no shame for yourself." He looked right at me as he said it, I lowered my head in submission of my father's rage. I agreed, this situation would bring great shame to my family from our clan, there was a unanimous disliking for the werewolf race among all werecats, if this knowledge reached their ears, I may not even be welcome to come back to the pride after this.
Demetrius let out a challenging snarl as my head lowered. "You don't get to make the calls about this, Darren. " He bit back. "And you don't get to speak to her that way anymore." He added, there was a screeching sound as the legs of a chair was dragged against the floorboards and I looked up to watch my father get out of his seat.
"I will not have a filthy mutt be the one to tell me what I can and cannot do. Because of your barbaric nature the treaty is now void, I will throw you through that wall." My father threatened, Demetrius stood up from his own seat, his much larger frame stood taller than my father did, as he stared him down, his icy blue eyes darkening significantly.
"That is enough, no one is to be thrown through my walls." Cressida spoke up, she pulled her wand out from her hair and pointed it between the two men. "If you both don't sit back down in your seats I will have no choice but to put you both in your place." She interjected. There was a moment of silent before my father pull back his chair and took a seat, Demetrius following suit with extra caution, his eyes never wavering from my father.
I wanted to place my hand on his as he rested it on the table, the thought of doing so in hopes he would calm down enough to act rationally overcame me and my hand twitched. Should I reach over and touch him? What if he got madder? The last thing I said to him I called him a mutt.
But he defended me just now against my father, he surely couldn't still be mad at me. With caution I brought my arm up over the table and began to reach out for Demetrius. In a second my wrist was clenched by my father who tossed my arm back into my direction harshly, I cheeks went hot in embarrassment.
"Luckily no condition in the treaty has been broken." Cressida announced, my father went to argue but she silenced him quickly. "The rule states that the two species can not mate together. They have not mated, they are soulmates, it's an entire different precedent and clearly not one your ancestors were betting would happen when they agreed to this treaty."
"How did this happen?" I blurted, this was the first time I had spoken. I spoke quietly as if I didn't want the spotlight on me, but this entire meeting was about me.
Cressida pressed the tip of her wand against her cheek and cocked her head to the side. "My safest guess is that it was sheer coincidence, a mix up in the coding when the moon goddess was assigning Alpha Renwick a soulmate. Although I've never seen this happen in all my years as the High Priestess." She trailed off, as if caught in her own mind.
"Do you believe we're really soulmates?" I asked, if there was anyone I could trust with this answer it would be the High Priestess of The Divine Coven, she was the most powerful supernatural being in our society.
Cressida smirked. "Do you not feel the bond, dear? The warm sense of safety he brings for you? The way his voice makes you feel? The way your body reacts when he touches you-"
"Is the answer yes or no." My father interrupted. Cressida giggled lightly. "I believe it's for Madeline to decide. Werecats don't mate the same way Werewolves do, it's a mutual decision that gets built upon and a bond doesn't occur until the mating process is complete. However, the fact she is the destined soulmate to a werewolf the residual bond felt by Alpha Renwick may very well be evident within Madelines own body already. It's not a matter of whether or not they're soulmates, it's a matter of whether or not Madeline will allow them to be." She explained, I glanced at Demetrius who was already looking at me, a glint of pride shone through his gaze when our eyes met, like I was something he felt proud of, I smiled lightly to myself and looked away. His gaze alone held so much weight on it, it were as if instead of two pairs of eyes were watching me, there were a dozen and they all held the same expression in them. It was daunting.
"My daughter will never allow it to happen." My father scoffed, there was a confidence in his tone as if he had convinced himself that Demetrius held no merit in my life already.
"I think I would like t-"
"Watch out!" I heard Demetrius yell before I felt a sharp pain spread through the back of my neck and make its way up through my head, it didn't take long for the pain to blur smudges to my vision as I felt my body collide with the cold table, I closed my eyes.
Demetrius' POV
I watched slowly as my soulmate collapsed against the table, unconscious. I'd noticed the fairy too late for me to have protected her and I let out a threatening snarl when it saw me.
"CLETRCIE EDSHIL." Cressida yelled and soon witnessed a blue aura surround my body like a second skin, I glanced at her in question of the spell she had just conjured but she too was covered in the same magical hue. The fairy flew directly at me but as it collided with my body it twitched and convulsed in such a way as if it were being electrocuted, it fell onto the table and I slammed my hand over it and pressed until I heard the satisfying crunch underneath it. "Stay vigilant, these pesky things are hard to predict." She warned.
In our society fairies were the one species that everyone resented, they were pests who was outcasted a couple hundred years ago for stealing mischievous magic from The Divine Coven, they now walk the earth stealing, pranking and kidnapping. They were renowned for the trafficking of other species, selling them off for slavery and experimentation. Fairies were small like bugs but were as strong as a small child. What they had gone through the trouble to attack us for was still unknown.
I turned to face my soulmate once more as she laid still against the top of the table, she wasn't dead at least but my body still shook emotionally as I took in her unconscious figure, powerless. Reaching my arm out I felt the warmth spread through my fingers as they brushed through her hair and rested lightly on her head, it calmed me in a way I wouldn't have expected.
"What are they here for?" Darren asked, his stance was ready as he stood by the wall, not a glimmer of worry for his daughter's state was evident on his expression and it angered me how little he regarded his daughter.
"Could be anything. They could be trying to steal spells, potions, people. We can't let anything be taken." Calla responded. "Is the young lioness alright?"
"She's breathing." I confirmed.
"It's rather odd that she was the only one who was knocked unconscious." Cressida inquired, I heard Darren scoff and I turned my attention back over to him. "Madeline is the weakest here, an easy target."
I snarled and rounded around to the other side of the table, stopping only when I reached Madeline's chair. I hoisted her up into my arms and her scent overthrew me, it was enough to allow me to ignore her father's insult towards her, but I refused to. "We shouldn't leave her alone then if she's such an easy target." I bit back, catching Darren's gaze in the end as if my comment was more so directed at him than to anyone else.
"Alpha Renwick is right." Cressida agreed, she went to speak once more but was interrupted by the screech that resounded from the other side of the door, and Cressida shot around and out of her chair and pushed open the double doors to the room we were in, catching the scene that was held before us.
Mavis laid on the floor of the living space, screaming as she was being dragged across the floorboards, two fairies attached to her feet as they pulled.
In unison both Cressida and Calla called forth a spell that shot from their wands and pierced the two fairies who stopped in their tracks, froze up and burst, Mavis' feet hit the floor and scurried to stand up on them.
I wondered briefly where Zaros could have been to allow his partner to be in this kind of danger for so long. "Are you alright?" I asked, carrying both myself and the small lioness in my arms towards the Vampire Queen.
She ignored me as she dusted herself off. "They're trying to take the women." She stated before her eyes drew attention to Madeline in my arms. "Is she okay?"
"She's been put under a sleeping spell, essentially they've drained her of her energy, she'll be out for at least six hours." Calla explained.
Six hours? I can't hold her for six hours while trying to protect everyone else. Do I need to protect anyone else? Maybe not Darren and the others but I should at least let my companions on this trip know the situation occurring.
I looked down at my limp soulmate in my arms, I should have noticed the damn fairy sooner and maybe she wouldn't be in this vulnerable situation.
"Why are they taking the women?" Darren asked, this brought my attention back to the situation at hand.
"I have no idea. I was sitting in here with Mika when she was tripped and we were attacked." Mavis recalled the events that transpired. "Where's my daughter?" Darren suddenly yelled, his tone hinted towards a frantic nature that was growing inside him. His heir was now missing from the picture that Mavis had painted. "They took her, dragged her right outside the front doors like it was nothing."
Without a second thought Darren left the group to go retrieve his eldest daughter, disappearing through the entrance before anyone could call him back. Part of me wished he had held the same token of worry for his youngest daughter as his did for his eldest, but unfortunately Darren was too shallow of a man to make room for both daughters in his life. But it was okay, because the indifference he held towards Madeline made room for my own feelings towards her, she was important to me and that's all that mattered.
"If they're taking the women then you should leave with Madeline, she's already vulnerable and if you stay you'll only be putting her in more danger." Cressida ordered. She was right, if I stayed to fight the fight Madeline could be taken, but if I left with her Darren would no doubt use that has a loophole to ignite another war, his disapproval of my kind only grew when it became known to him that his daughter and I were destined to be together.
I simply nodded, my soulmate was more important to me than a big cat who had outlived his authority. "Use the back door." She demanded, gesturing with her wand down the long hallway.
I didn't need to hear another word as I picked up my pace and jogged down the hallway, Madeline bobbing lightly in my arms. I opened the mind-link to my companions to let them know what was happening. The Divine Coven is under attack, I have a She-cat in need of protection, meet me at the boarder with our things. I closed the mind-link and began sprinting as I ran out the back door, Madeline's head pressed against my torso with my hand to protect her from being injured.
You're going to be okay little mate.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
