Madeline's POV
Demetrius had shocked me when he made the decision to help aid Calla on his mission to retrieve the women that had been stolen in the attack. It made me feel better after my father had made it known what his views on the matter were.
How could he take a step back when the High Priest needed him? Our warriors would have been helpful, did father not care about the rest of our society?
Calla had us all seated in the living room, I was positioned next to Demetrius on the couch but had my sister on my other side, a bitter expression on her face. I didn't know what she was so upset about, had father rubbed her the wrong way also?
"You know dad didn't mean anything with his silence right? He's just looking out for the pride." She whispered towards me. "You didn't need to embarrass him like that."
I moaned irritably, I was tired of hearing this same story that I was embarrassing my father, regardless of what I did. "You couldn't understand where I come from Mika, I could have been one of those women who are missing." I argued.
"I almost was one those women." She responded rather quickly, I turned to face her and noticed the tears welling up in her eyes. "Dad fought them off."
Not once had I considered my sister's experience in all of this, she hadn't known where I went off to, I had no idea of where she was before I was knocked unconscious when the attack happened. I felt ashamed slightly, I reached over and took my sisters hand in mine, grateful that she was still sitting here.
This could be why father didn't want to waste the resources, he almost lost both daughters the other day and was lucky enough to have them both back and safe, he didn't want to risk it.
"What are we sitting here waiting for?" The elven king spoke up and the chattering died down. Calla, who was seated by the fireplace, staring at the flames in a daze. "Cressida's apprentice should be here any moment."
I could tell the disappearance of his partner was taking a toll on him and I wondered, how did Cressida allow herself to be captured? She was the strongest individual in our society, she could have held her own against the fairies.
I felt ashamed to have supported the movement that urged the reinstatement of fairies into our society, I had believed that they were deserving of respect, unknowing to the malicious intent they held for others.
In that moment there was a gust of wind and the front door of Calla and Cressida's home burst open, banging loudly against the wall as it connected. A hooded figure stood in the doorway, draped in a black cape. I felt Demetrius' hand encase over my torso like a seatbelt, holding me in my seat as if prepared to dash up and protect me if called to do so.
The figure pushed back the hood of their cape and the long flowing white locks whipped about for a moment before the wind died down and they fell perfectly against their body. The young girl smiled mischievously at the crowd of supernatural beings. "I apologise for my tardiness, graduation ran a little behind schedule." She chirped. Walking in the door rattled slightly before slamming shut on it's on accord, obviously having been enchanted by the young girl who approached us.
She unclipped her cape and shrugged it off, her black tulle dress came to show and I gasped, it was beautiful.
Calla stood up and greeted the young girl with a light peck on the cheek. "Thank you for coming, Elowen." Demetrius dropped his hand from in front of me, no longer sensing any threat in the strange girl.
The girl, Elowen, gave Calla a kiss of her own. "It seems as though no one else was expecting me." She teased, this made Calla clear his throat and turn to face the expectant crowd who watched the young girl with bewilderment. "I would like to introduce you all to Elowen, Cressida's apprentice."
"This is a child, how is she going to help at all." My father spoke. I was unsure as to why he had joined us in the living room when he had refused to help Calla.
Elowen giggled and skipped towards my father, her hand shot out and I watched as my father drew his head back cautiously. "I'm two hundred and sixteen years old, that's 18 in human years. I assure you Alpha Falkov that I'm no child." She giggled once more, my father took her hand cautiously and shook it as she greeted him.
For every one human year, a witch ages 12, that's why they didn't celebrate birthdays in the Coven, it was too many per month to account for.
"I feel so honoured to meet everyone." She fawned, her eyes grazing over everyone in the room, then her eyes fell on me and Demetrius, she clapped joyously. "I've never seen a Werewolf and a Werecat tolerate each other enough to sit this close, the world really is changing for the better." She exclaimed.
Her positive attitude was contagious and I found myself smiling as she addressed us. "I'm Madeline Falkov, Miss Elowen." I introduced myself politely. This was Cressida's apprentice, the strongest witch that the academy had to offer, I felt honoured to meet another member of the Coven.
"I personally prefer dogs over cats." She glanced quickly towards Demetrius. "But you're adorable Madeline. Are you like, a leader too?" She mocked. My smile dropped as I realised her conniving demeanour all to well, Mika wore the same when she spoke to me.
"She will be." I was shocked to hear Demetrius say, before feeling the sensation of his hand land lightly on my thigh. My heart fluttered as he came to my defence, but more importantly as he touched me in such an intimate way, so simple yet held so much meaning to me.
Elowen glanced between us and then smirked knowingly, a shrill squeal of pure excitement left her lips as the hint Demetrius had provided to her gave her the answer she was missing. "That is so unnatural, but so progressive. I've been waiting for something like this to happen ever since I learnt of the Great War." She squealed. "It's about time the rift between cats and dogs were fixed."
Both Demetrius and my father let out a low growl, not appreciating the slur that Elowen had said, but she only giggled and skipped back over to Calla, who stood there with his face in his palms.
Elowen was Cressida's apprentice, not Calla's. He couldn't step in and tell her when enough was enough because he didn't have the power to, this proved to be a stressful situation for him.
"Elowen, the subject of their mateship is still a touchy one for both species, please be professional." He pleaded.
"I'm just so excited to be in the presence of so many leaders." She debated, rolling on her feet in a manner that was better suited for a small child, not the apprentice of the High Priestess.
"We need to talk about the arrangement for the mission. Fairies don't have their own territory, they like to put up shop wherever possible but my patrollers did see them last heading east past your Pride, Darren." He informed as he glanced up to make contact with my father, who's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "The only place past my territory is Serpent city." He defended, speaking poorly of the Serpent kingdom that existed on the shore of the ocean, why would the fairies go there?
I didn't miss how everyone stared towards the serpent king expectantly, some even looked at him accusingly, already assuming he was an insider for the fairies.
The serpent king cleared his throat. "The fairies come and go regularly, the salt water rejuvenates their wings, we don't have any contact with them." He defended himself, Demetrius huffed beside me and I turned my head to look at him.
"What's wrong?" I whispered. "The serpent kingdom blocks the shore with a wall that surrounds the entire bay, they wouldn't be able to get to the water without having to go over the wall." He explained, this peaked my curiosity.
"Couldn't they just go around the wall into deeper water?"
Demetrius shook his head and leant his face down lower in my direction. "They'd get caught in the current and drown, it's suspicious that they're heading in the direction of the kingdom with the women with them, it would be too obvious to the guards of their activities, unless the kingdom is allying with the fairies."
"But why would they do that?" I whispered back, it seemed illogical to me why the Serpents and the fairies would ally for, there was nothing they could offer one another besides the water for the fairy's wings.
Demetrius didn't answer but instead sat up straight. "That seems like the first place to go, even if we don't catch them before they get to your kingdom, then your guards could tell us what direction they were heading in after rejuvenating their wings." He offered, there was a unanimous chattering that seemed to agree with him. "I agree, it's a perfect start." Calla added.
"We won't be able to join you on this endeavour." The dragon king interjected. "The salty air inhibits our ability to breathe fire." His wife added.
"We'll get your sister back." Calla reassured.
We all continued to sit there and make arrangements for the mission for a short while before everyone was dismissed back to their rooms to pack.
I pursed my lips as I packed my things, Demetrius sat at the foot of my bed and watched as I shoved garment after garment in my suitcases, I'd pack for two weeks not three days. He didn't have anything to pack in his room, having taken it with him when the attack happened. "Won't you need clothes for the mission?" I asked, knowing all to well he was still staring at me.
"I've already had Calla send someone off with my sizes to do some shopping for me, it's too risky to go back to my pack and leave you here." He responded, I turned to him and rolled my eyes. "I'd be safe here for one more night."
"Yeah because you didn't get knocked unconscious by a fairy two days ago." He deadpanned.
I threw one of my garments at him but he caught it before it hit his face and held it up, an eyebrow lifting as he took in the piece of clothing. "This is a shirt?" He asked as he held up the crop top I'd tossed to him. "This is just fabric on two pieces of string, this would barely fit my thigh." He teased.
I reached over on my knees and snatched it out of his grasp, since when did he have an issue with what I wore? "I'm a lot smaller than you, this covers most of my torso." I argued, shoving the garment in with the rest of the mess in my suitcase, we were leaving tomorrow morning.
The plan was to head to my clan where we'd make a pit stop, father had agreed to at least provide accommodation for the other leaders for the night before they set off for the Serpent Kingdom which was another two day walk from my father's territory. Unfortunately, I knew my father wouldn't allow me to join the mission, so I knew I had to make the most of my time spent with Demetrius before we would have to depart.
He clearly felt the same way, as I felt two arms snake around me from behind and lift me off my knees, with me against him he slid back into his spot at the end of my bed, this time with me in his lap. He rested his chin on my shoulder as we both looked at my suitcases on the floor that were overflowing with unfolded pieces of clothing. "Why did you pack so much?" He asked, I giggled slightly, embarrassed with myself as I knew I'd brought along an unnecessary amount of clothing for the trip. "I expected to be here longer." I joked.
He grunted, dismissing the topic and instead buried his face in my neck, giving my neck a soft kiss, I tensed as the sensation spread through my entire body in a way that I'd never experienced when he'd kissed my neck in the past. He kissed the same place once more and I shuddered. "Do you feel that?" He asked, I nodded and let out a sigh when he didn't do it again, instead he retracted his face and kissed my cheek. "That's where you'll bare my mark one day."
He was absolutely right, I'd forgotten of the marking process that differed from my species. For us marking connected two Werecats with a bond, it was the final step in mating for life. But for werewolves the mark signified an acceptance towards the bond and allowed for fertility, hence why she-wolves would go into heat a short period of time after they're bitten. Mating marks could be presented anywhere on a werewolves body, but alpha's in particular had to place them against the Carotid Artery, an otherwise fatal bite in any other circumstance. This was to prevent any illegitimate leaders from being conceived. We'd learnt about it at school last year
"So are we like- dating?" I blurted, my cheeks surely blushed when I adjusted myself to sit sideways in his lap, noticing he looked at me with an amused expression. "You're my soulmate." Was all he said.
"Well yeah I know, but are we exclusive?" I dove deeper, I'd never had a boyfriend before in my life, I didn't know how these things worked.
"I wouldn't desire anyone else but you, princess." He spoke slowly, I felt my body shudder in his lap. There was something about the way he spoke so sensually towards me that he didn't do around anyone else, and the way I couldn't predict him that was just so alluring to me. I had the Alpha werewolf as a soulmate, he was far from the enemy in my eyes.
Feeling spontaneous I leant in and placed my lips softly over his, he didn't move for a moment before I felt his arms come up around me, one resting heavily on my thigh, the other behind my back to keep me steady. Our lips moved together calmly as we kissed and I quickly found myself pushing further to deepen it, he opened his mouth and I felt our tongues connect, he tasted of the dinner Calla had provided to everyone a mere hour ago.
His hand moved from my back slightly and I felt as one of the straps on my dress fell off my shoulder, but I ignored it. He broke the kiss and looked up at me. "Would you be more comfortable if we took the dress off." He murmured, eyes trailing down my figure. The dress was like a second skin on me, I blushed at the thought of Demetrius peeling it off of my body, but instead I shook my head and placed my arms up against his large face and kissed him once more.
This time his hand that was placed on my thigh glided up under the fabric of the dress and I flinched, unsure of where it's destination was. This made Demetrius stop and instead leant back to lay down on my bed, I crawled on top of him.
I broke the kiss just long enough to hoist my other leg across his waist, straddling him. He tried to look at my body when I broke the kiss, but I knew my underwear was showing as my dress had ridden up and I wasn't ready for Demetrius to see the little bunny faces on them.
As we made out it slowly grew to a faster pace, his demeanour growing more needy for me as his hands travelled over my body, feeling through my hair to my arms, then my waist and my hips, then down to my ass that he gripped with both hands and gave me a quick squeeze, I gasped in surprise and he responded with an aroused growl. Moving both hands to my hips he held me in place as he pressed his own lower body against mine, causing the contact to trigger my bundle of nerves beneath my underwear, I gasped once again in both shock and pleasure. This was moving too fast.
I pulled my lips away from his and caught sight of his dark expression. His icy blue eyes were now a stormy grey colour, attention was all on me as he licked his lips, moistening them. I knew what he wanted to do but I wasn't sure I was ready. "I've never been touched by a man." I blurted.
I half expected Demetrius to laugh at me, my innocence was embarrassing at my age, and I was sure he had his own tales of his encounters with other women. But instead he bit his lip and glanced down at my chest that was on display in his line of vision. "You'd enjoy me." He purred.
I was growing more and more flustered by the second, I sat up straight to create some distance from him but I realised my mistake too late, he took the opportunity to glance down my body, landing on the bunny underwear I was wearing. I took the hem of my dress and pushed it down in modesty and held it there. This was sure to have ruined the mood, instead he met my gaze and lifted an eyebrow. "How old are you?" He questioned, his eyes lightened a little.
"I'm 18." I stammered, Demetrius nodded, I could see the relief in his shoulders as they lowered considerably as he breathed out.
"Cute panties."
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