??? POV (you find out in this chapter)
She was beautiful, a little on the small side and I wondered what her age was. Across the room I caught sight of a woman, dressed in white with hair that cascaded down her back and it swung lightly as she turned away from Cressida and I. The woman, although short in stature, was definably a woman based on her physical appearance alone.
From the inwards curve of her waist that came out noticeably at the hips, from her flowy gown to her bust that was full and perky and threatened to slip out from the the v-line of her dress if she wasn't careful.
"And that's Madeline, Alpha Falkov's youngest daughter." Cressida concluded. I continued to watch the young lioness, Madeline, as she faced our direction once again, visibly shocked to realise I had caught her.
"She's a werecat?" I inquired, she broke eye contact with me and darted to the direction of her father, who stood amongst the Elf king, the Serpent King and the Vampire king's partner, socialising as if he weren't an illegitimate leader. It was known amongst the entire supernatural world how Alpha Falkov forced his mate out of leadership, a sacred tradition amongst the feline race that even I would have respected, so that he could attempt to amount to the same power that my own kind has, where Leadership was ruled by men and the dominant nature allowed for the prosperity of the clan to host stronger fighters. Not that his fighters weren't strong already.
"That she is." Cressida approved. "Although, she happens to be treated as a runt of the litter if you know what I mean." She insinuated, I only took that in one context. "So she's a weak she-cat?" I inquired, trying to keep my curiosity for this woman as inconspicuous as possible. Her scent that overcame me when she entered the room, it was a fresh smell of lemongrass mixed with something I could quite comprehend unless I got closer, the scent overwhelmed my senses in a way I couldn't shake so easily.
Cressida giggled. "No, in fact I believe she's a lot stronger than the rest of her family. Darren keeps her on a short leash and it's disappointing to have such an outspoken individual held down by an unappreciative leader." She chimed, I glanced at her as she took a sip of her rosé.
"It's a pleasure to see you again. And you Calla." I dismissed, disinterested in discussion with them any longer. I caught sight of Zaros Eldon, the Vampire Leader and began to pace towards him when Cressida spoke to me once more. "Oh and King Demetrius?" She called.
I faced her, expressionless. "Yes?" I asked, her smile didn't falter as she stared me down. "Your interest in the she-cat is a dangerous one."
I ignored the High Priestess who had caught on quickly to my fixation on the young lioness.
As I approached my old Vampire friend, who was at the bar ordering himself a beverage, a moment of weakness in my senses transpired as the weight of a body colliding into mine from the side caught my attention, I would usually move out of the way in time. I stared down, ready to castrate the person who had invaded my personal space when I met the gaze of the she-cat, staring up at me in astonishment. In that moment I caught onto the scent I had been failing to recognise, it was mint.
Her eyes caught me off guard, I'd never looked into the eyes of a Werecat before, they were like pools of204Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsBl0Y2vr0B
Liquid gold.
As our eyes met it was as though her gaze alone impacted my body at full throttle and my lungs became empty of air, my nostrils flared in an attempt to compose myself and I noticed as she stepped back and bowed her head. "My apologies sir, I didn't mean to trip over my own feet just now, I'm just not used to wearing heels this long." She giggled at the end. I didn't dare utter a word.
Her voice was like camomile tea to my ears, it soothed my senses as the sweet sound met my hearing, and suddenly my lungs gave in and filled once more, I felt my shoulders relax.
"Don't apologise Madi," Alpha Falkov spoke up as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's just a big old mutt who could have seriously injured my daughter." He accused.
A low snarl left my lips. "What did you just call me?." And watched as the young lioness drew another step away from me and behind the comfort of her father, the thought of my voice terrifying her when hers soothed me sent a gut wrenching feeling to my stomach that I didn't quite understand, but I shook it off.
I wasn't angered by the clumsiness of this woman as I would have been if it were anyone else, I could feel the kind nature coming off her in waves and it confused me to my core. The Werecat race were full of superficial assholes who cared more about resources than the safety of their people, the women of the clan, although nurturing in nature, made a mockery of patriarchy with the responsibility of patrolling, fighting, punishments and hunting. But the curious golden hues of this young lioness didn't give me any indication of a malicious desire that could full fill any of these responsibilities.
"Alpha Falkov, Alpha Renwick." Zaros interjected, coming into my line of view with a charismatic smile on his face. "Let's not rage a war at this ball, especially not in the company my Mavis. Put away the claws." He teased, coming to a halt between myself and Darren.
I glanced briefly in the direction of Zaros' partner who stood clutching her glass in her hand warily, as if she were expecting a shift to happen at any moment. "Don't call me a mutt Darren, at your age I would watch my tone, you're not the agile feline you used to be." I spat lowly.
"Father, it was my fault I should have been watching where I was going." His daughter excused, once more I felt the softness of her voice soothe the raging demeanour growing inside of me, and after a second I no longer felt the desire to rip her fathers throat out. I cleared my own throat and perched my hand up formally. "Alpha Demetrius Renwick, king of the Werewolves." Was all I spoke, I heard Darren growl lowly when my hand surpassed his frame and towards the direction of his young daughter, who watched my hand for a moment before meeting my gaze. "It's not everyday i get to meet a clumsy feline." I teased, although my tone didn't shed any indication that I was joking around which confused the small lioness.
"Madeline Falkov, sir." She introduced as she brought her hand out to shake mine. When our hands embraced I grimaced in response to the sheer softness of her palm as mine enveloped it. I didn't miss the array of warmth that spread through my hand and up to my elbow as we touched and I noticed how her own eyebrows knitted together in question, she felt it too.
The warmth was intoxicating and I suppressed the desire to retrieve more of it by pulling her closer, it would surely rub Darren the wrong way and my old friend was right, to rage a war at this ball would be idiotic.
I remained a steady composure to not give off any idea of how her touch was affecting me, was this some kind of spell being casted on us? Did Cressida have anything to do with this? I willed myself to let go and dropped my hand back to my side, I caught the small smile she gave me when she too dropped her's, the sheepish look in her eye matched the feeling in my chest, the coyness I found oddly attractive.
Before I could catch myself in my mistake, I was already uttering the words. "Can I buy you a drink?"
She went to answer but her father intervened. "Remember your place Demetrius." He warned and I met his watchful gaze on me. "My daughter will not a be a pawn to your barbaric desires."
Once again I felt anger bubble inside me, his assumption that I desired his daughter was not wrong but his sheer distastefulness to the idea struck a nerve ending. The young lioness' cheeks burned red next her father. "I actually don't drink, father says it's improper." She excused.
I cocked an eyebrow and glanced to the bar where her older sister still sat, drinking away at the beverage in her hand, the drunken demeanour was evident.
"Well excuse me then, Madeline. Darren." I dismissed, nodding curtly only in the direction of his daughter before returning to my route in the direction of the bar, Zaros high on my tail.
We got the bar and I rested my elbows to prop my head up, running my hand through my hair stressfully as I recalled how she spoke to me. Unlike her father there was a sense of respect in the way she spoke to me, to her I wasn't some mutt, I was a man, a leader at that. The way her flustered face looked away to her feet, and my desire to place my hand under her chin and lift it back up to look into her eyes once again was a feeling I was still trying to shake off. I didn't understand these feelings.
"I would tell you to shy away from Alpha Falkov's daughter but it seems as though the tension between you two was mutual." Zaros teased as he joined me at the bar, propping himself up on the stool.
I sighed. "There's something angelic about her that makes her stand out from her father's shadow. She doesn't rub me the wrong way like other Werecats do." I explained, he chuckled before ordering himself a drink. "The handshake seemed pretty intense, her pulse heightened ten fold when you touched her. And you Demetrius, you looked like a statue."
Because Zaros was a vampire his instincts would have allowed him to tune into this detail, why he did so was still a mystery.
"I felt a warmth spread through me when we touched Zaros, I didn't want to let her go, I wanted more."
The bartender handed down two glasses of whiskey and Coke to us and I took it gratefully, liquid courage would surely drown my nerves. "It seems to me," he started before taking a sip of his own drink. "That you were either overcome by a sense of bloodlust for your natural enemy. I mean, I would too if it was presented me in such a delicate form like the young lioness, it would have been an easy kill for you Werewolf king." He trailed off when I snarled lowly at him, I had no desire to cause any harm to Madeline, the thought of doing so made my heart erupt in a sense of hatred. "Or, you may have just found your soulmate." He finished, sending me a knowing look.
Soulmate? I glanced over my shoulder into the direction we'd just came from, Madeline smiled politely at Zaros' wife as she spoke to her, her arms crossed casually over her stomach that pushed her bust up slightly in a way that accentuated her obvious curves. The desire grew.
Could she be my soulmate? There's no possible way that would happen. Interspecies mating has never occurred before why would the goddesses allow it to happen now? How could the moon goddess allow this? There was no denying my unwilling pull towards the young lioness, the sheer attention she commanded from me just by existing.
I needed to know more of her, touch more of her, hear more of her.
I shook my head. "You can't seriously believe that could happen do you?" I accused, taking another sip of my drink. Zaros came in a little closer, as if what he was about to tell me was on a basis that only I was allowed to know of. "Mavis was human when I met her. I knew she was meant for me the moment I met her-"
"It's against the law to turn anyone." I bit back, a little shocked my friend was admitting this information to me. To keep the secret of the supernatural world at bay it was forbidden for anyone to turn any human, this law was punishable by death.
"Mavis is my soulmate Demetrius, the fact she was a human didn't change that. Sometimes the goddesses mess up and give you someone outside your own species. I turned her when she was ready and swore my clan to secrecy over the truth of their Queen. We're coming up to our four hundredth anniversary in a few years." He explained. I sat in thought for a moment. Could the goddesses have willed for this to happen? And for what reason?
There was a contrasting personality difference between the two of us. She was gentle and soft, I was the werewolf king, it just didn't make any sense. As the King I always fantasised my soulmate as being someone who could lead with me, aid in the prosperity of my people, be one of my people.
I glanced back over my shoulder and caught sight of her as she greeted the Reptilian King with a hug, and watched as his scaly arms wound tightly around her waist to pull her in closer, my eye twitched in irritation.
I wanted to rip his arm off and pull her away, I wanted it to be my arm in place of his, I wanted to be the one she embraced like that.
I was in over my head for this young lioness in such a short amount to time and Zaros' word replayed in my head. Sometimes the goddesses mess up and give you someone outside your own species.
He was right.
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