New World Queen (Part One of the New World Queen Trilogy)

Black and Silver Swirls and Twist

I look at the markings on Colton's top chest area and around his shoulder. If he was to stand beside Arrin, they would match up perfectly. Where Arrin's marks end, Colton's begin, where Colton's marks end on his bicep, Jaxon's begin. It's amazing, how they piece together perfectly with mine. There are no straight edges, where one black/ silver swirls ends on one male body, it's completed by another. I briefly wonder where Alec's will be, even Easton's, where will his marks end up? I know there is a leg left, hip area, neck and face. Who is going to be the lucky one that has my marks on his face? Ryan or Declan? It would have to be one of them, they are the leaders, the oldest and the alpha. I can only assume they are the ones who will get the neck and face markings.
Jaxon's arm lays across my stomach, his face buried in the back of my neck, inhaling my hair, my scent. I lay on Colton's chest, my finger subconcusiously tracing his markings perfectly.
"How do you do that?" Colt ask. I look up at him, he is watching my hand.
"Do what?" I ask him wondering what he is talking about.
"You're not even looking at the markings, how can you trace them so perfectly?" I smile and kiss the center of his chest. I smile knowingly at him.
"If I tell you..." I start, Jaxon chuckles.
"You'll have to kill him?" He tries to finish, I snort.
"No, then you'll know all my secrets." I finish myself.
"We are your mates, there are not suppose to be secrets between us." Colton points out.
"Everyone is allowed one secret or two. You don't have to know everything." I'm playing with them now, it's really not a secret, I can feel the markings, they connect with my own.
"So, you're not going to tell us?" Jax ask with a pout. I turn and grin.
"Give me your finger and close your eyes." I request, Jax narrows his eyes at me and I resist rolling mine.
"Trust, Jaxon." I growl. He sighs and lifts his hand up, I take it and wait.
"What?" He ask.
"Close your eyes." I whisper yell at him, Colton chuckles, Jax shakes his head but closes his eyes.
I roll over slightly, place his finger on my stomach.
"Now feel the lines." His brows furrowed.
"Huh?" I laugh at the confusion on his face.
"It's easy Jaxon, we're connected, my markings and yours. Feel the markings." I move his hand so his finger is tracing the black swirls on my skin. The tingling sensation is amazing, a shiver runs down my spine.
"Can you feel it?" I whisper breathless.
"The zaps?" His finger continues to move, my hand on top of his, I'm not leading his hand anymore, he has it and I smile.
"Yes, the zaps. Those are the black swirls." I move his hand to the silver ones and he gasps.
"What?" He whispers, his brows pinching together, eyes squeezed tightly.
"The silver markings are our full connection."
"Full connection?" Colton questions.
"Between all of us. The black is a...how do I put it...individual connection."
"Individual connection?"
"Yes, it connects me to you and you to me. Male to female. The black swirls are our own personal one on one connection. The silver swirls and twist, that connects us all. You will not only be able to feel and pull on me but also with whoever else I have mated with."
"Gross, you mean I can tell when Arrin is ready to pound you." Jaxon's nose scrunches up and he shakes his head. I laugh.
"No, not like you guys are so hard to read when it comes to that." I nod towards his naked lower half. "This is more like, if Arrin were in trouble or in pain, you would know it. If I wasn't near you and in trouble, you would feel it. The silver is a full on connection between all nine of us, or will be when and if that occurs." I whisper the last part, I'm not sure about mating with Easton yet. There's a part of me that doesn't trust him, a huge part. Then another part of me is scared to death of him.
"If?" Colt asks as he puts his finger under my chin and lifts my face to look at him. I know that he can see the confusion and slight fear in my eyes. He searches my eyes and like I sent him my own personal message, his eyes widen in understanding.
"Easton." He whispers and I look away.
"What about Easton?" Jax ask. Colt sighs and lays back down. "What? What about him?" Jax asks, sounding impatient and maybe a slight bit sour because he's not in the know.
"She doesn't trust him." Colt says simply.
"Why not?" Jax questions while kissing my shoulder.
"He almost killed me." I say so quietly that if they weren't shifter wolves they would not have heard me.
"He has a blood oath with the elf king." Colt adds.
"He blew my arm off and dropped me hundreds of feet through a portal into another realm and left me to die." I shudder remembering those terrifying moments. The moment I realized I didn't want to die, not alone, not without anybody there with me.
"You're going to hold that against him?" Jaxon looks down at me, I look back at him, open myself up to him. I let the emotions of what I feel for Easton show in my eyes, he sees it.
"Oh sweet girl. I didn't realize you were that..." He stops, knowing I don't like to admit begin scared of anything or anyone.
"What are you going to do?" Colt ask, not looking at me, his sandy brown eyebrows are pulled together and he is staring intently at the trees above us.
"I don't know. How can I...I don't know how to let it go. He's the only one that's gotten so close to...killing me." I fumble again with words to adequately describe how I feel about him. Sure, he is nice to look at. He has some pretty awesome powers too. But I can't trust him. He tried to kill me under the Elf King's orders, even knowing that I belonged to him. He has a blood oath with the same bastard, which means, he can't tell me why, or anything that I need to know. How do you trust someone like that? How do you trust someone who almost killed you? Who scares you? Easy answer, you don't!
"He has a blood oath, right?" Jax ask, his chin is resting on my shoulder, I glance at him and nod.
"Aren't they vetoed after a mating?" He ask, I continue to look at him but he is now looking at Colton. I glance at Colton who looks at Jaxon, then me.
"Yes. The mating bond is stronger than the blood oath. If you were to mate with him, you veto the previous blood oath. He could tell you everything and if he doesn't, we would be able to feel most of what he is keeping from us. Right?" Colton looks at me as he ask this, and I feel my own confusion. "The silver swirls, you said we could feel each other, the connection between us all?" I nod. "So even if he doesn't tell you, us, what the hell is going on, we could figure it out on our own, by using the connection." He explains, fuck, that's right. But that would mean I would have to mate with him. That's the problem, I don't want too.
"If you might have too." Colts says as he studies me. My eyes shoot to his, how did he know? Reading my confusion, he trails a black line on my face, giving me my unasked question. No more secrets. I bite my lip.
"It's the only way. Unless you just want to wait till we met the Elf King. And who knows what he has planned." Colt says quietly.
"Easton knows." Jax says with a low growl. I nod in agreement.
"He does." I whisper, I pull Jaxon closer to me and snuggle up closer to Colton, needing their warmth all of sudden.
"I don't want too." I stubbornly say.
"It's not something that needs to be discussed now. And I think we should speak with everyone at the same time about this." Colton finally says.
"So I can be out voted?" I growl and start to pull away. No way are any of them making me mate with Easton, they can argue till their blue in the face but I won't do it till I am good and ready. Period, dot com, end of fucking story!
"No, don't do that." Jaxon grabs me around the waist and pulls me into his chest.
"I'm not being forced to mate with him so we can find out all his dirty little secrets. I don't trust him. And I don't want his lying, kill my mate hands all over me." I growl and struggle against Jaxon's hold.
"That's not what we are saying." Colt says as he moves in front of me.
"Isn't it? If I fuck him we can find out what he's hiding? Let's tell all the others and vote on it? I get out voted and have to let him touch me?" My voice has risen an octave as panic begins to set in.
"Riplyn! Stop, look at me baby!" Colton commands.
"I'm not fucking him!" I cry out, a tear rolls down my cheek.
" calm down baby, that's not what we're saying." I continue to struggle against Jaxon.
"Yes it is." I cry and shake my head.
"We are just throwing opinions out there. Every angle. We have to look at them all. That's why we need to discuss this together. There may be things we're missing." Colton explains to me, I stop struggling and look at him through blurry eyes. "There may be other ways, this is just one way. Arrin may know another way, he knows the King. Declan has been around for centuries, he may know another way." He says to me as he wipes the tears off my face.
"Declan's already tried." I whisper pathetically.
"No, Declan tried one way, torture. That didn't work."
"Maybe he can drink from him." Jax says quietly.
"What? How will that help?" I ask, shaking my head. That makes no sense.
"Don't vampires pull memories from the ones they drink from?" Jax ask. "At least that's what I heard." He mumbles, not certain. I shrug, how the hell would I know?
"I don't know."
"See another good question. We are just looking at all options." Colt says.
"And if there isn't any other options?" I whisper.
"There are, don't worry." He says, not looking at me. That doesn't comfort me. Not at all.
"We need to go." Jaxon says suddenly, looking back in the direction we originally came from, towards his village. I study his face and know something is wrong. His lips are pressed tightly together and his brows pinched in concerned.
"What's wrong?" I ask, still studying him.
"Uh, we might have a small problem." He whispers then looks to Colton who is already up and pulling his pants back on. He reaches down and grabs something and throws it at me, thank goodness I have quick reflexes, I snap the flying fabric from the air and look at them both with confusion.
"What aren't you telling me?" Both of them are nervous and quickly getting dressed.
"Riplyn, you remember when I said to trust us?" I nod slowly. Colt moves over to me, his pants fall, I grin. Oops, did I rip those buttons off?
"Damnit. Look baby, now is that time, trust us and please don't do anything rash." He says, his eyes are pleading with me.
"Ok." I draw out. He nods and pulls his pants back up. I sigh and roll my eyes.
"I can help with those, come here." I tell colt, he eyes me cautiously. "Trust, Colton." I growl at him, he nods and stands before me. I glance up at him through my lashes and dig my hand into the dirt.
"I like this position." He says grinning.
"You would." I mummer, close my eyes and pull from the earth. They are both watching me, I can feel their glazes on my body but I stay focus on what I am doing. Smiling as a small root unwinds itself from the dirt and moves into my hand.
"What is that?" Jax ask, with a grin over my shoulder at him, I answer.
"It's a root." I lift the root up to Colton's busted buttons and watch as it winds itself through the holes of his pants and pulls them together.
"I'm impressed Riplyn." I shrug.
"It's nothing." I reply quietly.
"Oh that's not nothing. You're like Mother fucking Nature." Jaxon says staring at me in awe. I shrug again, it really isn't that big of deal.
"It was impressive Riplyn, now promise me..." He pauses as he helps me up. I quickly pull the dress over my head and straighten it out.
"Promise you what?" I question warily. Colt moves to me and grabs me by the waist, I gasp as our bodies press together. The zaps and electric currents feel stronger now and it takes my breath away, makes my heart pound and all thoughts turn to mush. Damn, will I ever learn to control these markings? Do I even want too?
He pushes the hair out of my face and I stare up at his ruggedness, so sexy. So mine! And to answer to my own question, nope, don't want to control it, just feel it and live it.
"Please don't do anything rash. I kinda love you and am not ready to lose you yet." He whispers before he kisses me. His lips move against mine, his fingers tighten around my waist. My own hands move to his neck to pull him closer but he pulls away and I whimper.
"Promise me, nothing rash."
"I promise. But can you tell me what's going on?" I ask, I'm not exactly happy that I am clueless as to what is happening and has them looking nervous as hell.
"Challenges." Is all Jaxon says as he grabs my hand and starts leading us back the way we came.
Not a full three miles later, of complete silence, we stop at the clearing of the village. I take a moment to really study the village. It's cute. There has to be at least a hundred little huts, built by hand, using nature to build them. They're placed in circles. The center of the village has a platform, and a huge bon fire in the center. Every wolf, male and female, children too are standing in the open center, flames dancing off their tan skin. Most of the males are not wearing shirts. Just pants, and some nothing at all. Shifters. I roll my eyes. The females wear wrap dresses, easy to take off when needing to shift. Looking at their faces, I realize how beautiful these people are too.
The vampires had been otherworldly beautiful, like perfect statues. Carved from the most beautiful stone and marble but these shifters. They are all outdoorsy beautiful. Dark skin from long hours outside soaking up the sun. The male bodies are tight and corded with muscles. Male perfection at it best. While the females are curvy and muscular. Breast, waist, hips and thighs. Any man's wet dream come to life.
The vampire castle held dark secrets and blood, carnage and death. Every vamp for themselves. But the shifter village, it was family. I could see that in the way the banded together to create their homes and village. They were a tight knit group, they were there for each other, knew each other, cared for each other. Pack life. They protect, live and love together. It is a place I could see myself living. That is, if I could stop killing everybody.
"Come on sweetness." Jaxon gives my hand a gentle tug, Colton places his hand against the small of my back and we march forward.
As one, the shifters turn and watch us walk up. It's....unnerving. They stare hard at me, some glares, some curious, and a few in awe, just a few though.
"Riplyn!" I wince when I hear Ryan's powerful voice over the crowd. Looking up, he's scowling me. I swallow and quickly go through the list of things I might've done to piss Ryan off.
He wasn't pissed when I left, I didn't start any fights while I was gone. And I didn't leave Colton's or Jaxon's side once. Although, this could be about killing the previous alpha. I look around again, this time noticing a line of wolves growling at me and ready to fight.
"Challenges?" I question quietly to myself, Jaxon squeezes my hand lightly and Colton mummers discretly.
"Nothing rash."
We stop in front of Ryan, damn he is gorgeous. He stands on the platform in front of the fire, the oranges flames dancing across his naked torso.
"Is it hot out here?" I whisper to no one in particular. Ryan hears me and he narrows his eyes at me.
His dark hair looks as if he has run his hand through it about hundred times. Sweat glistens against his rock hard muscles and I watch as a small bead of sweat trails down the middle of his abs. Holy moly, I want to lick. His pants hang down low on his hips, low enough to see the muscular v that I know leads down to a perfect male part I am quite fond of.
My body begins to heat up and I start thinking if it's because Ryan looks so damn good up there, or is it because Jax and colt are still touching me. Or maybe it's the fact that all my mates are watching me intently.
"Riplyn Ryann. Daughter of Ripper Ryann, King of the Shifters." I look up into Ryan's face, I can't make out what is going on through his head but I have a feeling I am about to have to make choice.
"You have been challenged." He pauses and extends a hand to the line of wolves that looked ready to fight. I glanced over and raise my eyebrows as I can at least count fifty shifter wolves. Shit!
"For your position as alpha wolf of this clan. If you accept the challenges, you will fight each challenge to submission. This is not a kill fight but a submission fight only. What say you?" I hear it in his voice, he doesn't want me fight the challenges. I have no doubt that I can win, pretty sure I cut most of those wolves down already. So here is where I have choose.
I look up to Ryan knowing there are only two choices. One, I can accept and fight. Something I am really good at, something I know without even thinking about. Or two, I can accept Ryan as my alpha and he can fight the challenges. If there are any left. I understand most of these challenges were made because I am a woman, no male wolf wants to be ran by a female unless it's in the bedroom. That's just the way they are. Males protect, females love.
'Promise you won't do anything rash.' Colton's words ring out in my head, he knew, Jax knew but they're waiting for me to choose. Waiting to see if I trust them.
I inhale deeply and redirect my attention to Ryan. He's watching me closely, but no emotion shows on his face. I make my choice, push my chin out, shoulders back, standing tall and proud. I am an alpha female!
I release Jaxon's hand and take two steps towards Ryan, he swallows. I drop to my knee.
"What will you have me do Alpha?" I ask him loud enough for everyone to hear. I pull my hair away from the left side of my neck and expose it to him. Yes, I am an alpha female, but Ryan is my alpha male. There was no choice, I belong to him and I will trust him. And now ALL the shifter village knows.
I keep my submitted position on the ground while whispers run wild through the village. This continues for what feel like minutes and minutes, I don't move. I keep myself submitted to Ryan until he makes his choice. Finally, the whispers die down, Ryan's feet come into view. How the hell can a man have sexy feet? Is there anything on this man that isn't sexy? Geez!
He stands in front of me for, forever, not moving a muscle. Then I feel his hand run through my hair. There's a small little tug and he moves his hand in front of my face. I look and roll my eyes, a twig with dead leaves on it.
He drops down in front me, places his finger under my chin and makes me look at him. The tenderness in eyes, the way he looks at me...
"Have fun rolling around in the woods?" He ask quietly with a smile playing across his lips, his eyes alight with humor. I bite my lower lip.
"Yes?" I ask, he cocks his head to the right and stares at me.
"Are you asking or telling me?" He grins.
"Yes?" I again ask. I am officially retarded. He chuckles, holds his hand out, I take it and he pulls me up to my feet. His arm wraps around my waist as he turns us both to face the mass of shifters.
Colton steps forward while winking at me.
"Riplyn Ryann of the Shifter Royals has submitted to her alpha and mate. All Alpha challenges now go to Alpha Ryan. Any female wishing to challenge for our Luna may also challenge now." Colt says loudly, he'a a beta. I can feel the power rolling off him. I'm surprised I didn't notice before. I mean he is not as powerful as Ryan but it's there, Colton is a powerful wolf, Ryan's right hand.
I watch as the crowd of fifty plus wolves slowly break apart. As I watch I notice three very large, very pissed off wolves step forward. They growl at Ryan. Then a female steps forward, she glares at me then looks dreamily at my wolf. I growl as jealousy worms it way through me. Oh, I don't think so bitch!
There is silence for another minute before Colton looks at Ryan and he nods at him. He steps forward with hands raised. Silence follows.
"Challenges has been accepted. Our Luna will fight first followed by the alpha challenges. Remember, this is a fight to submission, if any deaths occur you forfeit your own life. Do the challengers understand?" Colton yells.
The three very large, very angry wolves all yell at the same time.
"Understood."
"Ladies?" Colton yells. The lone female nods. He then turns to us.
"Alphas?"
"Understood." Ryan says.
"Riplyn?" The way Colton ask me, like a parent scowling a child has me narrowing my eyes.
"Submission, not death. Understood." I say only after Ryan pinched my butt.
Colton's lips twitch as he tries to keep from smiling at me.
"Let the fights begins!" He yells and the crowd goes wild. The cheers echo through the forest, stirring up all stillness that had been dormant just moments ago.
My heart begins to race, anticipation making me giddy. This is exciting and a little scary. The wolves Ryan is going to go up against are huge. I have never seen Ryan fight before, and it worries me a little. Not to mention, I am a little worried about my own self control. I am used to killing, not submitting another.
I am grabbed by the shoulders and spun, Ryan bends down to my level, our eyes meeting, he kisses me, hard and passionately. His fingers digging into my shoulders, as per normal, my body goes wild. I could have him right now but as the soon as the thought enters my head, he's pulling away from me and giving me a stern look.
"No killing, submit her only." He says, again I feel like child being scolded by her parent. But I bite my cheek to hold back any smart assed comments and nod, repeat what he said so he knows I am listening.
"No killing, submit only." He nods and kisses my forehead.
"Kick her ass my beautiful alpha woman." He growls as he releases me quickly, stepping back away from me.
Turning to face my challenge, I suck in a deep breath and let it slowly. My mantra, 'don't kill, don't kill, don't kill.'