Vexed

05: Okay

"Hold up, so if you have kids then your offspring doesn't have to go through the ceremony but all of Matteo's do?" Astrid asked as Giorgia scooted closer to me.

"Yes only the Royal Alpha's offsprings have to go through it, but only the strongest can survive it." I ran my hand through my niece's hair as she listened to us speak. "Regardless of how ruthless the rule is, that is how we always went about with things. Survival of the fittest."

Once I got back from my run, Astrid was waiting for me in my room like she said she would. The night before I had texted her that I left the party when I reached Ava's place so that she wouldn't worry. She was with Brandon and I didn't want to interrupt her fun. But of course, my best friend had to come and check up on me. After she caught me up on what I had missed in the party from love confessions to escalated fights, I realized it was time for me to tutor Giorgia. Astrid wanted to join. She wanted to spend more time with Giorgia while getting to know more about us werewolves. 

"So your royalty dies with you?" she asked intrigued.

I looked down at my niece, "why don't you explain it to her, nugget?"

Giorgia sat up and cleared her throat, I tried to stop myself from grinning but I was so proud that she was invested in the topic. "The royal families have Lycan blood coursing through their veins. We are decen-de uhh.." She looked up at me for help.

"De-scen-dants" I enunciated.

"Right, we are descendants of the first existing werewolves. The birth ceremony is a ritual that is performed to purify our blood and enhance our Lycan traits," she stated and looked at me for confirmation. 

Once I nodded, she continued, "any babies that Peaches will have will just not have their blood purified. However, if anything were to happen to my parents or me then she would have to take the position of Royal Alpha and her babies would have to go through the ceremony. If she didn't exist then the closest blood relative of the Royal Alpha would have to go through the ceremony."

The sound of laughter filled the air as I hugged and then tickled Giorgia, "good job!" I complimented, "you are getting better at remembering all the materials."

Once she was able to catch her breath again she showed me her tongue and ran to sit next to Astrid, "it's because you tell me all of it like a story." She then turned and looked at my best friend with her doe eyes, "Do you have any other questions?"

Astrid looked at me and held her hand over her heart. She was also thinking about how adorable my niece was. "Tell me everything you know."

Giorgia scratched her adorable chin while thinking about possible information she could bless us with.

"Oh!" she sat up excitedly, "the soulmate bond is forever. Once you bite your mate's neck here." Giorgia reached and showed the location she was talking about on Astrid's neck, "you will be able to understand each other better. Biting there only works between werewolves and their mates. I guess, vampires too."

I shook my head while chuckling, the topic of soulmates is her favourite. And my least favourite but I would never let my niece know that. She never failed to mention how eagerly she is waiting to turn eighteen. Even though that is around the time she will stop growing like a human and have much slower growth, she is more excited about the possibility of finding a mate. I guess ageing up only a year every fifty human years is not as appealing for her, as it was for me when I was her age.

"You forgot to mention why they will be able to understand each other better," I prompted her to remember more details as the topic was testable in her upcoming quiz.