It's almost time now. The last of the three stepped onto the ledge, countless wolves behind them. Here, they will make their stand. They will either perish or emerge victorious. There is no in-between.
The three share a silent thought. A prayer to the Moon Goddess, to protect them and theirs.
The world is quiet. No breeze stirs. No sound can be heard save for the breathing of ten thousand wolves. Ten thousand waiting to face off against tens of thousands who were bred to do one thing: destroy everything for naught but power for their masters.
Suddenly, a murmur begins to travel through the crowd. Beasts of the land, the air, and the sea begin to arrive. The three share a smile and as one, look to the heavens for this turn of events.
It's almost time now.
———0———
"Mia! Mia!" I heard as I felt myself being shaken awake.
"Mia! Oh my Goddess, you sleep like the dead!"
I slowly opened my eyes and lifted my hands to rub the sleep from them. "What time is it?" I mumbled.
"We have to leave in fifteen minutes! Come on!" Harper said as she exited the room.
I quickly got up, ran to bathroom to get ready and I was waiting for her by the door in ten minutes. Yeah, I was never really the high maintenance type.
When we got to school, I was surprised that there was absolutely no one at the parking lot.
"Um, Harp, you think your clock might be broken?"
She was busy fiddling with her phone again.
"What? Yeah, maybe. Sorry about that. But hey, since we're here, maybe you could help me with that math homework," she wiggled her eyebrows at me.
I shook my head and got out of the car. By the time we reached our lockers, some students had begun to arrive. Harper and I made our way to the tables outside after getting our books. I helped her with her school work, although why she asked for my help, I did not understand since it was clear she had a good grasp on the lesson.
When she was done, we stood up and I noticed a large group of students congregating on the school lawn.
"What do you think is happening there?" I asked Harper.
She wasn't saying anything so I looked over to her and saw she had a goofy smile on her face.
"Let's find out," she said excitedly while grabbing my hand and heading towards the building.
"Harp, hold on, my bag's still unzipped," I told her, pulling my hand from her grasp and closing my bag. "Seriously, what the hell got into you today? First, the early commute to school, and now, this cheerfulness so early in the morning," I groaned. Clearly, this was one of the rare days I needed coffee.
"Come on!" She chirped and grabbed my hand once again.
"Alright! I'm coming!" I laughed.
As we were power walking to where the crowd was, my bag slipped off my shoulder and I barely managed to hook it by the crook of my elbow. It swung wide though and hit someone.
"Oh my gosh, so sorry!" I said, as I managed to slow Harper down.
I felt my heartbeat start to pick up as my victim came closer. I looked up and saw familiar eyes glaring at me. It was Adam. I quickly bowed my head in deference to his position in the pack, and willed my heart to slow down.
"Be at the pack house on Friday after school. We'll do the ceremony then," he brusquely said.
"Th-the mating ceremony?" I asked with a small, yet hopeful, voice.
He laughed loudly, "Of course not! Why would I mate with you?" He sneered. "We're doing the Severance Ceremony then. And then I'll be free of this stupid connection," he brusquely added as he walked away.
The Severance Ceremony was done when one mate or both of them rejected the bond. Contrary to popular belief, shifters did not just say words to sever the mate connection. We said the words, yes, but we had to do it under the moonlight while dropping three drops of blood each on the ground.
The Mating Ceremony, meanwhile, was done by saying the words of mating, once again under the light of the moon, dropping three drops of blood each in a special crystal goblet, and drinking the joined blood after marking.
The only differences between the two ceremonies, though they lead to vastly different results, are the words said, and the way blood is spilled.
It's always blood.
Harper put her arm around my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Honestly, girl, if I were in your position, I could not wait for Friday to come around."
I gave a brittle laugh. "Yeah," I told her. I hoped she believed me.
I walked to my first class of the day and tried my best to lose myself in the lessons taught. I was getting pretty good at it until the last period before lunch which I had with Adam and Tawny. They walked in, with Tawny clinging to his Alpha-ness like a bad rash, and Adam's hand in her back pocket.
I also had the class with Harper, who looked at me and mimed gagging. I laughed at her antics, even though deep down, my heart was breaking even more.
During lunch, the whole cafeteria was in a tizzy. I gave Harper a confused look but she just smiled really wide and seemed to be waiting for something.
The doors opened and the room fell silent. Three young men stepped inside. Three gorgeous shifters. And they made a beeline for us.
Harper got down on a knee and bowed her head when they were in front of us. "Your highness," she said.
"Rise," the one in the middle murmured.
Harper rose, beamed wide and immediately threw her hands around the male on the left. He caught her and lifted her up, twirling her around and around for so long, it made me dizzy.
I looked over at the two males and saw them watching the couple with fond smiles. Then the one on the right looked at me and gave me a deep bow.
Uh, what?
The middle one, the most handsome of the three, the one who told Harper to get up, placed his hand on the other one's shoulder and he straightened. Then he spoke.
"Hello, I am Michail Turgenev. May I present His Royal Highness Alexei Volkov, Crown Prince of the Royal Family of Russia."
His Royal Highness stepped over to me and I resisted the urge to curtsy. I mean, this was the first time I was meeting royalty. I didn't exactly know the social protocol.
"Micha, as rigid as ever, I see," I heard Harper tease. To me, she said, "As Micha said, this is Prince Alexei. But he doesn't like to be called by his royal station. This one's Dimitri Novokov. But feel free to call him 'Dima,' we all do."
I gaped for a moment then I pulled her aside. "Excuse me for a moment, Your Majesty," I held a finger up to the prince.
"You know them?" I whisper-yelled at Harper. "How come you didn't tell me you were on nickname basis with royalty?"
"Pfft," she waved my words away. "Micha and Dima aren't royalty. Well, they are, but they're very far in line from the throne. And Alexei has no nickname."
"That is not the point! How come you never told me about them?" I was hurt by the fact that my best friend kept something this important from me. "Is this why you were granted emancipation and entrance to this pack?"
Harper took my hand. "Yes, this is why. I'm sorry for not telling you. I just don't like telling people that I have an in with one of the Royal shifter families. I want people to like me as who I am and not because I have friends in high places."
I was pacified by that. I got it. I wouldn't want someone to be friends with me just because of who I was friends with either.
"Do you know why they're here?"
"We're here to finish up our senior year, of course," I heard a deep voice say from behind us. "You know, even if we didn't have heightened hearing, we could still hear everything you were saying. Might as well include us in the conversation."
I turned around and faced Prince Alexei. "I'm sorry, Your Highness, I didn't mean to be rude."
"It's just Alexei. And it's fine. Now, shall we eat? We didn't eat breakfast this morning because someone woke up late," he said, casting a sideways glance towards Dima.
He held up his hands and laughed. "Hey, it wasn't my fault we were late coming in last night. Who said he needed to run until the sun was almost up?"
Alexei gave a smirk and let us lead them to the lunch line. It was almost surreal, watching a Crown Prince do something as normal as fall in line for food. I was sandwiched between him and Harper and he kept on asking me about the food selection. We chose to just get the meat dish and some veggies and went to our seats where I sat between Alexei and Micha, while Dima and Harper sat across from us.
While we were eating, I felt butterflies in my stomach and knew that Adam was getting closer to where I was. Just as I finished off my food, Adam and Tawny reached our table and introduced themselves to the three males with us.
"We can show you around if you wish, I'm sure we'll be better company than two latent wolves," Tawny said. "And Alexei, it would be really cool if we partner up on that project for English. I could help you with English history, if you need it," she added in a syrupy voice.
Alexei continued eating his meal as if Tawny and Adam weren't there. He even took the few vegetables from my plate, which I found strangely intimate. When it seemed that Tawny wasn't going to stop talking, it was Micha who stood. "First, you will not call His Royal Highness by his name unless you are given leave to do so. Second, Prince Alexei has studied in the best schools in London and as such, will not require your assistance. Lastly, what you say about our company says more about you than it does them. Leave. We have no inclination to hear more of your worthless chatter." My jaw dropped. Micha then turned to Adam.
"Future Alpha Adam, as is custom, Prince Alexei will attend to your father in one month's time. He will have to acclimate to your territory and commune with the land before the Alpha gives the Crown his due. He is not to be disturbed during this period with any invitations or requests for meetings. This has all been communicated by the Palace to your father as a Royal Order. Any violation of it will garner the appropriate punishment. This will be your first and only warning. Should you need urgent clarifications, you may address them to me or to Dimitri."
He sat back down and ignored Adam, who looked pale, and Tawny, who was beet red.
When they left, I leaned closer to Micha, smiled, and whispered, "You so rock, Michail Turgenev."