Ariel's POV
I was walking down the center between the pack and my parents and Julie. I wanted this to be my last thing I did as a human would; I was in a beautiful white dress. In fact it was the dress my mother was married in and I couldn’t ask for a better dress. My parents looked somewhat sad, but I could understand why they did. I was getting married in short notice and to guy who was an addict. They will never truly understand why I chose this, and that is because I am werewolf and not a human. No matter whom I marry to or where I go or what life I chose to life, they will always be my parents. They raised me from when I was a baby and I will be forever in their debt. Maybe in a few years they will understand, but as of today all they see is me walking down a path that leads nowhere.
Eli was also dressed in a nice tuxedo and he grabbed my hand as I got to front. He gently kissed the back of my hand, “Are you ready, my dear?” He asked, whispering.
“Yes.”
We turned to face the head counsel wolf that was in charge of wedding mates chosen to be together by Nature. In unison Eli and I morphed in wolves and bowed before the head wolf.
“My brothers, my sisters, we have gathered on this day to witness the joining of these two mates.” The head wolf cried out to the members of the pack. It was too bad that my parents and Julie didn’t understand.
“If there is any objections to this marriage, speak now or forever hold your peace.” The wolf called out. There was no wolf that cried out in objection. “You may begin the ritual.”
“By circling around each other and then touch noses, we ask that Nature to finish the bond that she has begun at our births.” Eli remarked, “Are you ready, Ariel?”
I nodded, “Yes, Eli, I am ready.”
He nodded and we circled around each other as the pack watched intently. Eli looked deeply into my eyes; I never have seen such an expression when I returned the love-struck gaze. We reached out for each other and our noses gently touched.
“My brothers, my sisters, from this day forward, we now have our true Alpha female to help guide and lead us. Standing tall by each other’s side, there will be no need for fear.” The wolf cried out, “Our Alpha and our Alpha female will guide us into a brighter future, and now they must complete the bond on their own. Leave them until the dawn of a new day, and where we will look for a new beginning.”
I turned to Eli for guidance, “Eli, I thought that we completed our bond. What else must we do?”
"We must mate in order to complete the marriage ceremony.”
I nodded. We have both waited such a long time for us to be together. It feels so surreal to finally have Eli. I am so relieved that it’s finally over. We can finally begin our life together. We turned back into humans and we approached my parents. They will not be happy to hear that Eli and I are going to leave to go mate.
“I am happy for you!” Julie exclaimed, as we hugged.
My father didn’t have words to say, but he did manage to shake Eli’s hand. My mother and I hugged, “Mother, father, Eli and I must take our leave.” I said.
“Go where?”
“To finish the bonding process.” Eli answered for me.
Their eyes grew wide, they knew what was next. “I swear on my life, you hurt her I will kill you.” My father threatened.
“I will never hurt her.” Eli promised, “I could never hurt her as I done so before, I would take my own life.”
“Father, we are going now.” I remarked, as I pulled Eli away. I waved at them and then we walked into the house. Eli closed the door and I turned to face him, “Eli, please, don’t worry about what my father said to you.”
“It is quite alright, my dear, I know in my heart that I could never hurt you again.” His voice was soft like velvet. I wrapped my arms around him and held him tightly as I could. His fingers cupped my chin and tilted my head up so our eyes could meet.
“Eli.” I whispered.
“Would you like for our bond to be complete once again?” He asked.
“Yes, my Eli, I want nothing to ever come between us again.” I murmured, as I buried my face into his chest. Tears were threating to overpower me. His hand stroked my hair as his other hand held me close.
“Ariel, my dear, if you are uncomfortable with it being planned, we can wait, it’s no problem. I don’t mind, I have waited this long, I don’t mind waiting for you.” Eli asked.
“No, no, it’s not that, Eli.” I said, quickly, “It’s just what if something happens…”
“Please, Ariel, don’t think like that, we will be together forever.”
I got on my tip toes and pressed our lips together. A wave of warmth crashed into me and shook throughout my whole body. I moaned in ecstasy as the ocean echoed in my mind. He held me close and kissed my lips with such force that I was brought to the world without care. I looked around me and I saw bright blue skies with fluffy white clouds. Seagulls cried overhead as the ocean waves crashed into the shoreline. Eli was laying the soft white sand next to me. He kissed my lips and pressed his hard frame against my body.
“I’ve been waiting what feels like a lifetime to be with you.” He whispered, in my ear.
“You don’t have to wait anymore. I will always belong to you, my Alpha mate.”
Our lips pressed together and he slid on top of me. He kissed me as I heard the ocean crash onto the shore. The sunlight and Eli’s body warmed me. Bliss clouded my head and I was brought to once again…paradise.
I awoke in Eli’s room with Eli naked next to me. I gazed upon him and I looked at his eyes, “Good morning, my dear.”
“So our bond…is complete then?” I asked, with my voice soft.
“Yes, my dear.” He smiled, “Are you having second thoughts?”
“No, Eli, I just wanted us to be together forever.” I smiled, as I lay on his bare chest.
“Nothing would make me happier than for us to be together forever.” He smiled back, “My dear, are you ready to start the day as true Alpha female of our pack?”
“Yes, I have already learned a lot of things as being Alpha when I was helping Xavier. I know it wasn’t much but I helped with what I could do.” I answered, “There’s not a doubt in my mind that I can do this.”
We slid out of bed and we got dressed. We walked downstairs and with Eli by my side I knew that I could face anything. We walked outside and onto the porch, where our pack was waiting for us. It was like how I thought it was going to be. I was finally where I belonged. I had my loving mate, my grandfather of my biological mother, my close friend, Xavier, and I had a family. I never knew what Eli was talking about all that time ago when he told me a pack was more than his pack, and in this moment I understood what he meant.
Weeks pass and everything was going just like it should be. Eli was in charge of our pack once again, and I helped him every step of the way. Xavier took care of Ria, most of the time. I helped Xavier with Ria as much as he let me. Jewel took quite a shine to me and she was always by my side. No matter where I turned she was right there, smiling. She never really said anything but her little hand was gripping my jeans letting me know she was there. Eli loved how his babies loved me so dearly, and I couldn’t help but to love them back.
Julie and my parents were granted access to the pack any time they see fit. My parents came out to see me every couple of weeks and on days they couldn’t see me, I went out to see them. Julie came over almost every day. There was no way she wanted to stay at home with her step-father and bed ridden mother. There was some nights were she even stayed the night, of course her father wasn’t too pleased but I had my mother call him and deal with it. Julie stayed for the most part next to me. She was afraid if she wandered too far that my pack members would try to eat her, but they all remember the day where she had saved Eli’s life from the poisoned tipped arrow that was shot into his chest. I didn’t see any reason why they would hurt her, but she was a human nonetheless and they were not allowed to be here. My parents didn’t like coming out to the pack for the same reason why Julie never wandered away from my site. Also I had noticed that a couple males of the pack members watch Julie from afar. They never approached her, but their eyes were always watching.
I took a minute to look around and notice my new life. Xavier was on the floor playing with Ria, Julie was sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of tea, Eli was sitting at his desk working on things for the pack, and looked down to my side. Jewel was smiling up at me and her little fingers gripped my index finger. I smiled down at her. My life was going right and I still couldn’t believe that this was all happening. I couldn’t ask for a more perfect life. Nature has a plan for all of us and I knew that Her masterful plan for Eli and I was over. I was going to be with Eli now and there was nothing that could come between us.
Julian and Garth barged into Eli’s house without even a knock. Garth looked pissed and he was out for blood. I wanted to burst into tears in that moment, because I knew that I spoke too soon. Garth stormed up to me, “Where is Eli?”
“You will address him as “Alpha”, you will not be treated specially since you used to be one.” I snarled.
“Ariel, it is quite alright.” Eli smiled, as he walked up to us, “Hello father, and Garth, what brings you to my home unannounced?”
“I am taking my pack, I am taking Ria, and I am leaving your shitty pack.” Garth threated.
Eli burst into laughter, “You are a silly old man. You don’t have that kind of power.”
“Oh, I don’t?” He asked, as he held out a piece of paper. Eli’s eyes grew instantly wide with fear, “I have your release paper from the Rehab facility we were attending at.”
“How did you get that?” Eli growled.
“Once you left in such a hurry, I knew something had to be up and it wasn’t that hard to figure it out, Julian helped me put the pieces of the puzzle together.” Garth smiled, “Now the paper says you have been released but you are not truly clean, are you Alpha? It is impossible for a werewolf to become free of an addiction.”
Eli and I were shocked. I was frozen, what was going to happen now? “Why are you doing this?”
“You have been a pain in my ass for quite some time now, Eli. I want my granddaughter and my pack.”
“No, there is no your pack, or my pack or my mate’s pack, we are one pack. If you take “your” pack, you can’t take them without taking my pack.” Eli explained.
“What will you think if our counsel finds out about your addiction? They will see you as unfit to rule your pack. Julian will take your place as Alpha and you will lose full custody of Ria.” Garth remarked, “You give her to me and my pack and you will never hear from me again.”
“Ria is my daughter. You cannot take her away from me.”
“Ria is the daughter of Zane and Gloria. Gloria is my daughter and I am Ria’s true guardian.”
“No, after Gloria’s death, Zane gave me full guardianship of Ria. I have a piece of paper of the witnesses who have heard Zane tell me that I am Ria’s father.” Eli explained, “In the werewolf system, I have adopted Ria and I am her true guardian. I’ll say it again, you cannot take her away from me. I figured you would try to pull something like this, Garth, you will never be granted guardianship of her because the next one in line is my mate. If my mate doesn’t accept the responsibility, then Xavier will and if Xavier cannot then Julie will and if she cannot then Ria goes to my mate’s parents. I have it in documentations and if you want the proof then I suggest you go to the system and look it up.”
“Your mate will leave you as soon as you relapse, Xavier is in school, and Julie has an abusive parent slash bed ridden mother. They will never be granted guardianship of her, and as for your mate’s parents go, they don’t like you. They will not accept the responsibility of her and Ria will belong in my care.” Garth argued, “Don’t try to fight me, boy, you will lose everything in a blink of an eye.”
Eli was panicking now, he was trying so hard to keep from losing Ria. “Garth, do you really think that I am going somewhere?”
“Why, yes you are.” He smiled, “You are going to crawl back to human life that you have lived for eighteen years. This is too much compared to your domestic lifestyle. Eli hasn’t told you yet, has he?”
“Tell me what?” I asked, as I turned to Eli.
“Leave my mate out of this!” Eli snarled.
“But you knew didn’t you?” Garth asked, “You knew and you made her believe otherwise. Ariel, you will never be truly happy with Eli and your new life here. Your heart longs to be in the human world.”
“You don’t know me!” I exclaimed, “You don’t know what I want. I want to be with Eli!”
“You have a couple of weeks to get the paperwork ready for me to sign, if you don’t I am taking your ass to court and I am getting my granddaughter back.” Garth warned, “You will lose everything that you hold dear to you. You will lose your mate, your daughter, you title, and your birth right to rule this pack. Is that what you really want?”
Eli’s fangs flashed at Garth, “No.”
“Have a good day.” Garth smiled, as Julian and him left our house.
“How can he do this to me?” Eli snarled, “He can’t take her away.”
Julie and Xavier came up to us, “I am so sorry.” Julie whispered.
“Is he right?” I asked.
“Yes, it will be highly unlikely for the system to leave her with Xavier since he is still in school. They won’t place her with Julie because of her home life situation and to add to that she is human. The only one capable of raising Ria would be your parents, my dear.” Eli explained, “But they won’t get guardianship of her either. Garth is going to take her away from me. I knew this day would come instead of overthrowing me with power and they waited for my moment of weakness to shine. Goddamn it, I should have known.”
“It’s not your fault, Eli.” I whispered.
“I need some time to think. I am going to my study and I do not want to be disturbed for any reason unless someone is dying. I have to think of a way to stop that from happening.” Eli remarked, as he stormed into his study and slammed the door shut.
“Do you think that he will…you know…” Julie began.
“No, he just needs time to think that’s all.” I replied, “He has to think of a way to keep her out of Garth’s hands.”
“What if Garth proves to be unfit to be her guardian?”
“Garth would prove to more fit than Eli so it wouldn’t matter.”
Hours past and Julie took off for home. Xavier went to bed taking Ria with him. If he wasn’t in school he could easily gain guardianship of her. He is the one that practically raising her. He feeds her, plays with her, changes her diaper, and her crib is even in his room. If there was some way to prove that he could do it even with school, the system would at least think about it.
I sat at the kitchen table by myself and looked at the clock. It was going on 10 o’clock and he was still in there. I heard a knock on the door, and I answered it. Julian was standing there, and my anger raged.
“What the fuck do you want?”
“I wanted to make sure that Eli and you are doing alright.”
“No, you don’t. You don’t care about anyone but yourself!” Tears were threatening to overpower me and I felt helpless, “Go away.”
“I must to speak to my son.”
“He is busy.”
“Maybe busy getting high, but not that busy.”
“Go to Hell!”
He pushed open the door and let himself in, “Go get him and you will see yourself.”
I walked over to the study door and knocked on it, “Eli, it’s me your mate, your father would like to speak to you.”
There was no response.
“Eli, please talk to me.”
Again he didn’t say anything, so I opened the door. My heart pounded in my chest, it felt like it was going to burst into million pieces. I nearly froze when I saw Eli lying on the floor. His body was twisted and his face was in the carpet. I looked around and saw an open bottle of pills scattered on the floor. I ran over to him and burst into a bitter sob. I fell to my knees and pulled his limp, heavy body into my arms, “Eli, please, wake up. What’s wrong with you? Eli! ELI!” I looked to my side to see Julian sitting next to me, “Julian, what’s wrong with him? He’s not dead is he?”
“No, Ariel, he’s just on a little trip right now, you’ll have to wait until he gets back.” Julian remarked.