-Adam's POV-
"Bite me."
My eyes widened and I wished I could see his face. He wanted me to mark him? I had to hold my wolf back, he was more than eager to mark our mate, but I had to be sure.
"Kaden, do you understand what you're asking me to do?" I bit out through gritted teeth; my wolf was fighting me now and I forced him back with what little strength I had left.
The full moon.
It was in a couple of days, and I could already feel its effects creeping up on me, it was actually painful at this point to be away from my mate, and having to resist showing any affection in public was both a blessing and a curse.
How could I resist my mate when he was offering himself up to me? It would make us both stronger, we would be able to power through and put an end to this now.
Everyone was injured, it didn't look good on our end, and I was seconds away from calling in reinforcements from my pack.
This...thing-I'd never seen anything like it before and based on the others reactions; neither had they.
I didn't know who this Amelia person was, but she was clearly trouble for my mate and his people, that bothered me and when Kaden gave me the offer to walk away, I was almost insulted. I had to remind myself that he was simply trying to protect me, he didn't want to willingly drag me and my pack into his mess, but as he said before; we were in this together.
"I can call for back-up, my pack can get here pretty quickly, some are even at the school," I offered. The last thing I wanted was for Kaden to accept the mark just because he thought he had no other choice; I would never make him do that.
"I'm sorry, Adam. I know you probably wanted to claim me on your own terms, and I'm taking that away from you. I don't want to be the reason anymore of your pack gets hurt, but I'm not going to make you do this if you're not ready. I'll leave the decision up to you but know that I'm more than ready to bare your mark. We don't have a lot of time, and I hate that we're in this position right now. We need to make a decision...but Adam...I give you my full permission and consent to mark me."
My hand was still pressed tightly against the wound on his side, while my other hand slipped around his front. My chest pressed flushed up against his back, and my hand on his front rose higher until it was resting over his heart.
His heart beat loud in my ears, and every other sound was quickly drowned out by the noise, my attention solely on my mate. My nose pressed into the side of his neck, and I felt him shiver against me, pulling a possessive growl from my throat.
Mine.
"Oh, my sweet, loveable mate. I've been wanting to claim you since the second you bumped into me in that hallway. If you want romantic, I can always bite you again, but you taking my mark to protect me, our friends, to protect everyone, it feels wrong, but it's a huge fucking turn-on. You're mine, Kaden, and nobody is going to take you from me." I whispered the words into his neck, but I knew he could hear me.
I held him tighter against me, placing a kiss over the sensitive area on his neck. My eyes were bright red at this point and when my wolf pushed through this time, I didn't stop him.
My eyes flickered briefly to Adrian, he was already looking at us, evidently aware of what was about to happen. His eyes met his Keepers briefly before he let Cameron take over in protecting both boys. He stepped towards us, and I returned my attention back to my mate, his breathing was heavy, his head titled slightly to give me access to his sweet, sweet neck.
"Do it," he whispered.
I so wished I could see his face.
"Mine," I growled, sinking my teeth deep into my mate's neck. Kaden hissed through his teeth, his head thrown back against my shoulder, as my fangs sank into the soft flesh between his neck and his shoulder.
I tasted his blood in my mouth, groaning in pleasure against his neck. Fuck...his taste was intoxicating, and the way his body shivered against mine had me wanting to stay here forever.
"Adam..." My name whispered past his lips, and I wished it were possible for me to hold him closer, to become one with him. It was then I knew, I would never be able to get enough of my mate.
Too little time had past before I was finally retracting my fangs from his neck, I licked the wound closed and placed a gentle kiss to the tender spot where my mark now lay.
A proud and possessive feeling overwhelmed my senses, and I wanted nothing more than to take him away from here and make him mine completely.
Kaden slumped back against my body, his grip weakening on the arm of the monster, and in a split second, Adrian was there, taking the attacks of the monster and keeping its wailing arms away from us.
"Angel?" I called softly. "Are you okay?" I never let go, just held him tighter, waiting for the shock of my bite to wear off his body.
"Let's end this."
-Kaden's POV-
His teeth sank into my neck, the heat immediately spreading everywhere throughout my body, it burnt and stung, pulling a hiss from my lips as my eyes clenched shut.
Everything around me disappeared and suddenly it was just the two of us, his hands held me tighter, my back pressed up against his bare chest, and I forgot about the situation we were currently in, I forgot about everything.
It was painful at first, grounding me on the spot, yet I'd never craved pain so much as I did in that moment, and then it began to fade. I felt weightless, and the heavy feeling in my chest-that I had become all too familiar with-dissipated.
I felt his soul connecting with mine in a way that was unfamiliar, it wasn't me bounding my soul with his, but rather, his wolf becoming one with myself.
And then came the pleasure, so intense I wanted to pull him closer but from the angle we were at, it wasn't possible.
"Adam..." I whispered, hoping to get my unspoken message across. I felt so weak, yet so powerful, so needy, yet so satisfied.
Adam held me so close and so tenderly, and in that moment, I felt so damn important to him. It was then that I realised just how much I needed this man, how incomplete my life would be without my keeper. And so, I vowed to cherish and love my keeper for eternity.
His bite disappeared all too quickly and I felt the air rush back to my lungs, my hands lost their grip on the enemy and then Adrian was there, protecting us from the beast's oncoming attacks, and my body slumped fully against my keeper.
I felt so different and had no time to let everything sink in, it was something that would have to happen later, for now we had a fight to win. I didn't want to leave the comfort of Adam's arms, and now he had marked me, it just made it even harder.
"Angel? Are you okay?" His comforting voice wooed me, I didn't want to leave his side.
"Let's end this." My voice sounded hoarse, even to my own ears. I forced myself to stand up on my own. I...we can do this.
My eyes alit with upgraded power, golden swirls of Galtolgic power encircled my body and my presence and power were made known.
I thanked the gods we were in a secluded area and the shield protecting us from outsiders stayed strong.
My eyes locked with Adam's as I turned to face him.
"Are you okay to fight?" I asked, looking towards where his wounds had been, but all that remained was the blood, no signs of any cuts or damage.
"Yes, I'm okay. Let's do this." He smiled, his eyes sparkling in a way that drew me in, daring me to succumb to him.
I placed a chaste kiss to his cheek, before taking the heat from Adrian. I rushed in front of him, blocking the oncoming attack with my blade. My sword swung through the air with such force, you could hear the air being forced to move around it.
My blade cut through the monster's arm, emitting an ear-piercing screech from the beast. I was faster now, stronger, and more aware of everything going on around me, especially Adam. I felt him move, shifting once again into his wolf form and attacking the monster from the back.
Adam stood strong and proud, his eyes glowing bright red as his teeth tore at the flesh of the enemy. My blade collided several times with whatever it could reach, and still I only felt myself growing stronger.
Adrenaline was pulsing through my blood, and I felt like I could take on the world, with just my keeper by my side.
I could almost sense the monsters panic the moment my blade hit with the portal. It turned quickly, throwing its arms in all directions in an attempt to stop me, but I was too fast now. I dodged the oncoming attacks easily, weaving my way through the air, my blade sank deep into the weak point on the portal, draining the power out of it and forcing it to close.
The monster growled deep and loud, shaking the ground around us, trying in its desperate attempts to cause as much damage as it could with its remaining time, but it was too late.
I held the blade still, blocking off its attacks and refusing to be moved.
"It's over," I said in Ceixean-my home language-my voice was dominating and authoritative. I didn't know if the thing would be able to understand me, but I didn't care.
The portal closed, pulling the beast back through to the other side but not without a fight, it clawed at the sides, trying to pull itself back through, but inevitably it was pulled through by force and I felt myself release a sigh of relief once the portal had fully closed.
I pulled my blade from the ground, my eyes fading back to their normal colour as I hid my true form and took in the devastation around me.
Within seconds I had guards transporting the injured back through to Galtolga, several doctors got to work trying to heal the wounds of the fallen, and I quickly rushed over to my friends.
"Gabriel and Zach, take Adrian and Cameron through to Keiron, have him check them over thoroughly. Adam, how is your pack holding up?"
"They're okay, luckily, we heal pretty quickly. I would still like to get them checked over though."
I opened a portal near us that would lead directly to Keiron's office, with the amount of people we have wounded, the other doctors would be treating the injured as we speak. Keiron was my own personal doctor so I knew I would be able to trust him with this.
"Come with us, Keiron will see to us and your pack. Where is Tom?"
"Here." Tom stepped out of the trees with a frown on his face. "I hate that I'm not allowed to fight, having to stand back and watch is a torture of its own."
"You know we have to protect you, Tom. Your power is too great to lose." Adam smiled kindly.
"Of course, I understand that Alpha, but it doesn't mean I have to be happy about it."
"Can you help us getting your pack through?" I asked and he eagerly agreed, probably grateful that he could be of some help now, at least.
Adam didn't argue with my decision of bringing his pack to Galtolga with us and for that I was grateful. It was my fault they were in this mess in the first place, this was the least I could do.
We all piled through the portal into Keiron's private office, who was already rushing to treat my friends.
"Hello again, Sir." Keiron greeted Adam in kind, his hands moving quickly as he treated Adrian's wounds.
"Hello, Keiron. Thank you for your help, it is greatly appreciated." Adam was less thrown off being addressed as sir this time around, and if my friends weren't hurt it would have brought a smile to my face.
"I'm not sure if you would want another doctor to help so we can treat everybody sooner, sir." Keiron moved onto Luke for a moment, addressing his wounds and applying a healing balm.
"That is quite alright. I am sorry to put you under such pressure, but this may be for the best for now." I knew he would understand, so I kept it at that.
Michael walked in and stood by Adam's side, his eyes wide in amazement and surprise. He was walking on his own and didn't look too bad. Overall, the damage of my friends was minimal, which helped me to relax a little.
I stepped out of the room for a moment, towards the open portal in the connected hallway, it was private, so it wasn't a problem.
Tom was just stepping through and smiled when he saw me.
"That's everyone, how are you doing?"
"I am okay, thank you. I assume you do not need to be treated but you are welcome to stay with your pack if you would like."
"Thank you, but I was referring to the mark," he smiled.
My hand unconsciously rose to my neck, my fingers brushing tenderly over Adam's mark, before I forced my hand back down and gave him a small smile.
"I definitely feel different, but I do not think it has fully sunk into my mind yet," I confessed.
"That is understandable. We should go help our friends." Tom smiled sincerely and went to step past me, before Keiron bustled through the door and stopped dead in his tracks when his eyes locked onto Tom.
Tom's eyes widened as Keiron's mouth opened and closed a few times. I knew I should leave at that moment but for some reason, I just couldn't.
"Hi..." Keiron finally managed to say, taking a slow, hesitant step towards the Elder.
"Hello." Tom flashed Keiron a charming smile, taking a more confident step towards the doctor.
"I was just-I need bandages." Keiron gestured to his office next door, unsure what to do as his eyes flickered to me briefly.
"I am so sorry to do this, but we do need you right now, Keiron. I promise you will have time to talk later." I felt bad but our friends were still in need of treatment, talk about shitty timing.
"I really appreciate you looking out for my friends, don't worry cutie, we can chat later." Tom winked, watching in amusement as Keiron flushed and quickly excused himself to get more bandages.
"Congratulation." I smirked. "Keiron is a good guy." One of the best.
I stepped back into the treatment room, moving to stand beside Adam, who leant back against the far wall, watching over everyone.
"How are you doing?" I asked him, taking a washcloth from the sink beside him and dunking it into the clean, warm water.
"I'm okay, worried about you." He smiled gently.
Keiron rushed back into the room looking flustered and got back to treating our friends.
"About me?" I asked. I moved the cloth to his stomach and began cleaning off the blood that was slowly drying there.
"You don't have to do that, Angel. You're still injured." He frowned, but didn't stop me.
"I'm not sure if it's the lingering adrenaline or the bite, but I can't feel my wounds." I hadn't felt them since he marked me, but I didn't have time to check.
"Sir, are you injured?" Keiron asked.
I was about to tell him I was fine, but Adam spoke before I could. "He was hit on his right side and left outer thigh." I was surprised he knew that and didn't hide it well.
"Come take a seat, sir." Keiron led me to a seat and asked me to remove my shirt and reveal the wound on my leg. I managed to expose the wound without stripping down to my boxers, to which both me and Adam were grateful for.
The wound on my thigh wasn't too deep and after a helpful application of healing balm, I was able to cover my thigh back up, so now I just sat shirtless with the wound on my side. It didn't seem as bad as before and it didn't hurt, but Keiron spent extra time on the wound, and wrapped it tightly after cleaning up the blood and applying the healing balm.
"You should take advantage of your keeper's power this time, the more time you spend around him, the faster you will heal," he told me-though hesitantly-so the others wouldn't hear.
I smiled gratefully and thanked him, and he returned to checking in on the others again, after assuring Adam didn't have any injuries.
"I should probably get my pack out of here before they start healing miraculously." Adam's voice pierced through my head, and I forced myself not to react so obviously, but I still stared at him with wide eyes, and a shiver wracked through my body when I saw him smirk.
"So, we share a mind-link now? Can I talk to the others?" It was sad just how little I knew about being mated to a werewolf.
"Just me, I've never known a situation where you can link with others before." He looked confused, yet amused, giving me his full attention. God, I loved the way he looked at me. Like I was the only person in the room, like I was the most precious thing he had ever seen, it was damn right exciting.
"When I claim you as my Keeper, you will be announced the King of Galtolga alongside me, you would need a way to communicate safely with your people, therefor you will be able to connect with my people and create mind-links with whoever you wish," I explained, but quickly assumed I wouldn't have the same advantage with his pack.
"That's...really cool actually. We're gonna be quite busy, Angel." He was right about that, running a pack and a kingdom, it was sure going to be interesting.