Cold winds were flowing from the south followed by the dark greyish clouds holding the storm. The lightning and the thunder were yet to snatch the attention.
Because for the moment, from the forests to the mountains, from the old bricked houses to the cold wet sand, from tribal feathery looks to the pointy ears, from the tone of bagpipes to the hoots of the drunken Lycans—all the energy was being given to glorify the enchanting dancers.
True how their pack was called Mystic Warriors. Sending their widows and unmated females to lure the beasts was a brave tradition to follow. The least of whatever I had observed from those three unforgettable days and nights of Mating ceremony, I knew Mystics weren't letting this happen for just entertainment.
There was something creepy going on for real. Could they be doing this to contribute in taking down the border with all the other five packs? Or they simply wanted access in Lycans live and use it for some advantage? Eventually, betraying the other five packs? Or strangely, they believed in that sick story of that Mystic witch and the Lycan? After all, Keev existed. Didn't he?
Because of all these possibilities, Chelsea's wish for me to pass a message to one of the dancing female had started to gain weight. I could now somehow expect the females to cooperate with me secretly rather than being surprised or shocked.
Who knew if Alvena, the Mystic Alpha's daughter, had tried some tricks in her early days here? It was hard to believe that being a wolf, much superior to me by having knowledge of this world and mysticism, would give up working for her old pack just like that. Or simply, was it her loyalty and love for her mate and his pack?
The mate who couldn't keep his hands off one of the dancers he was having eyes on from the beginning. Poor girl in that light yellow blouse and long skirt looked pretty and too young to be a widow. By her very gaze, I could observe the discomfort. Anton was a powerful and an aggresive Lycan. He was too mean to know that his wife had disappeared to hide her pain from everyone.
Seated beside Karam on this big wooden chair, I kept moving my eyes around tiredly. On our left, Salome and Natasha were being an attentive and appreciative audience. Far from them were Noira and Alma with their girl groups. The Severans were enjoying the drinks and the dances. It felt good to see them distracting themselves from the fact of never being able to meet their mates. After all, that wasn't the only definition of their lives.
I had caught many Lycan males eyeing Noira secretly. She had that charming aura. While Alma was more interested in gossiping, Emily was helping around the women who were serving her parents the drinks. I was sure if Reveka was watching over the pups, Stella was probably out to meet Janine secretly. Because Victor and his father called Beta Barald were here only. Only the younger brother, Scott hadn't arrived.
It was chaos all around me though.
The madness was blaring out in the region. The bonfire was raging with the party spirit. It was crazy how without any occasion, the Lycans just wanted to dance and have fun. Even though, the presence of mystic dancers was what that made them euphoric.
My hand casually went up to rub my cleavage slightly from over the red dress. The braided hairstyle was causing a light headache while my body was getting warmer every second from the close proximity with so-called mate of mine.
He was being careful, tonight. Much to my surprise, he didn't drink the wine after a glass. He wasn't eyeing around the females and was appreciating the talent.
It wasn't that I was asking for it, but he had been unable to keep his hands off my waist and back. Honestly, for some unknown reason that I wanted to conclude desperately, his decent touch was keeping my burning heart calm.
Lysar and Oskar were swaying to the music and being wild. It was Adam who was creeping me out with his calm and exact gazes towards one particular tall girl in the peach dress. She was the one who was dancing with much prideful aura. All her jewellery was clanking and making her look ethereal.
Karam sighed and managed to distract himself by turning his head eventually to observe my tired yet calculating eyes. He would smile and nuzzle his nose with my cheek in between the glances, to make my heart flutter hard. After which, he would continue looking around to amuse himself.
It was either his jacket or the wild atmosphere around me, I was sweating. My body was betraying me by being tired and lazy only to be stayed in Karam's arms. The cold wind was actually soothing me instead of shivering my old human body. If it had been any other party, I would have definitely minded Karam's cheesy acts. But tonight was different.
We had suffered dramatic issues, fought with each other, avoided each other. Now, after few goofy promises, he was cooperating and I wasn't getting irritated for a first.
Infact, the more he acted like a mate, the more it seemed comforting. Seeing all those drunken men with long beards and wild howls, I was slightly grateful that he was the Lycan I was chosen for.
A loud snarling voice caught my attention. I looked straight at Lysar taking out his shirt and letting his friends pour the wine on him. The sweat had already glistened his skin and hair wet. But now, he was being extra with all the bad goofy faces and sensual dances.
"What the hell is going on with your brother?" I mumbled, staring at the bachelors losing their minds and forgetting that their world had a mate concept.
"Walking on his brother's footsteps," Karam muttered through clenched teeth, leaving breathes fanning my neck, making me blink softly. Suddenly, all the issues were forgotten and I was stuck in a trance of hearing that manly deep voice.
Yeah. That was the kind of magic going around tonight. The rebel in me who would never procastinate over doing the right and necessary, was getting defeated by the awakened virgin flirt in me.
Karam knew that my body was responding and he was very much enjoying it. The small angry smirk on his face when I just turned my head to give him a quick stern glance, said it all. Pushing a strand behind my ear, he observed my face keenly with a small smile curving his blushed lips.
Because he knew what I was going to say. "He is doing it knowingly."
Karam's eyes stayed on mine with a blank expression covering his face. It looked like he wanted to say more. But he skipped those words for another day's conversation.
"You look like you are fighting the sleep." He said, making me shake my head.
I cupped his hand on my cheek, observing his barely trimmed beard and silky waves of hair falling on his forehead. His long lashes would make me count everytime he blinked.
"Sleep isn't the only thing I am fighting, Karam." I mumbled while glancing towards the wilderness happening around us.
He just watched me intently. It was too much for my heart to take. I was about to look away awkwardly.
Before coming here, we both had talked about him controlling his urge to take a next step. While I, was here fighting to not give in to the kiss his intense gaze was inviting me to.
Taking a long breath, he opened his mouth. "Tell me, my mate. I am here to fight anything for you," he said, giving me a desperate and sincere look.
I blinked tiredly and looked away. Distracted by the dancers, I just put my head on his chest and tried to relax.
He rubbed my shoulder and back while looking back at the front.
I was staring into the distance, not at the dancers, thinking about the task I was supposed to perform tonight. I was only trying to plan a way to make it happen when all of a sudden the music stopped.
Two loud spray of fire were drawn in the front by two males who were part of the music team.
The drums were stopped, the piping was shut. The crowd had gotten silenced too, it was surprising. My head raised a little to observe the interested faces of the Lycans all around. They all were excited for what was coming.
Natasha had straightened her back while all men looked like they were getting a finale performance. I turned my head just as the first loud drum beat boomed around the area.
Karam's hand gripped my waist while his lips moved towards the back of my right ear to leave faint hot breaths.
The thunder rang across the sky at the distance. Echoed along with the loud speed of the winds.
The wooden sticks too made noise while burning in the bonfire.
All the dancers had bowed ahead of it in an angle, that only the silhouettes were visible.
The dancers walked slowly in a curve to circle around the four main dancers. My heart thumped with a thrill when the drum was beaten loudly again.
My lips parted when the it happened for the third time and all the dancers fell down. Another beat, they all did thrusts in the air slowly. Another beat, two females lit the torches. The chain began as they lit the next females' torch in the circle while the four mystics in the middle did body rolls sensually.
Picking up sand in their fists, they threw it in the air and the loud drumming began. The Echoes of their light singing spread all around. The bagpipers accompanied the sensual ballad kind melody.
My jaws dropped at seeing unique slow and fast steps. They looked powerful and intimidating with those kohl eyes peeking form under the cloth masks.
And all of a sudden, the lightening struck right above us in the sky.
Just when I looked down from the dark thundering sky, my heart reached my throat.
The dancers threw away the cloths covering half of their faces here and there. The females of the circle twirled and danced like fairies. The Lycan audience had moved back from the dancing floor, to watch the peformance.
The bachelors turned starstruck by the enchantingly beautiful faces.
But the soul left my body when I saw the two familiar faces among the four main dancers in the middle.
I gasped in disbelief and shock. Goosebumps risen so fast and strongly, I shuddered visibly. Blankness appeared and disappeared as I tried to calculate if what I was seeing was the truth.
But then, Keira picked up a fist full of sand and walked right towards the section of the crowd where Karam and I were sitting. The light yellow blouse and skirt suited her feminine curves so well. Her kohl eyes, the mystic jewellery, long straightened hair were letting her mix up with this era. From her mysterious devilish gaze to her magnificent walk, it looked like she truly was a mystic.
She did a step while throwing the sand in the air, right five steps away from us. Karam rubbed my stomach as if he could feel that I was not fine.
My eyes had filled up instantly while heart turned heavy.
Keira twirled and sang the mysterious song like a native woman. She rolled her head slowly as if she was possessed. But then, her face turned towards us and for a second, our eyes met.
As if they were piercing into my shaking soul, I froze.
Karam's hand on my waist felt like a sudden trap while the warmth of his lips against my skin turned into disgust.
Keira had looked away and was continuing the dancing without any suspicious reactions. It was hard for me to think past the fact that she was present in front of me.
Was I hallucinating? Was I dreaming? Was she even Keira or a lookalike? I couldn't breathe.
The more she walked away and joined her group, the more I could recognise her.
A tear dropped on my cheek while she only caught a hand of another dancer. When my gaze fell on this another female, my lips started trembling.
I choked on a sob just as Eva came to the front. Sky blue long skirt and blouse. With those dark hair with Auburn streaks, I knew that it was her only.
Thinking about how they even got here, was step I couldn't even reach. Their mere appearance was churning my stomach and overwhelming my heart.
I wanted to get up, scream and run towards them. Yet equally, I couldn't even move.
It was so hard to believe, that I even blinked the tears away.
Karam wiped my cheek, making my legs shake in sudden fear. If this continued, he would get to understand that something was wrong.
I was told so many times, that Lycans could easily feel the entrance of a foreigner pass the border.
My sisters were here.
It was impossible and stupid to think that no one was aware.
"What happened?" Karam whispered in my ear while I cupped my lips, shaking my head.
He kept watching me while I was watching my sisters.
They danced so gracefully without looking suspicious. No one could tell that they knew me with the way they didn't even look at me again.
The beat got higher and faster, the men had started to join them slowly.
Lysar went right for Keira and it dropped my heart. The way he suddenly tried to turn her around aggressively and caught her waist, made my jaws clench. My fists tightened while eyes filled with fresh tears.
Eva on the other hand had the quiet Adam in her way.
"Don't fall for that soulful singing, my mate. This is how that woman had stolen my memory of that night," said Karam in my ear.
He thought that the singing was touching my heart. What he didn't know was the presence of my sisters in a pack where stepping on the land itself meant asking for death, was crushing my heart.
How did they reach here? How? Was it a dream? A nightmare? I didn't know.
The females spread their legs and bent slightly to do a step in the sync.
Eva brought her hands forward and the females followed her. Keira on the other hand, caught my attention by sudden hand movements.
She sang and looked around randomly while moving fingers.
I was looking in her blank and yet mysterious eyes until the hand movement clicked in my head.
Those movements looked familiar.
That's when I paid double attention.
I looked back at Eva and other females following Keira's step.
That's when I narrowed my eyes and gritted my teeth in concentration. That wasn't some dance choreography.
That was the sign language.
The shivers ran down my spine. The more they repeated the step while singing the songs eerily, the more I got familiar and recalled the language.
Karam breathed on my neck when he noticed that I wasn't crying anymore.
Eva's sudden gaze on his arms wrapped around my waist, made me lose my breath. All of a sudden, I felt ashamed and embarassed. Her eyes went for Karam's face for a mini second and it went off as quickly as it could be.
Her nostrils flared and then, she looked at the other Lycans one by one.
While Keira became a background dancers, Eva began a new step for them to follow.
The earlier signs were saying a statement that I had, with a little struggle solved.
The fingers on the sky and making the structure of a tree by twisting her pointed index finger. I knew, Keira was asking for me to reach the forest.
My jaw dropped and eyes felt the sudden cold wind drying my tears.
All the lessons she taught me were getting recalled in my mind.
Another word I caught her signing was 'dawn'.
My nose was filled up while legs were shaking. In my mind, I was hyperventilating.
I kept shuddering again.
The Music stopped with a finale bang. They had fastened the steps and the beat. The boys had joined and swayed along them until they all finally stopped, calling it an end to the night.
Not exactly. The bachelors were smirking at the girls and walking towards the arrangement of tents far away.
Lysar boiled by chilled blood by picking Keira up on his shoulder. My heart broke in thousand pieces.
I didn't even realise that I was shaking and trying to get up until I felt Karam's grip on my waist tightening, asking for more cuddles.
But Eva's protective gaze had conquered all the progress I had made in my relationship with Karam and his Lycan pack.
Who was he? What was this world? Why was I here? Why was I forgetting my human world?
My sisters were here to remind me about it all.
"It's done, my mate. You look tired. Must we go and sleep now," suggested Karam in a whisper.
He got up and tugged on my hand, making me stand up with a blank gaze towards the way the bachelors and mystic dancers had taken into the west side of the valley.
His mere gaze felt foreign now that Eva had reminded me of a feeling.
The feeling of being stubborn that was in my heart from the beginning. I was a human and I wasn't meant to be here. Mate or not, I couldn't sacrifice my whole world for him. Could I?
Her strong stances had awakened the fighting spirit in me.
Her medieval appearance had reminded me of the same level of dedication I would have to put in keeping my heart strong for this world.
Her determined gaze had reminded of a hope.
While the last sign that she made during the performance by raising her nose towards the mood, sniffing and mouthing a howl. Her fingers took that silent howl and sprinkled up in the air. Her dominant right hand did a twirl around her head as if was making a crown until she gave me that last scary gaze before turning around and walking away.
While walking towards the room with Karam holding my hand like a lovesick husband, my soul couldn't stop shivering.
Her sign along with the faithful thunder and the lightning, had informed this land of the Lycans.
And specifically, me.
'Alpha is coming.'
My brother was coming.
The sleep was miles away but a hope like I had never felt before, was snuggling in my chest.
Even when Karam put Keev beside me on the bed and closed the door. Even when he spread the furs and hugged both of us. Even when he kissed my forehead and whispered, "Love me in your dreams. Would you, my mate?"
I closed my eyes.
The storm had arrived.
The rain had started pouring.
The thunder was ringing from my heart to across the dark sky.
Could the Lycans and Severa already know?
The descendant of Alpha Rucus was crossing the enchanting border, tonight.
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"What do you think?"
Please vote and comment.
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Guess with whom I wanted to begin the new year.
Yes, with you guys.
I missed you all a lot. Last two months went truly busy. I barely got time to pay attention to my hobbies. But here I am, wanting to renew the love between me and my Wattpad fam. Let's connect again and find each other whenever we feel like entering fantasy and escaping reality.
I hope you liked the chapter. I am in the flow, so I would definitely try to write more in the following week and give you another update. Thank you for all the messages and comments. I am forever grateful for each one of you. Know that Wattpad is my happy place. So I will be back even if it takes too much of a time. Thank you for keeping the faith in me.
Wanted to begin this year with you all. I hope, you all spent Christmas happily and are now enjoying the winter holidays too. Let me catch up with what you all have been upto these days.
I didn't want to worry you guys by being this late. I just couldn't prepare an update and even open Wattpad to check things. It was too hectic as I had to maintain a routine. Though, I will try to get back to writing daily and updating more routine. Thank you for not leaving.
Love,
Nikki.
P.S. Thrilling chapters are coming.
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A Very Happy New Year to all of you <3