From Maiden to Mother (Book 2 of the Northern Territories Series)

Chapter 9

From Maiden to Mother

Chapter 9

Nikolai’s POV

I’m waiting on the info I need on the building Kara’s party is in this evening. It is just outside the wards of Black Hearthstone, but still on their lands. Some sort of community center with a large ballroom.

Our lunch date yesterday went poorly. Jayce refuses to let Kara go anywhere with me alone since I pissed him off. He doesn’t ever say anything to me, he just stays by Kara. It pisses me off that she will let him close her off in the booth beside him without being anxious at all. She doesn’t watch his every move or second guess his intentions. Jayce is way more volatile than I am. Then Clay came in on our lunch date yesterday and messed everything up. I was already barely concealing my annoyance of her being closer to Jayce than me and I flared, she tensed, Jayce didn’t give me a chance to get closer to her after that. He stayed between us when we exited and he helped her into his car, closing the door and standing there watching me walk back to mine before getting in himself. Kara didn’t even know Clay was there until we were leaving and she saw his SUV. I saw the look on her face when she saw it, she wants him still.

The email comes in and I open it. It’s the full blue prints and the notations for where cameras are located. It looks like the entry corridor and the bathrooms are the only places not under surveillance. I’ll have to figure out how to corner and stir up Clay there. I link Stryder and have him come in so we can bounce ideas on how to get Clay to react without Kara being aware.

Kara’s POV

Tania and Meri are setting up for the party. The Elders will be keeping Damien and Carter for the evening. They were so excited when the boys marched into their home with their little backpacks. They will have all the attention they can stand with the 5 Crone Elders hovering over them.

I step into my deep red silk gown and adjust the straps. I can’t wear a bra with it as it is completely backless and dips down to just above my butt. The skirt is floor length with a slit to my hip on one side. The front is ruched with a sweetheart neckline, making my small breasts look a little fuller. I’ve finished my makeup and study myself in the mirror as I carefully put my hair up in a french twist with my curls cascading loosely down to my shoulders.

Tania walks in wearing her signature gold gown with high slits on each side, halter top with open sides, also completely backless. She looks so gorgeous. “You look amazing, Princess!”, she smiles as she approaches me. “I was coming to tell you that Trevor Cobran has called to speak with Rayne. They are on the call in their office, but Rayne said he would like for you to be present if you don’t mind being there. He will handle it if you aren’t comfortable.”, she says.

“No, I’ll talk to him.”, I reply. Tania smiles and says she linked Rayne and they are waiting for us. We make our way downstairs to the offices.

We enter, Rayne and Jayce are both sitting at the desk. They both smile at me, “You look gorgeous, Princess.”, Jayce says, standing and pulling the chair next to him out for me.

I sit and he takes Tania’s hand, kissing it, before sitting and guiding her down into his lap, placing his hand on her bare thigh.

“You now have both Consorts, the Mother, and Maiden present, Mr. Cobran. How may we help you?”, Rayne asks politely. The phone is on speaker and he has placed it in the middle of the desk.

“I just don’t want to see this go badly. I have spoken with Head Clay, but he says it is not his business and he will not be getting involved. My son is very young, much younger than that of most lycan finding their mates, he is only 92 years old. I ask that you think back to being a lycan wolf at his age. I know I wasn’t the picture of calm and collected then. This is a struggle for him and he is trying. The thought of losing a mate is terrifying for any of us and it can cause us to make poor choices trying to hold on. I was hoping to gauge where the Maiden stands in this so I can help in any way possible to make this easier.”, he says.

“Mr. Cobran, this is Maiden Morningstar. I do like Nikolai, he has a sweet side and can be very charming. I’m going to be honest, the other side of your son frightens me. He gets jealous around every male we encounter, even my uncles. He takes that out on me. He gets aggressive and busts my lip kissing me frequently. He digs his fingers into my skin and bruises me. I do understand what will happen to Nikolai if I reject him, that is why I haven’t yet. At this point I am not willing to accept him. I’m sorry.”, I tell him.

Jayce growls lowly and Tania rubs his arm to soothe him some. “Don’t be sorry, Kara. This is Nikolai’s problem.”, he says agitated.

“I understand, Maiden. I apologize that he has made you feel that way. Maybe if we could all sit down and talk to him, as lycan wolves, he would understand and change how he is approaching this.”, he suggests.

Jayce growls out, “This is Jayce Osmond, I already tried to talk to Nikolai and explain what he was doing wrong and how to fix it. He holds her to him and drags his canines over her neck the very next time he is left alone with her, forcing her to use her power to escape him. I don’t give a s**t about your son or what he feels Kara is to him. Kara is MINE, Mr. Cobran, and if he thinks he is going to come over here f*****g with what’s mine, I will kill him.” Tania leans against Jayce and squeezes his hand.

“The Maiden is not yours, Jayce. She is his, you don’t have the right to restrict his access to her.”

Jayce growls, leaning as close as he can to the phone without pushing Tania, “I’ll do whatever I damn well please, Mr. Cobran, and if you think you’re f*****g big enough, come on down here and…”

Tania interrupts Jayce, “My love, please don’t get so upset. Kara is your niece, he did not mean to challenge that. Did you, Mr. Cobran?”

Rayne speaks, “That is our mate speaking to you, Mr. Cobran, I advise you choose your response wisely.” I watch Jayce lean back in his seat.

“Of course, Mother Osmond. I did not intend to challenge either of your mates being Kara’s uncles. I was trying to say that she is Nikolai’s mate and he can’t build any trust with her if they hover over her.”

Rayne responds, “When we weren’t hovering over her, he lost his temper and got rough with her, splitting her lip 3 separate times. Each time apologizing and getting forceful again, bruising her arms and hip, ripping her clothing from her body when she asks him to stop his advances. Our Crone has seen his intentions with her own eyes and warns us that he will force mark Kara if she refuses his advances. How badly should we allow him to hurt her before we stop him, Mr. Cobran? It would appear the problem here is your son’s understanding of lycan wolves. He behaves like an arrogant Alpha werewolf, rather than a lycan. The consequences to that are more severe for a lycan, and it is not Kara’s responsibility to protect him from them. This is why lycan wolves have no business in were-packs. We are not the same, it was your job to teach him that. We will not trade her safety or happiness for his ability to conceive an heir. Perhaps you should discuss that with him.”

Mr. Cobran sighs heavily and I try again, “Mr. Cobran, I do not wish to have Nikolai live alone for the remainder of his life. Unfortunately, the bond cannot be erased with magic, I’ve looked into that. I’m not sure how to spare him consequences and I have held off rejecting him, hoping I would feel differently or to find a way out for him. I do not trust your son and I cannot accept the bond with things the way they are. I am sorry for the pain this causes you and your mate.”, I tell him. I know it doesn’t make him feel any better about it, but I don’t want him to think I don’t care or consider how his son is affected.

“I appreciate your time and consideration, Maiden. I will speak with my son. I apologize for his behavior. Do you have an heir, Consort Rayne?”

Rayne replies, “My mate has blessed us with twin boys, yes.”

Mr. Cobran takes a deep breath, “And what would you do if this were your sons, Rayne?”

Rayne replies, “Our sons will go before Council to train and live as lycan wolves, once they’re of age, to prevent this type of thinking. In your position, I’d go to them and beat some sense into them if I had to before they lost the only thing that would ever truly be theirs. Farewell, Mr. Cobran.”, before disconnecting the call.

“What do you think that conversation with Clay was like?”, Jayce asks and Tania swats his chest. He chuckles and kisses her hand. We stand and leave for the Community Center.

Nikolai’s POV

Stryder and I arrive at the Center and we park. It is a large stone sided building that looks quite magical with the floating fairy lights and large fountain in the front. We cross the stone circle drive, past the fountain, through the big solid wood doors with rot iron hinges. There are wide and long corridors leading to the left and right, marble walls and floors, brightly lit. Statues of witches on each corner. We walk the corridor and around the corner. We are standing on a balcony, overlooking the ballroom from the railing. The grand staircase opens from the center of the balcony and goes to the left and right of us leading down to the large open room. There are vibrant blush, fuchsia, and gold decorations. Lilies and roses are all around the room and are centerpieces on each table. The room is softly lit and I search through the large crowd to find my gorgeous mate across the room. The twin dancing with her spins her, exposing her long creamy leg in her gold heels that wrap up her calf. She laughs when he pulls her back to him and dips her low. He is smiling and whispering something in her ear as he continues dancing with her, his hand resting on the bare skin of the middle of her back, holding her against him. I try to control my anger and jealousy. I know that Tania is the only woman that he will ever find arousing, but no one should ever touch Kara but me. Tania dances with the other twin, more intimately, and he holds her like she is his own heart outside his body. He doesn’t seem to care how weak he looks right now.

I move down the stairs and walk over to a table set with drinks to watch her.

I see Clay enter shortly after, wearing a nicely tailored suit. I hate that he always looks so suave and in control. He enters alone and walks down the stairs like he owns the place, shaking hands and smiling at the Crone when she approaches him. He turns and spots Kara with the twin and his eyes wander her body. He smiles when she laughs then turns to continue speaking with the Crone.

My blood boils, he doesn’t care about her. If he did, he would be as angry as I was seeing her in the twins arms. Yet, he constantly causes issues in my relationship with her. The twin dancing with Kara spots me. His eyes never leave mine as he says something in Kara’s ear. She looks back over her shoulder and smiles at me, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. I smile back and take another drink of my drink.

The song ends and the twin releases her. The other twin passes Tania to him and he dances with her as he now walks Kara over to me. “Hey, Nik. You look handsome.”, she says smiling.

“You’re breathtaking, gorgeous.”, I reply, taking her hand gently and kissing it. “May I dance with you, Kara?”, I ask her.

She nods, following me out to the dance floor. I take her hand in mine and place the other on her lower back, just above the curve of her thick ass. Her skin is as soft as the silk of her dress. She moves so gracefully and having her so close makes my heart race, my blood rushing down, and I know she can feel my erection against her stomach, but it doesn’t arouse her. I feel annoyed by that, I’ve rarely experienced the scent of her arousal and we are mates, I’ve known her for a whole week! I feel her tensing in my arms, and I try to adjust my thoughts and think about how beautiful my mate is and the fact that she is letting me hold her and dance. She starts to relax again, “I won’t hurt you, Kara. I love you.”, I tell her.

She searches my eyes, “I want to believe you, Nik.”, she says softly. It hurts that she doesn’t trust me.

“I wish I knew how to show you.”, I tell her. The song ends and she pulls away from me.

We walk back over to the table. “Nik, it is customary for the Maiden to dance with each male attendee. I’m going to be dancing with a lot of people. I’m telling you now because I don’t want you to be upset.”, she tells me softly as we make it back over to the table.

I smile, “I’ll deal with it. Thanks for giving me a heads up.”, I reply.

She doesn't know Rayne already informed me when we took her to get the dress. She smiles sweetly at me as a wizard approaches and asks her to dance. She accepts and I watch her dance with him.

She returns to me each time, so it makes it a little easier to let her go with them. At least, that’s what I was thinking after the 15th dance or so.

Then Clay approaches. “May I have this dance, Maiden.”, he asks. Her heart rate quickens for a moment, before she controls it.

She takes his hand and follows him out to the dance floor as Someone Like You begins playing. It pisses me off even though I know there was no way for him to arrange that.

He turns to her and places his hand beneath her shoulder blade. He leads her into a waltz and she moves so beautifully. Their bodies fit perfectly against each other as he holds her to him and her arm rests over his bicep to his shoulder. The anger builds as I watch how fluidly he moves with her and spins her, how happy she looks dancing with him. She doesn’t fear him or get tense. We’ll see how long that lasts when she sees him lose control. Let’s see what she thinks about you when she sees what a beast you can really be, Clay, I think to myself. Their dance ends and he returns her to me. I can scent her controlled arousal and struggle to remain calm. She notices and immediately accepted a dance with a bear shifter.

I see Clay dancing with Tania. I wouldn’t imagine the twins would let her dance with an unmated male, but they don’t seem to mind at all. One of them is dancing with the Crone and the other with Ivy. I look for Councilman Gladstone and find him laughing with a mated wolf and witch couple, Young I believe, they own the diner Kara has taken me to in the coven. The song ends and the Crone steals Clay from Tania. Kara is dancing with the other twin. Stryder is dancing with a young woman from the coven.

Toasts to Kara are done and it is clear the people here admire and respect her. Then the dancing resumes and I steal another dance with my mate. I made sure we were near enough to Clay that he couldn’t miss it and I kiss her possessively. It stuns her and she places her hand on my chest pulling back from me, but it didn’t matter. Clay had turned and faced the opposite direction, his anger rolling off him.

Kara furrows her brow at me, “A little less rough, Nik.” I study her beautiful face and notice that I have once again split her lip. She is so damn fragile. I offer to fix it and she pulls back, “It’s fine, really.”

Another man takes Kara’s next dance and I link Stryder to keep and eye on Clay. He says something to the twins and starts up the stairs to leave.

I link Stryder and we casually follow. I jog to catch up with him as he rounds into the corridor, “Clay!”, I call out.

He stops about midway through the corridor, turning to face me. He tilts his head, “You think it’s wise to follow me, pup?”, he says lowly.

Clay’s POV

“Her lips are so sweet, Clay… I wonder if every part of her tastes so good.”, Nikolai says to me as he and Stryder move to circle me, I struggle to keep control of myself, this little mutt has lost his mind. “You know, once we’re mated and she carries my mark, all the threats you tough guys like to throw around won’t matter anymore. She’ll be mine to do with as I please and none of you can do a thing about it without hurting her.”, he says, smirking at me as he passes back in front of me. There are no cameras in this section of the Center. He planned this and if I react, the twins are going to believe I attacked him out of jealousy and went back on my word when I said I wouldn’t challenge her mate. “Tell me, Clay… what will her screams sound like when I have her under me?”

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