Bitten by a Goddess

Smell the Roses, and Something Burnt...

***Seraphina***

Dinner went by with them all talking about plans and what's gonna happen if they find their mates. I hear Destiny get defensive, saying she's not leaving without me if she finds her mate, and he's gonna have to understand I'm coming with her. It lifts my mood a little bit, but she doesn't need to put her life on hold for me. We aren't kids anymore, and I think she forgets that I'm technically the "older sister." It's my job to be there for her. I'm not fragile, and it makes me frustrated they all think of me like a priceless vase that will shatter if handled wrong.

I manage to get some of my food down and decide I'm done. I am still full from all the junk food I had earlier. I begin picking up from dinner and taking it back into the kitchen when Uncle Max calls out.

"Remember Destiny is in charge of cleaning the kitchen. It is her punishment for your guys' endeavor the other morning."

I just laugh and continue picking up, but sit on the counter when Destiny walks in to do the dishes.

"I don't think tomorrow will be too bad. I think it'll be great. We get to see the castle, and maybe the garden?!"

I just smile at her and begin helping her load the dishwasher. When I'm done, I give her a hug.

"Thank you for always being there and being the bestest friend and sister a girl could ask for. I'm gonna go take a bath and go to bed. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay. Skip training tomorrow and try to get some rest. I know you'll be stressed enough as is. There is no need for you to get sweaty and gross and forget to get ready on time."

I just laugh and head upstairs to my room. I head into my bathroom and start running my bath, I grab my headphones out of my room and turn on my audio book before getting in the bath. I lay there for a while, letting the warm soak into my bones and relaxing into the plot of my book. When the water starts getting cold, I get out and do my nighttime routine and head to bed. Falling asleep shortly after I lay down.

I wake up and check the time. It's about 1:30 in the morning. I try laying back down tossing and turning for about 30 minutes. I realize I won't be falling back asleep anytime soon, thanks to my nap earlier. I decided it would be a good idea to look into what Destiny was talking about yesterday with the new Alpha King and look for the article she was talking about. Apparently, they wrote about the upcoming masquerade ball and the hopes of calming his beast by finding his mate. I scroll through the article and come across a picture of his wolf, and my heart drops down to my stomach. His wolf is black with red eyes...

My heart rate spikes, and it's getting harder to breathe. This can't be happening.... Amelia pops up in my head, whimpering and talking to me.

"Hey, we will be okay. Look at the photo again. I want to see." I'm struggling with unlocking my phone because my hands are shaking so bad, and my eyes are blurry. I blink rapidly, trying to control this panic attack. Finally getting my phone unlocked, I feel Amelia push forward in my head to see with her own eyes.

"Look! I was right. We are okay. This wolf is different. He has white ears, and his eyes are different. It looks like one of his eyes is half white in the picture."

Really focusing, I can see she's right, and I start repeating the mantra Destiny taught me. 'Smell the Roses,and Blow out the Candles.' Destiny taught me this when I started having panic attacks.. I am repeating it in my head till I can breathe normal. I'm still shaking, though.

I ask Amelia if she wants to go to the pond and stretch out her legs. I can feel her get relaxed just by the thought of it and start circling in my head happily. So I get up and slip on some shoes before heading out the door and down the stairs to go to the pond out back.

Walking outside is helping my nerves relax. It's crisp and cool it feels nice to be out here, and I already feel quite a bit better. Making my way to the pond, I go and sit next to the bank for a moment, reminiscing about my parents and thinking about how different my life would be if they were still here. Silent tears roll down my cheeks when I decide to get up and undress shifting so Amelia can enjoy the fresh air.

She enjoys and prances around for a few moments before going and curling up next to the bank of the pond. She starts talking to me while looking at the moon.

"You know tomorrow's supposed to be a full moon, and it's a huge honor to find our Mates during a full moon. If only we didn't have to mask our scent... I think our mate would love us no matter what. Even with us being different."

"I know.... it just scares Uncle Max, and I don't want to make it any harder on anyone than we already have... he put so much on the line, adopting us and keeping us hidden. We don't know what he knows, so we just need to trust him."

"You know, Sera... before I came to you, the goddess told me we'd be different. That we'd be stronger than those before us, but she also warned me that...."

Just as she was about to finish her sentence, her hackles raised, and she jumped up facing towards the forest across the pond

"Someone's watching us..." She says before shifting back..

"Hey?! Are you gonna finish what you were saying?"

I ask her, stomping back toward my clothes and getting dressed. She's extremely quiet and ignoring me.. she never ignores me. That's when the smell hits me.. it's extremely faint, but you can't ever mistake that metallic smell of a rogue, but this was different. The smell was metallic and wrong, but it also smelt like burnt wood, too. I quickly mindlink Uncle Max and make a run for it towards the packhouse. Making it inside the doors, Uncle Max, Beta Trevor, and his Gamma Kyler are rushing down the stairs.

"Where did you smell it coming from?!"

They ask in a frantic tone.

I point towards the direction of the pond. An tell them that it came from the forest on the other side. Trevor and Kyler waste no time shifting and taking off towards that way.

"Stay inside and go to Destiny's room. Phil will meet you there. Under no circumstances do you come out. Do you understand?!"

I nod.

"What's going on?!" I ask as I see worry and anger all over his face.

"That burnt smell you picked up on was the Rogue Prince. That's all I can explain for now. I'll explain the rest to you when I get back. Tell Phil to send the pack warriors towards the boarders and surround the house.

He all, but yells that at me, and shifts taking off after Trevor and Kyler.

Panic and dread fill my bones as I make my way up the stairs two at a time.

"Everything will be fine, We just need to find our mate, and all will be how it should be..."

That's all Amelia says as I run head first into Phil. He looks pissed so I quickly tell him what I was told, and we both head into Destiny's room.

"Seraphina?! What were you thinking?!"

Phil scolds me as we close the door and lock it.