The Lost Goddess, A War On Mates

Chapter13

Whispers ran through the coven as the first suitor arrived. It was an incredibly old and rich vampire. He was 1,500 years old and was an elite of supernatural society. He claimed to have been blessed by the goddess with the power to walk in the sun. It was entertaining because he could not prove it and many people would challenge him on it. His attitude was cocky and arrogant. He had pale brown hair with enchanting hazel eyes. He was 6 foot and 9 inches whilst he had a bulky frame as if he worked out constantly. He seemed intimidating at first glance but when the prince saw him, he visibly scoffed.

Clenching his teeth he bowed, “Your majesty, I am Salem Styx. It is a pleasure to meet you.” He smirked looking up at the prince whose frown deepened.  Nodding the prince started to walk away. Salem growled to himself but not without Drake noticing.

“You may follow me Mr. Styx. I have business to attend and honestly I do not see us becoming life partners from your current behavior.” Drake kept walking and went to his office sighing heavily as he sat down.

“Are you stressed your majesty? I could help you know.” Salem winked at Drake and Drake rolled his eyes whilst crossing his arms.

“Sorry, I am fine with my stress.” Salem’s smile faltered briefly.

“Alright can we get to know each other then?” He sat down on the chair in front of Drake and crossed his legs.

Drake raised an eyebrow and sighed, “Alright what would you like to know?”

Salem beamed and started, “When will you ascend the throne?” Drake stared at him in disbelief.

Smirking he confidently put down a piece of paper, “Actually I am relinquishing my title as soon as I found someone important to me.” Salem stiffened and uncomfortably shifted at the loss of power.

“I guess no one has found the vampire prince’s slut then?” Salem huffed under his breath. Sadly, for Salem, Drake heard him again, he shot out over the desk and gripped his neck tight.

“If you ever slander her again you will die, now you will never be my life partner, nor will I align myself with your agenda. Get out of my office and off my coven grounds.” Throwing him across the room was easy and Drake fixed his button up shirt and hair. He was more than annoyed with this i***t. Old age had gone to his head and Drake could tell.

Rubbing his face tiredly he groaned, he could already see all the meetings ending this way because only a handful of older vampires were available for courtship. Sighing he looks at his picture of his ten-year-old princess. She would be turning seventeen this year. It made him smile knowing she could be off happy somewhere. A tear slipped as he breathed out and wiped it away. He immediately kissed the photo and went back to work.

Watching her sleep was tiresome but Adonis was adamant we had to be here if she woke up. I found she would whimper in her sleep and occasionally smile or frown. It was subtle but just enough to notice. After the eighth day Adonis finally let me go shave, shower, and change as we realized she would most likely still be asleep when we got back. Walking towards my room I saw my father speaking with his old friend Drew. They grew up together and Drew was supposed to be his Beta but he declined because he wanted to retire sooner then what a Beta would allow. He also wanted to leave and find his mate, loving my father too much to leave him unprotected he went ahead and gave up the title. Self-sacrifice was all over Drew. He was an amazing guy.

“Drew, what are you doing at the pack house?” I smiled at him but found he did not really want to be here.

“Your father summoned me for old time’s sake.” He rolled his eyes and I laughed, I waved goodbye and kept walking to my room ready to be clean.

Walking into the pack house was a pain every time. It was noisy, busy, and it reeked of young wolf testosterone and s*x constantly. I could not stand it but my dear Alpha wants to discuss his “situation further”. I found it hilarious he was intimidated by a little girl tattling on him. Aeris was something special though. I doubt she was human like everyone thought she was after the incident in the art room. I slowly found myself obsessing over her and was eager for the Alpha to let me mold her. She had not been to school for a little over a week though.

“Alpha, pleasure is all yours!” I laughed at his sour face as he descended the staircase.

“To my office Drew…” I smirked and blew him a kiss. “Drew, she is currently in a coma. Office now” He was clenching his teeth and Drew’s mood dampened. Lucas popped out of nowhere, but the conversation died quick.

Heading to the Alpha’s office was an odd sensation. It held authority but was somehow lacking power. Ever sense Aeris and her glowing effect I found many people seemed weak in comparison. I smiled at how much fun it would be to break and train my favorite student to be obedient. She was extremely smart but was lacking in will power due to being the pack slave. It would be easy.  

Sitting across from my Alpha,” Is there a problem with her being in a coma, that really meets your prerogative does it not?” I raised a brow because he still benefited from her vegetative state.

“I have noticed my son is slowly taking a liking to her which is becoming a problem. She can not claim power over this pack. I need you to manipulate my son into believing you and Aeris are an item."

I smiled like a Cheshire cat, “Oh, I see Alpha. This is going to be way more interesting then ever before?” The Alpha had on a wicked smirk as we both laughed clinking some new glasses of whiskey. I chugged my whiskey and bowed to the Alpha.

“Off to duty, see you later sir!” I mocked him and walked out of the office, down the hall, and to the hospital.  I quickly found her room and sat in the chair next to her. She was even prettier with her hair short. It was spunky and commanding. I held her hand and kissed it. I could not deny that this was not ideal, but she was worth a little wait. I am sure she would wake up within the month. She was not a human after all. He smirked to himself wondering what she was.

‘Little lying minx. Telling everyone you were human.’  I smiled at her and moved her bangs. My wolf was being restless and kept growling at me.

‘No hurt, she is powerful.’ He growled out and bared his canines. I rolled my eyes at that and simply kissed her hand again. I heard a roar behind me and smirked, ‘Good timing…’ Turning I was surprised to not see Lucas but three of the warriors all looking extremely pissed off. I stood slowly.

“Hey boys, I was just stopping to visit my girlfriend. Can I help you? Did the Alpha send you?” I smiled and they looked at me with shocked and broken-hearted looks. ‘Ah, some lover boys. This will be great.’ My smile grew wider.

“Hi, I am Jake, this is Adrian, and Basil. We were coming to check on Aeris…she was our close friend.” He mumbled out the last bit uncertain.

“Ah sorry none of you ring a bell. All she ever really talks about is art and music with me lately.” I could see the tears brimming for the Adrian kid and Basil clenched his teeth. Jake seemed almost numb like he could not believe it.

“Well, we, ah, just wanted to check on her but since you are here, I think it is best we leave. It was nice meeting you.” I smiled and shook his hand.

“My name is Drew by the way. I think we will be seeing a lot more of each other since I want to mark Aeris.” All their eyes widened, and a growl escaped all of them. Anger radiated toward me but I sat down and grabbed Aeris' hand holding it and kissing her palm. I could see the sadness reigning in again and they sulked out of the room.

I smiled down at Aeris’ sleeping face and gave her lips a light kiss. It sent me into a buzzed state of mind, so I quickly pulled back. ‘Oh, you are so tempting.’ I licked my lips and smirked deciding that was enough fun for today.

Jake, Basil, and Adrian walked all the way back to Basil’s bedroom and sat down on the bed.

Basil was the first to speak and it came out a mumble, “She was dating her art teacher, that’s why she stayed in the art studio so late. We are f*****g idiots.” He gripped his hair and bit his lip fighting being depressed or angry.

Adrian bit his lip, “She did not seem like the type to date…I thought we were enough.” He sighed a shuddering breath.

Jake looked at both of his friends and then the floor. Silent tears streamed down his cheeks.” Maybe, we should back off. She obviously does not need us and he wants to take care of her and mark her…” His heart clenched at the idea of this Drew guy marking and mating with Aeris. He could see Adrian and Basil also flinch when he mentioned it.

“Oh, f**k no!” Jake yelled out. He flopped backwards groaning and covering his face.

Adrian and Basil just looked at him like he was a literal fish out of water.

“Hey, Jake, I do not think it’s that big of a deal if we let her go for a bit…” Each one winced again.

“We are idiots Basil,” Jake agreed tears free falling now and pooling into his ears and the mattress duvet. He whispered, “We all imprinted on her at the same time…” and the room became eerily quiet. He removed his hands from his face to see a mixture of emotions on Basil ranging from horny, to depression, to anger, to longing and love. Adrian had one emotion clear as day though, regret.

“We did not do this the way it was supposed to be done. I thought she had to give permission?” Adrian asked feeling nervous and edgy. I thought long and hard and realized when it happened.

Groaning I look at the guys, “The kiss…” Each of their eyes widened. She technically consented to imprinting when she initiated the kiss.

It was once again quiet when Basil broke the silence, “Does that mean two of us get rejected or three of us have a mate? Plus, how do we get rid of old geezer trying to mark her?”

Adrian sighed and then laid down, “Technically she could reject all of us or accept only one, or two, or all three of us. That Drew guy needs to go, I agree on that. Something feels wrong with him.” All of them nod in agreeance and decide to sleep together in bed. Each one needed a good night’s sleep to figure out how to get the love they desired from Aeris.

Once Lucas had made it back to Aeris he could smell Jake, Basil, Adrian, and surprisingly Drew had all visited her. Drew was her art teacher, so it did not seem to be too farfetched for him to be concerned but the other three seemed to be interested in Aeris in a more intimate manner. It drove Adonis crazy having so many unmated male scents in the room, but nothing worked. Simmering down, Lucas settled onto the couch and watched Aeris sleep.

Waking up to a hot ray of sun beating down on his eyes he groaned stretching. Immediately he noticed the scent of the men was gone but so was Aeris. His eyes whipped open, and his mouth dropped open in shock when she was not there. He wanted to panic but Adonis pushed forward and started sniffing the air heavily. He bolted out of the medical room and headed back towards the pack house. Following the scent to the kitchen I found her there swaying slightly and making the pack breakfast.

 I was flabbergasted, ‘She literally was in a coma and the girl woke up…to make her pack breakfast…’ I burst out laughing at that thought, startling her into dropping her phone onto the floor and her to stumble a bit. It was just comical how everyone abused her, yet she made them breakfast. I walked over smiling and shaking my head, “Let me help you with that.” I smiled and she smiled back. I felt like I had won the lottery. ‘She was coming around.’ Adonis howled with glee making me chuckle while shaking my head.

I had helped so many people understand that they had a mate, and the world was full of injustice and justice all the same. I helped so many people that after a while I finally decided I needed to wake up to help myself. I also felt very hypocritical since I did not know much about mates. I felt like I knew what it was supposed to be though and what love really was.  So, I just meditated out of the abyss. I was surprised to see Lucas lying near my bed, on a couch no less but it was heartwarming. I quickly removed my IV’s and started getting dress. 

I walked right out of the hospital and headed for the dining hall. Lorde knows whoever was feeding all these poor pack members could not be the same as my cooking. I smiled at the compliments I get indirectly. I started prepping the ingredients for a frittata, bacon, sausage, orange juice, and chocolate croissants.  I had almost finished everything when Lucas came in scaring me. He popped out of nowhere. I smiled at him and took a chance at help. I thought he was sweet for sticking around the hospital so maybe I should try a little harder to be his friend.

 I started to set food out on the table when I noticed Jake, Adrian, and Basil. I was about to go hug them but when they saw me, they all frowned. I lowered my hand from a wave position to my sides hugging myself. I wondered what could have upset them enough to ignore me, ‘They must still be upset about the art studio thing. I was not the best communicator, but I was trying.’ I sighed and looked back at them again before I started to head to the kitchen.

I was yanked backwards and into a chair near the Alpha seat. I felt uncomfortable as Lucas filled my plate, but I did not feel confident enough to take any food. He piled it high and sat it in front of me. As I was about to eat a loud high-pitched voice rang out, “Look everyone the fat slut actually does eat like a pig. Look at that plate, it is a mountain." I stared at the food and bit my lip. I set down the fork and left. Lucas seemed furious but even if I had been starving, I could not eat. I was to stressed and embarrassed. I walked up to my attic and sighed flopping onto the floor.