The Imperial Triad

Chapter Eight

{Mikhailo POV continued}

After dinner, mine and Carter's mother dove into the details of the ceremony. She took our mates up to the Lunas office. Which she still mainly used since she was the only active Luna for the last 7 years. She worked on measuring our mates for the dresses and Lip for his suit. I watched as they looked through endless color swatches, trying to decide which tone best suited our mates and coordinated well enough with each other.

“What if they dressed in their wolf colors?” Tobias asked.

“Wolf colors? What do you mean?” Johanna asked.

“Their wolf’s fur is unnaturally colored. Ameila is pink, Jana is emerald green, and Lip’s is light blue,” I answered.

“Really?” My mother exclaimed. “I knew you’re wolves would be different but I didn’t know that was possible! How cool!”

“I love that idea, Inessa,” Johannah agreed.

They started looking through the colors of their wolves until Amelia decided on a Mauve color for her dress. She started to sort through the different design books my mother had stored. Lip settled on a navy suit with light blue accents and Jana found a floral fabric that had all three colors in the design. She decided that it would be best, seeing it would tie all of the colors together.

“That’s perfect dear”, Johannah, fused over her new daughter-in-law. “It resembles unity in the ranking members. A perfect choice for a new gamma.”

“Okay boys. That's all you get to see! The rest must be a surprise!” My mother said,

“But-” I tried to argue.

“NO BUTS! Now get out Mikhailo, we still have lots to do!” She stated.

“Fine.” I rolled my eyes and got out of my seat. I gave Amelia a quick kiss before leaving the office with Tobias and Carter in tow.

“Don’t keep my mate all night!” I yelled from the hallway.

______

Amelia POV

“Now dear, It’s tradition to wear a dress or, in Lip’s case, a suit that shows the mark of your mate. It shows commitment to your mate as well as your pack. You can wear whatever you desire but, I’d love for you to bare your mark the night of the ceremony.”

“We have to be marked before the ceremony?” Jana asked.

“Why yes, the boys didn’t tell you?” Inessa quizzed.

We shook our heads in response and looked at each other. A small amount of fear started to wash over me. I was nervous about being marked by Mikhailo or mark him in return. I was afraid it would hurt. And what if I changed my mind? There was no going back after that.

“Oh dear, it looks like you still have a bit to discuss with my son… Not to worry! Let’s pick your design and then we can be done for the night.” She said sweetly.

I nodded my head and continued to look through the design books with Jana. I decided on an alluring off the shoulder neckline for the top of my dress and picked a floor-pooling fishtail hem for the bottom. I asked for a slit in the side as well as pulling around my waist to accentuate my figure.

“You are going to look so gorgeous!” Inessa squealed. “Okay, that’s enough for tonight. I would like to start your Luna training as soon as possible if that’s okay. Could you meet me here after breakfast tomorrow?”

“Of course, that sounds great,” I said with a soft smile.

“Jana, I'd like you to come. I’ll start your training as a gamma female as well. Lip considering the situation… We would like to take over showing you your share of the pack responsibilities. Would that be okay with you?”

“I would be honored.” He responded with a cheesy smile.

We set a time to meet in the morning before leaving the office. Our new mother-in-laws gave us all tight hugs as they said our goodbyes for the night. Inessa whispered something in Lip’s ear as she pulled him in. They both had tears in their eyes as they pulled away. Lip seemed genuinely touched by whatever she had said to him.

I hugged my friends and said goodnight before making my way to our bedroom. Mikhailo was sitting on the sofa working on a laptop when I came into the room. His face broke into a smile as I came in. “How’d it go?” He asked. I made my way over to him and he pulled me into his lap. “Good, we got our designs picked out and were going to meet back after breakfast in the morning to start our training.”

“Why didn’t you tell me we had to mark each other before the ceremony?” I asked.

He looked down at me with confusion. “I guess I just assumed you knew. I’m sorry I forgot you don’t really know much about your own kind.”

“Do you want to postpone the ceremony? There’s no rush, you know.”

“No,” I shook my head. “I’m just nervous about it. I’m still afraid it’s going to hurt.”

“Can I show you something?” he asked. I looked at him quizzingly but nodded my head. He turned me in his lap to where I was now straddling him. He brushed my hair behind my shoulder and brought me into a passionate kiss.

“Now that you’ve shifted have you noticed anything different about me?” he asked.

“Uhhh.. yeah you smell like oranges and sandalwood. Before I shifted, you just smelled like citrus, but it's different and stronger now. And when you touch me, the sparks I felt before are so much stronger.”

“That’s the mate bond you feel. Your smell is stronger now, but since I’m your mate, my scent will be incredibly enticing to you. There’s also this…”

He pulled me in closer to him and placed small kisses down my neck. Chills ran down my arms as his breath trickled down my neck. He reached the nape of my neck where his mark would sit and started to suck on my skin. Fireworks erupted from my core and my body arched in agreement. My s*x became soaked between my thighs and my wolf purred in my head.

Mikhailo pulled away from me and met me with black eyes. He was full of lust and desire and so was I. “Holy s**t…” I whispered as I tried to catch my breath. “Amazing, right?” he asked. I nodded my head quickly. “You would feel that too?” I questioned.

“Yes, but only from you.”

I felt a menacing smile spread across my lips. I was about to drive him wild. I grinded my hips into him and met his lips again. He kissed me with heat and passion. His hands found their way to my ass and started to grab it, assisting in my movements. I trailed my lips down his neck until I found my marking spot and started to suck on his skin. He hissed and grabbed my ass, stopping my movements.

“I’m going to mark you tonight if you keep doing that.” He said breathlessly as he laid his forehead against mine.

“I’m not sure I’m ready for that but… Mikhailo?”

“Yes?”

“F**k me.” I stated.

“As you wish.”

He stood with me still in his arms and sat me down gently. He slowly started to undress me as he left trails of kisses along my body. When I was standing in front of him completely naked, he whispered to me, “Your turn” and placed my hands on his chest. I undid the buttons on his shirt, taking my time. I moved to his wrist, undoing the buttons around them. I placed a kiss on his knuckles and sucked on the end of his finger while making eye contact.

Before I could move to his pants he picked me up by my legs and walked to the bathroom. He sat me down on the counter and moved to the shower. He turned on the water and watched as the steam filled the shower. He quickly undid his pants and threw them in the hamper.

“I’ve always wanted to do this.” He grinned

“Shower s*x?” I asked with a laugh.

“Yes… Uh, I never allowed any woman I was sleeping with to come to my room. So I never had shower sex.”

“Really?” I asked. “So no one else has been in your bed?”

“No, I thought it would be disrespectful to my mate.”

“Oh” A small smile stretched across my face.

Mikhailo picked me up again and attacked my lips. He carried me into the shower and stood under the hot water. Our bodies slid against each as the water washed over us. I sucked on his bottom lip, earning a growl from him. The taste of him mixed with the heat of the shower was salacious. He broke our kiss as he pinned me against the shower wall. His lips found my marking spot and started to suck as he inserted two fingers into my soaking p***y.

“Ahh” a moan escaped my lips and I pulled his head up by the back of his hair and kissed him deeply. His fingers pushed deeper into me and he started to twist his fingers as he slid in and out. “Oh, my god!” I yelled and broke our kiss. This feeling was erotic and I was coming undone. Mikhailo moved to suck on my breast and popped a n*****e into his mouth. “I’m going to c*m,” he removed his fingers and plunged his thick c**k into me.

“AHH” I moaned. I felt like I was going to be split in two. I looked down and realized he was only halfway in.

“F**k baby, you’re so tight.”

I wrapped my arms around his shoulder and my legs around his waist and started to bound myself against him. He brought his leg up and placed it on the bench to balance himself as I rode him. Mikhailo started to pull me into him and rammed his d**k as deep as it would go. My core started to tingle again as he picked up his speed. My moans echoed off the shower walls. I tried to cover my mouth, afraid someone would be able to hear us. Mikhailo growled and forced my hand from my face all while stopping his thrust. He pinned my wrist against the wall. “All the rooms are sound-proof. I want to hear you scream my name.” He said in a sultry voice. His thrust came hard and fast as he plunged into me again.

My body started to tense and tighten as my orgasm continued to build. He released my wrist pinned to the wall and started to rub small circles around my c**t. He bottomed out inside of me and pinched my bud between his fingers. My orgasm took over my body and I started to shake in his arms. An animalistic feeling came over me and I knew I needed to sink my teeth in him. I pushed his head to the side and sank my canines into his neck. Mikhailo roared so loudly the walls shook around us. He bottomed out once more and I felt his d**k pulsing inside of me as he filled me up. I extracted my canines from his neck and licked my mark, sealing our bond.

His lips found mine again. He kissed me with passion and held me close to him. His c**k was still pulsing inside of me. “I’m not done with you yet.” He said while trying to catch his breath.

Without putting me down, he shut off the water and walked out of the shower. The cold air sent shivers across my skin. When we reached the bed, he threw me down and flipped me on my stomach. He lifted my a*s in the air and brought his face to my soaking wet p***y. He licked the entire length of my slit and found my c**t once more. He sucked and nibbled on it before moving to my entrance. I felt his tongue enter me from behind. He f****d with his tongue and pinched my bud until another ogasm came over me. My body was in the middle of riding its high when he entered me again.

Mikhailo found a steady rhythm as he plunged into me from behind. He messaged one of my breasts in one hand as he leaned down and kissed my back. It wasn't long before I found myself riding another high. His hand around my breasts found its way to my throat. He squeezed it slightly as he brought me up to where I was flush with his chest. He took his free hand and pinned one of my arms to my back. His thrust became harder as he whispered in my ear. “Do you like that? Do you like it when I f**k you like this?”

“AHH, YES!” I croaked.

“Touch yourself.” He commanded.

I took my free hand and started to rub my sensitive bud. “Good girl.” My legs started to shake as the pressure was building at an all-time high. Mikhailo’s movements started to become sloppy and I could tell he was close to finishing again. “Can I mark you?”

I was hardly coherent at that point. Rhiannon was screaming YES! In my head. I managed to nod. This man could have me for the rest of his life. “I want to hear you say it!” he growled and released my throat. “Yes, Oh my god, yes!” I screamed. He sunk his teeth into my neck. My orgasm shot out like a jet and my eyes clouded over as white spots filled my vision. “F**K!” I screamed. Mikhailo wrapped his arm around my waist and kept my body close as he filled me with his seed once more.

We finished riding out our high together. When it was over, he extracted his canines from my skin and started to lick my fresh mark. He finished sealing it before he finally pulled his throbbing c**k out of me. He sat beside me on the bed and pulled me into his lap. He kissed me softly and held me close for a while. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“Better than okay. That was unreal.”

“I wasn't expecting you to mark me tonight.”

“I wasn’t planning to… but in the moment I knew I had to.” I said honestly.

“Why don’t I draw us a bath? I let you soak while I change the sheets and then I’ll join you. I still owe you an apology and a conversation about last night.”

“Okay.” I responded softly.

______

{TRIGGER WARNING!!!!! SA DEPICTED}

Mikhailo POV

Thorin was still putty in my head after marking our mate. This night couldn’t have gone better. This morning I was afraid she was going to reject me after our fight. I was so upset with her for taking off like that. The lake house was close enough to our border that I was afraid she was going to cross it. Putting her in immediate danger.

Truthfully, I was amazed at how fast our mates were. It had to be one of the many powers that my mate would surely acquire. Still, she shouldn’t have run off like that. She was in an unfamiliar place and it was her first shift. What if something happened to her and I wouldn’t have made it in time? The thought of someone or something happening to her enraged me.

Our poor mates already had enemies, due to Jana's ex, Noel, and Tobias' parents. I know when my ex-girlfriend Lanie finds out it is going to be an issue. I can only hope that she would have enough respect to be cordial to her new Luna, but, I wasn’t sure that would be the case.

I finished changing the sheets from where my mate soaked them in her juices. I would have to buy a mattress cover. I planned on making her squirt every night. Ameila was soaking in her bath when I came back into the bathroom. She threw her hair up into a messy bun. Curls hung around her face and messily laid across her skin. My mate was nothing short of exquisite.

Warm vanilla and brown sugar filled the air around her. I couldn’t get enough of her scent. I climbed in the bath behind her and settled her between my legs. The hot water felt nice on my aching member. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her head to my chest. She looked so sleepy in my arms. I washed her body with the vanilla soap I had delivered. I didn’t want anything to cover up her scent, so all the products I bought were sugar and vanilla scented.

I moved my hands to her shoulders and started to message them. “I’m sorry for yelling at you last night. It was supposed to be a magical night and I ruined it for you. I was just scared when you took off like that.”

She turned to look at me. “You didn’t ruin it, Mikhailo. It was a magical night.. If you told me a month ago that I would get to experience something like this…. I would have thought you were nuts.”

“I’m glad you still enjoyed your night. I am sorry for fighting with you.”

“It wasn’t just your fault. I don’t respond well to being yelled at. It makes me so angry… especially after everything I had to do to escape a home like that. Most people go into flight mode, and I used to… But now it just makes me so angry I want to fight. I swore to myself that I wouldn’t let a man treat me that badly again.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. Amelia pulled away from me and laid her back against the far side of the tub so she was now facing me. She pulled her knees up to her chest and laid her head down.

“You don’t have to tell me, it’s okay…” I spoke softly to her.

“No I do.. I think you should know. It’s just a hard story to tell. Only Lip and Jana know about my home life. My adoptive mother was the sweetest person I have ever met. She cared so much for me and did everything in her power to make me feel at home. She even took classes with a local salon so she could learn how to properly care for my hair. She was fully white with pin-straight blonde hair. So my curly ethic hair was a foreign to her, but she loved it. She loved everything about me. She died when I was eight. She had several battles with cancer before she adopted me. That’s why she wasn't able to have children of her own. When I was six, she got really sick and I didn’t understand why. She was like that for the next two years and when she was too weak to carry on she finally admitted what was going on. She couldn’t save me from it anymore, she knew she was going to die….”

I watched as a few stray tears ran down her face. I wanted nothing more than to wrap her in my arms, but I knew she needed the space to continue.

“After she died her husband, my adoptive father, grew cold. He was never really around in the first place. He worked and traveled all over the country, so we never really had a relationship. He started to drink very heavily after her death. And his rage was directed at the only thing he had left, me. At first, I was just spanked. I would get spanked for the dishes not being done, or the house not being cleaned. If I cried over anything, then he would spank me again. He found me one day going through my mother's jewelry and lost it. He held me down and beat me while screaming that I had killed her and I never belonged there. He really believed I was the reason she was dead. The beatings got worse after that, but that's not the worst part… I was always a chunkier kid, but when I hit my early teenage years, I started to grow very quickly. My curves started to fill out and he started to notice. I did my best to hide my body from the outside world, but it didn’t stop him. He came home one night stupidly drunk. I had heard him come through the door and I pretended to be asleep hoping he would leave me alone… He came into my room and held me down and r***d me. Again and again and again until he couldn't go anymore and then he found objects around my room..”

I couldn’t take it anymore. I pulled her into my arms and held her to my chest as she sobbed. My body was on fire with rage. It was taking everything I had not to shift in the middle of this bathroom. Thorin was roaring in my head.

“He didn’t stop.” She croaked from my chest. “He didn’t stop! For years he didn't stop!” She screamed.

“I’m so sorry baby. I’m so sorry…” I whispered to her while cradling her. “He’ll never touch you again. I will never let anyone touch you ever again, I promise you.” I cooed.

I felt a few stray tears of my own fall down my cheeks. As enraged as I was that someone could do something like this, especially to a child, I was so incredibly sad for my mate. This man was supposed to be her father. He was entrusted with her care and he took everything from her. I couldn’t believe she was even here after enduring something so awful.

“You’re not mad?” she croaked out.

“Mad?” I looked down to meet her eyes. “Of course I’m mad.” She quickly buried her head in my chest. I pulled it back up by her chin to look her in the eyes.

“Of course I'm mad. I’m furious.. But not with you. I’m so sorry he did this to you Mel… I’m so sorry.” a few more stray tears fell down my face.

“You don’t think I’m gross?”

“WHAT?” I yelled. She jumped away from me but I pulled her back and held her face in my hands. I lowered my voice. “Gross? Absolutely not! You are the most exquisite thing I have ever seen. You are so beautiful, baby… Inside and out. I knew that from day one. He could never take that from you. Not ever.”

She threw herself forward and wrapped her limbs around my body. I held her as tight as I could as she cried. When she had finally calmed down, I pulled her back to meet her face. “I love you Amelia.. I will spend the rest of my life proving that to you. You will be safe with me, always.” I placed my forehead against hers.

“I think I love you too..” She whispered back to me.

My heart raced at her words. She loved me back? She loved me back! A large smile stretched across my face as I wiped away the tears from her face. I pulled her in for a kiss. She met me with the same amount of passion and heat.

Our kiss grew deeper and more sensual as my hands roamed her wet body. We ended up repeating the previous events of the night multiple times before getting out of the now cold bath.