The Imperial Triad

Chapter Nine

Lip POV

“I know that Tobias’ parents haven’t been welcoming in the least. Please know that we already think of you as our own. You will always have a home and family here. No matter what, dear.” Inessa whispered to me as she pulled me into a hug. Tears brimmed my eyes as her words filled me with hope about my future here.

Even if some of the members, including my mates parents, were opposed to us being together at least they had my back. It had been a long time since any of us were really a part of a family. We considered our group a little family of its own but it was nice to have parental figures accepting us for once.

I had made the decision to come out to my parents when I was just 13. My father was enraged for the same reasons as Tobias’. We had come from Germany when I was just a baby. I was the only child of a wealthy diplomat. The only one who would carry on the legacy of him. He shipped me off to the home land and placed me in Sauer-Institut, an all boys boarding school. I’m not sure what about an ‘all boys’ boarding school made him think it would ‘straighten’ me out. I soon found friends who were in a similar predicament as me.

My father wouldn’t even let me come home for the holidays, nor would he come visit. I would get letters from my mother on occasion, begging me to change my ways so I could return home. Over the years they arrived less and less. My roommate, Luka, was a werewolf. I had spent 4 years in the same room as him before finding out that he wasn't human. Our graduating year at the academy Luka turned 18. He found his mate the same day. He was another boy who we shared one class with but otherwise didn’t associate with. He was the biggest a**hole of the school. Constantly getting in fights with the few of us who dated amongst our classmates.

His mate rejected him on the spot. Luka was so messed up after it that he ended up telling me everything. He told me about werewolves and what the mate bond was. All about shifting and pack life. Luka made me promise that I would never tell a soul. It was against his laws to expose a human to their kind without his Alphas permission. Thinking back now I wondered if he knew all along what I was and that’s why he decided to confide in me. I would have to track him down to find out.

I said my goodbyes to the girls for the night and made my way down the stairs. Tobias was in the shower when I came into the bedroom. I went into the fabulous closet now filled with the designer clothes I picked out. I pulled on some gray sweats and a t-shirt. Patchouli and vanilla filled the air as Tobias came in with nothing but a towel wrapped loosely around his waist. His light brown curls still wet from the shower hung loosely around his face.

I felt myself instantly harden at the sight of him. He seemed to have noticed as my member grew underneath my thin sweats. I closed the distance between us and pulled in for a kiss. I placed my hungry lips against his. I would never get tired of the sparks that detonated under my skin from his touch. They were so light and airy. I kissed him until my lungs burned, desperate for air.

“Well that was a nice hello.” Tobias chuckled as he tried to catch his breath. I laughed with him and let him get dressed. I laid on the bed while I waited for him. When he came back out I opened my arms and motioned for him to join me. I scooted to the head of the bed and laid my back against the headboard as he cuddled up next to me. “Did you and the girls get everything picked out for the ceremony?”

“We did. We were also informed by Inessa that we have to mate and mark our mates before the ceremony takes place…”

“Oh, she told you that, huh?” He said.

“Um.. yeah. Why didn’t you?” I asked.

“I.. don’t know. I guess I just didn’t want to add anymore pressure after everything else.”

“Pressure?” I asked. “Tobias, I don’t feel any pressure when it comes to being with you. This is the first place I’ve felt like I belonged in years. Right here with you. I haven’t forced anything s****l on you… and I wouldn’t. I’m just surprised you didn’t tell me since this is going to be something very new for you. And now we have a time limit…”

“I know, I know. The conversation about the ceremony just happened so fast.. I just thought I would have more time. I mean it’s not like I could openly say I’m scared to have s*x with you because my father demonized me for so many years, so can we postpone the ceremony?”

“But we can..” I cooed. “You don’t have to rush into this. It’s your decision on when you’re ready, not anyone else's.”

“We can’t.. Everyone else and their mates are ready. Our pack is ready, we’ve made them wait long enough.”

“Tobias, what can I do for you? I don’t want to force you… How can I help you be ready?”

He got from my arms and started to pace in front of the bed. He looked like he was having an internal dialogue. I assumed he was arguing with his wolf. “Tobias?” I called out to him.

“I’m embarrassed!” He yelled back and stopped his pacing. “I’m embarrassed okay?! I’m 25 years old and I’m afraid to have s*x with you because I have no idea what I’m doing! I have no idea how to be with you!”

I quickly got up from the bed and moved to him. “Is that it?” I chuckled. “That’s nothing. Everyone feels that way at some point.”

He pushed himself away from me and sneered. “Don’t patronize me, Lip”

I pulled him back by the arm. “Don’t push me, you little brat.” He pushed me again and I lifted him in my arms and threw him on the bed. I climbed over the top of him and pinned him by the wrist. I wasn’t trying to turn myself on but my c**k twitched in my pants as he squirmed under me. “I’m not trying to patronize you. Stop being a brat and let me talk. You may be beta but in this room, you are not in charge.” I lowered my mouth to his. His soft full lips swelled undermine as I nipped and sucked on them. He whimpered softly and I let go of his wrist I still had pinned above his head. His hands roamed my body and moved under my shirt as I continued my assault on his lips.

I felt his hand brush my shaft as he tried to grip it in his hand. His free hand reached around the back of my hand and pulled me in closely. I pulled away slightly and swatted his hand away. “Not so fast. There’s plenty of things I want to do to you before we get to that.” I grabbed the waistband of his pants and let my fingers lightly touch the skin below. “Can I touch you?” I said in a sultry voice. Tobias gulped but nodded eagerly. I pulled his pants down and discarded them, followed by his shirt. I removed my own before moving him to the head of the bed. I met his lips again and started to move down his body. Starting at his jaw, over to his ear, and then down to the spot my mark would bare. I continued my trail down his body until my face was inches away from his hardened c**k. “Are you okay?” I asked. He nodded in response. I firmly gripped his d**k in my hand and placed the tip of it in my mouth. I heard him hiss from the sudden warmth. I flicked my tongue around the tip as he moaned. “Mmmm” I purred as I tasted the prec*m that started to seep out of him. His hips bucked under me as the vibration rang through his base.

I slowly started to bob my head up and down his shaft. My lips stretched as I reached the base of his c**k. I have to admit it was larger than I imagined. I felt him pulse in the back of my throat as he begged for release. My hand reached under me and found his balls. I started to massage them, they were tight and heavy with his load. Tobias wrapped his finger in my hair and assisted in my movements. His hips started to meet my movements as I bobbed up and down his shaft. I felt his body start to tighten and I pushed him to the back of my throat once more. I made swallowing movements with him in my throat.

“I can’t take it..” he said breathlessly. “I’m going to…” Moans of ecstasy filled the room as he emptied his seed down my throat. I continued to suck, greedily taking him all in. “I can’t take it anymore.” He said breathlessly under me. I pulled my mouth from his sensitive s*x with an audible pop. I slowly crawled up until my face was hovering over his and placed a soft kiss. Tobias wrapped his fingers in my hair and pulled me in. Deepening our kiss. He kissed me with passion and heat as I matched his intensity.

“Holy, s**t” he said breathlessly.

“Why thank you.” I joked.

Tobias shook his head “I’m sorry, I freaked out on you.”

“It’s okay, we’ll figure this out. One step at a time. Okay?”

“Okay.” he chimed back

_______

Mikhailo POV

I woke up as the sun came through the windows. Amelia was still asleep curled up next to me. I softly rubbed her back as I studied her face and contemplated what she admitted to me last night. How on earth could a father do that to their child? Blood or not. How could a person do that to anyone? He was entrusted with her care.. And that’s what he did with it. How could no one notice? How did no one help her through all those years of torture? It was beyond me. It enraged me. I couldn’t possibly understand how my beautiful mate survived all those years.

I knew she was strong. I knew that just from watching her how she handled everything since we met. She watched her home burn down right in front of her eyes and never shed a tear. Jana was distraught, Lip looked sick, but amelia? She comforted her friends. Never once did she waver. Thinking of that, I needed to check in with the team assigned to finding Noel. They hadn’t reported anything yet which was odd considering our target was human.

Even when I stupidly yelled at her after her shift, she never cowared to me. She stood her ground and matched my energy. Not a single she-wolf had ever handled my anger so well. I was actually a bit taken aback by it. She implemented herself that night as my equal. She showed me she would not accept less than that.

She wore a suit of armor around her. Thicker than mine, stronger than any wolf in this pack. It was built from years of trauma and struggle. Something told me I was just scratching the surface on her sheer strength. Amelia was nothing short of a miracle.

She started to stir awake as my thoughts ran through my head. I pushed them all aside for the time being.

Good morning… I linked her. Even though she wasn’t officially part of the pack yet, I would be able to link her since we have completed the mate bond.

Amelia..

She turned to face me with wide eyes. “Did you just talk to me in my mind!?”

“Yes” I laughed. “It’s called a mind link. Now that we have marked each other I can link you anytime, vice versa. After you officially join the pack you’ll be able to link all of the members.”

“Really?!” she squeaked. “That’s so cool! A little freaky but cool! Let me try.”

She closed her eyes and scrunched her nose as she concentrated. This was the first time I had seen this look on her face, it was utterly adorable. Just then her voice came through.

Good morning! She chirped through the link. She opened her eyes with an excited smile.

Good morning, my love. I linked back. The smile grew larger across her face.

“I have to go down for morning training, love. Breakfast won’t start for another 2 hours if you’d like to go back to sleep.”

“Morning training?” she quizzed.

“All pack warriors train for 3 hours every morning 6 days a week. The boys and I haven’t gone since we brought you three to the pack but we can’t keep missing it. It’s important for us to train alongside our men and women.”

“You have women warriors?”

“Yes, anyone who wants to train as a pack warrier is welcome too.It’s all voluntary. Some of our strongest members are women.”

“Can I train with you?” she asked.

“I don't know.. It’s very rigorous amelia.”

“Oh come on, Mikhailo! The moon goddess basically told us that we would be the ultimate weapons in some war that is bound to happen. Don’t you think it would be smart to train for combat?”

“You make a good point.. Even though I’ll do my best to keep you off any battlefield. I’ll tell you what.. Let’s get through the ceremony and introduce you to the pack and then we can ease you into training. You should know it’s not going to be easy. We’re known as the fiercest pack in the northwest for a reason.”

“Please, I'll be taking you down in no time.” she said smugly.

I laughed again. “Okay, my little warrior. Go back to sleep.” and placed a kiss on her forehead.

“Actually I’m going to take a bath. I’m still a little sore from last night.”

“I’m sorry love.. I’ll start the water for you.”

After getting her bath situated I gave her another kiss goodbye and headed down for morning training. As I reached the back training field the pack members were filling into formation. I joined the 6 team leads in front.

“Glad to see you join us, Alpha. Will the other ranking members be returning from their beauty rest as well?” Jonah, one of the team leads, joked.

“WE HEARD THAT!” Carter yelled as he and Tobias approached the field.

“Easy Jonah, we had good reasons for our absence. We have exciting news to announce at the end of training.” I smiled at him.

“Well let’s get started then.”

We started the morning with 25 minutes of stretches and mobility exercises. When I took over as alpha I implemented this training regimen. I noticed in small battles with rogues how stiff and rigid their movements were. Making them easy targets. My warriors thought it was stupid at first but after a couple weeks everyone noticed how fluid their movements started to become. They became swifter in their attacks and were able to bend in twist away from their opponents attacks as well. Upping our defense tactics.

Once we were nice and warmed up we separated into our running groups. Our morning runs consisted of 5 miles in our human form and 10 in our wolf forms. Trinity Moon had just under 500 warriors amongst the ranks. Meaning almost half the pack trained for battle to protect their home, loved ones, elders and children. I was beyond proud as an Alpha to have such a strong and large army. Since our army was so large for our run we split into 3 groups. Each ranking member led a group while 2 team leads ran in the back of each group to watch for any stragglers.

_____

Amelia POV

I sat and soaked in the warm water until my muscles started to relax. The soreness from the night before finally started to subside after a while. I decided I would get ready for my day and see if Mr. Weatherbee would let me help prepare breakfast for everyone. Since I was already up so early I didn’t want to go back to sleep. I dried off and used the warm vanilla body butter Mikhailo picked out for me before throwing up my curls in a messy fashion. I wrapped the towel tightly around my body and exited the bathroom.

“Who the f**k are you?!” a petite blonde woman barked. She was lounging on our bed as if she owned the place.

“Excuse me? Who are you? Why are you here?” I sneered.

“I’m Mikhailo’s girlfriend. WHY ARE YOU IN HIS ROOM!?” she screamed back as she started to close in on me.

I laughed at this point. Girlfriend.. Really? Even I knew at this point that werewolves don't have girlfriends unless they were still looking for their mates. And well, here I was.

“What’s so f******g funny, slut?” she sneered again practically spitting in my face this time. I about had enough of this b***h.

“First off get the f**k out of my face.” I said as calmly as I could and pushed her back with a single finger to the forehead. With me being new to having a wolf I knew I had to be careful seeing she was easily 5 inches shorter than me. “Second off, I’m his mate. See?” I said and pointed to the fresh mark on my neck. “You need to get out of here.”

Her face reddened as her eyes hung on my mark. She started to breathe heavily. If this was a cartoon steam would be pouring from her ears. “You’re lying!” she screamed. “I’M HIS MATE! I’M GOING TO BE LUNA! YOU’RE JUST A w***e!”

“ENOUGH!” I barked. I was barely hanging on to my patience at this point. “You need to leave now.” I grabbed her by the elbow and escorted her to the bedroom door. She fought and screamed as we entered the hallway.

“He’s mine! Stay away from him!”

A sharp pain rang from my nose as her fist collided with it. A bit startled, I took a couple steps back and wiped it. The blood trickling from my face and now pooling in my hand was enough for my control to fly out the window. Rhiannon shoved me to the back of my mind and the fight was on. I could see the blonde baring her fang at me as her wolf threatened to shift as well. She was the first to swing again. Rhiannon ducked causing her to miss by a mile. We continued this game of cat and mouse as I fought for control over my body.

The words she spoke sunk in as her fist managed to make contact with my right cheek. “You could never be Luna! You’re just some outsider w***e! HE LOVES ME!”

“HE IS MINE” Rhiannon roared. It came out gargled as mine and rhiannon voices mixed through the rage. I gave her complete control. She was ending this now. I grabbed the woman by the throat in one hand and by the leg with the other. Before I knew it we were standing at the top of the steps with her over our head. She was clawing with all her might at my hand around her throat as she gasped for air.

“AHHH” I roared and threw her with all my might. It rang so loud the castle shook around us. Her body flew so far it missed all three flights of stairs before landing at the base of them. I saw the staff come out of nowhere and surround the woman.

“DO. NOT. TOUCH. HER.” Rhiannon held so much venom in her words. I was afraid she was losing control. I tried to fight but she would not give me back control.

________

Mikhailo POV

I started to feel a bit agitated 4 miles into our run. I could see Tobias and Carter on each side of me reacting to my difference in temperament.

What’s going on boss? Carter linked

I don’t know… I feel pissed off but it’s like it’s not me.

My nose started to burn out of nowhere. I wiped it expecting to see blood but to my surprise there wasn’t any.

What the hell is going on..

It’s MATE! Thorin screamed in my head.

That’s when we heard it, or more felt it. A roar rang so loud through the air the ground shook around us.

“What the hell! If that didn’t come from you, who was that?!” Tobias yelled as our ranks broke apart behind us.

“Amelia!” I shifted mid air and took off towards the packhouse. Tobias and Carter fell in line behind me as we raced the 5 miles back to the packhouse. All 500 warriors followed suit as their team-leads regathered ranks. We didn’t know what we were heading into but they were all prepared to back their alpha.

I was the first to reach the front door. I grabbed a spare pair of shorts we had stashed for these occasions as I made my way into the foyer. The staff was all gathered in the foyer at the bottom of the stairs with fear stricken faces. The sight before me was not one I would have expected. My mate was slowly stalking down the stairs in nothing but a towel with black eyes. Her fang and claws were extended and she was practically foaming at the mouth as she made her way down. The group surrounding the stairs parted as I came through. At the base of the stairs Lanie, my ex-girlfriend, laid there unconscious. She had a broken leg and a few cuts and bruises but nothing that wouldn't heal within a few days.

“Amelia what is going on?!” I yelled.

She said nothing. Still fuming as her wolf threatened to shift. She pushed herself past me and gripped lanie at the base of the hair. The group parted again as Tobias and Carter came through. Amelia lifted lanie into the air and with one swift throw threw her through the front doors. We watched as her limp body rolled down the front of the steps and out of sight. The warriors still in wolf form standing before the packhouse waited patiently for a command.

I grabbed my mate by the shoulder and spun her around to face me. “Bring Amelia back now!” I commanded. Even though she was my equal and my commands technically had no effect on her, Rhiannon submitted. Amelia's eyes returned to her light pink as she buried her face into my chest.

“What is going on?” I asked again, softer this time.

“The Luna was only defending herself Alpha,” Mr Weatherbee answered first. The crowd gasped as they realized the assailant was indeed their future Luna. Her mark was still red from her recent marking and stuck out against her almost bare body. “I heard screaming from the top floor and when I came out of the kitchen I saw Lanie strike the luna. She got exactly what she deserved.”

A deep growl emitted from my chest as I pulled Amelia deeper into my chest. My mate had only been in the packhouse for a couple of days and already she was attacked. I was livid. The punishment for laying a hand on Luna was death or banishment. Even for the Alpha. I should have known Lanie wouldn’t have respected our laws.

“Tobias, take Lanie to the pack hospital. See that she is restrained and stays put until I’m ready to deal with her. Carter, take the warriors and finish training.”

“Everyone will appear behind the packhouse for a pack meeting at 9 o’clock. No excuses! Back to work!” I command and sent a link to all pack members. Everyone scattered leaving only my mate and I in the foyer.

Amelia’s eyes met mine. Tears brimmed the corners of hers. I lifted her in my arms and ran up the stairs to our bedroom. I sat her on the bed and went to the closet. I grabbed one of my t-shirts and helped her pull it over her body. A knock came from the bedroom door as Lip called through.

“Eli, what’s going on? Are you okay?”

I opened the door and let him in. Jana wasn’t far behind. We stood around Amelia as tears ran down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry.” she finally said. “I’m so sorry Mikhailo. I didn’t mean to cause a scene. I just lost it, I’m so sorry.”

“Baby, you did nothing wrong.” I cooed and sat beside her. “Tell me what happened.”

“I came out of the bathroom and she was laying in our bed! She started screaming at me and calling me a liar when I told her we were mates. She claimed to be your girlfriend and said that you loved her. I pushed her out of the room and then she called me a w***e and hit me in the face. I lost it after that. Rhiannon took control.”

“She was in our room?!” I asked. I had never allowed her in here. She knew my bedroom was off limits.

“Yes! She kept screaming that you were mates and she was going to be Luna!”

“Never.. I’m so sorry Amelia. I should of know she would try something like this.”

“Who even is she?” Jana asked.

“She's my ex-girlfriend.” I looked at Amelia and reemphasized “EX…. I broke up with her years ago, but she has been persistent and getting me back ever since.”

“How did you know something was going on? You came out of nowhere.” Amelia asked.

“You shook the castle, Eli.” lip commented.

“Actually… she shook the pack grounds.. I was almost 5 miles away.” I added.

“WHAT?” they all three screeched.

“Yeah,” I laughed. “Well I felt your anger through our bond.. And then the ground shook.”

They all stared back at each other in amazement. “Mate bond? You marked each other!” Jana squealed. “Stupid b***h, we should be celebrating right now, but now we have to deal with this!”

“No f**k her, bring it in!” Lip said and pulled the girls in for a group hug. They hugged as the girls squealed. I was relieved to see a smile back on my mate's face. Now we just had to address the pack and deal with Lanie.