PROMISED TO HIM, TAKEN BY THEM

CHAPTER 2 - MATE

Nadia

Like many times before, my sweet dreams morphed into a nightmare that made me sweat and feel like I was dying. In my dream, I was being chased by a monster wolf who wanted my powers to itself and would not back down no matter what I threw at it. The entire woods became a dark abyss, and I could hear a million voices calling out to me to save them from the hands of the evil wolf.

No matter how much I tried to escape from the wolf, everyone I turned to ended up being the wolf, and just as he was about to eat my wolf and I, I woke up with a scream.

“Miss, you were dreaming.” Pearl was holding a cool cloth to my head as she helped me lay back down. “Take a few deep breaths and get yourself back before getting up.”

“Thank you, Pearl.” I felt a bit dizzy. “How long have I been asleep?”

“I came back in after a few minutes, but I saw that you had slept, and since you haven’t been resting well, I let you sleep a bit longer until I noticed you were actually having a fever and –”

“– Pearl!” I interrupted her. “What time is it?”

She stammered as she squeezed the rag.

“A bit past eleven, miss.”

I gasped as I scrambled out of bed. I just wanted to have a quick nap before the event, and now I was late.

“Why would you do this to me Pearl?” I groaned as I rushed to the stand where I was usually dressed up on. “You know how important today is!”

“I am sorry miss.” She opened the door to let the other maid inside and I stood as they took care of different parts of my getting ready routine.

No matter how late I knew I was, I knew better than to rush them in getting me ready. The only thing worse than being late was showing up late and still looking like a mess.

“I’m so sorry miss.” The maid in charge of my hair apologized for the third time after messing up the pin placement again. Her nerves were getting on my nerves, but in order not to freak out, I simply stared pointedly at Pearl.

“Give me that!” Pearl took the pin cushion from the girl and took over the hair arrangement.

“Thank you.” I whispered to her as she redid my entire hair with skill.

When they were all finally done, I stared at myself in awe as I stared at the blue dress which matched my eyes perfectly. Asher had told me that it was his favorite color from the first time we met, but this was the first time I could truly say I believed him.

“You look stunning.” Pearl placed a small hair piece in my white hair that made me look more like a princess. “From Alpha Alaric.”

I touched it slightly and smiled at myself in the mirror. The dress showed the curves on my slender body in a way that was alluring, yet modest. The only part of the dress that seemed to reveal skin was my cleavage area, but Asher was the kind of person to put that on purpose.

Smiling at myself, I decided it wouldn’t be so bad to finally be a part of the family that had been a family to me – even if the idea of being related to Caspian and Zane left a bitter taste in my mouth.

They were the bane of my existence – and not in a good way.

“It’s almost midnight, miss.” Pearl reminded me when she noticed I was lost in my thoughts.

“Oh yeah.” I walked out of my room and followed the guards down the hallway and out into the hall.

“Announcing, Lady Nadia Salvadore of the Salvadore clan. Royal consort to Prince Asher Valequinn, and a special guest of the king.”

I trusted them to be over the top with the introduction this year, but it still felt unreal when I heard the announcement.

The guests turned towards the door, and I curtsied towards them before slowly but steadily making my way towards the royal area where I knew Asher was standing and waiting to see me wearing the dress he had gotten for me.

When I was about halfway through the sea of guests, I heard the chime of the bells signaling that it was midnight. It was the new year, my eighteenth birthday, and the mating bonds were about to be revealed.

“Asher,” I whispered his name to myself as I tried to struggle through the mini chaos that had begun as people were feeling their mate bonds call to them.

Before I could take another step, I felt it – I felt the gentle tug in my chest before it overcame me in a rush.

All I could hear was the howling of my wolf in my head and a ringing in my ears, and I closed my eyes as I followed my instincts toward my goddess chosen mate.

Like the almost physical pull wasn’t enough, I began to smell a mix of scents that almost made me turn into my wolf there and then as I got closer to my mate. It was almost maddening, but in a good way.

I felt guilty for a split second as I remembered that Asher had denied himself this euphoric feeling for me, but it didn’t last as my wolf began howling louder in my head as I reached my mate.

“Mate!” I declared as I opened my eyes, hoping it would be Asher standing before me, but I almost stumbled backwards when I saw the person – no, people – who were standing before me - Caspian and Zane.

The moon goddess had mated me to the Valequinn twins. The boys who had been tormentors of my life for as long as I could remember.

I took a few steps back and bumped into Asher as Caspian and Zane uttered the words that sealed my fate.

“Mate!”

Casper looked like he had seen a ghost, and even if he wanted to hide it, Zane had a small look of shock and disgust on his face.

I turned to Asher as I tried to gather myself in the silence of a hall of onlookers, but before I could say anything, Alpha Alaric stood up in rage and spoke.

“Reject them at once!” He began walking towards us in heavy steps. “Reject them now, Nadia.”

I was trying to speak, but no words could come out of my mouth.

“Nadia, did you hear me? I said –” He clutched his chest, and his eyes widened for a second before he fell flat on the ground.

Asher ran towards him and knelt by his side to check him carefully before looking up and shouting to anyone who would hear.

“He isn’t breathing! Help!”