Chapter 46: Chapter 46

Zaira's POV

The first morning hours after the marking had been terrible. My first waking thought was Aramis. My hand had blindly felt the other side of the bed, had searched for the longed-for warmth, for his strong body, but there had been nothing. I was the only one in his room. Icy fear gripped my heart.

Did he regret the night?

Blood had been pounding in my ears as I shook my head, as if to convince myself I was wrong about that thought.

No , I refused to believe that. Not after we've been through all this. Heart racing, I had swung myself out of bed and was about to run out of the room, following his scent, when a cool breeze brushed my bare legs. I wrapped my arms around myself when I looked down and saw his black shirt on me. He must have put it on me in the night.

I would have loved to bathe in its harsh, masculine scent. The mark had tingled on my neck and my body shuddered.

He had tagged me in every possible way.

My wolf had purred and I had happily gone looking for my mate. Illyria had been right, for the corridor had conformed to my wish and led directly to Aramis.

He and Ares had stood opposite each other, between them a table on which a large map of the landscape was spread out. I might have been curious as to what locality the map gave information about, what the various figures on it meant, or what the war plan was until now, if my attention hadn't been on Aramis exclusively. He'd had his back to me, leaning on the table so I could enjoy observing the muscles in his back showing beneath his combat gear, which he was now fully dressed again. My body had already hungered for his closeness, his big strong hands that felt fantastic on my skin-

Suddenly he had turned around in a flash, his blazing gaze bore into mine and his nostrils flared. I'd heard the squeak as his claws sprung out and scraped across the tabletop. My wolf reacted immediately and my claws also went out without me stopping them. The band of mate had been pulsing violently between us, urging us to annihilate the distance between us as he swept his possessive gaze over my body. His eyes lit up when he saw his shirt on me. "Come here.", deep and dangerous.

I'd flown into his arms and wanted to bury my face in his neck, but settled for his chest as my size didn't allow for anything else. The mark had tingled violently as his hand cupped my neck and ran his thumb over the mark. "Mine," he had growled, his wolf very close to the surface.

I'd smiled, a genuine, overjoyed smile, my heart bursting with happiness and love as I pulled him down for a kiss. The tall, dominant lycan obeyed my nonverbal command. He would never consider following anyone's orders, only mine.

"Find a room lovebirds." Ares had sounded more amused than angry, but I'd pulled away immediately. I'd completely forgotten that Ares was still there, but Aramis hadn't been the least bit embarrassed.

"Oh believe me, we will." His mouth had curled into a sly grin as he positioned himself in front of me in such a way that Ares didn't get a chance to catch a glimpse of me.

Surely as red as a tomato, I'd glared at him, but the corners of my mouth were too revealing and twitched.

Aramis had laughed and there my control was gone, I had joined in his laughter and it had just felt wonderful, right at that moment. I had wished that it would never pass.

It tingled right where his hands touched my body and I snuggled even closer to him. "How far are you?"

Arami's body had tensed. "We are making good progress, in three days Xenos and all other pack leaders will come, then we will all discuss the plan together and inform the soldiers."

They would all merge into one large and powerful army. Serdas should watch out, he didn't know what was coming. My she-wolf liked Arami's razor-sharp mind and the courage and determination he would use to lead and guide thousands of people.

"In three days, then." So if I couldn't heal the goddesses before then, we would officially go to war.

He put two fingers under my chin and lifted it. I was afraid he would see the fear in it, but I couldn't shake the cold that had eaten into my bones. “The war has already begun, nothing can change that. We're going to go into battle one way or the other."

Hard words, but they had been honest. His jaw clenched as I saw the restlessness in his green eyes.

He wanted to fight.

It drove him crazy to be in that room and not on the battlefield, I knew that because I had felt the same urge. Maybe I didn't really want to fight demons, but I wanted to protect the innocent packs. Crushing guilt had made itself known again and was about to wash over me, but I had gritted my teeth. I could do something about it, I wasn't useless and neither was Aramis, the faster we do this, the faster we can save the werewolves and gis...

And destroy Serdas.

I still wasn't entirely comfortable with that thought, but my she-wolf had refused to forgive Serdas, not after what he had done to our mate.

I stuck my chin out determinedly. "Then we'd better get to work so we can get this mess over with as soon as possible."

He had watched me silently for several seconds.

Then he had cupped my face and said, "Damn right," undisguised pride had flickered in his eyes. "But not in this outfit. As much as I love that you're wearing something of mine, only I can tie those legs see, baby. I want Illyria to give you something to wear."

I didn't like the idea of being more in someone's debt and asking for help, but I realized I couldn't walk around in a shirt for the rest of the days, so I agreed. This time. You shouldn't let a dominant wolf get away with anything, and certainly not a lycan, I knew instinctively. "See you later?"

"Of course." A quick, hard kiss. "You're mine."

"And you me." I had stood on tiptoe and bitten his bottom lip, earning me a dark curmudgeon.

**

Three days had passed since then. Not a single day I could remember was as beautiful as the last three. To feel his need for me so clearly, to be sure that he wanted me, Zaira, body and bones, was indescribable. Although we haven't seen each other very much since we were in the gods' palace, as I was constantly searching for a solution to unleashing the omorphic powers and Aramis was busy with war planning and security, the chemistry and desire between us didn't wane. The strong strand of the Mateband pulsated with every touch and made all my cells tingle. I had a constant desire to be with him, to snuggle up to him and to demand even more body privilege, I was obsessed with Aramis. And that it happened to him too made the butterflies in my stomach beat even harder. I felt wanted, needed and important.

My feet, now clad in adorable sandals, flashed with every step from beneath the soft and incredibly soft fabric that snuggled around my body. The dress was sleeveless and was held at the back of my neck by a gold metal ring, another of which was also around my waist.

I couldn't stop myself from stroking the lilac dress again, taking in its shimmering silver sheen. I had never worn such a beautiful piece of clothing before.

Without my having to ask Illyria for it, she gave me the dress with a reprimanding click the very next morning after we arrived, saying:

There was no way I could wear Arami's shirt for a second longer, that would only blow his ego even more!

Maybe she wasn't that wrong after all, after all I've had his smell on me since the marking, as soon as my smell stuck to him. If I didn't watch out for his possessiveness to increase even more, it could suffocate even an omega wolf.

I dutifully followed Illyria to her room, but would have preferred to decline because I didn't know exactly how to deal with so much friendliness and offers. Illyria sensed my intention and energetically pressed several pieces of clothing into my hands and threatened to make me short legs if I didn't try on and show every single one of these clothes right now. So I bit back another comment and took my clothes off in the bathroom, Reah's loud laugh following my every step.

I could still clearly remember Illyria's words, which instantly drowned out Reah's laughter as Illyria tried to convince her to try on one of her dresses as well.

"They would look much better on you than those leathery rags you wear all the time." She grimaced in disgust.

Reah, sitting in a chair waiting for me to show off the clothes, crossed her arms and leaned back demonstratively. "Never mind, no ten angels could persuade me."

"At least look at them." Illyria babbled undeterred and pulled different dresses from her huge closet. Then she held out a dark blue, simple dress to Reah and make your legs even longer, trust me Reah, it-"

Reah glared murderously at the dress, then at Illyria. "Shut up Illyria."

Not even listening to Reah's threat, Illyria continued to rummage through her closet. "Oh I got it, that's it, it just screams Reah!" She pulled out a bright pink dress.

"Wait a minute, I'll get you!" With that, the otherwise calm Reah - who, despite her leather gear, looked more like a model than a warrior gi - jumped up and lunged at Illyria. She squealed in surprise and flew in the last Jump aside so Reah would miss her.

"Zaira, help me!" Illyria screamed in mock hysterics and flew away from Reah in her room. Without hesitation, I launched myself at Reah and we crashed to the ground. Illyria rushed to my aid and we all tussled on the ground.

"Say you're going to wear the pink dress!" Illyria ordered while trying to pin Reah's arms to the floor.

"Never!" Reah hissed and leaned against us with all her strength.

"But it's pink," I countered in a high-pitched voice, dodging Reah's leg, grabbing it and pushing it down. "You love pink!"

Then Illyria suddenly laughed so loud and hard that Reah and I joined in her laughter and giggled out loud. I held my stomach and I cried from our fit of laughter.

After we had recovered from the childish but wonderful game, after countless fittings I had finally decided on a long, fine dress, which made me look older and - I thought - better. Maybe even pretty, just maybe .

Although the scars were clearly visible on my arms and collarbones, they no longer bothered me. I could still feel Arami's eyes burning as he looked at me with longing, felt his lips gently caress my scars and kissed them along.

He thought I was beautiful.

With that in mind, I no longer saw the scars as Alpha Blake's brand, but as a simple memory. The memory that I had survived all the agony and horrors of the Darkmoon pack and emerged from this hell even stronger. Yes, I had decided to wear them with pride and finally put an end to the game of hide-and-seek.

The tall stack of books loomed in front of me on the desk as I made my way into the library and sat down at the now familiar table. With a sigh, I picked the next book off the stack, opened it, and began to read.

In the last three days I had read little new information about healing with omorphia. Illyria, for example, had discovered that before I opened up to omorphy, I needed to hold back a part of myself so I wouldn't accidentally give away all my energy. But it was questionable how that really helped me, I couldn't even heal the goddesses with my full energy.

And that's really all we found out, although Reah, Illyria and I had now gone through just about every book that had any trace of it on the subject, and believe me when I say there were many books, because these The library was enormous, I might almost say infinitely large. Yet no matter how much I read about healing, somehow a crucial piece was missing, and I couldn't shake the feeling that I was missing something important. But I just didn't know what it was.

Frustrated, I closed the book after skimming it to the end and already reached for the next one. Everywhere was always the same in it; Embrace the energies, open but hold back a part of yourself, ask permission, then draw the healing power of omorphism to you and then redirect it into the specific being. Complete. But no matter how many times I tried, the omorphy vehemently refused to serve me, it was driving me crazy!

Of course, I still remembered Reah's words in her tree house, which she repeated to me over and over again. The demons had voluntarily sent out their black, deadly energy so I could take it and transform it through my powers. I knew the omorphs were a different case, and every time - even though I felt weird talking to a flower - I would ask them to give me their powers. But as much as I opened up to her and assured her that my reasons were pure love, it didn't work out.

A few hours later and with no new information gained, I closed another book. I got up with a sigh and had to cling to the chair for a few seconds to keep from tipping over from exhaustion. My stomach growled and clamored for food, I agreed. If I would eat something, my energy reserves would be fit enough to try the Omorphies again.

A look at the clock told me that it was already seven o'clock in the evening - at least according to Earth time - which also explained why Illyria had already disappeared, she always prepared Reah and I something to eat. I smiled at the thought of how dear I had grown to both of them.

I didn't know exactly what space-time relationship the library was in, but judging by the surroundings I could see through the large windows, it must have been early morning because the first rays of sun were already touching the fresh green grass outside.

"Reah?" I called as I left the desk and walked down the narrow aisles between the shelves. The high walls were painted white and covered with thick books.

Endless silence hit me - she wasn't there. I frowned, but then gave an unconcerned shrug, she must have been in the kitchen with Illyria. I stepped out into the wide main corridor when the hairs on the back of my neck rose in alarm.

"Reah isn't here, you little thing. So we're all alone.", the voice echoed through the empty corridors.

My blood froze and I froze. I knew that voice.

Because it was Serda's voice.