Alina lifted the braid from her neck trying find some relief from the late morning air. “Now you are just being silly.”
“And your humility and utter obliviousness to all these things about you, only makes you more attractive to others,” Sisily continued. “You are a virtuous woman, pure, good, honest and lovely beyond words. Our Alpha could not have been blessed by the Great Luna by a more worthy mate. The best part about true mates is even though you may have to wait two years, or four years before you can be bonded, he is not going anywhere. You do not have to worry that he will find someone else, Alina. And even if he could, he would never find one that measured up to you.”
Alina felt tears gathering in her eyes at her friend’s assessment of her. Sisily was right; that was not how she saw herself at all. She was well aware of her virtue because being intimate with anyone that was not your true mate was disgraceful. She had no doubt that many males would wind up slaughtering whoever it was that their female had consorted with. But the other qualities she had doubts about.
“Give him a chance, Ali,” Sisily implored. “You might even discover you like him.” She grinned.
“Maybe, but he is quite possessive and overbearing. Those are things that might quickly get on my nerves.”
“Then maybe you should wait and see if a more submissive male peaks your fancy,” Sisily teased. “You know how dominants are and Vasile is as dominant as they come.”
Alina thought about the idea of having a submissive male as a mate, and though she knew there were females who preferred such men, it did not appeal to her. She wanted a male who could protect her and their children if one day they were so blessed. She wanted a male that could provide for her and shelter her, not that a more submissive wolf could not. But dominant males were driven to do such things not just for their mates but for any in need of their protection.
“I guess if I am to have the type of male that I am attracted to, I will have to accept that he will have some tendencies that will ruffle my feathers. After all, I cannot expect him to be perfect.”
Sisily nodded and leaned back on her elbows turning her face up to the sun. “Mated,” she hummed. “I am so happy for you, Ali. He will be good for you, and no doubt you will be very good for him.”
Alina joined her friend laying back on the thick grass and closed her eyes. She hoped Sisily was right. She hoped that she could be the mate he had always desired. And she hoped that he could love her completely as she imagined she would one day love him. Most of all she just hoped he would be willing to wait for her.
“You know this is going to break my brother’s heart,” Sisily said interrupting her thoughts. “He was convinced that you had to be his true mate or he would not feel so strongly towards you. He even did some research in the pack public archives on delayed mating signs.”
Alina’s breath froze in her lungs. She had completely forgotten about Serghei. He had had a crush on her for as long as she could remember but she had never reciprocated and he never pushed the issue. He did bring her all his mending, claiming the females in his house were shoddy stitchers. She did not mind sewing up his clothes and her father had never told her not to. There had only been one time when he had pushed the boundaries. It had been a couple months back; he was walking her home after a village gathering. They were laughing and joking just as they always did. They got on very well, and she considered him a dear friend. When she had reached the door the atmosphere abruptly changed.
“Thank you for walking me home,” she told him. Usually he would smile, nod, say something charming, and then be on his way. This night however he did not step away, he stepped closer.
“Alina,” he whispered her name like a prayer. “I have to know.”
“Know what?” she asked though she was pretty sure she had an idea of what he was speaking about.
He did not give her an answer or time to reject him. Like most werewolves, his movements were swift and smooth. She was in his arms pressed tightly to him and his lips were on hers. She had never been kissed before, but even in her ignorance she was pretty sure that she should feel more than just how uncomfortable the pressure of his lips were. She did not kiss him back but simply held still. She did not know if his wolf was in control or the man, and she did not want to provoke him. So she waited, standing stiff and awkward, until he finally pulled back and released her.
“Did you feel anything?” he asked her.
“Serghei, you are my friend and I love you as a friend. But beyond that there is nothing.” Her voice was gentle but by the flinch in his eyes she felt as if she had slapped him.
“I do not understand how I could possibly feel the way I do about you if you were not my true mate. I will not attempt to kiss you again until the signs show but neither will I stay away.”
She had to give him one thing, if he was nothing else, he was persistent. “I am not asking you to stay away. As I said, you are my friend and that will always be true.”
He nodded but the intense look in his eyes did not lessen. She bid him goodnight and turned to go in. Just as she entered she saw the blouse that Sisily had asked to borrow. Alina had asked her mother to lay it out for her. She grabbed it quickly and hurried back out the door. “Serghei,” she called. He had already made it to the turn in the road that would take him to his home. She held up the blouse and waved it. “Could you please give this to your sister?”
He jogged back to her and accepted it with the smile she was used to seeing. “I will see that she gets it.”
“Thank you!” she called back as she turned back towards her house.
“Sisily?” Alina sat up abruptly as her thoughts began to turn into ideas—ideas that she hoped were not true.
“Hmm,” her friend answered.
“What did you do with that blouse I let you borrow?”
“What blouse?” Sisily sat up beside her. “You never gave it to me. But it was no bother. I figured you forgot about it. My mother had one that was perfectly fine for the next time we go to market.”
“Gâscă!” Alina snarled.
Sisily gasped because young women did not typically swear, especially Alina. “What is wrong?”
Alina stood up and brushed herself off and then grabbed Sisily’s hand and helped her up. “What is wrong is that I gave that blouse to your brother a couple of months ago and told him to take it to you. If he did not give it to you, then what do you think he has done with it?”
Sisily’s eyes went wide as she realized what Alina was implying. “Surely he would not keep it,” she reasoned. Her eyes darted from side to side as if at any moment someone was going to jump out and yell ‘caught you’! “Oh, oh no!” Sisily grabbed Alina’s arm to stop her from walking. “What if it is in his room? He would not do something so improper, right?” When Alina did not answer she shook her. “Right!”
“He kissed me,” Alina finally admitted. She had not told her friend out of respect for Serghei. She knew that males could be touchy about their egos, and she did not want his sister to think less of him, not that she would.
“HE WHAT?” she shouted.
Okay, so maybe she would think less of him. “It was just another attempt to see if maybe the signs would appear,” Alina said quickly and then began walking again. She was not sure where she was going until her feet were moving in the direction of the meeting place, where she hoped the males remained. If they were not, then that meant that Vasile was probably making his rounds to homes to say hello and introduce himself and his warriors.
“Did you kiss him back?”
Alina shook her head and then huffed. “Of course not. I don’t feel anything for him other than brotherly affection. He is simply infatuated with me.”
“Stealing your clothes and hiding them is not simple infatuation,” Sisily argued. “You know why he took it. It is, I mean, how,” she stumbled as her face grew redder and redder. “He wanted your scent, Alina! Your scent is in his room, probably in his bed because that is more than likely whe
re the little pervert stashed it.”
“Do not call him that. He is just confused.”
“You had better stop defending him, Alina. If Vasile catches your scent in another male’s bed, the worst thing you could do is defend that male to your mate. If you want my brother to die a painful death than tell Vasile not to call him all the things that you know he is going to.”
Alina was not worried about Vasile yelling obscene names at Serghei; she was worried he would not yell at all. She had seen in his eyes that his silence was so much more deadly than any snarling could ever be. She quickened her pace as she thought about poor, albeit stupid, Serghei facing off with one such as Vasile. When they reached the covered area where the larger gatherings were held her feet came to a sudden halt. There was no one there.
“Gâscă.” It was Sisily who swore this time and Alina did not give it a second thought. She was too busy pulling up her dress so she could run. She called on her wolf’s power and felt her muscle move inhumanly fast as Sisily stayed right on her heels.
They finally reached the dusty track that would take them to Sisily’s house. Alina knew immediately that they were too late.
“Why is it so quiet?” Sisily asked in a whisper as though talking any louder would somehow cause all hell to break loose.
“Because someone is about to die,” Alina answered soberly.
Romanian Proverb # 6
Orice pãcat poate fi iertat.
There is mercy for everything.
“We can start at Sain’s home,” Petre told Vasile as they left the gathering hall. Things had once again gone well. There had been a great sense of relief when Vasile had explained to them that he had been unaware of the state of many of the villages, and that he would be remedying it immediately. He let them know that he knew what his job was as Alpha and that he would make sure that things would never get like that again. Many had offered their condolences to him and welcomed him as their Alpha. All of the males had submitted to him when the time came for him to ask for any challengers. It was a good thing there had been none because he was edgy. Being away from Alina, with no commitments from her, was making his wolf very agitated. And knowing that she was too young to claim was not doing a whole lot for his control either. It was not completely unheard of for true mates to find one another before they were mature, and in truth as long as the female was able to bear children and the parents were amiable, then she could be claimed. But Vasile knew it would not be fair to Alina to ask her to become an Alpha and be mated to one as dominate as he at the tender age of sixteen. Even he was not that selfish. At least he hoped he was not.
“Alpha, I am Sain.” A man shorter than Vasile, though almost as wide held out his hand. Vasile took it shaking it once. “We are honored to have you in our home. My mate, Theris, has made some special treats for the occasion.”
“She need not have gone out of her way,” Vasile said congenially.
Sain chuckled. “Yes, well Alpha, once you have a mate you will see that when they put their mind to something there is not a whole lot you can do to sway them.”
Vasile frowned at the man’s words. He did not like to think that Alina would not listen to his council. Surely, she would know that he would always have her best interest at heart. As they reached a slightly larger cottage, he noticed the road that ran alongside it wound back around to Alina’s house. It took every bit of his will power not to just keep walking until he was there with her, holding her, smelling her. He stepped into the home, ducking beneath the doorframe as he often had to do. For a moment he was surprised at how keen his imagination had become because he swore he could smell her, as if she were here in the house with him.
They ushered him to a table in the kitchen. He noticed a door just to the right of the kitchen that led to a bedroom, and then several feet to the right of that, he saw another door. As he sat down a young man emerged from the door closest to the kitchen.
“Alpha, this is my son, Serghei,” Sain said.
Serghei took a step towards him holding out his hand. Vasile stood and the younger man had to look up just a little to look at his face. Vasile was six foot four inches tall, so he guessed Serghei to be around six foot even. He took a step even closer so that the boy’s hand was nearly touching his stomach. When Vasile took the hand he saw Serghei flinch. He would have loosened his grip, had he cared that he was hurting him.
“Would you please explain to me why you reek of my mate’s scent?” Vasile’s words were slow and measured. Serghei tried to take a step back but Vasile’s grip was too tight for him to move.
“I uh, I do not know who your mate is, Alpha,” he sputtered as he tried not to look Vasile in the eyes.
Vasile closed his eyes and tilted his head in the direction of the room Serghei had just exited. He did not even have to breathe deep to catch it. He pushed the boy into Ion’s hold. “Do not let go of him.”
Ion nodded and gripped his charge by the arms.
“Vasile,” Sain spoke up. “If you please, tell me what this is about. There must be some misunderstanding.”
Vasile ignored the man as he entered the room. It was not a large room and there was no window for light. Only the flame of a gas lantern pierced the darkness. The further he walked into the room, the stronger her scent became. And when he was standing directly next to the bed, it overwhelmed him. He reached down and tossed the pillow out of the way and a low, deadly growl rumbled as he picked up a piece of clothing that was obviously meant for a woman. He held it to his face, and when he caught the other male’s scent mixed with Alina’s, he nearly lost it. The carefully controlled rage that he kept under tight reign pulled and pushed at the constraints. Vasile did not allow himself to growl and snarl as many males did when they were angry. He did not have that luxury. He knew that if he were to release his wrath, many, many people would die. The wolves who knew him had learned very quickly that the quieter he became, the more deadly his fury would be.
Once he was sure that he would not kill everyone in the other room, he allowed himself to walk out. Several of the men from the meeting had followed them, and so the living area and kitchen were full. All eyes were on him. When he held up the blouse, the gasp was collective from the males followed by growls. They knew the pup was not mated and, therefore, had no excuse for having female belongings in his possession, let alone his bed.
The only one not growling was Theris, Sain’s wife. She walked right past Vasile and into her son’s space. Her eyes were narrowed and her jaw was clenched so tightly it was a wonder she did not break her teeth.
“What have you done?” she growled as only a female could. Like a whip striking skin her words slapped the male and he recoiled.
“I did not do anything. I swear, I did not t-t-touch her,” he pleaded, first looking at his mother and then at Vasile.
It was the stutter that had given him away. “If you lie to me again, I will force your phase and skin you.”
Serghei paled and swallowed hard. “I kissed her. That is all.”
Vasile stepped back and leaned against the wall behind him. The thought of Alina in the pup’s arms, in that bed, kissing, touching, and doing other things, was nearly too much. The shirt was gripped tightly in his hand, and he struggled not to shove it down the young man’s throat. Maybe he was overreacting. I found my mate’s blouse in another man’s bed, he thought to himself. No, I am definitely not overreacting. There was a part of him that knew―knew that Alina had not been in Serghei’s bed. He knew that she had not compromised her virtue, but the jealous beast in him did not care. It wanted blood.
“Vasile.” Her voice cut through the thick silence, penetrating the haze of fury that had begun to consume his logical thinking mind.
His eyes opened slowly and he saw her standing in the open door. The group had parted making a straight path for her. She did not move. She met his gaze and held it. He growled. Now was not the time for her to challenge him.
“Alina, please,” Serghei started but V
asile’s power rushed through the room dropping everyone to their knees.
“You are not allowed to speak, especially not to her.” He did not have to look at the male for him to know to whom he was speaking. His eyes were still on Alina, who was the only one still on her feet. He could tell the force of his authority was weighing on her, but she was his equal and therefore the only one who would never have to kneel before him.
He waited, waited to see if she would come to him, waited to see if she would defend the male as a lover, and waited to see if she would rip his heart from his chest.
She took a step towards him, and then another, and another until he could feel her breath on the skin of his arms that were folded against his chest. Her eyes did not waver as she kept her shoulders pulled back wearing the confidence of a female twice her age. Her hand reached up and she laid it softly on his arm as her eyes implored him. “Can we step outside, please?”
He wanted to give her what she wanted. He wanted to sweep her off of her feet and get her as far from the room full of males as he could. Instead he shook his head. “Explain this to me.” He held up the now crumpled blouse.
“I gave it to him to give to his sister. She had asked to borrow it.”
“Where was his sister at the time?”
“She was still at the pack gathering. Serghei….”
Vasile growled. He did not like Serghei's name on her lips.
She paused pointedly as if to say are you finished. He lifted a brow at her. “He walked me home to make sure I got there alright.”