Alari's pov
Damien's scent was the first thing I perceived when I began to awaken from my slumber.
Curling my fingers, I felt the softness of his fur and opened my eyes to find his big Lycan head on my lap, snoring softly.
A sense of warmth washed over me as I watched my mate's majestic, sleeping, Lycan form.
He looked so cute, I wanted to bite him!
I could also feel him more distinctly, and we seemed to be feeding off of each other, off of our bond.
I could feel his life force pulsing through me so strongly, I wondered if he could feel me the same way.
“Yes, I can” Roman growled softly, his eyes still closed but his subtle rubbing gave his state of consciousness away.
“Hey! I thought I put up a wall so you couldn't invade my mind” I playfully rolled my eyes but was genuinely curious to know how he was able to break through my mental wall.
Could it be the current state of our bond? It felt a lot more powerful, and I'd never felt so connected to him.
I could literally feel his heart beating louder than my own!
“You tell me, one minute I'm putting you to bed, the next you're glowing and then boom, I'm a Lycan” it was Damien this time, making me giggle as I took in everything he'd just said.
“I don't remember any of that” I said, smiling as he finally opened his eyes, yawning as he shook the sleep off.
“You were sleeping, Sapphira was very present though” Roman said, making wonder what actually happened the night before.
“We basically merged with the gateway, and we pumped our mate full of Goddess power” Sapphira said, laying her head on her paws and closed her eyes as if talking to me was a nuisance.
Deciding to ignore the brat, I returned my focus on Damien, only now noticing the change in his power.
He was already a strong Lycan Alpha from a great bloodline to begin with. Now he felt like a literal army tank ready to take down whatever stood in his way.
“You scared me yesterday” he finally said, breaking the silence between us. It was Roman's pained whine that had my heart in a death grip, the pain he was feeling striking me like lightning.
I didn't understand why he was feeling such pain because I'd successfully put up the barrier and they didn't even have to knock me out.
“It's okay my love, I'm okay” I said, giving him a reassuring smile but it only seemed to make him sadder.
“Alari, we crossed over, went through the gateway” Sapphira said, her voice now filled with sadness.
It took a minute for me to understand everything that was happening and what she'd just said.
Crossed over? That means… “I died” I said and he felt it, he felt me die.
I tried searching for the memory in Damien's mind as discreetly as I could but I felt him push me out, unwilling to let me see what happened.
“Damien…” I whispered but lost my words when his brown eyes looked away from me.
“I don't want to feel that again, I couldn't bare losing you. I won't survive it Alari” he said, whining as he brought his head up to my stomach, the electrifying warmth causing butterflies in my stomach.
“I promise to never go into, or through, the gateway again, I will never do any spells that put my life at risk and I'll never put myself in danger again… I promise you Damien” I said, feeling ashamed of myself.
How could I put him through all that? He literally felt me die! Some wolves even die from the pain of losing their mates, that's how bad it is and I put him through that.
“I will never put anyone above you again” I whispered, sorrow closing up my throat. I had realised my mistake and I swear I'll never repeat it. I will never hurt him like that again.
“I don't think I can ask you to put me before the pack love, they're your people” he said, now turning to look at me.
“You're not asking me to abandon our pack Damien, you're asking me to stay alive and last time checked, if I die, it all goes to shit” I said, trying to lighten up the mood and even though I could see a bit of humour shining in his eyes, I also saw the hurt and fear.
“What I did wasn't putting the pack first, it was selfish and reckless and it hurt you and I'm sorry. I will never put anyone or anything above you. My mate, my King” I said, the last part stroking his ego.
“This is our Kingdom, and these are our people. I'm sorry for scaring you like that. I love you Demi” I said, shortening his name for the very first time.
“Demi?” He snorted, making me giggle at how ridiculous it sounded.
“I think I like it” he said, making me laugh, throwing my head back against the pillow. The sound of bones breaking was what cut my laughter short, making me pay attention to Damien, drooling as his sexy nakedness stood in front of me.
“You didn't hold me all night, time to make up for it” I purred, pulling the blankets on his side of the bed open.
With a smirk, he laid himself over me, holding his weight up with the hands he'd caged my head in and leaned down to kiss me passionately, pushing his tongue into my mouth.
I didn't even want to challenge his dominance, I let him have me to his heart's content.
“Mmmm I guess I'm forgiven” I smiled up at him as we broke the kiss.
“Like I could ever stay mad at you” he chuckled before taking my lips again, this time, heavy and heated and my body responded in kind.
I'd never turn down make up sex!
“Blue or purple” Damien asked as he held up two dresses for me to choose from and I frowned at both.
“Why do I have to wear a dress? My body's been through a lot today, bring me sweats” I said, making him smirk at me.
“The council and the Alphas of the packs will be joining us today, I had Bryce make the arrangements last night” he said, causing my eyes to almost fall out.
“What?!” I almost yelled, the implication very clear.
“It's time my love, your kingdom must know you” he said, making me sigh. He was right, I was just bummed I couldn't stay in the shadows a little longer.
“Plus there's the whole barrier thing we have to explain” I sighed again, getting up from the alcove to approach him, taking the long, loose blue dress over the tight purple one.
“Pick this one, it makes your eyes pop” he said, making me squint my eyes at him.
“I think you want to show off” I said, knowing how well the purple dress fit me and still remained classy.
“And what's wrong with that?” He threw his hands up, the movement so exaggerated, he looked like a child being denied a second cookie.
“Absolutely nothing” I said, dropping the towel to put on my underwear. His eyes darkened with lust, and my breath hitched, the thought of what he did to me just an hour ago running rampant in my head.
I opted to go without a bra because the straps would show and because the dress had enough layers to cover my titties beautifully.
Slipping the dress on quickly, I looked at Damien from under my eye lashes to find him frozen in place with a massive hard on tenting the towel he had on.
With a low growl, he took two big steps and closed the distance us, causing me slight panic and a lot of excitement.
“You have no idea what you do to me” he said and locked our lips, the kiss growing more heated with every passing second.
“No, food!” I said, trying to push away from his hold but he had zero intentions of letting me go.
“Give me only thirty minutes” he said, kissing down my neck to my mark and I swear I came right then and there but I had to keep a cool head if we were ever going to leave this room.
I wanted to check the border for myself, not just take Damien's word for it.
“We have so much to do” I tried to steel my voice but it betrayed me, moaning in encouragement of his ministrations.
“Demi” I moaned, hoping the terrible nickname would turn him off, but the sound of it made me see the error of my ways.
“Now I know you didn't expect that to sound as sexy as it did” he chuckled against my mark and all I could do was shiver, my body melting against him.
“Twenty minutes” I said, pulling his head up so he could see how serious I was.
“Thirty” he said with a toothy grin and sealed my lips with his before I could say anything.
Almost an hour and a quick shower later, I was sat in one of the private dining rooms with Pearl, Mason and my parents trying to enjoy breakfast.
Pearl wouldn't stop talking about my rosy cheeks, indirect compliments that made Damien's ego quite insufferable.
And when my embarrassment seemed to die down, he'd send a mental image of his head between my thighs and get me worked up all over again.
“I'm headed to the border once we're done, there's something I want to show you” I said to Pearl, smiling mischievously because I knew that would get her off my flushed face.
Pearl looked at her plate, then mine and rolled her eyes. “I guess asking you to just tell me what it is so I know what I'm walking into would be too much? I mean, I'd call it mercy, especially with all that food still on your plate” she said with a bored expression on her face.
Holding in a laugh, I looked at my barely touched plate and I felt content with the little I'd eaten.
“I wasn't that hungry, we can go when you're done” I said, watching her eyes light up before she stuffed the last pieces of bacon into her mouth and wash it down with her tea.
“All done” she said, mouth still full.
“Manners Pearl” mom said with a pointed look and she made sure to swallow before muttering an apology and looking to me like she was now waiting on me.
With a laugh, we left my parents to themselves and the four of us made our way to the border.
“We'll get there faster if we shift” Mason suggested, to which Damien nodded and took my hand, pulling me to a spot where Pearl and Mason couldn't see us but wasn't far either.
“I don't think I should look at you undress baby, I'll get hard again” Damien teased as he pulled off his shirt, making my mouth water.
“Well, you don't have to worry about that, I'm not shifting, I'm catching a ride on Roman” I said with a sly smile, knowing he never got enough of seeing my naked body.
Plus the frown on his face made it so much more worth it.
“Yes ma'am” Roman said, his excitement at the prospect of having me on his back clear as day.
Damien gave me his clothes and shifted into Roman, laying down so I could get on. Once his clothes were secure and I was confident I wouldn't fall, we went to find the others and made the quick journey to the border.
We were almost there and I was just about done telling Pearl everything that had happened when a wave of dizziness hit me so hard and so sudden, I found myself slipping off of Roman's back.
“Alari!” Pearl's scream made me blink and clear my vision enough to realise I was falling and held on tightly.
Roman made a rushed stop and the small jerk made me so nauseous, I jumped off his back and hurled my guts out on the forest floor.
Damn vomit didn't even give me a chance to find a decent spot.