Heart Of The Lycan Queen

8. Becoming

A look at you, and the places that had been empty for so long started to fill...

___

(Quillon)

Roman kept opening his mouth and then closing it. For once in his life, the babbling beta was speechless. Usually, when Roman started talking, he talked like there was no time to take a breath in between, but now he had only been taking breath for so long.

"What the actual f*ck!" He finally said after what felt like an eternity. Quillon sighed and rubbed his cheeks with the base of his palms.

"She is. She is a hunter!" he repeated to himself. "And she has a crossbow. A badass one, at that. For a second there, even Ares was afraid. And we just stood there like damn fools. If she had decided to use the bow... this conversation would have turned out to be quite different." Quillon said with a shake of his head.

'I wasn't afraid. I was just captivated by her beauty. Damn, the woman was beautiful.'

'Yeah, you are.' Quillon rolled his eyes. 'Captivated...' Quillon scoffed, but he had to agree to Ares. She was quite beautiful.

"Well. I must say, you are doomed, Q, doomed!" Roman said with a shrug. At least, he wasn't going berserk. In fact, he looked rather calm than how Quillon had felt when he first found out that she was his mate.

"I know that. I don't need you to tell that to me, Rome," Quillon replied.

He knew he was doomed. Abso-freaking-lutely! And there was no way out of it. He couldn't reject her, because... the moment he laid his eyes on her, the moment he looked into her soft brown eyes made of hundreds of his dreams and desires, even through confusion, even through doubt and befuddlement and anger at the moon goddess, he had felt the punch of that one look deep in his gut, solid and strong, and he was done for.

He was trapped!

No way in hell could he live without her, but he didn't know how he should go about this chaos. He had to explain to his pack, his family, his King and Queen... and that was only the tip of the problem.

The bigger one was... her. She didn't understand the mate bond, she couldn't feel the pull of the mate bond like he did. She was essentially unaffected by that and... how would he convince her that he wasn't lying to her!?

In the forest, when her eyes met his, his heart had thundered, and away from the loud pounding of his noise, he had felt the soft pulse of calmness washing over him... like he had finally found the part of his soul that had been thrown away in the universe. And that was something he couldn't stay away from, or reject.

She was made for him, and he was made for her and-

"So, Q, my poor, unfortunate Alpha, what are you going to do now?"

"Do I look like someone who knows what he is going to do?" He said with a grumble as he stood up and stalked the entire length of the room, his mind running a million miles per minute. No matter how hard he thought, there was no way this was going to be easier for him.

'She said she needed your help. What if she wasn't lying? What if she really needed your help?' Ares asked, looking pretty concerned about the mate he had known for only a few minutes. But at least, the damn wolf was lucky that he got to be with her for those few minutes. Ares shook his head and scoffed. 'Really!? God. Sometimes I wonder how you survived without me...'

'But what about that person we heard in the woods?'

'It could have been someone random and she could've been innocent.' Ares said with a deep sigh. Now Quillon was concerned about her, too. If this was the case, and she was really talking about seeking his help...then it must be something big. Or, she wouldn't have come to the creature from hell, as she had called Ares, for help, would she!?

"Sabrina might know what to do. She is smarter than both of us combined." Roman said to him with a shake of his head.

"Sabrina will pester me to death. No way am I going to tell my sister about it."

"Why not?" Roman said, looking at Quillon with a somber look on his face.

"Because... she is Sabrina and she is-"

"She is what? Brother? Do go on. I am eager to know what you think of me!" Sabrina walked in with a snarky little smile on her face.

Her short blonde hair was cropped to her shoulders and she was wearing a dirty brown T-shirt, which their mother would gripe about if and when she saw it, and leather trousers. Her face was covered in mud, which told him that she had just come from the training field.

She was training to become a warrior and she took her training hours seriously. She was also... the worst gossip and she had the mouth of a sailor when she was truly provoked. Sabrina Blackthorn was an acquired taste, but Quillon loved her. She had always been true to herself, without being mean to others. Mostly.

"Sabrina is amazing. Sabrina is kind. Sabrina is..."

"...going to murder her brother." Sabrina finished with a nonchalant look in his direction and he chuckled. "So... tell me about this hunter mate of yours."

"Roman," Quillon glared at his best friend.

"I didn't tell her. I promise."

"He didn't tell me. I was here when you started telling him about her." Sabrina gave him an evil smile and Quillon bared his teeth at her with a growl.

"And you decided to just stand there and eavesdrop? What a lady!"

"Being a lady is boring. I would rather be...not so boring. Also, eavesdropping is the best way to keep up to date with the recently trending news. Had I not, I would have missed: A hunter mate for Alpha Q." Sabrina said in a teasing voice as she took a seat next to Roman and grabbed the scotch from him. "It is the middle of the day, guys. And you are already drinking?" She said before she took a sip of the scotch herself and coughed a little.

"Hey Sab, just, please don't tell anyone."

"I won't, Q. I know I am not quite the best of the secret keepers, but I knew when to really shut up. Also... Q, why not go back to where you had met her and see if she was coming there trying to find you again?" Sabrina gave him a questioning look and Quillon gave her a big smile.

"You are right. Why haven't I thought of that?"

"Why because... your mental capacity is less than mine and also because I am the best of the-"

"Sabrina... be a better person, and take the compliment without destroying it, sister. Please!"

"Oh, you are not fun. Not at all." Sabrina groused as she took another sip of her scotch. "Oh, I totally forgot why I came here. Mom wanted me to inform you that you will be going to the Winter Moon Masquerade this Saturday... and if you haven't found your mate by then... Amayla is waiting, with eyes full of dreams and a heart full of f*cking diabolic plans. I am sure the moon goddess hasn't even made a mate for her! Selene wouldn't subject anyone to being Amayla's mate."

"And yet my own mother..." Quillon said with a deep sigh as he thought about the winter moon masquerade ball.

It had been a tradition since he could remember. It was held on King Geoff's pack land, in his pack house. Calling the king's pack house a pack house would be a disservice. It was more like a massive, elegant castle. And Quillon didn't want to go to the ball in the first place, because his mother would be busy trying to pair him with every woman she considered worthy of her precious son!

"I don't want to go. I would rather hang myself or pluck my hair one by one until I go bald. Either option is much more pleasant to me right now than going to that!"

"Oh, stop being a drama queen, brother. Just find a suit and go. Oh, and a mask. Don't forget the mask."

"A mask... yeah, that is what I am worried about right now," Quillon said as he walked out the door. "Okay. I am going to go. I have a mate to find."

"All the best." Roman and Sabrina chorused together. Quillon wasn't sure how much this was going to work, but what the heck?

He had no other brilliant ideas. Anyways.

If he got shot in the heart by an arrow and died, he would come back to haunt his sister and best friend!

***

(Elian)

Elian had been trying to be discreet and inconspicuous as she followed Robyn, but Elian was far from low-key. In fact, she had already, almost gotten caught, twice... if not for the quick reflex, she would have been caught already and the game would have been over before it had even started.

Robyn was walking towards one of the smaller conference rooms, and she kept looking from left to right and she looked so darn suspicious... and once upon a time, Elian had overlooked it and never given it a second look, but this was not once upon a time.

She followed Robyn, and accidentally stubbed her little toe on one of the couches placed on the side.

She cursed inside and ducked behind a pillar when Robyn turned around.

's**t. You don't understand the concept of being discreet. In fact, you are begging that murderous b***h to take a look at you.' The voice said and Elian almost heard that damn thing rolling its eyes at her. It was just a damn voice, but how could she feel its emotions?

'I am trying. But damn... this is really hard. It looked easy when Sherlock did it!' Elian thought as Robyn walked inside the room and closed the door behind her.

Elian looked around before she walked to the backside of the room and tried to look through it, but someone had pulled down the blinds. They were being really careful.

She leaned closer to the door, pressing her ears against the glass wall, trying to listen to what Robyn was saying... and she was befuddled to realize that her hearing sense had improved considerably. No, it was off the charts.

Before her death, her ears were...for the lack of a better term, filled with beeswax.

"Who is she meeting?" Elian mumbled to herself as she tried to look through the small opening in the blinds. She saw Robyn talking with someone whose back was to Elian. She cursed. She couldn't see the face, but she could see the long hair...

"Are you sure?" The voice was gravelly. It was... something between a man and a woman's voice. Elian really wanted to see who it was...

"I am sure. I saw it. She was talking..."

Elian pressed her ears tighter against the glass.

".... and then he must have heard..." Robyn continued.

"So, I am right. The pendant is starting to lose its...... don't.......time......" The other voice said.

She pressed her lips together as she heard further.

"She- she is becoming-"

"She is."

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