"This is bull shit. Don't fucking tell me to calm down! YOu have all been lying right to her face her entire life, and you have forced me to play along despite my protests! As her guardian I should be the one to decide what is best for her, and yet I am silenced by your strong arm tactics and the Queen's insecurities! I'm fucking done. It ends here and now!"
Turning away from the screen to look Dahlia in the eyes I continue in as calm a voice as I can muster, "Dahlia, your parents have selected for you suitors to choose from. At your coronation ceremony your full powers will be unlocks. On top of the powers that are only revealed when you take your oath, your powers have been being suppressed your whole life- as you learned monday. But what they may not have told you, is your wolf will be able to act on a mating bond at that time. It should have been able to snap at any time, but for no aprarent reason…"
"Avery, mind your tongue…" My father interrupts again, but I continue on life I did not hear him, my increased volume the only indication I heard him.
"... at all, they decided suppress your wolf. Not only will you be overwhelmed with your powers, there is a chance your mating bond will snap into place if your wolf has met your true soul mate. But if that mate is not one of these men your parents have selected it won't matter. Your wolf will be forced to break that bond, killing a part of your soul, in order to fullfill the blood bound contract made in regard to these suiters."
"I don't understand what you are saying…" Dahlia says, with a voice so shaken and low I can feel her pain in the depths of my soul. It feels like my heart is being dragged out of my body and into the deepest depths of the ocean everytime this woman is in pain and I can do nothing to fix it. Is this what love is like for everyone? Or is it just the guardian bond? The imprint maybe? What ever the fuck it is I hate it.
"Dahlia, the moment you take your oath and become queen, your full powers will be unlocked. You will become one of the most powerful being on the planet, the most powerful Vampire Queen and Alpha wolf in history, or so it has been prophesied. Your parents basically auctioned you off like chattel to the highest bidders. I tried to prevent this- to allow for you to choose your own path and for your wolf to ahev a chance at finding her soul mate- her other half. I was silenced. Even now I can only speak of this because the blood pact binding my tongue was broken when your life was in danger. So I may now freely speak of this- and I have to tell you that I am pissed.
"The moment your full power is unlocked you will have 24 hours to choose a suiter from the list to tie yourself to. IF that person is your true soul mate then all is well in the world. But the likelihood that your wolf is mated to one of them is not good. Statistically you have a 5 in 13.82 billion if we count every human and paranormal being. And they chose 5. 5 rich jack asses who in some way shape or form not only paid monetarily for their chance to win you over, but also are contracted to fullfill certain obligations even if you do not choose them.
"If you do not choose one of them and break this contract, then you- along with every signing member and witnessing party, of that contract will die. But Dahlia, if one of them is not your true mate, and you have to break that bond with your mate in order to properly tie yourself mind body and soul to this person to fullfill this blood oath…" I stop, unable to even speak the words. Because I dont know which is worse- her death, or the death of her wolf that will destroy who she is at her core.
"WHAT?! WHAT WILL HAPPEN AVERY?" Dahlia screams throught he sobbs racking her body. My heart is breaking into pieces watching her be in this much pain. I can't bare it.
"Dahlia, your wolf will slowly die. You, as a vampire queen will live on. But breaking that bond will rip your soul in half. And a broken soul is not something a wolf can live with for very long. You have heard the human tales of a broken heart, but those are all actually stories of wolves whose sould were ripped apart. A part of you will die. And you will become a shell of the woman you are today." The amazing woman. The woman I love.
I can't even make eye contact with her, I just hang my head in shame. I have failed her. As her guardian I took an oath to protect her and I have not done that. I don't know what else I could have done, but I should have done something.
"Avery, what do I do…. How do we save her? There is always a loophole, what do we do?" She asks, pleading with me through those beautiful blood shot eyes.
"The only thing you can hope for is that Your mating bond snaps into place before that 24 hours is up. That mating bond is the only magic strong enough to break this contract. If not…." I stop, tears falling down my own cheeks now.
"I'm as good as dead." she says. I confirm by nodding, and she lets out the most gut wrenching howl I have ever heard.
I fall to my knees on the floor at her feet. I should feel ashamed as a man that I am at this woman's feet, kissing her feet and crying like a total pussy and begging her to forgive me for failing her. Her knees buckle and she crumbles onto the ground besind me and I just hold her body as she sobbs. Stroking her hair and rubbing her back, trying my best to soothe her through this moment. But I know nothing is going to make this feel better. Some wolves die having never met their mate. And those wolves had their entire life to do it. She will have but 24 hours.
For once my father has the good sense to keep his mouth shut, and give her time to grieve this information. I have been telling them that keeping so much from her would be a mistake. And here I am rocking her body, trying to hold her together as the consequence of thie stupidity unfolds. All of these things were enough on their own- but them all added together, ontop of the war going on… Its just too much.
She begins to speak, and I have to strain to hear her, "Who else?"
I am so angry I cannot speak. This is the question I was hoping her mother and father would be here to answer. I don't know that I can answer this with out destroying this entire submarine. I am shaking and I look up at the screen into my father's eyes, which are now wide with shock at my response, and his head is tipped slightly as if questioning my reactions.
"In addition to the new Dragon King, You also have the option to select Niklaus, the High Warlock; Demetrius, the Centaur King; Fearghal, the Elvish King; and….." My father trails off. Obviously too chicken shit to finish.
Once again I am the only one willing to tell her the fucking truth. "And Lucifer…"
"The alpha of my rather's rival pack?" she asks with confusion in her eyes? I shake my head in confirmation and she stares at me like I have grown many extra heads.
"This was an attempt at peace between the packs- an attempt to unify all the wolves across the world. Wolf folklore tells of the original two wolf pups from whom all wolf packs derive. Dahlia, you are a direct descendant of one of those wolves. And Lucifer a descendant of the other. It was believed that if you chose him it would be a sign from the Creator and all the Lycan Wars would cease immediately. All womlves unified the way they were before The Great Conflict."
This "Great Conflict" was really just a petty love triangle and one of the brother threw a bitch fit when the woman didn't pick him. Why the fuck is it that all these major turning points in history revolve around a man pissed off over a woman choosing someone else.
"Tell her the rest father." I snap at him, not even caring that I am using him as an outlet for my anger.
"Well, Lucifer… He uh…." he stammers like the coward he is.
"He is the mastermind behind The Rise. He is actively plotting against you. He and his minions just tried to assasinate you. They have no idea we know he is behind it. He still thinks we are in the dark. He has had spies infiltrating your mother's and father's courts and companies. But so have we. I have been suspicious for years about the whole Von Cladbearn clan… But as per usual, my thoughts are dismissed."
Dahlia looks to me, eyes urgent. "Who has been silencing you, and how do I get them to shut the fuck up, and let you make the best choices for me?"
I am now laughing hysterically, while my father scoffs. Dahlia nods in understanding, that he is the one responsible. Looking to the screen she tells him point blankly, "Enough is enough. Unless you want my first act as Vampire Queen to be your extermination, I suggest you stop acting like the pest you are, and allow Avery to do what he feels is best."
My father's jaw couldn't get any lower if it was detached from his face. He looks from her to me, and he finally contains his own shock. She nods his head, and simply says "Yes, Your Highness."
Well I'll be damned if I had known all I had to do was threaten to kill him…..