Heart Of A Lycan King
Chapter 95

The commotion that began after his words was a lot. But Aiden was quick to react and snapped his fingers at Kane and Kamal, who dragged Elder Manze’s limp figure away.

Then he faced Bilal square in the face and spoke. “A mate? You found your mate here?”

Bilal sniffed the air again, turning his attention swiftly towards the direction my friends sat. My heart picked up its pace, as though this was about me. I do know, however, that I’m gonna be happy for whoever it is. Or maybe not.

Interspecies mating is heavily frowned upon, especially when it involves us wolves. Why that is, I still have no details.

“There she is,” he pointed, and I followed his gaze to see him pointing at Tiffany. A sob caught in my throat, and I was vaguely aware of how Tiffany stood with her right hand to her mouth.

She turned to face me, tears spilling down her eyes before she shook her head, turned, and ran away.

I tried to follow her, but Aiden held me in a tightly.

“Okay. That went way better than I expected. I better go after her,” Bilal sighed, snapped his hands and his dragon appeared again. I watched in awe, because this was my first time seeing anyone mount a dragon as he flew away.

At least, I know he wants Tiffany. But I’m not sure how she’s taking all of this.

Murmurs rose all through the Grand Center, and I could filter them through. The fact that a wolf and a dragon were mates didn’t sit well with a lot of the people around, but I didn’t care.

So long as Tiffany wants this, it is going to happen.

“We better resume the ceremony to cut down the murmurs,” Aiden whispered, nodding towards Inna.

Inna raises her staff once and hits the ground, causing it to shake. That made the whole center quiet down, the murmurs instantly died out.

“We’ll resume the ceremony. And right now, we’ll start with the binding,” Inna announced loudly.

Instead of murmurs, cheers rose as Inna beckoned us toward her. Hand in hand, we walked up to her as the cheers died down. Inna snapped her fingers, and one of the girls holding the tray came over.

“As Nyala blesses this union, so does everyone,” Inna yelled, holding a red tie in her right hand, while still hitting the ground with her staff. “The binding spell binds the both of you to your people as one. It connects you to the moon goddess as her representatives in this world, where you rule and protect us.” She then stretched her hand that held the tie, while one of the ladies picked a jar from the tray and poured some sparkling water on it, before handing her staff to the girl and extending her empty hand to us.

I gulped, both mine and Erin’s nervousnesses spiking to a whole new level. We are truly doing this.

‘Calm down, Erin. I’m here, and we have our mate too. We are doing this, and you are okay. You are enough. Ranked wolf or not, you are the queen.’ I murmured to Erin and I could visibly feel her calm down from within.

Wow! Look at me giving Erin a pep talk today.

‘Thanks, Nat. I feel better. Let’s do this.’

I nodded. I knew exactly how she felt, because I was once there. Like Mama said, it is going to be hard to fit into a circle like this as an Omega, and Erin is questioning herself based on that. She’s wondering if she’s deserving of the Queen title, or if she’s strong enough to handle the burden and power that comes with it.

But I know she can. I trust her on that. As Mama said, ranked or not, we are who we are.

‘I’m right here for you both. I always have, and will always be,’ Aiden linked and I smiled. “Ready?” He asked openly now and I bobbed my head in affirmation.

Aiden placed his hand in Inna’s, palm upwards before I placed mine. Then Inna tied our wrists together with the wet red tie in her hand, and began chanting quietly. No idea what she was saying, but I could feel the pressure growing around my chest.

Then gradually, small whispers filtered through my mind, filling my ears. As Inna’s chants grew louder, so did the whispers. I held the side of my head with my free hand, eyes tightly shut as I tried to dwindle the whispers, but they only kept growing. The feeling was crippling, heart wrenching, and at the same time, exhilarating. I could hear the thump of my heart in my ears, alongside countless other thumps.

Instead of the whispers now, I could hear real words spoken, murmurs and laughter, and it dawned on me then, that I have finally connected to my people.

The process was far from being done, however, as a painful howl ripped from Erin, making my head pound. At the same time I heard the sound of hisses around me. I pried my eyes open to see almost everyone clutching their heads, the hissing sounds were coming from them.

I reached Erin, who had placed her head between her paws and was still howling. After a while though, the howling stopped, and so did the hisses. When Erin looked up, there was a beautiful spark in her eyes.

We have both connected to the kingdom. The feeling was surreal, and too much.

“The binding ritual is complete!” Inna yelled, pulling the tie from our hands and raising it up for all to see. The cheers were even louder this time.

“You can control how you feel, and unless someone is truly in danger enough to reach you, you can’t feel it,” Aiden whispered, pulling me into a hug. “Just open your mind, and allow the bond of the people calling to you to combine with yours. Once it’s done, you filter it out using the blocking mechanism.” He finished, kissing my forehead, as his beard tickled me.

“Is that how you do it?” I asked.

“Yup,” he answered, his lips puckering as he popped the P, like always, and I desperately wanted to pull those lips into a k**s and pop it back to sanity, but I held back. “When I was first crowned and the binding spell was done, I couldn’t control it. It was hard hearing every word, laughter, cry, pain. And I couldn’t sleep peacefully for months. It was absolute chaos. But Baba taught me a trick, and I was able to block everything off.”

“If it is that exhausting, why is this step necessary?” I asked, concerned.

“It is necessary because as King and Queen, we need to be there for the kingdom. This ritual allows us to mind link Alphas of all twelve packs, who in turn, are more connected to the members of their pack than you and I. We can send an emergency message to them, and they can send us one. The whispers you heard and voices aren’t something you’ll always battle with. That happened because they are accepting you as their queen, which in turn, connects you to them on a certain level. They recognize you as their ruler anytime, anywhere.”

“You can hear their voices, but not everything. You can’t mindlink them directly either, it’s only possible through their Alphas. Your bond with the Alphas and Lunas is stronger than your bond with the pack members.”

I nodded, albeit still confused about so many things. But Mav was approaching us in the center, and so was Mama and Baba.

“One step down, two more to go,” Mama smiled, giving me a side hug.

“My sister is officially a queen,” Mav pinched my cheek, and I laughed out loud. “I think this is the right time to give you the gift I promised you,” he added.

“Why now? Shouldn’t you…”

Mama’s sharp gaze towards Baba had him clamp his mouth shut, but it was obvious he was only tolerating Mav for my sake, and I appreciated it.

“What is that?” I asked, excited at the prospect of getting a gift.

“First, promise me you won’t cry, and no dramatic reactions either,” he raised his index finger as he spoke. “Also, no questions as this is your big day, and I want you to enjoy it to the fullest. After the ceremony, you can ask all the questions you want, deal?”

“Deal,” I answered without a single hesitation.

Mama was already wiping her eyes as Mav turned and beckoned at a man, holding a woman. They approached us in small steps until they finally reached us. The young man bowed and walked away, leaving only the elderly woman with a walking stick standing before us.

“Natasha, I want you to meet your grandmother. Your paternal grandmother,” Mav said, and a ripple of emotion tore at my chest.