The Dance of Wolves
CHAPTER 15: Aksal

Alma can barely contain her excitement about reuniting with her soulmate. Me? I'm feeling kind of ' meh'. I don't dislike Amal and I feel like I could happily stare at him for days without tiring but that is far from head over heels mate pull I learned about in health class. I tell my parents we’re going out for a run and I don’t know when I’ll be back. I send a thought-link to my Alpha for permission to leave the grounds.

We run for hours, I have never been this deep in the forest and so far out of the pack lands, but I feel excited and eager to explore. I feel safe having a warrior by my side too. We are in neutral territory as far as wolf packs go, judging by the lack of claimed territory markings and scents. Together, we stalk an elk and Demi brings it down once we separate it from its herd. He steps back to let Alma consume their fresh kill because showing his willingness to provide for her is part of the ritual. He leads us to a small stream to quench our thirst, all the while running by Alma's side. Nipping and rubbing us at every opportunity, managing to be playful, loving and protective all at once. Alma's tail wags nonstop, she's so over the moon for him.

Alma offers Demi her neck in submission and he marks her. She lets him mount her. I cut off our connection to giver her privacy so I don't feel what she is feeling physically, I know if I don’t close my eyes now, I may not be able to unsee what they're doing. It would be like accidentally catching my parents doing ‘the nasty’--so no thanks, I’ll pass.

I studied how the original wolves mate, to me it seemed ungainly and graceless, especially when the wolves in the video were stuck ass to ass for an hour after a short humpfest. Then again, who am I to talk? I’ve seen straight and gay porn and there isn’t much of a difference. Sex doesn’t have to be refined to feel good, eventually first-timers will replace their rhythm. The only thing that matters is the connection between the consenting parties.

Sated, Alma lies down exhausted, while Demi keeps watch. I think Demi is an interesting wolf to want Alma even though we cannot have his pups. He had to suppress his own instincts to choose her.

My thoughts are of him when something pulls me into his and Alma's shared past through their renewed mate bond.

***

Alma is running for her life. She shifts into her wolf form to gain speed.

Some force out of a horror story hunts her and Demetrius. It burns the nose like the scent of sulfur. It creeps as a leeching fog that drains the color and life out of all it touches. It shrivels soft, young green leaves to withered brown flakes. Occasional whips of its tentacles, like whips of protoplasm lash out at her but Alma is faster. The crack and thunder of trees is deafening enough to induce a primal fear, my heart is racing and I'm only an observer. The agonized screeches of animals caught in its wake has me shuddering in empathy as I imagine all the various horrible ways pain could rip those sounds out of their throat.

Demetrius runs behind Alma begging her to stop through their mate-link. Alma is running herself to exhaustion as she passes her limits and then some. I know now why Alma is so much faster and more agile than other she-wolves and my eyes well up with tears at the realization.

Demetrius suddenly stops and shifts. He turns to face the night terror with a stony, resigned expression.

“Queen Lilibeth,” he bows stiffly. “Please lift this illusion from my mate. You are killing her.” His words and tone are polite on the surface but he is speaking through gritted teeth. He is barely containing his rage at being treated this way. “Please, I beg you.” He falls down slowly to his knees and bows his head with respect, yet somehow making the gesture both humble and elegant.

“So even a proud wolf knows how to debase himself? You only taste a hint of the despair that threatens to rob me of my sanity!" The queen snatched at her own hair as if she would pull it out in clumps. " Return my daughter to me, then and only then, I will dispel the illusion of The Hunt.”

“What?!” Demetrius came to his feet with a jump, eyes wide. The queen, who could have been Kitsa’s twin, watched his reaction. “No need to look so surprised, I know she consorts with you. What have you done? Did you lash out at her? Perhaps you imprisoned her somehow when you learned she was betrothed, only to cast her aside when you found your true mate.”

“No!” Some of his anger leaked out in the denial but he caught himself and lowered his voice. “Kitsa and I are friends, nothing more. She was going to talk to you about canceling the arrangement, she--”

“Lies! No one from my court has seen her for months. She never came to me.”

A spasm of pain contorts his face into a grimace and Demetrius shifts into his wolf. He howls with such bitter agony and loneliness that even the queen’s eyes softened for a moment. My heart clenched and I choked with the realization that Alma’s death must be near. Goddess, no, I don’t want to imagine it even in a dream but my body won’t wake up.

“Mortal shifter, you will not be reunited with your mate in this world or the afterlife until you bring my daughter back to me.” Queen Lilibeth’s declaration rings like a curse shouted in a chasm. Each echo had Demetrius body wracking with shudders of pain so intense he could only sob until his last breath; I could feel him as if his pain was my own.

In hyperspeed I see flashes, showing me that life after life their souls aren’t reincarnated together during the same generation because of the curse.

Demetrius keeps searching , sometimes as a human shifter and some times as a strong wolf spirit guiding his host, the one constant was the emotions that came through with the flashbacks. He still felt the loss of half his soul and blamed himself for failing to protect his mate and concerned for his dear friend. Alma is always a step behind in rebirth, it's as if she were reaching out to comfort him but replaceing her hands pass through his afterimage.

___

A/N I know this hurts and it makes us appreciate the lightheartedness of part one, but I promise, things will get better.