Chapter 2 Fated Mates

• "Ridiculous!" Lucas howled, and his pack raged as well. Viktor dropped low as his own pack readied for a scrap. "You can't expect us to believe that you'll lead just because you're attracted to her? That's insane!"
• "Ha!" Viktor barked. "Now you're just mad that the Priestesses have chosen me over you! I knew you were young and brash, but to deny the Goddess's will? Even for you, that's blasphemy."
• "What?" Lucas snarled. "I'm not saying that at all!"
• Eliza knew she had to step in, or the two alphas would be at each other's throats. Coyly, she smiled up at the younger werewolf. "And here I thought you were attracted to me too, Alpha Lucas."
• Both wolves started staring at her incredulously as Imelda laughed. "We brought you both here to decide which of you was to be my granddaughter's mate. It's a simple solution. The Divine Daughters of the Ordo Luna have determined that she is fated to mate with the next Alpha. So,the best way to determine which one is the true Alpha is to choose the wolf who is her Fated Mate." She gestured with her gnarled cane at Eliza. "Isn't that right, sweetpea?"
• Eliza forced herself not to roll her eyes. "Yes, grandmother."
• "And that mate is me," Viktor snarled. "I feel it. The intense attraction, the longing and wanting. And I can tell she feels it, too. Do you not, priestess...Eliza?"
• The sudden familiarity of Viktor made Eliza's heart race. "I do, yes." She stepped close to him again, looking up at his towering frame. "It's like something deep inside me is calling to you."
• "Calling?" Viktor asked, his eyes flashing yellow. "It is more than that, to me. It feels like a howl to me. A yearning wail." His voice softened as he looked into Eliza's eyes. "As if...as if I will never be complete without you. I don't understand it any more than I do the machinations of the Ordo Luna. But it is there. And it is true."
• "Enough of this drivel!" Lucas shouted, drawing their attention back to him. "I won't accept this. Just because you two want to...to mate, it doesn't mean you have the right to rule over all werewolves!"
• "It is the Goddess's will, pup!" Viktor snarled. "You youngsters are all alike. Blaspheming and scheming from your mobile phones, disrespecting tradition. Tradition that has kept us alive!"
• "Tradition that keeps us shackled!" Lucas shouted back. "Tradition that holds us back! You would have us believe in tarot cards and entrail readings and...and Fated Mates!"
• Imelda looked at Eliza and nodded. Eliza nodded back and stepped to Lucas. "Look at me, Alpha Lucas."
• Lucas turned away. "Get away from me."
• "I said look at me."
• Lucas turned, hesitantly. His golden eyes met hers, and he froze in place, his gaze boring into her own. He gasped, stepping back. "What...what's happening?"
• "What do you feel when you look at her?" Imelda asked, grinning.
• "I don't...I don't..."
• "Search your feelings, Lucas," Eliza whispered. The pull she felt from the young Alpha was strong. She ached to press herself against him and feel his warmth. "How do I make you feel?"
• “Stop.”
• "Do you not feel it? I feel it. It's a yearning...a calling deep inside me. I felt it with him," she indicated Viktor with her head. "But I felt it even with you. I feel like something deep within me wants to howl your name. Like it needs to howl your name."
• "What is this?" Viktor snarled. "You are MY mate, Eliza! Come here!"
• "Hold, Viktor," Two words and a raised cane from Imelda silenced him.
• "Don't you feel it?" Eliza asked, her voice as shaky as the hand she raised to caress his snout. It was as if she wanted so badly to throw herself at him, to leap into his powerful arms and bury her face into his fur, and was barely holding herself back.
• Lucas snarled and pulled back. "Witchcraft. Sorcery. Snake oil. It's all fake! I won't believe it."
• They all turned when they heard Imelda sigh. "If that is the case, then the Goddess has spoken."
• Eliza picked up on what her grandmother meant and moved away from Lucas and toward Viktor. "Then the true Alpha is decided. I will mate him," she said, laying a hand on Viktor's chest, "And he will be the alpha of the clans. The old ways must be maintained. I hear you are quite skilled in...maintaining the old ways..." She batted her eyelashes at Viktor, who smirked.
• "As it should be!" Viktor howled, and his pack cheered with him, howling and whooping into the night sky.
• "Who says?" Lucas snarled, and his pack barked and howled challenges behind him. "We don't accept this!"
• "But you must," Imelda said, sterner than ever. "If you do not feel the same attraction to her as your father does, then you are not her Fated Mate. If you are not, then he is, and he is the new Alpha of the werewolves."
• "It's not fair! This is...it's cheating! I won't stand for this!"
• Eliza turned to look at him. "Do you think I like being a prize for two werewolves to fight and bicker over? What about my feelings, Lucas? Have you considered that I might have fought against this fate myself? But I obey the will of the Goddess. What I feel is undeniable. I am the Fated Mate of the next Alpha. And that seems to be Viktor, not you." She softened her gaze. "I am sorry, Lucas. But this is what the Goddess has ordained."
• Eliza pulled the hood of her cloak down, revealing a head of long, black hair spilling down to her waist. She pushed it aside, revealing a pale, white neck that shone in the light of the moon. "I am your Fated Mate, Alpha Viktor. Lay your claim upon me, and the right to rule as Alpha."
• Viktor stepped closer to her and spoke with a surprising gentleness. "I will try my best to make you happy, Eliza."
• She smiled up at him as he pulled her closer to his body. The warmth of his muscles, the softness of his fur, even the gentle way his claws touched her skin made Eliza’s heart race. All that was left now, if Lucas truly denied what he felt for her, was the Claiming Bite, the mark that a werewolf made upon his mate to proclaim to the world his claim upon his mate.
• Lucas would have said that Claiming Bites are archaic, old fashioned, and he would be right; nowadays, many werewolves forgo the Claiming Bite, preferring to keep their relationships open and free, not wanting to limit themselves to one mate. Once claimed with a Bite, mates lasted a lifetime, with no way of removing the scent of the claimant. Only those who truly loved each other made this mark.
• But Eliza was a priestess of the Ordo Luna, and Viktor an Alpha. Their bond had been decreed by the Moon Goddess herself, long before either were even conceived. They could no more tear themselves apart from each other than the river could from its banks. The Claiming Bite was necessary, not only for Viktor to lay his claim on her, but for him to lay his claim on the position of Alpha for all werewolves.
• “Be gentle, Alpha Viktor,” Eliza whispered. “I mean…beloved.”
• Viktor stroked her hair, moving it away from her neck. He opened his mouth, revealing a line of drooling razor sharp teeth. “There will be some pain,” Eliza closed her eyes as she felt his hot breath travel down her neck to the base of her spine, making her heart beat faster. “That’s unavoidable. But it will be temporary. We…will be forever, beloved.”
• "NO!"
• Something lunged at Viktor and knocked him down onto the ground, sending him rolling in the grass. Eliza stood stunned as she saw Lucas on all fours, snarling, having charged and knocked his father out of the way. The wolves of both packs snarled and howled, teeth gnashing and claws bared.
• "I feel it!" He cries out, powerful chest heaving. "I feel the attraction between us. I feel the call of her flesh to mine, her soul to mine, her heart to mine. You lie, father! She is not your Fated Mate! She is mine! I am the next Alpha!"