Vindicator

Chapter 76

Karma gasped, greedily gulping in oxygen that her body had been temporarily deprived of. She sat up quickly and felt something fall into her lap. Looking down, she recognized the silver blade that had pierced her heart was now sitting in her lap, staining her dress with her blood.

An agonized scream caught her attention, and brought her thoughts back to the situation in her pack. She jumped to her feet and ran out of her room and down the hallway, following a smeared trail of blood along the floor. Rounding the corner of the corridor, she came across a humongous black wolf, and none other than Sadie's smaller black wolf at its mercy.

Karma immediately recognized the larger wolf as Xander, and was about to call out to him. Alessia commanded her "stop!"

"What? Why?" Karma asked, confused.

"He's not himself, he may lash out at us. It's likely the loss of us was enough to make him go into a blood lust sort of state...We need to make physical contact with him to be sure he recognizes us, so we can calm him" Alessia explained.

Karma nodded her understanding, and took off at a run towards Xander. As she approached, she jumped into the air to launch herself onto his back; however, Xander was aware of the approaching threat, and countered Karma by launching the bloody, whimpering body of Sadie at her.

Surprised by Xander's sudden counter, Karma only narrowly avoided Sadie who wound up slamming into the wall of the corridor. In order to dodge, Karma had to drop her weight and roll along the floor, so when she was at a point her feet were under her she launched herself forward again.

Seeing the persistent pest heading his way again, the semi-feral Xander bared his bloody fangs and let out a terrifying roar. Unfazed, Karma just continued at him, seeing his paw rear back and ready for a powerful swipe.

"Don't let him harm us, he'll be beside himself once he realizes who we are!" Alessia shouted.

"I wasn't intending on it" Karma quipped, slipping through a doorway so she disappeared as Xander's claws came down on where she was. Just as fast as she disappeared, Karma reappeared above Xander to land on his back.

At first, Xander was snarling and snapping at the presence on his back; it wasn't until Chance shouted at him that he paused.

"Xander! Stop! Did you not feel that?!" Chance shouted in disbelief.

"I did, and I will kill whatever it is" the wolf growled back.

"No! That is not what I meant, Xander! The sparks! There are sparks!" Chance pointed out excitedly, causing Xander to focus more on what Chance had noticed.

Astounded, Xander turned his head to peer back at the stubborn form of Karma clinging to his fur. With eyes widening in shock, Xander's legs gave out from under him and he flopped to the ground on his belly.

"Mate..." he whispered to Chance.

"It is her! How can this be?!" Chance asked with an ecstatic laugh. "Let me speak to her!"

Xander returned control to Chance, who immediately shifted back to his human form. Karma recognized the change and jumped off of his back; but she was too slow for Chance. He was half-shifted before she hit the floor, but that was enough for him to stand on his hind legs and scoop Karma into his arms.

Karma stared anxiously at the face of her mate as it returned to the human form she was so used to. She knew she had a lot of explaining to do, and was scared how he'd react.

"How...?" Chance asked, staring at her in awe. Deciding he didn't need his answer yet, though, Chance kissed Karma before she replied.

It was the first time the two had kissed since their mate bond returned, and it was indescribable. The mate bond was pushing them together with a crushing force, and the sparks felt like they were magnetized to draw their skin to touch wherever it could. What started as a kiss became dangerously close to becoming more as the two became more engrossed in the feeling of being united.

Suddenly, Xander snapped out of it long enough to chastise Chance. "We will not have our first time with our mate on the floor, in the middle of a hallway where anyone can walk by and see her!"

Chance begrudgingly pulled away from Karma at that, and stared down at her in wonder. Most of him was screaming at him to continue, but a small part was still asking "how?"

Karma stared up at Chance, panting slightly, dazed by the passion and desire from their impromptu make-out session. She had shifted from being in his arms like a princess, to having her arms and legs wrapped around him while he held her up. Once she remembered what she'd been nervous about before he took her breath away, her stomach dropped and she looked away guiltily.

"We should explain" Alessia whined.

Karma agreed, and so she swallowed thickly before beginning to talk. "I have a lot of things to explain..."

Chance smiled at her, as her voice filled his ears and his soul like his own personal symphony. He shook his head, never taking his eyes off of her. "I want to hear it all, I want to know everything about you...But you need not feel pressured...Mate" he said, adding the last part with a giddy grin.

Karma was shocked to find he wasn't angry, or even annoyed. Surely he had to recognize that she'd been hiding the truth from him; why wasn't he upset? She looked back to him, staring into his eyes with her own sense of wonder.

Chance headed back to Karma's room and closed the door behind him. He went to Karma's bed and set her down gently, then went to pull away. With a frown, Karma stopped him by not letting go of him.

He chuckled at her confused frown. "You need to let me go, mate...I am having a very hard time controlling myself while being so close to you...Unless you want to mark and mate right now, though, you need to let me go so I can focus...Right now, my only focus is being lost in your eyes...And arms...And lips...And..."

"Mate and mark! Mate and mark!" Alessia cheered.

"Shush! That's—no, we can't! There's a war, and...No! We have to go help!" Karma argued, flustered by the Prince's statement and her own desire.

"Uniting the Prince with his mate is one of the best ways to make sure this war doesn't go anywhere, if you ask me" Alessia argued.

"You're biased" Karma said, but she couldn't argue with the truth of her words. If the Prince was mated, the King could hand over the crown to him and the power of the union between the new King and his new Queen would pass down to the members of the Royal pack. Truly, she told herself, they would be doing the world a favour by not waiting.

And so, Karma responded to Chance by tugging him back onto the bed with her. Pleasantly surprised, and already naked, Chance did not need further encouragement to claim his mate.