In the heart of darkness

23

  "Best day ever"
 
  I turn and look to Carter he lifts me up kissing my lips and resting his head against mine
 
  "See I told you it would suit you perfectly"
 
  We have a celebratory drink before we leave and head to the celebration, we are surrounded by bodyguards. Way more than normal but that's because a lot wanted to attend and try to find their mate. Everyone was welcome to come with the exception of those on patrol and a small minority of warriors who are ready to fight incase of an attack.
 
  We have cars in front of us and behind us as we make our way to the party in a limo. All the men wore the same blue suit, Mark, Archie, Toby and Liam would all wear the same suit and Ashley would wear the same coloured dress that me and mum would wear.
 
  Lexi and her dads would be attending too, they would wear the same colours to show that we are all together and United. That we were the Lycan royals, it's something my dad started a few years ago so people would know us from the werewolves.
 
  After that Arden started the same thing, now Fay and Ella always wear green and Arden wears a black suit. Same with his betas and their family who are my uncle Paul, his wife Linda and their daughters Samantha and Tammy.
 
  But on occasions like today, Ella would wear whatever colour she likes but Ella loves green and with her bright red hair it always matched her perfectly.
 
 
  We arrive with time to spare so I head straight up to Ella's room followed by Carter and our guards. Her guards let us straight through because we were all so close.
 
  We were more like siblings then we were cousins, we talked constantly and like us she doesn't trust many people. She has the same abilities as Carter, she can read people's minds and tell the future but she doesn't have the powers we have.
 
  her aura alone makes most people uncomfortable in her presence, it doesn't affect me or my family so we have always been close. Our other cousins tend to stay away from us because of the power that radiates off us but we are still family and we do love each other. But tonight they will all be here so it should be fun.
 
  As we make it to her door we knock and it opens, I smile when I see Desmond on the other side he smiles back pulling me into a hug. Desmond was Aunt Ailm and Uncle deacon's son and future alpha of the ifreann pack.
 
  He was the spitting image of his father, black curly hair on top and shaved at the sides. His eyes were grey blue but had gold specks and a golden rim around the sides. He was tall, not as tall as my fathers but still tall. But through all of that he still wore the same cheeky grin that his mother wore
 
  "Hey shortass come here"
 
  Carter growls pushing him back
 
  "No touchy"
 
  He snaps, Desmond rolls his eyes but smirks fist pumping Carter
 
  "Whatever, it was just a hug dude, come on in, the princess is just getting dressed"
 
  We follow him in and Penny jumps off the bed and she runs to me hugging me, she is Aunt Isla and Uncle Jake's daughter Penny, betas of the ifreann pack. They adopted her from my pack, she is actually Lycan.
 
  She had bright blonde hair and was taller than me but she had a curvy body and she knew just how to dress herself, because no matter what she looked sexy as hell. Her eyes were dark green, her lips were large and luscious, she wore a bright red lip to match her red dress.
 
  "Hey bitch long time no see"
 
  Then she hugs Carter, he goes rigid around her making her roll her eyes
 
  "Sorry I forgot you don't like affection"
 
  She rolls her eyes returning to her chair and lighting up her smoke.
 
  "Ignore her she's just salty that her parents Wouldn't let her bring her boyfriend"
 
  She flips him the bird making me chuckle. The door opens behind us and in walks Arthur and Arabella, they are the kids of my aunt Aspen and uncle Luca, alpha and Luna of the pine ridge pack. Aspen was also Ardens twin sister. Arthur would take over the pine ridge pack as alpha soon.
 
  Arthur was tall, just a small bit shorter then Carter but still very tall and he was well built and packed full of muscle. His eyes were a piercing blue like his fathers with electric purple flecks throughout but he had the same brown hair as his mum. Shaved at the sides and straight on top but it fell over his face all messy.
 
  Arabella was just a little taller than me but not by much, she had her fathers dirty brown hair, it was long and straight like her mums. Her eyes were the same piercing blue colour but with golden flecks throughout. Her face was oval and skinny with big lips and her eyes were so big and wide that you were just drawn to them everytime you look at her face.
 
  They both grin when they see us pulling me into a hug. Carter groans yanking me back
 
  "Would you all stop touching her"
 
  He snaps at them, they roll their eyes
 
  "Someone's salty, here take this and chill dude"
 
  Arthur throws him a jar of poitín, he smiles
 
  "Thanks"
 
  He pulls me across the room to a chair at the door and plops me on his knee. Everyone watches us as he sniffs my neck kissing it. I cuddle in getting comfortable and then I look at them
 
  "What?"
 
  I ask them weirded out by there staring, I know we don't see them very often but jez
 
  "He's letting you sit on him?"
 
  Penny asks with her nose screwed up, she throws me the bag of joints so I grab 2 and light them up
 
  "Of Course she sits on me, she's my mate"
 
  Carter answers, taking one of the joints like what she said was ridiculous. Well quite frankly because It was ridiculous
 
  "Did somone drop her on her head as a baby?"
 
  Cleo mutters peering out of my eyes
 
  "It's just weird. I think i've seen you touch like 6 people in your entire life"
 
  I roll my eyes at Arthur
 
  "So that's a good thing, I don't like it when people touch him"
 
  "But what changed? You use to hate him"
 
  I glare at Penny, she shrugs as my jaw ticks
 
  "What's with her, can we just kill her? It might shut them up if we do"
 
  Cleos snaps, my lips spread out in a thin line as I prepare my answer
 
  "I didn't ever hate him, he pissed me off a lot but I didn't hate him. To be honest I was lying to myself, I couldn't see that until I shifted and my powers came to me. Then I could see the truth"
 
  "You don't need to explain yourself to them it was a confusing time"
 
  Cleo basically spits the words out, clearly irritated by her and her nonsense
 
  "So it's just the bond that's keeping you together?"
 
  Cleo and Cain both force their way forward together and we growl at her, Carter is stiff under me as the anger radiates off him
 
  "Penny stop being a bitch you know that's not true. They were literally made for each other, it's been obvious there whole life so stop being a dick about it because Troy can't be here"
 
  Arabella scolds her turning to us and smiling before she continues
 
  "Don't listen to her, we all knew that you were made for each other, if anything it was funny hearing how Carly spent her time making him jealous for fun"
 
  I go red faced making her laugh Carter looks at me
 
  "You tried to make me jealous?"
 
  I purge my lips taking a drag of my smoke
 
  "Maybe just a little bit, did it work"
 
  "Oh please you know it did"
 
  We all chuckle and spend the rest of the time catching up. Penny spent her time on the chair ignoring us, clearly upset. I decide to look into her future, my powers urging me to check, it flits through all the different options as my subconscious pulls on the more obvious ones but one thing was clear through all of them, Penny would meet her mate tonight. So deciding to try and cheer her up I talk with her
 
  "What's up Penny you don't seem so happy"
 
  "I'm pissed, my parents want me to dump Troy but I can't. I like him too much, i've waited 5 years for my mate and he hasn't come along and i'm bored of waiting"