His Liege

A Warm Welcome

"Lucian, you don't have to carry me." Stelian groaned for the nth time, leaning his black mess of hair against Lucian's chest. Lucian smiled gently at the boy, his hold tightening slightly.

"As I said, a wolf will provide for its mate. Our mating was a bit rougher than I had intended it to be." Lucian replied.

"I can't say I object." Stelian murmured. He flushed scarlet, realizing what he had said and burying his head into Lucian's chest. "I didn't mean to say that aloud." His voice muffled by the fabric of Lucian's shirt. Lucian laughed, kissing the top of the boy's head.

The trees ahead of them suddenly cleared, and a snow covered road lay in their path. As they walked on, the ache in Stelian's lower back started to fade. A large stone structure began to peek over the snow covered trees. Stelian's eyes were wide open as he looked at the massive looming castle. Lucian watched him.

"Is that..."

"Yes, love. That's where we are headed. My home. Our home." Lucian said. Stelian sighed happily then cuddled closer to the warmth of Lucian's chest.

They neared the castle, and were greeted by a sizable crowd of nobility, servants, and wolves, a sea of black and gray against the fresh white snow. There was something in their eyes that made Stelian uncomfortable, a gleam to their irises that was more animal than man. Lucian walked to the door of the palace, his head raised high in victory, and for a split second, Stelian felt more like a trophy than a person. As if the alpha wolf had brought his pack a rabbit to consume. He pushed feeling to the back of his mind, where it could not damper Lucian's mood.

Lucian was oblivious to Stelian's discomfort, reveling in the fact that he finally had his mate. He made his way past his fellow wolves and into his palace. A grand feast had been prepared for their homecoming, as well as a ball. Lucian set Stelian on his feet, kissing his soft pink lips. Stelian sighed, swaying on his feet to lean into him, when Lucian handed him off to three human women, dismissing them immediately.

He tried to swallow the strange feeling in his gut, but it persisted forward. The three women led him to a far less grand section of the castle. They kept their heads down, dragging Stelian quickly down the corridor. They stopped at one of the doors that lined the dank hallway. He was ushered in, and stood awkwardly in the center of the room as one of the women carefully smoothed out a dark red tunic and black trousers that lay on the bed. The second woman helped him out of his clothes, as the other came back over to help him into the new ones. As soon as he was dressed their way a knock on the door.

The third woman, who had done nothing but stand by the wall until this point, rushed forward to get the door. Whoever was on the other side, however, apparently didn't feel that the door was opened quickly enough, because the door was thrown open to reveal a regally dressed woman. She walked into the room, her red dress trailing out behind her and her onyx jewelry gleamed as black like her gaze as she eyed Stelian disdainfully.

"I always thought he would have mated a redhead." She said. Stelian was taken aback, staring at the woman like she had grown a second head.

"Wha-"

"Shut up, boy. I thought common etiquette would be a requirement of tributes in your barbaric human hovel, but I guess their restrictions have been lax as of late. I will have to teach you." She cut him off, a gracefully gloved hand held up to keep him from speaking.

"Now, you are expected to be on your best behavior tonight. So you will not speak unless you are spoken to, you will try your best to be out of the way, and not be a bother. Understood?"

Stelian nodded, still confused at the harsh treatment. The woman swept out of the room as quickly as she had entered, and Stelian was once again dragged off by the three woman to yet another place he did not know.