Chapter 49
The day of the mating ceremony rolled around faster than I could have imagined. The days leading up to it were filled with meetings and dress fittings and designers. I was constantly exhausted and if not for Jaxon who was constantly by my side, I would have gone crazy or lost my mind. The thought of being joined with him forever was more than enough to keep me going.
No one had told me exactly what the details of the ceremony consisted of. In fact, I found out that most people did not know what the ceremony was like because it was so rare for a lycan to agree to join their life with someone. There were some technicalities to it that I did not understand completely but from the little I was able to pick up, it deepened the mate bond to the point where if something were to happen to the partner, the lycan could risk losing their mind completely.
I could not fathom why Jaxon would agree to such a crazy notion. I had gone to him the night before the mating ceremony. He was in–his office going after some last minute security details and I walked in quietly. He instantly knew that something was wrong so he put everything on hold to pull me into his arms. I hesitated before. speaking because I did not want him to get offended by my words.
“What is it?” he asked in such a soft tone that I would have told him anything he needed to hear. “Are you having cold feet?”
“No,” I said quickly. The last thing I wanted was for him to think I did not want to be mated to him when it was quite literally the only thing I wanted. “I heard something about the ceremony that I wanted to ask you.”
“What did you hear?” his voice was guarded as if he already had an idea what I knew but he wanted to be sure.
“If I were to die,” he fisted his hands by his sides and I knew he hated that sentence but I needed to explain my fears. “If I died then you could lose your mind. Why would you risk that?”
A look crossed his face but I barely had time to analyze it before he turned me around so I was sitting on his table and he was standing between my legs. There was nothing erotic about the position. If anything, it felt intimate and romantic, especially with the way he stared deep into my eyes.
“If you die then I die anyways,” I opened my mouth to protest but he cut me off. “If you leave this earth then I will leave with you. It doesn’t matter if it is in five years from now or five hundred. I would much rather take the risk. of dying alongside you and getting to see three hundred years with you than to let your life fade away.”
“The average wolf lives to a hundred and fifty. That is simply a fraction to the kind of life a lycan lives. The oldest lycan lived to around seven hundred years. I have about five hundred years of my life left and I would be damned if I don’t spend as much of my time as I can with you. If I do this, you will age the way lycans do. You will the
age
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Chapter 49
way I age and that maximizes the time I get with you. It is worth it to me.”
My eyes welled up with tears and he muttered a curse under his breath as he wiped it away. I tried to stop the tears but they just kept coming. I had never been spoken to like that before in my life. No one had ever thought that I was worth living for and I didn’t know how to handle the feeling.
“Freya, please,” he pecked my l*ps softly. “I hate seeing you cry.”
I wiped at my cheeks with the back of my hands. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” he said and he showed me just how much.
I hadn’t seen him since we fell asleep together after that and my skin itched to see him. I was told that it was customary that I did not see him until the ceremony. Aiden however was passing me small notes to update me on how Jaxon was doing. It was fun receiving the notes and having to read them in secret because everyo would have freaked out if they knew we were in correspondence because apparently it was bad luck.
Kiara was the only other bright light in my day. She was very excited and did not mind the long and stressful care treatments we had to undergo. She loved the rose baths and she was extremely happy when the stylists came over to work on her hair. She kept mentioning how she felt like a princess and everyone made sure to remind her that she was one.
“Look at me mummy,” she squealed as she made her way out from the dressing curtain where she was hiding.
She was adamant that she wanted to surprise me with her dress. It didn’t matter that I had seen it before seeing as I had veto vote over what she wore- she wanted to surprise me with it. It was a long and beautiful dress made of the softest blue color. When she first showed me, I tried to convince her that it was a bad idea because the ceremony was taking place outside but she did not care.
The dress flowed all the way down to the ground and was sleeveless. It was adorned with tiny crystals in a beautiful butterfly shaped pattern. She wore silver shoes under the dress and there was a miniature tiara on her head. The first thing I asked when I was told about the tiara was whether it was going to be fake but no one answered me. Seeing it in person, I knew that the gems were real.
I i I
“You look absolutely beautiful,” I said to her as I squatted so we were eye level. “You are the most gorgeous princess I have ever seen.”
“You’re prettier, mummy,” she exclaimed as if it was something I should have known. “You’re the prettiest and bestest princess.”
“Your mummy is going to be a Queen, not a princess,” one of the stylists said and Kiara’s eyes widened into..
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Chapter 49
saucers.
LD
She grabbed a hold of my dress as if she couldn’t believe it. My dress was very similar to hers in color only. I liked the
shade and I told the stylists I wanted the same. It was short and the front of it barely grazed my knee while the back flowed to around my mid shin. The torso of the dress stuck to me like second skin and it was in an off the shoulder style.
It also had a million tiny stones arranged in a pattern over my bust. My hair was curled and left to flow around my back but I was void of a crown, I was told that I would receive one after the official mating ceremony.
There was a knock on the door and one of the stylists went to open it revealing Aiden. He took one look at us and I saw the corner of his l*ps tilt up in a smile.
“It’s time.”
I was anxious. I tried to hide it as I made my way over to him and I tried to hide it when I took his outstretched hand but I knew he felt the tremors that wracked through them. I had no idea why I was anxious. This was what I wanted. This was the best thing that could have happened to me but something felt off and I felt a huge sense of
unease.
“It is normal to be nervous,” Aiden said as we walked through the busy hallway.
He dropped his voice so no one would hear us. The hallway was crawling with guards and maids who were setting up for the party that would hold after the ceremony. Kiara was wide eyed and gazing at everyone and everything while clutching Aiden’s other hand so there was no fear that she would hear.
“I’m not nervous,” I said and Aiden shot me a pointed look. “I am nervous but that’s not what this is. I can’t help but feel like something bad is going to happen. I don’t know if I’m just projecting because of my anxiety but I can’t shake off the feeling.
Aiden stayed silent and for a while, I had lost hope of him responding to me. We got to the car that was to take us to the venue and he helped Kiara in. I was about to get in as well when he placed a hand in front of me effectively blocking my way.
I cut me off.
robably worried because of what happened to Kiara,” I opened my mouth to profez Quiz C
“There aren’t going to be many people there. These kind of ceremonies are very private. Regardless of all of that, Jaxon would rather die than let anything happen to you and that is not an over exaggeration. He loves you more than he has ever loved anything before. If he didn’t then he wouldn’t be linking his life with yours.”
“I know that, but
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But what?” he asked. “There is nothing for you to worry about. I will be there and I am in charge of security. If ou don’t believe him then believe that I won’t let anything bad happen.”
here was a fierce sense of security and assurance in his eyes and I knew that Aiden would protect us with his life it came down to it. I sighed and nodded.
You’re right,” I forced a smile on my l*ps and squared my shoulders. If I didn’t feel confident then I was going to ake it until I was able to make it. “I have a ceremony to attend.”
Aiden’s l*ps curled up into a smirk. “That’s the spirit. Now let’s leave before you change your mind, Jaxon is already going crazy and the last thing I need is to chase down a runaway bride.”
I laughed out loud and Aiden removed his hand for me to get into the car. I sat next to my daughter and she looked up at me with a smile unaware of the emotional turmoil I had just gone through a few seconds ago.
“Are you ready?” I asked and she nodded eagerly.
She didn’t have much to do but I made sure she had a part to play in the ceremony. I stretched out–my hand and she wasted no time in placing her dainty fingers in mine
“Let’s go make this official.”
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