~Cecily's POV~
"MATE!" I say out loud.
"MINE!" He growls out, rushing to my side and pulling me to his chest, making me go, "Oof". Sparks tingle every inch of my body.
He buries his face in my hair and inhales, whispering, "I've finally found you."
Celeste pushes forward and we mark him on the spot, letting our canines sink into his neck and licking off the blood, making him shiver. He looks at me in surprise. Can't say I don't feel the same... or that I didn't want to do the same thing, or I would be lying.
Celeste was always the bolder one of us, even though not by too much as she was always trying to protect me, but I never thought she would do that.
Not that I'm not happy, it's just I never expected I would ever fling myself immediately onto a man considering what happened with the Monster Alpha. Not even my fated mate.
'It can surprise you. What the bond can do to you.' A voice says. It's not Celeste, but I recognize it immediately. Selene. I nod in my head, sending a thank you her way.
"I'm sorry. Celeste pulled forward and I couldn't stop her. She's been waiting so long for you." I lie. Celeste growls.
He takes a moment, but kisses me very passionately on the lips, picking me up for a moment as he deepens the kiss.
We both simultaneously pull away for air, but he gently pushes my head away from my neck and marks me for all too see. It hurts for a moment, but soon, as he licks the blood away, he has my eyes rolling to the back of my head in pleasure with a moan, erasing the pain from memory.
I lean in and kiss him. I put everything--my longing, my joy, and my love--in that one kiss. He straddles me and looks at me for permission. My heart flutters, chasing away all my nerves and I nod.
He kisses me. "I've got something to show you first." He says. He runs us through the woods and stops on a rock overlooking a waterfall.
"Can you swim?" I gesture with my hand to tell him so so. He puts me on his back and walks down the rock, looking like he's preparing to jump.
"What are you doing?" I ask timidly.
"Do you trust me?" He asks. I hesitate.
'Say yes!' Celeste orders of me, but I am not sure.
"In theory." I tell him.
"Then close your eyes." He tells me. I do as he says and tighten my grip as he jumps, sticking the landing on the other side.
I hear rushing water close by next to me and then behind us, so I know that he took us behind the waterfall.
He walks with me on his back as Celeste purrs at the closeness of her mate. I let her pull forward and she licks and kisses all down his spine, eyes still closed.
"Hello, mate." I hear his wolf say.
"Aztec!" She says completely lovesick. Images of all the ways she wants him to take us flash in my mind.
'Horn dog!' I yell accusingly. She was such a sweet, awkward, quiet, protective wolf before.
'Coward!' She accuses.
'Touché!' I say playfully with a gruff, yet happy tone.
My mate gently pulls us off and carefully, yet lustfully pins us down.
"If you don't stop that, Little Wolf, I will take you right here, right now." My mate says. Normally that would terrify me, but lust and longing takes over me.
I take back control and say, "I want you, but I want to see what you want me to see first."
He picks me up and carries me bridal style. I nuzzle lovingly into him, closing my eyes and inhaling his scent of vanilla, wild strawberries, buttercream, lavender, Twelfth Night Cakes, jasmine, and what can only be described as the air after snow all mixed into one INTOXICATING scent.
"Okay, open your eyes." He says. I look and- 'Wow! And I thought the place where I was found was the most heavenly place."
I look to see the most beautiful valley I have ever seen. Each tree seemed like a different color. Vibrant pink, white, lushest green, and expressive violet. It looked simply magical, straight of one of the stories with the happy endings.
What are those called again?
"I haven't seen anything more beautiful in all my life." I say.
"I have. I'm looking at her." He says. My cheeks must have gone from normal to bright crimson right then and there.
I kiss him and we soon make love, him kissing me and pounding into me gently, per my request after I gave my consent.
--
~Anne's POV~
"Has anyone seen the Lady Cecily?" I ask worriedly. I hadn't seen her since the fireworks display. The guard that I assigned to her hasn't seen her in hours.
I wanted her to have a guard on her whenever she's not with me because..., well she's been getting threats lately. Form the Monster Luna
"I saw her walk out into the far side of the garden after the fireworks, but then I lost her. She was sniffing the air, and she seemed pretty excited." Margret says.
'Storm?' I ask my wolf.
'Nothing. Celeste's totally blocking me out.' She says. I gasp.
She's never done that before. I didn't even know she knew how.
It's past midnight. She could really be hurt. For all I know, she's lying in a ditch somewhere after being ambushed by rouges.
I let Storm out and she smells the air for Celeste's scent until we find the trail.She howls and follows the trail.
'Oh, I hope she's okay.' I think. Storm whines, reading my thoughts. 'We'll talk about reading my thoughts later, but let's focus on finding our pup now.'
--
Meanwhile
~Cecily's POV~
"What's your name, love?" He asks stroking my hair as I draw circles on his chest, just enjoying the sparks while we lay there naked as the day we were born.
Seriously, when I heard of the sparks, I thought that I wouldn't want them, that I would find them annoying, but... here we are.
"Cecily Tudor." I say happily, my nail still playfully drawing circles on his bare chest.
I feel admiration through the bond, as if my name was the most beautiful thing he's ever heard.
I stop and look up at him. "What's yours?"
"Raif Wolsey." He says smiling.
I gasp and exclaim backing away, "WOLSEY?!"
Oh my Goddess. I just marked and mated with a relation of Anne's worst enemy. Wolsey was pure evil.
'No. No, no, no, no. This can't be happening. Thomas is going to kill me and mark me as a traitor to the Boleyn's.' I think.
'Calm down and let him explain.' Celeste orders.
"Yes, I am a Wolsey. My father was a bastard son of Robert Wolsey and my mother was a mage of Romanian descent. I am also related to the Boleyns, through my grandmother, Margret Butler, who had my father before she married your adoptive grandfather." He says, trying to calm my fear.
That's Anne's grandmother. There were always stories about her while I was growing up, stories saying that she had loose morals and didn't save herself for her husband like was expected. (This is fiction).
"Robert Wolsey, my grandfather, wanted a child, legitimate or not as he was losing hope in his ability to find a bride, so he took my father from his mother at birth, which makes the Cardinal my half uncle."
"Do you believe what your Uncle was doing was right? Taking money from innocent people?" I ask.
"No." He says. I feel honesty through the bond, so I know 1000% that he isn't lying. "I didn't really like the man. My dad was what he would call a heretic, so they never got along. He always told me that the Cardinal may be family, but he is a thief and a liar."
"Okay then." I say content. I feel relieved that he thought his uncle was evil because to Anne and me, he truly was.
He looks at me like he wants me to share my thoughts so I say, "Wolsey was a cruel man that convinced me he would do whatever it took to keep Anne away from Percy, including kill her, kill me, or kill us both."
He growls, pulling me protectively closer.
--
~Raif's POV~
That bastard! How dare he threaten my mate?!
'Let's tare his corpse apart.' Aztec suggests as I put my shirt on and she gets her dress back on. A real shame...
'Tempting, but not now, old friend. I can feel pain through the bond. I think there's something else wrong.' I tell him after I snap out of my own world before fantasies of my angle consume every fiber of my being.
'Celeste tells me that she went through something as a child, back when she first got her wolf.' He growls.
Now that he mentions it, she was really stiff in her arms and had her eyes shut the whole time. I know she is--or was--a virgin like I was before her--the blood tells me that--but something's not right.
Her eyes go white for a second and she gasps. She smiles and briefly kisses my nose, then snuggles into me.
'Mate is special. She's a seer. She saw us defending her in a time of need.'
Woah. "Have you always been able to do this?" I ask, pulling away to look at her. She nods.
"I started getting my visions when I was five, soon after I got my wolf. I don't like telling people about them really after-" She says with an angelic voice. Yet there's a sadness I can't put my finger on.
"Has someone hurt you?" I ask. Her eyes go wide and just whimpers and starts crying in response, burying herself in me. I clutch her to me tightly and stroke her hair, making her shy away a little.
"It happened when I was five." She finally manages to say. She looks up at me. "An alpha pretended to be my favorite theology tutor, Sir Tinsdale. I told him about my gift in confidence when he did my confession and he took me to his pack, making me use my gift to conquer packs. It went on just like that for ten months and then he started making me..." She leaves it unsaid and sobs louder, totally shattering my heart. She clings onto my shirt and says, "he made me touch him."
I growl louder then ever. "Where... is... he?" Aztec and I ask together.
"Dead. Stormy found me and saved me two months later before he could get farther." She tells me.
Stormy... that must be the new Queen's wolf! I heard about how close they are.
"Anne?" She asks aloud as her eyes turning amber.
--
~Cecily's POV~
I feel something break through the barrier I put up.
'CECILY BOLEYN, WHERE IN SELENE'S NAME ARE YOU!?' Anne links me pushing through the barrier, panic clear in her voice.
"Anne?" I ask aloud. I mentally slap myself. I never even thought of her and how worried she'd be. That's not good for her pups. I try to sob in my mind and link, not hard at all thinking about her losing her pups, 'Anne... the Luna, the terrible Luna, she brought me out to the woods and this wolf just saved me. He's with me now.'
I know I should tell the truth, but I am overwhelmed by fear. Thomas could make her turn me away because of who I'm mated to.
Don't get me wrong, I am in no way ashamed, but Thomas will be and Anne is an emotional mess right now dealing with those hormones. There's no telling what she would do.
Besides, it's a very possible lie. I did tell her that since the monster alpha died his Luna had been leaving me threatening notes. I had to be careful when I left the party.
I don't feel the least bit guilty. She never stood up for me as she watch her mate tortured me. In fact, she joined him! She would beat me every time he made me touch him. She tortured me for a year even worse than he would and tormented me ever since Anne got me out.
The only reason I didn't want to tell before was because I was scared she'd hurt me some other way somehow. And for her children, but their grown adults by now, and I've heard they don't even like their mother anymore.
"What do you want to tell her?" He asks completely understanding. His eyes are filled with nothing but love and adoration.
"For now, I told her you saved me from an attack from that monster's Luna." I say adjusting my dress so my collar hides my mark. Just in case I mutter a camouflage spell And a scent masking spell to tone down the smell of Raif.
I put my head up to his and say, "I am in no way ashamed of you, or our bond. I just want to wait till Anne has the pups and her hormones are under control."
We walk out hand in hand till something collides with me, making me go, "Oof!"
Raif gets ready to defend me, but stops when he hears me laughing as Storm licks me. I can feel joy, love, and admiration from the bond.
She shifts back, wraps me up in her arms tightly, cradling me, and kisses my forehead.
She shifts and allows me to climb on her back. I nod and climb up. As soon as she takes off running, I get another vision.
I see three kids playing together. I cam't see their faces or anything, but I know immediately who they are.
They spot me and all come running, happily crying, "Mama!"
"Come now, time for sleep." I say.
I gasp for air as I get another headache. 'Celeste... could we be?' I ask my wolf. I feel her smile and nod.
I might be pregnant with my mate's child. I don't want to believe it. It's too good to be true.
But then again... OH MY GODDESS, I MIGHT BE PREGNANT OUT OF WEDLOCK!!
I run back to my rooms and I write a letter to my Aunt Mary Brandon of Suffolk, requesting her come to court immediately.
I walk out looking for a messenger to deliver the letter. When I finally find one, I flag him over and tell him, "Please take this letter to Westhorpe Hall and give it to my Lady Aunt."
"Yes, My Lady." He responds and walks off to ride to Westhorpe.
--
Westhorpe Hall
~Mary's POV~
"Your Grace?" One of my ladies say. She curtsies until I tell her to rise and walks over handing me a letter, "A Royal Messenger dropped this off. It's a request to come to court from your niece."
"My niece?" I ask, curious which one sent it.
"I hear it is from the Lady Cecily." She tells me.
I gasp in surprise. Cecily and I have barely even met. We just met the one time when Henry had ordered I come to court to meet his mate a few years ago.
Flashback
At first, I had no desire to meet Anne. I was always close with Katherine, so I assumed Anne was just Henry's latest... conquest, I'll say. But when Henry mentioned that he mentioned that he had someone else he wanted me to meet, I couldn't help but be intrigued.
Henry, my husband Charles, Anne, and I were all chatting together when she came in. Anne immediately walked over.
"Hey, Anne." Cecily sighed as she hugged her.
"We have someone here who wants to meet you." Anne says holding her hand. She lets go and Cecily slowly walks over.
"Hello." She says nervously .
I gasped when I got a real look at her and say, "Cecilia, is that you?" She smiles and nods.
I get up and hug her exclaiming, "Mon amour!" I break away to look at her, cupping her cheeks. "It's you, it really is you! And you look just like her mother, my darling girl." I kiss her forehead.
I was one of Baby Cecilia's godmothers. She was such a sweet babe whenever I would visit her. It broke my heart when she disappeared. "Where have you been all this time?"
"After I was taken, I was brought here to England, but I fell out of the back of the kidnapper's litter and landed in a lily field. Anne found me and took me in." She tells me. Anyone who could have saved my precious babe couldn't be all bad.
Flashback
After dinner, I asked her in private about her relationship with "the whore's" family. She growled and angrily yet quietly says, "Anne is no whore!"
"Then what is she?" I asked curious.
"She's my sister, the one who raised me! I wouldn't be who I am without her." She completely reconciled me with Anne in a matter of seconds.
Back to Reality
We talked a lot after that, but we haven't actually seen each other since.
"Charles, I'm going to Court for a few days." I tell my husband. I pack a bag for a few days and have the carriage made up.
--
Hampton Court
~Cecily's POV~
"My Lady," Lady Baynton says. I look up from my needle work. "The Princess Mary, Duchess of Suffolk is here to see you."
"Thank you, Lady Baynton. Invite her in, if you please." I tell her.
"My darling, sweet Goddaughter." Auntie M says walking in, her arms waiting for me.
I forget to curtesy in the heat of the moment and go right for a hug. She practically squeezes the air out of me, but Celeste is protecting my stomach.
"Hi, Auntie M." I say in the hug. We stay like that for a few more moments.
"In your letter, you sounded like there was something of pressing concern that you wanted to talk about." She says as we walk to the small thrones in my room and sit.
I sigh. Getting right to the point. It's not really like her, but she must be worried.
"Auntie M, I- I think I am... with child." I told her. She gasps, but then remembers that I would let anyone near my maidenhead if it wasn't my mate. Her face goes soft and she wraps me up in a tight hug, completely understanding, just like I knew she'd be.
Two Days Later
I rush to Raif's new rooms in the servants wing. I walk in and see him on his harpsichord.
'Mate is hot! Mate him now!' Celeste orders.
I admire his playing for a moment and go to join him. I play a key smiling slyly yet lustfully.
"Cecily! What a pleasant surprise." He says.
I lean down, kiss the tip Raif's nose again, and kiss him passionately, only stopping to look at him with me and Celeste present.
"Good morning to you too, Mates." He and Aztec say together.
"Less talking, more touching, Wolsey." Celeste and I demand together. I kiss him again.
I can feel him hard and ready for me. I tear off his shirt and place kisses down his chest. That's all I need to do before he rips my clothes off and takes me right there, gently yet so passionately.
Five hours later
"Thanks for the early morning delight, lover. I needed that." I tell him as we lay together after round seven.
"What brought this on?" He asks me. I sigh and look down. "Not that I don't appreciate it, but this is a complete change in behavior."
"I've been sure of something for a while now." I say standing. "The midwife confirmed it earlier." I kneel down and kiss him, taking his hand and jokingly bowing.
He sits there, awestruck. "You're pregnant?!" He asks happily. I smile and nod.
He jumps up, swoops me into his arms, and kisses me with the force of a charging Spanish bull, our tongues fighting for dominance and all that jazz.
"Have you told anyone?" He asks putting me back on the bed gently.
"Only Auntie M when she got here, only because I thought she'd be the most understanding." I say.
"But she got here two days ago. I thought you were only sure of it since this morning." He says rubbing my cheek, propped up on his elbow.
"I suspected after the second vision that I got the day we met." I say not meeting his eyes. I look up with silent happy tears in my eyes and a smile and say, "And don't you see? I was right!"