Wendy

Shane took two large steps forward before roughly pulling me flush against him. His chest heaved with his heavy breaths as he buried his face into my neck. "You were gonna leave me" he mumbled, holding me tighter. I felt tears begin to form in my eyes. "You were gonna leave me" Shane repeated.

Biting my lip, I forced his arms to loosen so I would wrap my arms around his waist. "I'm still here. It won't happen again. I promise" I assured him. His arms tightened again, almost crushing me. "I'm not going anywhere" I craned my neck to press a kiss to his jaw, since his head was still on my neck. I shuddered as he pressed his lips to my neck.

I stood, allowing him to kiss and suck on my neck. He was silent as he continued his assault. He was even able to lift me onto the sink before locking the door. I took one look at his dark eyes, and I knew what was going to happen. Taking a deep breath, I smiled encouragingly at my mate and pulled him closer to me. I tilted my head to the right, so he could have better access. Immediately, he buried his face back into my neck and ran his nose along the area, taking in my scent. Abruptly, his teeth sunk into my skin.

I winced, but refrained myself from moving. He needed this. Shane's hands were on my waist, holding me in place and rubbing small circles. I sighed once the pain stopped. It now felt relaxing, as if I was getting a neck massage. After a few moments, Shane moved away and cleaned up my neck. "I love you too" he muttered.

A small smile made it's way onto my face. Holding his neck, I moved his face towards mine and pressed our lips together. His thoughts flowed around my head making me freeze. I continued tracing lazy patterns on his neck, but I didn't make a move to mark him. Shane keeping our foreheads together and closing his eyes. He was thinking about his parents- how he lost them and could've lost me. "I'm so sorry, Shane. I just-"

"Thank you" he cut off my apology. "I get why you did it. I don't agree with it. But I understand, so thank you" he said sincerely before pecking my lips. His thoughts slowly changed from sad to content as I slowly forgot about marking him. We stayed in that position for a while. Shane standing between my legs with his arms wrapped loosely around my waist and me sitting on the counter with my arms around his neck. "You smell like me" he stated, sniffing my neck.

I laughed and slightly pulled away from him. "Is it very noticeable?" I questioned. Our scents mix after we mark each other, but he only marked me- not vice versa. The mixing would be even stronger after we mate.

Shane continued to sniff my neck before he shrugged. "You smell nice though" he said with a smile.

"You're basically complimenting yourself" I pointed out. He shrugged, a small smile on his face. "I love you"

His grin widened. "I love you more" he said cheekily. I didn't even bother to argue because I know we would just end up going back and forth. I pressed my lips to his, but quickly pulled away. "Tease" he muttered before leaning forward to kiss me. I turned my head to the side so he kissed my cheek, which made me giggle as Shane pouted. He started leaning forward again, but this time he cradled my face in his hands so I wouldn't move.

"Really, Shane?! You marked her in a bathroom?!" We both pulled away and laughed. "Make yourselves presentable and come downstairs!"

Shane looked a little red. "Aw. You're cute" I teased, pinching his cheeks. Rolling his eyes, he swatted my hands away. I turned my head and sniffed my own shoulder. "Your scent is extremely noticeable" I groaned. He nodded, burying his face in my neck and pressing his lips to my shoulder. I shuddered and instinctively held his head there. Shane smiled against my skin and began sucking on my new mark. "She's gonna get mad if we're not downstairs" I informed him breathlessly. I bit my lip to keep in other sounds.

However, my mate lightly nibbled on my skin, forcing me to let out a small gasp. "I can hear you guys! Don't make me come in there!"

Shane sighed and pressed another kiss to my mark before pulling away. "We have about two minutes before the door is broken down" Shane guessed. "Do you wanna...?" he trailed off, rubbing the spot between his neck and shoulder.

I pecked his lips and shook my head. "There's time later. I'm not going anywhere" I said with a small smile. He nodded, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pressing a kiss to my head. "We're coming!" I shouted.

"I hope Shane's wearing a condom!" Shane snickered next to me as I blushed and rolled my eyes. We walked down the stairs with Shane's arm wrapped around me. Most of the pack were returning to their bedrooms as we were going down. I went to the kitchen and punched Tyson's arm really hard. "Ow! Violent!" he exclaimed, rubbing his upper arm.

Everyone in the kitchen laughed and I leaned against the counter. Shane pulled me away from my spot and stood there instead with me leaning against him. "You couldn't find a better place to mark her? A bathroom isn't very romantic" Sarah pointed out.

Shane shrugged. "It was a spur of the moment thing" I defended my mate. Tyson snickered, earning him another punch. "We can always make it romantic when I mark him" I offered.

Several gasps sounded around the room. "You didn't mark him?" Dominic questioned, sounding very surprised. I shook my head. "Let me see" Obviously he didn't believe us. I rolled my eyes before turning around and pulling Shane's shirt so his neck was exposed. "How the hell...?" Dominic trailed off.

"How could you resist marking him?" Tyson asked, very curious.

I looked up at Shane and shrugged. "I wanted to. I really wanted to" Tyson rolled his eyes at me. "But the instinct to comfort him was stronger than the instinct to mark him" I admitted. Shane pressed a kiss to my head, making Tyson fake a gag. "You can talk about us having sex, but you don't want to see him kiss my head?" I questioned, rolling my eyes at him.

Tyson nodded in confirmation. Weirdo. "That's not nice!" Tyson whined. I laughed, telling him that it wasn't my intention to say it aloud. "I should cancel your ceremony tomorrow, since you're a big bully" he huffed, crossing his arms like an angry child.

"My ceremony?" I repeated. Dominic, Ralph, and Tyson smiled at me while Shane rested his chin on the top of my head. "I'm joining the pack tomorrow?" I asked. They all nodded at me. I jumped up in excitement, forgetting Shane's head was there. Pain shot up in my mouth, making me wince and moved from Shane's arms to face him. "Shit. Sorry" I apologized, holding my hand over my mouth.

Shane ran his teeth over his tongue. "I bit my tongue" he muttered.

I kissed his jaw- a weak attempt to lessen the pain. But it slightly helped. Shane smiled and pulled me back into our previous position. "Whatever you do, don't kiss his tongue to make it feel better" Ralph said with a shudder.

Smiling, I nodded in understanding. "I'm tired. So let me speak" Sarah demanded. We all quieted down to allow her to talk. "That was a very risky decision you made" she chastised me. My smile faltered. "But you had my grandson's best interest in your mind along with the people in this room and the rest of the pack" Sarah gave me a small smile. "I don't want you doing anything of the sort ever again. I can't lose my only granddaughter" With tears brimming my eyes, I moved out of Shane's arms and towards Sarah. Wrapping my arms around her, I let a few tears fall. "You're not gonna scare me like that again. Are you?" Sarah questioned.

I shook my head. "Never again" I promised. Shane joined in the hug, then the rest of the guys followed after. "I love you guys" I mumbled, finding Shane's hand while we were all squished together. He gave my hand a small squeeze as everyone mumbled their 'I love you's.

"I want a hug too!" We all looked up to see Maddi handing Clara to a random pack member that was attempting to go upstairs. She ran up to us, jumping into the group. Laughing, we squeezed her into the hug. "I heard what was happening"

I felt a small pinch on my arm. "Ow!" Shane and I exclaimed at the same time.

Someone pinched Shane, but I felt it too. "The first one was for Wendy scaring us. The second one was for Shane not telling us in the first place so we could help" Maddi scolded us.

The group all pulled away from the hug, I rubbed my arm. "You do realize that we felt both pinches, right?" I questioned. She tilted her head in confusion before she pulled Shane down to look at his neck. I laughed at his awkward position. "Maddi" I sang, moving my hair to show my mark.

Maddi looked from my shoulder to Shane's right shoulder before moving around to his left shoulder. "He's not marked" she pointed out. I nodded in confirmation. "That's interesting" she said slowly. After a few moments, she suddenly squealed. "Details! Tell me the details!" she screeched.

I winced from her voice. "It was nothing special" I admitted.

"Cause it was in the bathroom" Tyson chuckled. Shane jabbed him in the arm. "Dammit! Do you guys have to hit the same arm every time?!" he exclaimed. We laughed as he rubbed his arm again. "It's numb now" he muttered with a pout.

Shane shrugged. "You'll live" my mate stated.

Tyson huffed and moved into the corner of the kitchen. "No one can touch me from here. This is my corner" he claimed. Rolling my eyes, I lifted myself onto the countertop. Shane copied my actions and sat next to me. He grabbed my hand and intertwined our fingers before pressing a kiss to the back of my hand. "How cute" Tyson said sarcastically, making another gagging noise.

Shane reached behind me and grabbed an orange from the basket on the counter. My mate chucked the fruit at Tyson. It exploded once it hit Tyson's chest. I burst into laughter as Tyson glared at us. After stripping out of his sticky shirt, he walked out the kitchen. "I'm beat. Someone drive a tired, old lady home" Sarah said, looking at the group of us.

Ralph raised his hand. "I'll say bye real quick before we go" I stated.

Sarah laughed. "Sweetie, you're not coming. Stay here with Shane" she insisted, pulling my cousin out of the room. "Don't have too much fun tonight!" Sarah shouted, halfway to the door.

Everyone else began to say goodnight before disappearing upstairs. Dominic poked his head back into the kitchen. "Just a reminder, your bedroom is soundproof. So, if there are loud activities going on in that room-"

"I get it" I cut Dominic off. He smiled cheekily before disappearing again. I was feeling extremely nervous, but it wasn't my emotions. "What's wrong?" I asked my mate, wrapping my arms around his neck.

His arms wove around my waist instinctively as he shook his head. "Nothing. Let's go upstairs" he urged. I followed him to his bedroom- which I've only been in a handful of times. As we climbed up the stairs, I could feel his anxiety increase. Then it abruptly stopped.

I frowned. "You blocked me out" I mumbled. He froze at the top step of the floor in which his bedroom was located. I forced him to turn around. "What's wrong?" I repeated. A jumble of words flew out of his mouth. But I could only make out bits and pieces. "Slowly. Speak slowly" I instructed softly.

Shane took a deep breath. "The ceremony is tomorrow. You have time to back out of this. The mark will eventually die away since you didn't mark me. You can leave. And there will be nothing that ties us together. And-"

I put my hand over his mouth, making his rant stop. It was slower than the first time, but he was still blabbering a little. "I'm not backing out of anything. I'm not leaving. I told you that" I reminded him.

He looked away from me and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, you said that. But you know, people lie to make other people feel better. And you didn't mark me. So I just thought-"

"I love you" I cut him off again. "I don't know where this insecurity is coming from, but I don't like it. You're absolutely perfect. I admire you. And nothing will make me want to leave you. I didn't mark you because you needed me. You didn't need me as a mate, but as support. And I didn't lie to you. I'm really not gonna leave you" I stated.

Shane let out a breath of relief and I felt him slowly unblock his mind. "That was cute" Using my eyes, I shot daggers at Tyson. "Night, lovey-doveys" he sang before entering his bedroom.

My mate rolled his eyes before pecking my lips. "I love you, too" he said softly. I smiled and lightly pushed him towards the bedroom. "Would this moment be romantic enough for you to mark me?" he questioned as he opened his bedroom door and motioned for me to go inside.

I shrugged and jumped onto his bed, landing on my back. "Oh, my God. You're bed is so comfortable" I stated, snuggling into the bedding.

Shane laughed at me as he got closer to the bed. "I'll get you something to sleep in" he offered, placing a chaste kiss on my head. I pouted and pulled him back towards the bed. I easily slipped off his shirt before slipping mine off. "That works too" Shane said, his adam's apple moving as he gulped. Smirking, I slipped off my pants too before I slowly put his shirt on. "That's just cruel" he muttered, finally looking away from me.

I smiled and kneeled on the bed so we were closer in height. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pulled his face to mine and pressed our lips together. As the kiss got more intense, Shane crawled onto the bed and pushed me back so I was laying down with him hovering over me.

After a few minutes of that, we pulled away. Shane pecked my lips, causing me to feel the smile on his face. "I love you" he mumbled against my mouth.

"I love you more" I copied his earlier words.

Shane shook his head. "I love you the most" he stated. I smiled, making him lay down with me. He quickly kicked off his pants before we both moved under the covers. Shane wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled my back into his front. He pressed a kiss to my mark. I shivered at the feeling.

It was still new to me. For a whole year, I had a Royal Mark that would burn me if someone made contact with it. A Royal Mark that was a target on my back. It influenced every decision I've had to make. But now, it's gone.

Now I just have a mark. A mate's mark.  

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"People have always wanted to be recognized, and that's human nature. But people used to want to be recognized for their accomplishments, and now they simply want to be visible"
-Diablo Cody

You are all beautiful/handsome, amazing people. I know that I'm just some stranger writing some books on some website, and that I don't even know you personally. But everyone is beautiful in their own way- whether it be the way they speak, their appearance, their thoughts, their personality. There is something that makes everyone beautiful.

So pass on the message. Compliment someone. Tell someone that they're important to you. Bring a little light into someone's life.

This is the last chapter of Bearing the Royal Mark. I never planned on giving Wendy a story, but here it is. I hoped you guys like it. And there will be an epilogue.

Kayyyzzz Byeeezzz

~A.J.