Arabella Dimitri

I smelt him before I heard him, and I heard him before I saw him. There is was again, that intoxicating smell of freshly cut sandalwood and pine leaves, smothering me, yet also feeling like it was the first time I had breathed properly in a long time. I was sure he was feeling the same. I wonder what I smelled like. Hopefully nice; I took a shower this morning.

He took a seat next to me on the bench, after wiping some of the snow that had landed on the seat off onto the floor. I looked down at his hand as he did that, then moved my head slightly, quickly scanning him, before resuming staring up at the clouds.

"So..." he started.

"So..." I mimicked.

"I don't exactly know how to start this," he said. Honesty; I like it. As we sat side by side, even though we weren't touching, I could still feel some kind of force, like it was pulling us together, jumping from him to me and from me to him. That's the mate bond for you; a damn finicky thing, and extremely hard to fight.

"I have wanted a mate since the day I learnt about them from my parents, and I have waited for mine since the day I turned 18. I hoped it would happen on that day, maybe the few days after it, maybe the tour of the packs I partook in, but still no mate. I hoped that when I found my mate, and we looked in eachother's eyes for the first time, she would run into my arms, and we would hold eachother tight, and we would cuddle all afternoon. Over the years I assumed she was a rogue, or dead, I guess I was right about the rogue part... What I am trying to say is, things don't always turn out the way you expected them to, but it doesn't mean it's a bad thing. You are my mate, I am yours. Yes, we don't know eachother, yes, we seem to be complete opposites on the surface, but you will never know unless you try," he ran his hand through his hair, turning his head to look at me. "I would like to get to know you, I would like you to come back with me and get to know me."

"I don't think I can be the Queen, or the mate, you expect me to be," I spoke.

"I don't think you will be, I think you'll be completely different, but I don't think that is a bad thing."

We sat in silence as I pondered over the words he said. "I don't know if I will stay, but I will give it a go."

"Really?!" he turned to face me, his face lit up like a Christmas tree. "You're being serious?" he was literally grinning from ear to ear. It was infectious, he made me smile slightly, as I nodded my head. "Fuck," he sighed, grabbing me in a hug and spinning me round. "I thought you would take so much more convincing! Jason was telling me how stubborn you were the entire way here, he told me about that one time with the casserole..."

"Ah, yeah," I spoke, my words muffled as my face was pushed up against his chest. "Let me down?"

"Oh, sorry," he said, placing me gently on the floor.

"She said yes! Strix, cocktails!" I heard Remus shouting from inside the castle, where I noticed we had a whole audience of people.

***

I swear, vampires and werewolves are supposed to be mortal enemies, yet tonight they partied together like they were the bestest of friends. Of course, none of the werewolves went to the upstairs room, I don't think their mates would've been happy about that...

"So, what's your favourite drink?" Nicholas asked me, as he leant with his elbow on the bar, facing towards me. I tilted my body so that I was now facing him.

"Depends on the occasion," I replied.

"On a night like tonight then?"

"Something strong," I grinned at him.

"Something strong it is," he grinned back, leaping over the bar so he was now on the other side. I hopped up onto one of the barstools and sat, watching him work, with my elbows on the surface, resting my head on them. He kept dropping things and smashing things, and Strix kept hitting him with spoons, which was hilarious to watch. He was absolutely hopeless.

"I tried really hard on this one, a drink for a Queen," he smiled, placing a martini glass filled with the weirdest orange colour I have ever seen, keeping one for himself. We clinked glasses and took a sip, and instantly spat it out all over the surface, much to Strix's annoyance.

"Hold on, this is how you do it," I said, hopping over the bar myself. I bustled around quickly, getting all of the necessary ingredients into a cocktail shaker, trying to ignore the sparks I felt every time I brushed up against Nicholas in the tiny space.

"Now this is heavenly," Nicholas said as he drank.

Like the night before, we partied until the early hours of the morning. Jason and Logan left together pretty early, both looking completely smashed, and both all over eachother. Damien left early too, he was being super boring to be fair, not wanting to party without his mate or something like that. I didn't realise they became that boring overnight. I swear, I will never be like that, I hope.

Tonight, however, instead of me dragging Seth up the stairs, it was me who needed to be carried. Of course, Nicholas was the one who carried me, something about him not trusting me to make it on my own, not wanting my legs to give in, I can't exactly remember, but his excuse was clearly good enough for me to let him put his hands on me and carry me to my room.

King Nicholas Anderson

After tucking her in bed, I headed to my own room, bumping into Logan on the way. We spoke for about an hour, talking about all sorts of things, including both of our mates. He said that he thinks we are adorable together, and even though we seem to be complete opposites, that we seem to get on well. I guess only time will tell, but I think she will definitely keep me on my toes.

The next morning we rose early, in order to get most of our travelling done in the sunlight. Of course, the rest of the castle was still fast asleep, so we fixed together some easy breakfast, and got all of our things together.

"Where's Ari?" asked Jason, looking around the table we were all sat at. I did notice she wasn't there, but I just assumed she was getting ready or something.

"I'll go check on her," I said, standing up and leaving the room.

When I reached her room, I could hear soft snores, the kind you might expect from a puppy or something. I knocked on the door and called out her name. No answer. I did it three more times, all with no answer, before I slowly opened the door. There was a lump on the bed, moving up and down with each breath she took in, and snore she let out. I walked over to the bedside and shook her slightly. I was half expecting her to groggily wake up or something. I was not expecting her to jump out of bed, a knife aimed straight at my neck, screaming at me. "Don't fucking wake me up you asshole," she grumbled, realising it was just me and removing the knife from my neck. "I'm going back to bed." I was still in shock, but when I realised she was crawling back into her cocoon, I pulled the covers off her and raised an eyebrow.

"We need to leave soon, you included. Let's go," I said.

"I'm too hungover, I need to five more hours of sleep," she groaned.

"You can sleep on my back as I run in wolf form," I offered. She perked up a bit at the sound of that.

Back in the dining room, I was sat finishing my breakfast as the literal zombie that is Arabella Dimitri walked into the room. She looked like she was literally sleep walking, yet also like she hadn't slept in about five years. "Stop fucking looking at me," she growled, before sitting in the first chair she reached, and shovelling food in her mouth.

"How is she exactly going to keep up in this state?" asked my beta, Logan.

"She'll be riding on my back," I answered casually.

"You are so whipped already," chuckled Logan. It's true. I was completely whipped for her. She was so unapologetically herself, quick witted and gorgeous, it was hard not to be.

***

Just outside of the castle walls, we were preparing for our journey back. A couple of the night warriors had already shifted, and they were getting bags and things strapped to their backs, whilst I was wrapping Arabella up in a fur hide in order to keep her warm. I shifted myself into my wolf and lay down on the floor, so it was easier for Logan to help her onto my bag. She readjusted herself, draping the fur hides over her, so that she was leaning forwards on my back, her head nuzzled in the back of my neck. To say my I was happy would be the understatement of the century, I was completely ecstatic, and the only reason I wasn't jumping all over the place with glee was because I didn't want to wake Arabella up, who had already fallen asleep again.

The journey was long, and unfortunately the blizzard had begun to pick up again, and it was getting extremely hard to keep going. I could feel Arabella shivering in her sleep as well, as she was probably covered in snow, and even the heat from my wolf would not be able to keep her warm for that much longer, not when her back was exposed to the weather, excluding the few animal hides.

Our cave is near, we will stay there for the night. Jason mindlinked me.

We climbed up the mountain that led to their cave, and somehow all crammed into the small space, after having to enter one by one whilst holding some random rock. Logan picked Arabella up off my back, and I shifted and took her back, lying her in her bed in her bedroom. As there was very little space in the cave, and not many soft surfaces to sleep on, most of us stayed in wolf form and slept on the ground. I did the same, sleeping on the ground next to her bedside.