Noelle
"Are you sure you don't want to go sit at a three-hour long ceremony in a hot-ass polyester gown while we listen to a bunch of boring speeches and a long list of names of people we don't care about?" Remi asks as we walk down the hall toward the dining room. We promised everyone we'd stay out until they were done decorating.
With a laugh, I say, "I think I'll pass. Skipping to the party sounds like the best idea we've had in a while."
"Agreed." He looks down at me and smiles, his cheeks flushed.
"What?" I ask, looking down at my clothes to make sure I wasn't showing any private body parts or something.
"Nothing, I—I was just going to ask how it's going with Eli."
"Oh...Oh." I understand the red cheeks now. "It's going great. He's amazing, Remi. I think–" I stop and gnaw on my bottom lip. "I really think I'm falling in love with him. Not just because we're mates. He's the best thing that's ever happened to me."
"I'm happy for the two of you, I really am. Seeing the way you look at each other makes me hopeful that there is someone out there for me."
"So, you don't feel jealous at all?"
He shrugs. "I mean, Eli has a gorgeous girl who can do earth-shattering things with her body. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous. But hey, I have a hot best friend now and that is worth it."
My chest blooms with warmth and affection for Remi. I knew from the beginning that Remi and I had a connection, and the fact that it had ended up being as best friends was better than anything I could've hoped for. "Thanks for sticking with me through everything," I say, hooking my arm through his as we draw closer to the dining room doors.
"I'm glad I could be here when you needed a friend and...a helping hand." He opens the dining room. "Now, let's party for the first time as graduates."
The long table is packed with food, and on the far end sits a pile of presents. A banner hangs on the wall, congratulating Remi and me. Everyone around the table stands and claps as we shake our heads with embarrassment and take our places. When the noise calms, everyone takes their seat and Corbin remains standing.
"We have a lot to celebrate tonight," the alpha says.
Elijah leans in, brushing his lips against the shell of my ear. "Not just tonight, every night since you came into my life."
My cheeks flush and I angle my face toward his, the confession I made to Remi in the hallway on the tip of my tongue. I want to tell Elijah how I feel about him, but not in front of everyone. "Can we talk later...alone? I need to tell you something important," I whisper.
He narrows his eyes, and one side of his mouth ticks as he fights a smile. "Yes."
Avery clasps her hands on the table and stage whispers, "You two are so fucking cute and nauseating at the same time."
"And you are nosy, little sister," Elijah says.
"And you're obnoxious, big brother."
"Sounds like I'm doing my job."
Corbin clears his throat, breaking up their back and forth, and stands. "Remi and Noelle have accomplished something that most beings their age experience with fewer complications. They have learned who and what they are, and both have a path of service ahead of them. They are our people's future leaders and protectors. And I believe what they have in store will pave the way for a new era of peace. So I ask you all to raise your glass and toast them on this first major milestone of their adult lives."
Everyone raises their glasses with a word of agreement before taking a sip.
Remi and I glance at each other with flaming cheeks, and with grateful nods at our friends, we join them in sipping on our drinks. Soon after, everyone is eating, and the sound around the table is mostly forks and knives scraping on plates and quiet conversation.
I'm struck by how at peace I am with everything—with Elijah, the rest of my friends, where we live, who I am. Despite everything, and all the struggles that are about to come our way with my father, I can't help but feel really fucking lucky to be here.
Especially when it comes to Elijah. I look at him out of the corner of my eye, and he's deep in conversation with Killian about something—probably where we should go when it's time to go on our "vacation." We've been bouncing between Costa Rica, the country home in France, and New York City.
I don't really care where we go as long as—
"Well, what do we have here? What a festive little celebration for my daughter's commencement. It would've been nice to be invited, though," a smug voice says from the dining room door, and my heart sinks to my feet.
Dante.
Elijah stiffens next to me, and he immediately grabs my hand under the table. I squeeze his fingers hard and mutter under my breath, "What the fuck is he doing here?"
"I don't know. Corbin normally gets word before Dante arrives." He releases my hand, and for a moment, I'm stung, but I realize immediately why.
My father can't know we're together.
"Dante?" Corbin growls while pushing back from the table.
Bennett lays a hand on his husband's shoulder to stopping him from standing. "Your Majesty, what an unexpected surprise."
Corbin shoots Bennett a glare, but just as quickly, his anger dissolves. Bennett has always been my uncle's rock and voice of reason. Now that I know my father, I understand it was Bennett who has kept Corbin out of trouble. If it were not for his coolheaded intervention, something tells me I would be without an uncle.
"You thought I would miss my daughter's graduation celebration?" Dante chuckles and pulls out a chair at the other end of the table. "Thanks for the invite, brother."
Corbin's jaw clenches before he says, "Our last meeting didn't exactly end with hugs and kisses, so I didn't think to send you an engraved invitation."
My father leans back in his chair and folds his arms over his chest, crossing his legs in front of him. "I told you what I expected before you left Colombia. And it hasn't happened yet. Did you think I would just forget?"
"Of course not, but I thought you would give Noelle the chance to finish high school and become acclimated to our community."
"And look at her flourishing." Dante's eyes dart between Elijah and me.
A bulky arm slides around my shoulders, and Killian pulls me to his side. "I'll take most of the credit for that. Taming my girl while she has gone through the shift has been...entertaining."
I stiffen against Killian and grab a chunk of skin at his ribs, pinching as hard as I can. This isn't the time to be funny and to poke the bear. My father has next to zero tolerance for my uncle. I can only imagine what he would do to Killian.
Killian grits his teeth and forces a smile through the pain.
Avery furrows her brow and lifts one side of her lips. "Sure, but Noelle really started to shine when Eli—"
"The bond between Noelle and Killian is so strong some confuse them for mates," Elijah adds, stopping his sister before she says too much.
She shoots her brother a confused glare, and realization washes over me. My body goes slack, and I lean into Killian, resting my head on his shoulder. He pats my hip in a silent gesture of good girl, as Remi pulls Avery close to him. He presses his face to her hair and quietly shushes her. She tucks her lips between her teeth and glares at her brother. Elijah will have to give her the entire story sooner rather than later.
My father's eyes narrow as he looks at Elijah one more time before focusing on me and Killian. "This is your boyfriend, Noelle? You didn't even bring him to Colombia."
I swallow and glide my hand up the center of Killian's chest, over the side of his neck, and into his hair. "Corbin didn't want to bring him along because he was afraid he'd be too distracted to focus," I say with a flirtatious glance up at Killian and then with a glare in my father's direction, "Not that it's any of your business."
"No, it's not. In fact, my business is the reason I'm here on this joyous occasion. As my heir, you have an obligation to our people. They expect you to be a competent ruler when the time arrives. It is time you begin your training with me."
I let my hand drop from Killian's neck and sit up straight in my seat, my wide eyes finding my uncle's across the table and forcing myself not to look at Elijah. He expects me to do this now?
"What? But—"
"But nothing, Noelle. You are to be queen one day," he says in a voice that is too accommodating and too ingratiating to be sincere; I know better. "You need to know what to expect."
I plead wordlessly with Corbin to jump in and help me, save me from this. I am by no means ready to go into the belly of the beast and take down Dante, not to mention am I in any way ready to leave Elijah. Not right now. Not when we just started allowing ourselves to connect with one another.
My uncle shifts in his seat. "You can't mean to take her tonight. Noelle has a trip planned. Even you galivanted around Europe after high school."
"I'd also trained with Father to take my post since I was old enough to reason. Noelle was not afforded that same courtesy with her father." Dante drags his menacing gaze over everyone around the table. "She is already tapping into her power as sovereign and making decisions that are not yet hers to make."
He holds Elijah's stare and alarm bells go off inside my head. Every time I'm near Elijah, I can feel the control he has over his wolf. It's as if the animal waits right under the surface, but he holds the reins on it. The alpha is hard to ignore.
I decide not to deny it; he knows already, so there is no point. "That was an accident. I didn't mean to make a decision that would affect anyone else. I was only trying to—" I stop short of saying I was only trying to make my mate happy. "Just let me go on my trip, please," I stall, my heart thumping wildly in my chest. "Then, I'll do whatever you want."
"You will do what I want either way. Consider this your first lesson: when you are queen, every lycan is under your rule you do not bargain or ask, you demand complete compliance."
"I—"
"Consider this your graduation gift. You have two weeks and then you will return to Colombia."
Before I can say anything, Dante pushes away from the table and pins Corbin to the wall with one look. "See that she obeys, or you won't like the consequences." Without giving him a chance to respond, Dante is gone.
Killian releases me as soon as Dante is out of sight, and I lean into Elijah. He runs his fingers through my hair as I say to anyone and everyone in the room, "What are we going to do?"
Corbin runs his hands through his hair and stands, pacing the length of the dining room. "We initiate Remington into the pack. Tonight. Then, the four of you will leave for whichever vacation home you've settled on, train as hard as you can. Pack a lot of belongings. Enough to last for weeks."
I nod and draw my bottom lip between my teeth. "Where are we going?" I ask Elijah.
He kisses my temple and shakes his head against mine. "It's up to you, princess."
"France," I say with no hesitation. "It's the furthest away, and it sounds beautiful."
"France it is," Bennett says, standing and pulling his phone out of his pocket, tapping the screen furiously. "Let me make a few calls and get everything set up."
As he steps away and talks lowly into his phone, a smile spreads across Killian's face.
"What?" Remi asks. "What's that look for?"
"Don't forget the mark."
Remi's grin mirrors Killian's, and they both look at me. "What?" I ask, glancing at Elijah. "What are they talking about?"
He rolls up his sleeve and points to the moon and star tattoo just below his elbow. "The pup takes his oath to the order and is inked. It's a reminder that he always wears his position as a sentinel like a second skin. Once he devotes himself to service, it's until death."
My mouth waters just inspecting the ink etched into his skin, and I run my fingers over the celestial symbol. Suddenly, I want one too. I may not be a sentinel, but I'm one of them. I want the same mark they have.
"Can I—" I stop and clear my throat. "I know I'm not a sentinel, but you all are my family, and I—I want to have something that ties me to y'all, especially when I have no idea what's coming next. It's—it's okay if you don't want me to get one too, I understand."
"You're our queen, sweetheart. If you want that pretty freckled skin inked up, then by all means," Killian says with a lopsided smile.
Elijah rolls his eyes at his friend. "I'm sure we can work something out just for you."
Warmth floods my chest and I squeeze Elijah's knee. "All right. I guess we should go get ready for...an initiation?"
Corbin nods. "Meet in the clearing in the woods at midnight. That gives you," he checks his watch, "two hours to get changed and take care of any other business you may need to take care of. I'll call Victor and get him out here to give the mark."
My body heats as I remember what I wanted to tell Elijah before Dante showed up. Everyone gets up from the table and goes their separate ways, and Elijah and I find ourselves back in his room within five minutes of being dismissed.
He closes the door behind us and unbuttons his dress shirt, sliding it off his shoulders and tossing it onto the bed with a sigh. "Well, that didn't go quite as planned," he says, pushing his hair off his forehead and sinking down onto the sofa. He holds his hand out to me and I take it, letting him guide me to stand between his spread knees. "What was it you wanted to tell me, princess?"
Of course, he hadn't forgotten. My cheeks burn and I lower myself to his lap, straddling him with a thigh on either side of his waist. "I don't want you to freak out...and if you don't feel the same, I—I understand."
He lifts his hand and pushes a stray piece of hair behind my ear. "What is it?"
I take a deep breath and let it out in a whoosh. "Being with you is like a dream come true. One I thought I'd never get to experience, and even though it's only been a few weeks, I...God, why is this so hard to say?" He's watching me with the most rapt, attentive expression, like he's hanging on my every word, depending on them for his next breath. "I'm falling in love with you, Elijah. And it's not just because we're mates. I—I love you."
"Did you just figure that out?"
My cheeks must be the color of a tomato right about now. "No. I've known for months. I just now got the courage to tell you, that's all."
He smiles, and his chest shakes with a chuckle. "From the moment you held out your hand to me, something inside of me came to life. I felt as if I had a purpose beyond taking care of Avery or protecting this land. You gave me something to live for. I loved you as soon as I saw you, Noelle."
A smile spreads across my face and I place my palms on his cheeks, wasting no time in pressing my mouth to his in a hungry kiss. "I love you," I say against his lips. "I'm going to say it all the time now, so get ready."
"I look forward to hearing it and telling you in return." His lips cover mine and he takes his time kissing me. Every brush of his tongue and nibble is purposeful, like he is not only trying to show me how much he loves me, but he wants me to feel it. And I do. My heart is so full and even in the face of my father and his threat to pull us apart, I'm happy. Elijah is my world and I'm the moon who can't resist his pull.