Tatiana's face broke into a smile as the curtain rippled and out sprang Aubrey, her Aubrey. She caught the girl in her arms, falling back a step so her back pressed into one of the shelves as she returned the kiss in earnest. It may have only been a handful of days since she last saw her, but it felt like decades. It always did, her life seeming dull now compared to when she was in the arms of the redheaded beauty.
"I missed you too," she purred, leaning her head into Aubrey's. She didn't need to act like a princess around her. There was no forced smiles, or fake emotions. Aubrey made her feel real; made her feel like the true wolf she was.
"The only news I have is there's this princess whose been counting the seconds down for when she can sneak off and meet the most beautiful girl in the clan," she whispered huskily, drinking in Aubrey's scent, "And that her birthday is in less than a week, and she does not want it to come."
Tatiana was nervous; it was her eighteenth, a year of great importance for all werewolf clans. Eighteen was the year wolves became adults, and found their calling within the clan. Everyone had a job, be it a hunter, a warrior, a shop keeper, or a farmer. There were jobs for all, but the most important thing was that each wolf had a job, and that they did it to the best of their abilities. For Aubrey, she was a merchant's daughter, and therefor would likely remain a merchant herself. It was a honest job, although it rarely paid well. Some of the shop keepers, like the Tannery just down the road, did well off due to the high amount of skins coming in with the hunter's kills. Others, like the antique store, did poorly, as few wolves saw a need for trinkets and such cluttering their small homes.
Then there were those men like Aubrey's father who dabbled their hands in different items, such as food shipments, leathers, and the like. Tatiana had come to realize what his job mainly comprised of was shipping and receiving from the neighboring cities. He had even established buyers in the human cities, not an easy feat for a werewolf. No human had or would step foot in their city, not that they would ever find it, and their secrecy had always made the humans uneasy with them. The entrances to their underground city was hidden within caves also well hidden within the forest, behind waterfalls or covered by thick layers of vines. A wolf could smell these entrances out, but no others.
"I have good news though," she whispered, playing with a tendril of her red hair as her lips stayed only inches from Aubrey's, her dark chocolate iris' watching the other woman's, "Our Master of Coin passed last week due to failing health and old age. I'm sure the news spread of his memorial two nightfalls ago. Father is already looking for a new Master of Coin though, and I may...possibly have convinced him to request an audience with a beautiful redhead's father when he returns."
She knew this was ecstatic news. The Master of Coin supervised all the shops in the city, and it was their job to keep the supply lines open and running as well. With Aubrey's fathers contacts and buyers, the city would become more prosperous, and her family would be well off for many years to come.
It was all Tatiana could really do to help her dear Aubrey, knowing she could never truly give Aubrey the life Tatiana wanted to give her. The second right of passage for a wolf turning eighteen was they found their mate. Their lifelong partner, who would give them children and support them. Loyalty was a virtue all wolves strived to have, and so all wolves only found one mate for life, unless that wolf pass in battle and the widow take another. The problem for Tatiana was there had never been a lesbian couple within clan history. Especially not one in court. It was frowned upon too, as two women could not give the other a child and carry on the bloodline. Tatiana' father was a fair man, although often strict, and he probably would not object to it if it was simply two commoners. But this was his daughter, and the royal bloodline. He would expect children from her, so he would want a male to be her prince. If the brunette had her way she would chose Aubrey over all else, giving her lover everything she could possibly desire. But she could not, and it filled her with pain.
"I do not want to become eighteen," she whispered, dropping her head to the redhead's shoulder, "Oh Aubrey, I don't want to be forced to choose a man I will never love. All I want is you."
She was well aware Aubrey would need a mate soon too. Wolves only had till their nineteenth birthday to mate, and if they didn't choose then the families would choose for them and force them to mate before that birthday. The thought of losing her Aubrey to some male wolf with greedy hands and a hard cock made Tatiana's blood boil, unable to get the horrid picture of her beautiful redhead's body lying under another's out of her head.
She had been a gift. A gift. Reduced to nothing more than an object. Her head hung down as she stood in the middle of a rather cold room, her arms above her head and bound by leather cuffs attached to a heavy chain. Her mother had named her Claerissa upon birth, a beautiful name for the equally gorgeous blonde girl, but she went by Aeri now. She could not stand to listen to these men call her by her birthname as they beat and tortured her. And while she was dressed for the moment, Aeri did not for a second think she was safe with this prince.
Her clan had lost its war to his. They had been a small wolf pack of only a few hundred, their territory bordering the edge of this clans. Eventually that was what caused the war, the larger clan wanted more territory while the smaller pack fought for its people and its home. The lost horribly though. Their warriors were slaughtered, and then their Alpha. With no one to protect them, and no leader to follow the pack fell apart. Some escaped, others died at the hands of the clan as they swarmed in to finish the job. The elderly were killed, the adults too unless they escaped the pack before the killing began. The only ones kept alive had been the children. Frail, frightened little things that they beat and chained, turning them all into slaves for the clan's highest bidders. Claerissa had never seen such a thing within her own pack, but now it had become her life. She was only sixteen after all, a beauty with a fit body for labor and a ready womb for children should her masters want them.
At least that was what the slaver's had told her.
They had also told her she was a fortunate one. She had been sold to the royal family, to be a gift to the prince for his eighteenth birthday. She had been handed off naked and in chain's to the king himself. To her luck they had provided her clothing within the palace, but it was nothing more than a leather and fabric woven top, paired with a
skirt that sat low on her hips, made of different lengths of leather. It barely covered her fair skin and left little to the imagination though, but she was still grateful for the cloth over walking around with her breast's bouncing for all to see.
His fingers ran through her hair and she shivered, trying to turn her blindfolded head towards him. Aeri had glimpsed him only once now, when the Alpha had presented her to his son, wishing him a happy birthday. Then she had been whisked away here, blindfolded and bound up, waiting for him. As his hands left her hair he stepped away, her ears picking up the soft sounds of his footsteps towards something before picked what she guessed was a mug up and drained it, the soft sounds of guzzling catching her sensitive ears.
The footsteps returned and his hands were on her face now tilting her chin, his lips coming down on hers. He tasted of alcohol, although Aeri had no idea which, never having tried it herself before. His body smelt of musk, but it did not repulse her. She was thankful for the tender touches, hopeful this prince would not be like the slaver's. They had done nothing but beat her, promising rape too if she was not sold quick enough. But they had left her a virgin, saying it would raise her price and it did.
The kiss only lasted until there was a knock on the door, pulling his attentions away. Her head moved with the sounds of him, listening intently as she licked the excess alcohol off her lips. The King, the Alpha of the clan, wanted to see his son. About what? Why did she care, it was not like it would effect her. Aeri listened as the door shut and once more locked, her arms aching from their position above her head. She could not see, so she could not judge what would come. All she could hear was his soft footsteps, and the sound of her own heart beating wildly.
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