Dire Wolf Mates - Chapter 50: Chapter 50

“Whoa, wait a second,” Lucy said and looked from Leo to Sheila and back again. “So, you’re a Prince and you mated Sheila?”
“Yes,” Leo nodded.
“Yes,” Sheila echoed, and rolled her eyes.
Leo was a Prince. She explained it ten times already. So, what was the big deal, anyway? He was also a detective, a Lion Shifter, and wonder of wonders, he was her one true and fated mate.
Phoenix scoffed.
Thor looked carefully blasé about the whole thing.
Brock was noticeably absent.
Cole pinned Leo with his silvery stare for all on two seconds before giving her the thumbs up.
“Oh my gods! You’re a fucking Princess,” Weylin snorted, and Phoenix grinned too.
“Idiots.” Lucy rolled her eyes and popped another French fry into her mouth and chewed, then her pregnant cousin-in-law reached for her iced tea.
The rest of the guys just sat there quietly once they’d stopped making rude noises. Most of them with a beer in hand. Only her cousin was missing. Derrick had gone back to make sure the alarm had been activated at Serious Moonlight since everyone came running when she’d come to the Pack House to share her news.
“I just can’t believe you mated, Sheila.” Weylin faux gagged, and Sheila smacked him upside the head.
“That’s my mate you’re talking about,” Leo growled.
“Shit on a shingle, can’t you boys control yourselves? Sheila is a woman now and Leo is her mate,” Lucy growled and closed her eyes. Then she yelled for her mate.
“Derrick!”
Her mate hauled ass not one second later through the back door, claws out he looked around and tried to control his breathing. Holy cow. Remind Sheila to never scream for her mate like that unless she was in actual trouble.
“Dammit, woman, are you okay?” Derrick growled and walked to her side.
“Yes, I’m fine. Derrick, it’s gotta happen,” she said, and her purple eyes flashed at her mate. Everyone in the room felt the intense bond between the Alpha pair.
“Now?” he questioned, but he should have known better than that, in Sheila’s opinion. Not that she had any idea what the fuck Lucy was on about.
“Yes,” the feisty Bobcat insisted. “Right now.”
“The cubs?”
“They’re fine. Thor, get the box,” she called out, and pushed herself up out of the chair.
“What’s going on?” Leo asked.
“Uh, I think Lucy is going to get her tattoo,” Sheila said with wonder in her tone.
“Tattoo?” Leo asked.
“Yes, it’s a sacred Dire Wolf ritual,” she whispered. For some reason, it felt disrespectful not to.
“Like a tradition?”
“Yes, but deeper, much deeper than that. Thor, our Enforcer, is more than just muscle. He’s got the touch, the graybeards called him favored by the gods.”
“Really?” Leo’s eyebrows raised, but she could tell he was taking it all in stride.
Modern times or not, all Shifters believed in magic. How could they not when they shared their souls and switched bodies between human and other? Magic existed. They were living proof.
“When Thor channels the Fates, they answer. They work through his skilled fingers to depict a Shifter’s true heart through ink and blood, until he connects with that person’s matebond and shows them their path,” Sheila explained.
She watched as Leo’s eyes dilated, then flashed gold. It was clear his Lion was interested in her story. Then, without pause, he surprised her with his next request.
“I want one,” he said.
“Are you sure?” she didn’t dare give in to the hope that threatened to spill over in the form of tears yet. Not until he answered her.
“About you?” her Lion asked and grinned wickedly. “Sheila, you are about the only damned thing in this world I am sure of,” he said and claimed her mouth with his even as he stood and led her into the living room.
“It hurts, you know, getting ink,” she said and laughed when Leo looked affronted.
“Little Wolf, I’d crawl through glass, walk through fire, go to Hell and back for you, a little ink is nothing, my love. It means a lot, but the pain is worth it. As are you.”
He touched her face and kissed her quickly.
“You sure?” she asked one more time.
“Absofuckinglutely,” Mr. Law and Order answered, and Sheila laughed aloud, wondering what horrified expressions the guys would make if they heard him talk like that.
He stood up and turned around, leaving her to follow him into the huge living room of the Pack house. It was no Palace, but it was the first home she’d ever known.
As of about an hour ago, however, Sheila and her mate were the proud owners of a three story colonial just down the road. Leo agreed that they couldn’t live in the Pack house, or in the rented place he occupied in town. They needed privacy. Of course, proximity to Serious Moonlight and his Pride had been a priority.
The recently abandoned house fit all their needs. Yes, it needed a shit ton of work, but surprisingly, she looked forward to building a home for the two of them. Leo seemed keen, too. Sheila inhaled slowly as she took in the scene and her Pack surrounding her. The Dire Wolf MC was a group of rare Shifters who understood what it meant to be part of something. She was so proud of them all, and she was proud to be among them with her mate.
Lucy was sitting on a chair with Thor kneeling by her leg. He’d taken ink and bamboo needles from the metal box with the original Dire Wolf Pack glyphs etched on the outside. It was a sacred relic of theirs, as was the magicked ink he used to complete the mating ritual according to Pack law.
The large bald Wolf had dozens of tattoos across his enormous body. The most prominent being the wrath of flames circling his neck. His eyes were glazed over as he continued to repeat the same phrase in an ancient language that few knew or recognized as a special dialect of the Dire Wolves of old.
In his trance-like state, Thor etched a scene onto the pregnant Bobcat Shifter’s calf. It showed her, her mate, and their cubs all in their animal forms. It was a tinier version of Derrick’s tattoo, although in hers she was feeding their cubs, and he was watching over them tenderly.
Everyone was silent in the circle they’d formed around the pregnant Alpha fem, only Derrick approached, cradling her in his arms and claiming her lips with a soul-searing kiss that had even the men teary-eyed.
Normally, Thor was wiped out after one tattoo, but he held out one muscled arm and pointed a finger in Sheila’s and Leo’s direction. She looked at her mate and saw he was already removing his shirt, revealing his tanned, muscled perfection.
Dear gods, she loved his body. He was so handsome, big, strong, and powerfully built. Perfect for her in every way. Sheila wasn’t exactly all sunshine and roses to deal with, but he managed her just fine. The past month had proved that.
He looked at her with his large golden eyes sparkling, and he winked before he made his way to the center of the circle. Thor turned him around so that his back was facing the big man and Sheila sucked in a breath.
Nerves made her tremble as the sheer overwhelming thought that this was actually happening occurred to her. This was more than just a big deal. It was bigger than kissing, biting, and even fucking. This was the real claiming as far as Dire Wolf tradition went.
This was their true mating night. She bit her lip as Thor lifted the ink and poured some into a clean bowl. He took a new bamboo needle and dipped it into the magickal substance before he began carving the path of Leo’s destiny across his broad back. Her Lion didn’t make one single move.
His face remained still and impassive as the huge Dire Wolf behind him cut through his skin and marked him permanently. Unprecedented in her time and never in her memory, Thor raised his left arm, and he pointed a finger at Sheila. She looked at Derrick, who nodded at her to step forward.
The Enforcer tugged her arm and tore the sleeve, causing a slight rumble from Leo, who quickly ceased the sound when she touched his hand. As Thor continued to draw with ink across Leo’s shoulders, he began marking her using the same long arches with the sharpened bamboo. Prick after prick with the wooden blade, Thor worked. His pace was furious and sweat soaked through his shirt before he was finished. The Pack remained present, witnesses to the ritual, until finally the big man laid down his tool.
He breathed heavily, collapsing onto the floor as sweat dripped from his brow. Leo and Sheila looked at each other, awestruck and completely in sync. She felt their matebond pulsing around them, a living thing it warmed and protected, sheltering her in his love as she sheltered him in turn.
He was her clarity, her focus, her one true and fated mate, and she would do her best to make him happy. It was all she could promise, and it was enough. It was everything.
“I love you,” she whispered as he reached for her.
“Love you, mate.” He cleared his throat, and she gasped.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to touch it,” she said and turned him around to look at the scene Thor had created with guidance from the Fates themselves.
A mighty Lion stood in a mossy field with a Dire Wolf at his side. They were standing together, equals in all and everything. The Wolf’s head was turned towards him, her gaze looking at her future, and the Lion was focused solely on her as well. Sheila’s heart pounded as she turned her right arm to see what it was she’d been tattooed with, to her consternation the scene went up her shoulder.
“What is it?” she asked, and she almost howled when no one answered.
Leo pressed a kiss to her skin before he spoke. She heard the awe in his tone, and it filled her with love and joy.
“Oh, baby, it’s a Wolf’s paw, a Dire Wolf’s paw, and it’s right over a heart that’s surrounded in a mane of flames. I’ve seen that before, it’s a depiction of a Lion’s heart. My heart. Your claw isn’t a threat, it’s not piercing the heart, it’s uh, it’s carrying me. You’re lifting me up, little Wolf. Just like you do, every single minute you’re with me,” his voice tightened, and she trembled, near to bursting with emotion, but he wasn’t done.
“Sheila, baby, there are glyphs too. A circle with two wavy lines intertwined⁠—”
“That’s the symbol for fated mates,” she said with a ridiculously happy bark of laughter.
“And another one, this one I recognize. It’s the ring of circles, like on my bedroom door at the palace. The symbol for greatness,” he whispered, and she felt the grin in his voice as he kissed her shoulder.
“Well, I am pretty great,” she said, and he turned her around and claimed her lips. Breaking her sass with three little words she hadn’t heard him say since the night they’d mated under the full moon.
“I love you, little Wolf.”
“I love you too,” she returned. And she did. With all her heart.
The end.