Unwanted Fates | Book Two ✔️

Eighteen | Ceremony

 "Where is she?"

"Asleep. Well, she was."

"I need to explain myself-"

"I don't think that's wise. She isn't in the right headspace to hear you out-"

"But she is my mate!"

"And she is mine. You will only push her away..."

Sylvie woke to the harsh voices outside her door and rolled over with a groan. Her heart jumped, realising where she was, and she sat picking the crust from her eyes.

"Princess?"

"Yeah, I'm up." The light outside was faded, and a burnt sienna glow covered half of the room. She had slept until sunset. Shit.

Kian slowly pushed the door open and padded in, followed by a scowling Rowan.

"Did you sleep well?" Rowan grunted.

"Fine."

Kian sighed. "Rowan has a few things to tell us." He finished the sentence with a look that said, 'be nice.'

Sylvie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Well?"

Sensing her attention, Rowan stepped forward. "You will accompany me tonight to the lake, where I will introduce you as my mates."

"Mates?"

Sylvie glanced at Kian, but he kept his eyes down, jaw set.

"Yes. A mate of my mate is also mine. It is the way of shifters."

Sylvie pressed her lips together to bury the smile that begged to mar her face. Something about her mates being together thrilled her to her very core. She throbbed and crossed her legs, hoping he wouldn't 'scent' her arousal like Elias could.

"There, you will observe a mating ceremony using the fae artefact, Animae Dimidium Meae. You will bless their union and stay at my side as the ceremony is complete. You both will," Rowan added, turning to Kian, whose warm brown skin seemed a fraction darker as if he were blushing. Sylvie's brow shot up, but she remained silent.

"With our blessing, I am certain the Fates will allow their unions to create offspring...."

"Wait a minute." Sylvie raised her hand. "Why would you be trying to have children at a time like this? Shouldn't you be focusing on stopping the Vampires from taking the shifters you have?"

Rowan rubbed a hand across his face. "Of course we are, but we cannot put our lives on hold because of these beasts-"

"Beasts." He seemed to forget that she was, in fact, half of the beasts he hated. "Right. So instead, you hold ceremonies, try to make new shifter babies and turn humans where the survival rate is stupidly low. What was it? Twenty-five per cent?"

"The humans we change know the risks."

Sylvie scoffed and stood, stretching her arms above her head before letting them drop with a slap to her sides. "Did Natalie? I find it ironic how little you care for humans dying, yet you need them to make your precious shifters, which happen to be getting kidnapped by Vampires. Karma, perhaps?"

"Sylvie..." Kian warned.

Rowan's jaw clenched tight, but Sylvie just sneered. "Just get on with it. Let's go."

Rowan stormed from the room, followed by Kian, Sylvie, and the trio left the packhouse and turned right past the main house and another smaller cabin. A well-trodden dirt path wound around trees and foliage for five minutes until it opened into a large open space.