S I X T E E N

I sat up and Gabriel brushed a strand of messy hair behind my ear, then lifted my chin so our eyes met. My wolf stirred inside me, though she was back, something was still off, it was like she wasn't fully back. Still, a wave of relief crashed over me.

Gabriel's eyes were dark in awe, and I felt mine were the same. He inhaled slowly, as if trying to keep himself calm, "Kai Rivers, " he stood and took my hand, placing a kiss on the back of it,

"will you be my Queen?"

My heart started racing and the little bit of my wolf that was there was seemingly running in circles through my head, I looked up at him, his gaze was intense, but patient.

I felt a grin crossing my face, "yes," was all I could manage. I wanted to say more, but I was in shock, he still wanted me? I was pulled to my feet and picked up into his arms, his lips crashing on to mine.

We had never kissed. Heat ran through me like electricity and I felt like my soul was going to burst out of my chest and carry the two of us away. It was the most magical feeling I had ever experienced. I moved a hand and placed it on his face, Gabriel slowly set me down on to my feet, our lips still pressed together.

He pulled himself away just enough for me to look into his eyes again, our foreheads resting together, "you, are mine." I could hear Eros' voice in Gabriel's again, this was the first step into being mated to each other. First you must claim one another, then eventually you mark each other. I shivered a little at the thought, Gabriel's mark on my collar bone was going to hurt. He was not only an Alpha, but an Alpha King, it was going to hurt, and it was going to be large. I had heard of marks spreading over the shoulder like a tattoo from Kings before.

"And you, are mine," I replied back, and to my surprise, Reia spoke too.

That's when it hit me.

An intense wave of emotions, rage, suffering, torment and then another wave, of adoration, lust.

"Its okay... it's part of our bond," he spoke quietly, going through the same mental waves as me, "it will be over soon." He was right, soon I felt nothing but calm, he moved his lips to mine again. Tingles ran down my arm to my finger tips.

"We should get going, if I recall, a little birdie told me its your patrol tonight."

I rolled my eyes, "if Fern told you I needed to go home, its only because she wants details."

He let out a small laugh, "I don't want to be a secret you keep any longer, but I do want you to be aware of who you tell. You're not safe." His voice was saddened, "oh and don't forget, you're going to be high strung and your emotions will-"

"be hard to control because I'll be in constant heat until you mark me rightfully yours? Yeah, I know." I scowled at him for treating me like I knew nothing.

"Its not just heat, it's a full haze. Do you know what a haze is?" He looked at me, why did he know all of this stuff and I, the one it was going to happen to, didn't. I shook my head.

"Pain, you'll feel like you're in heat but it'll feel 10x stronger. Each month it will be stonger than the last, until you're marked. You'll be sent into a blind storm of me. Craving me, smelling me when I'm not around, seeing me in hallucinations.. your wolf is getting strong, and restraining her during your haze.. might take a lot more effort that it used to.." his voice trailed again.

"Why are you saying it like that," I was confused.

"I just don't want you to do something you'll regret.."

"Like sleep with someone?" I glared at him.

"No... that's not what I meant at all." His voice was hard, "I don't want you to physically, hurt someone on accident."

"I'll be fine. I can handle it."

"I know you can." He planted a kiss on my forehead, "we need to go."

--

Fern was waiting at my house when Gabriel and I pulled in to the driveway. I could see her peaking out of my bedroom window and I gave her a look. She dipped back behind the curtains quickly.

"Uhm, you, don't have to come in.." I fiddled with my fingers, knowing Bex was here along with his parents along with mine. I turned my head, and a devious look had crossed his face, did he intend to come in? Or had I given him an idea?

"No, I insist." He opened his door and got out, making his way over to mine.

Fuck.

I rolled my eyes, and tried to open it before he could, but he was too fast.

"Give me your hand," his voice was demanding like he had picked up Bex's scent.

I did as I was told, and he helped me out of the car, closing the door behind me. I let go of his hand and walked up the stairs to my parents white house. I inhaled deep, having everyone gathered inside gave me anxiety. I pressed the door open.

"Oh look who's home!!" My mother exclaimed, her eyes darting to Gabriel as soon as he followed through the door frame, ducking to make sure he didn't hit his head. "My King, what a lovely surprise, for what do we owe the pleasure?"

Fern was standing by the stairs now, and everyone's heads had turned, Bex looked at me, realization in his eyes.

"Mom, Dad," I gulped, "The Kin-"

"Gabriel," he put an arm around me and my heart fluttered, "you can call me Gabriel."

"Gabriel..." his name was tasted like honey dripping from my lips, "is my mate."

I looked at the shock on everyone's faces, I'm sure they were expecting me to find my mate soon, but maybe they were expecting it to be someone else. Bex's eyes winced, like someone had punched a hole, right through his chest, taking his heart with their fist. He was still badly bruised from our throw down the previous day.

Gabriel's smirk thickened when he saw Bex.

"Knock it off. He didn't know about you," I hissed through the mindlink to Gabriel.

"I'm only laughing because you did a number on him. It's sad really."

"Wait," my father's face was struck with horror, "that means, I have to listen to my daughter now?" A joking smile crossed his face and he came and wrapped me in a hug, "oh honey, this is wonderful news." I smiled in his embrace.

My mother was excited too, but I could tell she was scared, Gabriel didn't have the greatest rep around here. To our pack he was one rampage away from taking over everyone and ruling. Or possibly just killing anyone that asked a stupid question. That was not the Gabriel I knew. So far anyway.

"There's something else you all should know," Gabriel snapped back into his King self and everyone looked up, "I'm surprised you haven't connected the dots yet." He kissed the side of my head, almost putting a show on for them, "us being mates puts Kai in extreme danger." Everyone looked at Gabriel intently.

"She's a Moon Queen," there were gasps throughout the opening of the living room, "which means, other Alpha Kings could potentially come after her, and I sadly suspect one is already aware."

My moms hand flew up to her mouth, "so you've sentenced her to die twice in one week?!"

"Sentenced her to die?" Gabriel's voice was hard, a small growl rumbled in his chest, "we are telling you this, because we do not need everyone knowing about us quite yet. Which means you all need to keep it quiet, but I graciously wanted to keep you all informed. Even though, I certainly did not have to."

"So the two of you haven't claimed each other then? That way she's more of a secret?" Bex finally spoke.

"No, we've claimed one another, sorry to ruin your fun," Gabriel winked at Bex and the tension in the air grew heavy. I knew Bex wasn't stupid enough to start anything, or so I thought. He stood up and walked over challenging Gabriel, "so you're going to let her haze? For how long, how long are you going to make her suffer, knowing you can make it go away."

Gabriel took a step towards Bex, he was obviously bigger than him, his shoulders more broad, his muscles were more dense, he stood taller. Why did Bex know about hazing? Was I really just missing out that bad??

"I would gladly mark her right here, right now, just for you to watch," he sneered. "But that defeats the purpose of us keeping it semi quiet for now, doesn't it?" He was looking down at Bex, who held eye contact, continuing his challenge.

"Boys, boys, boys, easy now.." Fern strolled down the stairs, "Bex, I'm sure Gabriel has a plan and I'm also sure that Kai can handle it." She strolled in-between the two and whispered to Bex, I don't know what she said, but the hurt in his eyes was enough to torment me in my sleep. Bex stepped down, and Gabriel looked at me, not sorry at all.

"Alright, here's what is going to happen for now," I started, "I'm going to stay here, I'm going to train here, and weekly I will have check ins with him, until something changes."

Gabriel stood, his glare not moving from Bex, waiting for him to question him again. Fern came over and gave me a giant hug, "you're going to be the perfect queen." She looked at me, "come on, we have patrol to get to, and you my dear, need some beauty sleep." The words broke everyone's silence, I nodded, "I need to change first, I love this outfit so.." Fern giggled, "girl its so cute on you."

"I should be going.." Gabriel looked at me, "there is some pack stuff I need to tend to, arrangements need to start being made, discussions have to happen." I gave him a pout, I enjoyed our day so much. I finally got to really meet him, he was kind, gentle, he really cared about me.

"You can't look at me like that..." I could barely hear the whimper in his voice, like he forgot we were surrounded by everyone, I grabbed his hand, "I'll meet you out there you guys!" My parents and the betas went back to work, now discussing training protocol, new patrols, and without a doubt, me.

I lead him up the stairs to my bedroom, closing the door behind us. I wasn't surprised when I saw that Fern deep cleaned the entire space, fresh sheets, my jewelry was put away, clothes folded and hung up, a new towel on my bathroom counter for my next shower. God I wanted Gabriel in my shower. My cheeks flared at the though so I hid my face and walked over to my dresser, finding a baggy shirt I rarely wore.

The rosy sensation didn't go away and my mind got lost in thoughts of Gabriel and I, he was in my room right now, leaving his scent everywhere. I pulled my sweater over my head, trying to think of anything else.

A warm hand wrapped around my bare stomach, "I can sense your arousal." Gabriel's body pressed against mine, and he rubbed the small of my back with his thumb. His other hand moved my hair so it laid over my right shoulder, he leaned in and kissed me down the side of my neck and over my shoulder. His breath sent shivers through my body.

"Mm," I let out a sigh of pleasure, it was too easy to relax around him.

"Why can't I go home with you.." I whined, not wanting to sleep alone after my patrol.

"You know why, love."

"I don't care about any of that, I should be training with your pack, our pack. I should be sleeping with my mate at night. Where else would I be safer?"

"Shhh, just enjoy this, right now.." His canines were becoming slightly more exposed and he was teasing my skin with them. I pushed against him to create space for me to turn around and face him, his eyes were black with lust. My arms were holding my t-shirt now and I reached my hands up to pull it over my head. Gabriel stopped me right before slipping it over my head, his hand wrapping around both of my wrists.

He looked down at my now exposed cleavage, ignoring the bruises from my suffocation. He released my wrists swiftly, and moved to picked me up. I loved and hated that it was so easy for him to move me around like a toy. I put my arms over his head trapping him with my shirt, and wrapped my legs around his waist. He turned and pressed me against the wall, kissing my chest, making his way to the base of my neck again, and then trailing kissed back down.

I whimpered at his touch, amazed that we had barely known each other, but now couldn't get enough of each other. I felt that same irritating grin cross his face and my body's reaction to him. His lips brushed where my mark would go, and it burned, not like a hot burn from a flame, but burning need for more of him, to touch me, to kiss me, to mark me.

His breathing was getting deeper, almost animalistic. He moved his lips to mine and slowly put my feet back on the ground. When he pulled away from me he reached for my shirt and slipped it over my head, "you have people waiting for you." He spoke with a soft smile across his lips.

To my surprise he reached to his waist and grabbed the bottom of the casual gray sweater he was wearing and pulled it over his head. I had to make sure my jaw hadn't dropped before he was able to see me again. Gabriel was chiseled, as I had imagined but better. It suddenly made sense as to why he could pick me up and hold me there forever.

He stood there, in the black jeans and brown leather dress shoes. His hair was so dark it could pass for black, the back and sides shaved down to almost nothing, the top was long, slicked back smoothly in to a bun. I wondered how long his hair really was. From the looks of it, it was also curly.

"Okay you can't tell me that, and then do that." I bit the inside of my lip, trying to keep my head on straight and he laughed.

"I'm going to leave this here for you, that way, maybe you'll be able to sleep." He tucked the shirt under my sheets right by my pillow.

"Thank you," I smiled and pulled him closer for one more kiss before parading my half naked mate through my parents house.