May Death Do Us Part

78 Chapter 78 : My mate

Edron, the alpha wolf of the silver pack was sitting at his work table in his chambers. It was positioned in front of a large window that gave him a great view of the snow covered gardens outside, covered with a thick blanket of white. The scenery was eerily beautiful, completely white with a few patches of silvery blue that the winter flowers exhibited.

The chamber was dim and quiet, all except for the crackles of the burning wood in the fire place that lit up the room slightly and brought warmth to it. The winter in the snowlands was unending, only reducing in severity in the months that were considered summer, but nonetheless snow was a constant feature of the land’s climate.

Edron was a tall well built devilsly handsome man with long silver hair that fell down his shoulders and back. He had deep golden eyes, a strong chin and fanged teeth as white as the snow that fell outside. He brushed his hand over the map of Ronia Cresus, stoping at the central continent where the kingdoms of Meria, Belviles, Cenia and Gavaria were situated and sighed.

Unlike the snowlands, the central continent was blessed with different seasons of the sun, there were cold snowy winters, warm sunny springs, hot summers and wet autumns. The land there was rich, able to sustain the growth of crops and the raring of livestock, meaning they had food in abundance. Edron could vividly remember his time in the centeral continent, long before the kingdoms ever existed, back when all the races lived together as one.

It was an easier time, and it seemed like such a long time ago. He folded the map up and took a deep breath, his scowl only deepening when he saw the snow starting to fall again. This is what they had had to endure for the past century, this cold wasteland devoid of animals to hunt as food and little to no herbs to use as medicine. All this suffering, all this compromise because those blasted humans got greedy and took everything away. Well, not for long. The time to take back everything they had lost was upon them.

His pack would no longer raise their children in the cold, never able to see what a sunny spring day looks like. They would never have to think of running out of food, because wild animals would be everywhere. Soon life would get better, all they needed to do was to eradicate the entire human population, either by turning them, running them off, or killing them. Edron’s days of living in peace with humans were behind him.

The man was jolted out of his reverie when the door suddenly swung open. He turned to look behind him and saw Layla, his beautiful, dark haired, silver eyed Luna walk through the doorway. Her face looked ecstatic as she walked towards him.

“Edron, I have news!” She squealed in excitement and dangled an open parchment in front of the man’s face. “It’s from Elric,” Layla spoke excitedly, “Edron it’s form our son.”

The man got up from his seat and took the paper in his hands. Had his son really written a letter to them? How did he know where to send it? Could it be the work of Theo? The man unrolled the parchment and trailed over the words intently. His smile grew wider with each sentence he read.

.....

“Gods!” Edron exclaimed. His eyes twinkled as he continued reading the letter, “Elric is definitely my son! Look at this!”

The man wrapped an arm around his Luna’s shoulders and trailed his finger over the letter so she could read, “he has already taken over the Merian kingdom Layla, he’s king, do you you know what that means?!”

The man relinquished his wife and continued reading the letter with a huge smile on his face. “The kingdom is ours, and look here!” The silver haired man shoved the paper excitedly in Layla’s face making her chuckle, “he says he’s in the process of taking Gavaria as well, ahah! That’s my boy!”

Layla took the letter from her husband and read it as he paced the room excitedly muttering to himself. Her brows creased a little when she read the remaining lines of the letter that Edron had been too excited to notice. “Ed, wait a minute,” she spoke as she walked to his side and pointed at the letter. “Read this..”

The man took the letter and read the rest diligently, his eyebrows raised as he processed the contents. It read;

‘.... in addition to the internal siege of the human kingdoms that I already have underway, I have found my mate, and she is none other than the princess Melissa, daughter of nosferatu royalty. Our union is practically the merging of our two people, we will be the most powerful race on the continent, but alas, the elven prince kidnapped my wife on the day of our wedding and whisked her away to Ervelon. Father, I’m sure you know how the concept of a mate works, and how important me and Melissa’s marriage is . I am in need of your help to retrieve my mate and bring her back to me, I cannot do this without your help.... Elric...’

Edron crumpled up the letter and frowned, “Tauriel..” he muttered, “why does she always find a way to worm her way into family affairs.” The man turned to Layla and his chest tightened even more. This woman was his mate, he loved her more than his own life, he’d traverse to the ends of the earth and back for her without a second thought. He’d follow her anywhere, even to the grave, that was how powerful the bond of a mate was. Everyone knew it, and everyone respected it, so why had Tauriel’s son completely disregarded this and taken Elric’s mate?

“Send word to Kaiser Stefan,” Edron spoke to his wife as he squeezed her shoulders gently, “I need an audience with him immediately, tell him it’s about his daughter.”

“What are you going to do?” Layla questioned the man in anticipation.

“I’m going to ensure that the elves know that they cannot just take whatever they feel like taking,” the man spoke coldly, his fangs elongating slightly, “this notion of them thinking they are better than everyone else ends now.”

*

The group was sitting around the fire waiting for the meat they were roasting to be ready. Ivan was covered in his fur with a deep scowl on his face and a runny nose. After the forceful swimming lesson Adam had made him endure, he’d caught a cold.

“If I die please make sure my wife is taken care of,” Ivan muttered agitatedly, “tell her I was assaulted by a mad man.”

Adam rolled his eyes and leaned forward, his legs crossed and his arms placed on his lap. “Let it go Ivan, I said I was sorry.” Adam spoke.

“Sorry won’t return the buoyancy to my lungs,” Ivan complained.

“Your lungs would have been just fine if you stayed put and watched Ella like I asked,” Adam fired back.

Ivan sulked, pulled his fur tighter around his body and sneezed exaggeratedly. Ella placed a gentle hand on Ivan’s shoulder and smiled at him, “sorry Ivan,” she spoke, “I caused you so much trouble.”

The man looked at the beautiful redhead who was smiling warmly at him and involuntarily blushed. The image of Ella in the water in front of him, even though he hadn’t seen her entirely, was forever burned into his mind. No wonder Adam was so obsessed with her, that lucky bastard.

Ivan looked away and cleared his throat, “it’s fine,” he rasped in a strained voice.

Adam got to his feet and made his way to sit between Ivan and Ella. He then wrapped his arm around Ella and tugged her cloak tightly around her. The little jealousy gesture made the rest of the men roll their eyes, seeing their prince this whirled up over a woman was so strange for them, but they just had to endure it, especially because it was evident that Adam was going nowhere without the beautiful nosferatu.

When Ella sneezed, Adam turned to her and covered her head with the hood of her cloak, “Ella what’s wrong? Are you getting sick? Are you cold? Should I make you a cup of tea, or do you need another cloak?”

Ivan pouted and shrugged in his fur, “I wouldn’t mind a cup of tea.”

Adam turned to Ivan and gave him a disapproving look which Ivan responded to by sticking his tongue out at him.

“No I’m fine,” Ella responded, “I am a little hungry though.”

Odran, Beric, Ozias, Roland and Zander all looked at the redhead wide eyed.

“For the meat!” Ella yelled defensively and proceeded to grab one of the skewered pieces of meat and took a small careful bite. “don’t worry I don’t eat elf,” Ella added on as she chewed her food, “no offense, but you elves don’t look like you taste very good.”

The group chuckled at her statement and Zander looked up at her, “so what are you trying to say about prince Adam?”

Ella picked a pebble and threw it at the blond elf, “don’t patronize me Zander.”

The group chuckled once more. Just a day ago they were all very tense. With the whole Ella feeding on Adam thing, him being unconscious, her disassociating herself from the group, and the goblin attack, had all of them on edge. A light atmosphere of chitchat was necessary, especially now before continuing their journey onward the next day at the crack of dawn.