Nymeria
"How, but- I thought everyone died when I went down." Connor shook his head. "You bought most of us enough time to escape, but, I saw you get stabbed, thrice!" Right. That one hurt. "Alphas are good at healing." I looked around, realizing where I was. My head was still beating at a faster rate than my heart, and my mind was a bit soggy, but the cold water helped. I heard Rowan banging on the door, and his thoughts in my head, scared, worried. I stood up and stepped out of the bathtub, and walked over to the door when Connor said: "Uhm, alpha- your... everything." I looked at my hand on the doorknob, realizing my skin had reverted to albino. I took a deep breath and grasped around my gift, forced it to bend to my will. I hadn't seen my real face since my rogue days. I imagined my mother in my mind, her red hair, the golden eyes and pretty skin, I willed the face-scars to disappear. This much was nothing. Switching colors didn't take much energy, unlike reshaping my body. Gifts were hereditary and were usually passed on to a third of the children, but grew weaker for every generation, the fifth generation was always the last possible, though some gifts die out when the gift users die without creating a child with the same power. I had the third generation of my gift, I couldn't change things outside of my body, and major changes were very energy consuming. I turned the handle, and exited the bathroom, There stood Rowan. He took a step closer but I backed off.
"It's best if you stay away for a few days, or I might do something dumb." He looked confused, but hurt.
"I'm in heat." I mumbled, trying to explain myself. He looked up, flushed, but clearly excited. "Wh- what do you want me to do?" I closed the bathroom door to block out the child. "No. I'll be fine, I've had these for more than six hundred years." I said, he looked dejected. "But, I-I could help." My heat hormones told me to accept his offer. I moved closer to him, could almost feel the electricity in the air between us. I grabbed his hand, the touch sending sparks throughout me. "The heat dizzies my brain and rational thinking. I want to be in sound mind when we do it, at least the first time. But... if you want I'll pay a visit to your chambers in two or three days when it's over." He nodded, extremely flushed. Sometimes he was just like a teenage boy falling in love for the first time. I let go of him and said: "I shall go place myself in a cold tub of water and study politics." And left.
Rowan
The next day
It had only been half a day since I'd seen her, but my wolf and I were restless. And I was scared and confused of what I had seen and heard. Connor had dashed off with the excuse of work yesterday, and I hadn't seen him since, even though I had looked in his office and at the training grounds.
Nymeria was from dungeon 13. The torture chambers of people who my father had personal grudges against. No wonder she was scared, no wonder she had so many scars. And she had been a mother, and a rogue. My brain refused to process this. I needed to find Connor, needed to ask.
I sent the request for Connor to my inner circles link. There was silence for a moment, but he gave in. "Coming, alpha." If I had known he would resist so little I would have mind- linked him a lot earlier.
Within five minutes Connor entered my office through the window, as he tended to do when he wasn't in the company of anyone.
"You called?" He said, running his hands through his hair.
"Sit." I gestured to the armchair by the door. He followed my suggestion but didn't make himself comfortable.
"You want to know about Ethenn." I seemed to recall that was her middle name. I nodded. He sighed, but didn't turn down my curiosity.
"What do you want to know?" He leaned back in the armchair.
"Everything." I wanted to understand my mate, her past. All of it. Connor chuckled a little.
"Good luck with that. You have six and a half hundred years to catch up on." As if I hadn't realized. I was an open book- I had no complicated relationships, and my past wasn't anything I hid: I was raised by my grandmother, had a happy childhood, joined the army when she passed, quit the army and killed my father. Nothing else. Nothing complicated- but everything about Nymeria was a puzzle, and I needed every clue I could get my hands on. Connor leaned his head back, looked at the ceiling.
"I was twelve when she came to the Rogue village, but it wasn't her first time there. My father knew her, and it was clear she had been through something. Her son, Abel was just a year older than me, and we got along well. Her daughter Ezra was just a year old, and mostly slept. Abel sometimes mentioned other siblings, who either didn't make it or didn't come with them. She didn't speak much of what had happened, at least not in front of us children, and she'd always wear clothes that covered her scars. She and my father were my greatest heroes as a teenager- they were always working to keep us safe and fighting enemies at the front line."
I didn't know what to comment- or what to start commenting on. So I just sat silently.
"When I was 25 or so king alpha Lucien decided he'd had enough of our queen and launched a surprise attack in the middle of the night. I was sent to escape up the mountains with the youngsters, but I remember watching from above as our people fell one by one until only she stood left, I only know it was her from her hair color, but the reflection of the sun against metal blinded me for a split second, and there she was in a pool of blood- both her and her peoples. Your father decided he wasn't happy with his first stab, and I watched in horror as she was stabbed another two times. Haven't seen her in the five hundred years since." Oh. A hundred thoughts were flying through my head at light speed, but it was at the same time so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Rogue. Mother. Warrior. Stabbed. Dungeon 13.