The second test - the soul
"Mathew, Mathew!" I screamed as I ran into his arms. I couldn't believe my eyes. This had to be a dream.
He wrapped his hands around my waist as soon as our bodies collided. I laced my fingers though his hair and inhaled his amazing scent. I pinched myself while hugging him to make sure this wasn't one of my dreams that turned into a terrible nightmare.
I felt the pain of the pinch and realised this wasn't a dream. Mathew was actually here. I couldn't stop touching him. It's been so long. It's been so painfully long, and seeing him felt like drinking an ice cold glass of water after being stuck on a hot dessert.
I felt his hands tracing up and down my back and slide into my shirt. The moment I felt his hands on my back, fireworks erupted allover my skin. I yearned to be touched by him. To be loved and caressed by him.
He crashed his lips into mine and our tongues started wrestling while we undressed each other's clothes. I didn't care where we were. I couldn't waste another second. At any moment Audrey could walk in and tell me I needed to stay away from him. I couldn't do it anymore. One day without him felt like agony. Three years have felt unbearable.
I started thinking about all those seers I met over the past few years. They all had the same reaction when they saw me. They burst into tears and told me to stay away from the Werewolf king or all would be lost. Then they had witches cloack Mike and I so that we couldn't be traced in case the Werewolf king is looking for me.
I understood that I had to stay away from him. I really did. Werewolf packs have gotten a lot stronger, good witches are helping us in the fight against Raphael and the seers are helping packs to make decisions that will ensure their growth and prosperity. Mathew is the reason all of this is happening, and he was able to do that because I stayed away from him.
The whole werewolf kingdom is boasting about the long lost king who has returned to them and turned things around in such a short amount of time. Mathew's life has gotten better in all respects because I wasn't there to ruin it all. I knew that, and yet I kept hoping that he was indeed looking for me. I kept hoping that he would find me and kiss me the way he kissed me the night before I left.
But I couldn't allow myself to want those things. I've spent every day trying to forget him, prohibiting Mike from even saying his name and sneaking out of any conversation about the Werewolf king. I thought I had managed to forget him and how he made me feel. Yet, here he is now and my feelings for him are so much stronger. Strong enough to want to run away with him so that the seers and witches won't find us and tell us we can't be together.
"I've missed you so much, Elizabeth. I missed you so so much!" He was groaning and taking my shirt off. I wanted him to take me right here and now. I didn't care where we were. I just wanted to be his. I wanted to be loved by him.
I've spent years blowing off alphas who honestly seemed a bit obsessed with me because I still want Mathew to be the first and only man I am intimate with. I didn't let anyone touch me because I didn't want anything to replace that memory I had of Mathew the night before I left the Black Claw pack. He kissed me and told me I'm his. It was everything I've ever wanted, but I couldn't stay.
"Where is the gem, Audrey" I suddenly heard an icy cold voice filling the air. Mathew didn't seem to hear it. He was still kissing me and leaving a trail of wet kisses on my neck.
I looked to the side and saw Audrey. She had been captured by the witches and a man with long silver hair was towering over her with a knife carved out of ice in his hand.
I tried to stop Mathew from continuing with his onslaught of kisses that were sending electric tingles all over my body.
"It's Ken! He's not going to make it." I turned and looked to my other side and some man was bleeding out on the floor. He had been pierced with a silver spear and wasn't healing. I could tell from his scent that he was a werewolf. Moreover, he was a royal werewolf.
"Mathew, stop!" I yelled at him.
He looked up at me with so much pain in his eyes. Like my words were killing him.
"You're mine, Elizabeth. You know you're mine." His eyes were shifting between his and Orion's eyes. He sounded so serious. Like he needed me to know that I belong to him.
I looked at Audrey and the strange man who was bleeding out on the floor. I realised that I was the reason why their lives were in danger. This was all happening because I refused to stay away from Mathew. I was being selfish by choosing to be with him even when I knew that it put everyone in danger. I had to let him go and this time I needed to make sure he stayed away from me.
I took a deep breath to prepare myself to, yet again, do something that went against every fibre in my body.
"I am not yours, Mathew." I said with a lowly. I was about to continue, but I heard someone screaming in my head and trying to claw their head out of my head. It felt like my head was about to catch on fire and the pain made me fall to my knees, but I had to go on.
"I will NEVER be yours. I have found my mate. He is the one who has been there for me all these years; not you. I.." my voice started to break. Someone or something was trying to stop me.
Whatever it was, it was trying to scream and break free in my head, but it wasn't managing to break free.
I couldn't breathe and my breaths were fast and shallow. I was fighting every fibre of my body to say this.
"I don't want you." It came out as a cold whisper, but he heard it.
The moment those words left my mouth, my skin felt like it was burning over and over again. The pain left me writhing in agony on the floor. I saw Mathew shift into Orion and run away in pain before my own pain made everything go dark.
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Mike's POV
All our jaws hung open as we watched Liz pass out from pain after telling Mathew she didn't want him.
I knew she loved him, but I never realised just how much. Her one and only rule for the past few years has been that I'm not allowed to mention Mathew at all. I thought she had managed to forget him like she told me she would, but clearly I was wrong.
What we saw was more than just loving someone. Liz reacted as if she just rejected her fated mate. But Mathew isn't her fated mate. This didn't make any sense.
"Did you bring the Werewolf King's mate here, Anha?" Maxwell was roaring and standing inches away from Anha. I could feel the anger rolling off of him in waves. The three bald men were kneeling with their necks outstretched to him. I could feel that his aura was that of a royal member and that it was strong, but it wasn't enough to make me react the way these men were reacting.
Anha gulped and looked at me.
I guess since she doesn't know Elizabeth, she wouldn't know whether she is Mathew's mate.
Maxwell's eyes followed Anha's until they landed on me. He looked infuriated and confused. He was looking at me and his men, and I realised he was wondering why his aura didn't make me kneel and stretch out my neck to him like the other men.
Within moments he had grabbed the collar of shirt and was staring daggers at me.
"Why did you bring that man's mate here?" He was growling.
"He is not her mate. I'm telling you the truth!" I growled as I unwrapped his fingers from my shirt.
He let go of my shirt, but he was still standing inches away from me. "Then what the hell was that? Why did she react like she rejected her fated mate?"
I took a deep breath.
"Becasue she loves him. They used to be friends then they discovered they had feelings for each other, but things didn't work out because..." I hesitated to go on because this was something very personal. "because they just weren't meant to be. They haven't seen or heard from one another in years. They're not mates."
He didn't look convinced.
"Seer!" He shouted at one of the bald men. "Is he telling the truth?"
The seer struggled to lift his head, and just decided to keep it down after trying for some time. "It seems so, my King." His voice was shaky. "I do not see a matebond between the girl and the Werewolf King. However, what we just saw will come to pass. It seems the test induced a vision from the girl even though she is not a seer."
We all looked at each other in shock.
"How is that even possible?", Maxwell asked.
"My King, only those who carry favour would receive a vision even when they are not seers. I should caution all those in this room though. We cannot tell her of this vision. It will be shown to her when the time is right. If we tell her what we saw when she was being tested, it may have dire consequences." The seer's voice was still shaky.
King Maxwell started pacing in the room. He looked furious.
"Maxwell, what is wrong?" Anha enquired.
"I have met the Werewolf King, Anha. He is strong. He beat Killian during an official challenge."
Anha almost chuckled to herself. "Our son is the strongest and fiercest warrior to have ever been born into this kingdom, Maxwell. Nothing and no one can ever beat him."
Maxwell scoffed while shaking his head.
"I saw it with my own eyes, Anha. That man...he's strong. If this girl leads him and his army into a war with us..." Maxwell trailed off.
Anha glared at him. "You are an army of gryphons, Maxwell. No army of werewolves will ever be strong enough to defeat an army of gryphons."
Maxwell didn't respond to her. He just turned to look at the seer.
"Seer!", he commanded, "tell them what you told me."
The seer was still kneeling down.
"The werewolves have increased significantly in strength and size due to the Werewolf King. At this rate, one day they will indeed be able to defeat gryphonkind."
Anha looked shocked.
I was also shocked. I'll admit that the werewolf packs we've visited over the years have gotten stronger, but gryphons are one of the strongest, if not the strongest warriors in our world. The average werewolf would have to triple in size to even be as big as a gryphon.
I heard Anha gulp. "Is that why Killian is not here? Did you banish our son according to your barbaric traditions?" She was screaming at Maxwell and trying to push him, but the huge man didn't move an inch.
Maxwell grabbed both her hands and stopped her. "He embarrassed this kingdom when he lost to that man. You know he must now prove himself to me and his people again."
Anha's eyes were glistening with tears, but she didn't dare let a single one drop. "How long? For how long did you banish our son to that mountain of death?"
Maxwell looked down and pursed his lips like he didn't want to answer her. "Mount Moria is where Maru tests every gryphon, Anha. Only true warriors are able to return from the mountain. If our son survives, he will have proven that he is worthy of ruling this kingdom."
"I said how long" Anha was growling.
"Six months", Maxwell responded.
Anha almost fell to the ground, but Maxwell caught her. She was sobbing and Maxwell was holding her against his chest while stroking her long black hair.
"Max, the longest that a warrior can survive on Mount Moria is two months. Why would you do this to our son? Why would you give him such a death sentence? He is our son." It was difficult to hear her through her sobs.
I could tell that whatever Mount Moria is, it's probably bad. Anha just came from a battle with centaurs where we saw hundreds of people die and she didn't shed a tear. Yet, now she's crying because her son, who is the fiercest warrior to have ever been born into the gryphon kingdom, was sent to Mount Moria.
Maxwell lifted Anha and walked to his throne. She was a complete mess now and her words were incoherent.
He sat down on the golden throne and put Anha in his lap. He rubbed his hand against her back and rested his head in the crook of her neck. The woman who looked like a tall warrior a few moments ago, looked tiny in the giant man's lap.
Maxwell kept rubbing his nose and mouth on Anha's neck. She tried resisting, but soon enough she was leaning into his large arms and running her fingers through his long thick red hair.
Maxwell's hands were caressing Anha's body and he started groaning and kissing and biting her neck.
Displays of affection like this are very common in the magical world. In fact, I've seen people mating out in the open after finding their true mate. None of this was strange to me because these two were clearly fated mates who, for whatever reason, were fighting their bond.
Anha took a deep breath and wiped her tears. "I am okay now. Thank you, Maxwell." She tried getting up from his lap, but he stopped her.
She gave him a stern look and he finally let go.
"Uhm, your majesty", one of the three bald men coughed and pointed his eyes at Liz. There weren't anymore viles left, so I figured we were done with this whole thing. Liz clearly passed her last task.
King Maxwell took a deep breath."The girl passed the second task - she has a soul that is strong enough to abandon love and desire for the greater good."
"Yes!", I muttered to myself.
"Don't celebrate yet, young wolf", King Maxwell cautioned. "She must still pass the third and final task. She must prove that physically she is indeed a warrior. She must survive a battle with the land's fiercest and strongest warrior."
I raised my eyebrow. "And who's that?"
He let out a nervous sigh. "It is my son, King Killian."
"What? You want her to fight the king of the gryphons? What the hell is wrong with you? She's a girl. She should be fighting your fiercest female warrior!" I was roaring.
Maxwell rubbed his temples. "Gryphons do not care about gender when it comes to the battlefield. Whether an enemy is a man or a woman, they must be killed. And besides, she doesn't have to win the battle. She must just survive...somehow."
I looked at Anha. The woman didn't look concerned at all. "I have seen your friend on the battlefield. She is a fighter. She will survive. You need to have faith in her."
I realised there was no convincing them to change their traditions for us. I could try taking Liz and just running away with her, but even if I made it out of this castle, I'd probably be caught outside. I had no choice. Anha knew about this, and yet she didn't tell me a thing. I was going to be forced to let Liz fight the Gryphon king.
"Please carry her outside", Maxwell instructed the bald men.
They went to pick her up, but I stopped them.
"I'll do it."
I carried Liz all the way outside. A few seconds later, the third bald guy shifted into a gryphon.
He grabbed Liz's body and flew away with her before I could say anything.
"Bring her back!", I shouted. "That wasn't part of the deal. Bring her back right now!"
Anha looked at me with guilt in her eyes. "Killian is on Mount Moria. Elizabeth will have to fight him there."
A loud roar left my body when I heard her. I watched the gryphon carry Liz to the biggest and highest mountain in this hellforsaken kingdom. It looked like the mountain with the coldest peak. It was covered with much more ice than the other mountain peaks.
They didn't even giver her a jacket. She would be so cold.