Page 214 of A Female Alpha for the Lycan Prince

I’m a little surprised by her statement, but clearly not as much as Cyrus is. His ears perk up, and I allow him to come forward. Celine notices the shift between us and smiles warmly. “Oh, hello there.”

He wraps his arms around her waist, pulling her closer.

“I wanted to thank you,” she whispers.

“What for, mate?” Cyrus asks, his voice much lower than mine and somewhat hoarser.

“For never giving up on the mate bond between Marius and me.” Celine leans her head against his shoulder, smiling as he strokes his fingers through her hair.

“I would have never given up on you and Danica,” he admits.

She smiles. “I know. Do you want to see her now? I think she is ready for a run through the snow.”

He nods smoothly.

What’s wrong with you?I link him.Normally you are such a chatterbox. Why aren’t you talking more? Are you trying to sound cool or something?

He growls.One of us has to!

And you think our mate won’t see through your lousy acting?I deadpan.

Oh, shut up.

Celine flashes us a grin. “When you two are finished debating with each other, come outside. Danica and I will be waiting.”

Cyrus growls in my mind, but his excitement about meeting Danica once more outweighs his annoyance with me. We head outside, and I take control in order to snatch Celine up in my arms and twirl her around. “Ready?” I ask.

“Ready!”

I watch as she shifts into her beautiful white wolf. Danica is truly special. Her fur is so white it almost blends with the snow, and her eyes are shining silver in the morning light. Everything about her is graceful, a bit like Celine. Before letting Cyrus out, I kneel down in front of Danica. He had his moment with her, now it’s time for me to meet Danica. “Danica,” I say carefully, noting how she’s eyeing me cautiously. “I know you’re not my biggest fan, and words cannot describe how sorry I am for how I’ve treated you both. But I promise to never hurt Celine again, and I will work hard every day to be the mate that both of you deserve. I know you don’t trust me, but I hope you’ll give me the chance to prove myself to you too.”

She sits up, tilting her head and scrutinizing me while I wait nervously for her to come to whatever decision she’s making.Fine, but you better keep your promise,her voice echoes in my mind sounding regal and calm. I carefully reach out my hand to touch her velvet-like fur.

I promise,I say softly, sighing with relief as she snuggles up against me.

I take a little time to cuddle and bond with Danica before standing up again. I move back a little to give Cyrus plenty of room to shift. Cyrus’ huge lycan body replaces mine. His fierce and combative appearance is merely a pretense, as he is clearly head over heels for Danica. Goddess, she has him wrapped around her little finger more than Celine has me, and that’s saying a lot. Not that I will ever tell him though.

Danica and Cyrus take off running through the beautiful snowy landscape. Although we’re high up on the mountain, the terrain around us isn’t rocky or dangerous for us to run around. The cottage is surrounded by a forest, with a huge clearing on one side. It’s covered in thick white snow and has a frozen pond in the middle. Danica gracefully glides over the icy surface of the pond, while my dunce of a lycan slips and slides and almost tumbles into a massive pile of snow. Talk about embarrassing. He is lucky that Danica doesn’t seem to be turned off by his clumsiness, scooting closer to him instead and nuzzling her nose into his fur before helping him off the ice.

I retreat to the back of Cyrus’ mind to give them complete privacy with each other. Despite my previous teasing, I truly am happy for him. He deserves Danica’s love. They both stay out in the cold for hours before finally returning to the cottage and giving Celine and me our bodies back. We’re both exhausted from the amount of energy our wolves expended, so we spend the next couple of hours relaxing in the hot spring before cuddling up together on the little sofa. Before Celine, I never thought I’d ever hold my mate in my arms like this. It just makes these little moments together mean so much more to me now. I will cherish her forever.

Initially, Celine insisted she didn’t want any birthday gifts aside from her mother’s pendant and this weekend away, but I pleaded and used my best puppy eyes on her until she relented. I gave her a picture I had drawn of the two of us together, our wolf spirits visible in the background. To my utmost relief, she loved it, saying it was the best present she’d ever received… after the pendant, of course.

It’s Sunday evening and our little weekend trip and belated birthday celebration for Celine has sadly come to an end. We return on horseback to Garret and Elias. Garret is standing on the path we’re riding on, waving to us as we approach with a definite look of relief in his eyes. Elias looks exhausted.

He looks like he really didn’t get any,I deadpan towards Celine.

Celine snorts.

What, look at the poor man,I tease.

You have no idea how much he put Garret through,she chuckles.Or you would probably say it serves him right.

Wait, Elias hurt my Gamma?I blink in surprise at the sudden jolt of anger that comes over me just thinking about Garret being hurt. The bond to my Gamma seems to have kicked in already. I didn’t expect it to be like this. Is this how it feels for my mother when she is with Gamma Aurel or for Annie when she is with Jun?

It’s more complicated than you think,Celine says, feeling my reaction.Elias doesn’t mean to hurt Garret. He just doesn’t always respond the way Garret expects. We think it has something to do with his time in Blood Snow pack.

Oh!I frown.Right, how did I forget that? There’s still so much we don’t know about Blood Snow and how they treat their pack members.