Wedding Hall - Present Day
Phoenyx
"MINE!" The word shot out of her mouth before Phoenyx could take it back. This was a primitive drive, a need she had never felt before.
Those in the shifter world spoke of mates, how the pull between them was strong enough to make the world itself seem insignificant, but it paled in comparison to this.
When she had asked Xanathal to mark her, she had been expecting pain. For years, she had been the target for her father's cruel games within the pack. Used as prey for those training to find and subdue. Claws and fangs had been acceptable for the ritual and her father had delighted in watcing her endure each one. To say she had expected the same of a mating mark was justified, but when the moment had come, no one had been more surprised than her at
