Black River Daughter

Through the Looking Glass

Drake and I met Demitri in my dad’s office. I know our attraction for each other and the mate bond kinda threw my desire to wait and get to know each other out the window. So now I needed to figure out how my training was going to be affected, like Drake said I’m basically his Luna now that we completed our bond. 

“Well I guess you made a decision.” Demitri smirked, gesturing to my neck. I blushed deeply, Drake squeezed my hand.

“Well, yeah, more or less.” I smiled. “We are still going to have to work through some details, but yeah.”

“Well you’ve known each other for five years, so it’s not like you are getting involved and having to learn everything about a stranger.” He sighed “But the fact that you cannot belong to a pack is going to make it difficult for Drake to claim this land as a pack territory.”

“What do you mean by that?” Drake stiffened, gripping my hand tighter. “She’s my mate, and Luna, if she can’t belong to a pack then how is she supposed to lead with me?”

“Drake, she’s an immortal, she can mindlink every wolf regardless of pack alliance, she is basically a queen. Because of that, she won’t be able to perform the binding that is required to stake this territory.” Demitri looked sullen while he was explaining to Drake what it meant to be my mate.

“There’s one more issue, Demitri.” I let go of Drake’s hand immediately feeling cold. “We had a weird dream last night.”

“You two had similar dreams? Or was it the same dream?” He sat forward placing hands on the table that we sat around. I explained the details of what happened to us, as concern etched itself deeper into Demitri’s features. There were a few differences, as I felt like I was in a void until Drake stopped running in that endless hallway, then I was just next to him while we were looking at a copy of myself. Once I finished Demitri had a few more questions. “Is your birthday soon Drake?”

“Yeah, tomorrow.” My eyes widened, crap I forgot, no wonder I felt that the dream meant that he was going to ascend. 

“Well that explains the Dragon, but that other thing… I’m going to have to look into it. I’ll go to the council office tonight, but I’ll be back in a week. If anything happens between now and then you both have my number.” Demitri stood extending his hand. “Congratulations, both of you, I know you probably weren’t expecting to be paired, but I know that you two are going to be a good match.” Drake shook his hand, and I gave my mentor a hug in thanks. Demitri left, and Drake and I went back to my room to pack my things. 

My mom stopped in to give me a few boxes for the bigger things that I wanted to keep. I know I won’t need much, the pack house was well appointed from what I remember. Has it really been two years since I saw that place? I guess that’s why I didn’t know until now that Drake was my mate, it was well before my eighteenth birthday when I left for college. “What all are you taking?” Mom asked.

“Probably just sentimental stuff. I mean I’m not going to need furniture, so I guess you’ll be turning my room into another guest room.” I folded the crocheted afghan that she made me for my sixteenth birthday and put it in the box with the quilt that my grandma made me for Christmas. “I’ll just need a few boxes, I’ll let Justine have my costume box like she wants.”

“You’re a pretty minimalist person anyway, I always thought that you would travel the country and live out of a backpack your whole life.” Mom began emptying my closet then asked. “Drake, does she need hangers?”

“No ma’am, I have plenty.” He carefully wrapped up my music box that Mom brought back with her from a deployment. “You don’t have a lot of knick knacks.” 

“Never felt the need for them, I like the aesthetic of empty space.” I shrugged. “It just looks cleaner to me.”

“I see, you have everything so orderly, and precise. I like it.” He put a vase in the box with my music box.

“I think it has to do with the fact that we moved so often when she was a kid. She hated packing and unpacking, so just decided that each thing needed to have a purpose if she was going to invest that much effort in it.” Mom finished folding my clothes and placed the full box at the foot of my bed. “I’ll have your dad help put these in your Jeep. I think it will all fit in the one car.” I nodded in agreement.

“Be right back,” I grabbed my costume box and headed to Justine’s room. “Hey little sheesh-ter” I teased. She looked up from her computer. “You said you wanted my costumes.”

“I was just teasing.” she smirked.

“I know, but I think my life is going to get a lot busier soon.”

“More busy than college?” she snorted.

“Probably, but the good thing is I’m like thirty minutes away so I can come hang out with you at lunch.” I poked her in the ribs and she swatted my hand away. 

“Yeah, going to need you around for when I shift. Especially if it’s as dramatic as your’s was.”

“Oh yeah, that should be any day now huh? I was fifteen when it happened to me.” I groaned. “Demitri is going to go grey when you join the weirdo club.”

Justine smirked. “I’m just going to enjoy tormenting him. He’s kinda pushy, and stuck up.” I laughed and hugged her. 

“I guess that means I get to keep being the golden child?” 

“Deal, I love annoying him.” her laughter sounded like bells, I loved when she was happy, and I was glad to be back home to be able to hang out with her.

“Well don’t annoy him too much, he can still be a bit hot headed.”

“Fine, go one get outa here, I’ll be at the pack house this weekend for the graduates party. So enjoy your hunky mate while you have time.” she stood shoving me out of her room and one my way. I gave her a hug and went back to my room to grab a box to pack in my Jeep.

There was one box left, so I picked it up and headed down stairs to join my mate and say goodbye to my parents. We stood in the driveway hugging and talking for a little bit, and agreed that we would see each other at the pack house for the party this weekend. Aunt Kim, Uncle Hank and Hannah were with us about to get on the road as well. “Take care of yourself. And remember we aren’t that far away if you need anything.” Uncle Hank hugged me.

“Hope I get a mate as cute as yours” I growled at Hannah, shocking myself and her, already possessive of Drake.

“I am so sorry, I don’t know where that came from.” She laughed at me and told me not to worry about it.

“Remember we are thirty minutes up the road, ten if I take the hellcat, if you need anything I will be right there.” Dad and Mom hugged me tight, sending me off, to start my new life.

“I’ll be fine Daddy. I promise.” I turned to get into the Jeep as Drake held the door open for me, then got into his Audi. We pulled out of my parents driveway and headed to the pack house where we would be living together. He pulled around to the back of the house where his garage was and parked in an empty spot. He jumped out and guided me to park right behind his car to make sure the other residents still had open spaces for when they got home after work.

“I’ll have one of the omegas help with the boxes.” He told me as he opened the back and grabbed one. “Oh nevermind I forgot you only have five of them. Put that smaller one on top of this one.” I laughed and helped him balance the boxes, then grabbed the biggest one for myself, cheating because it’s the lightest with all my fluffy blankets. Drake led me through the house to the back where the apartments are located. His was the largest and on the bottom floor at the very back with the huge floor to ceiling  living room windows opening out onto the manicured lawn. He placed his stack of boxes on the coffee table and ran back to get the last two boxes, and quickly returned. “What do you think?”

“I love it. This is a perfect room to cozy up and read a book.” I walked to the windows looking out onto the expanse of green that ran right up to the treeline.

“Oh the best part, let me show you.” he pulled me to the side of the windows and pushed a button. I could hear an electric whir as the windows began to slide to the opposite wall and tuck into a pocket that I didn’t notice at first. 

“Okay, officially I’m spoiled now.” I grinned from ear to ear. 

“It has a few controls, the windows also turn opaque so no one can see inside, or turn darker so the room doesn’t get too hot when the sun is beating down on them.” He pointed at a few buttons on the panel that he was showing me.

“Opaque you say,” As I hit the buttons closing the windows and tinting the glass. “That’s convenient.”

His eyes turned dusky as he caught my meaning, and he pulled me to him for a deep kiss. I licked his lips and nibbled asking for an invitation to explore his mouth with my tongue. He readily accepted, and ran his hands down my back cupping my butt. I began to heat up and my arousal began to dampen my panties. “Goddess you just taste so good.” he panted as his kisses began to travel down my neck. “I need you.”

“Hmmm, are you already getting clingy?” I giggled when he pinched my butt. I pulled him to one of the plush couches and fell into it with him on top of me in a heap.

“I heard you growl at your cousin, you don’t like other women thinking I’m cute.” He smirked looking down at me.

“Nope, you are all mine.” I began unbuttoning his shirt. “I need you too, these are in my way.” He growled in excitement and stood back up to undress, with my hungry eyes taking in his sculpted body. If my panties were damp before they are soaked now. I began unceremoniously  pulling my clothes off quickly, no embarrassment at all, being bare and exposed before my mate. He had nothing but adoration in his eyes. The way he looked at me made me feel beautiful and treasured.

“You are beautiful, I can’t believe that I was paired with you.” Confusion evident on my face. “If you concentrate a little you can feel my emotions too through the mate bond.” he leaned in cupping my face and began to devour my lips in a savage kiss. I focused a little and reached for him through the mate bond, and gasped as I felt him pouring love through.

His kisses began to trail down my body. He behaved like he was dying of thirst in the dessert and my body was replenishing him. His mouth inched lower, and he experimentally took a n****e into his mouth and gently sucked it. I moaned in pleasure. He let go, leaving my bud damp and exposed to the air contrasting how hot my body was feeling with a shock of cold, I shivered. His mouth traveled lower still trailing hot kisses down my flat stomach to the top of my mound. I could feel his breath over my wet core. His tongue darted out and lapped at my flowing juices, he growled tasting me for the first time. I saw stars darting and wheezing around me. “Oh goddess!” his tongue kept attacking my folds and my super sensitive button. I fisted my hands in his hair and began to grind my hips against his face. I felt him slide a finger into me and my body clamped around him. I shuddered as a climax took me by surprise.

He raised his dripping face from my s*x smiling, “You taste better than I could have imagined.” He wiped my mess off then devoured my mouth again, I moaned into his mouth as I felt his member press against my entrance. He deepened the kiss as he pushed into me. I gasped as I felt my channel gripping him with the aftershocks of the previous orgasm. He groaned burying his face into my shoulder. He began thrusting in and out of me breathing hard as he built up to his climax. I wrapped my legs around his waist rolling my hips to meet his thrusts, knowing that I was going to shatter with him. “Oh Gods!” I heard him cry out as I lost my senses in a climax, I felt him empty into me as I clamped around his hot shaft, shooting streams of c*m that dribbled down my thigh as he pulled out of me. 

I slowly caught my breath before saying. “We should probably stop doing that unless we want pups right away.” 

He rubbed his face nodding. “I’m sorry, you felt so good.” 

“Hey now you can’t blame it all on me!” I smacked his chest, he chuckled and rolled off of me, pulling me to my feet. 

“Let's get a shower, then we can put your stuff away.” I nodded following him to the giant bathroom, for the moment forgetting why I need to be annoyed.  

“Oh, I am seriously spoiled now.” I gaped at the huge walk in shower with the rain ceiling shower fixture, the Jacuzzi tub off to the side of it and the double sink vanity. 

“I’ve been waiting for my mate for a long time babe.” he said and looked somewhat sad. He must have been very lonely since he lost everything at such a young age. I reached up and stroked his cheek, staring in awe at his perfect beauty. He sighed, kissing my palm. “I think you are far more beautiful than me.”

I giggled remembering that he could feel my emotions. “Come on, I’m starting to get sticky.” He grimaced and pulled me into the shower turning it on. I braced for a shock of cold and was happily disappointed as warm water fell on my head and scalp. “Oh bliss!” 

“Yeah I have an on demand hot water system. It saves money on electricity because it only has to heat the water that is used.” He explained as he began lathering up a loofah. “May I?” he gestured to me with the sudsy loofah.

“Mmhmm.” I nodded as I began to work shampoo into my hair and scalp. He rubbed the loofa over my breasts and down my back, then took a knee as he began to work the soap down my legs. My breath hitched as he glided a hand up between my thighs rinsing the soap away. I looked down seeing the lust rise in his eyes again, with his obvious erection. “So I guess I should just plan on not being able to walk from now on?”

“Most definitely.” A devilish grin spread over his face as his palm cupped my s*x with a finger plunging into my already wet channel. Well at least we can’t get too messy in the shower. After we indulged our baser needs and finally cleaned up, we dressed, mostly to keep from getting distracted while we put away my belongings. Then went to get a much needed meal.

The only thing that his apartment didn’t have was a kitchen, but the pack house had a huge restaurant style kitchen that everyone had access to. We walked into the kitchen where a few teenage she-wolves were munching on snacks. They looked up greeting Drake. “Afternoon alpha.” They then looked at me trying to figure out why I was there. 

“Hey, guys, how’s school been?” He asked, placing a hand on my waist to guide me to one of the bar stools. Their eyes bugged out of their faces as they took note of the tender gesture. “Oh you remember Frankie Woods, my Mate.” He grinned mischievously, introducing me.

“Oh. My. Goddess!”

“For real? Oh my gosh, I’m so happy for you!” they began bouncing in their seats not able to contain their excitement and joy that their alpha found his mate. They quickly gave us both hugs congratulating us, then ran off to the rest of the pack house to spread the news. 

“That was cute, they really look up to you.” I say, watching him prepare a simple pasta dish for our lunch. 

“Yeah, I guess.” He slid the bowl in front of me and handed me a slice of garlic bread before sitting next to me. His face turned so serious before he asked “So should we talk about birth control? I want kids, but I would rather wait till you are ready for that.”

I shrugged. “If it happens it happens. I’m done with school, and we aren’t exactly hurting for money. It’s a bit soon in the relationship, but we are mates, and it is extremely rare that mates don’t work out.” he frowned at the last statement, and I could feel the fear creeping through the mate bond. “Don’t worry, as long as we have open communication, and don’t keep secrets then I’m happy to make this work.”

“Good. Don’t scare me like that, I can’t handle the thought of losing my mate. Not when I just found you.” He leaned his head on my shoulder, seeking comfort. We finished our lunch then headed back to the apartment for the rest of the afternoon. 

We were relaxing on the couch watching a random superhero movie. “So, your birthday tomorrow huh?” I pushed him with my foot at the end of the couch.

He grabbed my foot and began to massage it. “Yeah, what about it?” 

“Hmm, that’s nice. Hey stop distracting me! What do you want for your birthday?” I pulled my foot back.

He chucked. “I already have what I want.” he leaned across the couch grabbing my waist and pulling me to him.

“Soo just s*x? Cause that seems kinda lazy on my part.” He laughed at me then began tickling me. 

“Not s*x, well maybe s*x. My mate you doofus.”

“Hey now, I might be a doofus, but, well actually I have nothing to add to that.” I laugh as he continues to attack my sides “Wait I have it, you are a sappy romantic!”

“Not really and insult Frankie, most women want a romantic guy from what I understand.” I rolled my eyes and untangled myself from him.

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” I leaned in to give him a peck on the lips, then quickly retreated before he could take it further. “It’s actually kinda weird our birthdays are so close. Your’s is tomorrow and mine is next Monday.” He sat up.

“Our birthdays are only three days apart?” he looked bewildered. “So let’s just throw a big party this weekend, I had everything planned for something big anyway, since a bunch of the younger wolves are all graduating from college and high school this week. It’ll give me a really good time to formally introduce you to the pack as my mate.”

“That sounds awesome, especially since Demitri put a hold on the formal Luna thing.” I said making him frown.

“Yeah, we need to figure that out. At this point Black River might as well claim the land since they are so close. It would mean that we could at least put up a claimed territory, it would make protecting you much easier.” I nodded agreeing to his idea. 

I added “My cousin Daniel, found his mate last year, and has taken over as alpha finally, so it would make an alliance easier, I’m sure he would make sure that you were still in charge up here.” We tossed ideas back and forth until we both decided it was time to grab dinner. After we ate we decided to go for a walk through the woods behind the pack house. We enjoyed the night air and the soft sounds of the forest.

Drake began to become restless as we ventured further into the trees. I knew it was only a matter of time before his dragon would take over, and it was one of the reasons that I suggested that we go for a walk. It would be a shame to ruin the house by shifting inside. “Do you want to shift and run?” I asked  as I could feel tension radiating off of him. 

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” We were in the middle of the woods at midnight, the chance of even game hunters being out here was slim, so I began undressing, folding my clothes and leaving them stacked in the hollow of a tree. The tree was right next to the path, so I knew I would be able to find them again. Drake stacked his clothes with mine and shifted into his wolf form. I had seen him like this many times before, but this is the first time seeing him as my mate.  He was a deep brown, with orange tips on his ears, tail, and paws. He was a very attractive wolf, strong, and tall. Of course though once I shifted I stood a full head above him. He nuzzled me as best he could with the reversed height difference. 

‘I have to have one thing up on you, your dragon is going to dwarf me.’ I laughed through the mind link and took off running, feeling the pulse of the earth. I was able to channel the energy that I felt and direct it to others if they needed healing, or if I needed to defend myself. Drake felt the energy rolling through me and the ground, and he trembled. He howled and leapt into the air over me shifting into an enormous chromatic white dragon. His wings spread  at least fifty feet wide to power him above the trees, and he had to be at least thirty feet from nose to tail. He was gorgeous, and I couldn’t help to skid to a stop and admire his glory. 

Drake headed back to the pack house and I followed watching him land on the lawn behind our apartment. I ran up to him bouncing around him like an excited puppy, he was glowing in the same undertones of my fur, the light from the house and the moon bounced off of us in a dazzling display around us. He chuffed trying to catch me with his huge claws, then eventually decided on a plan to contain me in the folds of his wings. Wrapping me up like I was in a giant burrito, I squirmed and yipped. I could feel the rumbling laughs of his dragon, they were like an earthquake, subsonic, but very noticeable. ‘I will shift back and walk right into the house bare assed!’ I threatened in the mindlink. 

‘Don’t even think about it!’ he said releasing me. An omega ran out to us and placed two robes on the ground in front of us. Her eyes were wide in amazement at Drake’s size, but she didn’t look scared at all. Everyone in the pack knew that Drake would ascend once he turned twenty five, they were just waiting to see what kind of dragon he was going to be. He draped his wings around me hiding me from the house so that I could shift and pull the robe around me. After I had the robe secured he shifted standing behind me and pulling the other one around himself. 

“Wow. You are dazzling!” I complimented him hugging him tight. “I thought that you shift would take longer.”

“I think it would have if you weren’t forcing lay energy into me.” he kissed my forehead hugging me back.

“Lay energy?” I raised an eyebrow in question.

“Yeah the energy in the earth that is directed and controlled by lay lines. I’m surprised Demitri hasn’t taught you about that.” He turned and held my hand. “Come on let’s go in. I'm exhausted.”

“Figured you would be starving.” I laughed and followed him.

“I was with my first wolf shift, but I think this process uses energy completely differently, I feel like I could sleep for a year now.” I could see his eyes droop as we walked into the apartment, and made our way to the bedroom. We discarded the robes and climbed into the king size bed naked. I kissed him good night as he was already softly snoring as soon as his head hit the pillow. Then drifted off to sleep myself.

I found myself standing before a massive mirror. I could see myself and my wolf reflecting back at me. I felt panic rise in my throat as the ‘me’ in the mirror turned to attack my wolf. I began to bang on the glass as I saw myself tearing flesh and fur from my wolf. “Fight her she’s not me!” I screamed. My wolf’s eyes glanced at me before nodding. She dug her teeth into the ‘not me’ and shook her before flinging her against the glass shattering the glass on impact. “We need to find Drake.” I said stepping through the mirror frame, realizing after the fact that I was the one trapped inside. 

We found ourselves in the endless hallway that we dreamed about last night. I calmly walked down the hallway looking at the icy walls. I could see more copies of myself and my wolf on my right side, and I could see Drake with his three selfs behind the wall on the left side. I ran my hand through my wolf’s fur thinking that this is a puzzle that I need to solve. Drake was calm studying me. I reached my hand up to the ice needing to be closer to him. He followed my movements then looked at his dragon then his wolf. He nodded then pressed his hand to the ice phasing through it like a ghost before grabbing my wrist and pulling me and my wolf back with him. I fell into him soaking wet, and so very cold as though I was trapped under a frozen lake.

“We found you, it’s really you.” I could hear the tears in his voice as he was trembling holding onto me. I looked around me, noticing that we were in a massive circular room with thousands of mirrors reflecting my image alone. The only difference was my wolf wasn’t in any of the reflections. One by one the clones of myself began to transform into that disgusting corpse-like creature from my last nightmare. The skin and hair fell away leaving a grey decaying husk that was screaming with red glowing eyes. It was so loud that Drake and I had to cover our ears as the glass of each and every mirror vibrated shattering around us.

We both sat up bolt right in bed together. I was crying pathetically and Drake was shaking, he quickly wrapped his arms around me. I could feel the terror radiating through the mate bond, fear at the idea of losing me. I sobbed into his chest not knowing what was going on. 

“Shhh baby, we’ll figure this out.” Drake cooed, rubbing my back, as I began to calm down he said. “I’m calling Demitri”