Chapter Six

Ricardo 

Ianthe 

Her name is perfect, ethereal, just like her. 

Why did she only have to be seventeen. Is this a to test my patience? To torture me? 

Wolves are naturally very sexual beings, an alpha even more so. I have women in between the sheets on a regular basis, but now that I have found my mate, that is no longer an option. Even if she doesn't know it yet, I will respect her, but as soon as she turns eighteen, she will be in my bed, forever. 

The thought of her in my bed, me inside her, has my skin itching all night. It doesn't help that I can smell her lavender scent even with the walls seperating us. I almost don't get any sleep, my erection keeping me up all night, so I get up an hour earlier and take a long cold shower and then I step outside, inhaling the fresh air, the woods beckoning me. 

Daemon takes over and he runs into the woods like a wolf possessed. I suppose we are possessed, by the stunning beauty sleeping in the room next to us. He runs around the perimeter for more than an hour, only stopping when he smells something interesting before he takes off in a sprint again. 

Then suddenly he stops dead in his tracks, his muzzle going up in the air and he lets out a long howl. 

Ianthe's scent is overpowering to me, it consumes my every pore since I first smelled her, but for Daemon it's even more enchanting. 

"Slow down" I chastise him when he takes off at an ungodly speed towards the smell. 

"Have to find her." He growls. 

I understand his dilemma, I do, but Daemon can be a bit aggressive and I don't want that to be her first impression of him. 

"You're going to scare her, slow down." I try one more time, but he doesn't listen. He tears through the woods in his quest to get to her. 

He suddenly comes to an abrupt halt, the tiny rocks skidding underneath his paws and my goodness, what a sight she is in front of us. 

Ianthe's wolf's fur is the purest white I have ever seen, her body constructed with grace and elegance and by far the most beautiful wolf I have laid my eyes on. I'm left utterly stunned. 

She's busy scratching at the ground with her paw, but she smells us and looks up, her eyes that light, frozen blue like her human form. 

"Need to mount her now!" Daemon growls and like a predator targeting his prey he stalks forward. 

"No no no no!" I shout at him." "She's young, you'll scare her away." 

"She's my mate!" He yells back. 

"I know." I hope I'm sounding authoritave enough and that he'll listen and not take on a mind of his own. I have never lost control of my wolf before, but this just might be that time. "Take it slow Daemon, I will kill you myself if you ruin this for me." 

He just growls at me, slowly approaching her. I know what Daemon is like, because we're the Alpha and young and virile, he looks huge compared to her form. 

And then something happens that has never happened to Daemon before. As soon as those ice-blue eyes meets his, an inexplicable calmness washes over him and his strides slow down as we stalk to the mesmerizing sight in the middle of the woods. 

The glow of the rising sun on her fur casts an even more ethereal glow on her, and I can see it reflected in her eyes as she stands quietly, waiting for us until we stop a foot away from her, Daemon sniffing deeply, her scent embedded into his being forever. 

"What's your name?" He asks gently and color me surprised. This is a whole new Daemon that not even I have met before. 

Like him, she sniffs deeply, stepping a little closer to his looming form, no fear in her posture or eyes.  

"Natalia." 

A low growl rumbles in Daemon's chest and he sits back on his haunches, his muzzle sniffing at her paws. She mirrors his stance and tilts her head slightly in curiosity when she looks at him, the same way Ianthe looked at me. 

"Just don't say anything about mates yet, please." I tell him and I can feel his disappointment. Neither of us have been known for our patience and three months seems like a very long time when you have everything you never knew you wanted right in front of you. 

"I like your woods," Natalia says. "It's beautiful here." 

"It's yours now too." 

She doesn't say anything to that, but she subtly places an elegant paw on top of Daemon's. Chills race through both of us and Daemon howls in pleasure. 

"Can I run with you in the mornings?" She asks. 

"You can do anything you want." 

At this rate I will just sign over the whole property to her name. Reach for the goddamn stars if she asked me to. 

"I've never been able to do what I want." 

There's sadness in Natalia's eyes and Daemon howls in anguish, standing up on all fours in a protective stance, he starts circling her but respecting her space at the same time, only sniffing her neck. I know what he wants, he wants to mark her as his own, but the time for that has not come. She is still underage, and even though wolves do things a little differently, that is a line we don't step over. 

Natalia closes her eyes and a single tear escapes the exquisite wolf's eyes.What is this emotion that I'm feeling? I have never felt it before, not even when my father passed away. My heart has never felt this intense pang, this empathy, like I can feel her loneliness as my own. I vow that she will never feel lonely again. 

Before Daemon can say anything else, Natalia turns around and runs back in the direction of the house, and he instinctively follows her.