The Game Of Quadruplet Mates
(Bk 2) Chapter 43

My father never spoke of the Games.

I always find it strange that a man who is single handedly paying for the Games to happen has purposely avoided the whole thing and doesn't like talking about it. But I know he only went once and then never again.

Something happened at his first and only time at the Games that he never wanted to go back. Never.

Not even to claim my mother, who he chose outside of the Games. That was the reason why she wasn't completely considered as the Luna... at least not officially, because it was done without the proper ceremonies, the tradition that all of us should follow. And it's also the reason why I'm often not considered as the next Alpha by others. If it wasn't for my father and who he is and what he has threatened to do, the world wouldn't even see me as his child.

He didn't realize this when he decided to stay away from the Games and by the time he understood what he had done, it was too late.

Which is why he is making sure that I don't make the same mistakes he did.

Book 2 Chapter 13

That I'll choose wilhin the Games

That I'll make things right.

Because if I didn't, there was a chance that all his hard work would go to someone else.

And it wouldn't even be to Otto or his family because he was an only child like I was and he was dy in g.

As I look at this woman beside me, the Luna of the Mountain pack, I realize that there's something there but I can't be sure what

Our families aren't close, having very little if any interaction, at least from what I know and what I remember.

My father often kept to himself- considered as a recluse by other Alphas, focusing purely on the pack, defending the lands and trying to rebuild what was lost from the war that happened way before I was born. He lets his Beta and Otto handle the outside affairs, only involving himself if certain things require him to.

But seeing the untouchable Luna and hearing her say this, I wonder... I wonder what it was.

If there is more behind her words.

She takes my hand, holding it tight and squeezing it comfortingly. The way she looked at me, I can't quite describe it. She was staring into my eyes, studying the blue in them. She looked amazed. She looked... happy. "I'll handle it. Don't worry."

My lips parted. "But," Book 2 Chapter 13

"Everything will be alright." The Luna didn't have much physical resemblance to her son, but I could see hints of him in the shape of her lips, her nose and her smile. It was all him and it made it easier to trust her. After all, who better to change the rules, to help us through the Games than the woman in charge of its entirety?

She turns to her son and takes his hand as well, urging him up the platform to stand beside me. He didn't look surprised that his mother was supporting our choice and it makes me think that they re very close.

Tedro's faces me as she joins our hands together on the small space between us. He automatically runs his thumb over the back of my hands, running them through the knuckles and gently caressing my skin, creating this heat that I didn't know existed. She glances at her son and then at me, her smile wide.

I felt my stomach flip and my heart flutter.

This was happening.

This was actually happening.

Tedros stared into my eyes and I knew this was where I was meant to be. With him. Only him.

"This ceremony celebrates the union of two, making them of one heart, one flesh and one soul. Mates until death and beyond that."

I listen to the words like they are speaking directly to my soul.

Like my soul was memorizing each word while my eyes were on him and only him

He pulls me close, until our foreheads touch, until I can feel heat radiating off of him.

"Do you, Tedros, accept and bind yourself?"

I accept and bind myself to her and only her." With each word he spoke, it sent shocks down my body.

"Do you, Jewel, accept and bind yourself?"

There is no question. There is nothing else but this. "I accept and bind myself forever."

The moment I say these words, I feel as though I am flying.

And the look he gives me, starts a flame to burn in my chest, and this time it travels lower and settles in my stomach.

When I see the ceremonial knife being handed to the Luna, I know the carving is happening next. I have watched others do it since the Choosing started. They will use the knife made of pure silver to mark an 'x' on our ring finger, symbolizing a love that is stronger than our greatest weakness and leaving a scar that will permanently mark us as mates.

Tedros is to be marked first and, without removing his hand from mine, he allows the blade to carve him. The smell of blood, of something sizzling goes through the air as the silver splits his flesh, but he doesn't move away or show any signs of discomfort. The blood comes instantly, red and thick and rushing

Tam marked next, quick but excruciatingly pamful, making me suck in a breath but not allowing myself to do anything else

As our fingers bled, he brought his to my lips and mine to his. Together we close the cut by bringing the finger into our mouth, our tongue gently caressing the cut, the wound that branded us as mates healing instantly.

But the contact almost had me jump back like I had been burned, like I had set off something from within that sent my heart and my soul into this humming frenzy. It felt as though lightning struck us where we stood, the shock almost unbearably hot and electric. It went up and down my spine and then again and again until I felt like I might explode, like I might combust at any moment, and as I look at Tedros I know he feels it too.

His eyes were black as obsidian but they were bright with a sudden realization...

A realization that I was starting to understand.

But as the Luna announces our marriage, our unity, we discover that we aren't just chosen mates.

We were destined.

Fated.

But that was impossible because destined mates were extinct.

Yet, I can feel him, feel us, so surely, so correctly and unquestionably, that there is no other explanation. We were destined and that I am absolutely certain of.