Page 10 of Eternal

The ritual or seeding ceremony as it was better known, was a means to gain a blessing from what they called the forest’s angels so that her mates would be able to impregnate her with their pups.

It wasn’t a common ritual, mostly, since natural omegas, once they were claimed and entered estrus, were easily and successfully impregnated.

Hers though was a different case. She wasn’t whattheycalled a purebreed. Two cycles of estrus and not falling pregnant had led Ashton and Duncan into taking this ancient, uncommon route. To keep their status as pack leaders they had chosen this perilous route.

But it wasn’t as straightforward as her being taken by both her mates under a full moon in a forest somewhere on the other side of the world. No. It involved a life-and-death situation for them both and eternal doom for her if they failed. She had put all their lives at stake because of her inability to conceive.

She wished they hadn’t resorted to such drastic methods and yet nothing she could have said or done would have made them change their mind. She wished they’d just told her goodbye and good luck and then chose an omega, like Faith Back, who would give them pups without having to put their lives at risk.

“Are you all right, Mistress?”

Not trusting her voice, Farren smiled at the stylist who had accompanied her for the journey and nodded instead.

It had been over a week, as per a requirement of the ceremony, that she had seen them, last had been the night of her engagement, and Amanda had overseen that the seven-day rule was not a failed one by keeping Farren locked up in the den, out of their reach.

“All right, enough brooding, little mistress. It’s time.” Amanda stepped into the room and clapped her hands.

Farren had been so deep in thought, she hadn’t realized that the stylist had long since arranged her hair around her shoulders in perfect little waves and had stood aside quietly while Farren had been ruminating about her unpredictable future.

It was only her mates’ and her life that could be in the balance but as far as Amanda was concerned, the first cardinal sin in her book was being late.

Farren nodded, rose shakily from the chair, then scanned the unfamiliar room once more, searching for some solace and finding none.

She wasn’t in California anymore, not in the den she called home, with the floor-to-ceiling windows surrounded by a scenic, familiar forest, with the rest of their palatial home on the floors above them.

For the seeding ceremony, she had been flown in their private jet with an entourage of bodyguards—beta females—and Amanda as company, to a castle in the middle of nowhere.

If she had to guess, it could be somewhere in Europe, Slovakia, or Hungary, or even Russia. She had no idea.

The castle was old, dank, dark, and gave her the shivers, both from the cold and the eeriness of the place. She hadn’t slept on the plane, and she certainly hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep since arriving, despite Amanda sending her to bed.

All she had wanted to do was find a way to get as close to the fire as she could without setting herself alight, just for a little warmth. The heavenly scented bath the beta females had prepared for her, supervised by Amanda of course, had remained blissfully hot for all of ten minutes before she was back to shivering.

Completely tossed out of her element, she blindly followed orders without much question.

She was led out of the bedroom and down the cast-iron staircase, then out the heavy wrought-iron door with images of wolves engraved into the ancient metal.

The wilderness lay immediately before her, and she sucked in her lips as the uneven earth of the forest floor dug into her thin-soled, slipper-covered feet.

The red velvet coat which had been draped over her shoulders concealed her barely veiled nakedness beneath but offered no warmth against the rattling chills charging through her body with cruel ferocity.

She had begged and pleaded, with Rhiannon and Amanda, to let her go to them so she could stop them from doing this, but it had all been in vain. The alpha kings had decided, and their word was law.

Led by Amanda, two beta females guidedher along as the bodyguards surrounding her felt like a cortege at her funeral, escorting her deeper into the dark and spine-chilling forest.

Panic whirled in her tummy as they approached a tree so ancient and gnarled, it seemed to bristle angrily with old age. There was nothing verdant about the forest; everything seemed blanketed in an ashen hue. Everything seemed like death.

Her attention was cruelly pulled back when the damp bark caught against the velvet of her gown as the beta femalespressed her to the trunk while the males’ uncoiled yards of rope and proceeded to bind her to the tree.

They treated her with shy reverence, not making any eye contact, possibly afraid if she complained, her mates would see their heads on spikes. And no matter how amicable she had been, Amanda had assured her she would always be treated that way by the pack’s beta subordinates and the younger beta females on account of being the Maximillian omega. It was the ultimate prize and nothing came close to the title of the Maximillian omega.

As the rope tightened across her chest and arms, and around the trunk, Farren’s natural desire for safety kicked in and she started to struggle against the restraint, despite understanding the futility of her actions. She didn’t want to do this anymore and yet there was no way out of it now.

She forced herself to calm down. It was going to be okay. She had to trust them. But that remained easier said than done as the choking grip of fear continued to ripple through her.

Once securely bound to the trunk of the tree, all hope she secretly held of being released if she begged them enough dissipated when the beta males and females deserted her in the dark gloomy forest, but not before bowing to her.

“I have gotten quite attached to you, little mistress, so those two wolves better make sure they show up and rescue you,” Amanda said, then without waiting for a reply she turned on her heel and left.

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