“I hope you feel the sparks now?”, Stefan side-eyed Sarah with a mischievous grin, showing how victorious he felt at that moment. “More than I expected.”. The warmth of his touch and the burning sensation due to the sparks were overwhelming on her hand, yet neither her voice nor her face gave away the mess happening in her head. She noticed her mother still there, with a big smile on her face, watching her go through that situation.

  “How so? We did have a chance to test this some time ago, right?”, he turned to face her, still holding her hand and reducing her view of the crowd. With her peripheral vision, Julienne was visibly angry, frowning. “What is he talking about? Did you have a date with him and didn’t tell me?”. The loud voice in Sarah’s mind confirmed her suspicions about her best friend’s mood by listening to what her now-mate just said. She sighed. “Or will you still pretend you didn’t feel anything back then?”. Without an escape, her mind raced to find a quick and impacting answer. “Shall we discuss methods to find out pretenders while we wait?”. She couldn’t avoid the smiling, triumphant, challenge shown in her grey eyes, forcing him to return to her side without further arguments.

  “I didn’t have a date with him. I accidentally touched him during the rescue operation and that’s all that happened.”, her mind linked to Juls’, justifying the unjustifiable. Everybody knew that Julienne had feelings for Stefan since young adolescence and Sarah was the last person in the world who would be on her way to conquer his heart, but now things have changed. Julienne accepted her mate and Stefan was claiming her, in front of everyone.

  “And…? I know you are hiding something, Sassa. Spit it out!”. Her friend made a big effort to not jump into the circle area, take her by the collar and shake her until getting a satisfactory reply. “Fine… but you will not like it.”. Sarah embraced herself for the explosion of anger that would come after her next words. “He tried to kiss me at the party, after the rescue operation. I ran away before anything happened.”

  Silence. A few minutes passed. Silence. Sarah looked at the stones and the dialects written on them, with an empty mind. Julienne left the crowd, seeming calm. “He has liked you since he first put his eyes on you, anyway. I hope you make each other happy.”. The bitterness of her mind's voice broke Sarah’s heart and a desire to cry reached her eyes before she could stop it. Then she felt someone squeezing her hand, affectionately, and caressing it with a thumb.

  Their eyes met, reflecting each other’s sadness, triggered by different reasons. “You didn’t have an obligation to come here…”. The sadness deepened in his golden eyes and he lifted their entwined hands so he could kiss the back of hers. “Will you say no to me?”, his voice no louder than a whisper and his pleading eyes affected her heavily. A tear rolled down her cheek and her gaze moved again to the floor. “There is no reason to reject you.”, she whispered, “The damage is already done.”

  A warm hand cleaned the remains of her shed tear, sparks followed as his fingers touched her face. A pleasing sensation that filled her heart with joy.

  The crowd still hoped to see someone daring to challenge Alpha Stefan’s claim over Sarah, so they remained and conversations began all over the place, as everyone waited. Now that the attention was not over them anymore, Stefan moved to face Sarah, still not letting go of her hand. “I need you. But I don’t wish you to feel forced to accept my claim.”

  He tried to search for a hint of what she could be thinking, while intently looking him in the eye. “I don’t.”, her resolve back to her eyes as she went on, “I brought this upon myself. But I must admit I didn’t expect you to claim me, regardless of your need to get a mate.”

  The crowd remained unaware of their conversation, giving the chance to Stefan to clarify things before the time was up. “I had plenty of time to think about what to do about this. My conclusion was that I would be doomed if I ignored the gift Moon Goddess gave me. How many have the privilege to meet their soulmate before it’s too late?”. They left his words hanging in the air for a moment. “Of course, I would be glad if you let me claim you by the time we found out about the sparks, but… I didn’t see any harm in respecting your traditional approach to this matter.”

  Her tranquil features changed to something else he couldn’t identify. “I don’t understand.”. Her reaction startled him. His efforts in being lovely seemed to not affect her as they did with other girls before. “What don’t you understand?”. She took a step back, his grip on her hand strong enough for her to not escape from him. “Why did you keep bedding so many if you had made up your mind?”. The answer got locked in his throat as Elder Cassius announced the time was up and no one could challenge his claim anymore. There were only two things left to be done before they could leave the circle.

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  “Delta Sarah Nightingale, do you accept Alpha Stefan Thundersten’s claim to become your mate?”. Elder Cassius was blocking the ladder, looking at her, expecting her reply to the most important question, the one that would change her life forever. The crowd got silent and turned their attention to them again. Sarah could see different emotions in the faces spread around the place. Some worried, some anxious, some happy and hoping she would do the right thing.

  Sarah turned her gaze to Stefan, her expression not telling what she would say next. Her eyes moved from his face to their hands, still entwined, and finally back to Elder Cassius. “Yes.”. The crowd exploded in cheers for them, followed by applause and whistles. Both Alex and Ben couldn’t look more upset with her decision.

  “Congratulations are in order then. Now, before you can leave the circle, you must mark one another.”. Sarah turned to face Stefan, feeling her body tense and her mind wondering how to approach the task at hand. Before she decided to do anything, he finally released her hand, finding instead a good spot to put his in her small back, pulling her closer to him. With his other hand, he carefully touched her cheek, and their eyes met once again.

  “Do you wish to be my mate?”, their foreheads touched and Sarah could feel his fresh perfume invading her nostrils, making the task of keeping self-control close to impossible, her hands moving automatically to his shoulders. He inhaled her sweet scent several times, waiting for her answer and listing all the things he wanted to do with her as soon as they were done with the ritual. “I do.”, she whispered and he finally did the one thing he wished for the most.

  Their lips touched, lightly first, and gradually he found his way inside her mouth, their tongues meeting for the first time. Besides Sarah’s inexperience, he guided her in the kiss as a master. His lips moved from her mouth down to her neck and to her shoulder. Then he paused and looked at her again, giggling.

  “Please, sweetheart, save your moaning for later.”, her placid face turned into a reddish portrait and her eyes tried to focus on somewhere else, but he was the only thing in her sight. “I’m sorry… I didn’t notice…”. His nose touched the side of her neck delicately. “It’s okay, as long as I am the only one to hear it. Which is not the case right now.”. His hand reached for her chin, forcing her to look him in the eye again. “Do you allow me to mark you mine?”.

  The husky voice provoked chills on her entire body and something else, until that moment dormant, began pulsing between her legs. “Y-Yes”. He seemed undecided on which side to bite, so he remembered the royal blue dress she wore on that night when he approached her for a kiss and decided where his mark had to lie.

  Wearing a tank top made Stefan’ job fairly easy. Their lips met again and when he released her from the kiss, his canines grew into fangs. Light kisses travelled from her jaw until her right shoulder, the perfect spot to stick them and leave his mark on her body and soul. A mix of pain and pleasure could be heard from Sarah when he did it, her fingers pressing hard on his shoulders and her legs almost failing to keep her standing, but she was safe in his arms, both supporting her weight until he was done. His tongue finished the work, licking the two holes, stopping the bleeding.

  Heavily breathing, Sarah dropped her forehead to rest on his muscled chest, trying to recover from the hurricane of feelings going through her body and the desperate need to get rid of her clothes and let him have her whole. Strong arms wrapped around her in a bear hug, giving her time to recover.

  The crowd witnessed the tenderness stamped on Stefan’s face while holding her in his arms, only wishing for the moment to last forever. Another moment passed when she lifted her gaze to his face. “I guess it’s my turn now.”, her weak voice and shy smile convinced him to let her go for an instant. As he touched the bottom of his t-shirt, strong grips on his hands stopped him. “What do you think you are doing?”.

  “But-”, her angry expression told everything he needed to know, but she still decided to explain. “Haven’t you shown yourself enough yet?”. Her nails turned into claws and she cut his t-shirt, from the collar up to the edge of the right shoulder, then another cut from the collar towards the chest, enough for her to pull the fabric and reach his collarbone.

  “Not very romantic, but… it turned me on.”. His voice directly into her ear… She took a deep breath and her fingers moved the fabric away. Sharp fangs emerged and without a second thought, they met his bare skin, forcing a pleasing loud moan to escape Stefan’s lips. His grip was strong on her back, his body shook in ecstasy until she licked the holes left there.

  By instinct, he kissed her deeply, still in trance by the pleasure felt by the marking process. Breathless, their mouths got apart, both breathing heavily. “We should… go home soon, sweetheart. I think I wet my trousers.”, she giggled. “Not with what you may think though.”. The grin disappeared from her face, without understanding what he truly meant.

  Their hands entwined once again and Stefan pulled Sarah to leave the circle. Elder Cassius nodded to them, understanding the urgency they felt to be alone in a private room.

  The audience applauded one more time as they walked away, towards Stefan’s house. However, his expression changed on the way and she could feel his mind touching hers.

  “I have a special mission for you.” She naturally tensed at the mention of work and looked at him puzzled, yet a step or two behind him, being pulled by the hand with urgency. “We cannot let my cousin become the next Luna. If she does, we are all doomed.”.