Barbie + Ken Ch. 02

"My, my, you're a walking curse," she says, turning me with her hands to inspect the tattoos and scars that decorate my torso. She is particularly interested in the two blank spaces, patches of unmarred skin that Jareth has not yet covered. One over my sternum, and one over my heart.

"You truly are the child of the prophecy," she says, tears in her eyes. I can't tell why. I pull my shirt back on, embarrassed, and sit down. I taste the tea. It's not hot anymore, but it is delicious- smoky, heavy, and warming.

"Grandmother," Ken says, "I gotta be honest, I'm totally lost."

She turns to him, a grave tone to her voice. "You have been assigned a great duty. You are tasked with the protection of this moonchild. You must be up to it. There can be no mistakes."

Ken nods, readily accepting it. "I will do whatever he needs. I will protect Barbie with my life."

"Excuse me," I say, "I am capable of protecting myself."

Elmira laughs then, a sharp, barking sound. Her sunken eyes glimmer. "Oh, my dear," she says, "Let me tell you what I have Seen. I have a Seen a world in chaos. A world ruined by a demon of unspeakable origin. I have Seen misery brought to the people of the world on such a grand scale as to end it several times over. And I have seen the pains that must be taken to prevent this. I have seen the One who will end it. And many years ago, I Saw that the Oracle would be brought to me by a child of my blood. My dear, you have inherited wyrda magna."

There it is. What the Moon told me. I remembered what else it said. "Trust," I murmur, "Believe."

"Yes, child," says Elmira. "You have a long journey ahead of you. There will seem to be no end to your struggles. But you will not do it alone. Ken will walk with you, and I will walk with you as far as I can. In the end, you must take the final steps alone. Do not forget, child." Then her face goes blank. I am worried for her, because she is very old, but her mind returns. "I will pour another cup of tea. My guest is arriving," and she gets up from the table.

At that moment, I sense a powerful presence. The Alpha enters the kitchen. Ken stands for him, and I get the feeling that I should too. I make to stand, but the Alpha speaks. "No need," and his voice is deep and commanding, "You may sit," and Ken and I sit together. Ken is visibly tense with the Alpha in the room, though Elmira could not be less bothered. She hands him his cup of tea, which looks comically small in the big man's hands.

The Alpha takes a long draught from his cup. He seems to carefully weigh his words. "First, I would like to thank you for saving my life, stranger," he says, his voice quiet and low. "We were waylaid in the middle of of our council meeting. Those dirty wiks-" Elmira makes an indignant noise, and the Alpha bows his head in deference. "My pardon," he says, "those witches caught us off guard. We were unprepared for their assault."

I'll say they were unprepared! Those lowlife idiots from the Circle wouldn't have been able to pull such a simple sleep spell on me. But it appears the Alpha has more to say.

He clears his throat. "Second, I would like to thank you for defending our community. You had no reason to, and could have easily used the distraction to escape. As Alpha of this pack, I am extremely grateful." He bows his head low to me, eliciting a murmur of surprise from Ken. "As a gesture of my gratitude, I want you to know that I have decided to waive any charges against you. While you are here, you stay as our honored guest."

Elmira nods at these words, and Ken's hand loosens its grip on me. I wasn't even aware he was so nervous.

The Alpha speaks again. "However, I have questions for you. Forgive my rudeness, but these questions concern the security of the pack, so I must be blunt."

I nod. I understand that Jareth sent his minions solely to recapture me. I am a danger to this pack. I'm a danger to Ken. I hate this feeling.

"What do you know of the group who attacked us?" asks the Alpha.

I exhale. I'm not sure I have the time to recount the whole history of the Circle. I decide to give him the truth in brevity. "They are called the Circle. Their high priest is a sorcerer called Jareth. They operate in the shadows, and their ultimate goal is to summon the First Ones from their eternal banishment." I take a breath. This next part is still hard to admit. For his part, the Alpha waits with patience. Ken squeezes my hand.

"I am the key to their plan. They call me Oracle. My full title is Spero Interfectorem, Oracle of Chaos and Darkness. I am the one who is to awaken the First Ones so they may begin a new cycle of pain and torment. I escaped from this group a few days ago, and was shortly captured by your pack." My words hang in the air, heavy. No one speaks for a few minutes.

The Alpha absorbs my words before he speaks again. "How did they infiltrate our complex?"

I sigh. "They used a simple sleep spell which puts the victims into a trance, rendering them unconscious. Your camp has no wards against such magic, so it was relatively easy for that many magicians to cast a spell on so many of your lycans."

The Alpha nods. He turns to Elmira. "What about the protections placed on our land by the ancestors?"

Her lips press together, displeased. "They were not enough," she says simply. There is no room for argument in her words.

"I see," the Alpha says. His brows knit together, thinking. Then he says, "I feel certain this... Circle will come for you again. That makes a security liability for our pack."

I know where this is going. I was going to leave anyway, I guess. "I understand," I say, "I will depart as soon as possible."

The Alpha's jaw tightens. "Hold on," he says, and the authority in his voice quells mine. "I cannot allow you to leave the pack. Expelling a guest is a violation of our customs, and I will not turn away anyone in need." My anxiety quiets, just a little.

"However," he says, and I am expecting something terrible. "I cannot, in good conscience, expel my son's mate."

I am confused. I look to Ken, hoping for an answer. His eyes meet mine, and they are pleading me to understand something. I look to Elmira, a ghost of a smile on her grizzled features. I learned about the lycans during my time with the Circle. As our people's natural hunters, Jareth made it his business to be thoroughly informed about the threat. Lycans take mates, usually for life. The Circle's research demonstrates that the bond between lycan and mate is very deep, nearly impossible to break. The lycan and its mate are connected for life. Jareth and the Circle conducted extensive torture on many lycans and their mates to glean this information. But for all the Circle's research, they were never able to understand exactly how the mark works.

"I don't understand," I say slowly. "You are implying that I am Ken's mate, yet we have not completed any ceremony." Elmira laughs, and the Alpha growls. I'm not sure what to make of those reactions.

"My dear, you are most assuredly Ken's mate," Elmira says. "I can smell the bond between you. Any lycan could... and the mark on your neck is evidence plenty."

My fingers fly to the place on my neck where Ken bit me. The spot that caused the two most powerful orgasms of my life. I snatch my hand from Ken, his face says everything I need to know. Shame, sorrow, and... a hint of pride? My stomach turns over. I may be sick!

"This brings us to my last point," the Alpha says. "Junior... you know the rules about marking non-lycans."

"Alpha," Ken says, hackles instantly raising, "I knew from the second I met Barbie that he is my mate. I couldn't control myself any more than you did when you marked your mate!"

"Enough!" the Alpha growls. The malice in his voice sets me alight with fear. The power radiating off this man is incredible. If he were a magic user, he would be quite a force.

"Junior, you marked a human. A witch, no less. There is no precedent!" the Alpha yells. Ken, though still defiant, flinches. He bows his head. Elmira just smiles her weird, mystical smile.

The Alpha hangs his head in his hands. "Where do I begin? The council will have a field day. The inter-pack circle will convene. What a headache! I'll be in meetings for weeks," he sighs. He raises his head and looks directly at Ken and I. "But I can smell it. You are mates. And the mark is the clearest I've seen."

Elmira grunts something about "tangled webs".

The Alpha laughs, which surprises me. I didn't think this massive man was capable of laughter. "So it seems," he says, and he rises. "Junior, you stand before council at dawn. We have much to speak about." Ken nods and takes my hand again. It feels good to have his hand back.

"And you, honored Oracle," the Alpha says. I swallow nervously. "I would also like you to appear. As a guest, I can't make you. But you are a security risk, and we need a plan."

"I accept your invitation, Alpha," I say. He nods and turns to Elmira.

"Mother, would you please join me in my quarters? The Alpha has many questions for the Shaman."

Elmira nods. "Certainly," she says. "Boys, you clean up the tea things. I trust you can make dinner for yourselves. I will likely be gone the whole night," she says, and as she reaches the door with the Alpha, she turns back to me. "And make sure to change your bandage before you sleep, dear, I don't want the burns getting infected. When I get back, I want to talk about Junior's new hair..." And they are gone.

For a long moment Ken and I do not look at each other. We say nothing. So many emotions roll in my head.

Finally Ken breaks the silence. "So...," he says, "You're like the antichrist or something, huh?" he finishes lamely.

I narrow my eyes at him, fingers rubbing the spot on my neck where he bit me. It stings a little but feels really good. "Your grandmother seems to think differently."

He chuckles. "Gram usually gets what she wants," he says.

"So do I," I say, and his eyes get dark and serious.

"What do you want?" he asks. The tension is thick between us. What I really want is to push him down on this table and mount him like a bull. I have a hard time taming my urge to jump him even though I was totally sated a few minutes ago. It's weird, I feel like I can smell better. It's almost like I can smell his... desire?

I lean in to him, put my other hand on his thigh. I slowly slide it up and his breath hitches. "I want..." and before I can say what, my stomach gurgles so obscenely loud that it rattles the teacups on the table. I am aghast but Ken is amused.

"I want dinner!" I proclaim. Ken laughs and takes me in his arms, kisses me softly.

"Dinner it is," he says, when he comes back up for air. I stare into his eyes, those golden spheres. There's something he wants to say but isn't ready to voice. I won't rush him.

Ken gets up and moves about the kitchen, preparing to make us some food. I would help him but I have never cooked before. When I wasn't being ritually starved by the Circle they would prepare my meals for me. I watch as Ken chops vegetables. My mark twitches again.

"What did they mean by marking me?" I ask, though I have a pretty good idea. But since my knowledge is limited and one-sided, I think it best to ask the source.

Ken pales. "A mark is a soul bond between a lycan and its mate. It never goes away. Once you mark someone, you are bound to them for life," he studiously avoids eye contact with me, seemingly fixed on cooking.

"So we're bound for life?" I ask, quiet. He nods.

My brows knit together. "What if I didn't want to be marked?" I ask, and he stops chopping. He looks at me with that same stare, the one that says so much more than he can allow himself to say.

"I'm sorry," he breathes, and his eyes shimmer. "I couldn't control it. My wolf had to do it. Had to mark you. He took over and..." Ken turns away, unable to look at me.

I don't know anything about this mark. I didn't ask to be brought here, to meet Ken, or to be soul-bound for life by a lycan, of all creatures. Seems like I just go from one state of bondage to another. But this mark... I should be angry. I should be furious. Maybe it's the strange magic of the mark, but I'm not mad at all. Instead, I feel a weird peace about it.

"Hey," I call, moving to him. I lean into him and wrap his arms around me. His breath is soft against my hair. "I'm not upset. I don't understand everything yet, but I'm not mad at you. I actually kind of like it. And it did feel really good when you marked me," I say, and I can feel him getting hard. "At least it wasn't Mari," I say, eliciting a growl from Ken. I giggle. "And I'm pretty sure I can find a spell to take this mark off if I wanted to," earning another growl from Ken, and he grabs me a little tighter.

He lowers his lips to my ear. "I would mark you again," he says, and my breathing quickens. He kisses slowly down my ear, traveling down my neck until his lips hit that mark. "I might mark you again right now," he says, and I tip my neck to him to give him full access. His teeth lightly graze over my mark and I am instantly hard again. I rock against him, trying to give him as much of my neck as I possibly can. His teeth on my neck feel amazing, the pleasure surely intensified by grazing that mark. I moan, and he breaks away.

"More,"I whimper, and my stomach growls again. I don't even care, my stomach can eat itself if I can just get my hands on Ken again.

Ken laughs. "How 'bout after dinner?"

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