My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian (Sera and Fenris) novel Chapter 128

Sera

His eyes immediately dropped from my face. He looked at the deep plunge of the dress, his gaze tracing the exposed swell of my breasts. He looked at the three thin silver chains holding the sides of the fabric together, exposing my bare ribs and hips. His eyes dragged down to the massive slits in the skirt, staring openly at my bare thighs.

The muscle in his jaw ticked violently. The raw, unfiltered hunger in his stare made my stomach clench. A sudden, heavy rush of heat pooled directly between my legs, entirely defying the freezing northern air biting at my skin.

Before he could reach for me, the oldest elder in the circle stood up from his heavy wooden chair. He held a long, curved iron blade in his right hand. The metal was dark, pitted with age and stained from generations of use.

He stepped up to the massive black stone altar directly beside us and raised his arms.

"Three hundred years ago, the Ironmaw pack faced the Winter of the Black Frost!" the elder shouted. His voice was gravelly and deep, echoing like thunder off the high stone walls of the keep. The murmurs in the crowd instantly died. Thousands of wolves stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the packed snow, completely silent.

"The rivers froze solid down to the riverbeds," the elder continued, pacing slowly behind the altar. "The game died in the snow, buried under ten feet of ice. Our people starved in their beds. Mothers watched their pups freeze. The pack was dying."

The wind whipped across the courtyard, catching the heavy midnight fabric of my skirt and blowing it back, leaving my legs entirely bare. I didn't shiver. The heat radiating off Fenris’s shirtless body was intense, grounding me to the stone beneath my boots.

"Alpha Varik and his chosen mate, Lyra, left the keep to hunt," the elder yelled, pointing the iron blade toward the towering, jagged peaks in the distance. "They walked for six days in the blinding blizzard. They found nothing. Lyra, knowing the Alpha needed strength to lead the survivors, offered her own arm to him. She told him to eat her flesh so the pack leader would live. But Varik refused to feed on his own."

The elder stepped out from behind the altar. Two massive Ironmaw warriors walked forward from the edge of the crowd. They were dragging something incredibly heavy through the thick snow.

It was a fresh kill. A massive northern elk, easily weighing over a thousand pounds. Its thick grey coat was matted, and its throat had just been slashed. Dark, steaming blood was currently pooling into the packed white snow, melting the ice beneath it.

"They did not turn on each other in the dark!" the elder roared, pointing the blade at the dead beast. "Instead, they found the great Elk of the jagged peaks. They killed the beast together. And to prove that their souls were bound by the ice, to prove that they shared one life, one absolute strength, and one endless hunger... they ate the heart of the beast while it still beat."

The elder walked up to Fenris and held out the curved iron blade, handle first.

"To lead the Ironmaw," the elder said, locking his pale eyes onto mine, "you must share the blood of the kill. You must take the Blood Vow."

My heart hammered a frantic rhythm against my ribs. Eat the heart. Mina didn’t warn me about this.

Fenris took the iron blade. He didn't hesitate for a fraction of a second. He turned his broad back to me, dropped to one knee in the blood-soaked snow, and drove the knife directly into the center of the massive elk's chest.

The sound was absolutely horrible. It was a wet, heavy tearing of thick hide followed by the sharp, violent snapping of thick ribs. Fenris sawed through the bone and muscle with brutal, practiced efficiency. He tossed the knife aside and reached both of his large hands directly into the open, steaming chest cavity.

I lowered the heart. Blood was smeared completely across my lips and down my chin. I handed the organ back to the elder, who took it reverently with both hands.

The elder stepped forward again, picking up the iron knife from the snow. "Your souls share the hunger. Now, your bodies share the blood."

Fenris held his massive hand out, palm up. The elder dragged the blade straight across Fenris's palm, cutting deep into the flesh. Fenris didn't flinch. He didn't even blink.

I held my right hand out. The cold iron bit sharply into my skin, slicing cleanly across my palm. The pain was a sharp, sudden sting that cut through the cold. Warm blood instantly welled up from the cut, mixing immediately with the elk's blood that was already coating my fingers.

Fenris reached out and grabbed my hand. He linked our fingers together tightly, pressing our bleeding palms completely flush. His grip was crushing, completely enveloping my hand in his.

"By the blood, the bond is sealed!" the elder shouted to the silent crowd, raising his hands to the grey sky. "By the flesh, the pack is one!"

The elder turned his fierce gaze to the pack, his chest heaving. "The vows are sworn. Let the Kael'drak begin!"

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