ULRICH 9
“Is this any welcome, where’s the party?” Burkhart teases as he walks in with his mate at his side.
“Burkhart, you straggly ass,” Colborn says from where he’s standing by the bar, “thought you would never get here.”
“Missed us, did you?” Brandr says as he also walks in, as soon as I see his mate Aria, I try to clear my mind. Anastasia went up to the room earlier on. But my mind is still filled with thoughts of her. I would rather keep my thoughts to myself instead of someone else knowing what I’m thinking. Walking towards them with a smile on my face, I see Bjarni and Draco walking in, their women walking ahead of them.
“Where is everyone?” Bjarni asks in a booming voice, I see his woman look over her shoulder and smile at him. Now when I look at these hardened men before me, I finally understand how they can be so powerful, so dangerous and yet be completely and absolutely dominated by these women that are their mates. Now that I am mated, I realize how absolutely consuming our bond is.
“They had to take care of some business; I’m sure Tor will tell you all about it once he gets back,” I reply, which has Draco looking at me, his eyes not missing anything as he takes everything in.
“Ulrich,” Burkhart calls, “hey my man, did I hear right?” he approaches me with a smile on his face.
“Depends what you are hearing,” I state with a grin.
“Well, we were so shocked that we had to come here and see for ourselves, after all weren’t you the one that said that you wouldn’t be getting a mate,” Burkhart says as he punches me on the arm, I notice that the women have walked towards one of the tables and are now sitting down while the men are starting to surround me which has my guard up.
“Yeah, looks like things change,” Bjarni says as he comes to stand behind me
“I remember someone saying that having a mate was like cutting off your balls,” Brandr says with a smirk as he looks at me knowing full well that I was the one that said that, but it was a joke.
“Tell me, Ulrich, do you feel less male?” Draco asks in a quiet tone as he stands right before me. To be honest, I feel anything but, my element has strengthened as I can feel its power since bonding with Anastasia also the feeling I get of overwhelming protectiveness towards my mate has me feeling all powerful knowing that I can protect her from most things.
“No, if anything, I feel more.” Draco’s eyes are intense as he looks at me.
“Is it true that you fought the bond?” Shit, how did he find out about that? Our mates are the most important thing to us, we are supposed to forget everything and everyone once we meet our mates. To be honest, ever since meeting Anastasia all I think about is her, so that much is true.
“Damn Draco, I wasn’t expecting it to hit me like it did. One minute I was crawling out of bed from being with two women and the next I am hit sideways by all these feelings and fucking senses that I have never felt before.”
“Fuck Draco, he sounds so despondent that I suddenly feel like weeping,,” Burkhart quips and then I am being ambushed by Brandr, Burkhart as Bjarni holds me from behind.
“What the hell?” I grunt as they pick me up and start making their way outside.
“We got you a surprise,” Draco says as we step outside and then I am being dropped on my feet again and they are stepping back with grins on their faces. I frown as I look at them and then around until my eyes land on my motorcycle.
“What the fuck?” I roar as I walk towards my bike. The letters that make up Anastasia’s name are emblazed as if in flame and then ice on it. The artwork is amazing, and I know that Bjarni had a hand in it as he does amazing personalized artwork on bikes, but her name is all over my bike.
“How did you get my bike?” I ask.
“The guys brought it up when you were holed up in the room with your woman,” Brandr says with a smirk, “Now your bike has been branded.”
I look back at Bjarni seeing a grin on his face, “you know I respect your work, you are really talented but fuck did you have to put her name like that on my bike?” He just shrugs his grin widening, these fuckers are enjoying this.
“Don’t worry brother, she will love it,” Burkhart says with a straight face which has me wanting to punch him when I think of what Anastasia might think.
“Or think I’m a stalking freak,” I mutter.
“Don’t be so despondent I’m sure by now our women have found Anastasia and will welcome her into the MC,” Draco says which has my stomach tightening, damn, Anastasia is already hard-headed. If they explain to her that as an Elemental my prime drive is to keep her happy she will definitely be impossible. I turn to make my way back inside; I need to find Anastasia before the women corrupt her completely, but before I make it inside Draco stops me by stepping before me.
“It will be okay, none of us would change a thing when it comes to our mates.” I stand and stare at Draco, he isn’t one to make unnecessary conversation. For him to be before me trying to appease my worries has me surprised. “Now let’s go in, and don’t worry the women won’t corrupt her that much.” At his statement I tense, did he read my mind? Can he read my mind? He turns and walks back inside without any indication, I turn back towards Bjarni that is right behind me.
“Can he read minds?” At my questions Bjarni just smiles and shrugs as he steps around me and makes his way inside.
“Come on, let’s go have a drink to celebrate your bond,” Burkhart says as he steps next to me and places his arm around my shoulders, guiding me inside. “I want to meet the poor woman that landed up with you,” he quips
“Hey, I’m a pretty decent catch you know,” I mutter as I elbow him on his side jokingly.
“Yeah, like a worm,” Brandr teases as he walks past, I notice that the women aren’t in the bar area any longer which has my stomach knotting with nerves. I have heard all about how strong willed they can be, but I have also heard about how much they have helped the MC when it was time to bring down the Keres. I know that with time Anastasia will want to be with me, that she will understand, but the question is how long will it take her? After being with her, all I want to do is take her again, and again. When I was introducing her to the others, it was so good to see how well she joked with them even though I felt like taking her away from everyone and keeping her only to myself. I knew that doing that was important not only to her and our bond but to the brothers too.