Coming of Age

Author's note:

All characters and companies mentioned in this story have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone or anything bearing the same name or names. Events portrayed in this story are pure invention and have not been based on any events that have happen in real life. All the characters involved in any sexual acts if their ages are not mentioned beforehand; are over 18 years of age. Enjoy.

Hi everyone;

Here is the last chapter of the Coming of Age. I hope you all enjoy it, the next story in the series is Winds of Change. Just a heads up though, there may be a delay getting the first chapter of the new story up because I am moving, I will keep you up to date with my bio page.

As normal thanks goes to my editor and you the reader, all feedback is welcome.

Have fun.

Chapter 9

Wolfgang spotted Rayven before she walked into the dining room that morning, catching her eye he gestured her over. Rayven swallowed visibly and moved towards him. When he knew she was following he started to walk to the grand library. Rayven followed him in and was pleased to note that there were two covered trays waiting on the table for them and a pot of coffee.

Wolfgang sat and gestured for her to take the seat across from him. "Temperance said you have an addiction to coffee." He stated as he poured out two mugs.

"Yes," Rayven answered as she reached for the mug Wolfgang offered.

"It seems everyone is addicted in this house, at least it's not an evil addiction." He said with a grin trying to get her to relax. It didn't work which caused him to sigh. "Look... Rayven... whatever you've heard about me... is probably true." He took a deep breath, "however, once I decide someone is a friend, I don't get swayed."

Rayven watched him for a moment, looking directly at him but she kept her face devoid of expression, on the inside however she was a bundle of nerves. She took a sip of her coffee and frowned as she tried to place the flavour.

"Is there a problem with the coffee?" Wolfgang asked.

Rayven shook her head. "No... but what is the added flavour?"

"That would be cinnamon," Wolfgang answered, "It's my favourite." He added as he lifted a cover to see what was for breakfast, it was a selection of left overs that had his mouth watering. "Rayven, I'm not going to bite you, I would just like to get to know you. More than likely you will be staying at the central den and I make it a point to know everyone who calls this home." He explained.

Still Rayven said nothing, she wasn't doing it on purpose; it was just how she was trained.

Wolfgang rolled his eyes, "this is starting to grate on my nerves, Rayven, we, as in me and Amy are not out to destroy you, we named you as pack yesterday, we won't kick you out unless you seriously break the rules."

"What would you like to know?" Rayven asked as she picked at her tray of food, more than anything she wanted to answer his questions and be open to him but old habits, training that had been drilled into her, were hard to overcome.

"Whatever you feel comfortable enough to tell me." He explained just as Amy walked in with her own tray.

"Don't mind me," Amy said as she sat next to Wolfgang and started to tuck in.

Destiny was the next to walk in with her own tray of food, "so have you managed to get her to really talk yet?"

"Only about coffee," Wolfgang said slightly amused.

Destiny chuckled as she sat next to Rayven, "thought as much, Rayven was trained never to speak in front of her leader unless it was to confirm an order or answer a direct question. I couldn't get her to speak for months when she first came into work for me. It took an explanation from the envoy who replaced her that I finally understood. Give her rules and she'll obey."

"Just like that?" Wolfgang asked.

"Yes but once you make the rules you can't change them. Rayven has been a trained weapon almost her entire life." Destiny explained and Rayven was relieved that Destiny was here to explain to them.

"She talks to Crystal," Amy stated.

"Yeah but Crystal takes her orders from you two, you are the leaders and she is one of your officers." Destiny explained. "She talks to Serenity for the same reason."

"What rules did you give her?" Wolfgang asked curious.

"I only gave her one, Speak freely, I want your opinion, don't be afraid to give it." Destiny explained simply.

Wolfgang nodded. "Well there are several house rules you have to be aware of as well. We have a no fighting policy in the main house, take your fights outside or to the gym. The libraries are open to everyone, return books and they can't leave the house." He paused, "that's it for house rules, you don't need the others as they apply only to cubs."

"The rule about speaking that Destiny gave you applies from now until you die and no one can change it." Amy said firmly.

Rayven blinked in shock, Amy had just wiped away Tamor's conditioning with that one rule, she would be able to speak freely in front of her Alphas. "Thank you."

Amy shrugged, "now you just need to learn when to speak and when to keep silent."

"No... I've learnt that skill. I had to learn that with Destiny, when to speak and when to wait until we are more private before voicing my mind." Destiny explained as she ate something.

"We shall see how well you have absorbed that lesson later, tell us about you." Wolfgang prompted.

****

Crystal rested her head on Serenity's shoulder, her injured arm was between them, her eyes were closed. They were in the gym which had been transformed into a battle arena for the day. The group photo had been taken shortly after breakfast and had been a chore to organise all those people for only a minute so that the photos could be taken. It was slowly filling as people got ready for a day of physical fun. "Gee you really did a number on her." Nicky said as her eyes skimmed over Crystal. She checked her watch, 11 o'clock. "Hey Vampire did you forget something." She said to goad Crystal.

Crystal opened her eyes and glared at Nicky as the last of people in the den moved into the room. "I forget nothing Nicky and I warn you, once I kick your arse if I hear you call me vampire again I will dismember you and scatter your pieces."

"You wouldn't!" Nicky exclaimed, dismemberment wouldn't kill her, but it would leave her very uncomfortable until someone put her back together again or she pulled herself back together again.

"Call me Vampire again after I kick your arse and you'll find out."

Nicky watched her but there was something in Crystal's manner which screamed the truth at her, she wasn't lying. "Well are we going to fight or what?" She demanded of Crystal.

Crystal nodded and stood, even though her arm wasn't healed enough for movement she didn't need two arms to beat Nicky. Vivian stood between the two women, "Immortal combat, no blood rules." She turned and left the ring.

Nicky and Crystal bowed then they were off, Nicky never stood a chance as she simply could not counter Crystal's speed. Nicky went flying only moments after her bow was over. She didn't get a chance to get up before Crystal had the claws from her uninjured arm and hand digging into Nicky's throat, Crystal's knees pinned her arms down keeping Nicky pinned to the floor.

"Yield," Nicky said as she felt her blood roll down her neck.

Crystal's nails retracted, "remember my warning." She warned before she stood.

"I will... you know you could have at least pretended I stood a chance." Nicky said and held out her right arm to get a hand up.

Crystal moved her injured arm forgetting for a moment that it was hurt. She gasped and hugged her arm to her side.

"Are you alright?" Nicky asked as she stood and went to help Crystal, the wounds on her neck were already healed.

"Fine... Serenity's teeth do damage when they bite." Crystal explained.

"Oh great, not only do you beat me but you literally do it with one hand." Nicky complained which caused some people to laugh.

Destiny walked down with Susan who went to inspect the damage to Crystal's arm. Susan tried to move Crystal's arm but didn't get much movement. "Have you had any blood today?" Susan asked.

"No not thirsty," Crystal answered.

"Serenity's blood will heal you faster but you should always drink if Serenity bites you in hybrid or full sabre form." Susan explained and walked Crystal over to Serenity. "You need to change where you are biting her. I know your instinct is to bite her shoulder but your teeth cause too much damage there, your teeth won't cause as much damage if you aim for the chest." She continued, this time speaking directly to Serenity.

"Susan makes sure my shoulder is at the back of her mouth, which means she always gets my chest." Destiny explained.

"We'll do that from now onwards." Serenity said as she tugged Crystal back to her seat. Susan and Destiny returned to their seats as Ghan and Ash walked into the ring.

Serenity offered her wrist to Crystal but Crystal was interested in a more intimate feeding place. Using the hand attached to her good arm she turned Serenity's head and gently kissed the sweet spot where the blood ran close to the skin in strong bursts. Crystal took a deep breath before she sank her teeth into Serenity's neck.

"Get a room!" Sage called out which was met with chuckles.

Crystal and Serenity each gave her the finger which caused more laughter.

*

Nhor tapped Sky on the shoulder, she glanced away from the fight that was in progress. When Nhor gestured for her to come, she nodded and sighed as she stood, she had been hoping to see Amy and Rayven in action and had been immensely impressed with the skill that she had seen so far. When she got back to the house she might hit one of the triplets or one of the others up for some self-defence classes.

Thais watched her go with a smile, Sky followed Nhor from the gym and back into the main house, in almost no time they were back at his room and she was in the chair.

"So where is this tattoo meant to go?" Sky asked.

"Forearm," Nhor answered as he tilted his arm and showed the hidden pattern of a griffin in amongst the lion and the phoenix. "Eventually we'll hide the griffin in amongst other tattoos. Centaurs will see it and understand you are of my house."

"House?"

Nhor grinned, "This is why we didn't do this last night, most of what I will be telling you isn't in a Guide to Centaur culture, most of the races kept things back from those books. Humans don't need to know everything about us even if they want to."

Sky nodded and leant back, "okay tell me about houses."

Nhor chuckled as he prepared his equipment. "there are a hundred houses or clans going back to the first hundred Centaurs that were created by the gods, fifty female, fifty male. The male children were marked with their father's mark, the females with their mother's."

"To prevent inbreeding," Sky surmised.

Nhor nodded, "However their sire or dam are also represented in the tattoos. My mother was of the Phoenix house my father the Griffin house.

"And the Lion?" Sky asked.

"Was the flight I was born into." He explained as he turned her arm over, the griffin will go on her inner forearm.

"So if generally only your son would gain your house, why am I gaining it and not your mother's?" She asked as he prepared her skin.

"You will become my daughter and since I am mate-less there is only one house you can be brought into." He explained as he used a knife to prick his finger, he let two drops of blood fall into the ink, he mixed it as he sucked his finger.

"If my aunt hadn't died which house would she belong to or would she not have one?"

Nhor took a deep breath, "she would have gained my house, because she wasn't genetically a part of our gene pool."

Sky hesitated, she knew how much it hurt her when she spoke about her aunt so she knew it hurt him as well.

"Go on... you have a question, ask it." He prompted.

"Would you have... could Sara have..." Sky just couldn't spit it out.

"Could Sara have born a centaur child?" Nhor supplied which caused Sky to nod. "Sadly no, her body was not designed to carry a centaur child, we knew we had the option to adopt and foster so it didn't really bother us that we didn't have that potential."

"Oh," Sky said to fill the void, she didn't know how to respond to that.

"There haven't been many matings between male centaurs and human females and of those matings only one conceived a child, both died." Nhor added as started to bring forward the griffin hidden beneath Sky's skin. "So we don't take the chance. Sara was on centaur birth control before she died."

Sky blushed a little which made Nhor chuckle, "she wasn't a nun."

"Don't go further... I don't need to know." She said starting to get uncomfortable.

"Sadly it is a part of your education. We have to go there, you will meet other Centaurs and you need to know this for your own protection." Nhor explained. "They will see that you are a centaur by adoption, and looking human won't protect you."

Sky nodded, "okay... but please... be gentle on me."

"I'll do my best." He answered, "Now... if a male centaur is interested in you..."

"Why would they?" Sky interrupted.

"Because you are my daughter," he explained, "I know it is a stupid reason, it doesn't matter they will still wonder why I have adopted you, wonder if there is something special about you."

"There isn't," Sky answered.

Nhor pulled the gun away from her skin and caught her chin and lifted it. "You are special to me and that is all that matters." He stared into her eyes, willing her to believe him. Sky nodded slightly and he released her chin, he went back to where he stopped and started tattooing again.

"Where were we..." he asked.

"When a male Centaur is interested in me," Sky replied.

"Ah yes, they will not be as cautious as they would be if you were still human. They will be blatant, they will brush up against you, touch you and even get sexually aroused." Nhor said bluntly as there was simply no other way to explain this.

"And how do I combat that." Sky asked a little stunned about his admission.

"Centaur females buck, but you don't have that luxury." Nhor answered.

"Self-defence classes it is then." She replied, "beat them back."

Nhor chuckled, "I was going to suggest it."

"Okay what next," Sky asked almost oblivious to the needle piercing her skin.

"However if you decide that you want a Centaur male you need to be aware of what is expected of him."

Sky took a deep breath, "I can't believe we are having a sex talk."

Nhor chuckled, "I know but it is important," he explained, "He is not allowed to mount you without permission, he isn't allowed to hurt you." He took a deep breath, "he must prepare your body to accept his, he can't just..."

"okay I get it... you don't have to go further." She said just as uncomfortable as he was.

He studied her for a moment, "Sky... I don't want anyone to hurt you, you need to know this, I spent months preparing..."

"Nhor! I get it... I swear." She wanted to move to get away from this conversation but she knew to stay still or ruin the artwork he was creating.

"Just so you know." He replied effectively ending that part of the conversation. "Now... since we are members of a pack not a flight you don't need to be aware so much of Flight laws."

"I thought there wasn't much difference between the laws of Were and the laws of a Flight," Sky replied.

"They aren't but there are small differences in structure..." He began as he went back to work on her tattoo.

**

Gabrielle trotted to catch up with the triplets shortly after lunch, before the next round of fights started later that same day. "Hey you three," she called forward and the group the triplets were amongst paused and turned to her, "Temp, Ren, Thais... I would like to speak with you..."

The three nodded and left the group to join Gabrielle as she walked into their mother's office. Amy was waiting, leant against her desk and her arms were crossed like she wasn't too happy about what was about to happen. Gabrielle closed the door and nodded to Amy who waved her hand, a thin film covered each wall, the ceiling and the floor, sealing it so that no one could get in or hear what was about to happen.

Amy moved from her desk and over to the coffee table, her hands were now in her pockets. Gabrielle joined her and gestured for them to come forward. Temperance, Thais and Serenity walked forward and stood before Amy and Gabrielle. The coffee table had a wrapped bundle on it, Gabrielle opened the bundle and unrolled it, three swords were exposed, they looked almost identical and were quite plain but still were works of art.

"I made these shortly after Mryddin got his act together and asked me out. I knew they were for you but when I showed them to Amy she said that it would be best not to give these to you until you were adults and at the time I agreed." Gabrielle explained. She stood up and gestured to the swords. "Pick one," she encouraged.

Serenity was the first to move and she grabbed the sword closest to Temperance as Thais grabbed the sword before Serenity, Temperance waited for the other two to get out of the way before she reached for her sword which had been before Thais. All three shut their eyes as the name of their swords entered their minds.

"And now you know the reason we decided against giving them to you earlier." Amy stated.

"You have to give them fake names, keep their true names to yourselves, with us it is okay because I believe these three swords, plus your sword, Amy, are bonded by their very nature." Gabrielle explained.

"Because of their true names," Thais stated which caused the other two women to nod.

Amy made Monster appear in her hands and nodded to Serenity who held her sword out, "Past," she said causing the blade to glow a little.

Temperance rested her sword on top of Serenity's, "Present," she stated and almost immediately the blade started to glow.

Thais placed his sword on top of his sisters, "Future," he declared and the sword started to glow.

Amy rested her sword on top of her children's, "Fate," she said firmly and all four blades shone brightly forcing everyone to turn away from the very special blades. When the glowing stopped everyone turned back to the blades, expecting that they had changed only they were as plain as they were before.

Gabrielle handed out sheaths for the blades before she sat, Amy joined her after willing her blade back to its rack. The three siblings sheathed their blades and willed them away before they sat together on a couch.

"How many swords out there are that powerful?" Serenity asked.

"Swords, weapons... there aren't too many, besides your four swords there is Excalibur, Discord and Mayhem, more commonly known as the Chaos blades, the spear of Destiny, Clarent..."

"The cowards blade?" Temperance asked, "That's real? I thought it was a myth."

"Clarent was the original sword in the stone, it was also known as the sword of peace. It gave Arthur his title as king. While Excalibur was given to him by Vivian, the lady of the lake, they are two separate blades each with their own power." Gabrielle explained.

"You named some true names," Thais queried.

Gabrielle nodded, "there is a special vault, back on Sogol where special weapons are kept, the weapons go in but they never come out. Once they are in they also lose their power so using their true name is okay. The spear of Destiny is a prime example, it was broken into pieces, Hitler had the smallest piece and look at the damage he did."

"Please tell me none of the fragments of the spear are still out there," Temperance said a little pale.

"D'Artagnan hunted down each piece and delivered them to me, I put them in the vault." Gabrielle reassured.