“Rough night?” Caine asked, running cool eyes over Seath’s appearance. It in fact had been more than just one rough night, and the vampire knew it.
The vamp really was impudent, and even more so when it came to Lycan.
Seath grunted a reply, barely audible but Luke still shot daggers at him.
“Are you still upset with me?” Seath asked, despite being able to smell the tinge of it off of his best friend.
“I just wish you would havetoldme, your fated mate! This isn’t just a big deal for the pack, it’s a big deal foryou, Seath.”
“He’s not my mate!” Seath roared the words, bouncing and reverberating off the sound wards due to how strong they were. A Pack Alpha asserting his dominance was something to behold, a powerful, earth-shaking thing. He wasn’t that, not yet. But the promise of it was there.
Seath slumped back into his chair, suddenly exhausted from the long nights and exhausted from the endless attempts to understand it in his mind. It was one thing when he questioned his attraction to an attractive omega. Another when he was confronted with something so life-altering as the idea that his fated mate might not be Prince Donovan. He could sense the confusion and worry from both Luke and Caine. He was glad it was just them in the room.
“I can’t deny it,” Seath said weakly, his head in his hands. “He’s my mate. I can scent him, just barely, but my wolf knows. And as he heals, it will only get stronger.”
“You took the oath for a fated mate when we were just kids, and you always believed, Seath.” Luke smiled kindly. They had each taken the oath to be pledged to their fated mates on the same day. Luke out of what would become a professional curiosity, Seath had always thought, not because his friend truly believed. Or maybe Luke had believed once and then that changed as he aged.
“The oath to my fated mate. Who was later predicted to be Prince Donovan. What kind of Pack Alpha will I be if I can’t even hold the most basic of oaths? One created out of magic at that. And let’s not mention that Lycan doesn’t feel it, does he?” Seath said bitterly. “He has said nothing. Acted in no way to give any indication he feels the same. You ever hear of that? The possibility that he’s my fated mate but I’m not his? The possibility that the fates were wrong when I was younger? Or, they read that Prince Donovan was fated to me, but they didn’t read that I was the same to him?”
“Oh, Alpha,” Luke said, placing a hand on Seath’s shoulder, as it still heaved with his heavy breath.
There was a long pause while the complex bouquet of emotions receded from Seath’s scent, and his breathing under control.
Caine spoke first. “Your promise to Prince Donovan is an old one. And one the royal family does not appear keen to follow through with any time soon. Taured has given nothing but excuses lately regarding your betrothal. You need to talk to Greene.”
Luke nodded.
“Seath, please listen to me. As your best friend and as the physician for this pack. There are so many things we still don’t know about fated mates magic. Maybe it’s as you say or maybe the Taurens had an astrologer that read it wrong. ItwasPrince Donovan’s uncle who hired the astrologer. Many Taurens were moving away from belief in fated mates. It’s not hard to suppose that perhaps there was incentive to lean into a reading of a fated mate for the prince. The prince does come from a conservative family that would place a premium on those traditions.”
Caine flashed a sharp smile. “Donovan’s country of Taured is divided deeply between the conservative establishment and the progressive movement. A Prince and a Pack Legate, especially of this Pack, has a political context you can’t ignore. Successful, wealthy, prominent. Motivations for any astrologer to make a convenient prediction.”
Seath’s eyebrows rose. “That’s quite the leap of logic.”
“I trust fated mates magic over the prediction of some astrologer, Seath.” Caine replied with an icy tinge.
“I took oaths,” Seath hissed. “Celestially bound, remember? I shouldn’t feel this way about any omega. I shouldn’t be able to.” He took a deep breath, trying to figure out his mind and his body. The parts that spoke to him from his human side and his wolf.
“I know Prince Donovan has no right to loyalty from me right now. As you say, our pledge was an old one that has largely been ignored by Taured in recent years. But,” Seath drew out a ragged breath. “I took another oath. One I believed in. And to be the person I want to be, the Alpha this pack should want me to be, I have to keep that oath. Not to mention the fact that Lycan himself doesn’t acknowledge the bond. It might be different—“ Seath wasn’t sure how, exactly, but there it was, “if Lycan also felt or sensed a bond. But, otherwise, it’s just my hormones gone rogue.”
Luke scoffed. “Come on, Seath. Alphas are not burdened to be some animals subject to base desires and brain chemicals any more than omegas are horny creatures who will present to anyone when in heat. There is a hell of a lot we don’t know about heats and knotting. A lot we don’t know about fated mates. A lot we don’t know about Lycan. Maybe he has never heard of fated mates in his former packs? Maybe he confuses how your scent makes him heal his wolf with the scent mates have for one another —”
“Maybe he has no context for it,” Caine said. The icy tone was sharp, demanding their attention and not minding interrupting. “You are both assuming that as an omega, before he was taken, Little Wolf knew all about our world. I am not so sure.”
“What are you saying, Caine?” Seath asked, on the cusp of understanding his friend, but not quite with him.
“We know a few things, don’t we? We know that Lycan has memories of before he was taken, but those memories seem dim to him and we know that’s not magic at work.” Caine paused, making sure Seath had set his grief aside long enough to listen.
“But,” Caine continued, “I spoke to Trav and Van. They shared omega-play during his heat.” Seath was startled and . . .aroused, but not angry. His wolf liked the idea of Lycan being taken care of; his needs would always be foremost.
Alphas didn’t know much about omega-play, but the thought of his omega twisted in the bodies of other omegas did something to him. He felt Caine’s smirk and Luke’s amusement. “He seemed surprised by the idea of the knotting dil—” Caine cut off when Seath snarled.
Caine raised a cool imperial eyebrow when Seath was done. “So, omega-play gets you riled up but the thought of a silicone knot—”
“It’s different and you know it,” Seath said, the snarl still in his voice. “Go ahead, it’s just talking about mymatethis way . . .I . . .” He took a deep breath, realizing what he had said. “My wolf wants me to be the one to ease his heats. He’s convinced,” Seath shook his head, “that’s being too gentlemanly about it. My wolf wants him to know no other knot but mine.”
“Understandable, Alpha. Assuming he is your true fated mate, magic too, and I’m sure Luke would agree. I just need you to walk through this logic with me, Seath.” Caine said, glancing at Luke who seemed to be tracking the logic quite well.
“It would make sense that he hadn’t been in heat when kidnapped,” Luke mused. “His body might do it for safety, or with the amount of mind magic and Wolfsbane, his wolf would be too far away to trigger a heat or his body too stressed. That’s not uncommon in even less stressful situations.”
