Seath settled his inner wolf, snarling at the very idea of discussing its mate this way, and got back into his human mind.
“But you said, Caine,” Seath reminded him, “that he had dim memories from before . . .”
“There are two omegas that wouldn’t know their fated mates by scent,” Caine said. “A human omega, and a turned shifter omega who hadn’t settled into their wolf.”
“We have assumed this whole time Lycan was a shifter his whole life, but . . .” Luke began.
“It would explain many things, Seath. One, the fact he doesn’t react as an original shifter fated mate would to your scent. You respond to him that way. All the Alphas in this house have responded to him as they would to Pack Alpha’s mate in heat—offering protection, not mating. Hell, the house itself recognizes him as Alpha-Mate, just as you do. Just as the omegas do. Two, his body’s needs and how it changed. He didn’t crave knotting during heat when he was human, if he had one, but now, his need has changed. Clearly, he was surprised by the existence of the knot, which he wouldn’t have encountered as a human. Everyone knows a knot won’t form for a human. We even discussed this when you and Prince Donovan were betrothed. There’s a chance with fated mates, they say, but evidence of human fated mates is rare. Evidence of humans causing a shifter to knot is anecdotal at best.”
Seath caught his breath, remembering the knot that formed just thinking about Lycan. He shifted, feeling flushed as the vivid memory replayed in his brain.
“Something to share?” Caine asked, reading his face.
Seath cleared his throat. “I knotted, or well, I formed a knot. Not during intercourse, I didn’t seek out a partner, but when . . .when I could scent him. Lycan.”
Luke ignored the blush across Seath’s face. “I’m sorry, did you say you formed a knot with no omega even present?”
“Yeah.”
Caine laughed. “After all the concern about never knotting your mate when you thought your mate was a human. Now, here you are, with a wolf for a mate and knotting the wind! Or your fist. Either way, how can you doubt he’s your mate now? Clearly not Prince Donovan, despite what the astrologer predicted.”
“How long have you suspected Lycan’s turned nature? He could be gifted. It also means there are even more places to look for his family.” Seath asked, his hope and curiosity both filling the room, and drowning out his embarrassment from earlier. “I never even considered it.”
Caine shrugged. “Turned shifters aren’t the only ones who had a human existence before they were turned, vampires did too,” he replied with a faint smile. “Human memories are dim and hazy, different, even if you didn’t suffer severe trauma afterward. His sound similar.”
“But, what about his knowledge? The things you have learned from him?” Luke asked. “Surely that wouldn’t have been picked up when he was a captive.”
“When I have taken him places, searching for what is familiar, I did it with the idea in my head he could have been human once. The body knows what’s familiar, without memory. Take for instance, the feel of marble, one of the first things he keyed to as being familiar. He doesn’t need to remember the smell or scent of it, but his body would know if the cool of the stone was comforting, or foreign.”
“Exactly what else have you been observing, Caine?” Seath asked.
“His manners are better than yours, Seath—things someone of nobility or high rank or a rich family would have been taught, like the correct address for a vampire, or something the body would remember. The way he holds a piece of cutlery, for another example. The way he speaks, his ability to write well, the familiarity he has with hierarchy and giving of orders. I would imagine that someone who had gone through what he had and was from a common family would react much differently to the idea of being in charge of people. Perhaps there is more that can be arranged and observed.”
“Jesus,” Luke said, running a hand over his jaw, “you have been busy with your little science experiment. But, you are right. There are plenty of kingdoms, nobility, that interact with the shifter world, with regularity, or even integrate like our pack has.”
“And plenty who would travel frequently, or have a tutor, causing a young child to pick up a very imprecise accent.” Caine added, still miffed at his inability to determine the root of Lycan’s pronunciation of certain words.
Seath was pacing now. “And all the more reason to take him. Not just his beauty, but his power, or to hurt a noble family, perhaps a rich one if not nobility—which is difficult if you aren’t talking war or a trade embargo. Then, you make him a shifter,” Seath’s head shook. “Maybe, so the family wouldn’t take him back? Is it possible that becoming a wolf wasn’t his idea, either?”
“Lycan remembers very little about being a wolf, he’s running on instinct more than anything,” Luke said. “If he was changed and then held, it would make sense about how much he has learned without all of the spells being unwoven, yet. He may have never even shifted, given the spellbinding and the Wolfsbane. Not unless he had shifted before all that, but if he was turned by his captors, I doubt they ever let him shift. Too much healing would occur.”
Caine came up to Seath, who was staring out the glass wall, a storm was over the beach and Seath’s tears were as large as raindrops running down the glass pane.
“Is there anything thathasn’tbeen taken from him?” Seath asked, full of pain for his mate. Lycan had truly lost everything. That man in the forest was ready to die, and now Seath had some context as to why. If what Caine suspected was true, Lycan was given very little choice on some major matters in his life.
“You,” Caine said simply. “He’s your fated mate, Seath. I do believe that, for whatever reason or how impossible, I think it is true. And if so, he deserves it. Perhaps no one more. He’s for you just as much as you are for him. He can’t smell it or sense it as much as you can. At least not yet. You are the one who can restore his wolf. You are the one who triggered his heat, don’t try to argue that you weren’t. Your pack recognizes it just like you do. Like the house does. Threshold magic may not seem impressive, but it is ancient and wise.”
“I won’t force this on him,” Seath vowed. “He gets to come to the knowledge of his fated mate the same as I did. I won’t have him being told of another choice he doesn’t get in this life. You say he deserves this fate, but there are those who would see it as another choice taken from him. I won’t have it. He comes to this willingly or not at all.”
“Your wolf will fight that,” Luke warned. “You will.”
“On my Raising Day, I took an oath to the Pack—to do what was in their best interest, and having an Alpha-Mate that comes willingly to the role is what is best. My wolf will understand.” Seath looked to his two best friends. “I’m not saying it will be easy. I know it won’t, and I will need your help in this. There is the political fall-out as well if I were to now break the bond with Prince Donovan. I can’t do it without both of you there.”
“Always,” Luke agreed.
“You know I will,” Caine said. “For Little Wolf and for you. For the Pack.”
Seath paced and took a long drink of the coffee he had only sipped earlier.
