“You can handle the Fae at this coven, Seath. I don’t have to be there. In fact, best if I am not, as they are not pleased with the Council right now.”
“I don’t suppose you have any insights as to the source of their displeasure?”
Greene leaned his large frame back in the chair.
“I do not. They are prickly with trading partners more than those they have other relationships with. For what reason or what end, your guess is as good as mine. Some say they are re-negotiating contracts simply to get inside the borders of some countries. I have heard many say the renegotiation felt more as an afterthought. Maybe they are looking for something—that’s a theory. Some say they are using the contract negotiations as a foot in the door of different realms to poke around. What I can tell you is they are going to the holders of the contracts. No one is being summoned to the Seelie or Unseelie realm.”
“A sacred object?”
Greene shrugged his broad shoulders. “Could be, that’s one theory anyway.”
“Do you think it is safe to allow them at the coven? I’ve never had a reason to fear the Fae, but it’s my mate we are talking about at the mercy of the coven circle. While I appreciate their magic being contributed to the group, I still wonder about their motivations.”
“Who are they sending?”
Seath rattled off the names.
“They are curious about your Little Wolf. I don’t sense any harm from them. But whatever brings them will be more to their own agenda, not for Lycan.”
“Do you think they might know something about who Lycan is? His family?” Seath couldn’t keep the hope out of his voice.
“If they do, remember the Fae give nothing without a bargain, Seath. Make sure it is one you can live with.”
Seath nodded. “Any news on someone missing a wolf?”
Greene grimaced. “None.” Greene rubbed his face. “I know this is close to the coven meeting, but we have to finish this business with Tremon and Prince Donovan. I don’t want the Fae to think we are hiding anything, and in a way, we are.”
Seath sighed, ice settling in his stomach. Tremon wasn’t the type to let something go, especially a betrothal. But Tremon was Prince Donovan’s uncle and had been the one with whom the negotiations between the mates had been handled after the death of the Prince’s parents. He was the one Greene had been reaching out to about the current situation, and he had been long to reply.
“You were fated to the Prince according to their astrologer, Seath. You know how those Taurens are. They worry about how it all looks, what kind of insult is being leveled at them for you to back out of the marriage arrangement.”
“Few even believe in fated mates, Alpha. Some would even say they don’t support them because it takes away free will. This Prince has not bothered to come and meet me or know me, and our foretelling was an old one. I was what, sixteen when that prediction was made? It seems in poor taste to throw a fit now. I would assume getting out of the betrothal is exactly what Prince Donovan may want. My understanding is that some Taurens saw his marriage to a shifter as shameful and that he never believed in the fating at all.”
Greene raised an eyebrow, impressed with Seath’s knowledge. He also noted that Seath had been fine to wait for Donovan before Lycan showed up. Greene had wondered about that, why the Legate hadn’t been more interested in bringing his fated to him as fast as possible.
And now, Seath was bending over backwards to know the details of his situation. A complete about-turn. Perhaps he did leave a bit of the research to Jamie and now Lycan as well, but on the matter of his mate, he trusted no one but himself to find the truth and set things right.
“Perhaps,” Greene took a drink of his wine, “but what Tremon wants is what will drive this meeting. I’m sure the Prince is an admirable man, but Tremon is leading Taured now that his sister and the King are dead. He wants to come to Lupine or the Pack House for the meeting, and that means he can control the narrative back home however he likes.”
Seath rubbed his head. Lycan was his, and that was what mattered. But he wanted it all. He wanted Lycan to be known as the Alpha-Mate in name, not just in instinct. And no, he didn’t want to hurt the unknown prince he had spent years praying to the Goddess for and worrying about.
“Let’s get through the coven, and then we can focus on that.”
“They want it sooner rather than later.” Greene reached for some papers on his table, and his tablet. “In a month. Tremon is keen to resolve the broken promise.”
Seath sighed. A coven with Elves and the Fae and then the matter of Tremon.
At least no one in the Pack could argue boredom.
Chapter twenty-two
The Samhain Coven
Thereweremorepeoplein the room this time, but the stone was just as cold and pulsed just the same.
Lycan tried not to shiver as he lay on the stone, the full moon casting its light on him from the opening in the rock above.
Seath’s strong hand was on his shoulder, and he drew a lazy thumb over the mating mark, calming Lycan instantly.
