Donovan nodded. “A necklace with a pendant of Saint Solestecia. The patron saint of omegas in the dominant, conservative religion of Taured. I treasured it. I wore it in protest of the jewels and trappings of a prince. It was proof of my desire not to follow the path I was forced upon.” Donovan gave a little laugh, “Proof of an adolescent temper-tantrum, more like. What you must think of me.”
Seath was about to speak, but it was Caine who did.
“I think you were bewitched.”
Donovan shook his head, “Trust me, the ideas were my own. Let’s get into the second act before you are so sure of my virtue.”
Caine nodded for him to continue.
“This dark seed grew. Each day almost. It consumed my thoughts, weighed me down where it was all I could think about.” Donovan took a steadying breath.
“Lisette told me that my shifter mate would not want me if I was already shifted. That it would help to break the bond because my mate would want to be the one to turn me. According to her, that added to the control my Alpha could have over me. She even suggested it could break the fated bonds themselves if someone else did it. She said fated mates was more a magical disease, one that could be cured by shifter healing.”
Seath clutched at Donovan’s hand, shaking his head. “It would not have mattered. Human. Shifter. This realm. The next. I would find you.”
“I know that now, mate.” His smaller fingers laced through Seath’s, anchoring him to the Earth. “And I am glad of the shift. I am glad to know my wolf.” Donovan paused. “So, that was the plan. I would take the bite. Someone Lisette knew would give me the bite, and Lisette would take care of me in hiding during the time it took for the bite to take hold and to recover from the change. Once done, I could shift and flee the city with people she knew. I would be free of the bond, free of the obligation I didn’t want. I could easily evade guards or others who wouldn’t know what I looked like in my shifted form. I could go live elsewhere as a wealthy young man as we had been secreting away money for months. No one from Taured would be looking for a shifter. It was the perfect cover.”
“What actually happened?” Caine prompted.
“The recovery from the bite was long and painful. I was left alone. No Lisette, no one else. When I awoke, the money was long gone. I never remember meeting my wolf after the bite, because when I came to after, I was with a caravan of people. I was chained in silver, drugged, unable to move. The life Lisette had promised me became a different one. One of constant moving. I belonged to the people. Lisette had taken what money I had put aside for leaving Taured and had also been paid handsomely for me. And Lisette was right. No one was looking for a shifter prince. In the laws of the countries where we traveled, shifters were property. I was spellbound from the moment I can remember knowing what was going on around me. That made me an easy prisoner.
“Soon after I awoke I realized there was something wrong with my memories, with my mind and with my wolf. Now, I can remember thinking the problem with the wolf was because of the silver and the drugs.”
Caine leaned forward, a strange look in his eyes, as if he would like to find those responsible and tear them limb from limb. Seath himself was pacing, his wolf close to the surface. He had detangled himself from Donovan so he could shake out the pent-up energy he had.
“Do you remember the magic? When they spellbound you?” Caine’s focus was intense on Donovan and Seath had the distinct impression that Caine’s determination and focus on finding out who Donovan truly was would soon be transformed to tracking down this Lisette. Seath felt a chill at that. There was a good chance that whomever Lisette was, was also connected with the very dangerous Unseelie Prince, Morgan.
“Vaguely. That’s all still very shadowy. But it started from the beginning, in bursts. When I recovered from the bite, my memories of myself were already gone. I had no idea who I was other than a shifter in a caravan of nomads that were traveling through the continent.”
Seath growled low, needing some outlet for the instincts that told him to burn the world to the ground for Donovan. To find who did this and extract the most severe and painful punishment he could. He didn’t want the Council’s form of justice here. No, he wanted something dirtier. Something more painful than justice. Something he did with his own hands.
Luke had been quiet, but he spoke now. “Normal recovery from a bite to turn a human is not long, but it can be painful. To have that drawn out over time I imagine was excruciating, and to not be able to see your wolf after.”
Donovan nodded, rubbing his chest as he did when he thought of his wolf.
“It’s fine now, though, Luke. We are good.”
Luke nodded. “All the same, I would recommend that you spend some time in your wolf form — every day—keep the bond vibrant. Spend time shifted with your mate, too.”
Seath stopped pacing long enough to pull Donovan close, his thumb rubbing absently over the mating mark on the Prince’s neck. “No worries there Luke; we will.”
“Things are about to get crazy around here,” Luke reminded them. “The Alpha ceremony will happen in a week, and I think the first guests are to arrive in days. Make time for yourselves. You will be Pack Alpha and Alpha-Mate in a matter of days.”
Chapter twenty-nine
Alpha-Mate
Pack-Alphamagicwasasancient as hearth magic. And, as such, was full of ceremony, tradition, and meaning, but was not the long, time-consuming rite the modern world seemed to like.
But it was a novelty to the world. One that had captured a slice of the world’s attention, and attention beyond the realms.
Good for the Pack to put their best foot forward and have the ceremony in a glen that echoed the ocean, but was lush with the forest.
It was not every day that a perfectly capable, young Alpha such as Greene turned over power to another. In fact, in some countries that sat on the Council it was seen as both an honor and a curse. An honor because of the high status and influence in decisions on a global scale. A curse because things at home could suffer at times with a leader stretched too thin.
Rare was a Councilor also the leader at home. Rare and short-lived. Rare also were the ones like Greene, who could see his pack flourish under a different Alpha and know it was for the best.
He was rare that way, a large bear shifter with a heart of gold. He had been a mentor and a big-brother figure to Seath. And Seath would have been fine, content even, to remain the on-the-ground second in command to him as Greene served the Council.
