Just in case.
“I want to seek your permission to court Chelsea.”
That time, Duncan did snort out loud.
Except Endquist wasn’t laughing. “Oh, wait. You’re serious?”
“Yes, sir. I think that I could be?—”
“No. Absolutely not.”
Endquist scowled. “Is it the age difference? Because I?—”
“She’s already a claimed mate, son. She’s spoken for as of nine months ago.”
The man’s mouth gaped momentarily, obviously caught unprepared by this news. “By who?”
“None of your business, but she has a reciprocal mating bond with him.”
He stared at Duncan. “I?—”
“Is that all?”
He hesitated. “Why didn’t you announce it?”
Duncan knew Chelsea had limited contact with Endquist, so it was understandable that the man hadn’t put together her and Charlie’s bond. He knew several others already suspected, but the unwritten rule of not talking about it until the couple themselves—or the Pack Alpha—announced it had been respected.
“Because it’s no one’s business but theirs. I don’t make a habit of announcing matings to the pack unless the couple wants to go public with it. It’ll be announced to everyone once they’ve set a wedding date, or they are ready to publicize it.” Endquist was starting to annoy him. “I know you don’t feel a mating bond for her because she’s claimed, and has been. And had you felt one, you would have approached me long before now.” Duncan leaned forward. “Will this be a problem?”
“It’s just that?—”
Duncan stood, hands on his hips. Not only to be intimidating, but because his other revolver was openly worn on his hip, immediately below his right hand. “She is off-limits. I know you didn’t grow up with other wolves, but mates are sacrosanct. There will be no negotiation. We didn’t bring all of the old ways over with us, but claimed mates being off-limits is one that we did. In case you weren’t aware, messing with someone else’s mate is an instant death sentence. And they have a mate bond, so it’s not like she’ll want you even if she wasn’t claimed. And it’s not only because she’s my daughter—I’d be saying this same thing were she someone else’s daughter. So either you gracefully accept it, or I can banish you from this pack right now. Your choice.”
Endquist, now scowling, took a step back. “No, sir,” he muttered. “It’s not a problem.”
Duncan sharply nodded. “Good. Then dismissed.”
He waited until he heard the front office door close behind Endquist before he stepped out into the lobby to speak with the receptionist. “Find Badger immediately. Ask him to locate Charlie Bleacke and my daughter, Chelsea, and bring them here right now. Even if they have to pull her out of school.”
“Yes, sir.”
Duncan returned to his office and sat, debating whether he shouldn’t just go ahead and banish the guy anyway.
Except…
He didn’t grow up in a pack.
Duncan didn’t want to immediately default to banishing the guy for what could be a simple misunderstanding. Humans didn’t understand pack hierarchy, and that was a thought Duncan kept returning to. That a wolf raised among humans, even knowing they were a wolf, wouldn’t necessarily understand that once someone was claimed, that was it.
Sure, there were rogues, but they’d mostly died off or were killed over the years. As a matter of practicality, rogues tended to steer clear of strong packs that absolutely enforced that tenet.
Twenty minutes later, the three of them were in Duncan’s office with the door closed. Charlie and Chelsea held hands and Duncan allowed that, because the two of them had stuck to the agreement.
So far.
He wasted no time and told them about Endquist. Charlie’s face darkened. “He comes anywhere near her and I’ll kill him.”
“Easy, lad,” Badger said. “He’s an odd duck, but I never seen him deliberately set out to do wrong.”
