“Long live Queen Colbie,” a voice calls from somewhere in the crowd. I recognize it as my grandpa’s, and when one of my heads turns to look at the VIP area, my grandparents are the only people not on their knees. As humans, they wouldn’t be subjected to the alpha dominance within me. I lean in and give him a lick on the cheek.
“Get away, you,” he says, laughing and pushing my head away from him as the crowd takes up the chant.
The goddess stands and gestures for me to shift back. I do, and I redress, and once again, Gem helps me with the zipper.
“Now that we have established she and her mates are the right shifters for this position—something I already knew,” the goddess says sarcastically, “she will announce her council.”
ChapterForty-Two
Colbie
When we finally leave the colosseum, I’m exhausted and relieved but relatively pleased with how everything went. The majority of shifters were delighted when I lifted the ban on interspecies matings, announcing that all interspecies relationships and hybrid children were welcome in the kingdom. I don’t expect to have an influx of people moving here, since I’m fairly certain the ones who live in Chaos Kingdom are happy where they are, but it makes visiting family and friends a distinct and safe possibility.
My new council was met with enthusiasm, as was the news of the three vacant spots that will be filled with mer, fairy, and equine representatives respectively.
The goddess then made the proclamation that all humans would be offered the chance to transition to shifters. This was met with a fair amount of skepticism and suspicion, but no one was brave enough to call the goddess out on it. I’m sure they will adjust eventually. Sable and the queens will be taking the names of volunteers who are happy to bite any humans who would like to be a specific shifter type, but screening will be carried out. A human who is a psychopath is not suddenly going to change when they become a shifter and have the possibility to be even more dangerous. According to Sable, who is a doctor as well as the chief archivist, shifters with psychopathic tendencies tend to go feral and need to be put down.
There are a lot of adjustments coming to Aramis, but that is a future Colbie problem.
It is midday by the time the ceremony wraps up and we go back to the palace for a meal with my mates and their families. I’m exhausted and feeling a little shaky as my grandparents surround me for a group hug when I arrive at the dining room.
“We are so fudging proud of you,” Grampy says, squeezing me tightly. Tears well in my eyes as my granny cups one of my cheeks.
“You were magnificent. I only wish your mother had been there to see how amazing you are,” she tells me.
“I’m sure she would have tried something underhanded to steal the spotlight,” Grampy grumbles as we take a seat at the table.
I’m introduced to Brodie’s mother and father, who give me a slight nod of their heads but are not particularly warm. Brodie’s brother is more enthusiastic and gives me a hug and a kiss, congratulating me on my spectacular display of dominance.
As he pulls away, there’s a slight tug in my chest, and I get the urge to put my hand over his sternum. Allowing it to happen, I press my hand down, feeling a lump beneath his shirt, kind of like a pendant hanging from a chain. My hand warms, and I feel magic flow out of me and into him. He flinches and tries to pull away, but the magic holds him in place. He grimaces, and when the magic finally releases him, he reaches in and pulls out what I touched. A pendant, very much like the one Nox used to wear, hangs from a chain, but it is split in half. I instantly recognize it for what it is—a bond blocker.
“What did you do?” Brodie’s father growls, jumping to his feet.
“I… I don’t know,” I mutter, looking to the goddess for help. She smirks at Brodie’s father, but I see the wicked glint in her eyes.
“She righted a wrong. Messing with my will is a surefire way to get on my bad side,” she tells the wolf, who pales and sits back down.
We look at the goddess, hoping she will share what she knows with the rest of us.
“Lift your shirt please,” she asks Briden, and when he does, he stares in surprise at the mark above his heart.
“I have a bond mark,” he says with astonishment.
“Yes. Your parents gave you that pendant when you were younger in the hope they could stop the mark from appearing,” she explains, and Brodie growls.
“You gave him that just after I got my mark,” he snarls at his parents.
“We already lost one son, we weren’t losing another,” his mother snaps, and I whine as Brodie is filled with sorrow. Jesus, what assholes.
“That’s the same as my brother’s mark.” Hunter waves Talon forward. Talon is beaming, and he pulls Briden into a hug and ushers him away from the table so they can talk. Brodie stalks over to his parents and grabs each of them by the arm before forcefully removing them from the room.
“Well, I guess we won’t be celebrating Christmas with them,” I murmur to Nox as he puts an arm around my shoulders to comfort me.
Micah’s father is slightly warmer, and I get a positive response regarding the council position. He promises he will send his nominations as soon as he returns home.
Gretchin and Holly disappeared as soon as they congratulated us. I doubt we will see them anytime soon, but I am happy for them. I don’t really need a bodyguard attached to my hip at the moment with eight attentive, clingy mates to see to my every need.
We eat our meal, and the conversation around the table is lighthearted and joyful, but it kind of feels like it’s the calm before the storm. Nox keeps looking at his phone, and I know he received a message from his parents.
