I understood my best friend's confusion. She had no idea. By this time next year, I’d be in the human world, working toward my degree — not changing diapers and raising pups like her and the rest of the Wölfennites.
Wolf mating was compulsory in St. Ailbe. Once our pack leader found what he decreed to be a match, she-wolves were ambushed on full moon nights and thrown into cages with the male wolf of his choosing. It didn't matter if she hadn't known him long or even if they'd met.
My oldest sister had been wolf-mated and carried off to her new mate's village the next day. Tara had fought it, though, and that incident — along with my prickly personality — had bought me more time than most St. Ailbe she-wolves got. Our former pack leader, Abel Flosswulf, hadn't wanted to risk another disastrous failed wolf-mating. So, I'd been left mostly to my own devices (literally and figuratively) until the age of twenty-three.
But then, he'd handed the pack leader title to his new son-in-law, Daniel. And the asymmetrical "gifts" I'd been born with started causing me new problems.
"I do not wish to fill your head with pride," Daniel told me before church, shortly after officially taking over as our pack and faith leader. "But I have already fielded a couple of inquiries from males wishing to honor you with a mating match."
I'd long suspected that the outwardly devout Wölfennite males were inwardly idiots who didn't truly think about spiritual compatibility when presented with a pretty face. And Daniel's wordsconfirmed it.
I probably shouldn't have answered with the truth. That I'd rather die in a fire than become any St. Ailbe wolf's submissive farm wife.
No lies were told, but Daniel had probably assumed I'd be grateful to be chosen just because our pack had way more she-wolves than males of mating age.
"Perhaps you should come to my office," Daniel answered with a tight smile. "So that we can have a talk about your attitude."
When I caught him glowering at me several times during his main sermon, which just so happened to revolve around Necessary Gratitude that day, a bad feeling turned my stomach. I suspected the secret life I'd been living for years would soon come to an end if I didn't do something.
I'd been scheming and plotting ever since that day, and now, I was super close to escaping the fate waiting for me back in St. Ailbe. So the exchange wasn’t just about survival for me — it was the final step toward leaving behind everything St. Ailbe stood for, and I was closer than ever to being free.”
"The exchange has barely started!" Sadie's voice brought me back to the present day. "If you just open your mind a little, maybe we could find suitable mates. Then, we could stay here in Scotland and raise our wolf pups.Together."
Sadie clasped my hands in hers. "We could truly be best friends forever. Wouldn’t that be lovely?”
My heart constricted with guilt. Sadie had no idea about the plans I’d been making for my life after I made sure she was settled down with someone who made her happy. Plans that couldn’t include her.
“What’s that face?” Sadie’s expression tightened with suspicion. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Darnit!Sadie always had been able to read me like the banned books I’d been gobbling up for years behind my parents’ backs.
Luckily, Milly and Iain, the Scottish Prince, chose that moment to come over to me with their precious baby, Princess Elspeth “Ellie” Scotswolf — and lots and lots of instructions for what they called awind-down routine.
Which I followed to the letter.
Less than an hour later, I put Ellie down to sleep in her parents' bedroom with a tender feeling in my chest.
I was supposed to dart out of the room as soon as I placed her in the metal crib that apparently every member of the Scottish royal family had slept in since the Victorian age. But I couldn't help lingering for a few moments longer to stare at her adorable little face.
So, this was what a baby conceived during a heat mating looked like. My middle sister Tara and I were the result of heats after our parents were wolf mated to make our oldest sister, Leora. But there hadn't been a heat mating in over a decade in St. Ailbe.
Every baby I knew of in St. Ailbe had been born from wolf matings. But me, personally? I had no interest in having some rando Wölfennite dude forced on me during a full moon when we were both in wolf form. And I really couldn’t even begin to imagine conceiving a baby in human form through heat sex.Ick.
That was how this one had been created, though. And I couldn’t be disgusted at all with the result of the heat sex her parents had to get her. She was gorgeous with big, round, kissable cheeks and a cloud of ink-black curls.
My plans to pursue a graduate degree in the human world didn’t include a family. But looking at Ellie made my ovaries twitch — and my wolf whine inside me for the pups I’d never have. Holding Ellie, I couldn’t deny that small, primal ache. Still, that was a life for someone else — not for me.
Ah well, maybe next lifetime,I mused as I planted a kiss on Ellie's smooth forehead. Then, I made my way back to the front room of the suite designated for royal family members.
I had never seen a hotel room outside of the internet, or even an apartment, for that matter. But this suite struck me as what one of those living spaces must look like in real life.
The front room boasted a small kitchen and a spacious living area, complete with a television. I knew I could only use it for a few hours before carefully returning the remote to its original spot, ensuring Milly and Iain wouldn't suspect I’d only been pretending to be a halfway decent Wölfennite for years.
Yet another secret to throw on the pile I’d been building behind the scenes for years. No one knew who I really was. Not Sadie, not my sisters, and especially not my parents.
But, oh well, what could you do?
Grab a spoon and one of those yummy premade yogurts, I guess.
