“What happened here?” My father’s voice lost its jovial edge, tightening into something darker.
“I would’ve called you,” the Dublin King answered. “I could’ve come to get you if you hadn’t run off for hours on end without any way to reach you.”
“What. Happened?” My father roared, making all of us princes flinch.
“Come, son.” The Dublin King grabbed the City Prince’s arm, making him drop my bow in the dirt. “This is a mess brought on by their nature. We can do nothing to help these savages.”
He dragged his son away, leaving Sea and me standing outside the house with my father.
I’d never forgive the former Dublin King for that. For removing his precious heir and leaving the other two boy princes to deal with the fallout.
Sea and I followed Da into the house but stayed at the bottom of the stairs as we were told. My stomach churned, every sound from upstairs twisting it tighter.
Then came my mother’s voice, sharp and furious, cutting through the stillness. “Are you truly surprised? Surprised I’d go into heat the first time I was shown even a measure of kindness and respect?”
The sounds of a fight followed — thuds, crashes, and muffled grunts. My father’s voice growled with fury, but it was two against one. And the Belfast Priest and the Sea King had their newly aroused protective wolf strength on their side.
It didn’t take them long to overpower my da and tie him up.
Nine hours…
I thought about defying my father's order and going upstairs to intervene.
But Sea grabbed my arm as soon as I headed for the steps and solemnly shook his head.
Nine hours…
Eventually, the three of them came down the stairs, fully dressed. The Belfast Priest, the Sea King, and my mother. Watching her come down the steps with the two of them flanking her sides became an instant core memory. They already looked like the happy trimates I’d seen in our village.
The smell of two males who were not my father on her was so overwhelming I immediately broke down in tears.
“Oh, don’t cry, my boy, don’t cry.” My mother had never been as hard as my father. She stopped in front of me and bent down to gently wipe away my tears. “None of this is your fault,” she said. “But this is my first — my onlychance at happiness. I must go with my true mates to Belfast. And who knows?"
She gave me a sad little smile as tears began to roll down her own face. "Maybe I’ll be able to give you a little sister after all.”
Nine hours…
My mother was leaving us? And defying everything the Wild Wolves held dear to move to a city?
Sea stood by, having a stoic conversation with the father, who also wouldn’t be raising him. But my boyish tears turned into wails, and I clung to her, refusing to let go.
“Oh, none of that,” she insisted, pushing at my arms. “Your father will point at another she-wolf mate, and raise you in his image to become king of the Wild Wolves. You’ll be fine.”
In the end, the Sea Prince came over and physically separated me from my mother, then held me back when I tried to lunge for her again.
“It’s already done, and we’re only boys,” Sea said as I strained against his hold. “There’s nothing we can do.”
She promised me I’d be fine. But in the end, that hadn’t been true.
My mother going into heat had been enough to make the Belfast Priest forsake all his vows, even after Da and Dublin’s father stripped him and Sea’s father of their titles.
That, and establishing the Heat Laws, was the last thing my father ever did. Sea got to see his father one final time, but my mother did not dare to come with her mates to that finalmeeting.
When we got back to the encampment, he sent me ahead to our family hut. The next morning, I woke alone, cold inside. I found him hanging from a tree — his only escape from the love he still held for my mother, his last word in their final argument.
The Cursed King…
“Ye asked why I was so mean to ye. Why I’d go to any lengths to see the prophecy through. Well, that’s why.” The creak of Da's body swayin’ from the tree branch echoed in my head as I returned to the present.
