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“It generally is.”
“Then why the delay? Your mom, or something else?”
“A bit of both, to be honest.”
He grimaced and wolfed down the remains of his sandwich. The man was obviously hungry and, if the gleam in his eyes was anything to go by, not just for food. But as much as I wanted nothing more than to race him upstairs and have my wicked way with him, I couldn’t let sex get in the way of this discussion—something that had happened too many times in the past.
“I’m afraid Mom’s brought a motion before the council that the ancient ruling stating pack alphas cannot have relationships with witches or humans be reintroduced and enforced.”
I raised my eyebrows. “That’s an actual rule?”
He nodded. “It fell out of favor after the last war between witches and wolves was peacefully resolved, but it stems from even more ancient times.”
“Peacefully resolved” was something of a misnomer, because many werewolves still resented witches and the restrictions enforced on them within their own lands.
“Do you think the origins of that ruling came from a time when witches used werewolves to create Fenna?”
Fenna were children created during a mating ritual held within the magical waters of a newly emerging wellspring. We’d initially thought werewolves were chosen simply because their healing capabilities helped the embryo survive the sheer force of the wild magic, but we’d since learned it was far more than that. The child created in that ritual became the living embodiment of that spring, with her own pool of magic inside that enabled her—as I’d recently discovered—to access the power of her wellspring from anywhere in the world.
I didn’t have werewolf genes. I would never be able to use the full force of the power I could access. Not without it entirely consuming me.
But the child that grew within me probablywouldbe able to. Her father was a werewolf, her mother’s DNA ran with wild magic, and she’d been conceived in a reservation where the wellspring’s luminous filaments floated around seemingly unhindered, despite the multiple rings of spells that not only protected it but should have prevented their forays outside the defined area. She would be a part of this land in ways that neither I nor the werewolves would or could ever be.
“There’re no records from those times, but I wouldn’t be surprised,” Aiden answered. “There are many traditions and rulings whose source is lost thanks to the fact they were verbally passed from generation to generation rather than being written down.”
Something witches were also guilty of, given the National Witch Archives only had one book on earth magic, which was what wild magic had once been called. Hell, we didn’t even knowwhyits name had been changed, though I guess it probably had something to do with the Fenna all but being wiped out and there being few people left who understood the process of linking witch to wellspring.
“Do you think there’s any chance her petition will be successful?” I asked.
“No, actually, simply because the knock-on effect would restrictanypack alpha and their firstborns dallying with either witchesorhumans.” His smile was decidedly wicked. “And you have firsthand experience of just how much we alphas like to dally.”
I did indeed. Who’d have thought it would so quickly develop into something more serious? Certainly not me. Not initially—although as the months had passed, I’d certainly hoped for it.
“If that petition is only part of the problem, what’s the other?”
“You, I’m afraid.”
My eyebrows shot upwards. “Me?”
“More specifically, that magical display you and the gang put on in our great hall.”
“Ah.”
“Indeed.” He picked up his coffee and took a sip. “There’s a faction of the council—a minority faction, granted, but one that has a very loud voice—that were scared by the forces you brought to bear that day.”
“I’m guessing that faction wants us banished?”
“Initially. But the wild magic’s reaction to your absence certainly quelled much of that.”
A comment that reminded me of the urgency I’d felt in the thread earlier. “Have the earth’s rumblings eased now that I’m home?”
“Mostly.” His eyebrows rose. “Why?”
“Just curious.” I shrugged and let it go. Maybe I was worrying over nothing. Or maybe the power that had built up within the earth during my time in Canberra was simply taking time to disperse. “What do the dissenters actually want? Let’s be honest here, they can’t drive me out now, because of the wellspring, and they certainly can’t petition the High Witch Council to do something about me, because that’ll only bring unwanted attention.” I paused to take a sip of tea. “I suppose they could revoke my trading license, but that’s not going to achieve much more than pissing off our customers.”
“I honestly don’t think they know what they want. They’re just… worried.”
And no doubt his mother was busy behind the scenes fueling those worries. “Have you pointed out the fact that by marrying me, you’re basically tying my allegiance to werewolves rather than the High Witch Council?”
