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“It grinds you down after a while,” I supplied, thinking of Dylan. “My brother’s a sigma. I had to leave Evergreen in his care for a while, back when Felicity was pregnant. He did good, but it got to him.”
“We’re generals, not politicians. Out in the field, taking action, organizing troops—that’s what we’re made for. An older sigma might mellow out enough eventually, but a young sigma is no one’s first choice to lead a pack.”
“Your pack was worried about succession?” I guessed. How was this related to the curse? Had Denny sworn an oath to lead once his father passed, only to back out when shit got real? That didn’t seem like him, but it would explain why his younger brother was leading the pack.
“It was a different time,” Denny said. “We had biker gangs of shifters pushing in on our territory, running prostitution rings, dealing drugs… Sometimes, our pack was the only thing standing between order and chaos. Dad needed to know that if anything happened to him, the pack would be in good hands. So, he and Frazer Fuller made a deal.”
“That’s Shayla’s dad, right?” I recalled her dropping his name.
“Yeah. He’s the alpha of Broken Shield, about an hour’s drive north. Shayla’s an alpha too, but she’s an only child. Frazer has no male alpha heir,” Denny explained. “So, he and Dad put their heads together and cooked up a solution: I’d mate with Shayla. When Frazer and Dad died, Shayla and I would combine our packs and lead them together.”
Not an ideal plan. Arranging a mating like that—it was what Ma and Quincy had tried to do. If neither party ever met their true mate, then it could work with dedication, I supposed.
Clearly, that hadn’t been the case.
“But Shayla is mated to Mikey.” The plot thickened.
“We didn’t know they would be. Not back then. I know our dads hoped Shay and I would have the moon dream about each other when we met, but it didn’t happen. So, we swore blood oaths instead—me to my dad, her to hers—just in case one of us found our true mate or chickened out of the deal.” Denny shook his head. “It seemed reasonable at the time.”
“When did she and Mikey realize that they were mates?”
“While I was stationed over in Afghanistan, Dad died. We thought the biker packs had petered out by then. Turns out, no, they’d just gone feral instead. One of them took my dad out. He was trying to calm the guy down, coax him into shifting back.” Denny gave a humorless laugh. “Didn’t work. Never does. My team and I…we were stationed too far out, working on developing some deep cover with an Afghan pack. I didn’t even learn my father was dead until about four months after the fact, when my mission was done.”
“I’m sorry.” Sympathy panged in my chest as I imagined myself in that position. Dad, six feet under before I ever even learned he was gone. “That must have hurt.”
“Old wound. It’s healed over now, but thanks,” Denny grunted. “Anyway. Mikey and Shay met at Dad’s funeral. They had the moon dream about each other that night. You can put the rest together from there. I came home, ready to fulfill my oath, only to find that they were already shacked up together, leading the Firebend Ridge pack without me.”
“So, you and Shay—you’re both cursed?” I could see why Denny hadn’t mentioned it before. To tell the story of his curse, he had to out Shay’s. It was…honorable, in a way.
“Not Shay,” Denny corrected. “Not anymore. I’m not sure how her curse actually manifested, even. If it was like mine, it never mattered. She had her moon dream before it kicked in, and her dad was able to release her from her oath, anyway. But mine—well. My dad wasn’t about to be releasing anyone from anything, given the whole being dead business. To keep my oath, I’d have to mate with Shay.”
“That’s not a fair deal.”
“That’s what Shay said. She offered, once I was back, to uphold the deal, but I knew she was just being kind. Pissed Mikey off something fierce.” Denny scoffed. “Not that I ever would have taken her up on it. It’s not right, coming between fated mates.”
I frowned as guilt stirred between my teeth. Denny’s tale wasn’t even over yet, but I knew I’d misjudged him terribly. He’d been in an even more dire position than Melony. She’d only had the suggestion of mating between us to go off. She’d taken that and run with it, to disastrous effect. But even with the threat of a blood curse hanging over his head, Denny had refused to tear Mikey and Shay apart.
He’d chosen to break his oath and take the curse instead.
“Is that how you ended up running into Mama Striga, then?” Without any other options, Striga might have been his last chance to break his curse.
“I needed to know how the curse would manifest,” Denny explained. “And, to her credit, she told me. I’ll never have a moon dream. Whoever my mate is, I’ll never know. Maybe I don’t have one at all. I worked with Striga for a long time, trying to figure out some other way to fulfill my oath, but there was no other option. Either I took Shay as my mate, or I lived with the consequences. So, I chose the consequences.”
“I’m sorry, Denny. That… Christ, it sucks.” I was a bastard for doubting him. Served me right for assuming the worst.
“It is what it is.” He lifted his burger to his mouth again, but paused before biting down. “You said your mom has the same thing? No moon dream?”
“Yeah. Dad had his about her, so at least she knows who her mate is, but she can’t feel the connection.” It hadn’t escaped me how lucky I was that the curse hadn’t passed onto me. Felicity was a human. Wanting her was as simple as breathing, but if I’d never had a moon dream about her, I never would have known for sure that she was mine. Mom, even with knowing, had still been left wanting for more. “It’s kind of driven her a little nuts, I think.”
“Not surprised. We’re shifters. We’re meant to have these connections, feel them, let them shape our lives. At least your mother was able to have you and your siblings.” Denny nudged at his fries almost thoughtfully. “I think that’s the worst part for me. Knowing I’d never get to be a dad.”
I watched his eyes widen, then his brow drop.
“Anyway,” he said quickly, then shoved a handful of fries into his mouth.
He hadn’t meant to say that.
I returned to my meal as well, letting silence settle between us again. I’d do him a solid and pretend I hadn’t heard that last part.
