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“I…” She paused, chewing her lip. I wanted nothing more than to kiss it instead, but I recognized it wasn’t the time. “We would have to keep the fact we’re fated mates a secret.”
“Oh, absolutely,” I said. It would paint a huge target on her back for people to know she was the one and only woman I’dever love. She was my mate for life, my end all, be all. “We will take every precaution to make sure not a soul knows.”
“I, uh, didn’t expect you to agree so readily.”
“No, you’re right, it’s the smart thing to do.” I didn’t mention the dread filling me at the idea of my father finding out I had a fated mate, and a low born commoner at that with no family to speak of. I knew he wanted me to marry in a way that’d help the kingdom, securing yet more power and more wealth by producing heirs with a well-connected match.
But it wasn’t just his disapproval I was worried about. It was no secret my stringent father and I had butted heads many times before I left, and he wasn’t exactly brokenhearted I wasn’t around anymore. If I’d stayed in the capital, no doubt I would have ended up challenging my father for the throne, even if I was a weaker wolf back then. Fully bonding with my fated mate would likely give me the boost in strength I needed to defeat him, so it would behoove my father, if he knew about Ayla, to have her killed. Not only would it weaken my inner wolf, it would destroy me. I knew without a doubt that if something happened to Ayla I’d never be able to truly live. I’d wither on the vine until I was only an empty shell.
I had to keep Ayla a secret. I’d never needlessly risk her life, even if I was risking the court’s with her curse.
“Then, why do you look so upset?” Ayla asked softly, her hand squeezing mine. Despite the cold realization of what my father would do if given the chance, I pushed those feelings away.
“Just thinking about my father,” I said honestly. Well, half-honestly. I didn’t need to explain what I was afraid he’d do if given half a chance. “I’m not exactly thrilled to be seeing him again.”
“I suppose I can’t blame you for that. He doesn’t exactly sound like a winner.”
“No, that’s the issue, he is. His entire life, he’s come out on top, whether because of the favorable position he was born into, his connections, his conniving, or his strength. He’s a formidable man, which is why I was never ready to face him before.”
Ayla audibly swallowed. The idea of the king, of our entire kingdom, pitted against us certainly was an intimidating one.
“Are you absolutely sure you shouldn’t go alone while I stay here? This all sounds so dangerous.”
“Look, I’m not really interested in repeating the same argument we’ve had so many times, so I’m just gonna reiterate I’m not leaving your side when there’s a chance the Shrouded Shriek will return to finish the job, and while you’re still cursed. We’re gonna break this together. Your malignant shadow is on borrowed time, and that’s that.”
“All right. I suppose… I suppose I could get on board, but I’m going to need to set up a lot of magical precautions and ways to make sure nobody else can sense our connection, or even our scents. Maybe something like the veiling curse, like the one I used on you?” My eyes widened, and she seemed to recognize what she’d said. “No, no, I wouldn’t use it on you. I promise to never curse you against your will or meddle with your mind like that again. I know what I did was wrong, even if I thought I was doing it for the right reasons.”
That was a relief. I’d protect Ayla from anything that harmed her, and I was incredibly happy she was my fated mate, but there was still that little voice whispering in my head one day that, if she ever chose to, she could yank it all away, and I’d have no idea. It was horrifying, so I didn’t want to give time to the thought, but it was impossible to completely banish from my mind.
“I’ll need at least a day to gather all of the ingredients and create the full outline of the veiling spell,” Ayla said. “They can be tricky, so you need to set incredibly specific parametersfor the curse to work in. Otherwise there can be unintended consequences.”
“Unintended consequences?” I said, more than a bit concerned. “Like what?”
“Nothing to be too worried about as long as you know what you’re doing.”
“If you don’t?”
She shrugged nonchalantly. “Personality changes, losing core memories, abrupt shift in interests, temporary amnesia, false memories, mood swings…”
The more words escaped her mouth, the more I realized just how lucky I’d been with how things had worked out between us. Ayla and I still needed to talk a bit about consent, andwhythat was so fucked up, but maybe when things calmed down a little.
“None of it happened to me, right?”
“Not that I know of. Then again, I was pretty dedicated to avoiding you, so it’s possible your color preferences changed, or maybe you stopped reading a book you were super into, but you’d have to talk to Oren.”
“Right, well, I’ll make sure to do that.”
“All right, I’m going to head to my shift and get busy on those spells. With any luck, we won’t need them.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but luck’s not gonna be our strong suit for quite a while, is it?”
Ayla smirked, and it was good to see her smile so often, even if it was with an incredibly dry grin. “You got that right.”
It wasn’t the easiest thing to go about my duties when I felt so distracted, but I figured I should while I still had the opportunity. I needed to set up things for whoever took overafter me, even if my return to the capital wasn’t definitive. Our base worked best when we used the strengths of every single soldier present, and it wasn’t realistic to expect a new leader to know this on arrival.
My replacement would also know our shifter population was pretty diverse. Wolves were the majority, but we had dozens of other types, some from miles away, and all of us were united by our desire to stop the never-ending Vekas encroachment.
Our physical soldiers were impressive, but we had quite the assortment of magic users as well. Sorceresses and sorcerers. Shamans. A couple witches and a wizard. We had a warlock or two, along with some pixies and fairies as well.
