Tied
Selena
Father had told me something strange. “We have come to a consensus,” he said, “at least until the Alpha decides. Then again, he has no choice.”
Father started to deflect again, never quite hitting the nail on the head, but eventually I began tapping my leg on the floor—our signal my mom used to hurry him up every time she noticed he did that thing. He smiled, set down his glass of bourbon, and looked at me.
“Have you ever had to share a man before?” he asked.
I raised my eyebrow. “What? No.”
“Pressur—” he began, then stopped. “I won’t do it. I don’t care. I’m not sharing the Alpha with her. He’s mine, Father. You know it. I know it. The rest of the pack knows it. I would have been Luna if not for—”
He raised his hand, interrupting me. “The Luna was always learning to be generous and do what is best not just for herself but for her mate. You know this; you are at the top of your class.”
I looked away from him, biting my lip and remembering the early days when I had shown promise in etiquette and, among other things, diplomacy. “You’re charming, Selena—I’ll give you that. Do you want to be a diplomat?” Miss Dankings, my homeroom teacher, had asked me.
“No. I’m going to be Luna,” I’d said. “Most of your peers have already found their mates. Don’t you want to broaden your horizons? Being Luna can be constricting, I know.”
She had been, in truth, best friends with Killian’s mother, so her expression and her eyes spoke of pity. “You’re not going to tell me what to do, Miss Dankings. I mean, you had any option—you were pretty; you could have done something better in real life, but you decided to forgo the mate who could have been and pick the me who was.”
“You mean I could have chosen to marry Killian’s father, but I didn’t. I didn’t because it wasn’t right; because he wouldn’t mind—even though he loved me.” I was wasted, I thought. “Don’t tell me what to do, people like you—”
I laughed. “I won’t share him,” I said.
My father shook his head. “I cannot part with him. He’s mine alone. You know how possessive we get.”
Father smiled, only a shadow of one. “You know he will not part with her,” he said. “He would sooner die. In fact, when an Alpha parts with his mate, you know this—you’ve seen it happen. He’d probably kill everyone and then himself in a bloody blaze of glory. That’s not kidding yourself, Selena. You should have seen this coming at some point when you vehemently stood your stance.”
I looked away from my father, feeling so much heat of anger rising from the pit of my belly. He was the one who commanded me, who told me I did well by securing the Alpha on my side, and now suddenly he was speaking of duty? “You should know better,” I whispered. “I would never share him. I’d kill her first.”
Father growled. I hadn’t heard it in so long. It was a deep sound, very different from an Alpha or Beta. It was that of an elder wolf. Of course it was not nearly as scary as Killian’s, but I hunched in fear instinctively.
“You didn’t see what I saw today,” he said slowly. He leaned forward, his eyes shining with condensation—fear and perhaps apprehension. “You don’t know what I saw. How he lost his mind, how he fought for control, the way he reached out of his skin—the beast that I haven’t seen in long enough.”
He choked bitterly, remorse lacing his voice at the mere thought and the suggestion that he would have to kill the girl because of our laws. “He would rather burn the pack down because of hurt. I don’t think he remembers,” Father said, but you didn’t see it. He shook his head slowly. “No—you’re blindsided. It’s always about what you want.”
“Frankly, I should have seen it coming.” He chuckled again.
“So what are you saying? That I should give up? That I should give him up?”
“No,” Father said. “I’m saying you share him.”
In no stretch of anybody’s imagination would anyone allow him to be mated with that human. “She’s weak. He knows it; he would have to protect her every given moment. He knows that. That’s why you probably will be convinced to have both of you.”
“It’s not unheard of. I’ve seen it before, although it was quite a long time ago since anyone practiced polygamy.” He looked up as though trying to remember. “I think it must have been Killian’s great-grandfather who did it. He had two women—one his real mate whom everyone knew he loved, but she was barren. He had to take the daughter of a well-known elder in the time, and she gave him children; otherwise his line would have perished. And perhaps this time, for the sake of peace, he might do it.”
“So watch yourself. The only way the girl would leave is if she rejects him again.”
I laughed bitterly. “I would nurse him back to health?” I sounded stupid; I sounded too hopeful—in fact, I felt like one of those women I hated with a passion.
What if this was my reality? Then I would make her leave. I would make her hate him. I would make her reject him again and again, no matter how many times it took. Killian wasn't going to be hers.
I stood up. I walked outside, mumbling under my breath about what I would do. I needed a clear plan. I needed someone to talk to; Father was out of the question. My feet carried me through the alpha's residence. Maybe I could try and talk her into it, or at least blackmail her. Maybe, with enough scaring, she would back off, I thought as I reached the room where she was kept.
Three guards stood outside the door, and I could hear subtle steps and smells from behind me. I could have been a warrior, I thought with a low chuckle. No way, said one. I have a good nose and an amazing pair of ears. I can hear just about anything—for example, the human heartbeat was strong and loud. She should have been dead from that attack in that room, but somehow she was still alive. She also smelled slightly different from the last time I had the misfortune of smelling her.
"My lady," Paul—another guard I didn't recognize—stood outside the door. He was strong, I thought, with a small smile belonging to the alpha's own personal detail. So he resorts to this, huh? Having the both of you guard her as though she's some prize little fragile thing. While she is weak, so I'll give that to him. I'm afraid I cannot let you win, my lady.
The other guard stood with a stiff expression on his possibly handsome face. "You know who I am? You would do well to let me in. Then again, you can stop me."
I looked at Paul. "Another can you?" I walked past the both of them with Paul's hand on my shoulder. Slowly I turned. "Get your hands off me or I will kill you. I promise I don't care what happens to your family—you will die this very moment."
"I have a duty," Paul said. "And I would die fulfilling my duty if that need be, but I'm afraid I cannot let you enter, my lady, not without the proper commission."
"Then go get the fucking permission," I snapped, and I quickly pushed past him into the room, raising my voice slightly. I heard the human scuffle behind me. By the time I entered, she was already seated, looking a little more colorful than before. Before, she was so pale, so weak, so pathetic, but now—strangely enough—she looked nearly alive.
"Conversation?" she asked.
"Remember that when you stop me from doing the things I want to do, one day you'll see yourself vanished." Paul stepped back. He had no fear in his eyes—merely resignation. He wouldn't let this go.
Well, too bad for him, because neither would I.