Urban Wolf

Day Two

For once, the Fates were on his side, and the Assembly actually sent a lore master to hear the facts of the complaint. True mates were enough of a rarity to attract the Assembly's quest for knowledge in a perverse and invasive manner. Nick knew the master, a thin, sneering career bureaucrat who seemed to look at the entire situation as a laboratory experiment. His folder filled with statements from Thom Wheeler and Alex, along with photos and graphic detailing of her injuries, seemed to damn Nick with every new page he uncovered. If only Nick himself could remember what the hell happened, but the entire event was a blur, a strange collection of colors and sounds that gave him no hint as to their meanings, and his beast wasn't being any help. The damn wolf was acting smug and contrite at the same time, and Nick was wary of his every move.

Frank Gills, the bureaucrat, looked over his glasses at Nick. "And you say the princess ran away with your brother Alexandre and you have no idea where they are at this time?"

Nick growled, his patience wearing slightly thinner by the moment. "Alexi swore he wouldn't leave our pack territory. Given the time they left and when I know Thom met up with them, I would imagine they are somewhere in South Georgia."

"These are the photos of the mating marks?" Gills looked carefully at the intertwined eagle and unicorn. "It only required a handshake to start the signs?"

"Yes sir," Nick looked at the floor, feeling more and more like a child. "We have several witnesses to the handshake and the reactions from me and from Keele, I mean, the princess."

He watched the Assembly's lore master calmly remove his glasses and then fix his blaring amber eyes onto Dmitri. "Do you have anything to add to this Dee, or are you going to pass on the opportunity to kick your son's ass? Because I assure you, the Assembly is not happy. There hasn't been a recorded mate mauling in one hundred and sixty-two years. There are Regnants ringing my phone off the hook wanting to know what happened here and, so far, all I can tell is that your son let his beast free inside the city limits of a major metropolitan area, which is a crime, and completed the mating ritual in the most base and animalistic manner our species knows, which while not illegal certainly can land you in jail."

Nick dropped his head lower. His father rubbed his back and looked at his old friend. "Nicky has no memory of what happened. Now, he admits it's been two years since he last let the beast have rein and he admits to feeling the blood fire our lore speaks of when it comes to true mates. Seems to me we might be beyond the Lawe and into the realms of lore on this one, Frank. Without having the girl here, so you can see what the rest of us witnessed when it came to their meeting, I don't think you can file an answer on this one yet."

Gills pinched the bridge of his nose. "True mates have become such a scarce thing, we forget that no matter how much we want to blend into modern society, at the heart of it we are still creatures of magic and blood. I cannot forgive Regnant Petroza for his 'excess' with the princess, but at the same time, neither will we allow the betrothal to end. They share the mark. Our suggestion, with the Director's agreement, is to work out the relationship between them. Otherwise, it could provoke open conflict with the Irish. They are understandably protective of their princess."

"I know I screwed up," Nick replied in all earnestness. "I've never, ever been that way before towards any woman. All I can remember is Keele remarking that my eyes looked odd. Next thing I knew, I woke up this morning in a bed covered in blood."

Out of the corner of his eye, Nick could see the rage building on Holden's face. He wished he had better answers for his friend. They hadn't had any time to speak before the hearing, and Nick knew as soon as there were no witnesses, Holden would beat his ass bloody. He'd never been able to beat Holden in a fist fight.

"I remember discussing our mating marks, and I remember being captivated by her. It felt as though my blood was singing to hers, and all I wanted to do was drown inside her love. Then it all gets fuzzy, and the only thing I remember is the beast proclaiming her as his own. When I watched the videos this morning..."

Holden interrupted. "You videoed r****g my sister, you son of a b***h? That's it, now I'm really going to kill you."

Holden sprang over the couch, grabbing Nick around the throat. Nick could see the red beginning to taint the edges of his vision, and the beast snarled in fury. "There are security cameras in the common areas, like hallways. That is where we saw her."

Nick twitched and threw his friend off with less effort than he normally would have required. The leftover mating strength wasn't completely spent, just ready to manifest in whatever manner required. But the anger in his best friend's face was breaking his spirit. He'd done that, and there was nothing he could think of to make things right.

Gills finished making his notes. "I need to speak with the princess. Do we have the ability to get her on the phone?"

With everyone staring at him as if he were going to spout two heads, Nick picked up his cell phone and dialed Alex's cell, choosing the video option. His little brother picked up right away. Nick had to admit, his brother looked like s**t. He still wore a white t-shirt smeared with blood, and it appeared he hadn't slept in a while. There was a tinge of guilt for his baby brother that Nick hadn't expected. He swallowed down his concern and fixed his smile on neutral. Since Alex was still connected to the pack through their mental collective, he knew what Nick needed before the phone rang.

"No way. No way am I permitting her anywhere near you yet, she's still healing and you're unstable. I can feel it through the family's bond."

"Alexi, this.."

"Stop calling me that. I'm a grown man." Everyone in the room could hear the underlying threat.

"Then start acting like one and let me talk to my wife."

Alex narrowed his eyes and counted to three. "One, she isn't your wife yet. Two, she's so injured that at this moment she's shifted to wolf form in order for us to meet your mandatory be here or else requirement. And three – I don't want you to talk to her. You haven't earned the right to talk to her yet."

Nick ground his teeth. "Alexi, do not make me compel you to put her on the phone."

Alex stared through the video connection at his brother, debating something he wanted, obviously without discussing it with Keele first. Somehow Nick didn't think she was going to approve of his brother's next statement.

"If you persist in threatening us, I'll break our connection, both of us. And you know there's only one way to break a mating. I agreed to stay in pack territory to keep you from flipping your s**t any more than you apparently already have. But I also asked for space. You've seen the pictures. She's been in more pain than a human could have tolerated. Badgering her to see you when she hasn't fully processed what you did could push her away forever."

"Alexi, the Assembly sent a lore master. He needs to talk to her as soon as possible."

The perspective of the video changed as Alex took the device into the separate bedroom of the hotel room. He refocused the camera on the king-sized bed. Every man in the room took a deep breath.

The white sheets and comforter of the bed were stained various shades of blood red, along with towels strewn around the floor. Medical supplies covered the bedside table, along with several hypos. On the bed, panting and moaning with every breath, lay the enormous form of a red-haired wolf. Her white underbelly was stained pink along with her face and haunches. One leg appeared to be stiff and painful, and her eyes were swollen shut. Every so often she would twitch and whine as her feet moved in her sleep.

"There is your princess Nick. Since you're so wise, tell me how to roust an injured Lycan before they've healed? She's already half mad from pain and betrayal, now you want me to rip her from the protection of magic to save your own skin. I won't do it. If the Assembly care about the princess as much as they are professing, then they will understand our reluctance to testify at this moment."

As he reached out to disconnect the phone, Alex's sea-blue eyes flickered with an anger Nick had never seen on his brother's face.

***

Keele was floating through a sea of memories. Visions of her parents, her brother, Dan (no, not Dan. That would open the pain again), then Nick Petroza's image appeared along the edges of her consciousness. She gathered strength in her legs to run away.

"No, please. Don't go!"

She stopped at a safe distance and looked at him, warily. "Why shouldn't I?"

Nick ran his fingers through his hair. "Please. I want to make this right."

Her nostrils flared in anger. "Make it right? I came to you willing to follow my Alpha's decision, and you ripped my heart and body into shreds. How can I trust you again?"

"I know, but I want us to trust each other, to know everything about each other. I want us to start over." He whispered, but she could hear the pain in every word, including the ones he didn't say.

"How are you speaking to me like this?"

He glanced into her eyes, another plea for her mercy filling his icy blue orbs. "Mating facilitates communication between an Alpha and his wife. Our blood bonds have aligned."

She nodded and looked away. "Can I shut you out?"

"No. We can hide some things from each other, but neither of us can shut the other out completely without breaking the mating bond."

She nodded again.

"Alexi says you're in a lot of pain."

He saw her shoulders tighten. "Yes."

"It's going to get worse, Keele. You need to come home before the rest of the mating ritual drives your hormones off the chart. You know mating only ends one way. I don't want you to hurt because I'm a jackass."

Her silence seemed to stretch out into forever. "Not now, but soon I promise."

With a look of pure pain in her eyes, Keele left their shared vision. In the hotel room, the large wolf opened her eyes, and magic rippled through the air as she returned to human form. Alex leaned against the door frame, his eyes dark with violence and the need to make his brother pay. He'd not been privy to what exactly had transpired between the two, but he knew Nick had contacted Keele, and he wasn't happy.

"Hey."

She struggled to sit up, and he raced to her side to help. She smiled at him and he laid his palm against her cheek.

"I'm thirsty," she murmured with a shy grin, "and I really need to pee."

Pulling the sheets back, he slid one arm under her knees and the other under her arms and carried her into the bathroom. Even though she had no clothes on, neither seemed embarrassed in the other's presence. He helped her to the commode, then pulled the door to provide her with some sense of dignity and privacy as he grabbed a bottle of water from the small refrigerator.

Once she washed her hands, Alex returned, and guided her to the large shower. "Do you feel ready to clean up?"

Her eyes were glazed with pain and the remnants of human meds. "I can't take a shower without help."

"And?"

"Alex, I've already put you into too much danger. I can't protect you from his anger, and if you help me shower, Nick will kill you."

His eyes were filled with grief and a stubborn willingness to flout convention, as they met hers. "I don't care what Nick does to me. I swore to help you, and I will."

It took more than thirty minutes to get Keele showered and her injuries treated. By then, she was exhausted again, and phased back to wolf for more rest.

Back in Atlanta, Nick watched through distant eyes as his brother immersed himself in the care of a woman who didn't belong to him. Only the fact he was in the middle of a building in a major city kept him from phasing and racing to claim her. When Alex washed her back and legs, he broke the arms off the chair he was seated in, and when he tenderly carried her back to their shared bed, Nick returned to the private gym and worked out his anger on three of his personal guards. What madness had taken hold of him?

He watched over her dreams that night, hovering just at the edge of her awareness. He had no right to be there, he knew it. But the wolf demanded to see her with his own eyes. Her eyes moved beneath her lids, he wondered where she ran in her mind, and was he even a small part of it. Against his better judgment, he touched on their connection, a mix of love and pain, regret and longing; and he promised her to be a better man the next time they saw each other.

Suddenly a mist swirled in his mind, a kaleidoscope of color and memory flavored with Keele's unmistakable essence. She formed out of the mist, dressed in a simple white one-shoulder Grecian gown with her auburn hair braided and war talons on her hands. Her eyes were lit pools of wildfire and the angry red scars on her face and neck stood as silent reminders of their nature and his crime. In her hands twirled a Celtic iron sword, made specifically for her height and reach.

"A better man? What the hell does that even mean?"

Nick swallowed and tried to move closer but found the point of her sword directly above his heart. "I don't know what came over me, even the lore master doesn't know what happened. If I could go back and restart everything from the moment you walked off the elevator, I would. I would do everything differently. All I want is the chance to make this right between us."

The sword never wavered. "You hurt me."

"I know, and it's killing me. I'm finding it harder and harder to stay calm and apart from you. I want, I need to make this right between us, so we can move forward as mates."

"Why should I believe you? You are my Alpha now. Why haven't you just compelled us to come home?"

He ran his fingers through his hair in nervousness. "First, I know if I did that I would lose for all time any chance of making things right between us. Second, I promised Alexi I would give you space to recover. I won't try to find you unless there is an emergency."

"And you call this giving me space? Watching me sleep, invading my thoughts – I'm surrounded by your scent even after a shower, and now there's no room in my own head because you're there. Even Alex smells like you, only a slight difference. I'm losing whatever hold I once had on myself, and the sentence is imprisonment. Doesn't make it any better when the terms 'marriage' and 'alliance' are used interchangeably."

"I know it seems like I'm not giving up anything, but we should look at this as the forming of a new future. Think of all we can accomplish together?"

The anger in her eyes blazed again. "Don't try to talk to me about the future. You spit on it. You aren't perfect, and that fact seems to piss you off to no end. It's exhausting. Now, fight me or leave. I need to heal and screaming at you isn't the way it's going to happen."

Nick walked toward her, pushing aside the sword with a wave of his hand. She was his mate, neither could truly hurt the other. He noticed as he grew closer her body began to shake, and he stopped further away than he wanted. Still close enough though, to raise one hand and caress her cheek. Though he knew she hated him at this moment, she leaned into his hand ever so slightly, then frowned at herself for doing so.

"I'm sorry Keele. I can't say that enough. But I will make this up to you, I promise. I'll go away now so you can rest, but if you need me, call my name. I'll be listening for you."

He could tell she didn't believe him, but he took her left hand in his right one and brought it to his lips. Total confusion clouded her face as he forced himself to fade from her sight. Soon he was seated in his bedroom again, looking at the empty side of his bed. He could swear he caught just the faintest whiff of lavender and sandalwood.

He was completely amazed to find his cheeks were damp.