VULPINE: Her Second Chance

INTERLUDE I: DANIEL

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DANIEL

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Daniel Sky Jackson was a child born from the love between Marie North Sky and Eli Jermaine Jackson. They found each other in the Northern Tundra, what seemed like ages ago. They were one of the first, and of only two mated, True Mate matches between a werewolf and a werebear. Because of the way 'bear society functioned, they likely would have been the only accepted match if it weren't for the second couple, Svetlana and Daniel himself.

Though his mother was a Greater Direwolf and his father a Great Black Bear, Daniel and his Spirit resembled his mother almost to the point that they could be siblings, were it not for their eyes, and the shock of black hair that turned grey when he was in his fur.

That was probably for the best, however, as the thought of his father caused his heart to ache terribly in the still raw spot where the solid bond had once been. It would likely hurt this much forever, but be tempered by adding familial bonds to somewhat lessen the pressure.

The sudden severing of one of a 'wolf's first bonds would do that. Sometimes, Daniel had the dark thought that he wished the previous king had been poisoned, and the bond would have been weaker when it snapped. But that was not the case.

The world of 'wolves and 'bears was one of violence, more so than any other species. The bear shifters considered themselves physically superior, and the wolven ones considered themselves mentally and astrophysically superior. A werebear could Command any other species, while a 'wolf could bond with any. Skirmishes along the border were common before the mating of Marie and Eli.

Once they'd wed, they were able to secure a tentative alliance between the 'wolves and the 'bears: the slothless 'bears would Command any rogue 'wolves they happened upon to shift, and in turn the werewolf king would send strong knights to watch over the ursine shifters during the forced hibernation that every 'bear went through.

The werebears would also have a say in who could live near their vast territory. The tundra, after all, forgave none, and any who lived there would have to be part of a community governed by the 'bears.

Most modern werewolves were okay with this treaty, but several of the older generation believed rogues to be weaker anyway, as the madness of the shift was a danger only to wolven shifters. Those same people were usually also of the mind that fraternisation between werewolves and any other species was a taboo of the highest order.

Jakob North Star, Daniel's maternal uncle, was such an elder, and such a thinker.

He scorned Marie, though she was stronger and the heir to the throne, and he hated the fact that the Queen's Consort was a 'bear. Especially since Eli had been Slothless - packless - before becoming the North Star Sapphire Pack's Moon.

And so Jakob challenged Eli for the throne, rather than Marie, thinking the beta-blooded Moon must be weaker than the both of them. And Eli had almost beat him to within an inch of his life, but choose not to kill the last remaining member of Marie's family. It was the wrong decision, as Jakob had then literally stabbed him in the back with a knife laced with common beargrass.

Marie had ripped her brother apart, but it was too late. Eli was dead in minutes. Daniel, having just been born a few months past, could of course do nothing. But his mother always said that existing was the best thing he could have done for her at the time.

Because Daniel was there, and had already bonded tightly to both parents, Marie was able to survive Eli's death. And though it was truly just survival up to a point, she was eventually able to live again.

This experience, however tragic, made her able to assist Daniel when he lost Svetlana shortly after their coronation. Having had no young, he was lucky that they had not been matched for long, and the bears had not allowed their union to be gods-blessed. He had railed against that caveat from her sloth, only to cling to that saving grace in the end.

With her dead, he felt so much that he'd soon forced himself to feel nothing. Every time he opened his mouth, he wanted to scream and wail, and so he said nothing for a long while. For some time, he was cruel, deathly silent, and improperly tethered to his royal pack.

Thankfully, he was still tethered to his family pack, and though he had wanted to give up and go rogue, his mother had helped him fight it. He'd mostly returned to a semblance of his old self, by the time the global council had begun sending brides, which was lucky for all involved.

The alliance with the werebears, however, which had been severely weakened by Eli's death, was completely gone after Svetlana's, as she had not been in a fight to the death when she passed away. Instead she'd been with child, and the child had eaten away at her Spirit until it was gone and so was she.

No one but the couple had known about the lost possibility, and so the king was alone in mourning his child, but the nation had mourned the loss of his queen, even as short-lived as her station was.

Daniel felt there was no one to blame but himself, and so he did not attempt to rekindle the agreement with the bordering sloths. Instead, he merely strengthened the borders, through recruitment or violence, and hired many spies, which he had -admittedly carelessly - bonded to himself as a pack to further soothe his wounded Spirit.

One of Daniel's more nomadic spies, a soul mage code named The Viper, told him during the second or third attempt to gift a bride-mate, that when the time was right, Daniel would find happiness again. At the time, he wasn't ready to hear it.

Now, after years of helping others to find their own happiness, he thought he was ready, and apparently so did the gods. A few months ago, the Viper had told Daniel that he'd soon meet his true mate in the West. They'd advised him to travel there under any guise necessary, but he hadn't needed to create one. The Union's Skulklord, Scott Kane, had both called him to the West and handed his True Mate to him in a white mating dress. Daniel didn't know whether to thank the slimy male or strangle him to death. Probably both.

After scouting out the area just before the king's journey there, The Viper had said that his mate still wasn't "ready", but that Daniel should go to them anyway. It was a puzzling statement at the time, but Daniel had gradually figured it out once he went to "receive" the most recent bride.

When he'd caught her fresh scent - sugar cane and bright grapefruit - he'd known his mate was in the cathedral as soon as he entered. They had been in the lobby just minutes before, and he took his time walking through it, calmly but greedily breathing the same air as his fated mate. He'd wondered if they worked at the Skulkhouse, but the trail had led straight to the main area where the skulk was meant to meet with the pack.

He'd found his eye drawn to his soon to be wife when he'd entered the room, but he hadn't wanted to think much of it. He hadn't dared to hope that it would be that easy, that he would soon be matched to his True Mate. Of course, it wasn't easy, but he did end up properly matched.

Skulklord Kane's embarrassing - for the skulklord - display had made Daniel aware of the male's incompetence, but he hadn't yet realised the 'fox had weaponised it for use in cruelty.

The moment her soul had been healed enough from the priest, Daniel had known for sure that he was in trouble. Her scent, a faint tickle hiding amongst the others in the chamber, was now all he could smell. Her eyes were all he could see, and he knew that he would try his best to make and keep her happy. Unlike his father, who would clearly die for his mother, Daniel would live for this wonderous person. And most definitely kill for her.

He would have to ask her later if she wanted the pleasure, herself, though.

But even after her soul was healed, Thalia did not seem to recognise him as hers. He wondered if it had been too soon after the rejection, even with the holy magic. He considered allowing their skin to touch, and showing her the truth, but decided against doing it in front of the one person who could put a stop to the proceedings.

That seemed to have been the correct choice, because the low level of nervousness he'd sensed in her had revealed itself to be pure fear and misery once he laid his mark on her. He'd mistaken it for pre-bond jitters and sadness at her first mate's rejection, but he soon realised that Thalia was afraid of a lot of things, Daniel included, but mostly Scott himself.

The king had thought, when she "spoke" to him in her mind before the bite, that she was merely very good at hiding her emotions from others. But when that fear reached its peak, she had immediately and without warning fainted. When she blamed it on the power surge from the mark, Daniel sensed no lie in her words even with their bond. This meant, essentially, that she believed it to be true. Thalia herself did not know that she'd passed out from stress and terror.

He'd wondered at that before continuing to interact with her. He slowly came to realise that she subconsciously suppressed her awareness of some emotions or focused on other, more beneficial ones, depending on the situation.

The pain had become "manageable" under this treatment. The panic was ignored in favour of irritation. The misery was smothered with anticipation. The ever-present gnawing of Hunger was cast aside without substitute. When Thalia noticed Scott standing over them, the source of all the anxiety and pain had made itself clear to Daniel. She had shrunk back into Daniel and Pluto, his Spirit, had surfaced.

He wanted to rip out that foul creature's throat, or perhaps indulge in torture for the first time in a long while. He was grateful in that moment that Svetlana's death had taken from him the hotheadedness of his youth. He'd still needed Thaddeus to step in and control the situation with pretty words.

At his mate's plea, Daniel had managed to rein it in even further, and focus on getting her away, so he could focus on her solely. She'd become less frightened with every metre, and then kilometre, that they put between themselves and the skulklord who Daniel was planning some terrible things for.

In the vehicle, he'd hovered near her whenever it seemed she would allow it. He felt like a stalker, the way he was completely unable to tear his eyes away from Thalia. He'd learned so many little things from watching her, though, that it was impossible to rationalize looking away.

He'd also learned something rather big. Thalia hadn't recognised Daniel because her Spirit was dormant. Pluto had assured him that She was still there, just sleeping so deeply that even Thalia thought she was gone.

There are many things a shifter of any kind will do naturally, and partial shifts of teeth and claws, as well as instinctual aura displays, were among them. Thalia did not do those things, and seemed to be reluctant to even try. She also only flashed her eyes purposefully. Daniel supposed he would have a conversation about that with her in private, but in the meantime he would support her subtly, doing things that she would have done with her claws, so as not to draw suspicion from his hyper-observant Beta. He had reasons for not allowing himself to partially shift that Thaddeus was well aware of, after all.

When she showed her trust by allowing him to dress her food, Daniel thought he couldn't have been more pleased. Then she spoke to that bastard, Kieran, with the authority of a queen supported by her king, and Daniel almost couldn't control Pluto nor the surge of elated possessiveness that the wolf-bear threw his way. But Pluto, who had been angry since seeing Thalia hurt, and was told to hold it in one too many times, had had enough, and Daniel was forced to allow him to make a minor show of force.

Mirella had called him back, but Daniel knew some damage had been done. He just hadn't expected that Thalia would feel so... Jealous.

At first, he'd thought it was residual jealousy from himself and the bond that was naturally forming as they spent more time together and in each other's minds. When he examined it, though, the emotion was directed towards Mirella and not Kieran, which meant that the emotion was her own.

Daniel was a bit pleased to be the subject of his mate's possessiveness, but he also knew that he had to come clean or Thalia would smother the emotions budding there, before they could cause harm. When he did, Thalia became sad and conflicted, with a hint of pride there as well. He was glad she was pleased with how he'd handled the brides, but didn't understand where the sadness came from until he realised that she thought he would reject her.

He decided to have the mating conversation right then and there, to squash any doubts of his sincerity. When their hands met, and her Spirit woke, he knew he'd partially succeeded.

The Spirit - Persephone, Pluto provided - felt safe enough to show herself, shining through Thalia's lavender eyes with a bright and strong magenta, before Thalia could help herself. It was brief, and flickered between that and Thalia's preferred mask of Omega white, but She was there. Now, to convince the humanoid side of his mate, since her Spirit already seemed to like his own.

"You've been feeling some of my emotions, Dear Queen, though I'm sorry that the more extreme ones have all been negative. That will change when we are home."

This seemed to startle her from the reverie they both were in at the first contact with their fated mate. Their second fated mate, that is.

"Home?" Thalia asked, eyes wide but no longer flickering.

"Yes," Daniel replied, "My home, as well as yours, if you'd like." Her emotions were a conflicted whirlwind that he couldn't interpret. He was surprised, but not disappointed, that she didn't seem settled by his words. If she was to accept him, she would do so in her own time.

"And if I don't like?" Since their hands were still connected, Daniel couldn't hide the sting of that comment, and he felt Thalia's wince rather than saw it. He smiled anyway, not wanting her to base her decisions on whether or not his feelings were hurt.

"Then that's okay. Like I said, you are free to reject me if you wish it." He gently squeezed her hands and replaced them in her lap, making sure not to touch her legs, before continuing, "Let me be very clear, though, Thalia: I will never reject you, even if you want me to. I can only take a majority of the pain from that, and I will never purposely hurt you. You'll have to reject me, if you want me gone."

"Ah." was all that she said, before immediately beginning to hyperventilate.