THE KING'S UNWANTED MATE

WHAT SHE IS

Chapter Seven

The war room was exactly what it sounded like.

Maps on every wall. A long table with chairs that had seen serious conversations. Screens showing the palace borders in real time — green lights mostly. One red light in the east.

Selene stared at the red light.

"That's where it crossed?" she said.

"Yes," Cain said.

"What is it?"

"We don't know yet."

"Best guess."

Cain looked at Draven. Draven looked at the screen.

"A Seer," Draven said.

Selene turned. "A what?"

"Sit down," he said. "All of it. I'm going to tell you all of it."

"Finally," she said. She sat.

Draven remained standing. He looked at Cain. "Give us the room."

Cain left without a word.

The door closed.

Draven pulled out the chair across from her and sat. He put his hands flat on the table and looked at her with the expression of a man who had rehearsed this and had decided to abandon the rehearsal.

"The Umbra Circle," he said. "That's who sent the Seer. That's who sent the text. That's who paid Elder Crane to suppress your assessment at eight years old."

"Tell me about them."

"They've existed for three hundred years," he said. "An organisation of Alphas who believe the natural order — fated mates, pack hierarchy, the authority of the moon goddess — is a weakness. That power should be taken, not given." He paused. "Soul Blessed wolves represent everything they hate. Power that can't be bought. Rank that can't be suppressed. A direct line to the moon goddess that no Alpha, no organisation, no amount of money or force can sever."

"So they kill them," Selene said.

"When they can. When they can't—" He paused. "They suppress them. Hide them. Put them somewhere controllable and keep them small until the power fades from lack of use."

Selene felt the cold thing settle in her chest again. "Like Silverstone."

"Yes."

"Like Caden."

"Caden was a tool," Draven said. "Not a willing one, I think. But a tool."

"And Diana."

"Diana is something else." He looked at her steadily. "Diana is not just a tool. She is a member."

Selene sat with that. "She's been in Silverstone for two years."

"Yes."

"Watching me."

"Reporting on you. Monitoring whether the suppression was holding." He paused. "When you came here — when the bond activated and your power started emerging — she would have reported it immediately."

"The text," Selene said. "Someone was warning me."

"Someone who knew what was coming and didn't want it to happen." He looked at her. "We don't know who yet."

"Ally inside the Circle."

"Possibly."

She drummed her fingers on the table. "The Seer. What does a Seer do exactly?"

"They find things," he said. "People, objects, power. They can sense a Soul Blessed from a significant distance." He paused. "The fact that one crossed my border tonight means the Circle isn't just monitoring anymore."

"They're moving."

"Yes."

"Because of the ceremony," she said. "Because half the Alphas in that room felt my power and now everyone knows."

"Yes."

She looked at the map on the wall. At the red light in the east. At the green lights holding everywhere else.

"Draven," she said. "What do they actually want with me? You said they can't control a Soul Blessed. So what's the point of coming for me?"

He was quiet for a moment.

"You said earlier," she said, "that Dr Voss said something. About containment." She looked at him. "What's the full version of that?"

"Selene—"

"You promised me everything," she said. "No managing what I know."

He held her gaze.

"Soul Blessed wolves have a unique vulnerability," he said carefully. "The power comes from the mate bond as much as it comes from the goddess. A Soul Blessed without their mate is—" He paused. "Unstable. The power turns inward. Becomes destructive." He looked at his hands. "The Circle's preferred method of neutralising a Soul Blessed is not to harm them directly."

She was very still. "It's to harm the mate."

"Yes."

"Remove the anchor," she said slowly. "Then the power consumes the wolf from the inside."

"Yes."

The room was completely silent.

"So they're not coming for me," she said.

"No."

"They're coming for you."

"That has always been the more likely target," he said. "Yes."

Selene looked at him across the table.

The Alpha King. The most feared wolf alive. Sitting across from her telling her that the most dangerous organisation in the wolf world intended to kill him specifically because of her.

"You knew this," she said. "When you accepted the bond. You knew what it made you."

"I knew what it might mean," he said. "Yes."

"And you accepted it anyway."

"Yes."

"Why?"

He looked at her for a long time.

"Because the alternative," he said, "was sending you away. And I found I was unable to do that."

Selene pressed her lips together. "Draven—"

"There's more," he said. He reached into the folder on the table. Took out a photograph. Slid it across to her.

She looked at it.

A woman. Young — mid twenties. Dark hair. Selene's jaw. Selene's eyes exactly, the shape of them, the particular way they tilted at the corners.

"Who is this?" she said.

"Her name was Mara," he said. "She was a Soul Blessed. The last confirmed one before you." He paused. "She was twenty-six when the Circle found her."

Selene looked at the photograph. At the eyes that were her eyes. "What happened to her?"

"Her mate was killed," he said quietly. "By the Circle. She lasted four months after." He paused. "She didn't survive the power turning."

Selene looked at him. "You're showing me this why?"

"Because I want you to understand what we're dealing with," he said. "Not to frighten you. To prepare you."

"And because?"

He looked at her steadily. "Because Mara was placed in a pack too. By the Circle. Hidden. Suppressed." He held her gaze. "Her pack assessor was Elder Crane."

The room went very quiet.

"The same man," Selene said slowly.

"Yes."

"How many years ago?"

"Thirty-two."

"He's been doing this for thirty-two years," she said. "Finding Soul Blessed wolves. Suppressing them. Handing them to the Circle."

"We believe so. Yes."

"How many?"

Draven was quiet.

"How many, Draven."

"We don't know the full number," he said. "Conservatively — six. Possibly more."

Six Soul Blessed wolves. Hidden. Suppressed. Destroyed.

Selene looked at the photograph.

At Mara's eyes.

Her eyes.

"She looks like me," she said.

"Yes," Draven said. "She does."

"Is she—"

"A relative?" He paused. "We don't know yet. It's possible. Soul Blessed wolves sometimes run in bloodlines, though rarely." He looked at her carefully. "Which brings me to the last thing."

Selene looked up from the photograph.

"Your mother," he said.

She went still. "What about my mother?"

"The woman who raised you in Silverstone," he said. "Her name is Elena. She has been your mother your whole life." He held her gaze. "But she is not your biological mother."

The air went out of the room.

"What?" Selene said.

"You were placed with Elena when you were three days old," he said. "By someone who was trying to protect you. Someone who knew the Circle was looking for you and needed you hidden somewhere safe." He paused. "Elena knew. She agreed. She has kept the secret your entire life."

Selene stared at him. "She knew."

"Yes."

"My mother— Elena— she knew I wasn't—"

"She is your mother," Draven said firmly. "In every way that matters. What she did — agreeing to take you, raise you, protect you — that is not a small thing." He held her gaze. "But you deserve to know the truth."

"Who?" Selene said. Her voice was not steady. "Who is my biological mother?"

Draven reached into the folder again.

He took out another photograph.

He slid it across the table.

Selene looked at it.

The woman in the photograph was older than Mara. Forty, perhaps. Strong faced. Dark hair. The same jaw. The same eyes.

But it was not the similarity that stopped Selene's breath.

It was the woman standing beside her.

"That's Elena," Selene said. "That's my— that's Elena. Standing next to—"

"Yes," Draven said quietly.

"She knew her," Selene said. "Elena knew my biological mother personally."

"They were friends," Draven said. "Before."

"Before what?"

"Before your biological mother went into hiding," he said. "Before the Circle found out what she was." He paused. "Before she had to give you up to protect you."

Selene looked at the photograph.

At the woman with her eyes.

"Is she alive?" she said.

Draven looked at her for a long moment.

"We believe so," he said. "Yes."

"You believe."

"We don't have confirmation. She has been in hiding for twenty-four years." He held her gaze. "But yes. We believe she is alive."

Selene sat back in her chair.

Twenty-four years.

A biological mother alive somewhere, in hiding, for twenty-four years.

Elena knowing the whole time.

Elder Crane spending thirty-two years hunting Soul Blessed wolves and handing them to the Circle.

Mara's eyes.

Her eyes.

"I need a minute," she said.

"Take it."

"No I mean—" She stood up. "I need actual air. Real air." She looked at the door. "Can I — is it safe to go to the garden?"

"I'll come with you," he said.

"I'd rather—"

"Selene." His voice was gentle but final. "There is a Seer on my border and an organisation that wants to use you to destroy me. I am not letting you go to the garden alone." He stood. "I'll be quiet. I won't say anything." He looked at her. "But I'm coming."

She looked at him.

"Fine," she said.

They walked to the door.

She stopped with her hand on it.

"Draven."

"Yes."

"The person who hid me," she said. "Who placed me with Elena. Who knew the Circle was coming and got me out." She turned to look at him. "Do you know who it was?"

He held her gaze.

"Yes," he said.

"Who?"

He was quiet for a moment.

"Your biological mother," he said. "She hid you herself." He paused. "The night she gave you to Elena she told her one thing." He looked at her carefully. "She said — tell her, when she's ready, that I chose this. Not because I didn't want her. Because I wanted her to live."

Selene's hand tightened on the door.

She pressed her forehead against the wood.

One breath.

Two.

"Okay," she said quietly. "Okay."

She opened the door.

She walked out into the corridor.

Draven walked beside her and said nothing, the way he had promised, and that — the silence of someone who understood that some things didn't need words — was somehow the most comforting thing anyone had done for her in a very long time.

They reached the end of the corridor.

Her phone buzzed.

She looked at it.

Same unknown number.

New message.

*The Seer isn't alone. Check the east gate. NOW.*

She stopped walking.

Showed Draven the phone.

He read it.

His hand went to his earpiece immediately. "Cain. East gate. Full sweep. Now."

Static.

Then Cain's voice — tight, controlled, the voice of a man who was looking at something he hadn't expected.

"Draven," Cain said. "You need to see this."