Mate bonds, fate, the gods and every other being or deity that everyone held in high regard had never really held my attention, neither had I bothered to let the beliefs surrounding them dictate my life, and yet here I was, going against my resolve to stay away from my mate by drawing ever closer to her because of some century old belief about mates and the gods.
Driven by Nuela's words, a wolf whom until recently had never bothered to aid me in any way, I shut out the protests of my lover, risking more than a war with her kingdom, and let my feet carry me to the one I did not deserve because, apparently, the realm required it. My own people required that of me too or I would risk being labelled as an uncaring king.
I'd scoffed at the idea when Nuela had spoken of it, but the presence of
