Mated to the Enemy

Chapter 17

— Danny —

The magic at my back cloyed, begging for me to join with it. Go back to Faery, it beckoned. All of the fear it instilled only minutes before faded into more of a chant of promises. Safety, power… love? If that were possible to believe any of that then I would definitely choose to turn around and go to Faery, but all of those promises didn’t include what they would do with my companions. Did it matter so much to me that Jet survived, even if it was without me?

Because deep down I knew my life was more in danger going back than it was joining my kind. My kind… what was that really? Could I even trust that feeling of absolute certainty that going through the portal would be a new lease on life? It had to be magic. Nothing more.

Lauren’s words echoed in my mind as I told Ralph my new plan to help them. He would damn them all for me. For me? My insides warmed at the thought to be so important to someone that they would give up everything. Then my heart plummeted into my stomach. Wasn’t that what I was doing for Jet?

I shoved that thought down, and pushed forward. Letting them all decide to join me or not. It wasn’t like I felt a mate bond or anything for him, I just didn’t want him to die because of me. Right, so why was I sacrificing myself again?

My mom and my best friend Christy, I assured myself.

Though, if I were honest with myself humans were never really punished for stumbling upon pack grounds, and my mom was mated to the beta of the Blood Crest pack so she’d probably only be reprimanded for choosing to be a rogue. There was no proof that I was fae, and no reason for them to harm her right now.

I stopped mid-stride finally realizing what I was doing.

Shit.

Touching my pointed ears I shivered, the skin was more sensitive now that they were exposed. Would I be harming my mom by returning… like this?

Jet’s brooding presence was following me, but kept his distance.

It was Ralph that stood beside me waiting like a sentinel. “He doesn’t want me to push things with you, but he’s avoided females for as long as I’ve known him, so he isn’t qualified to do much else beside push people away without even meaning to at this point.”

I glanced over to see Ralph holding a hand to his temple with a pained expression contorting his face. He was obviously in disagreement about that with his Alpha. I’d never been connected with someone like that, not even my mom. At first I thought it was because I was a rogue, then I thought it was because of my lack of wolf… now, I know it’s because I’m fae. But, at the moment I wasn’t jealous of whatever it was they were sharing together through mind-link, or possibly an alpha command he didn’t agree with.

Not having any female in his life seemed hard to believe with Jet being an Alpha, and it didn’t seem like he was a stranger to Willow when mating her was offered as a way of pardoning his rogue status. I remained skeptical, and yet curious as to what Ralph was trying to tell me that Jet didn’t want me to know.

I could guess.

Disappointment that I wasn’t dead, or returning to Faery.

When I didn’t say anything Ralph took that as his go-ahead to continue, “He’s actually a decent guy if you give him a chance outside of life-or-death circumstances, plus the chemistry between you two is—” his thought was cut off as his eye twitched and he cracked his neck. He laughed, despite twinge.

“Anyways, what I’m trying to say is technically speaking we aren’t rogues. Not in the truest sense, really. He’s an alpha, I’m his beta, and he is heir to what was once a very powerful pack before it was disbanded. But it wasn’t officially disbanded according to law, and if you accept your mate bond with him he can protect you.”

“Ralph!” Jet growled in warning.

What I didn’t understand is why he was warning him when he could just alpha command him to shut up, or was he not strong enough to force his beta to comply?

I could understand why he didn’t want Ralph to say anything, considering he was only pretending to go along with the mate bond thing when it was convenient for him.

“Just tell her the truth,” Ralph admonished, but with a playful nature that wasn’t befitting the situation. “The only reason you wanted to escape the Blood Crest pack wasn’t because they would kill you, but because you didn’t want your secret about what pack you come from to get back to the Lycan King, or to anyone for that matter. Does it really matter to keep it a secret when you’re already prepared to tell them who you are when we arrive?”

He wasn’t talking to me anymore, but he was only talking out loud for my benefit.

So, his life was never in danger with the Blood Crest pack? Was his secret worth risking his life, and escaping with a fae? I stared at him before turning to see Jet’s furious black eyes watching me. Lauren was next to him his arms folded over his chest, but other than that unaffected by the conversation, that face unreadable.

“Are you or are you not a rogue?” I questioned him directly.

Ralph tried to answer and I held up my hand for him to shut it. This was for Jet to answer. After all, I did very sensitive things with him to help him heal earlier today, and all he had to do was tell the Blood Crest pack some truth that would have saved him before any of that. My cheeks heated, and I stopped myself from squirming under that intense gaze.

He opened his mouth, stopped himself before words came out and then tried again. “I don’t have to be,” he admitted. It wasn’t really a full answer, but it was enough to know Ralph wasn’t lying about them not really being in danger of execution if they just told the truth.

But, then I’d also have to admit that all he had to do was claim me as his mate and we’d be protected by pack law to diplomatic parley between packs to resolve disputes. If he wasn’t a rogue, even if he wasn’t the true alpha of his pack, he’d have the right to be detained until his alpha could either claim him to punish him by their own pack laws, or negotiate with the Blood Crest alpha for resolution. All of that was true for him, even without claiming me as his mate, but being claimed extends his protections onto me, even if I’m not a wolf.

He didn’t want to claim a fae, and he didn’t want Ralph to tell me that it was an option, because for him… it wasn’t.

I steeled myself, and my heart. I nodded my understanding.

“None of you are in danger if you return, and unless I’m claimed by someone all I would do is bring trouble for my mother.” Lauren frowned and nodded his agreement at my assessment.

“No one knows what you are, though Holden suspects it,” Lauren added. “I came for you hoping to convince you to return and date until you felt comfortable with our bond. I had no intention of rushing things, but your lineage does put you in danger without a mate to share the wolf essence with. It gives you protections within our laws that fae otherwise would not.”

“The laws regarding fae haven’t been updated for centuries within the packs, and the deaths between the races hasn’t helped that.” Ralph took a step back thinking I would hit him for relaying facts. I may have been out of the loop since I was a kid, but they told all pups from a young age horror stories about the fae to keep us in line, creating fear of ever being a rogue to deal with fae on our own.

I shook my head in frustration. “It’s up to the alpha of the pack whether they send me to be tried by the Lycan King, whether I’m mated or not.”

Ralph pepped up excitedly, “That’s what I’m saying!” He motioned between me and Jet. “He’s the alpha, case closed. You’re his luna, and there is nothing the Blood Crest pack can say about his decision to not send you to the Lycan King.” Taking a step back he puffed up his chest all proud of his deduction skills, but the way Jet was standing there all silent death didn’t boaster his cause.

Yah, that was not an option by the looks of things.

“Danny is part of our pack, she is considered the current beta’s daughter, whether by blood or not. They wouldn’t send her to the Lycan King,” Lauren protested, but there was heavy set to his flat mouth that made me think he didn’t truly know what his alpha would do, and I couldn’t trust my fate to Holden either.

Jet took a step forward capturing my attention with those dark orbs and said, “I’d have to see the Lycan King anyways. It would be the only way to prove who I am, but you would be safe with me, mate or not, if you joined my pack.”

I blinked at him, unbelievingly.

The only words I could think to say in response to that were, “But, I’m not a wolf…”