by Cara Wylde
“Wow!” Amelia placed her fork and knife on the table and crossed her fingers underneath her chin. “I had no idea things were so complicated, although I guess it makes sense. It’s not only about power and who rules over Clan Sylfur, it’s about what they believe in, what they think is fair…”
“You could put it that way…” It was obvious Blake didn’t necessarily agree with Amelia’s conclusion. Even though it was correct and she was perfectly aware people were free to believe in whatever they wanted and stand up for whatever cause they thought was worth it, that didn’t make her uncles’ political position less wrong and damaging. They weren’t the only shape-shifters who strongly believed humans shouldn’t have any rights given their short life spans and physical weakness, but they were still in the minority. There was enough space under the sun for everyone, humans and shape-shifters. This was what Roman had told her when she was old enough to understand, and Blake had never forgotten it. Neither had she forgotten another thing her father had told her countless times: humans were here first; if there hadn’t been any humans, there wouldn’t have been any shape-shifters. Mother Nature kept making this clear even now: the human brides were the ones who ensured the continuation of their species.
“I’m not saying they’re right,” continued Amelia. “In a way, it’s a type of racism.”
“It is, and we don’t know how far they would take it if given the chance. This is why my father needed to have a male heir: to raise him as he saw fit, to teach him to respect all factions. This is why we can’t fail. Sebastian, Julian and Charles seem to be on my father’s side, or they’re pretending. But with him gone, Damon might just influence them again and tip the balance in his favor.”
“What is his endgame anyway?” This Damon guy was a complete mystery to Amelia. He was the only brother she hadn’t met. She was sure he would attend the mating ritual, if she and Blake ever had one.
“We can’t be sure…” Blake shrugged. “And, honestly, it’s better for us to never find out. It could be anything from wreaking havoc for opposition’s sake, which would put the whole clan in danger, to actually trying to form some kind of resistance and starting a new war between humans and shape-shifters.”
“Would they be able to do that? I mean… there would be four Alpha fox-shifters against the whole world. It would be crazy to even think about it, let alone try it.”
Blake sighed and pushed her plate away. She had lost her appetite minutes ago. “I wouldn’t bet on it. Father says there must be more shape-shifters loyal to the same insane cause, otherwise Damon wouldn’t have pushed things so far as to get himself nearly banned from the clan. It’s driving me mad that we can’t know for sure, that we don’t have more information. What we do know is that we must never let our guard down.”
Amelia looked at her food and asked herself if she was still hungry. She reached for the glass of water instead. “You mentioned something about the Council… So far, this seems to be an inside problem.”
“It is, and we want to keep it that way. The problem with the Council is that when my father… will be no more…” he chocked a bit on the words, “… and I become the main Inari of Clan Sylfur, I’ll also take my rightful place as the councilor of the fox faction.”
“Your rightful place?!” Amelia’s brown eyes grew wide and bright with curiosity. Of all the things Blake could have said about the Council, this was the last one she would have expected. “What are you talking about? I thought the fox councilor… what’s his name?”
“Jonathan Redfur.” Blake couldn’t help but smile at Amelia’s cute face. Yes, she could understand what Seth had seen in her.
“Redfur… isn’t he one of the youngest members?”
“He is.”
“You would have to replace him, but why?”
“Because he is just filling in for me, or rather… for my father’s heir.”
Amelia shook her head in an attempt to clear her mind. She felt like it would soon be too difficult for her to keep up with Blake’s big reveals. There was truly more to this woman… to this future Alpha fox… than she had thought. “I’m listening,” she encouraged Blake to continue.
“When the war ended and the Council of the Six Factions was formed, my father was offered the position of councilor of the fox faction and he refused. He was badly injured, already too old to be able to take more stress, so he asked the other councilors to choose someone else, someone other than his brothers, of course. They, instead, offered him the honor to choose, as he was the most powerful and influential Inari. Wanting to keep the position in the family, so to speak, he delegated Jonathan, a very distant relative. Distant enough so he wouldn’t have any ties with his brothers, but close enough to be able to advise him from time to time. Jonathan accepted, but dad told him there was one condition: when his son would become the main Inari of Clan Sylfur, Jonathan was to step down and offer him his position in the Council.”
Amelia was dumbfounded. By this point, she didn’t know what to say, so she simply nodded to show she was still following Blake.
“As you know, I’m that heir. What my father hadn’t planned was for me to be female, not male. Now, if I am to become councilor, I really need you by my side. Even though it’s practically unheard of, I will make you my main adviser so you would accompany me to every meeting and cover my scent.”
“That…” Amelia gulped. “That sounds very risky.”
“Yeah… but it’s not like we have a choice.”
Amelia thought for a minute and eventually nodded in approval. It was true, they didn’t have a choice. Roman’s brothers had to be kept in a tight leash, and only Blake could do it when her father would be no more. Her power and influence would grow when she’d become councilor, and her uncles would never dare even think of challenging her or telling her about how they believed humans shouldn’t have rights. Chaos would be avoided and the balance would be kept. It all depended on Blake and Amelia convincing everyone Blake was a strong Alpha male. She opened her mouth to ask what kind of person Jonathan Redfur was, but an impatient knock on the door interrupted her. Her heart jumped when Seth entered the room without waiting for Blake’s invitation. He smiled and she smiled back.
“Seth, how impolite of you,” laughed Blake. “What if you walked in on something?”
Seth raised a thick, dark brow. “On what exactly? The two of you playing chess?”
Amelia laughed along with Blake, but Seth didn’t join in. He seemed rather tense.
“What’s up?” asked Blake. “You kept my bride busy all night and now you’re interrupting our lovely lunch.”
Seth ignored the comment and went straight for what he had come to tell them. “There was a battle at Alma Venus Boarding School.” His eyes were fixed on Amelia’s livid face. “The news just came in. It seems that yesterday there was a meeting in London and the Council talked to all the parties involved: Clan Blackmane, Viggo of Clan Drekinn, and the human who was turned into a werewolf by a rogue she-wolf who used to belong to Clan Blackmane.”
“Blackmane? Are you sure?” Amelia stood up, ready to launch herself at Seth, grab his shoulders, and shake him until he spilled out all the details. Avelyn, her colleague from Alma Venus, had been sold to Max Blackmane some months ago. Her heart started hammering in her chest.
Blake didn’t notice Amelia’s reaction. “A battle? What kind of battle, and what does it have to do with us?”
“Oh, it has everything to do with us, unfortunately. It was between the Blackmanes and a pack of rogue wolves that had more than enough support from two earths of fox-shifters.”
“Holy shit!” Blake stood up, knocking her chair back.
“Jason Woodtail was leading them, apparently. He and his foxes made a run for it when the dragon-shifter took the wolves’ side, and the Council hasn’t been able to track them down yet. No one knows where Woodtail is or why he went rogue, but there will be a trial when they catch him.”
Blake started pacing the room. “I d
on’t know who Jason Woodtail is…” There were countless fox-shifter clans and earths all over the world, and she didn’t know all of them. “It doesn’t matter, it’s still bad. So bad for our faction… What’s Redfur’s position on this?”
“Yeah, about that…” Seth turned around when he heard the door open. They all watched Roman Sylfur make his way over the threshold, his hands shaking on the doorknob and his old knees barely keeping him upright. He waived Seth away when the Yako wanted to help him reach the armchair.
“We have to talk,” said Roman. Even though his body was weak and exhausted, his voice was firm. “I might have been wrong about Jonathan Redfur all these years ago.”
Amelia was about to receive an answer to the question she never got to ask. As Blake and Seth were still standing, she didn’t dare sit down.
“From what I’ve heard, Jonathan was more concerned with the Blackmanes’ fault in the matter than with the fox-shifters’, which is fair enough, but doesn’t sit well with me. A good councilor, a councilor who truly cared about the reputation and well-being of his faction, would have done everything in his power to find the rogue who betrayed our trust and went against the peace treaty. If Jonathan were such a councilor, he would have first apologized for what Jason Woodtail had done and then vowed to catch him and turn him in with his own hands. Jonathan, instead, showed more interest in the wolves’ and dragons’ affairs. I don’t like that, if you ask me. I think there’s something rotten here.”
Blake considered her father’s words and took a deep breath before speaking. “I know I would have done that, but that doesn’t mean we should expect it from someone else. I’m sorry, father, but what if you’re reading too much into this? What if Jonathan is trying to track down Woodtail as we speak?”
Roman sighed. “Let’s hope you’re right. Nevertheless, we have to be prepared for whatever might come out of this mess. My brother in Canada is probably cheering Woodtail’s alliance with the rogue wolves.”
“Yeah,” admitted Blake. “I’m sure he’d offer him shelter if he found him before the Council.”
“God forbid!” Roman waved his hands as if trying to chase away the possibility. “Sebastian, Julian and Charles called to tell me they would be stopping by with their Yakos later this afternoon, so we have to decide on a position towards this matter and stick with it.” He moved his purple eyes from Seth to Blake, then to Amelia. “This is what we’re going to tell them: we believe Jason Woodtail is a traitor and we will not stand by his side. What happened at Alma Venus Boarding School is an isolated incident, an incident caused by some serious family drama fox-shifters have nothing to do with. Woodtail’s choice was strictly personal and it doesn’t reflect the fox-shifters’ position towards the peace treaty, neither does it have anything to do with the silly, old problems between foxes and wolves. Do we all agree?”
“Yes, father.”
“Yes,” said Seth.
“Yes,” whispered Amelia. She was dying to find out more about the battle and the Blackmanes, but Roman only seemed to be interested in Jason Woodtail and his two earths. She’d have to catch up with Seth later and make him tell her everything. She knew it wouldn’t be too hard.
“Good. Good.” Roman made a long pause. After staring into space for a couple of minutes, leaving Seth, Amelia, and Blake with their own thoughts, his tired gaze fell on his supposed son and his daughter-in-law. “I think it’s time to have the mating ritual. What do you say, children?”
Amelia’s pulse quickened. She turned to Blake, her eyes filled with uncertainty. She knew this moment would come, but that didn’t mean she was ready.
Seth swallowed down hard and struggled to keep his composure. The mating ritual… This sacred ceremony which was meant to bind two souls, two bodies, two mates. Oh, how he wished he’d have that with Amelia.
Blake looked at Amelia, then at Seth. It broke her heart to see these two people she loved so much separated by her and her father’s social and political game. They were doomed to consume their love in secret simply because Blake and Clan Sylfur were more important than them, more important than their right to be happy, get married, and maybe have children. She sighed and turned to her father: “Yes, we should get it over with.”
“Next week?” suggested Roman.
“Next week is fine,” was Blake’s answer.
CHAPTER TWO
The Mating Ritual
The week went in a blur. Amelia didn’t have much to do in preparation for the mating ritual, except go shopping with Elena to choose her dress and shoes. They were both white, of course, not only because the ritual was as close to a wedding as it could get, but also because the werefoxes of Clan Sylfur were all as white as snow. It was her way of showing her complete devotion to her new family. While Blake was locked up in her room most of the time and Roman was holding meeting after meeting with his brothers in his own room, Amelia did get to talk to Seth about the battle at Alma Venus and the Blackmanes. She let out a breath of relief when he told her Avelyn Blackmane was fine, but she couldn’t hold in a gasp when she found out her ex-colleague was pregnant. As much as she tried, Amelia couldn’t picture Avelyn having a baby. Selfish, self-centered Avelyn… She laughed out loud at the thought, and Seth asked her what was wrong. She waved him off and asked him to tell her more about this Viggo of Clan Drekinn guy and why he believed he helped the Blackmanes defeat the rogue wolves and foxes. Seth could only speculate…
Two days before the ritual, Amelia finally got to meet Damon Sylfur, the youngest of the Sylfur brothers. He came all the way from Canada with his earth to meet the bride, congratulate Blake, and attend the party. At first, Amelia was reluctant, but she soon realized it was impossible to resist Damon’s charm. He was clearly older than Seth and Blake, but he still had those boyish features which could melt any woman’s heart. She understood why he could have such a powerful influence on his older brothers, except for Roman, of course. Roman was too experienced to fall for Damon’s charm, he had seen too much to allow a smile and a wink to make him change his mind. Amelia tried to keep a cool head, but Damon’s light jokes and contagious laughter often made her forget why she shouldn’t trust him. His dark purple eyes, long blond hair and sharp features reminded her of the classic definition of Prince Charming. She quickly shook that image off when Seth told her Damon Sylfur was already at his fifth human bride, while he also kept a steady fox-shifter bride.
“That’s awful!”
“It’s actually how things work in the fox-shifters’ society,” explained Seth. “I’m not saying it’s right, but it isn’t considered wrong either, and the peace treaty allows shape-shifters to take as many brides as they want during their long lives. Unfortunately, Damon’s ex-brides didn’t exactly die of old age…”
“What do you mean?” A shiver ran up Amelia’s spine.
“His first wife died at birth. At that time, medicine wasn’t very evolved, so there was nothing the midwife could do to save her. The second one got very ill after giving birth to her second son, and I’m not sure what happened to the next two. I do remember one of them went through a long period of depression. He took his current shifter-bride pretty recently, two or three years ago, I think.”
“But he didn’t bring her with him,” she noted. The woman who always stood by Damon’s side was a tall, blonde vixen.
Seth smiled bitterly. “It pains me to say this, but except for Roman, all Sylfur Inaris, Yakos, Ninkos, and members of the clan who choose to take shifter brides don’t think much of them. They see them as expendable. Their only job is to provide heirs, and God forbid one of them is not as fertile as her husband expects.”
Amelia swallowed hard. “What happens then? It’s not like it’s something these poor women can control…”
“Well, let’s just say they don’t have an easy life, and leave it at that.”
The conversation turned Amelia’s stomach upside down. She tried to comfort herself with the thought that she was really lucky to have been bou
ght by Seth for Blake and ended up on Roman Sylfur’s side, but it didn’t help much. All the shifter brides who greeted her on the street and at the docks, cradling their children or watching them play… how many of them were actually living a nightmare at home? They were only putting on a mask. They had been raised and educated to be shifter brides, so they were doing their best. Maybe some of them were even grateful for the life they had if they happened to come from a background similar to Amelia’s.
When the day of the mating ritual came, both Amelia and Blake just wanted it to be over. Even though Blake had started to come out of her room more often during the day, she still didn’t feel very confident around her people. Of course, it had nothing to do with her social skills, which were practically intact, but with the constant fear that a fox-shifter might catch a scent of what she really was. Not a male fox, but very much a vixen. Blake kept Amelia close and everything was fine. Traditionally, one of the Sylfur brothers should have walked Amelia down the shoreline to where Roman was waiting to offer the new couple his blessing, but Blake insisted she wanted her bride by her side at all times. Sebastian, Julian, Charles and Damon laughed and made some dirty jokes about how Blake was already so possessive and Amelia wouldn’t probably get much rest at night until she gave Blake an heir. Blake smiled indulgently and Amelia even managed to blush. Seth was somewhere behind the crowd gathered by the river to celebrate the union, rolling his eyes. Naturally, he should have been at the front, standing by Roman’s side, but he didn’t want to hear Blake’s and Amelia’s vows. It wasn’t jealousy, as he knew their words would be empty, but he would have loved to be in Blake’s place so much that it hurt.
Their vows were simple. Love, loyalty… Amelia wasn’t even aware of what she was saying as Blake held her hands. She had written the whole thing on a piece of paper, then learned it by heard. Blake seemed to have done the same. There was nothing poetic, nothing even remotely hinting to the fact that they were madly in love with each other. It was a good thing none of the Sylfur brothers had ever married for love, otherwise they would have surely felt there was something wrong about the whole ritual. Blake finished with “in sickness and in health ‘til death do us part” and offered Amelia a sweet smile. Amelia smiled back and thought how not everything they had just vowed to each other was necessarily untrue. Yes, she was ready to stay by Blake’s side no matter what, help her achieve her goals and rule over Clan Sylfur as she and Roman saw fit. They were friends, after all. Maybe Blake would soon become what all the girls at Alma Venus called a best friend. Amelia’s heart fluttered at the thought. She wouldn’t mind finally having a best friend forever, not at all. She and Blake already shared so much that there was no question about it; they would watch each other’s back ‘til death did them part.
