Chapter 36: Bonds Beyond Death

(LOCKE)

Coming to the Human Kingdom isn’t something I generally enjoy doing. I find this side of the Veil to be overly complicated.

Shifters drive in their small boxes, preferring human convenience over the strength of their own bodies. But ever since the Eastern rebels have managed to find a way to cross the Veil undetected, it has begun to cause problems.

King Erik Wild has been more than cooperative, but the rebels are sneaky and able to cover their tracks. The Eastern Kingdom has had no choice but to cooperate with us, given the forcible trade restrictions I’ve imposed upon them. Four years ago, they tried to resist when I launched an investigation. It didn’t take long for them to bend when I showed up at their palace with another squadron.

Oh, Ravenna protested, as did Bella, but their adamant displeasure made the entire thing even more satisfying.

Compared to the human world, time flows differently on our side of the Veil, especially the phases of the moon. The full moon takes place only every three months. Four times a year, a female shifter can conceive. In these past eight years, I have not touched Ravenna once. The elders have fought and raged, but they can’t force me to fuck the woman.

And it’s not like Ravenna hasn’t tried. She has slipped me aphrodisiacs and shown up in my room in scant clothing, but nothing has worked. It also doesn’t help that she only sees me for a total of three months each year.

Bella has been equally vocal about this, but once she lost favor with me, her importance in the castle waned.

Ever since I lost Corrine, it feels like there’s a gaping hole in my life, one I’ve never been able to fill.

Fighting at the border has made it easier over the years. I don’t like returning to the castle because I see my fated mate in every corner. I have to look at the woman wearing her face. Even now, sometimes the faintest trace of Corrine’s scent tickles my nose. I’ve tried to become accustomed to it, to ignore it, but when that small wolf pup peeked at me through the window of Erik’s office, his paws on the edge of the sill, I felt my heart crawl into my mouth.

That scent! At first, I thought I was imagining it, but then the wind shifted, and I knew.

The wolf pup must have noticed that it got my attention because it let out a small squeal and raced off. But I wasn’t letting the little pipsqueak get away. Ignoring Erik’s startled yell, I leaped out the window and chased it down. As soon as I grabbed it by the scruff of its neck, one close sniff convinced me.

The child’s scent was intermingled with my mate’s. I had so many questions. What was going on? How?

“Finn Hale!”

The familiar voice had my wolf sitting up and alert. There was no possible way. I was frozen in place, unable to move, when somebody snatched the pup from my hand.

Corrine.

She’s alive. She has been alive all these years.

The events from the garden are still playing in my head on repeat. How is this possible? She met Erik. She had a child with Erik.

Why didn’t she come find me? Why did she—

I bury my head in my hands, staring down at the floor of the hotel room. My mate has been alive all these years, and she has a child.

I can’t process it.

I want to feel betrayed, but the look in her eyes when she glared at me was filled with fear and anger. Never before has she looked at me like that. My mate was always submissive. Sure, she had teeth, but she was very careful about showing them. This woman, this Corrine, she’s a stranger.

But she’s still my Corrine, isn’t she?

She’s alive. She’s well. If Erik had a mate, I would have been aware of it. If he had a child, I would have been aware of it. What if she’s lying? What if they’re both lying? I need to know.

Getting to my feet, I pace the length of the VIP suite, my wolf anxious to go out and hunt her down. She thinks I tried to kill her. Once she knows that’s not true, won’t she understand? Won’t things be alright between us?

I just have to convince her, right? But what about that child?

There’s a knock on the door, and Sigrid enters. “Your Majesty, word has come from—” She pauses when she sees the look on my face. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

I stare at her, trying to find the words to tell her. “Corrine.” Sigrid sighs, and her voice becomes gentle. “Oh, Locke—”

I shake my head. “Sigrid, she’s alive. She has a child.”

My attendant takes a step back, shock all over her face. “Are you sure? How can that be? Where is she?” She looks around the room as if expecting Corrine to pop out from behind the curtain.

“She’s with Erik. She—she’s had a child with him.”

Sigrid pales. “No. She wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t—”

“Wouldn’t she?” I ask bitterly. “You should’ve seen the way she looked at me, Sigrid. She despises me. I tried to talk to Erik, tried to get the truth out of him, but he told me to leave. I should’ve gone after her. She has been in the human world all these years. She’s been alive.”

Saying it out loud makes it all the more real for me.

“If she had a child with King Wild,” Sigrid says shakily, “you would have felt the fated mate bond disappear. Can you still sense it?”

I search deep inside and feel the faint flicker of warmth that I’ve always associated with the fated mate bond. “It’s there.”

Even when she died, when I believed she had died, it never truly vanished. That’s the curse of the fated bond that ties two wolves together. The bond exists even beyond death. If I had given Corrine my mating mark and she had truly passed on, my wolf would have withered away. It strikes me that if I had given her the mark, I would have known.

I would have known that she was still alive. I could have looked for her. I could have found her and brought her back and fixed everything. But it’s too late. Years have passed. Because I wanted to humiliate her on the day of our mating ceremony, I never gave her the mark, and as a result, I lost her.

“If I can feel the bond,” I muse, pondering Sigrid’s words, “then she didn’t have Erik’s child?”

“That is usually the case.”

“Usually?” I echo.

Sigrid looks uncertain. “Corrine’s body had been ravaged by the poisons she’d been fed over the years. It could also be that her physiology was affected. You should demand a blood test.”

“But if it’s not Erik’s child, then whose—” I feel myself go cold. “She and I never slept together on the night of the full moon. If you’re thinking —”

“I’m thinking we should not jump to any conclusions till you know for sure,” Sigrid says firmly, but I can see how rattled she is. “I’ll ask Rothan to look into her. King Wild is probably going to try to prevent any meeting between the two of you, so let’s see if we can find a way to contact her outside of his control.”

I give her a dazed look. “And if she refuses to see me?”

Sigrid presses her lips together into a thin line. “She won’t refuse to see me. You’re going to have to be patient, Your Majesty. The situation is very delicate. We need all the facts before we proceed. Also, we’ll have to make sure we keep this entire thing under wraps. If word gets back to the elders, Bella, or Ravenna, we may no longer be able to control the situation.”

I agree with her.

She takes a few steps toward me. “Locke, it’s going to be alright. We’ll get her back.”

She cups my face in her hands, and I close my eyes. “She thinks I betrayed her.”

“But you didn’t!” Sigrid says fiercely. “You didn’t, and once she knows the truth, she’ll come back to you.”

I recall the way Corrine glared daggers at me, the confidence in her eyes, the way she carried herself. “She’s not the same Corrine we knew,” I murmur, my heart sinking. “Even if she believes me, she may not choose to come back.”

And come back as what? My mistress? A whore?

Erik’s words return to sting me. If I bring Corrine to the Northern Wolf Kingdom again, what will her position be? If I reinstate her as the queen, then Ravenna will have to be removed, and that will cause a disruption among the elders. It will also eliminate the leverage we have against the Eastern Kingdom.

But even as I think that, my jaw hardens. Then so be it. Whatever the repercussions, I will not live without Corrine now. I want my mate back.

Even if it means raising a child that’s not mine.

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