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Not yet, it wasn’t.
“Come on, let’s do my usual route. You can do eight miles, can’t you?”
I didn’t even bother to answer that.
We struck off at an easy pace, with one of the GranitePaw who knew the route running point. Her other two guards fell in behind her a respectful distance, while Hamid dropped to a place eight feet off my left shoulder. Maya gave him an appraising look. “Scars on that one.”
It was the first time Hamid had gone running with me, and he’d asked what I’d prefer he wear. I’d told him to run in whatever he wanted. Despite the frigid damp day, this had meant running shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. I’d always seen him in a suit, and it’d become obvious pretty quick why he’d asked: something had chewed up the skin on his right quad, and his right forearm had burns that matched his face.
“Well-earned,” I told Maya, which translated among wolves as he’d earned them honorably.
“Quite a compliment given he is surely paid to watch your back.”
“He’s a decorated solider,” I bit back.
“Amazing what enough money will buy. And what it can’t buy.”
Any response I could have formulated would have involved thumping the stuffing out of her and shoving her into a thorny bush, so I chose not to respond at all.
She inhaled the cold, smelly air and seemed to taste her words before she said them. “Let’s talk a bit about how things are done in this city.”
Somehow I doubted she’d hand me a manual and send me on my merry way. And how darling she acted like she didn’t know there was a body in the city morgue with silver still destroying it from the inside.
“Since you’re new, you probably don’t know about local customs,” she added when I didn’t say anything.
Whatever passed for local “custom” in this concrete hellhole could go play in rush hour traffic on the Whitestone.
She gestured with a gloved hand as we trotted along. “First, no paperwork gets done without our oversight. You made the right call not helping Janice.”
I’d almost forgotten about the she-wolf who had showed up at Sterling’s office building. “I smelled the fake birth certificate, it had nothing to do with you. Is there even a kid? If there is, is she registered? Or did you just pay Janice?”
“Cash. Everything Janice told you was probably true, we didn’t tell her to lie. We’ll deal with the girl when she’s an adult.”
“Why? Because she’s illegitimate?”
“Yes,” Maya said.
“So is my mate,” I growled.
“And you condone bastardy?”
“I didn’t say that. I’m saying the kid shouldn’t be punished for the mistakes of her parents.”
Maya’s pleasantness vanished. “The girl’s mother has a mate out there somewhere, and instead of finding him, she’s wasting herself on a wolf Gaia didn’t intend for her to be with. We offered to help Janice find her true mate, but she’s refused.”
Packs didn’t make offers like that often. “She refused?”
“She did.”
“But why?” A pack like GranitePaw had all the necessary connections to be a very effective matchmaker.
“Same reason I wager your mother-in-law doesn’t bother looking for her mate. Usually it’s something to do with they’re fond of their current partner and don’t want to risk losing a good thing. We promised to register the child if she attempted to do the right thing. She still refused. Your father wanted mates honored no matter where they’re found and wanted to put the blame at the feet of the Alphas. A lot of the blame does lie with Alphas, but in the cities, there are females who can’t be bothered looking for their true mate. We offered Janice the type of help we’re willing to give. She had a pup out of wedlock knowing the consequences. If she refuses to accept it because she places her own happiness above her daughter’s future, that’s her concern.”
I’d never heard of she-wolves who refused to seek out their destined mate. Giving up the hunt or rejecting a situation, yes. And it wasn’t the first time I’d heard the dual-edged “consequences” argument either. Cerys could be angry and bitter all she wanted about the raw deal she’d gotten, but she wasn’t blameless. She had decided to frisk around with Prince Deadbeat, knowing he wouldn’t stay in town, and being fairly sure he wasn’t her mate.
But without that choice, I wouldn’t have Sterling.
We also wouldn’t have to wrestle with the consequences twenty-five years later.
