Taming the Queen of Beasts

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******

ELRETH

Gar's jaw tightened. Elreth glanced at him, but spoke to the guards. "You can let Rika stand alone now," she said. "But please stand by the door and ensure she's unable to leave without permission."

The guards complied, while Elreth called the healers forward. "Can you scent a matebond on her?" she asked. "Be honest. There is no wrong answer. We can't be sure if there is even a bond present."

Gar looked at her sharply, but Elreth ignored him.

Hestyn stepped forward and asked quietly for Rika's hand. She took the human's hand and laid her nose to the back of her hand, inhaling deeply. She frowned and Gar shifted his weight. Elreth could smell his nerves spike and her heart dropped.

Oh, no. Had he been wrong?

Hestyn reached past Rika, towards Gar. "May I?" she asked quietly, indicating his hand.

Gar swallowed and offered his hand. Hestyn drew her nose along it. Elreth had a grim kind of delight in seeing Rika eye the woman suspiciously when she stroked the back of Gar's hand, where the tendons stood proud.

Then she took Rika's hand again and drew it up to her nose, before blinking. She smiled and looked up at Gar. "It's you?"

Gar managed to convey both smug satisfaction and relief when he looked at Elreth, his eyes hard and flashing as he murmured, "Yes. Yes, she's mine."

Rika looked up at him from the side, her cheeks pinking. Elreth couldn't decide if she was ecstatic, or terrified. Her scent was tangled with both.

But Elreth, though glad that Gar hadn't been wrong—and that his mate wasn't a betrayer—now faced an entirely new challenge on top of the mountain of challenges she already faced.

She could feel the truth of this bond settle on the back of her shoulders, a new weight to be carried, a new set of problems to navigate. As the older healer stepped forward to confirm the finding, affirming it almost immediately, and they both offered congratulations to Gar, Elreth took a deep breath.

As she thanked the healers and admonished them to keep these events both secret, her head spun.

Her brother was mated to a human from the enemy camp. Even if Rika could be trusted—which Elreth was now inclined to believe—it didn't mean she brought no complications. The humans would likely see her disappearance as reason to attack as soon as they learned of it. Her brother, who was supposed to be Alpha of the disformed, and her war chief, would now go slowly crazy, waiting for his mate to accept the bond. And when she did…

Elreth looked at them both, her lips flat. She needed Gar undistracted. And she needed Rika to accept this bond as quickly as possible.

But the idea that occurred to her felt wrong. As if she, as Queen, would be stepping into people's lives in a way that no one should, bar the Creator.

She needed to put the idea to Aaryn and see what he thought. But first…

When Rika and Gar stood facing her alone, Elreth crossed her legs and held the arms of her chair, feeling like she needed something to anchor her.

"I'm glad to hear these things. But there is one more hurdle. We still need to know that you're sharing everything—and honestly." She raised a hand when Rika opened her mouth. "That was not an accusation. I am… more comfortable with having you here, knowing these two pieces of information. But the fact remains that you are human and, until today, you have been working for our enemy. So forgive me, but there is more you will have to endure."

Elreth motioned towards the scribe now seated at her left. "I need you to tell me your story, Rika, from the beginning. What work you do, how you came to be in Anima, what you found here. When you met my brother, and what you've done since. If you were already second-guessing the plan of those above you, I would like you to explain why you chose to stay here, even when my brother was not with you.

"Please cover how you made your scent trail disappear, and as much of the human plan as you know. Every detail you can think of, no matter how small. All the technologies they possess that you are aware of, how they have managed to be here without our awareness until now. And finally, how you came to be here with Gar. Then… then we will need to go back over all of it, as we question you."

Gar's jaw went tight again, but Rika nodded. Elreth sat back in her chair, bracing to hear the plan to defeat her people, and praying she could find a way to combat it. But as Rika began to speak, Elreth couldn't shake the uneasiness she felt about the way Gar hovered over Rika. Not because she didn't want her brother to be happy. But because she'd just begun to rely on him. Their family was just beginning to heal.

Was this female going to come in and change everything?

Was Gar going to abandon them—Elreth herself—for a newfound loyalty?

Or worse… would Gar abandon his responsibilities for her, just when all the Anima needed him?

*****

GAR

She was his mate. She was definitely his mate. Holy shit. Holy fucking shit. Rika was his True Heart's Call.

His heart had leaped within him when Hestyn looked up at him with that smile and confirmed it. And other parts of his body soon followed.

Rika was his mate, whether she knew it or not.

She smiled when he looked at her and she smelled pleased—as well as frightened. He hated that her scent seemed to be threaded with fear so often. But now he knew, he didn't need to hold back—at least, not for his own sake.

She was his. She would discover it with time. He only had to be patient… As he became the recognized Alpha of a new tribe. As he established the disformed as Protectors. And led the Clans to war. And faced losing his life. Or Rika's.

Fuck.

Before he could even begin to process the pressures he would be juggling in the coming days and weeks, his fucking sister sat back in her chair and essentially sentenced Rika to an interrogation.

He wanted to bite out Elreth's throat. This was his mate! He needed time with her! She needed time with him! But Elreth ignored him, and Rika accepted the questioning.

Then she began to talk and Gar had a reason to stare at her.

Holy fucking shit. She was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

And she was his.

*****

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