The Last Pack

11. NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN

Conri was ashamed to admit that when Fidella had saved her friend, his first emotion had been fear. He momentarily thought that nobody was worthy enough for Fidella to be in danger for, he included himself in that statement. Iselda needed to be protected from Leighton, who everyone could agree was ruthless and took immense pleasure from the pain of others, but Fidella was the only person who had even tried to protect her and that had resonated with his brothers and himself. Unexpectedly, Conri felt a deluge of guilt break through his hard exterior like when the bedrock cracks under immense pressure. He had never spent the night with Fidella, he had never been intimate with any pleasure slave, but he realised now that not being the cause of someone’s pain didn’t result in him being blameless. He hadn’t done enough for Iselda, and for the first time he was uncomfortable with this fact, and ashamed that his mate had had to reveal it to him.

When Fidella had berated all of them for their indifference towards someone who should have been protected by them, he could feel the heat of her anger, but he could feel an incredible grief for all the times she couldn’t save her friend. Einar whimpered in his mind urging him to take her in his arms and lend her some comfort, to soften the sharp edges of culpability that she was feeling because she hadn’t acted sooner. Conri knew that to console her would put her in more danger. Nobody could know what they meant to each other. They could easily each be used as a weapon to punish the other. He contemplated linking her sooner, but wasn’t sure how to convey support to her in words, to affirm that everything she was saying was true and overdue. Instead, he focused on sending these feelings to her. She was his mate and he could feel this strong connection to her himself. It was an irrevocable need to protect both physically and emotionally. He vowed that somehow he would protect Fidella and all she held close to her. He replayed what had happened in his mind, trying to pin point how he could have been a better mate for her.

“She’s here, I can feel her, my mate!” Interrupted Einar, while head butting against Conri’s inner skull, in an attempt to push his human counterpart closer to her.

Seeing Fidella’s eyes turn black was a wonder to Conri, he had never seen a she-wolf’s actual wolf before. This was incredibly dangerous. Ewan had clearly understood the implications of Fidella’s loss of control over her wolf, but the way she commanded him was clear to all that Isla was immensely powerful.

Dominus Heaton didn’t tolerate dissension, so Conri knew that he had to get Fidella back before her punishment became something beyond endurance for both of them. After hearing the master’s judgement, he could feel disappointment avalanching off her and landing right at his feet. He tried to mind link her but seemed to hit a wall.

“She’s blocked you, you won’t be able to get through until she lowers the wall. In simple terms, Conri, she doesn’t want to speak to you,” Einar explained, with a cutting edge of sarcasm.

“Why would she do that?” Conri asked, feeling perturbed that he was having to take relationship advice from his animalistic counterpart.

“I’m not sure, maybe it’s because you didn’t support her when she was pulling Iselda from that monster’s grip. Perhaps it could be because you waited until the last moment to intervene and even then your logic was to tell the sexy, glorious she-wolf to submit to a human who isn’t fit to grovel at her feet. If it’s not any of those reasons, the only remaining cataclysmic mistake left would be when you moaned that you were more bothered by the late start to training rather than the idea of any of these mongrels touching what is ours!” Einar finished his diatribe, and then erected his own mental block.

Fidella had returned to her room as a pleasure slave. She wouldn’t have to work in the daytime any longer and, although she was mad at Conri, she didn’t want to miss the time she could spend near him in the day. She looked across the room at Iselda. She had saved her from Leighton’s clutches for now, so even though she would be punished, it was for a good reason.

“Iselda, is there anything I should know before tonight?”

“It will all depend on who you are given to. Hopefully, Conri’s glare will stop them from touching you tonight, until Conri has some sort of a plan in mind. I closed my eyes my first time, and when I get someone really bad, I still do that. Hopefully, you will get Conri or Ewan and they will protect you. I think even Jerrick will manage to control himself. I’m not sure about the rest, though they like their rewards,” Iselda explained.

“I don’t think I can do that, Iselda. I think I will try to fight them off. You saw my wolf today. She will try to protect me. If I don’t come back tonight, I’m really glad I made such a good friend,” Fidella replied.

“You know, I am always worried about what my mate would say if I met them. Nobody would want a spoiled she-wolf like me. You changed the way I see things, you made me feel brave and strong. I can’t control what happens to me, but I can survive it and if my mate can’t see that, it won’t matter because my best friend does. I survived and so will you. Luna,” Iselda held her hand tightly, willing her strength of endurance to spread into her.

Fidella was incredibly touched by what her friend had said to her, and when she was called Luna, Isla bowed at the recognition of her new title, and she was moved that her wolf appreciated the significance of the title.

“ Thank you for trusting me to be your Luna, Iselda. I will make you proud, I promise. As for your mate, he will love your strength, bravery and kindness and your past will be memories that you can replace with visions of the future with your mates and pups. If he for one second cannot see this, then he won’t be worthy of you,” Fidella reassured her.

Meanwhile, Conri was pacing his cell. Trying to produce a plan to protect his queen, and explain why he behaved as he did. His only way of speaking to her would be to meet her at the pool for her ritual. There was only one person who might share the key with him, and pinning all these hopes on his long-term friendship, he bounded over to Ewan’s cell.

“Ewan, I need to see her and speak to her. She won’t let me mind link her. I can’t not talk to her before tonight, she’s mine,” Conri implored his long-time friend.

“I’ve already planned it out, Conri. She will use our bathing pool before tonight. I’ll make sure Iselda takes her and you can speak to her then. In return you need to do two things for me. The first thing is to accept Fidella as your mate. She will tell you the words you need to say. The second thing is to become the Alpha and lead your brothers as a pack. Will you do this?” Conri nodded his head in confirmation. Fidella had taught him one thing. It was that he needed to become worth of her and accept his birthright.

Ewan smiled, he had no malicious intention, prompting Conri to accept his role. He couldn’t deny that if all the household of wolves behaved more like a pack, he would achieve his own goals with greater efficiency. However, Ewan had been free long enough to believe in the power of the Moon Goddess and he believed in her divine intervention more than the excuse of co-incidence. It was more than chance that made him find Fidella that day, possibly the last female Alpha alive, and bring her to one of the few Alpha male wolves alive, who he had been living with for the past three years. Furthermore, these two rare wolves would then discover that they were mates, forming potentially the strongest leadership that wolves had ever known, as well as a continuation of the Alpha wolf species. Sweet Selene, please allow him to get his vengeance on the Heatons in payment for pushing two of the most subborn wolves together. He sent up a silent prayer to the Goddess.

“How are you going to deal with her punishment?” Ewan asked, sympathetically.

Conri said with certainty, “I won’t have to, it’s never going to happen.”