Dark Alpha: A Fated Mates Novel

24: THE FATES

~SINCLAIR~

"How is it going?" Alaric asked, looking here and there as if to make sure there were no eavesdroppers, even though they were in the King's chambers.

Sin looked at him, amused. "How is what going?"

"Courting the Queen, of course."

Ah, that. He shrugged on a pair of gloves that helped him pull his punches, ignoring Alaric. "Going by that smile on your face, she's being receptive?"

Sin sighed. "Stay out of my love life, old man. I know you still want me to leave her alone, but I think she's beginning to warm up to me." It was a struggle not to blush after that sentence. He tried to concentrate on what he was doing, which was also a struggle because a single mention of Vannie was all it took to make him fuzzy.

But still, it was training day. It'd be right not to get distracted.

Sin usually didn't train with guns, preferring the heavy weight of a blade in his hands, so he clasped a sword to his side. "We talked about what happened." And she kissed me. Willingly.

Alaric's hackles rose, almost as if he'd heard the unspoken part of the sentence. "I see. Did you tell her about her brother?"

"She can never find out about Enoch," Sin replied, facing Alaric. "Do you understand? It would devastate her."

The older man didn't look convinced. "Alpha, don't you think it's best to get this out of the way now? The fates are still waiting for a minute to strike. Don't think this is the end of the prophecy."

Sin wanted to be angry, but what Alaric was saying was nothing but the truth. "I don't care about what happens later. I refuse to live my life waiting for the other shoe to drop when I could spend it loving my female."

Alaric would not understand. He suspected Alaric was one of the special Raphas that were destined to die without a mate, too. Sin felt sad for him, but refused to be like him.
"Do you read her thoughts?"

Sin wrinkled his nose. Great, he was picking up on Vannie's habits. "No. Her thoughts are private. In fact, I've stopping reading everyone's thoughts. That way, I won't slip and forget when it comes to her."

Alaric looked like his eyes might pop out of his skull. "You—you..."

Sin caged a laugh. "It's not so hard to believe that I'm capable of some decency, you know." Together, they left his chambers for the training fields.

Usually, some of the Inlanders would come around to watch the King train his Keepers, but not today. Today, they were out cleaning the debris caused by the bomb. If he listened well, he could pick up on their excited chatter as the moved up and down. All the Inlanders were groomed to adore community activities, and if this training wasn't as important, Sin and his Keepers would be part of the clean up.

The Keepers were already sparring when he arrived. They stopped to give him a bow, then went right back to it. He turned to Alaric, "Think there will be any wounds this time?"

The old man shrugged, though he looked like he hoped there would be casualties from this training. It had been long since he'd used his Rapha powers, especially now that Vannie owned his apothecary.

"We're using real weapons today," Sin called, making the Keepers stop their movements to listen. "You know the rules. If you draw blood from your opponent, you're the one who'll get punished."

They were too well-trained to murmur or grumble, so they just brought out their blades. Half of them preferred guns, but since he was in training today, they'd use his weapon of choice.

He nodded for the Head Keeper to begin instructions, but instead, they all fell to their knees, the ideal position for supplication.
After a moment of surprise, Sin sighed. This was getting tiring. "What do you need?"

Greer, who was clearly the mouth-piece of the group, cleared his throat. "The palace and dungeon Keepers want to plead with you to intercede for us. The Queen has refused to receive us or let us pay her homage the way she does for the rest of the Inlanders."

Sin pinched the bridge of his nose. "She's not the one who ordered that. I did."

He didn't want it to, but their thoughts filtered to him, anyway. The strength of their dissatisfaction was too much to ignore. And worse, they felt betrayed that he'd kept them away from her.

"You'd rather that she just endured your presence?" Sin asked, and like he expected, they didn't respond. But it looked like at this point, they would take her endurance over her absence.

"Fine. I'll ask the Queen if she'll be available to meet with you."

They knew he wouldn't utter those words if he didn't mean them, so a collective sigh of relief went through the group. Dear Gods, his Keepers were desperate for their Luna.
Almost as desperate as he was.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. You're very kind," Greer replied profusely, clearly trying to drive the nail deeper into the coffin.

Sin's daemon wanted to make sure no unmated male went near Vannie, though. It was only worse because she hadn't asked him to mark her yet. He knew that an Inland wolf was not physically capable of lusting after someone who wasn't their mate, unlike wolves in other territories. The daemon should take that as a consolation, but clearly didn't.

A dark cloud overcame his senses when he remembered that Zhode was also one of such territories that shared bodies without care of the future mate bond. In fact, if he remembered clearly, from the age of sixteen moons, Zhodian wolves were ENCOURAGED to give each other garlands and show their interest in having sex.

That was because their female heat period came earlier than the other territories. And yet, their mating period could only commence from twenty-two moons. Why was that even logical?

Sin barely managed to leash a crazed growl. Had Vannie given a garland to someone else back in Zhode? Did someone give his Queen pleasure while he was absent and getting ready to flip her world upside down?

"You'll be seeing the Queen if she allows, but you're not to come close enough to touching. Do you understand?"

That was a useless notification—they wouldn't have come close, anyway. But Vannie's smell was mouth-watering and some of these men were unmated. That reminder was all it took to do him in.

Just as he was about to declare that they wouldn't be having any meeting with Vannie, after all, one of the gate and boundary Keepers burst into the training fields, where he clearly shouldn't be at this time.

He threw himself at Sin's feet. "Your Majesty, spare my life. The Queen is at the gate. Cleaning with the people!"