Dark Alpha: A Fated Mates Novel

28: PACK LINK

~VANNIE~
She was in full panic mode.

She'd been feeling the stirrings of the mate bond before, of course. Even though her wolf had been absent, her lupine nature was very much intact, and it could not be completely overridden.

But now, every part of her body was primed for action. Her wishes had been answered, it would seem, because she could smell Sin on her now, like dark incense smoke and sandalwood.

That scent was making her crazy. She wanted to scratch at herself till it was gone, or maybe soak herself in a tub of scalding water for hours. But a part of her acknowledged that it would be useless.

His smell was not coming from outside. It was wafting from inside her. She could only imagine the downhill battle it would be when she was actually face-to-face with him.

"You little bitch," she called to the void inside her. No, not void. Her wolf was back, after all. "You left me alone all this while, but now when I can finally have my revenge, you show up?"

She felt her wolf stir, rearing her head. An apology, maybe, but not quite.

No, it was an 'I did what I had to do to protect you.' And after all this while, the wolf's disappearance finally made sense. They'd been using silver chains to whip Vannie in the King's dungeons, and it had felt like one of her limbs were being severed, over and over again. But that was before the wolf went dormant, and the silver stopped hurting so badly.

If she hadn't disappeared, the Keepers might have killed her.

"Still," Vannie snarled. "You left me when I was all alone. You left—Goddess, you hurt me the most."

The wolf lowered her head in shame, but it was a stale victory. Vannie didn't want an apology. She wanted the whole situation to have never happened in the first place.

"And now, what is happening? I'm not going to forget my brother. I'm not going to forget my plan for the Inlands. I gave my vow to kill the King, damnit."

She stumbled to the floor and held her head in her hands. This was not how it was supposed to go, for sure. Not at all. This was the worst timing possible, and it had the fates' hands written all over it.

Just like she'd suspected, she and Sin's lives were like chess pieces, moved around for some higher order's entertainment. How would she get out of this entanglement now?

***

She should probably tell someone that her wolf was back, but then they'd start expecting her to join the Inlands pack link. She wasn't ready for that, not even in the least. And she couldn't let Maeve or Zara or her Omega servers come into the room. They'd definitely smell her wolf for sure.

She barricaded the doors to her chambers with the settees and made a quick spell to cloak her scent in case it was strong enough to be smelled from outside.

"What am I going to do?"

Find a way to get to the apothecary, that was for sure. Other than the fact that she needed some of the stronger herbs to fully dampen her scent, she also needed to contact Crom.
She needed to be remembered of why Sin had to die.

But Sin had made sure to give orders that if he wasn't around to escort her to the apothecary himself, then Maeve or Zara had to follow her. That wouldn't do.

She eyed the windows, the one whose hexes only the Alpha could deactivate. It could not kill her if she touched it, but it would not grant her passage to climb down from, either.

Or would it?

She was Alpha now, wasn't she? A female version, yes. But since their marriage, she had equal powers over the Inlands as Sin did. So... surely, the hexes would pave for her, right?

But even if they did, would she be able to climb down the great walls?

A moment of doubt settled before she remembered that yes, she could climb down now because her wolf was back.

But maybe the hexes needed a specific spell to make them accessible? She muttered an entrance spell, but didn't feel the buzz of the hexes stop.

She got closer. Put her hand to the space in the window, and repeated the spell. This time, there was a visible crack in the air, like a small stone that was thrown against glass. The hexes gave way to her, but she wasn't even in the right frame of mind to be jubilant.

She grabbed a cloak and made quick work of gathering her dress around her. Within minutes, her feet touched the soft grass of the palace grounds. She ran as fast as her feet would carry her to the apothecary, not even bothered anymore if anyone saw the strange, hooded figure and decided to investigate.

There was a surprise waiting for her there (as if she hadn't enough of those.)

The grass and flowers outside the apothecary were neatly trimmed and looked like they had a recent watering. There was a little note at the door written in black ink. She took a second to examine the penmanship first before she read the message, and jolted when she saw it was from Sin. 

'I thought you wouldn't like anyone else touching your stuff, so I cleaned it up alone. I found some of your deep, dirty secrets, but they're all safe with me. —Your Servant, Sin.'

The last part surprised her, but then she remembered he was supposed to say things like that as her mate. The Realms believed the only thing more precious than the Alpha was the Alpha's female.

Then she ran cold at the 'I found some of your deep, dirty secrets' part, wondering what exactly he'd seen. She kept the note inside her cloak and entered the apothecary. Shattered windows and dusty panes had been replaced and cleaned, the floors positively gleamed, and the walls shone.

She gasped. "Why would the King. . ." do all of this by himself, she'd have said, but she noticed a little crate at the side of her table. (A new table she realized, this one made of brown cedar and oakwood.)

There was another note there, and her fingers trembled as she picked it up. 'I created a filing system for your salves. New shelves will be brought in by tomorrow. And the crate is for Daffodil. I thought you might like him to stay around you while you worked. —Your Servant, Sin.'

She fell to the floor, crushing the note in her hand with how much she shook. And when the heaving sobs started and the fat tears began to drop from her eyes, she let them.