Wolf Princess Sold to the Dragon King

Damage control was the Beta default setting. Daily. Unavoidable. Damon was very, very good at it.

He’d seen Nicholas Shadowfell cheat death, win wars, crush negotiations, and pull the occasional ballsy move that made every other Alpha look like they were wearing water-wings in the kiddie pool while Nicholas was free-diving with sharks.

Nothing fazed Damon Tavian.

Nicholas marking his fated mate in front of eighteen people?

Damon saw that coming from a mile away. Their matebond had been blocked, she looked like she’d been through a battle, Nicholas had royally shit the bed, and now she was trying to leave.

Guinevere marking Nicholas back?

Damon had called that shot two days ago. Blair had been looking for something on Nick’s neck, noted the absence of the mark Maddox already sported, and Damon solved the riddle in real time.

Nicholas mating with Guinevere right there on the spot?

That managed to catch Damon off guard. Nicholas Shadowfell was clearly not in the driver’s seat. Him losing control to his wolf was the kind of once-in-a-lifetime shit most people never got to witness.

Marking? Expected. Counter-mark? Called that shit. Wall sex in front of eighteen witnesses? That one was on the house.

The rookie Beta, still with both hands on his blade, looked like he’d just been struck by lightning and was waiting for the follow-up bolt to finish the job.

Damon guided him from the room while the rest of Nicholas’s men moved the Lunaris wolves the way shepherds move sheep.

The rookies went.

None of them put up a fight. All six of them shuffling down the corridor with the blank, thousand-yard stare of soldiers who had seen too much.

Reed: I want a raise.

Damon: I want amnesia.

Reed: I want a raise AND amnesia.

Damon: I want to go back in time to before he said ”privately in my chambers” and tackle him before the sentence finished.

Reed: How far back would you go?

Damon: To birth. His. Mine. I’m flexible.

Damon stopped at a door on the Shadowfell floor. Opened it.

Inside was a bar. Armchairs. A hearth. No bed. A room built for meetings.

”Who wants a whiskey?” Damon asked.

Door kid’s hand shot up before the sentence finished. He looked like he needed three whiskeys and a hug and was willing to accept them in any order.

”That’s one.”

”Me,” the youngest said.

”Two.”

”All of us,” Gavyn said. ”Pour for all of us.”

”That’s six. Let’s go.”

Damon poured.

Eighteen glasses. One for each of them.

Gavyn took his whiskey and drank the entire thing. Set the glass down. Damon refilled it without a word.

That’s when Gavyn glanced around the room, taking in the man-cave aesthetic and comfortable chairs meant for important conversations such as talking shit on other packs and plotting world domination.

Damon watched the lightbulb flicker on.

”There’s a meeting room assigned to every pack,” he explained.

”We were in her bedroom,” Gavyn said.

”You were in her bedroom,” Damon confirmed.

”Sitting in her armchairs.”

”Sitting in her armchairs. Congratulations.”

Door kid was already on his third glass. Damon refilled it without judgment.

Reed: Are we fostering or adopting?

Damon: Adopting.

Reed: Dibs on door kid.

Damon: I get the Beta. You get door kid. We split the rest on weekends.

Reed: Beta boy tried to kill our Alpha. That’s the cone of shame and no treats for a week if Nick asks.

Damon: Nick just fucked his mate against a wall in front of eighteen witnesses. He doesn’t get an opinion on anything for at least a week.

A Shadowfell veteran who hadn’t spoken all night slid a plate of bread across the table toward door kid without being asked. Door kid took three pieces. The veteran watched him eat with the quiet satisfaction of a man feeding a stray that had followed him home.

Gavyn cleared his throat. Every conversation stopped.

”Can we all agree collectively that did not happen?” he asked loudly for the room.

”Agreed,” every Shadowfell wolf said in unison without hesitation.

”Agreed,” every Lunaris wolf said half a second later, slightly less in unison, because they were rookies and even their collective agreements had a delay.

”What happened?” Reed added. ”Nothing happened that I saw.”

One of the Shadowfell veterans raised his glass. ”I was facing the wall. Didn’t see a thing.”

Another one nodded. ”I was examining the ceiling. Very detailed stonework in this building.”

A third one added, ”I had my eyes closed. Voluntarily. For personal reasons.”

The Lunaris wolves stared at them. The Shadowfell wolves stared back with the calm solidarity of men who wouldn’t hesitate covering for their king if he needed it, which was rare, and this was one of those times.

Gavyn looked at door kid. ”Nothing happened.”

Door kid nodded. ”Nothing.”

”You saw nothing.”

”I saw nothing.”

”You heard nothing.”

Door kid paused. The pause was too long. ”I heard... very little.”

”Nothing.”

”Nothing. I heard nothing. Absolutely nothing. I’m going to need another drink,” Door kid replied. ”But he isn’t hurting her, right?”

The room went quiet.

Damon set the bottle down. ”No. That’s not what that was.”

”What was it?”

”A matebond repair. He wasn’t hurting her. His wolf and venom were healing her, actually. Something happened to her memory.”

Six rookies had the same realization at the same time. The synchronized lightbulb was the most coordinated thing they’d done all night.

Reed: Same second. Same face. Same ”oh SHIT” expression.

Damon: Yup.

The youngest rookie sat up straight. ”Is THAT why she—”

One look from Gavyn and he shut his mouth.

Reed:Subtle. Nobody noticed that at all.

Damon: The effort was there.

The youngest Lunaris kid set his glass down too hard and it cracked. He stared at it. Then at Damon. His face said ’I’m sorry’ but when his mouth opened, no words came out.

Damon replaced the glass without comment. Reed poured it. The kid picked it up with both hands this time. Learning.

Reed watched the kid hold his glass like a sippy cup and felt something he hadn’t felt in years. It might have been a big brother instinct. It might have been indigestion.

Reed: Door kid is on glass four.

Damon: I’m counting. He’s fine.

Reed: That one is holding it with both hands.

Damon: I see that.

Reed: Like a sippy cup.

Damon: I see that too.

Reed: I would die for him.

Damon: You’ve known him for thirty minutes.

Reed: Longest relationship I’ve ever had. Don’t ruin this for me.

Damon scanned the room. A vet was quizzing a rookie on blade maintenance and the rookie was answering like his life depended on it. Another was teaching card shuffling and the rookie held the cards like he was dismantling a bomb. Two Lunaris rookies were playing darts with the accuracy of drunk toddlers. A Shadowfell vet was watching them and physically restraining himself from correcting their grip.

The youngest kid was following Reed around the room like a duckling who’d imprinted.

Reed: None of them have eaten.

Damon: They are malnourished, traumatized puppies who ran eight hundred miles to be here only to have a council bully their princess.

Reed:They’re OUR puppies now. Lunaris can fight me for custody.