wasn’t aware there was a drawing, Principal Montfort,” Kir said lightly. “What nasty task have I been assigned today?”
“This weekend, actually.” The leader steepled his fingers before his lips. Pale brown eyes assessed. “Sunday. In the forest edging Versailles, where the pack often celebrates midsummer’s eve. Malrick, king of the Unseelie court—”
“A faery?”
“Yes. I’ve just finished speaking with a liaison he sent with a most exciting offer that will benefit the entire pack.”
“You’re bargaining with the sidhe now? Do you think that wise?”
“Of course, if it will grant us access to Faery for hunting.”
Kir’s jaw dropped open. So his guess had been right. Etienne had actually managed to snag hunting rights in Faery!
“That’s a generous offer,” Kir said. “What did you have to offer in return?”
“Kirnan, this deal affects the whole pack.” The sudden serious tone in Etienne’s voice alerted Kir. His principal saved that dour bass tone for announcing bad news or chastising those in need of an attitude adjustment. “Seems Malrick is concerned about a portal from this realm into Faery,” Etienne explained. “It’s been cracked by common humans, and the Unseelie are experiencing an influx of the idiots landing in Faery. He wants our pack to guard the portal until the proper magical spell can be conjured to close it.”
“How long will that take?”
“Not sure. Could be weeks, months. Hell, the way the time is screwy in Faery, it could be years. It is a minimal task, according to the liaison with whom I spoke. And we’ve the manpower. I expect you and Jacques will not be required to hold post, since you both have the enforcing that keeps you busy.”
“The enforcement team is solid. If you should need one or the other of us, I’m sure we could manage a day now and then.”
“Good to know. So in exchange for us guarding the portal—a simple task that will require one-man shifts round the clock—our pack gets to hunt in Faery. In an orderly and scheduled fashion, of course. Malrick doesn’t want the entire pack running loose in his realm, but a few wolves during the days preceding and of the full moon will be tolerated.”
“Of course, you accepted this offer?”
“I would have been foolish not to!” The principal’s enthusiasm spilled out in a gleeful clap of hands.
And Kir was right there with him with the enthusiasm. Until he recalled what Etienne had said to him when he’d entered the office. “So where do I come in holding this short stick?”
The principal’s demeanor drew to a solemn yet regal stance. An uneasy feeling trickled up the back of Kir’s neck. Etienne was a kind, elder wolf who rarely used aggression or faced down his pack members to keep them in line. He left that to his scion, Jacques, who took to such tasks with relish. Yet he sensed in the man now a certain dire reluctance.
“The sidhe have ceremonious ways to seal bargains. Something we merely consider good fortune may be considered a grand boon to them. And the liaison pointed out that this is a unique bargain that must be honored. So to seal this pact, Malrick proposes to offer one of his daughters to marry one from our pack. The couple will bond, thus providing the final seal to the deal.”
“A marriage? That’s...extreme.”
“Not for the sidhe. Their bonding rituals, which are elaborate and varied, are the stamp of approval, so to speak, for such an extraordinary bargain. Either that, or they request a life sacrificed or one of our firstborn. You know how the sidhe can be.”
No, he did not. As he’d indicated to Jacques earlier, Kir hadn’t much contact with the winged ones. Marriage seemed a bit much to ask. On the other hand, a sacrifice or handing over one’s firstborn seemed more extreme.
The poor wolf who had to step forward to marry some faery he’d never seen before would certainly not like it.
Kir met his principal’s hopeful gaze. His leader was pleased to have scored such a propitious arrangement for the pack. Indeed, it was a valued prize—but a marriage?
“Sunday,” Etienne said. “You will be ready for a day of ceremony and pomp.”
“Of course.” Likely the entire pack would have to don suits and pin on tiny flowers or whatever it was wedding parties were required to wear. He could deal with that.
“You’re taking this rather well. Good man, Kirnan. Good man.”
“Whatever details you need me to arrange, I’ll see to them. I assume that’s what you intended when you said I drew that short stick?” He smiled, but his leader only matched it with a shake of his head. And an imploring lift of brow. “Wait.”
The more he thought about it... If he had drawn the short stick...
Kir’s heart stopped beating for a full three seconds. He swallowed, flexed his fingers at his sides and then croaked out, “You mean me?”
Etienne nodded. “We went down the chain of command. I, of course, am happily married to my beloved Estella. Eighty years and counting. And my son and the pack scion, Jacques, as you know, is engaged to sweet Marielle. So the task falls to the third in command.”
Kir spoke before thinking. “Oh, hell no.” Now that he understood he was the unlucky sap, he smacked a fist into a palm and paced before Etienne’s desk.
“It must be done, Kir. You are young. You have no current romantic entanglements.”
Not for lack of want. A guy didn’t need to be in love to have a good time.
“You are an excellent offering.”
“An offering?” Kir winced at the word. It sounded so...sacrificial. A burn of bile stirred in his throat.
“I shouldn’t have put it that way,” Etienne added.
“I can’t marry a woman I don’t know. Principal Montfort, when I do marry I want to marry for love.”
“Are there any females in the pack whom you desire?”
“No, I—” Kir shoved his fingers roughly through his hair. “As you’ve said, I’m young yet. Twenty-eight years is but a pup in a werewolf’s lifetime. I have never given thought to marriage. Well, hell, yes, I have. I do want family and a happily-ever-after. But I want to date freely until I’ve met the one.”
“The one.” Etienne smirked. “Estella and I were an arranged marriage. Do not rule out the possibility of an interesting match, Kirnan.”
“Interesting?” The word felt vile on his tongue. Interesting was not love. “You and your wife are an amazing couple, Principal Montfort. But I’m not like you. Not patient or, apparently, so accepting.”
And, hell, his dad had screwed up his marriage; what made Kir think he could manage a loving family without an eventual nasty divorce? And abandoning the children to scar them forever?
“I’ve my work with the enforcement team that keeps me busy,” Kir tried. “I don’t have time to dote on a wife and...do the things a husband needs to do.”
Like what, exactly? He didn’t know. And he didn’t want to know! Not...this way.
“Isn’t there another wolf in the pack with equal standing?”
Etienne shook his head. “It would shame Valoir were we to offer a male who had not an esteemed rank. You are the highest ranked wolf who is available. Please, Kir, I’m asking you to do this as a favor. I’m not commanding you.”
Pacing before the window, Kir’s brain zoomed from standing at a dais and getting a first look at a woman he must vow to shelter and love forever to running away from the pack, becoming a lone wolf, free—yet forever ostracized