Fated Bonds

Nilas

I dreaded the yearly trip to Japan to visit the Blood Claw pack. There always seemed to be something just slightly…off with that pack.

The last two years, I’d had a nagging feeling that I had forgotten about something, and my wolf, Caine, would grow increasingly restless while we were there.

The only reason for my yearly visits was their dire wolf dog breeding program.

The dogs had proven themselves useful in a variety of tasks such as companions, personal protection, enhancing border patrols, tracking, search and rescue—the list goes on.

The dogs could create a special bond between themselves and their chosen person, making the pair an unbeatable team in their different fields.

I’d been trying to negotiate bringing ten out of fifty of their unbonded dogs back to my pack, but the alpha, Yamatomo Asa, had been drawing everything out and making things increasingly difficult.

“Your attention, please. We will be landing at the Blood Claw Municipal Airfield in thirty minutes.

“Please secure any belongings, tray tables, and seat belts. Thank you,” the pilot’s voice said over the speakers.

“Finally!” Blaine, my beta, said, stretching. “These international flights are too long.”

“You were sleeping most of the time,” Ivette, my gamma, griped at him. “Why don’t you try staying awake for more than a quarter of the flight before complaining about their length?”

I rolled my eyes at their bickering and packed my laptop away. “Will both of you just stop already? I want to get this trip over and done with as soon as possible,” I said.

“No, we’re missing something there. I know it,” Caine said.

“We need evidence, Caine. Which, need I remind you, we are sorely lacking.”

“No, but I feel like we’ve left someone behind. I just can’t remember who.”

“I know. Me too.”

The plane landed, and I took a couple of minutes to thank the flight crew before stepping out and meeting my negotiator, who would also be acting as my interpreter.

“Greetings, Your Majesty,” he said with a bow. “I hope your flight went well.”

“Hello, Mr. Sato,” I said. “The flight was fine, just long. Your last report implied that we were finally close to an agreement. Is that still the case?”

“May I speak frankly?” he asked. I gave a nod. “With this alpha? Who knows anymore. I feel like stabbing one of his eyeballs with a chopstick every time he opens his mouth—and his son isn’t much better.”

“Hmm, I know the feeling,” I said. “When this agreement is finalized, I’m giving you a yearlong vacation.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” he said

“Well, I doubt that we can delay much longer. Let’s get this done,” I said, turning and walking down the red carpet that led to the welcome committee.

A woman in a gray business suit bowed low and started speaking.

“Welcome, King Nilas, Beta Blaine, Gamma Ivette, and honored guard to Blood Claw. We are honored by your visit.

“I am Alpha Yamatomo’s secretary, Tachibana Mika. We have cars ready for you,” Sato translated.

“Thank you, Ms. Tachibana,” I said. We split ourselves between the two SUVs and headed over to the pack house.

Upon arrival we were met by the alpha, luna, and their son. I was able to convince the alpha to start the tour of the kennels and review of their breeding program right away.

On our way to the kennels, we passed by a small store house when a hint of the most intriguing scent wafted past my nose: cherry blossom and petrichor, but there was something else there…blood?

It took every ounce of self-control I had not to start tracking the scent down.

Caine started scratching to come forward, but a rustling from the hedges along the side of the storehouse caught my attention as a large dire wolf dog came crawling out.

He looked right at me, huffed, then walked off.

“Rude,” I heard Caine say.

“Your Majesty?” Sato inquired. My attention was pulled back to the people in front of me.

“Apologies, I was just admiring the remarkable dire wolf dog that just crawled out from the hedges,” I said. Sato translated and the alpha began speaking.

“That would be Akuma,” Sato said. “He is one of the main studs, but very difficult to handle and aggressive toward most people. It’s recommended that you give him a wide berth.”

“I don’t think he’s as aggressive as they are saying,” Caine said.

“Of course. Let’s continue, please,” I said.

We walked away from the storehouse, and since we were walking upwind, I knew that I was walking away from the scent that I desperately wanted to follow.

“You’re walking in the wrong direction. We should be tracking that scent. It could be Mate.”

“You think I don’t realize that?”

As we entered the kennels, we were introduced to the Kennel Master, who took over the tour and explained the breeding program in great detail.

The kennels were clean and modern. The dogs looked well cared for and healthy. I spotted the dog that they had called Akuma in an isolated kennel with various chains, locks, and bolts on his door.

“Why are there such extreme measures for him?” I asked.

“He’s an escape artist,” Sato translated. “No matter what we try, he always manages to find a way out of his kennel.” Akuma was sitting and staring straight at me, then gave a series of barks.

“You’re here again, I see,” Caine translated for me this time. ~“Not going to chicken out this time?”~

“Chicken out? What is he talking about?” I asked with a frown.

“I don’t know,” Caine snarled.

“There is still more to see, if you would like to step this way,” Sato said. The tour continued until we finally broke for lunch inside the air-conditioned pack house.

Afterward, I pulled my traveling party to the side since we had some time to freshen up and relax until Yamatomo and I had a meeting to, hopefully, finalize our agreement.

“Did anyone else smell a hint of blood when we were over near the store house earlier?” I asked through our pack link.

If it was my mate’s scent that I smelled, the rest of my party wouldn’t have smelled the cherry blossom and petrichor.

It was safer to go with a scent that we all would have smelled, and unfortunately, that was blood.

“Yes,” they all answered.

“Sato, what do you know about that storehouse?” I asked.

“I know that it’s off limits to all but the pack officials and a few attendants,” he said.

“Well, that’s not too suspicious, if that’s where they hold the pack relics,” I said.

“Except I’ve seen that storehouse,” he said. “The relic storehouse is climate-controlled and every inch of it is under surveillance. Zero blind spots.”

“I saw several guards posted on the roof that overlooked the storehouse near the kennels,” my guard for this trip, Dyson, said.

“I have smelled blood around there many times over the past three years,” Sato said. “There’s a story circulating that the storehouse is haunted by a vengeful spirit trapped inside and that keeps the rest of the pack away.

“I don’t believe it since there are literally thousands of similar stories you can find on the internet and the details of the story have changed back and forth several times. The one time that I got close enough to see through the windows, I only saw empty shelves,” he finished.

“I suggest that we try to check out the storehouse without somehow arousing suspicion,” my best tracker, Logan, said. “I could be wrong, but to me that blood smelled mostly human.”

“What do you mean ‘mostly’ human?” I asked.

“It’s hard to explain. There was a human smell to it, but there was also another layer that smelled like…strength? Power, maybe? If you can smell power, that is,” he said.

“I think you need to get your nose checked,” Blaine commented.

“Maybe I could sniff around a bit?” Ivette asked. “I could get away with saying that I wanted to look at the cute little puppies again.”

“I don’t recommend that,” Sato said.

“Then what do you recommend?” Ivette’s guard, Livia, said.

“That this visit continues like normal. We don’t let on that we have suspicions about an empty, guarded storehouse,” he said.

“I don’t like it,” I said. “I can’t stand by and do nothing if someone is in danger.”

“There is nothing that you can do,” Ivette said. “Even you need probable cause to warrant a search of anywhere and all we have is conjecture and a faint waft of blood. What’s really going on here, Nilas?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed.

“I smelled something else when we were there,” I said.

“Such as…?” Blaine prompted.

“A combination that is impossible given the season and weather.”

“Okay, a little vague,” Ivette said.

“A…personal scent,” I said.

“We can’t help if we don’t know what we’re looking for,” Ivette stated.

I narrowed my eyes slightly. Was she being deliberately obtuse? A mate scent was very personal to the werewolf who smelled it and generally not shared with anyone else.

“Cherry blossoms and petrichor,” I finally said.

“Holy shit!” everyone but Sato said.

“Ow,” I deadpanned.

“Wait, what’s petrichor?” Blaine asked.

Ivette rolled her eyes. “The smell just after it rains,” she answered. “This is big, Nilas.”

“I know, but I also know that I need to be careful given where we are. We’ll follow Sato’s advice and continue like normal, then tonight after the dinner banquet, we’ll check out the storehouse.”

Everyone nodded and we all split up to our rooms.

A couple of hours later, Sato and I went to the meeting where, after several more hours, we actually finalized the agreement. We rested for several hours until the dinner banquet.

Yamatomo made sure the alcohol was flowing and was imbibing freely, but I was getting restless and Caine was on edge. I wanted to track that scent from earlier.

I watched as Yamatomo stood and left the banquet, thinking he was sneaking out unnoticed.

A couple of minutes later, screams were heard along with loud crashes. The banquet went quiet as Akuma busted down the sliding paper door and gave several loud barks.

“Follow him,” Caine said. “~He says his bonded is in danger.~”

“Show me,” I told Akuma. He turned and bounded away. I followed him closely and heard Blaine and Ivette right behind me, yelling out orders to the rest of our traveling party.

The storehouse from this morning came into view. The doors were wide open, and upon entering, there was a trap door that was open as well.

Akuma leaped down the stairs and began scratching and whining at a metal door. I flung the door open and the scent of cherry blossoms and petrichor hit me a thousand times over.

I saw red when I registered Yamatomo standing over a woman, using her as a punching bag.

In a split second, I was across the room, grabbing him by the shirt collar and flinging him against a wall. Caine was at the surface and growling at him.

I heard Akuma off to the side whining and licking at the woman.

“Nilas! Stop! This isn’t you!” Blaine’s voice yelled out, his hands trying to pull my own from Yamatomo’s neck.

“He’s going to pay for hurting her!” Caine yelled through me. Akuma’s frenzied barks broke through the rage that was coursing through Caine and I.

“HELP BONDED! BONDED DYING!”

My grip slackened and Blaine was able to rip Yamatomo from my hands and shove the alpha toward Ivette.

“Ivette! Take this piece of shit alpha into custody,” he ordered.

I rushed over and knelt next to the woman, taking her in my arms. There was no doubt that this amazing yet fragile creature was my mate.

Her pale skin was covered in bruises, new and old, and blood that oozed out from scratches and cuts.

“Mate,” I said. “Mate, please open your eyes. Stay with me.” She only mumbled unintelligibly.

“Sato should be coming with the paramedics soon,” Blaine said. The clouds moved and moonlight filled the cell. Her eyes fluttered open, glowing golden.

“My mate,” her voice rang out softly, and she raised a hand to my cheek, “please be patient with me.”

She pulled me toward her and pressed her lips to mine. It only lasted a couple of seconds, but my whole body sang with electricity.

When she pulled away, her hand fell and she slipped into unconsciousness.

Sato and the paramedics came flooding into the room, speaking quickly.

Releasing her was one of the hardest things I’d had to do, but it allowed me to wrap my arms around Akuma and pull him away so that she could get the help she needed.

He started struggling more as her stretcher was lifted and they carried her out. Sato and Blaine followed the paramedics out of the cell at my nod.

I needed to help my mate, but I also needed to help her bonded first. I released him and shifted, feeling my clothes shred to pieces as my wolf was larger than my human form.

Once in wolf form, I was able to understand him.

“Akuma, calm down!” I said, blocking the door.

“That’s not my name! Bonded needs me!” he snapped.

“We will go to your bonded together. But first, what is your name?” I asked.

“Ranga,” he said.

“Ranga,” I said, “~your bonded is my mate. I need you to calm down so that we can help her together.~”

“You don’t even remember, do you?” he asked.

“Remember what?”

“I thought so,” he snorted, finally relaxing and sitting. “~She’s human, you know.~”

“I know,” I said, sitting as well.

“If you reject her, I will never forgive you.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to. Can we work together going forward?”

“Fine.”

I nodded, and we walked out of the cell. Logan met me outside and led the way to an SUV that was sitting ready.

Ranga jumped into the vehicle while I went to the side where a privacy screen was set up with clothes draped over the top of it.

“Ivette is making the necessary calls and dealing with the Blood Claw pack. Dyson and Livia are guarding the alpha.

“I’m going to do a sweep of the pack computer systems and gather all the information I can on our new future Queen Luna,” he said, while I shifted back and changed quickly.

“No cutting corners. We need to have the proper warrants first. I’ll send Sato back to you to help speed up the process. Keep me updated,” I said, before getting into the vehicle.

Ranga and I were taken to the hospital. We were met by Sato and Blaine, where the only news they had was that they were working on my mate and that one nurse and one doctor spoke English.

Blaine handed me my phone and wallet and I sent Sato back to help Ivette and Logan.

Ranga went and stretched out on a bench near the door to the room, and I decided to sit next to him, scratching him behind his ears and on his neck.

“Should Akuma be in the hospital right now?” Blaine asked. Ranga gave a low growl.

“His name is actually Ranga,” I said, “and you should know that you can’t keep a bonded dire wolf dog away from their chosen.”

“Don’t even know her name yet and she’s already proving to be interesting,” Blaine said. My retort was cut off by my phone ringing.

“Hey, Mum,” I answered.

“Nilas! Your father and I just got off the phone with Ivette. Is it true? Have you really found your mate?” she asked.

“Yes, it’s true,” I told her.

“And she’s…human?”

“Yes, she is.”

“Nilas, you need to give her a chance. Selene matched you two for a reason.”

“I’m not going to reject her,” I said, looking toward the doors of the room where my mate was fighting for her life. “I’m going to fight for her.”