Page 23 of Beneath His Alpha's Wings
“I heard the term a couple of times and asked Tagger about them, the first night I was here.”
“How did you know I was yours?” I asked.
“I overheard you talking to your son one night. Then I started recognizing some of the signs in myself and well, unlike Knash, you hadn't given me a reason to distrust you.”
“And I never will,” I promised. I laughed, remembering how excited Nitesh was to hear I found my true mate and that he was already an omega. “I can’t wait to tell Nitesh I finally told you. He’ll be so relieved.”
Lucas smiled at me. “Because he knows you’ll be safe during full moons?” he guessed.
I nodded. “And…” I turned and sighed. “I think he has always felt guilty about that.”
A frown creased my mate’s handsome face. “What do you mean?”
It wasn’t something I talked about much. Not many people knew the truth behind how I came to be Nitesh’s father. And yet, I knew my true mate deserved the whole story and I felt compelled to share it. I reluctantly pulled away from his with a sign.
“What’s wrong?” Lucas asked.
“Nothing is wrong.” I looked at him solemnly. “I just think you should know where ‘Tesh came from and part of why he’ll be so relieved we’re together.”
“Okay,” Lucas said, watching me curiously.
“I was on one of my very first assignments as a warden,” I began. “Young and stupid, all that stuff. Well,” I chuckled weakly. “Younger and stupider.” He smiled a little and I weakly smiled back. “Anyway, I was chasing a feral shifter. And I was supposed to just circle around looking for him. And then if I found him, report it and wait for backup. He went into a house and…” I shook my head at the memory. “And I decided not to wait for backup. I don't know what I thought I could do. I was just an owl and he was a wolf, but I went in alone anyway and and…” I sighed heavily. “He attacked and killed all the humans in the house,” I said flatly.
Lucas’s eyes widened in alarm, then his face fell in sympathy. “Oh, Kessel…” He squeezed my hand and suddenly, for the first time, I felt like I could make it through the story.
I took a deep breath. “Backup got there. They took care of the feral shifter and had me just… stay out of the way.” I swallowed hard. I could never think about the incident without thinking of all the things I would do differently now that I actually had the experience. Then again, it wasn't as if I still didn't have a tendency to run headlong into things, or fly as the case may be. Although it had certainly taught me a lesson I couldn't forget.
“And then,” I said softly. “I heard crying. I went upstairs and I found a baby.”
“Was he hurt??” Lucas asked softly.
“Yes.” I hesitated. “No. I don't know. I kind of panicked,” I admitted. “There was blood on him. I honestly can't say if it was his or not. But I freaked out. And I knew that it was because of me. The other humans were already dead and this one might die. So, I did the only thing I could think of.”
“You turned him,” Lucas gasped. I nodded. “Even though he was hurt? How did you know that would save him?”
“We heal faster than humans,” I explained, angered again by the feral shifter’s obvious lack of information. Who knew how much Lucas needed to learn. “We're also a little sturdier than humans. Not much, but it helps. However severe his injuries were, or not, he survived the turning and healed pretty quickly.”
“But that was your only turn, right?”
I swallowed hard and nodded. “Right.”
“But you did it to save his life,” Lucas protested. “Shouldn't you be allowed to have another turn after that?”
I shook my head. “I broke a couple more laws.”
“Like what?!”
“Well, I didn't get his permission.”
Lucas winced, and I knew that the feral shifter had certainlynothad his permission. But then he frowned. “He was a baby though, he couldn't give you permission!”
“Well, as a rule,” I said. “We don't go around changing babies or children.”
“It should still count for something,” he grumbled.
I chuckled, in spite of the seriousness of it all. I liked that my omega was sticking up for me. “And I also failed to get the permission of the Alpha Parliament before turning someone,” I added.
“You told me a bit about them. That’s like… the shifter government?”
