Chapter 6: Choices and Consequences

Malcom stared after his mate as she fled the room.  He probably could have handled that better. Probably should have talked to her first. Ignored the jab about his “big announcement”.

But everyone was expecting him to announce his engagement to Natalia Reacher.  And he couldn’t, not when he had found her.

What a surprise to see his mate at his birthday party, wearing a tight little uniform that showed off her glorious curves and long legs.  He had not been expecting his mate to be one of the waitstaff, nor did he expect her to be a human.

That would pose a small problem.  But the council would accept her once he was able to turn her.  It wasn’t a particularly pleasant process, but one that was necessary if they were to have pups.  And as an alpha, it was imperative that his children were shifters as he was. It was the only way the clan, the elders, and the rest of them would accept her role in his life.

The only thing he would change would be the ability to talk to her about all this before being forced to announce her as his mate in front of all his guests.

When he came to the party this evening, he had still been thinking of how to avoid mating Natalia. She had the nerve to show up in white and gold, pretending like it was her engagement party.  He had caught her accepting gifts from people who already assumed they would announce their engagement that evening.

She had some nerve. She probably had some kind of registry already made for their life together. Her audacity was astounding, though it shouldn’t really shock him.

Her father had some nerve too, stepping up to introduce him.  Like they had some connection. Like he had a fatherly role in Malcom’s life already.

Malcom really did not like either of the Reachers.

It was a pity Henry had a deep connection to the elder council.  All of this drama could have been avoided.  But Malcom should have known when he first turned down Henry’s proposal to merge their clans by having Malcom mate Natalia, Henry’s only heir, that the Reachers wouldn’t have left the issue alone.  No.  When Malcom didn’t immediately roll over and play ball the way they wanted, they forced his hand by bringing it to the council.

Ten years with no mate.  How tragic.  How would a mate less, pup less alpha really be able to run a clan?  The argument that he’d been doing just fine for ten years was not good enough.  No, according to Henry, Malcom needed the stabilizing presence of a mate, a family, to help keep him focused and grounded. To keep the family line going. To make sure he wasn’t busy with loose women instead of taking care of his clan. There were lots of reasons spouted as to why he must have a mate by 30. And while Malcom could see the benefit in the council’s logic, he disliked being forced to mate someone he actively loathed because of it.

Besides, the future of the clan depended on his family lineage continuing.  It would be a tragedy if he died without an heir. Who would run the clan then?

And the council had agreed, much to Malcom’s chagrin.  Not that he didn’t want to mate and have a family; he just would rather be the one to pick the who and when.

But all of that was water under the bridge now that he had found his mate.  Malcom grinned as she ran from the room.

He liked a good chase.

He would give her a small head start, just enough to give her room to breath before he joined in the hunt.

Unfortunately for him, as soon as she fled the room, the spell that had seemed to blanket the room was broken.  People started talking, Natalia and her father were yelling.

Henry stormed up to him, face red and his wolf in his eyes.

“What the hell, Malcom!” He demanded, even as some of the council elders joined him.

“Malcom, this is most unusual.  Who is this Poppy Wallace?” One elder, Anna, a woman with snow white hair and pale blue eyes tried to push her way through Henry to him.

“She is my fated.” Malcom shrugged. “I just met her a few moments ago, so that is about all I know.”

“She’s a human.” Natalia spat as she stormed the stage, “A waitress.  She is nothing.”

“She’s my mate!” Malcom roared, his wolf bristling to come out and rip Natalia’s throat out for her insults.

“But a human, Malcom.” Anna wrung her hands, “This is not to be tolerated.  Think of your blood lines.”

“Don’t worry, Anna.” Malcom glared at her, she was one of the worst at pushing Natalia on him; he began to wonder what Henry had on her that made her so obviously in his pocket, “She won’t be human for long.”

Anna gaped at him.  It was not impossible for a shifter, especially an alpha, to change a human, though it was not common.  Oftentimes, turned shifters were looked down upon as something lesser than born shifters. Some claimed their wolf was too weak for not being part of them when they were born.  Others claimed that their children still had a chance of being human.

Malcom, for his part though, had never seen any difference between those turned and those born.  Much of his clan were descended from those who had been turned and none of them were wolfless or weak.  In fact, they were usually the strongest in his pack.

“Malcom, the council has ruled…” Anna began, but she was interrupted by another elder, Joseph, who joined them just then.

“The council ruled that Malcom should mate Natalia Reacher if he did not meet his fated by his thirtieth birthday.  Which is technically tomorrow.” Joseph reminded all of them, “and we will abide by that decision, no matter what.” Here he glared at both Henry and Anna, “Congratulations on finding your mate, Malcom, it is a rare thing indeed.”

“Thank you.” Malcom smiled at Joseph, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go find her and explain a few things.”

With that Malcom turned and started after Poppy.  Already, he was restless to find her and claim her.  However, since she was human, he would have to go slowly.

He didn’t get far before he was surrounded by more people.  All of them asking who Poppy was and what was going on, what had happened to his engagement with Natalia?  It took him far longer than he wanted to break free of the mess of people.

Poppy had run out into the gardens, so he started there.  Only to be stopped by a small blonde girl in a waitress uniform.

“Ok, Mr. Big Shot.” She glared at him, “What’s your game and why are you picking on my friend?”

“No game,” Malcom held up his hands in surrender, even though he could take out the girl with no issues.  If she was a friend of Poppy’s he didn’t want to hurt her, but he also wanted desperately to get to his mate. “We just … clicked.”

He had no idea how to describe knowing your fated mate to a human who didn’t even know that shifters existed let alone about fated anything.

“Yeah right.” She snorted, “What’s your angle, really?”

“Listen, Poppy is my… soul mate.” He tried to think of terms that girls like this would understand, “I need to go find her and talk to her, OK?  Maybe I shouldn’t have announced her as my future wife; I got carried away, Ok?  Just please move so I can go talk to her.”

“Un uh.” The blond put her hands on her hips, “You can talk to Poppy when she says she wants to.  Right now, she left.  So let her be.”

Malcom was about to protest when a man about his age came jogging up.

“Melissa, what on earth is going on on?” He demanded looking between the blonde and Malcom.

“Jack, this douche canoe just declared that he was going to marry Poppy.” The blonde pipped up, “And now, he’s trying to stalk her.”

“Mr. Murray, is this true?” The man stared at him incredulously.

“Listen, I just need to find Poppy and talk to her.” Malcom was tired of dealing with these humans and their limited understanding.  Part of him wanted to shift into his wolf then and there, just to be done with them.

“Our contract with you clearly states that staff will not be harassed.” Jack folded his arms and glared at Malcom, “I don’t know what kind of game you are playing, but please leave my staff out of it.”

“It’s not a game.” Malcom tried not to growl, “She’s my soul mate.  So if you’ll excuse me, I would like to go find her and clear up this mess.”

Melissa looked like she was about to say something when a blood curdling scream rent the night.  Everyone froze.

Malcom felt his hackles rise.  That had to be Poppy.

Without waiting for the others to respond, he pushed past them and began running into the gardens.

Even without shifting, he had his wolf’s sense of smell to help guide him.

The fear in the air was cloying; she was alone and afraid in a dark garden. His wolf side was bristling to be let free, to find, protect, defend.  Around him, he noted that others were running toward the scream as well.  Most of them members of his clan.

A sense of pride filled him as his clan ran to support his mate.

And a sense of fear.

He only hoped she had just scared herself in the dark.  But there were too many shifters here, and most of them he did not fully trust.  Would any of them go so far as to harm a human?  As to hurt his mate?

He didn’t want to think so.  But the possibility was still greater than zero.

Even though it felt like hours, it did not take Malcom long to find Poppy.

She was lying face down in the dirt, blood covering her back and legs.

As he ran up, he caught a glimpse of a gray wolf darting into the trees. Unfortunately, the coloring wasn’t distinctive enough for him to identify the wolf at a distance.  And the air around them was already cloying with the different scents of shifters and humans alike.

Part of him wanted to give chase, to catch the bastard who did this to his mate, but the other, rational part realized he had to check on his mate first.

“Malcom!” His assistant Charles was running next to him, “Is she still alive?”

A fear like he had never known gripped his heart.

He had lost his parents in a tragic accident years before but even that pain could not measure up to the thought of losing his mate.

He dropped to her side and gently felt for a pulse in her neck.  There was so much blood, he didn’t have much hope.

But no.  There.  It was faint, but there, he felt her heartbeat.

“She’s alive, but barely.” He gently lifted her, careful of her torn back.  It was obviously an attack.  And obviously a wolf.

“Someone, quick!  Call a doctor!” The voice sounded far off as Malcom stared at Poppy’s pale face, willing her to open her eyes.

“No time.” Joseph, one of the elders came panting up, “You’ll have to turn her, son.  It’s the only chance she has to heal from wounds like those.”

Malcom knew Joseph was right.  There was no other option; the natural healing abilities of a shifter would help her, but the chances of her living through the process was small.

“It’s your only option, sir.” Callum, his chief of security, had caught up to them now, “She may or may not survive the process, but she definitely won’t survive without it.”

Malcom knew in his heart they were right.

This wasn’t the way he had wanted tonight to go.  He never dreamed that announcing his fated mate at his party would lead to someone trying to kill her. Ideally, he would talk through the process with her, she would understand and agree, it would be her choice… but he had no time for ideally.  He had to make the choice for her.

He let his canines elongate, enough that they would pierce her skin with ease.  And then, he leaned down and bit her, right where her neck and shoulder met.  He let his saliva enter her blood stream, his DNA would mingle with hers and introduce the shifter gene.

It was over and done by the time the humans had caught up with them.

“Poppy!” Melissa sank to her knees next to him, “NO!  What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything,” Malcom growled at her, then turned to Callum, “Get Dr. Prince her immediately.”

“Already done, sir.” Callum waggled his phone.  “He was on his way over anyway, so it won’t be long.”

“Charles, get a search party, there was a gray wolf that ran off in that direction,” he indicated with his head which way the attacker had fled, “See if you can’t find them.”

Charles, nodded once then grabbed a few of his enforcers.

Malcom remained holding Poppy as they ran off.

“You did the right thing.” Joseph dropped to the ground next to him and awkwardly patted his shoulder.

Malcom grunted in response as he waited for Dr. Prince to show up.  Next to him Melissa was wailing about her friend.

“Callum, get her out of here.” Malcom glared at Melissa as he spoke, her crying was annoying him.

Callum nodded once and helped the girl to her feet.

“NO!” She cried, “I won’t leave her… I’m all she has!”

Malcom didn’t hear what Callum said, but eventually he got Melissa away from them.

The bustle of people was too much.  There were too many smells; he wasn’t sure they would be able to capture the attacker.  It was hard to pinpoint one scent out of all of those around him.

Not long after Melissa was lead away, Dr. Prince came up.  By that point, Poppy’s body was already starting to respond to his DNA.  Sweat broke out on her forehead and her arms and legs had involuntary spasms.

“We need to get her someplace safe and quiet.” Dr. Prince looked down his long nose at them, “She will go through the change for the next day or so.  I don’t know what to expect, but if she can survive the night, I think all will be well.”

Malcom nodded, carefully standing up, cradling Poppy in his arms.  He swiftly followed Dr. Prince to a waiting SUV.  His estate, not far from there, had what they needed for medical care for shifters.

“Wait!” Jack was running after them, his face paled as he saw the blood that coated both Malcom and Poppy. “What are you doing? She needs a hospital!”

“Excuse me, sir,” Dr. Prince turned and glared at Jack, “I am a doctor and we are taking her to a health care facility.  I can assure you, we will give her the best possible care and attention.  She is far safer with us than at the local hospital at this point.”

They drove off, ignoring the protests of Jack and Melissa who had come up beside him. Malcom didn’t even bother to buckle as the SUV wove through the city’s late night traffic; he just cradled Poppy in his arms.  She was starting to have more tremors as they neared his home, her brow was crinkled in pain as more sweat rolled down her face.  He could feel her burning up in his arms. A low cry started in her throat as she began to shake more violently.  He was concerned that the transition would further aggravate the wounds and he would loose her.

It was torture to watch her go through this.  He had heard tales of the transition and how it could be painful, but he had never seen someone who was changed before.  Dr. Prince was right, if her body could handle this, the wolf shifter that she would become could heal the wounds on her back and legs far more quickly than any human medicine could.

But that was a huge if, he realized as her body seized in his arms. The reality that she might not make it through the night slammed into him. A small bit of foam laced with blood began to trickle out of her mouth.

He couldn’t lose her now.  Not after he just found her.  Fate wouldn’t be that cruel, would it?