Chapter 31

Chapter Thirty-One

Callum

I blink a few times… and step back, only to slam up against the wall.

"The fuck I'm a shifter!"

"You could have been more subtle," Gray says.

"How can you be subtle about telling a man he is a shifter?" Drake asks. "He has grown six inches since he got on this ship, and he was not small before. And he is an alpha. He doesn't even know what the fuck he is."

I feel woozy, like I might pass out.

"Have you seen his cock?" Drake adds.

"I have not seen his fucking cock," Gray says, sounding deeply affronted. "What do you think I'm doing up there? Pulling his pants down so I can inspect him for a knot?"

"Gods," I say weakly. I'm definitely feeling faint. The room is spinning. I can't draw enough breath.

A face swims in front of me, one I hate, and a hand wraps around my throat, pinning me against the wall.

"Look at me," Gray commands. His voice has a quality to it, a snap , like the crack of a whip. Although I despise the bastard, I feel compelled to look.

"You're a shifter," Gray confirms, his tone bitter. "We didn't realize at first. Then we saw you fight. You have likely never been around your own kind before. Our presence would have triggered you, calling to your wolf."

My own kind. I feel cold and clammy. Wolf? There is not a lot of give in the chains holding my cuffs, but I still yank them like I might be able to put my fists around his throat in return. "You lie."

"Ada might have had an influence, too," Drake offers. "Given what the lass is…"

"Don't mention my m—woman," I snarl. Gods, I nearly called her my mate, which I suppose she now is.

Gray presses me harder against the wall. The texture of the hand collaring my throat changes, and my eyes shoot down to see that the entire length of his arm turns to that of a beast while the rest of him is human. He slowly changes, growing, expanding, and rising until he takes on the bipedal form.

I saw him like this before, taking Ada that first night on the ship. I want to say it disgusted me, but the truth is, it did not.

"This is a partial shift or beast form," he says, his voice low and rough. "It is not common to all wolf shifters. Only alphas can hold it for extended periods of time, while betas can only shift to a wolf."

Before my eyes, the fur disappears, he shrinks, and a human hand is once more against my throat.

He is telling me I am a shifter, an alpha, and that I can become both a beast and a wolf.

"The degree to which a shifter can hold this form depends on the power of the alpha and the blood running through their veins," Gray says. His words might as well be gibberish for all that makes sense to me. "A bound shifter is bound and cannot move between forms, which puts them at a disadvantage. They are effectively a human. Betas, and most alphas, would be trapped thus. But some, those who are high ranking and powerful, like me..." His hand morphs into a clawed beastly fist once more. "Can transform small parts of their body at will."

His head transforms into a wolf's. His lips peel back, and he snaps his teeth at me. It is horrifying to see a human body with a wolf's head, but in a flash, he is wholly human again.

"For some shifters, those with… those with the highest blood… there is no binding in the world that can hold them save one that is magically endued."

"I am no shifter," I say quietly. "I can't be." I swallow. His hand moves away from my throat, and he takes a step back.

"Your father took you to Bleakness for reasons I cannot begin to guess… perhaps protection." He shrugs. "He is not a blacksmith. I know that. And I'm betting that you do, too. I heard your mother passed over to the Goddess. I'm also betting she was not human. And, save your father being an idiot, which he clearly is not, he knew what she was."

My heart is racing, and my stomach churns. Sweat breaks out across the surface of my skin, followed by a cold wave. When I came down here, I thought for sure he was going to kill me. I did not expect to be talking about my mother.

"Now," —he takes another step back— "you can escape anytime you want, shifter ."

My nostrils flare. He believes I am powerful like him. I look between them. "Why would you help me? Why would you not just toss me over the side of the ship?" My mind moves through his words slowly, reluctantly. "If I am higher than you, I could beat you."

"Whelp, I have years of training and experience over you," Gray growls. "And I am not afraid of a fucking challenge… And whether you have royal blood or not."

Drake grimaces. "And you said my delivery could use some finessing."

My pounding heart skips a beat in my chest.

"I did not mean to mention his blood," Gray admits.

I choke out a laugh. "You have all gone fucking mad. The lass' pussy has bewitched you."

"I am inclined to agree with you," Gray says, all calm again. "I am normally more composed than this. But before this is done, we will need to establish our places, and my wolf is eager to get it done."

Shifter. High blood. Royal blood. His words might as well be in a foreign language for all they make sense. Knotted cock? He said I had a knotted cock. "Fuck," I mutter. "Is that what is happening to my cock? I thought there was something wrong with it… it got stuck when… Fuck!"

A low, menacing rumble emanates from Gray's chest.

Drake chuckles. It leads to a deeper guffaw that he must hold his belly to contain. "Poor lad," he says. "Thank the Goddess we are here to put you out of your misery." He wipes tears of laughter from his eyes and winces. "No man should ever worry about his cock. Did you not notice the same swellings on Gray's as he was fucking your wench?"

"I did not look at his cock!"

"No?" Drake says, still grinning, even though Gray is grinding his teeth a pace away. "It is a fine cock. There are many lasses and a nearly equal number of men who have coveted Gray's cock."

Fine. I have looked at it as it was going into Ada's pussy, watched him using her roughly, making her writhe and come, and her body contort in pleasure.

The strange presence in my mind, the restlessness I have felt more and more of late, manifests and takes shape. I feel like there is a dark space inside of me. A dark space—it is not actual space—but the fur of a wolf, a wolf with piercing green eyes, steps out of the darkness and shakes out his coat.

My throat chokes up. I blink, hating to show weakness.

The wolf, my wolf, the other part of me, pads forward, further into the light of my mind, and sits down expectantly.

I don't notice that Gray has come up closer. I have been lost inside myself and am confused to find him standing right before me.

"Royal shifters," he says, "all have green eyes. My wolf sensed your hidden beast. Reluctant. Mute, as it is sometimes called, is when a shifter cannot call their beast to the surface. Just as a mute human cannot speak, a mute shifter cannot reveal their wolf. There are ways of forcing it or coaxing it. In your case, I believe it will need to be forced… There is no link between us. We are not pack brothers… Whether you will it or not, we will one day be brothers of a kind, different and far more profound, for we shall share the same mate."

A growl. It is not only my growl but that of my wolf.

"You know I speak the truth," he says bluntly, getting right in my face. "You know she has taken to me. She took to me from the first day I saw her. My wolf knew she was the one. I tried to fight it, but one cannot fight against the pull of a fated mate. You felt the same pull when you first saw her, did you not?"

My growl is lower in timbre and full of menace.

"I know that you did. Knew instantly that she was the one, and that no other would ever be for you. That if you could not be with her, you might as well die."

His words are like knives: stabbing me, wounding me.

"It is the same for me. I can no more walk away from her than you can, Callum. I love her."

His use of my name for the first time, followed by his declaration of love, stirs up a confusing array of emotions. "You don't fucking love her."

"I love her," he repeats. "I would follow her to the ends of the earth." His smile is sardonic. "I would sneak aboard a ship if someone had taken her. I would stand between her and an army if that were what I needed to do, just like you stood between her and a ship full of men with weapons plus two powerful shifters. Even knowing you could not possibly win and might die in the trying, you still did that because she is your soulmate. She is the missing piece of you. She was placed by the Goddess on this planet, in our world, and through a set of unparalleled circumstances, she crossed paths with you. One does not fight the fate of the Goddess. Trust me, I tried. I tried to deny it, but it is not only about us, is it, Callum?"

I wish he wouldn't use my name. I wish he would stick to whelp.

He plants his fist against the wall beside my face. "It is also about her and what she wants and needs. But she is no ordinary beta lass. She is an omega, a chosen one, as they call them in some parts of the world. Thank the Goddess that you saved her before those skin traders realized what they had. I hate to think what one of her kind might have gone through should they have realized her value. An omega can take a lot. They are made for rutting and breeding, as you have probably noticed. More often, they need more than one mate. I was not inclined to share myself with a woman, nor did I envisage a future where I might need to. But it is out of my hands, just as it is out of yours… and hers. Any fated mate who fights the calling generally withers and dies… Perhaps you could guilt her into leaving with you, and she would, for she has been brought up in the human world, where one man and one woman are the norm. But know that if you deny my claim, she will always be missing half of herself."

I do not blink away the sting at the back of my eyes. I fucking hate this conversation and the way it twists a knife. With each word that leaves his lips, he traps me more securely.

"I do not want to fight with you, Callum. But I know that we will. We have to. Only one male may lead. There is a hierarchy for a reason. I am older than you by many years. For all you have a lot of heart and determination and considerable fucking strength, you are an alpha who is beta by nature. At least that is the life you have lived thus far."

"A green-eyed shifter has not been seen in many years. They fled during the pack wars and went into hiding. I am the pack leader's son, but you, Callum, are the rightful leader of all the packs."

And then he turns and walks away. He leaves a lamp. His footsteps creak the steps as he moves up. Drake nods to me, a small smile curling his lips. He winks at me. "Give him a good thumping when you figure out how to get out."

"Drake," Gray barks.

Drake chuckles. After taking one last look at me, he climbs the stairs and disappears from view.

The hatch shuts.

I am alone with a swaying lamp and the deluge of information my mind must grapple with.

Some parts are easier to accept than others.

I recognize I have a wolf inside.

A wolf that can help me to get out.

A wolf that can give me revenge against the bastard who dared to put his hands on my woman.

My wolf perks up—his tail lashes from side to side.

He believes Gray is full of himself and overestimates his prowess.

He believes we are bigger and stronger.

He also has a lot of pride in my disposition, which he says is gentle and noble and befitting my royal blood.

But also, that we are undoubtedly a beast at our very heart. And if we choose to, we can be anything we wish.