Unsevered Ties

19. Good Dog Bad Dog

Trigger chapter: I’ll mark the start and end of the trigger part so you can skip the part rather than the whole chapter.

Chapter 19: Good Dog, Bad Dog

The man stared at him, and Naki stared in return. There were no words to explain the way Naki currently felt. It was as if all his life he felt like some sort of alien amongst his kind, and for the first time in his entire life, he found another. The shuffling of the shorter man next to the Cloud Prince drew his attention, and when his hood fell, Naki was again in shock. Another set of eyes just like his stared him down, yet where he and the Prince had silver streams of hair, the other’s was a bright and vivid teal. It was a color he felt like he’d seen somewhere before, but no amount of thinking could bring anything to mind.

A soft intake of breath behind him made him turn quickly, and he caught the end of Sega jabbing Aiden, giving him a disapproving look. Naki narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Had the two seen the man’s coloring before? With his pale, light brown-tinted skin and teal hair, he looked just as unique as Naki and the Cloud Prince.

Naki returned his eyes to the Prince and, more likely, his guard. The Prince had a sharp face that looked like he wore a permanent scowl. His thick brows arched perfectly at the tips, while the rest sloped down over piercing, expressive eyes. A slender nose bridge topped a slightly rounded bulb, and brown, thicker lips scowled above a short chin.

Just being looked at by the man-made Naki feel as if he were being dissected. The thin line from tightly pressed lips never left the Prince’s face as he finally narrowed his eyes for the briefest of moments and broke their eye contact.

"Is there a reason we are waiting?" the Prince asked as if the answer was not obvious.

Naki wanted to spring a load of questions at the man, but there seemed to be some unspoken code of ethics here that he did not yet understand. After the initial look of shock, the Prince seemed to have no interest in him. Was it just some weird genetic mutation, or was there some huge chunk of something he missed about his life? The sheer amount of questions he wanted answered was enough to cause him to want to act out against the social norms of the Royal Line. Naki couldn’t imagine the consequences of embarrassing his mates.

"I don’t suppose that there is," Aiden said, sounding rather cautious. "Shall we get this underway?"

The Cloud Prince moved past them, unraveling his cloak along the way and handing it to the shaggy man, who still seemed curious about Naki, but said nothing. Free of the shielding cloak, the Cloud Prince was dressed as lavishly as the rest of them. The colors he sported matching his eyes perfectly. From the man’s emblem, silver and amethyst must have been the Pack’s colors.

"The lot of you get more dramatic by the year," King Alfonz said brazenly before crossing his long legs and leaning back in his seat. "Since there will not be a play, let’s get on with this seminar." Who was he to spoil someone else's act?

Sega turned to quirk a brow at Aiden, who looked at Naki, who seemed more interested in their guest of honor than anything else going around him. "Well, we will make this quick. This is Naki, son of Phillius of the Field, and currently our new joint mate," Sega began.

Since Alfonz and Valas had already been informed, it lost any shock factor in them. Their mates both uttered a sound of surprise. Although silent and poised like a polished statue, Kial gave a tilt of his head. The silver tendrils of his drawn-back hair slid over his shoulder in an almost dramatic effect.

"The Mountain King came to my pack with a proposal of an alliance between our recently feuding packs. The stipulations were that an heir would be produced with the blood of both a Field and Mountain Shashiva. Aiden’s mate would become the physical token of the pact we have drawn up. Due to joint interests, Naki became the aforementioned perspective mate. Although this has never happened, there are no specific rules against such a case. Due to circumstances, we have already marked Naki as our mate without the consent of you all."