Duke Charming | Craig

Nine

Finding Blake was easy. Not only did he have a distinctive scent that tickled my nostrils, but his heat signature was different than the typical werewolf's considering he was half-warlock-half-wolf. He had a tinge of purple mixed with the golden hue a werewolf had, and I easily found him in the library, thankfully alone.

He jolted when I poked my head into the room and whisper-called to him, "Hey!"

The book in his hands nearly dropped when he startled. It's clear he didn't hear me approach or catch my scent and I, for one, managed to catch a werewolf off guard.

"Yeah, you," I whispered again, jerking my chin towards him. "We need to talk."

His dark brows furrowed as he returned the book to its shelf. "You want to talk? Why?"

"If you come with me, I'll tell you. But we can't talk here where every werewolf and its mom are listening."

Blake approached the door, and I began backing up, thinking he was going to follow me to a secluded, wolf-proof area. However, he grabbed my wrist before I could anticipate it and yanked me into the library, and I nearly tripped over the carpet.

Before I could berate him for how rude that was, he chanted something under his breath, and I felt the air our me crackle with electricity. The hairs on my arms rose and even without asking, I knew he had just spelled the room.

"There," he said, shoving his hands in his jean pockets. "All soundproofed. No werewolf can hear beyond this barrier."

I tuned my ears and discovered I couldn't hear beyond it either, meaning that it had to work. Damn, what a nifty trick.

Blake was still waiting for me to speak, so I asked him straightforward, "Is it true about Lucine? Is she really dead?"

Cringing internally for how I worded that, I grinded my teeth. She was still his sister after all. He must have been devastated when it happened, and now he's living with the wolves who killed her. But remembering he's Clemmy's 'boyfriend', I figured he discovered she's his mate and decided to join the pack because of her.

The mating bond could make a wolf do strange – and crazy – things.

Blake exhaled sharply and turned his head to stare at a shelf of books, jaw clenching. "Yeah, it's true."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't," he said bluntly. "Don't be sorry. Lucine was vile. She made me do things that haunted me until this day, horrific things. And I liked it." Drawing a breath to calm his rising temper, he spoke more calmly, "Clemmy changed things, though. She made me want to do better, be better. Lucine's death severed whatever hold she had on me, and honestly, I've never been happier. She was only my sister by blood, and that's how far our relationship went."

I called it about Clemmy being his mate. However, I figured she was still too young to feel the mating bond's effects, but that didn't mean she didn't feel drawn to him. I was dying to ask how they met, who found who, but I was here on business.

"A few years ago, I came to Lucine because I...I needed help."

"Yeah, I remember," he confirmed. "You can't shift, right?"

I nodded, confirming he was indeed right. "Lucine gave me a potion that, if mixed with the blood of my mate, would, you know, fix me. But here's the thing, and I know it's going to sound absurd..." I drew a breath. "...my mate rejected me before I came to Lucine for help. Twelve years ago. But yesterday, and this is where it gets weird, I locked eyes with Craig and..." I snapped my fingers for emphasis, hoping he could fill in the blanks on his own.

Honestly, it felt too absurd to even say it out loud.

Blake frowned, tilting his head in confusion.

"The mating bond," I clarified. "I felt it again. And I know it should be impossible, because my first mate is – was – awfully young and Italian, and Craig's, well, the opposite and Scottish."

"So, let me get this straight," Blake pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to make sense of the situation, "you're saying you have two mates?"

"Technically, just one, since the bond I had with Mate Number One broke the moment he rejected me," I rambled an explanation, "but also, yes, it appears that I have a second mate."

The half-warlock regarded me with an expression that I could only explain as 'Bitch, what?' It was unheard up in the werewolf world that one could have a second mate. It has never happened before, and there was no explanation for it.

"Hold on," Blake's voice broke the silence. "I just remembered something. Lucine said there was something special about you right after you left."

"Special?" I pulled a face. "I'm a werewolf who can't shift. There's nothing special about me."

"Well, apparently, she saw something in you that you don't." Blake ruffled his dark locks and paced the room. "There was more, I just can't remember. I'd have to perform a memory spell, but those take time and –"

"Hey," I interrupted him before he could get all complicated and witchy on me, "I just came to ask about the potion. Will it still work after twelve years – with a different mate?"

Blake halted his pacing abruptly and looked at me in utter disbelief. "You're not still thinking about taking it, are you?"

"Hmm, let's see," I began counting on my fingers, "I'm a werewolf who can't shift, who was rejected by her first mate because of her little 'problem', who left her pack because she couldn't contribute to it, who just found out she has a second mate, and who fears he'll also reject her when he finds our she can't shift." Tapping my chin, I wondered out loud, "Did I leave anything out? Or do those sound like valid reasons for yes, I still want to take the potion."

"Look, I know you're desperate, but nothing that came from Lucine is good. Trust me on this," Blake tried reasoning, his eyes swimming with anxious desperation. "If you take it, it'll benefit her even in death. That's how she functioned."

My heart skipped a beat. "So, it'll still work?"

His face dropped. "I...I didn't say that."

"But you also didn't say it won't work."

"Of course, it'll still work, there's no expiration date on magic!" Blake lashed out and harshly raked his fingers through his hair. "Just, please, listen to me. That potion could still be linked to Lucine, and I fear taking would bring something of hers back. Besides," he added, "the Balfours have despised her for years. Mate or not, Craig wouldn't give you his blood if the solution involved Lucine. And even if he did, imagine how his pack, his family would react."

His words sank through me like lead.

As much as I didn't want to admit it, but he had a point. If Craig helped me for the sole reason that I'm his mate and he couldn't refuse me anything, I'd be severing the bond that he had with his family.

The Balfours were extremely close-knit and family oriented, it's sometimes easy to forget they're a group of werewolves and nobles living in a castle. And as someone who always wished to have a loving family like that, and growing up without one, the last thing I wanted to do was take that away from Craig.

Asking him for a drop of blood – telling him about the potion and Lucine – was out of the question. I'd have to find another way to obtain his blood.

And Lucine's dead. I couldn't think of any ways how this potion could still benefit her while she's nothing but a pile of bones underneath the earth somewhere. Blake was cautious, and probably still traumatized after all the years of being manipulated by his sister. That wasn't enough reason for me to give up.

I had the solution to my problem in my suitcase upstairs, and the ingredient to making it work roaming the halls of the castle naked at night.

I was going to find a way to bring them together. I was going to end my curse.