Chapter 406: Honor Tradition

Violet was seated in Irene’s office, flanked by Griffin, while her two husbands sat on the opposite side. They hadn’t stayed until the end of breakfast and now it was time for the truth.

Irene began first, a sigh escaping her lips. "First of all, I want to apologize. It was never my intention to keep you in the dark. I had planned to have this conversation with you after breakfast, if only..." She paused, turning slowly to narrow her eyes at her husbands. "If only they had kept their mouths shut."

It was Arion who dramatically shrunk into his seat like a schoolboy caught passing notes, while Aeron remained stoically unbothered, his arms crossed like a wall.

Irene rolled her eyes and turned back to Violet. "As you’ve heard, we, the East pack, are ’religious people.’" She lifted both hands and wriggled her fingers in air quotes, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "At least that’s how most people mock us."

"But I like to think of it as being more connected to the goddess than most packs, and it’s no wonder she continues to bless us. When you forget your creator, you edge closer to destruction."

Violet nodded slowly, unsure where this was going. "So... how does this explain the Cnái-ah-"

"The Cnáimhseáil Anama," Irene corrected her gently.

"Yes. That." Violet gestured vaguely. "Griffin said it’s to invoke the goddess’s blessing. But the goddess already blessed us with the mate bond. So what other blessing are we talking about exactly?"

"Yes, the mate bond is a gift," Irene agreed. "But gratitude matters. And when we show our gratitude to the goddess, she blesses us further with life, protection, children — females, to be exact."

She let that hang in the air.

"Why do you think the East pack has more pure-blooded females than any other packs?" she added.

"Oh." Violet blinked, stunned. So they were thanking the goddess so they could have female babies. Fantastic. She was doomed.

Irene went on. "Since the ceremony binds you not only to your mate but to the East pack, we often take it as a marriage rite. In summary, the goddess blesses your union, and you’re officially one of us. "

Great.

It was worse enough that Roman had left her because of the "mate bond", if the rest heard she was "practically" married to Griffin, she didn’t know how they’d take it.

"Soooo," Violet dragged the word out, hesitantly, "I can’t skip it? Like maybe do it later?"

"No," Irene said flatly, her smile not reaching her eyes. "For Fated Mates, it is recommended to be performed immediately after the mating fever. Trust me, it helps strengthen the bond."

"And ensures you’re not a threat to our son," Aeron added from his corner, his eyes hard.

"Dad. Chill," Griffin muttered under his breath.

Arion laughed, far more relaxed than the others, and slung his arm lazily around Aeron’s stiff shoulders. "Don’t mind the paranoid fool. "He said, "He just doesn’t want a repeat of what happened during our time."

"What happened during your time?" Violet asked.

Arion looked at Griffin. "You haven’t told our mate about our love story?"

Aeron growled low in warning. "That wasn’t a love story."

"Oh, please shut it, you romance killer," Arion dismissed him, waving a hand. Then he turned fully to Violet with an excited gleam in his eyes. "Don’t worry, I’d tell you how we ended up in this cozy little domestic arrangement. Now, where do I begin..."

Aeron groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Griffin chuckled, whispering into Violet’s ear. "Every time he starts this story, I want to gouge my ears out too."

"Just tell the story, Arion, and try not to add too many embellishments." Irene warned him.

"Irene, love, you wound me. You know my words are the gospel truth, albeit delivered with a bit more flair." Arion winked.

Irene scoffed, then turned to Violet. "These two husbands of mine were sent to kill me because some smaller packs under the East didn’t want a woman leading them. They wanted my squirm of a brother, the one they could easily control."

Violet blinked. "Wait. You had a brother?"

"Had," Irene replied simply. "I killed him with my own hands by the time everything was over."

Violet was rendered speechless.

Arion picked up the tale without missing a beat. "So there we were, two brothers sent to kill the East’s little Alpha princess on her birthday. It was supposed to be a clean kill. No one was to suspect us. That way, we wouldn’t risk a war within the East since there were still sub-packs loyal to her. The plan was to make it look like an accident, you know, poison her drink, stage a drunken fall from a height, maybe blow her up. There were just so many delightful options."

To be honest, Violet’s mind was blown. Irene had to be crazy to marry people who once plotted her murder so meticulously.

Arion continued, "And everything was going smoothly—"

"Until you decided to flirt with her," Aeron muttered, glowering.

Griffin leaned in, whispering to Violet, "Here comes the argument. Brace yourself."

"I didn’t flirt with Irene. She came my way, swaying that ass, and you know I’m an ass man," Arion said defensively.

Dear goddess. Violet groaned inwardly. That was far too much information.

"I have no idea what you’re talking about," Irene said airily, though the smirk on her face suggested otherwise.

Aeron grumbled, "Arion chose pleasure over business."

"And yet when you found us, you still joined in," Arion shot back, then gave a slow whistle. "That was our first and most memorable threesome."

Honestly, Violet had no idea how she managed to keep a straight face through it all. But somehow, she did.

Aeron muttered in his defense, "I only joined because I figured getting her to lower her guard would help us strike when she least expected it."

"Except we were the ones caught off guard," Arion chuckled. "We still don’t know how, but Irene somehow knew about our mission."

"The goddess protects her people," Irene said proudly.

Griffin broke the truth to Violet, "A Seer warned her at the time, so she was prepared."

"To cut a long story short," Arion continued, "she imprisoned us. Then later, she offered us a chance to live if we served her. I said yes immediately. This one" he jerked a thumb at Aeron, "fought it for weeks."

He laughed. "But even ice melts eventually. And here we are, married and living our best lives. Irene still chains us up sometimes, but now for very different reasons."

Of course, Arion finished with a flourish.

"Thank the goddess. Finally," Aeron muttered, clearly relieved it was over.

Violet looked between the three of them. The dynamic was strange, intense but oddly beautiful. She could’ve had something like this with her own men, if things had gone differently.

"I would never hurt Griffin," Violet told Aeron, hoping he would understand.

"You won’t, not now that you’re mated. Elijah can’t use you against our son anymore," Aeron replied. "But becoming a member of our pack solidifies that trust."

Irene stepped forward and gently took Violet’s hand.

"I understand your hesitation," she said softly. "This is a lot, especially for someone who isn’t a werewolf and didn’t grow up in this kind of community. But soon enough, everyone will know about the mate bond, and there won’t be time for the ceremony. You need to connect with our people first. They need to see that you’re one of them, that you’ll fight for them just as they’ll fight for you. Violet, you need to honor tradition."

For a moment, there was silence as Violet mulled over her decision.

Then she asked with a deep breath, "When is the Cnáimhseáil Anama happening?" She pronounced it properly this time.

"Tonight."

Shit.