Chapter 151: Mate Bomb

A few days later...

"Your leg has healed beautifully," Dr Adah said, easing the last of the cast away.

Kira and Jessica were both lounging in the palace living room, surrounded by cushions and half-empty teacups. Kira flexed her newly freed ankle and let out a dramatic sigh of relief.

"Finally," she muttered. "I was starting to feel like a pirate with a wooden leg."

Dr Adah smiled as she packed away her tools. "The speed of your healing is remarkable. It might be because your wolf is finally awakening."

Kira sat up straighter, eyes sparkling with interest. She seized the opportunity immediately. "Really?"

"Yes," Dr Adah said, nodding. "If she is finally beginning to stir, your body will heal more like a shifter’s than a human’s."

Kira had been waiting for an opening like this to ask her questions. "How does that work, exactly? When a wolf awakens, are there signs? Symptoms? Something I should feel coming?"

Dr Adah considered the question. "I don’t know much about werewolf anatomy, but I’ll answer with the little I know."

She straightened up. "In most people, the wolf simply arrives one day, quietly and speaks to you. But in others, it can be triggered. Intense emotional distress, sometimes. Severe physical training. Even extreme joy has been known to bring a beast forward for the first time. Strong feeling, generally. The wolf answers when the body calls loudly enough."

Kira turned that over in her mind.

She had stopped ingesting whatever poison they fed her in Moonfang, which had kept her weak and dormant for so long. By every measure, her wolf should have surfaced by now. So why hadn’t she? What was still holding the door shut?

"You should do light exercises, Your Highness, to strengthen your bones," Dr Adah said, ready to leave.

Kira nodded. "Thank you, doctor."

Once Dr Adah had left, Kira turned to Jessica with a mischievous grin that could only mean trouble.

Jessica raised one eyebrow suspiciously. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Kira leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand. "Spill."

"Spill what?"

"You and Kai," Kira said, eyes twinkling. "And don’t even try to lie to me, Jessica Ashfang. I’ve seen the way you both look at each other."

Jessica opened her mouth and closed it. She looked at the ceiling, then the window, then her own hands, visiting every possible escape route and finding all of them blocked. She sighed and dropped her face into her hands for a second before peeking through her fingers.

"Fine. I don’t know how to say this," she said finally.

"Try."

Jessica exhaled. "Kai is my mate."

Kira’s jaw dropped so fast it nearly hit the floor. Her eyes widened comically, almost popping out of their sockets.

"He is your WHAT?"

"My mate." Jessica winced. "The real deal. The whole ’mine forever’ thing. Ginger won’t shut up about it."

"How?" Kira was halfway off the sofa now. "How? When? How long have you been sitting on this?"

"I don’t know how, Ki, it’s not as though mates come with an explanation note attached." Jessica dragged a hand down her face. "He just is. I felt it the second I saw him at the fundraiser, and I have been pretending I didn’t ever since."

Kira stared at her best friend for a long beat, then let out a delighted squeal and clapped her hands together. "This is the best news ever! Have you told him? Please tell me you’ve told him. I need front-row seats on the mating ceremony."

Jessica shook her head, looking suddenly miserable. "It’s not going to work, Ki."

"Why on earth not?" Kira’s smile faltered.

"You’re forgetting the blood feud between werewolves and Lycans," Jessica said quietly. "The actual centuries-old hatred between werewolves and Lycans. Just because you married the King does not mean a path has magically opened for the rest of us. You can’t look at your own situation and assume it’ll be simple for everyone else."

Kira sighed, the excitement draining from her face. Jessica was right. Kira had spent every day since arriving here trying to prove to the Lycans that a werewolf could be trusted, that she could be a worthy queen; trust didn’t change overnight.

Would these people truly open their arms to another werewolf so easily? Would they accept Kai, one of their own, choosing another werewolf?

"You’re right," Kira admitted softly. "It’s not that simple. But I highly doubt Kai would reject you if you told him the truth. That man already looks at you like you hung the moon. Still... maybe study him a bit more first. Know how he’ll react before you drop the mate bomb. Whatever you decide, I’m behind you."

Jessica gave a small, hopeful smile. "You really think he’s enchanted by me?"

"Enchanted?" Kira laughed. "He’s completely gone. The man follows you around like a lovesick puppy trying to look cool. It’s adorable and slightly pathetic."

They both giggled, the heavy mood lifting for a moment.

Later that afternoon, the two of them made their way to the medical centre to visit Sasha and Jerry.

Sasha was doing better. Not whole or unburdened, but lighter than she had been. Testifying had cost her something and given her something back in equal measure. Jerry was awake and sitting up, which Kira took as its own small victory.

She left Jessica chatting with Sasha and slipped down the corridor to Dr Lorenzo’s office.

She had quietly asked him days ago to run a secret search through blood samples from the pack, hoping to find a match for Jerry’s rare condition.

Dr Lorenzo came in a few moments later with a folder in his hand. They exchanged the usual pleasantries, and then Kira sat forward, unable to wait any longer.

"Did you find anything?"

The doctor shook his head. "We’ve not been able to find any, Your Highness. But I’ve spoken to some of my human doctor friends at The Central to keep searching."

Kira looked disappointed. "That’s fine. Could you still keep it a secret?"

The moment Kira stepped out of Dr Lorenzo’s office, she ran into Brian, who was also coming into the doctor’s office.

"Well, hello there, cutie," Brian said with a lewd smile, eyes running all over Suri’s body.