Beyond the Grasslands (Mirage Islands Mates #2)

14. November

Chapter 14

November

NIKA

The council members hung around for the last week of October and put a damper on any further fun Thorin and I could have. They were given access to the prisoners being kept in the cells and we all learned a little more as they questioned each of them in further detail than Thorin or his beta had done previously.

By the time they were done with Miriam, she was a sweaty mess and appeared to be pained by the process. It was clear that she fought the impulse to tell the truth, as they demanded, every step of the way. It cost her until she finally broke and blubbered the whole sordid thing. She had always known, even when she dated Johann who her mate was. The goddess who had been hanging around at the edges of the pack’s lands had convinced her that the mate Selene picked for her wasn’t good enough and that she was meant to be the Luna of the Grasslands Pack.

It worried everyone that this supposed goddess had been around so long. Miriam had been two years older than Johann and she tried to get him to believe that she was his mate, but his father saw through her lies and explained what the bond felt like when it snapped into place. Johann knew the minute he touched her that she wasn’t his true mate. He also forbade Miriam to see the woman who attempted to convince her that he was. Unfortunately, Johann didn’t have the authority to command her allegiance back then as he wasn’t Alpha. So, she continued to fall under the sway of the false goddess - which was what we had come to call the bitch who had spent many years working to ruin the pack - and maybe the whole of the shifter community.

While we learned a lot more, it still felt as if we were stuck in a weird limbo because no one could point out where the woman lived, who she really was, and each description of her was vastly different from the one before it. Each time one of the prisoners described the woman who claimed to be a goddess, they were telling the truth.

“Either there is more than one of them or she disguises herself to help keep her true identity a secret,” Thorin finally told the council members who concurred. They agreed to bring in reinforcements to the area, but Thorin refused to host them on pack lands. “Listen, while we appreciate the added bodies for security, it is clear this person or persons have the ability to control people if they want. We have found a handful of our pack members to have the sigil embedded into their bodies. When it was removed, they remembered everything and even understood that some of the things they had done hadn’t been of their own free will. I won’t subject my pack to people who they don’t know having an authoritarian position over them. It would be too easy for something to get out of hand.”

“Understandable. We will keep in touch, both with the security force we leave as an outlier around your land and with you. When you see Viktor again, we would like a word with him in council chambers,” Albert added before they left. The ominous nature of his tone when he spoke of Vik made me wonder how it would affect Janella if something were to happen to him.

By the time they left, we were all on edge and worn out, but no closer to discovering what in the world was going on. Unfortunately, Selene had not shown up in my dreams, so there was no help coming from the Goddess who claimed to care about us either.

Mid-November

I glanced out the window of the office and watched as the last of the leaves fell from the trees. There was nothing spectacular about them, except that they had hung on for dear life before finally giving in to the inevitable. There was a part of me that wondered if that was what would happen to the Grasslands Pack. Were we simply hanging on for dear life, waiting for some goddess or whatever the hell she was to tear us apart from the inside out? Were we simply meant to rot upon our lands until finally, she blew in to shake us all lose and return us to the ground?

“Those look like heavy thoughts, do you want to share the load?” I turned to find Thorin just inside the door to the office. He looked tired, like the rest of us who tried to keep the pack moving forward despite the problems we know knew waited on the horizon.

“Just thinking about how fragile everything is.”

“We’ll figure everything out. Until then, business as usual.”

I nodded. It was one thing to say those words, the same ones that had become our mantra since the council showed up and demanded answers that no one seemed to be able to satisfy. Business as usual while we kept it in the back of our minds that there was something out there lying in wait to destroy us. The thought was not a comforting one.

“Come here,” Thorin demanded and without thought, I moved straight into his arms and allowed his warmth to take away the cold worry that settled deep into my bones. “We have more important things to set our minds to.”

“Like what?”

“Like whether you want a big to-do or a small and intimate affair for our claiming ceremony this time.”

“Can we keep it small and then have a larger celebration with the rest of the pack after it is done?”

“You don’t want the pack to witness?”

I shook my head. “It’s not that. I just remember the crowds of people, the hustle and bustle that led up to our last ceremony.”

“The one that never happened?” Thorin teased.

“Exactly. I’m not anxious in the way that I don’t want to have a ceremony because I’m afraid it will happen again, but at the same time, we don’t really know what we’re up against here. How do we fight a goddess if she decides to ruin the day? I’d rather just have a small ceremony with a couple people we trust and then celebrate after our bond has strengthened us into a cohesive unit.”

Thorin blew out a breath that sounded a lot like relief. “You sound like my idea aligns with yours.”

“That’s because it does, and for the same reason.”

“So, you worried and worked yourself up thinking you’d have to convince me to go smaller?” I didn’t attempt to hold back on the teasing in my tone as I rolled my eyes. “If only you would ask the question before you make up your own answers.”

“Whatever. What’s on our agenda for today?”

“There were a couple little squabbles between pack members, but they’ve already been handled. Blessedly, we have the rest of the day free for ourselves.”

“Date night?” Thorin asked excitedly and there was no way I could deny that excited sparkle in his eyes.

“Date night,” I agreed. “Let’s do something different though.”

“Like what?”

“I want to go for a run with you.”

“A run?” Thorin questioned. I could feel the unease he put off as he realized I meant in our shifted forms. “Is that seriously what you want?”

“I wouldn’t have asked if it wasn’t. We can stay well within the pack borders. The last time we were shifted together was when you killed the rogue that came for me and Janella. Don’t you think we should have a healthy relationship between our wolves as well as our human side before we complete the mating?”

“I was thinking being with you in our shifted form might accidentally push the formal mating forward.” I loved that he laughed as he admitted his fears to me. They weren’t really fears in the normal sense. Thorin was afraid to disappoint me by not holding up his end of the deal to wait until the date I originally gave him. We were closer to getting there, but not close enough for him to be comfortable with a situation that might get away from him.

“Well, are you willing to risk it with me?” I asked.

“I’m willing to risk anything except losing you,” He admitted.

“Well, that’s not going to happen, no matter what, so let’s go for a run.”

“I love you, Nika.” Thorin’s words hit me just as the shift took over and my wolf threw a flirty little wink over her shoulder at him on her way out of the office, as if to say those words right back to him.