Chapter 12
My dearest Jaxom,
I have heard the good news of your mating to Drake Loftus. It brings joy to my heart to know the happiness and fulfillment you are experiencing. Enjoy this gift from the Moon Goddess.
We both know the time is coming for you to completely honor the Moon Goddess and come to me to be your true mate.
It is only through pain and sacrifice that we can bring true peace to all eight divided realms. They should never have been divided as they all once prospered under united mates that understood the value of putting others first.
You will prove that by rejecting Drake in the kindest way possible. I wish no harm upon him. Better to fulfill your true destiny now by letting him go than making the rejection harder down the road. Drake has suffered enough. Don’t make it worse for him. Give him the gift of choosing a new mate.
That is an act of selflessness that will bring peace to our people.
I praise you for coming to me to make our union complete.
To ignore prophecy will be a detriment to you and your people.
We are lucky to have been forewarned of the calamities to come.
Without your obedience in becoming my chosen mate, the realms will fall.
It is an honor to know how strong you are in taking action now. Drake is a good man and will also be honored for letting you go to become who the Moon Goddess truly intends you to be.
In breathless anticipation of your arrival in Ecrin. May your presence here herald in a new era of peace and security for all of our loved ones.
Yours, Prince Renz.
Jaxom put the letter down. He felt nauseous from the smell of Renz’ cologne all over it, among other worries the letter brought.
There was no way he was showing this letter to anyone.
The first time he was interrogated by the Elder’s Delta, because of Renz, he’d felt dirty having to repeat the whole affair.
Having to go through that again, even with the evidence of the letters, was revolting.
That interview had exhausted him mentally and emotionally.
He’d lost nights of sleep as Renz and the interview played back through his dreams. The wishes and desires of royalty were rarely rejected no matter the reason.
Rejecting a fated mate, especially after marking, always had negative consequences.
There was no way the Moon Goddess was calling him to reject Drake.
That was never happening. At any point in time, if that kind of rejection became absolutely necessary, the bond could be broken by one or the other.
The pain following rejection was enough to kill one or both mates.
The strength to survive the rejection was always the question.
Was the rejecting mate strong enough to force the bond to break and survive?
Could the rejected mate actually survive the bond being severed?
There were other ways a fated mate-bond could be broken.
Witches could brew potions that could force a mate-bond to brake.
That was a form of dark magic outlawed thousands of years ago.
If a witch was caught making that kind of potion, she forfeit her life.
That user of the potion was forfeit, too.
In order for the potion to be activated, a vile act had to accompany it.
There were no specific vile acts that had to be performed.
The only rule was that the act, after the potion was administered, had to degrade the person on the receiving end.
Occasionally, the potion wasn’t strong enough and the mate-bond survived.
However, the person forced to take the potion was usually killed by their attacker to keep the use of the potion, and the accompanying vile act, a secrete.
The third was that a mate-bond could be broken was by Alpha command to reject their bonded mate.
Then, the Alpha had to rape their victim.
The whole act was vile and reprehensible.
The stronger the Alpha the more likely the mate-bond would be broken.
The Alpha King was the strongest wolf in the land.
The Luna Queen was the second strongest wolf in the land.
Their children were not far behind them in depth of power.
Any wolf, from Alpha to Omega, would have an incredibly hard time resisting the direct verbal command of the Alpha King.
Some Alphas had commanded mate-bonds to be broken to punish one, or both, of the mates.
There had also been cases of an Alpha desiring a woman and deciding to take her from her mate for himself.
That type of Alpha command mocked the order of wolf society the Moon Goddess had set up.
And again, that type of coercion was outlawed thousands of years ago.
No one was to interfere with a mate-bond.
Renz’ letter reeked of heresy. The little princeling must have been upset Jaxom didn’t choose him.
It’s the only reason he could have written something like this.
Answering, or even acknowledging, would only encourage him.
People would get involved that had no business having an opinion.
And, Jaxom just didn’t want to rehash this to anyone if the harassment finally stopped.
Maybe this was anger at Jaxom finally finding his fated mate.
He could only hope Renz would get over it.
The problem was that Renz had a reputation surrounding him.
Dark rumors swirled that he indulged in sexual perversions of all kinds.
Wolf society wasn’t completely prudish. When consenting adults were involved, when mate-bonds were honored, sexual play of different kinds could bring intimacy into a relationship.
The problem wasn’t Renz interest in sex, per se, it was the darker rumors of rape and subjugation.
When power and authority were wielded to force sexual desires to be fulfilled, the pursuer was usually found guilty of rape.
The sick feeling in Jaxom’s gut said Renz had the capability of pushing his agenda for Jaxom that far.
He could only hope he was imagining the danger.
Jaxom dropped the letter in the box he’d stashed in the back of his closet.
He’d keep the letter just in case one day, he’d need proof Renz was not fit to rule.
There was something wrong with the princeling.
Fear settled in the back of Jaxom’s mind that Renz was really going to play this game out in the real world.
Surely, he wasn’t so depraved he’d actually try to take Jaxom for himself. The thought was vomit inducing.
Jaxom shook off the disgust and left the suite to go see what his fated true mate was up to. A much better focus in life.