Franklin, Eli’s father, jumped in, ripping Sarah from Eli’s throat. The cut was shallow and he held them both by the backs of their necks and commanded, “Shift.”

Eli complied but Sarah took a lot longer to revert back into a woman again. Once they stood and made themselves presentable, Franklin looked between them. Finally, his eyes settled on the one wolf who gave no support within the tent, Sarah’s father.

“Come now. Must it really be like this?”

Clutching her left shoulder, Sarah lumbered to stand by her father’s side.

A large gust of wind had Slade guarding her eyes when a griffin landed close by with a thud.

It twitched its head and a pixie zipped to them, “What is the meaning of this?”

Franklin hesitated then admitted, “We have a marital dispute—”

“There’s no marital dispute,” Eli said, “Because I’m not marrying her.”

As with all pixies, it zipped forward, back, right then left, like an easily distracted hummingbird. “The raid starts at sunup. We do not have time for this. Resolve this dispute.”

“It’s a marital dispute,” Sarah growled, “only a sovereign can resolve it. And this one caused the dispute.”

Slade took her cue. Well aware of the eyes on her, she made her way to the couple in question.

She didn’t want to do this, not now, not publicly.

Sarah’s father watched her, unmoved. “You are the sovereign, you blessed this marriage, you will see it carried out.” He shouted, “Call the witches. We’ll perform the ceremony now.”

No protest came from Eli. Instead, he met Slade’s gaze. If he was waiting for her to come to his rescue, it’d be a long wait. She couldn’t do this for him. He had to decide on his own and he had to decide on what he could live with. Lomos just dropped a child into Eli’s lap, one that needed protection. Maybe if he explained it to Sarah, they could come to some agreement. Was it really fair to put her feelings above that innocent life?

The witches’ arrival meant she had to decide upon that quickly.

Three of the four witches, two blinded and one guiding them, shuffled into the clearing. Once they arrived, the lead witch Slade recognized as the one to do the incantations, grinned up at them.

“What do you need, werewolves?”

“A marriage,” Sarah’s father announced. He stared Franklin down, daring him to challenge it.

Franklin seemed desperate to do just that. And why wouldn’t he? As far as he knew, Eli’d already chosen someone, someone who guaranteed he’d have a bloodline. No, wolves weren’t encouraged to go from wolf to wolf, but werewolves...they adhered to some strict laws on pairing. There were politics involved and a seasoned politician like Franklin Monroe would want assurances about what he perceived to be his living grandchild before agreeing to any contract, verbal or otherwise—even a marriage.

But he couldn’t say that without revealing the truth about the raid being for a baby—a human-looking baby.

“Marriage we can do,” the witches agreed.

“I refuse,” Eli declared. “I absolutely refuse.”

Sucking in some spit with her laugh, the witch grinned. “Foolish werewolf, your oath to your sovereign is absolute. A vampire sovereign need no permission from either of you to solidify this pairing. And so long as that sovereign hasn’t broken any promises, the oath and your obligations therein remain intact.”

Slade swallowed down her automatic pleas for clarity. She wasn’t a good sovereign, not because she didn’t try, but because she hadn’t been properly thrown into the role. Manny’d become incapacitated. All traces of humans had vanished. Overnight she received her title as sovereign based on the simple fact that her mother had been sovereign and her grandfather before that. It wasn’t something she earned and understood perfectly, it was just something she fell into.

Her lack of motion had the witch’s grin fading. “Why do you hesitate, child? Give your command to wed them and I will make it so.”

“Don’t,” Eli met eyes with Slade and pleaded. “Don’t. Please don’t.”

“If she wants to maintain the oath sworn to her by all werewolves who follow her, she will,” Sarah’s father said. “Break one promise—a promise this big, and it’ll be a domino effect. Every wolf sworn to your reign are dissolved of that oath and you’ve got nothing and no one. No protections.” He challenged, “Would you do that—risk that, over one wolf?”

He was right. That was foolish.

Sarah waited, but Eli shook his head. “Don’t he,” he repeated. “I’ll never forgive you if you do this.”

But doing this was best. He and Sarah could give that child a home.

The witch waited, everyone waited. Slade opened her mouth to give the order, ignoring Eli’s begging.

“Ma’am...”

“I can’t,” Slade said with a gasp. Her own words shocked her. “I can’t allow it.”

Leaning away the witch warned, “Nothing is finalized yet. You will lose all claim to the wolves—”

“I finalize it,” Slade said, cutting her off.

Eyes closed, Eli held his knees and braced himself forward.

“No,” Sarah wailed. “No. You cannot back what you’ve already offered—none of you can!” She thrust a finger at Slade, “Readjust your words or you’re an enemy of every werewolf in this country.”

Slade already felt like the enemy of everyone.

“No one will follow you in this raid,” Sarah reminded her. “This is your doing.”

“Zaza’ll follow you,” the she-wolf said, stepping forward. “As will Bowen.” She looked from Slade then back to Sarah again. “I’ve traveled far to reach here, looking for a good cause. This is the first sovereign I’ve seen who takes the blame for a werewolf.” She fell to one knee, fist to her chest. “Zaza follows you, Sovereign.”

The glow about her spoke of a strong rune. Slade stared at her, humbled beyond words.

What was more amazing was how many wolves the she-wolf alpha commanded. Nearly half in attendance, some of Slade’s former werewolves dotted in.

“Thank you,” Slade said, “I’m deeply moved.”

“At your command, Sovereign,” Zaza said. “What would you have us do?”

Upon recognizing the accent, Slade breathed easier, “You’re from North Africa?”

“Vampire clutches in my area are acting erratic. They’ve lashed out against us enough that our oaths dissolved. So...we set out.”

Because what was a guardian without someone to guard?

“No,” Sarah moaned. “No! This isn’t fair. I’ve waited two years.” She leapt, shifting as she landed.

Teeth bared, the beast eyed Slade with malicious intent.

“Zaza,” Slade said, being sure not to make any sudden movements, “tell your wolves not to interfere. I won’t die if she bites me, and she’s got every right to lash out. Is that understood?”

“But...you’ll take on damage.”

“I’ll take on damage,” Slade repeated, not caring all that much. “So I’ll take on damage.”

Sarah struck and Eli’s wolf landed in front of hers. This time the bite in the throat was sizeable enough.