“Yes.”
Shayonn felt weak with apprehension. Of all the places he’d been trying to avoid, the queen’s court was the worst. “You’re in contact with the court? How?” he made himself ask.
Faolan tilted his head. “I’m not in contact with the court, but it’s been all over the news here. That’s how I know that she’s looking for a mate rather urgently. She requested that all young, male white tiger shifters be brought to her so she can take her pick.”
Shayonn winced. He suspected that there was a different reason for the queen’s wish to meet all the young men of her species. “The queen is looking for a mate? But she’s too old to have babies. She hasn’t had one in years.”
Faolan shrugged. “Seems she changed her mind.” He winked. “I bet it’s a political decision. She only has one son, hasn’t she? Another male offspring would be good for her, especially if it’s a white one.”
Shayonn shook his head in despair. “This is insane. You’re making a big mistake, Faolan. Please don’t do it. Don’t take me there.”
“Sorry, Shayonn,” Faolan replied and, judging by the sad expression in his eyes, he was indeed sorry. “It’s the queen’s order. I couldn’t let you go even if I wanted to.”
“But I can’t do this,” Shayonn said. “Please, Faolan. You don’t understand. The queen’s request, there’s more to it than what you think, and… You know I’m gay. I can’t be with a woman, I—”
“Sorry, Shayonn.” Frowning, Faolan bit his lip. “I know it’s not what you want. But that’s life. We don’t always get what we want. We all have our place in the world, our reason to exist. And we have duties to fulfil. It’s my duty to obey the queen’s orders, and it’s your duty to make lots of pretty babies. Your species needs you, Shayonn.”
“You don’t get it, do you?” Shayonn snarled. “I can’t father the queen’s babies, and I won’t—”
“I won’t have this discussion anymore,” Faolan said coldly. “Keep your mouth shut or I will make you.”
“What?”
“You heard. Not a single word from you unless you need the toilet, or I’m going to gag you. Is that clear?”
“You’re making a huge mistake,” Shayonn repeated, shaking with rage. No one had ever spoken to him like that before. “I’m not who you think—”
“I mean it,” Faolan said in a low growl. “One more word and it’s going to be the last until the queen has your gag removed.”
Shayonn had had enough. “You fucking stupid idiot!” he yelled as blind rage took over. “You can’t take me—”
Faolan was fast. Unfairly so. A rough, thick piece of leather was shoved into Shayonn’s mouth. He tried to fight it off, but all he could do was shake his head and Faolan easily overpowered him. The ends of the gag were tied behind Shayonn’s head, and Faolan leaned back to examine his work.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “But we don’t have time for discussion. The guys are going to prepare you and tonight you will meet the queen.”
Shayonn closed his eyes. He needed to stop this. He wanted to explain, but there was nothing he could do now. Nothing except to concentrate on the silence around him. Faolan had left him alone. Just as well.
* * * *
Faolan observed the preparation ritual. He didn’t trust Garrid. Just like Faolan, the man was a wolf shifter who had found a place in the tiger community but the man had a violent streak in him that made him unsafe around other people at the best of times. A beautiful, defenceless creature like Shayonn could well bring out his sadistic side. Faolan knew that he ought to have been the one to prepare Shayonn. He had caught him, he was delivering him, so getting him ready too would have only been logical.
What wasn’t logical was the reluctance he felt at taking Shayonn to meet his fate. He’d been so sure that he was doing the right thing, but Shayonn’s begging and sad reassurance that he didn’t want to mate with the females kept gnawing at his conscience. He didn’t know what it was like not to feel attracted to a lover. Being bisexual, he appreciated the hard muscles and general roughness of a male body as much as the silky skin and inviting curves of a woman. What was it like to face the most intimate of all moments with a person one didn’t desire? Faolan couldn’t answer that question but the thoughts kept spinning inside his mind as he continued to watch.
Shayonn’s flawless body was being washed and prepared. He didn’t enjoy it, that was obvious. Faolan didn’t enjoy it either. Observing Garrid handle Shayonn like a piece of meat irritated him more than he had expected. Shayonn just let it happen. Not that he had much choice anyway, but he endured the cleaning and shaving process with closed eyes and an expression as if he were somewhere far, far away.
“Think the queen’s gonna like him?” Garrid enquired eventually. Shayonn squirmed.
Faolan pressed his fingernails into the palms of his hands to keep himself from shouting in frustration. “It’s hard to say,” he answered. “He’s beautiful and he’s young. A lot younger than the queen, but it’s what she asked for.”
“Yeah, who would’ve thought the tiger queen’s a cougar?” Garrid laughed but quickly sobered up at the glare Faolan sent his way.
“Shayonn is an extraordinarily handsome and healthy male, but I don’t know about the others. There might be one among them that she’s more attracted to and if she’s looking for more than a father for her baby, he doesn’t stand a chance anyway unless he’s destined to be her mate. And I don’t think I need to tell you about the chances of that being the case.”
Watching Garrid slide a wide, studded leather collar around Shayonn’s neck, Faolan was close to hoping that the queen would indeed be more attracted to someone else. The wrist cuffs were next. Shayonn didn’t resist when Garrid twisted his arms to his back and secured them in place but the bulky muscles in his shoulders stood out like steel cords. His fists were clenched. His beautiful face was set in stone, his jaws locked and his sensual lips a thin line of hatred.
“Put this on him,” Faolan ordered when Garrid was finished with his task and pushed a bundle of clothes at his helper. By now he downright hated having to put Shayonn through all of this.
Garrid unfolded the pile with a grin. It wasn’t a friendly grin, and he made no effort to pretend it was. He wrapped Shayonn in the thin fabric and decorated him artfully, just the way he was supposed to. But all the time an evil smirk curled his lips.
“Let’s get him over to the palace.” Faolan turned his back. He didn’t want to watch Garrid march Shayonn along, couldn’t bear to see this mask of mute resignation and cold fury any longer.
The way to the queen’s court was a short one but every step increased the ache in Faolan’s chest. Heads turned and whispers followed them as they walked the streets. Of course they attracted attention. Two men leading a third, bound one, couldn’t go unnoticed. But that wasn’t the only reason, and Faolan knew it.
Shayonn was striking, even in his human form, and with the orders to bring every white tiger to the queen, it must have been easy for most people to figure out what he was.
Even the guards seemed to understand at once. They grinned and barely waited for Faolan to finish his short speech before one of them signalled to follow him and led them inside. Faolan marched Shayonn into the palace with definite unease. Maybe this would be over soon. If she didn’t want Shayonn, then perhaps he’d be free to go.
“Will the queen see him now?” Faolan enquired of the guard.
“She will see him tonight. Along with the others.”
“The others?”
“Yes. There are five more and they will all be presented to her tonight. You don’t expect Her Royal Highness to come running just because you found a potential male for her, do you?”
Faolan’s heart sank. “No, of course not. I just thought… Well, I thought that if she meets him and decides she doesn’t want him, then I could, um, take him with me and—”
“Take him with you?” The guard chuckled. “Good man, you’re not goin
g to take him with you, no matter if the queen wants him or not. If she doesn’t want him, he’ll be examined and then paired off with a group of females that are most likely to be a genetic match with him.”
Faolan winced. He’d known it all along, hadn’t he? “A group? Won’t he be allowed to try to find his mate first?”
“No. You know how it works, don’t you?”
“Um, well, I just thought…”
The guard shook his head. “There are lots of females that carry the white gene in them. The males are the problem because they hardly ever have it, but at least the ones who do are easy to spot. Because the chances of a couple producing white offspring are minimal, the males get to father as many babies as possible. And the way he looks, I’m sure he’ll make quite a few of them. As a matter of fact, I believe that even if the queen wants him for herself, she will consider passing him on when she’s done with him, simply because he’s too good to waste. This one will be used for breeding, one way or the other.”
Shayonn had listened without moving, but at the guard’s last words, he swallowed and shifted his weight. He was still gagged, and that was probably a good thing. The earlier resignation had dropped off him and he seemed eager to give the guard a piece of his mind.
“Oh. Okay,” Faolan said, ignoring the furious glare Shayonn cast his way. “Will it be possible for me to stay? Until the queen has made her decision, I mean.”
The guard shrugged. “I don’t think so. But you can be present when she sees the men. The mating process is a public event.”
“Public?”
“Yes.”
Chapter 5
Faolan watched in awed silence. The men, all six of them, were adorable. They all had flawless bodies and there was little left to hide their beauty. They were aroused, sporting magnificent erections that were barely concealed by the tiniest of loincloths. Only two of them were in ties and Faolan recognised Shayonn at first sight. After taking a few moments to compare him to his peers, he decided that Shayonn was by far the most handsome creature in the room.
Led by guards, the six men were lined up next to each other, with a few yards separating them. Of course, the queen would want to be able to sniff them individually. She needed their scent to find her best possible mate, which was also the reason the men had to be sexually aroused. It made it easier for her.
The expectant whispers around Faolan stopped and the crowd turned their heads as one. The huge, carved, wooden double doors at the end of the large room were opened. The queen entered.
Having never seen her in person, Faolan was mesmerised by her beauty. She was big for a female, even a white tiger one, and her face and body were symmetrical and in perfect shape. Her thick, black-and-white fur was glossy and gleamed in the light as she crossed the room with slow, majestic grace. Her paws made no sound on the plush crimson carpet. She didn’t look around. Her huge eyes were fixed on the men that were presented to her, awaiting her inspection and appraisal with heaving chests and sweaty skin. Faolan could relate to them. Shayonn had made being potentially chosen as the queen’s mate sound like an ordeal, but seeing her in all her glory and watching the other five men next to Shayonn, Faolan realised that Shayonn was the only one who thought so. Hell, he would have been honoured to stand on that little stage himself.
But he didn’t, and never would. He was a plain, ordinary wolf and of poor pedigree at that. He’d never be allowed to have children of his own, even if he were lucky enough to find his mate, which was improbable because the females of his species didn’t look twice at the likes of him. No, watching the white queen climb the stairs to the platform where her future mate might be waiting was as close as Faolan could ever hope to get to a traditional shifter mating ritual.
Astonished whispers started up around him. Faolan craned his neck to see better, just like the others in the vast room. It seemed the queen had been fast to make up her mind. Instead of looking at each man in turn, she had made a straight line to one of them and stopped in front of him. Staring at Shayonn with her big green eyes, she sat down. At an impatient flick of her tail, two female guards hurried to bring a velvet gown and held it up for her. Screened from the public, she shifted to human form and the gown was fastened around her.
She was a beautiful woman. Tall and slender and with exquisite, doll-like features. Right now, those features were twisted into an expression of irritation as she took a step that brought her right in front of Shayonn. He was taller than her by at least three inches, but his height was clearly irrelevant to her. Raising her fine-boned, elegant hand, she slapped him firmly across the cheek.
A thin smile played on Shayonn’s lips as he straightened up and looked down at her. “Hello, Mum.”
* * * *
“What does this mean, he is the queen’s son?” Faolan enquired half an hour later.
The man who sat across from him, Bernard, shrugged. “The boy is Prince Shayonn of Atraya, our Royal Highness’s youngest child and her only son.”
Faolan was dizzy with excitement as he remembered that he had not only met the prince but had in fact spent some pleasurable minutes with him. “He’s Prince Shayonn? But why? How is this possible? I thought the prince was abroad, studying.”
“Yes, I know. That’s what everybody thought and what everybody was supposed to believe. And indeed, he has been abroad for several years. At a university in England, to be precise. He was about to graduate but then he ran away. Escaped his guards and just disappeared.”
“Why? Why would he do that?”
Bernard shrugged. He took a breath and opened his mouth but was spared an answer. The queen entered. She was on her own and in human form.
“That would be all, Bernard,” she said curtly, ignoring Faolan.
“Milady?”
“You heard. I wish to speak to this man in private.”
“Of course, Your Majesty.” Bernard was fast to retreat and he closed the doors quietly.
They were alone. Faolan swallowed, nervous. He didn’t know what to expect or what to make of this situation.
The queen remained standing and watched him for a while. “Where did you find him?”
“We, uh, met quite by chance, Your Majesty.”
“By chance, huh?” She continued to regard him with those big green eyes of hers as if trying to figure out who she was dealing with. Faolan squirmed. Her eyes were eerily like her son’s and he tried not to think of them and the way they had been scrunched up in pleasure while he’d jerked them both to orgasm. Or the accusing stares he’d received from them afterwards when he had forced the proud tiger to meet his fate.
“Yes,” Faolan replied, then, taking in the queen’s raised eyebrows, he added, “Milady. Yes, Milady.”
“And why did you bring him here?”
“Well, I’d heard about your order that every young, male white tiger be brought to the palace and when I realised what he was, I obeyed your order.”
“I see.” Arms folded across her chest, she stared at him. “But you didn’t know who you were dealing with, did you?”
“You mean did I know he’s the prince? No. No, I didn’t know that. All I knew was that he was a white tiger. Is a white tiger,” he corrected himself.
The queen tilted her head. “Yes indeed. That’s what he is.” She sounded pensive as she turned to look out of the window.
“Your Majesty?” Faolan asked after a long moment of silence.
She glanced at him with raised eyebrows. “Yes?”
“I’m sorry, I… I don’t really know what I’m supposed to say. I’m not used to be with people like, uh, like you,” Faolan explained.
“I know. It’s what Shayonn said. You’re a wolf, aren’t you?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“So, you are not a member of our community but you chose to respect my orders anyway?”
Faolan lowered his head under her inquisitive gaze. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“Well… He’s part of your spec
ies, so your law is what applies to him. Not mine, not the human race’s, not any other kind’s.”
“Indeed. And the fact that there is a reward on his head has nothing to do with your willingness to abide our law?”
Faolan frowned in honest surprise. “There’s a reward? I didn’t know that.”
Her unsettling green stare rested on him for several long heart beats, then she said, “Yes. There is a reward. And you shall have it, if you want. But truth be told, I’d rather offer you something else for your services.”
“What would that be?”
“A job.”
* * * *
Shayonn stared down the wolf shifter. He was furious and unforgiving and it seemed his gaze transmitted his feelings well.
Faolan lowered his head and Shayonn assumed that, had he been in animal shape, he would have tucked his tail between his legs. Of course he would have, he couldn’t help it. Dangerous though the wolf in him was, he had an instinctive understanding of who the stronger creature in this room was, and it wasn’t him.
“Get the fuck out of my room!” When he was this angry, even Shayonn’s human voice sounded like a growl. Deep and threatening, it reverberated in his chest.
Faolan winced but took a breath and squared his shoulders. So the wolf was up for a little flexing of muscles, it seemed. Well, he must have known his job wouldn’t be an easy one.
“I’m afraid that’s not an option and I believe you know that.” Faolan’s voice was surprisingly firm and emotionless. “Your mother has employed me as your personal assistant and bodyguard, so—”
“Bodyguard?” Shayonn snarled. “Watchdog, you mean.” He observed as Faolan’s lip curled into a snarl and allowed himself a smug grin. “Tell me, did you have to roll over and let her scratch your belly, too?”
“No, she only had to tell me that I’d get to teach her spoilt brat of a son some manners and I was all up for the job.”
“Oh, spoilt brat, is it? You have no fucking idea who I am, so get your hairy arse out of here before I tell my mother that you had your hand on my dick.”
Shifting Changes (The First Shift) Page 4