The Queen of the Sea had just traveled to meet the King of Tarben and his son and heir . . . the latter of which was the soulmate of Esmeray. Daughter of Ranjord’s deceased beta and his fling, another dead Ranjord member by the name of Raven. She had spoken to them about Esmeray’s parentage, about her background, about her personality. There had been a few warnings, for the girl was quite spicy and willful. But Marella had hidden an important fact from them. Esmeray was two weeks missing - which had worried her greatly. She was determined that Esmeray not meet the sad fate of her mother or that of her father, one drowned in the sea of her very home and the other dead of plague caused by an Amaya prince. But where was Esmeray?
The exhausted queen pulled herself onto Ranjord’s shores, bedraggled and looking forward to curling up in her den with her mate and children. She was a fit, agile wolf - but the nonstop journey to Tarben and back had been very exhausting. She had only stopped to eat and drink - ignoring the screaming in the muscles of her legs, wings, and back. She had swum to and from the mainland, and on the mainland alternated flying and walking. She and Aegir had a wolf to find and a wedding to plan.
But the cries of pups, and of a female, were ensnared in Marella’s audits as she trudged toward the edge of the beach that gave way to grass and shrubbery and rock. She turned toward it, confused, wondering if a new mother and her pups had washed ashore on Ranjord’s beach. . . .
Then she scented the mother, and blood, and familiar scents from Marella’s own experience of childbirth. And the Queen of Ranjord was running as fast as her tired legs would carry her, chanting “No, no, no!” And she finally came upon none other than Esmeray, in the final motions of childbirth.
She could only stare in horror and shock. Then, that gave way to dread, anger and disbelief. Esmeray was gaping at her queen. Marella spoke in a tremulous voice rife with her exhaustion and thick with her disbelief. “Seas be good, what have you done, Esmeray?”
Esmeray had no answer for Marella, other than a defiant look.
“You are promised, Esmeray! You know you have a soulmate tie, and I know you haven’t broken it because I just came back to our island from speaking with your soulmate and his father, who just so happens to be Tarben’s king - Kublai.” Marella couldn’t believe the gravity of this situation. “You are betrothed, Esmeray, you are the future Queen of Tarben. Your soulmate tie works in the favor of Starfall’s peace treaty, masterminded by your soulmate’s father himself. Your soulmate tie, and now betrothal, works in favor of our alliance with Tarben - as well as the unity between all the packs, all ten of them.” Marella had so much more to say, but she couldn’t continue to speak. She threw her head back violently, calling for her Driftwood King.

“I’ll pull you in like the waves of the sea . . .”