Lord Valerius

The Alpha had been talking for several minutes, and I had not heard a word of it. Looking at my watch, then back to him, it’s been this way for ten minutes, yet it felt like an hour had gone by.

"Lord Valerius, my son is young," he said, wringing his hands in front of his stomach. "He has been under great strain since his illness. If you would allow me to explain what you saw..."

"You may explain once I decide I want to hear it," I said, barely interested in anything he had to say.

"Of course. Of course. The western border agreement does not have to be affected by this misunderstanding. The pack is grateful for your presence, and I assure you that..."

Suddenly, I felt my wolf rumble from panic.

“Something is wrong,” I muttered beneath my breath. It felt so sudden, and I could tell that it wasn’t from me. It was a cry for help from Calista.

"Valerius?" the Alpha asked, watching my face change.

"We will finish this later."

"My lord, please, I have not finished. The council will want to..."

I did not hear the rest. I was already walking, and the guards at the steps moved out of my way before I reached them.

Inside the packhouse, the corridors were cool and nearly empty. Her scent hung in the air, vanilla layered over something sour with panic, and I followed it past the main hall and down a side passage. At the end of it, a parlor door stood open by a few inches.

I pushed it open.

Eric had Calista pinned against the wall with his hand wrapped around her throat. Her fingers were clawing at his wrist, and her heels were barely touching the floor.

"You aren't going anywhere," he was saying, his voice low and shaking. "I will lock you in the cells myself if I have to."

I crossed the room before he finished the sentence.

I caught him by the collar and tore him away from her. He hit the opposite wall hard enough to crack the plaster, and I pinned him there with my forearm across his throat.

"Uncle," Eric wheezed, his hands scrabbling at my arm. "This is between me and her."

"She is my mate," I said. "That makes it between you and me."

"She was mine first. She was always meant for me."

"You rejected her in front of your entire pack." I pressed harder, and his eyes bulged. "You do not get to want her now."

"Valerius," Calista rasped behind me.

I did not look away from my nephew. "Listen to me carefully, because I will not say this twice. If you touch her again, I will remove your hands. After that, I will remove the rest of you, and there is no one in this territory who will stop me. Do you understand?"

Eric's lips pulled back from his teeth, but he nodded.

I released him. He slid down the wall, coughing and clutching his throat, and I turned around.

Calista had sunk to the edge of a velvet chair with one hand pressed to her neck. Her breathing was ragged, and her eyes were wide and wet. I knelt in front of her and took her wrist gently, drawing her hand away.

Dark marks were already rising on her skin in the shape of his fingers.

My Lycan howled inside my head, demanding that I turn around and finish what I had started. My hands began to shake, and I closed them around hers to hide it.

"Look at me," I said quietly.

She lifted her eyes to mine.

"Breathe slowly. In, and then out. That is all you need to do."

"I'm okay," she whispered, her voice scratched and thin.

"You are not okay, and you do not have to pretend that you are."

A tear slid down her cheek, and I caught it with my thumb. "He said he would put me in the cells."

"He will never get the chance," I told her. "I promise you that."

Behind me, Eric pushed himself up the wall. "You can't take her from this pack. She belongs to this territory."

I stood and faced him. I let a little of my aura loose, only enough to make the room feel smaller, and he went silent.

"Guards," I called, without raising my voice.

Two of the pack's warriors appeared in the doorway almost at once. They had clearly been waiting close by, and neither of them would meet my eyes.

"Take him out," I said. "Keep him away from this wing until we have left the territory."

"Yes, my lord," one of them said. They took Eric by the arms.

“You cannot touch me. I am Alpha!” He yelled like a whiny kid. It was obvious the title had gotten to his head and had filled up the space left where he could no longer reason.

Watching the guard bow to me before hauling him out.

“I will behead you! I promise, I will behead both of you!!” He fought as he was dragged out of the room.

When the door closed, I turned back to her.

"Can you stand?"

"Yes."

"Then we will go to your room together."

I offered my arm, and after a moment she took it. Her fingers were cold against my sleeve. We stepped into the corridor, and I settled my hand at the small of her back.

“What next?”

“Well, we need to get you out of here before some demented folk walk up to you. Apparently, you are a magnet for bullies.” She lowered her head.

“It’s easier,” she muttered.

“Well, not anymore. Before someone points a finger at you, they will have to rethink if they are willing to lose the finger.”

She smirked.

It was nice seeing her smile. She had a wholesome smile, and I wanted to see it more often.

We finally reached outside, and apparently more people were standing outside than there were when I walked in.

They must have heard their ‘Alpha’ yelling as he was being pulled away.

Calista had her head bowed, but I couldn’t have that. I raised her chin up so she could see the crowd.

“Look at them,” I commanded. “I want them to know you were the reason that brat was being hauled away.”

Calista

My neck throbbed where Eric's fingers had been, and every instinct I had told me to look at the ground. I had spent my whole life looking at the ground in this place.

Valerius's hand was still under my chin, so I looked up instead.

There were more people than I had realized. They stood on the steps, along the edge of the lawn, and in the open windows above us.

A group of she-wolves near the fountain whispered behind their hands, and a young man near the gate looked away the moment I met his eyes.

Then an older man by the steps pressed a fist to his chest and bowed his head to me. The woman beside him did the same.

"They are bowing," I whispered.

"They should be," Valerius said. "Keep your head where it is."

"It hurts when I lift it."

"Then we will have it seen to. The head stays up until we reach the car."

I almost laughed, and it hurt too, but I kept my chin raised anyway.

He took his hand from my chin and settled it at the small of my back.

We walked down the steps together, and the crowd opened in front of us without anyone being asked. Wolves who had called me names for years pressed themselves to the edges of the path and said nothing at all.

"Do you always have this effect on people?" I asked quietly.

"Only when I am angry."

"And when you aren't?"

"They are still afraid of me, but they hide it better."

Zelda was waiting beside the car with the rear door already open. Zelda's eyes went to my neck, then to Valerius, and then they dropped to the ground.

"My lord," Zelda said. "Lady Calista."

I stopped walking. "Lady?"

"Is something wrong?" Valerius asked.

"Nobody has ever called me that."

"Then they will have to get used to it." He nodded toward the open door. "Get in."

I slid across the leather seat, and he got in beside me. The door closed with a soft click, and the shouting and whispering outside disappeared. For the first time all day, I could hear myself breathe.

The car pulled forward. I watched the packhouse shrink in the window until the trees swallowed it.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Home."

"Your home?"

"Yours as well, now." He was looking straight ahead, but I could tell he was paying attention to every word. "You will live under my roof."

"As what?"

"As my mate."

"That's all?"

He turned his head, and one of his eyebrows rose slightly. "That is a great deal, Calista. A mate is not a guest. You will live in my house, and you will have whatever a mate has."

"And what does a mate have?"

"Whatever she asks for."

I looked down at my hands. They were shaking a little, and I pressed them flat against my knees until they stopped.

"What happens if I ask for the wrong thing?" I said.

"There is no wrong thing."

"There was in my old house."

He did not answer right away. The car went around a bend, and the sunlight moved across his face.

"You are not in that house anymore," he said.

I stared out the window for a while. We passed a long stretch of fields, then a row of stone walls. I wanted to ask the next question more than I wanted to keep my pride, so I asked it before I could change my mind.

"What if they don't want me there either?"

"Who?"

"Your people. Your staff. Whoever lives in your house." I swallowed, and it stung. "Eric's pack never wanted me. I don't know why yours would."

"Calista."

"I'm only saying that I would rather know now."

"Look at me."

I turned, and his dark eyes were steady on mine.

"Nobody in my territory will treat you the way Eric's pack did," he said. "I will not allow it, and neither will anyone who works for me."

"You can't promise that."

"I have never made a promise I could not keep."

"That's a very confident thing to say."

"It is a fact, not confidence." He looked back out of the front window. "You will see."

I wanted to argue, but my throat hurt too much and I was too tired. I leaned my head against the seat instead. A little later, I felt his fingers brush against mine on the leather, and I let them stay there.

I did not realize I had fallen asleep until the car stopped.

"We have arrived," Zelda said from the front.

I sat up and wiped my eyes. Through the window, I could see a house so large that I counted three floors of windows before I lost count. Lanterns burned along the front steps, and the gravel drive curved around a fountain that was bigger than my old room.

"That is where I live?" I asked.

"That is where we live," Valerius said.

He got out and came around to my side to open the door himself. When I stepped out, a woman in a gray dress was already waiting at the bottom of the steps with her hands folded in front of her.

"Welcome home, my lord," she said. Then she bowed to me. "Welcome home, my lady."

I did not know what to say, so I said nothing.

"This is Marta," Valerius said. "She runs the household. If you need anything, you ask her and it will be done."

"Anything?" I asked.

"Anything," Marta said warmly. "Your room has been ready since this morning."

"Since this morning?" I looked up at Valerius. "You prepared a room before you even knew about me?"

"I prepared a room for my mate," he said. "I did not know who she would be."

I did not know what to say to that, either.

"Marta, take her upstairs," he said. "I will send someone to look at her throat."

"I'm fine," I said.

"That was not a question."

"I know. I'm saying it anyway."

The corner of his mouth moved, and I had the strangest feeling that he was trying not to smile. "Then say it to the doctor. Go with Marta."

I followed Marta through the front doors and up a wide staircase. Every step I took seemed too loud on the polished floor. We went down a long hallway, and she stopped in front of a pale wooden door at the very end.

"This is your room, my lady," she said, pushing it open. "The bathroom is through there, and the wardrobe is full. If you want something that isn't there, you only have to tell me."

"Thank you, Marta."

"Of course. Rest well."

She closed the door behind her, and the room went quiet.

It was bigger than the entire omega wing where I had slept for years. There was a bed with white sheets, a wide window with the curtains drawn back, and a bowl of fruit on a table that somebody had clearly set out.

Never had someone be so prepared to have me in their life. I didn’t know how to react to it.