Chapter 4: Red Valley's Heir

The crowd is thrown into chaos. Murmurings arise as everyone awaits my father's response. I do not know what Chase is talking about, but I can see his plans now are to get Ruby to stay behind with Red Valley and at his side in place of me. 

I put on my best saccharine smile and say to him, "Alpha Chase, let's not cause a scene with my worrying."

He cuts me off. "My dear, it pleases me to grant your request, and I will do it with all gladness."

"My daughter, Ruby, has no concern with the Red Valley pack. I believe one child is enough." My father spits because this news is something he doesn't like.

"What can I do? Marelyn wishes for her sister to be near, and I can’t ignore my Luna. So, I will offer Ruby Everdeen a spot on the Alpha's courtesan train." He quickly adds. "Mind you. This is not up for debate." 

Ruby speaks up at once, placing a deceitful hand on my father's arm. "Father, I will go. If my sister, the Luna of Red Valley, wants me near, who am I to refuse?"

My father does not listen to her, instead he turns to me and steers the eyes of every other person in the room, including Chase. He asks. "Marelyn! Is this true? Is this what you really want?" 

I want to open my mouth and purge out the truth and expose the sham Ruby and Chase are willingly carrying along, but the Alpha had appealed to my moral conscience. If I dare run my mouth, my family and the only home I know will vanish before my eyes. There will be bloodshed.

"Yes. This is what I want most." I gulp and spare a tight-lipped smile at the crowd. Bile rises to my throat as I see the look of glee on Ruby's face. She feels she has won.

My father sucks in a long breath. He purses his lips and says, "If the Luna wants it, then I will grant it. Alpha Chase of the Red Valley pack, accept my daughter, Ruby Everdeen, not as a courtesan, but as your slave." 

The smile on Ruby's face dips, and my father's request catches Chase off guard. There is no way he can refuse the request because if he does, he will put his affair with Ruby out in the open. 

"We accept, Alpha Ivan," I say before Chase can regroup and I realize again that in this pack, I hold power. I'm the second in command, even before the pack's beta. 

On my command, the pack's general, Séverin, comes with two soldiers and snatches my step-sister away from the gathering of Blue Silver wolves. Ruby screams for them to let her go, but they don't budge. She's publicly embarrassed before the crowd and as quickly as she's dragged away, she's forgotten. 

Chase is furious at my side. I can feel the waves of anger rolling off of him, but he can't say a word or stop all that is playing out. We sit in silence for a long minute until he says, "Alpha Ivan, thank you for giving up your daughters. This meeting is over." 

He rises to his feet and storms off through the back door, but I remain settled on my throne, feeling like I am celebrating my win too soon. It doesn't add up. Why would my father give Ruby as a slave to Red Valley? 

My father nods to me and leaves with his pack. They all exit the throne room, but I do not budge from my seat. 

An hour later, I'm racing to the dungeons because I need to know why. My father has a secret and I am sure of it. All this time, I thought my family was kept in the dark about everything. Now it doesn't seem that way. There is something I do not know and I must find out. 

I arrive at Ruby's prison and shake the gates to call her attention. Being a slave of the Red Valley pack means constant suffering and beatings. I can see the recovering bruises on her face already. As much as you heal is as much as you are tortured. 

She stands and lurches for the gate in a flash. Ruby shouts. "What are you doing here?"

"Sister." 

"Have you come to mock me, Marelyn?" Her tone drips venom and I'm careful not to get poisoned. 

"Why did father do that?" I ask, and she recoils visibly. I urge her again. "Tell me, Ruby. What do I not know?" 

Ruby averts her gaze, holding a hand over her belly. My ears strain on instinct as I follow her movements with my eyes. I hear it. I hear it as loud as a siren in my ears.

"No." The words fall out. 

She looks at me again, and there's pain and defiance mingled together in her brown eyes. "Must you always be favoured over me because you're special? Your cup is full, Mare. This one's mine." 

I'm still trying to register with everything and she doesn't dare deny it. She tells me all I need to know with that statement. 

"R-Ruby." My voice cracks. "You're carrying his child."