Chapter 2: The Midnight Summons

 

The splintering crash of wood against iron echoed down the narrow servant corridor like a gunshot.

Jace scrambled backward across the thin mattress, his back slamming hard against the cold stone wall, his breath hitching in pure terror.

"Open up, Null!" the voice roared again, a heavy boot kicking the iron latch until the door frame groaned.

Before the door could give way, a terrifying, bone-chilling growl vibrated through the hallway.

"Touch that latch again, and I feed your hands to the hounds."

Beta Gavin's voice was deathly calm, but it carried the weight of an executioner's blade.

Jace pressed a trembling hand against his mouth, his heart pounding a frantic rhythm against his ribs. Through the crack in the door, he heard the sharp scuffle of leather boots, followed by the metallic click of a drawn sword.

"Beta Gavin!" the sentry stammered, his earlier arrogance dissolving into panic. "We received word from the border patrol...a runaway Null was seen crossing the river..."

"This boy is under Alpha Elias's personal command," Gavin cut in, his tone flat and unyielding. "His name is inscribed on the master roster. If you take one more step toward this door, I will treat it as treason against the Blood Moon pack."

A tense, suffocating silence blanketed the corridor.

"Forgive me, Beta," the sentry muttered, bowing hastily before his footsteps retreated down the stone corridor at a frantic pace.

Jace let out a shuddering breath, his knees trembling violently beneath the blanket.

The latch clicked softly. The door swung open to reveal Beta Gavin standing in the threshold, his dark cape dusting with fresh snow.

"Pack your bag, Jace," Gavin instructed, his expression grave. "You're moving tonight."

Jace blinked, his throat completely dry.

"M-moving, sir? Where?"

"To the fourth floor," Gavin replied, gesturing down the hallway. "The room directly below Alpha Elias's private suite. He refused to let you stay down here where anyone could corner you."

Jace's fingers shook as he gathered his single shirt and trousers into his canvas bag. To elevate a Null from the cold servant quarters to the master wing on his very first night was unheard of. It defied every law of the pack hierarchy.

As Gavin guided him up the grand central staircase, early morning light was already beginning to bleed through the high stained-glass windows.

Whispers followed them like venomous insects.

Maids huddled by the balustrades, their eyes widening in shock as they watched a lowly Null being escorted into the inner sanctum of the estate.

"Is it true?" one laundress whispered under her breath. "The master moved him to the upper wing?"

"He's a Null," another hissed, her lips curling with envy. "How did an unmarked stray wrap the Alpha around his finger overnight?"

Jace kept his eyes locked on Gavin's heels, his cheeks burning with shame.

They reached a spacious, sunlit bedchamber on the fourth floor, furnished with a carved mahogany bed, heavy velvet curtains, and a stone hearth already crackling with warm birch logs. It was grander than anything Jace had ever dreamed of sleeping in.

"Bathe and dress," Gavin ordered, nodding toward two senior maids standing near a steaming copper tub. "You report to Alpha Elias's study in twenty minutes."

The door clicked shut, leaving Jace with two women.

"Stand still," the older maid commanded, taking Jace by the arm and guiding him toward the tub.

They washed his skin with unscented oat soap, scrubbing away the road mud and grease until his pale skin glowed like polished marble. But as Jace stepped out of the water and pulled on a clean linen tunic, the younger maid picked up a pair of heavy iron shears from the dressing table.

"Your hair is far too long for a male attendant," she muttered, raising the blades toward Jace's silver-grey locks. "It reaches past your shoulder blades. You look like a girl."

She opened the blades to cut.

"STOP!"

Mrs. Gable's voice cracked through the chamber like a whip.

The head maid rushed forward, slapping the shears straight out of the younger woman's hand. The heavy metal clattered loudly against the floorboards.

"Are you insane, Martha?!" Mrs. Gable hissed, her face draining of all color. "Did you not hear the Alpha's direct decree this morning?"

The younger maid flinched, clutching her bruised wrist.

"I was only trying to make him look presentable..."

"Alpha Elias explicitly commanded that no blade is to touch a single strand of his hair!" Mrs. Gable whispered furiously, her chest heaving. "If you cut so much as an inch from his head, the Alpha will have your fingers fed to the crows!"

Jace swallowed hard, his hand rising instinctively to touch his long silver locks. Why did the blind Alpha care about his hair? Elias couldn't even see it.

"Listen to me, boy," Mrs. Gable said, turning her sharp gaze upon Jace as she handed him a freshly pressed wool waistcoat. "Alpha Elias notices everything. Do not wear sweet perfumes...sugar drives his wolf restless. Do not drag your heels across the carpets. And above all, never speak unless he addresses you first."

"Yes, ma'am," Jace whispered.

With a heavy heart, Jace climbed the final flight of stairs to the master suite on the top floor.

He tapped lightly on the carved oak door.

"Enter, Little Wolf."

Elias's rich baritone drifted through the wood, sending a pleasant, tingling shiver down Jace's spine.

Jace pushed the door open, stepping quietly onto the thick wool rug.

Alpha Elias stood beside the expansive arched window, bathed in the pale amber rays of dawn. He wore a dark velvet tunic open at the throat, revealing the hard, muscular planes of his broad chest. His sightless, clouded grey eyes were turned toward the mountains, his chiseled profile looking as though it had been carved from granite.

"Come closer," Elias murmured without turning around.

Jace took three careful steps forward, keeping his boots silent.

"Closer."

Jace stepped until he was standing just two feet away, the warmth radiating from the Alpha's body brushing against his skin.

Elias turned slowly. He lifted a hand, his long, scarred fingers gently brushing the fabric of Jace's new tunic before settling lightly around Jace's slender wrist.

His touch was not rough. It was careful, almost reverent, his calloused thumb resting against Jace's pulse point.

Badum. Badum. Badum.

"You're small," Elias murmured softly, his thumb caressing the pale skin of Jace's wrist. "Not weak. Just... quiet."

Jace lowered his head, his cheeks warming.

"I try not to cause trouble, Alpha."

"I don't like noise," Elias said, his voice dropping into a low, rumbling hum. "And I don't like lies."

Jace held his breath.

"I won't lie to you, sir."

Elias tilted his head slightly, his nostrils flaring as he took in a deep breath of the warm cinnamon and violet scent radiating from Jace's throat. A faint, pleased smirk touched the corner of his lips.

"Good."

The days that followed fell into a strange, intoxicating rhythm.

Jace was taught how to arrange the Alpha's riding boots, how to lay out his leather armor, and how to pour his morning tea without allowing the fine porcelain to clink against the silver tray. In the daylight, Elias was a lethal commander who spent hours sparring against ten warriors in the courtyard, breaking wooden shields with bare fists.

But when night fell upon the mountains, the fearsome Alpha transformed into someone else entirely.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The knock on Jace's door came just past midnight.

Jace sat up in bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Yes?"

Beta Gavin's voice rumbled through the wood. "The Alpha needs you upstairs."

Jace pulled on his trousers and rushed up to the master suite. When he opened the door, he found Elias sitting on the edge of the grand mahogany bed, shirtless, a wool blanket draped across his lap.

"I dropped my book," Elias said casually, gesturing toward the floor.

Jace looked down. The leather-bound volume lay right beside Elias's bare foot...an easy reach if the Alpha had merely bent his elbow.

Without a word, Jace knelt, picking up the book and placing it in Elias's hands. As he did, Elias's warm fingers brushed over Jace's knuckles, lingering just a second too long.

"Thank you, Little Wolf," Elias murmured.

The next night, it happened again.

"I can't find the matches for the hearth."

The night after that:

"The wind is rattling the east shutter."

Every night brought another transparent excuse. And every night, Jace stayed a few minutes longer, sitting quietly by the fire while the blind Alpha listened to the peaceful cadence of his breathing.

By the fourth night, Jace didn't wait for the summons.

He brewed a pot of fresh chamomile tea, sweetened with dried clover, and carried the tray up to the top floor on silent feet.

He found Elias sitting in the leather armchair by the roaring hearth, staring blindly into the flickering flames.

"You knew I would call for you?" Elias asked softly, his sharp ears catching Jace's approach before the boy even set the tray down.

"No, sir," Jace admitted, placing the steaming teacup on the side table. "I just thought... you might need something warm to help you sleep."

Elias turned his sightless face toward the sound of Jace's voice.

"If only you knew what I actually needed, Little Wolf," Elias murmured, his voice thick with gravel, "you wouldn't have brought tea."

Jace smiled softly, his heart fluttering. He stepped back toward the doorway, preparing to leave.

"Wait," Elias called out gently.

Jace stopped in his tracks, turning back.

"Yes, Alpha?"

"You were staring at me earlier," Elias said, rising slowly from the armchair. "During the evening meal. Why?"

Jace looked down at the carpet, his face flushing crimson.

"I didn't mean to be disrespectful, sir."

"I didn't ask if it was disrespectful," Elias countered, closing the distance between them with two long, silent strides until his towering frame swallowed Jace's shadow completely. "I asked why."

Jace swallowed the lump in his throat, his pulse racing.

"You're... unbelievably handsome, sir," Jace whispered, the honest truth slipping out before he could catch it. "You don't look broken like the rumors say. You look like... someone the moon would talk to."

Elias froze.

A breathtaking, radiant smile slowly broke across the Alpha's chiseled features, softer and more genuine than any expression Jace had ever seen him wear.

"Do I?" Elias murmured.

He lifted his right hand, his fingers resting gently upon the crown of Jace's head before sliding slowly down the silky length of his silver hair. Elias caught a handful of the strands, rubbing the fine texture between his calloused fingers.

"Your hair is like spun silk," Elias whispered, his hot breath fanning across Jace's forehead. "So soft. So pure."

Jace flinched slightly under the overwhelming intensity of the touch.

The movement snapped Elias out of his reverie. The Alpha stiffened, catching himself before he crossed a line he couldn't uncross.

He dropped his hand, turning his face away into the shadows.

"Go," Elias growled softly, his jaw tightening. "Go to your room, Jace. Before I forget what I am supposed to be."

Jace nodded frantically, turning on his heel to flee.

But in his haste, his boot caught the thick embroidered edge of the heavy rug.

"Ah!" Jace gasped, his balance completely shattering.

Before he could hit the hard floorboards, a powerful, steel-like arm shot out, catching Jace by the waist and yanking him backward.

The momentum pulled them both down.

With a breathless thump, Jace crashed directly onto the plush leather couch landing flat across Alpha Elias's lap!

"Oof!" Jace groaned, his hands flying out to steady himself.

His palms flattened against bare, burning bronze skin...right across the sculpted muscle of Elias's bare chest!

Jace froze, all the air fleeing his lungs.

Elias's heavy arms locked securely around Jace's waist, pinning the smaller boy flush against his lap. The scent of pine and ozone exploded into Jace's senses like lightning.

Beneath Jace's trembling palms, Elias's heart was hammering violently. Badum! Badum! Badum!

"Alpha... I-I'm sorry!" Jace squeaked, frantically trying to push himself up. "I slipped...you can let me go..."

Elias didn't let go.

Instead, the blind Alpha's grip tightened, his calloused hands sliding up to cup Jace's slender ribs, holding him firmly in place.

Elias tilted his face upward into the dark, a low, dangerous growl vibrating deep in his chest as his lips hovered mere inches from Jace's throat.

"Where do you think you're going, Little Wolf?" Elias whispered, his hot breath scorching Jace's skin. "You fell right into my arms."