LUCAS

MAYA

 

"I will think about it," I said to Maria, keeping my voice soft and very calm.

Alpha Edward was not having my calmness at all. His face turned very red, his big chest puffed out, and he yelled so loud the windows shook!

"Maya goes nowhere with my child in her womb!" Edward roared, his deep voice sounding like thunder in the bedroom. "In fact, she gets married to me a day after tomorrow! I don't care if she accused Lucas or not!"

Maria gasped like she swallowed a hot pepper. She pointed her long, dirty finger right at my face and screamed back at him.

"That law has been existing before my great-grandparents!" Maria yelled, her voice screeching like an angry bird. "No royal blood can be accused without proof, or this maid goes to jail! She cannot break the royal law!"

Edward took a big step forward, glaring down at her like a giant bear, but Maria was too crazy with anger to care. She stomped her feet, turned around, and stormed out of the room to only God knows where, slamming the big wooden doors so hard that dust fell down from the ceiling.

Edward turned to look at me. His angry face became soft again, and he touched my cheek with his warm, heavy hand.

"Go to your room, Maya," Edward said gently, looking at the dark windows outside. "It is already very late and you need to rest for the baby. I promise you, I will make the wedding happen in two days. No one will stop us."

"Okay, Edward," I whispered, holding my belly.

I walked out of her master suite and went up the stairs back to my own small room. The long hallway was quiet, but as I walked past the big covered painting on the stone wall, I looked at it and smiled a little bit.

The picture on the wall is my only weapon to fight Maria. But I can only use it when she is in the house to hear it and feel it. I know she ran away somewhere outside because she is so scared of the ghost.

I sat down on my bed in the dark room, wrapping my blanket tight around my shoulders. I will patiently wait for her to return. The moment she steps her feet back into this mansion, I will stare at my picture again, and I will make her head spin until she drops to the floor!

I lay down on my small mattress, but my mind was too busy to sleep fast.

I kept thinking about Maria’s ugly, panicked face when Edward told her we were getting married in two days anyway. She thought her royal law about Lucas would keep me trapped forever. She thought calling her little pawn "royal blood" would make me run away like a scared dog. But Edward was finally standing up like a real Alpha. He was throwing away her stupid rules because he wanted his child to be born under a Luna's crown.

Around midnight, I heard soft, heavy footsteps outside my door.

The iron latch clicked, and the door opened very quietly. Edward stepped inside the dark room, wearing only his black sleep pants. He didn't say a word. He just walked over to my bed, pulled back my thin blanket, and climbed in beside me.

The bed was small, so his huge, warm body pressed right against my back. He wrapped his long, heavy arm around my waist, pulling me tight against his chest, and buried his face into the back of my neck.

"Edward?" I whispered into the dark. "Are you not sleeping in your room?"

"No," he rumbled softly, his warm breath tickling my skin. "I can't sleep unless I am holding you, Maya. My heart feels too restless without you near me."

"What about Maria?" I asked, making my voice sound innocent and curious. "Where did she go when she stormed out?"

Edward let out a deep, tired sigh that shook his whole chest. "She went to the old chapel at the edge of the estate. She is hiding in there with two priestesses, praying and holding holy water because she thinks it will keep Philomena away from her. She refuses to sleep in the main house tonight."

A cold, happy feeling bloomed deep inside my heart. So she is hiding in the chapel, I thought to myself. She thinks holy water can save her from what she did eighteen years ago.

"Let her stay there," I murmured, turning my head slightly to press a soft kiss against his shoulder. "She is crazy, Edward."

"I know," Edward whispered back, his big hand rubbing my belly very gently. "I was blind for many years, Maya. I let her dictate everything in this pack because I thought I owed it to her family. But seeing how she treats you... seeing how terrified she is of a simple picture... it makes me realize she is losing her mind completely. I cannot let a crazy woman raise my child."

"Will we really get married in two days?" I asked, looking back at his dark amber eyes in the dim moonlight. "What if she brings the elders to stop the ceremony?"

"Let her bring them," Edward said, his voice turning hard and fierce like steel. "I am the Alpha of Crimson Ridge. The elders give advice, but I make the final decree. Tomorrow morning, I am calling a pack meeting. I will announce that the wedding is moving forward, with or without her approval. You will wear the Luna cloak, Maya."

I laid my head against his hard chest, listening to the strong, steady beat of his heart.

He thought he was doing this just for a new wife and an heir. He had no idea he was handing the kingdom back to the princess his wife had murdered in cold blood.

"Thank you, Edward," I said softly, closing my eyes.

"Don't thank me," he murmured, his voice growing heavy with sleep as his arm tightened around me. "Just stay with me... and please... tell her to stop screaming in my sleep..."

He drifted off to sleep within minutes, his deep, rhythmic breathing filling the quiet attic. I stayed wide awake for a little while, staring at the dark ceiling, feeling the warm pulse of the baby inside my belly.

My spirit was screaming in his sleep because the work was not finished yet. Philomena was not going to rest until Maria was stripped of everything—her title, her gold, her pride, and her sanity.

Early the next morning, before the sun even came up over the high mountains, Edward kissed my forehead and quietly slipped out of the room to get ready for his morning meetings with the pack captains.

I stayed in bed until the household started waking up. Outside my window, I could hear the kitchen servants carrying big buckets of water, the horses neighing in the stables, and the guards stomping their heavy boots on the gravel paths.

Around eight o'clock in the morning, a soft knock came on my door.

"Maya?" a voice called out. It was not Maria, and it was not a maid. It was a young, timid male voice.

I sat up, pulling my shawl around my shoulders. "Who is it?"

The door pushed open slowly, and Lucas stepped into the room.

The Alpha's younger brother looked terrible. His face was pale, his eyes had dark circles underneath them, and his hands were trembling as he held a silver tray with a warm bowl of soup and some fresh bread.

He looked around the room nervously, making sure no one was standing in the corridor behind him, before he quickly closed the door and set the tray down on my small table.

"I brought you breakfast," Lucas said softly, his voice shaking like a leaf.

I didn't touch the tray. I sat on my bed, crossing my arms over my chest, staring at him with cold, hard eyes.

"Why are you here, Lucas?" I asked, my voice flat and sharp. "Did Maria send you back to finish the job? Is there poison in that bowl today?"