Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

|| Ashina Lockwood's POV ||

For a long, terrible minute, I just lay there on the cold staring at the canopy as I imagined a hundred different outcomes, each more disastrous than the last.

Exile. Public shaming. Being locked in a tower for a century.

David Calisto had never raised a hand to me but he didn’t need to. His sheer disappointment was a punishment all its own and crossing him? Only a fool would try and I’d just proven myself the biggest fool in the entire Darktail Brotherhood..!

With fear and trembling, I forced myself up. I splashed cold water on my face, the shock of it helping to ground me and my hands shook so badly I could barely pin up my hair. I chose a high-necked, formal gown and I dabbed a little more of perfume scent on my wrists.

The walk to the throne room was the longest of my life. I pushed the doors open, forcing my lips into a pleasant, neutral smile I did not feel.

The room was full. David sat on his throne and his council of elders and betas flanked him with their old serious faces turning toward me in unison. I felt like a mouse in a den of wolves.

“My Alpha,” I said, my voice thankfully steady. I gave a slight nod to the council. “Elders.”

David’s dark eyes pinned me to the spot. He didn’t look furious.. he looked… calculated and that was so much worse.

“Ashina,” he said, in his deep rumbling voice.

“We will have visitors tonight,” he announced, not just to me but to the room. “You will ensure the pack house is prepared to receive them with a formal dinner and your presence is required.”

This really wasn't what I was prepared to hear.

“Of course. What pack do our guests hail from?” I asked, my mind already racing through menus and seating charts.

A grim scowl touched his lips.

“No. They are not from a pack.”

I blinked.

“No? Then who…”

“Lycans.”

I heard a few sharp intakes of breath from the council and my own breath hitched.

“Lycans?” I squeaked. “Why? They haven’t treated with our kind in generations!”

“A larger threat looms on our borders,” David stated, his tone leaving no room for questions about this mysterious threat. “One that requires… unusual alliances. It simplifies matters that their leader is my.. brother.”

I’m pretty sure my heart stopped. The world tilted and I stared at my husband, this man I’d shared a bed with for three years.

“Your… what? You have a brother? A lycan brother? How is that even...?”

“Enough,” he cut me off, his voice sharp and final and he waved a dismissive hand. “The specifics are not your concern. I merely informed you so you would not be startled by their… queerness. Now, go. Prepare.”

He was already turning back to his council, dismissing me as if he’d just told me we were having chicken for dinner instead of shape-shifting monsters related to him.

A brother? A lycan brother? The questions were screaming in my mind but one thought, selfish and terrified, surged above them all.

I took a shaky step forward.

“David?” I hated how small my voice sounded.

He turned back with a flicker of impatience in his eyes.

“What?”

“The… the people you sent. To my parents’. Are they… back?” I held my breath.

For a moment he just looked at me in confusion and I saw the genuine confusion in his gaze. He’d completely forgotten.. the fate he’d promised me with the Moon Goddess’s help had been such a minor blip on his radar that it had vanished from his mind.

“Oh,” he said with recollection dawning. “Yes. They returned a while ago. They confirmed you visited but did not stay long.”

He said it flatly as a simple statement of fact and immediately returned to his conversation with the beta beside him.

They confirmed it?!!

The wave of relief that washed over me was so intense it was nauseating. I somehow managed to turn and walk out with my legs moving on autopilot.

I was halfway down the corridor, my mind reeling with the impossible mix of lycan brothers and confirmed lies when a young servant girl scurried up to me, bowing deeply.

“Luna Ashina Lockwood, a raven came for you,” she said, holding out a small, sealed scroll.

I took it with trembling fingers. The seal was familiar... my sister’s. I broke it and unscrolled the message. In Seris’s messy, hurried script, it read:

‘Saw you needed an alibi. You owe me w new ballroom gown. The one from the merchant in the capital. Don’t try to cheap out. Love, Seris.’

Seris. Of course.. My little sister with glimpses of the future had seen me. Seen my stupidity and covered for me!

I leaned against the wall laughing until tears pricked my eyes. I was saved.. for now.

Later that evening, tucked away in the gardens with my best friend Eirlys with the fear finally melted away, replaced by giddy nervous energy.

“You did what?” Eirlys hissed, her eyes wide with horror and delight.

She was the pack’s best healer, fierce and fearless and the only person I trusted with this.

“I know, I know!” I whispered back, giggling like a teenager. “It was insane. He was… Eirlys, he was unbelievable. And the things he could do… I’m still sore in the best possible way.”

We were huddled on a stone bench, dissecting every insane detail of the last twenty-four hours... the stranger at the tavern, David’s terrifying interrogation, the lycan bombshell and Seris’s blackmail-by-raven.

“So let me get this straight,” Eirlys said, counting on her fingers. “You cheated on the most powerful Alpha in the realm. His apparently-existent lycan brother is coming to dinner. And your psychic sister is now your accomplice. Your life is a romantic ballad gone wonderfully, terribly wrong.”

We were both laughing with the stress pouring out of us when a servant approached, bowing apologetically.

“Luna Ashina Lockwood,” he said. “The visitors have arrived and the Alpha is… he is asking for you. He is not pleased you are not at the pack house.”

My laughter died instantly as rhe real world came crashing back in. In my defense.. they had arrived earlier than I was told.

“Moon Goddess, give me strength,” I muttered, squeezing Eirlys’s hand before hurrying after the servant.

I rushed through the packed hallways, smoothing my dress and my expression. I could hear the low rumble of unfamiliar voices coming from the main hall. I took a deep breath, fixed that placating Luna-smile on my face and pushed the doors open.

“My apologies for my delay, my Alpha,” I said, my voice clear and steady as I swept into the room. “The preparations took…”

My words died in my throat and my feet stopped moving as the air left my lungs in a sharp gasp.

Standing right there, in the middle of my throne room talking to my husband,was him..!

The stranger from the inn.. the same man I had so shamelessly fucked!

He was cleaner now, dressed in elegant dark clothes instead of but there was no mistaking him with those eyes and that smirk..;

Oblivious to the world-shattering earthquake happening inside me, David turned.

“Ashina,” He said tightly. “Finally. Come and meet our… guest.” He gestured toward the man with his jaw tight. “This is Marcello Calisto.”

My eyes were locked with the stranger’s... with Marcello’s and I saw the same shock of recognition flash in his gaze, quickly masked by a cool amusement as David delivered the final blow.

“My… brother.”