Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

|| David Calisto's POV ||

The lovely Luna..!

The words echoed in my skull as every instinct screamed to lunge across the heavy table and wipe that smug look off his face with my fists.. to show him exactly what happened to uninvited guests who sniffed around what was mine.

But I was the Alpha. This was my throne room, my pack and my rules. I forced a breath into my lungs, unclenched my jaw and strode to the head of the table.

The high-backed chair felt less like a throne and more like a rack designed to stretch me apart. I sat and leveled a gaze at my brother that promised violence, later.

“Shall we begin?” I said, my voice a low growl that brooked no argument. “Or did you just come here to discuss my wife’s social calendar?”

Marcello chuckled and finally took a seat opposite me, his two hulking Lycan escorts looming behind him like grim statues.

“Always so hostile, brother. I’m here for business. The unpleasant kind.”

My Beta, Gavin, seated to my right, cleared his throat.

“The threat, Alpha. We’ve all heard the rumors. It’s time we discussed the facts.”

And so it began and for the next hour, reports came in from scouts and allies while one name hung in the air like a poison.. Balthrek of the Ashrend Claw..

He was a monster who thought he was a king and he wasn’t just raiding territories.. he was burning them to the ground and salting the earth and the whispers… they were the worst part.

“Dark magic,” Elder Odvar muttered with his old voice trembling. “My grandson’s patrol saw it. They moved through shadows that shouldn’t exist and their eyes… glowed like embers.”

“Witchcraft,” another elder spat. “He’s consorting with a hidden coven and breaking the oldest laws.”

Marcello leaned back, looking bored.

“Your borders are soft, David. My Lycans have been dealing with Balthrek’s scouts for months. They’re not just werewolves anymore. They’re… something else. Twisted.”

“My borders have held for a century,” I shot back. “We don’t need lessons from outsiders who hide in their mountain fortresses.”

“Is that so?” Marcello’s smile was razor sharp. “Then why did a pack of his ‘twisted’ mutts slaughter a Darktail patrol just three nights ago on the eastern ridge? Or did that report not make it to your throne yet?”

The air left the room. He was right. I’d received the news at dawn. The failure was a fresh wound and he was pouring salt in it.

“We are aware,” Gavin said tightly, trying to steer the conversation back.

“Awareness isn’t a strategy,” Marcello countered. “He’s gathering strength. Your squabbles over hunting grounds and river rights are child’s play to him. He wants to overthrow every Alpha, Lycan and Were alike. He wants to build his throne on our bones!”

We argued, we insulted each other, we almost came to blows twice. I accused his kind of arrogance.. he accused mine of weakness. But with every heated exchange, the reality became undeniable. Balthrek was a force that would wipe us all out if we stood alone.

Finally, I slammed my fist on the table.

“Enough! This bickering gets us nowhere.” I looked directly at Marcello, the words tasting like ash. “You want an alliance? You’ll have it. But you follow my command on my lands. Your men answer to my Beta when on patrol. This is my fight, Lycan. You are a weapon in my armory. Nothing more.”

Marcello’s eyes glinted with amusement. He knew what it cost me.

“Of course, brother. We are here to… assist. Just point us at the enemy.”

The agreement was as fragile as glass but it was made. The meeting dissolved, the tension nowhere near resolved. As everyone filed out, Marcello paused at the door.

“Oh, and David?” he said. “Do give Ashina my best.”

The door closed before I could throw the dagger my fingers itched to draw..!

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|| Ashina Lockwood's POV ||

Two weeks… fourteen days of feeling like a prized falcon, hooded and tethered to its perch.

After our fight, David’s jealousy had solidified into a cold, suffocating prison. Guards followed me everywhere. Maids reported my every move and I couldn’t even pick a damn apple without an audience.

But this morning, something had changed. The guards at my door were gone and the usual shadow that trailed me through the gardens had vanished.

It seemed David had finally decided I’d served my sentence or maybe he’d just gotten bored of his own paranoia. The sudden peace was a relief so profound it felt like sunshine on my skin.

I was sitting on a stone bench in the rose garden. Eiryls had just left after a much-needed gossip session and I was lingering and savoring the solitude.

A shadow fell over me too large to be a cloud and before I could turn, a figure dropped onto the bench beside me with a comfortable sigh.

My heart leaped into my throat. It was Marcello..!

“You know,” he said with his voice doing traitorous things to my insides. “This place is lovely but it doesn’t hold a candle to the… rustic charm of the Blackfen Inn, does it?”

I froze with ice flooding my veins.

“What are you doing?” I hissed, scrambling to look around. The gardens were empty. For now. “Are you insane? Someone could hear you!”

He just smiled in that infuriating captivating smirk.

“Relax, Luna. Your husband’s hounds are finally off your scent. Though, I have to say, he keeps you on a leash tighter than a dog’s. It’s a wonder you can breathe.”

His audacity was breathtaking and not needed!

“You need to leave. Now,” I said, my voice low and shaking. “You will not come near me again. You will never speak of that night. Your life depends on it, Marcello. I mean it.”

He threw his head back and laughed as if he'd just heard a joke.

“My life? Sweet Ashina, the only thing in danger here is your carefully constructed composure.”

I stood up, desperate to get away from him, from the dirty memories his presence dragged to the surface.

“I’m leaving.”

“Hold up.”

His hand shot out, his fingers wrapping around my wrist. He stood, closing the distance between us in one motion. He was so close I could smell the wild clean scent of him.

My traitorous body reacted in response with a flush of heat spreading through me straight down to my honey pot, remembering everything we did that night.

“You can warn me away all you want,” he murmured, his voice dropping so only I could hear it. His eyes searched mine, seeing right through my anger. “But we both know you remember. You remember what it felt like to not be a Luna for a few hours.. just to be a woman.”

I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t move. My mind screamed for me to pull away but my body betrayed me.

“Ashina? I forgot my shawl, did you see...?”

The voice suddenly came through the tension and Eirlys stood frozen at the garden’s entrance with her eyes wide as moons.

She was staring right at us... at Marcello holding my wrist, at our bodies pitched so close together we were almost kissing, at the guilty and panicked look on my face.

Admitting I had indeed slept with a stranger was okay but I wasn't sure I was ready to tell her that stranger was, in fact, my brother-in-law!