Chapter 6

Arriving at the packhouse, I parked the car near the main entrance and stepped out. The night air touched my face as I walked toward the doors. Two warriors stood in front of the pack house. Both straightened when they recognized me.

I did not slow down as I made my way to the door. “Move,” I ordered when I tried to enter.

The taller one blocked my path more fully. “The Alpha ordered us not to let you set foot on this land again. If any of us sees you, we are to take your head.”

I looked at the beings I had fed for nine years, helping them sort out their personal issues when I was still Luna. Then I exhaled, holding back my anger. “When I am finished with what I came to do, you can follow your Alpha’s order. Right now, you will step aside.”

Neither of them moved. The second warrior shook his head. “We cannot do that.”

I raised my left hand, showing them the ring on my finger. “I still belong to this household. This ring makes it so. Step aside.”

Confusion passed across both their faces. Their eyes dropped to the ring and then returned to mine. The taller one spoke again, slower this time. “We only take orders from the Alpha.”

My lips parted to answer, but a voice came from above before I could speak.

Gavriel stood on the balcony overlooking the entrance. His hands rested on the same railing his mother fell from. His eyes were fixed on me. “Step aside,” he ordered the warriors. “Let her in.”

The warriors hesitated for only a second, then moved apart. I walked into the large living room without looking at either of them.

Moving through the living room without minding the staff staring at me, I screamed out. “Zella!”

My voice echoed through the entire building, but I couldn't care less. I turned toward the open doors that led to the side yard where my children usually played. The swings hung still. The small wooden table they used for drawing was empty. I didn't find their toys lying scattered on the grass. 

“Zola!” I screamed as I went back inside and took the stairs two at a time. 

My chest rose and fell, my heart beating faster.

I pushed open Zella’s door, she wasn't here. Her bed was made with her coloring books stacked on the desk the way the staff always left them. I checked the closet, the space under the bed, the window seat where she liked to sit, but didn't find my girl.

“Zella, where are you?” I muttered to myself.

Hurriedly, I made my way to Zola’s room and opened his door. My boy wasn’t here and there was no trace of his scent either. His toy cars were lined up neatly on a shelf. The small blanket he carried everywhere was missing from the bed. I pulled open the wardrobe and looked behind the hanging clothes. It was empty.

“Zola!” My throat felt tight. 

I stepped back into the hallway and called both names again, louder this time. A few house staff had gathered at the end of the corridor. I did not look at them. I kept moving, opening every door I passed, checking every space where two small children might hide or be kept. The sound of my own voice filled the upper floor as I continued calling for them, refusing to stop.

Focusing on finding my children, I walked straight into a solid body.

Hands wrapped around my arms before I could step back. The grip was so strong that my back met the wall hard enough to force the air from my lungs. When I lifted my face, Gavriel stood in front of me. His eyes were fixed on mine. 

“Gavriel.” His name left my mouth unannounced. My fingers curled against the wall behind me. “Where are my kids?”

He moved his hands to my shoulders, holding me in place. “They are no longer your kids. They belong to me.”

Something in my chest pulled tight. This entire household had to be insane. From the oldest to the youngest, something was broken in all of them. 

I forced myself to meet his eyes fully. “I carried those children for nine months. They belong to me and no one else.”

Gavriel’s fingers pressed a little firmer into my shoulders. “The moment you committed that crime and became an outcast in this pack, nothing here belonged to you anymore.”

I held his gaze without looking away. My eyes brimmed with tears, but I refused to let the tears fall. I would not stand in front of him and appear weak.

“You can keep the Luna title. Strip me of everything else if that is what you want. But you will not take my children from me.”

Gavriel’s hands remained on my shoulders. “You should be grateful you are still alive. That alone is grace from the goddess.”

A small, still smile formed on my mouth. “I am alive and standing inside this packhouse because your brother holds more authority than the man who claims to be the Alpha King.”

His expression changed, one hand leaving my shoulder and clutching the side of my neck. The pressure was firm enough to keep me exactly where he wanted me. He pulled me forward until only a small space remained between our faces, and I could feel the warmth of his breath touching my skin.

“Do not feel entitled merely because my lunatic brother decided to step on my toes.” There was so much anger in his voice.

“And if I feel entitled?” I smirked. “...what are you going to do about it?”

He drew me closer, his nose brushing against mine. His eyes moved from one of mine to the other, slow and intent, carrying something that looked like hunger and ownership at the same time. 

He leaned in, and I turned my face away instantly. “Don’t you dare.”

His fingers shifted to my chin and brought my face back forcefully so I could look at him. I pushed against his chest. He caught both of my wrists in one hand and pressed them lightly against the wall above my head, keeping my body pinned in place with his own. 

I forced myself to look straight into his eyes. “I belong to another man now. I no longer belong to you.”

Gavriel’s grip on my wrists tightened for a moment before he decided to ease it a little. “You are forgetting I am the Alpha King. Within this pack, I can take any Maiden I desire.”

His words weren’t funny because I knew they were true, but I had to force a fake smile. I looked at the man I had shared nine years of my life with and asked myself how I’d never fully seen this side of him. His arrogance and pridefulness that everything and everyone answered to him. How had I missed the signs for so long?

“Where are my kids?” I asked through gritted teeth.

Gavriel did not answer. He lowered his head and drew in a slow breath along the side of my neck, continuing up toward my hair. The hand that had been at my throat slid downward, his palm moving over the front of my top until his fingers rested against my cleavage. Then he brought that same hand back to my neck and pulled me fully against him. My body met the hard line of his without space left between us. I pushed at his shoulders, but couldn’t push him away.

“My kids are where they rightfully belong,” he said near my ear. “And you will never have access to them again.”

The words struck deeper than the grip of his hand. Heat flooded my neck and into my face. My heart beat hard against the place where his fingers rested. I shoved both my palms against his chest with everything I had left and forced him away from me. Tears filled my eyes and blurred my sight. I blinked them back as hard as I could, but they kept gathering.

“You can keep every other thing. I do not care. But you will not keep my children from me.”

Gavriel closed the space I had created. His eyes had darkened, lending a scary authority I had never seen before in all the years we had lived under the same roof. He looked like a monster.

I stared at him and asked myself how I had shared a bed with this man for nine years without seeing what stood in front of me now. How I had carried his children and called him husband while this part of him remained hidden. 

With his fingers, he fisted the back of my hair, yanking hard so that my head pulled back, snapping my neck. Then he leaned in again, about to speak, when a hand suddenly wrapped around my wrist and pulled me backward with enough force to break Gavriel’s hold on my hair. 

The sudden movement left me off balance for a second. When I found my balance, Felix stood directly in front of me, his body placed between mine and his brother’s, with his angry eyes fixed on Gavriel.

“What do you think you are doing?” Gavriel’s gaze moved from me to Felix, his jaw tightening. “Move, bastard. This is between my wife and me.”

Felix did not step aside. “Ex-wife,” he corrected.

Gavriel groaned, dragging his fingers through his hair from front to back, the muscle along his jaw flexing. 

But Felix stood his ground, shoulders square, and spoke again without raising his voice. “What does pack law say about a man who lays hands on another man’s woman?” He lifted a brow. “If you have forgotten, brother, then let me remind you.”