14: RJ

"LUNA AVA!"

Dwight's voice sounded strange, far away and distorted, like he was screaming my name from somewhere beneath water.

"LUNA!"

I blinked several times, and suddenly the banquet hall crashed back into existence around me with so much force that I almost stumbled.

Music was still playing somewhere in the background, although it was nearly drowned out by shouting and laughter. The smell of blood had become stronger, and when I finally focused on what was happening around me, I couldn't understand what I was looking at.

One of the long tables had been overturned, scattering plates, glasses and half-eaten food across the stone floor, while another had been split straight through the middle. Several chairs had been broken, and wolves now stood in a loose circle around the destruction as though they'd been watching some kind of entertainment.

Alpha Roland certainly appeared entertained because the bastard was fucking clapping.

I followed his gaze, and my heart almost stopped.

Alastor had one boot planted firmly against Trenton's chest, pinning him to the floor while blood covered most of Trenton's face. One of his eyes was already swelling shut, his bottom lip had split open and blood ran from his nose onto the front of his shirt. His knuckles were torn and bloody too, and judging from the condition of the banquet hall, he'd managed to put up one hell of a fight before Alastor finally beat him down.

A fight I hadn't seen.

I had been standing there the entire time, but Roland's announcement about Rachel had sent me so deeply inside my own head that the world around me had disappeared.

"You can't be so wicked, Alpha," Trenton cried as he struggled beneath Alastor's boot. "Rachel is too pure for this. You can't."

Alastor leaned more of his weight onto Trenton's chest, forcing a painful grunt from him.

"She's my daughter, is she not?" Alastor barked. "So I decide what happens to her, and if I say she marries RJ on her eighteenth birthday, then that's exactly what the fuck will happen."

Something inside me snapped.

"Bastard!"

The word had barely left my mouth before Roland appeared in front of me and slapped me so hard that my head whipped sideways.

For a second, all I could hear was the ringing in my ears, but then the pain came rushing in. My cheek burned as I slowly turned my face back towards him.

"Know your place, woman," Roland warned. "No Luna should speak to her Alpha like that."

Kennedy exploded inside me.

'Rip his fucking throat out!'

My fingers curled at my sides because every instinct I possessed was telling me to do exactly that. I wanted to tear into him so badly that my gums actually ached from the pressure of my wolf trying to force her teeth through.

But Rachel was somewhere inside this mansion.

There were too many wolves surrounding us, and starting a fight I couldn't finish would only put my daughter in more danger.

I had to stay calm.

That was the only way I could protect her for now.

Three more days.

Just three.

"There is no way my daughter will marry into this pack."

Roland's expression immediately darkened. "Are you saying your daughter is too good for my son?"

I slowly looked around the banquet hall at the naked wolves, the destroyed tables and the blood staining the stone floor. Drunken laughter still filled the room, and several people were carrying on as though Trenton hadn't just been beaten nearly unconscious a few feet away.

These people were sick.

Even their heavily pregnant Luna was sitting there drinking wine as though she couldn't care less about the child growing inside her.

I looked back at Roland.

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

A few nearby wolves laughed.

Roland didn't.

Before he could respond, the enormous doors behind us opened.

"Father?"

Everyone turned.

A young man walked casually into the banquet hall, and the first thing I noticed was that he looked absolutely nothing like Alpha Roland.

He appeared to be around eighteen, tall and broad-shouldered, with thick dark hair and a face that might have been handsome if there weren't something deeply unpleasant behind it. A scar ran diagonally across one side of his face, beginning near his temple and ending beside his mouth, but it wasn't the scar that held my attention.

It was his eyes.

They were red, just like Alastor's.

My stomach tightened because red eyes on a werewolf meant only one thing.

He'd killed humans.

"Ah!" Roland spread his arms wide. "There's my boy now."

RJ glanced around at the destroyed banquet hall before his attention settled on Trenton, who was still bleeding beneath Alastor's boot. Instead of looking surprised or concerned, he grinned.

"Father, what did I miss?"

"Nothing important. You're just here for the good part."

RJ laughed as though seeing a man half-beaten to death on the floor was completely normal.

Then I noticed the blood on his hands.

Human blood.

I could smell it from where I stood, and there was enough of it coating his fingers that whatever he'd been doing hadn't happened long ago.

He casually wiped his palms down the front of his trousers, leaving dark red streaks across the fabric.

"You should've heard the human bitch I killed earlier," he announced proudly. "She screamed so fucking loud when I flayed her, I thought the whole forest would hear."

My stomach turned.

Roland threw his head back and laughed.

"That's my boy."

RJ grinned at the praise, looking pleased with himself in a way that told me this wasn't the first time his father had celebrated his cruelty.

"Your future wife will love how strong and beastly you are," Roland said.

RJ's eyebrows rose with immediate interest. "Future wife?"

Roland pointed towards Alastor.

"Alpha Drexel and I have reached an agreement. His daughter will become your wife when she turns eighteen."

For the first time since he'd entered the room, RJ appeared genuinely interested.

"His daughter?"

"Rachel."

RJ slowly nodded before glancing around the banquet hall. "Where is she?"

"With Opal," Roland answered. "She's still a child. You have eleven years before she'll be ready."

"Eleven years?" RJ groaned dramatically before laughing. "Fine. I suppose I'll find plenty of ways to entertain myself until then."

The wolves around him laughed as though he'd said something hilarious.

My blood ran cold.