CHAPTER SEVEN

ISABEL

The pack members turned. Asher stood several feet away, his expression cold as his gaze settled on his sister, before he began walking toward us with measured steps.

"She is my responsibility now." he said, his voice flat, giving away nothing of what he was thinking or feeling. There was no warmth in his tone, no anger either, only the detached certainty of a man stating a fact he had already accepted.

 His expression remained unreadable as he looked at his sister, making it impossible for me to tell whether he was defending me out of duty or because he genuinely cared.

His sister's jaw tightened. "Your responsibility?"

"Yes."

"She is a Rivercrest." She said sharply.

"She was."

Asher stopped beside me, his towering presence immediately changing the atmosphere around us. 

"The moment Isabel stepped across the Fireclaw border, she became part of this pack's household," he said. 

"She is no longer an enemy standing on the other side of our walls, and I will not allow anyone under my authority to treat her as one."

His sister's eyes narrowed. "You cannot possibly expect everyone to forget what Rivercrest has done simply because a treaty was signed."

"I expect my people to understand the difference between an old enemy and the woman who has been placed under my protection."

She laughed bitterly. "Protection?"

"Yes."

"You are defending a wolfless woman who cannot even produce a scent."

Asher's expression didn't change. "I am defending my future Luna."

The words made my heart stumble. His sister looked between us, disbelief written across her face, before she slowly shook her head.

"Your future Luna?" she repeated. "Asher, listen to yourself."

His voice remained calm, but something dangerous settled beneath it. "I know exactly what I am saying."

She stared at him for several seconds before looking at me again.

"Come with me," Asher said.

I followed him like a frightened cat, keeping my eyes lowered as we walked toward the corridor. I could still feel Grace's stare burning into my back.

"She can't stay in the eastern chambers!" Grace shouted behind us.

"Grace!"

Asher's voice cracked through the hall, this time carrying enough anger to make even me flinch. His eyes hardened as he turned toward her.

"Don't test my patience."

Grace went silent.

Grace. So that was her name.

I let out a quiet sigh and continued following him until we reached the eastern wing. Asher stopped outside one of the chambers and turned toward me.

"Stay here," he muttered. "I'll assign an omega to you."

He paused before adding, "I'll also tell my father to speak with your father about sending one of the Rivercrest servants here, so you won't feel lonely."

"That won't be necessary," I snapped.

He turned to look at me. His stern expression softened for a brief moment, and the tension in his brows eased as his eyes searched my face, as though he was trying to understand what had made my words come out so sharply.

 There was something almost warm in the way he studied me, a quiet concern that seemed strangely out of place on a man who had spent most of the day keeping me at a distance. "What do you mean by that?" he asked, his voice losing some of its earlier hardness.

 I didn't answer.

My fingers tightened around the hem of my blue gown as I stared at the floor. I hadn't meant to snap at him, but the thought of having someone from Rivercrest follow me here made something inside me recoil.

Asher stepped closer.

For a moment, my heart began beating faster.

He stopped directly in front of me, and I suddenly wondered if he was going to kiss me. The thought came so unexpectedly that I cursed myself for even imagining it.

But instead of leaning toward my lips, he lowered his head.

His nose came close to the sleeve of my gown.

He didn't say anything.

His breathing changed.

It became slower at first, then suddenly ragged, and I could feel the heat radiating from his body. His scent filled the small space between us, rich with the unmistakable pheromones of a powerful Alpha wolf.

I stood perfectly still.

For one foolish moment, I wondered if he had finally sensed something about me.

Then he sighed.

Maybe he had realized I was nothing more than a human.

Whatever he had discovered, he didn't mention it.

"You will stay here," he said finally. "You coming to Fireclaw, my father agreeing to your father, and that damn treaty being signed doesn't mean we're suddenly close."

His eyes held mine.

"So know your place, and avoid trouble with Grace."

I closed my eyes, taking his words without answering.

They were brutal.

Yet somehow, they softened something inside me.

Maybe because he wasn't pretending.

He wasn't promising affection or pretending this marriage was something it wasn't. He was simply telling me exactly where I stood, and strangely, that honesty felt easier to bear than the false kindness I had grown accustomed to in Rivercrest.

Asher turned and walked away.

"Serah."

One of the young omegas immediately stepped forward.

"Yes, Young Alpha?"

"See that Lady Isabel is given something to eat, and those rags she's wearing are replaced with something decent."

My eyes dropped to myself.

Rags.

I looked down at the plain blue gown I had been wearing since morning, suddenly seeing it through his eyes.

Before I could say anything, Asher disappeared down the corridor.

Serah approached me carefully. "My lady, shall we go inside?"

I nodded.

The chamber was larger than my entire bedroom in Rivercrest, with a wide bed covered in thick blankets, carved wooden furniture, and a brazier burning steadily against the cold mountain air.

I sat quietly on the edge of the bed, trying to process everything that had happened since I crossed the Fireclaw border.

I had expected hatred.

I had expected humiliation.

But I hadn't expected Asher to defend me, nor had I expected him to call me his wife in front of his household.

Just as I was beginning to settle into the unfamiliar room, a knock sounded at the door.

I looked up.

A young servant stood outside with her head bowed.

"The Luna has asked to see you," she said.

My heart sank.

"The Luna?"