C4

SELENE POV

"You finally came back to Corvinus Manor, you bad pup!"

I just step inside the door, and my father, Markus Corvinus, starts yelling at me. His face looks like a mad, wild beast.

"You told me to come here right now," I tell him. I do not look at his angry eyes. I hold my head up high.

He gets so mad that he grabs a big cup and throws it right at my head. It misses me, but it hits the floor and breaks into tiny pieces. A sharp piece flies up and cuts my hand. Bright red blood comes out of my skin. It hurts, but I do not cry or make a face.

"Did you call me to this house just to play with your anger?" I ask him. My voice is very cold. "You are done throwing things now, so I am leaving."

I turn around to walk out into the woods.

"Stop right there, Selene! Do not be so crazy!" the False Luna Matriarch, Viktorina Corvinus, shouts from the big chair. She was laughing at my blood, but now she looks serious. "Markus, do not forget why we called her here."

"Stand still!" Markus barks at me. He tries to stop his loud breathing. "I heard a big thing from the pack elders. Did Lucian Lycan break your pack bond?"

"Yes," I say. I turn back to look at them. "He tore the bond away."

Markus looks like his heart is going to burst. "You stupid girl! Go run back to the Lycan Moonkeep right now! I do not care how you do it, but you must stay with the Bloodmoon Pack!"

The Corvinus Moonfang Pack needs the Lycan Alpha Dominion resources. If we do not have their food and wood, other packs in the Darkmoon Territory will fight us and take our land.

"You think I am a dumb pup?" I laugh at him. "I am not going back to that scary place."

"Selene, you know our wolves will starve without the Lycan pack," Viktorina says. She tries to sound nice now, but I know she hates me. She just wants to save her own skin.

"That is your problem," I say. "I am not a real Corvinus wolf to you anyway."

Ever since my father left my mother, Elena Corvinus, for this bad lady, I stopped loving this pack.

Viktorina pulls Markus's shirt and gives him a mean look.

"Fine!" Markus screams. "If you do not go back, I will tell the Healing Omegas to stop giving the medicine to your sick mother!"

My heart stops. He always does this. He knows my mother is my only soft spot. She needs the pack of herbs every day, or she will die. I do not have enough gold to pay for the Lunar Healers myself.

"You think Lucian Lycan is a silly pup you can play with?" I look at them with mean eyes. "He is the Supreme Alpha King. You cannot trick him again."

Markus and Viktorina look scared for one second. Three years ago, the Lycan pack wanted Sonja Corvinus to be the Chosen Alpha Bride Candidate. But Viktorina did not want her own daughter to marry a sick wolf who had bad skin bumps. So she drugged me and put me in his bed instead.

"I do not care about that," Markus says. "Go fix it."

"I cannot," I say, and I feel a little bit happy inside. "He chased me out of his fortress. He will never come to this small house to look for me."

But my happy feeling goes away fast.

A Manor Caretaker runs into the room. Her fur is shaking because she is so scared.

"Lord Markus! Lady Viktorina! A very big wolf from the Lycan pack is outside!"

"The Bloodmoon Pack is here?" Viktorina gasps.

"Yes!" the girl shakes. "The Supreme Alpha King Lucian Lycan is here to take Selene home!"

My mouth opens wide. "Lucian is here?"

The caretaker nods her head up and down.

Oh no. My big mouth made a bad wish.

No wolf from the Lycan pack ever came here in three years. Now the King is at our door.

Markus and Viktorina look so happy they want to howl.

"Bring him inside the great hall!" Markus shouts.

"I am already inside," a deep voice says from the dark hallway.

The voice sounds like big rocks rubbing together. It is very heavy and scary. A tall man walks into the room. He is so handsome that I cannot stop looking at his face. The stories said the Alpha King was an ugly monster from the old war, but that is a big lie. He looks strong and perfect. He walks right up to me.

"Are you really Lucian Lycan?" I ask. My voice sounds small.

I look at his eyes, and my body goes cold. He is the beautiful man from the Moon Eclipse Lodge Chamber last night.

"I am your husband," he says. He looks down at my cut hand. His eyes get dark.

I cannot breathe.

Viktorina looks like she wants to cry because he is not an ugly monster. She wanted this handsome King for her own pup, Sonja.

"Please sit down, Alpha King," Markus says with a big fake smile.

"No," Lucian says. His voice is like winter ice. "I am only here to take Selene back to the Moonkeep."

My brain starts working again. "But we broke the bond today! Alaric Wolfsbane took the papers!"

Lucian looks at me with a dangerous look. "The papers are ripped up. You are still my she-wolf."

I do not know what to do. Markus and Viktorina are watching me, so I have to walk outside with Lucian. We get into a huge black pack carriage with a Territory Rider at the front.

It is very quiet inside the carriage. I cannot stand it.

"Stop this carriage right now!" I scream at the rider.

The rider hits the brakes, and the carriage stops by some big trees. I grab the door handle to run into the forest.

But Lucian moves like lightning. His big hand grabs my wrist tightly.

"Where do you think you are going, Selene?"

"I am going to my own room!" I yell at him.

"This carriage is going to the Lycan Moonkeep," he says. He does not let go.

"You think you can play with people like toys just because you have a pretty face?" I shake my hand to get free. "Is this a fun game for you?"

"Yes," Lucian says. He pulls my body close to his chest. His mouth is right next to my ear. His breath is warm on my neck. "It was very fun last night."

My face turns super red like a hot strawberry. I think about the bed sheets from last night, and I get so mad.

"You are a crazy wolf!" I shout in his face.

The Territory Rider gasps loudly. Nobody ever talks to the King like that.

Lucian does not get angry. He wraps his big arms around me so I cannot move at all.

"Drive fast!" Lucian orders.

The carriage jumps forward into the dark woods, and I am stuck in his arms.