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Home / Werewolf / Thalia’s Unbecoming: From Killer To Cancer Luna / Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

All Chapters of Thalia’s Unbecoming: From Killer To Cancer Luna: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

64 Chapters

21

RAEL’S POVThe heavy doors to the Omega wing groaned as I pushed them open, the sound echoing the raw, jagged frustration tearing through my chest, and I walked into the center of the communal room with my boots striking the cold stone in a rhythm that felt like a challenge to anyone who dared look my way.The air in the room shifted the second I crossed the threshold, the idle chatter dying out as if a blade had sliced through the atmosphere, and in its place settled that suffocating, brittle silence of a population waiting to be judged by their King.They stared at me, eyes wide and darting, searching for any sign of hesitation in the set of my shoulders or the cold, hard line of my jaw, and I hated the way they watched me, their fear palpable, smelling of stale sweat and nervous, erratic heartbeats that filled the room with a scent I usually associated with prey."I am aware of the fear regarding the announcement from this morning," I started, my voice deep, vibrating through the r

22

Thalia's POVThe sun carved a funny looking, mocking line across the stone floor, the dust motes dancing in the light like they didn't know I was trapped in here with a man who looked like he wanted to either kill me or devour me, and the door creaked open, the sound echoing through the small space like a death sentence. Rael stepped inside, his coat heavy and dragging, his presence stealing the air until I felt like I was breathing water, he did not look at me, he did not even acknowledge I was standing there, he just walked straight to the window and stared out at the courtyard, his hands buried deep in his pockets, his shoulders hunched tight enough to snap a blade."There is an exit," he said, his voice flat and worn out, a low rumble that vibrated through the floorboards, "east wall, where the old stores building hits the main structure, it leads to the mill road, four miles of dark, then a settlement nine miles east where you can get transport."He wasn't looking at me, he was

23

Thalia's POVLater that evening...The steam from the bathwater curled around my skin like a thick, heavy blanket, and I kept my eyes closed for a long time, drifting in the quiet heat while I tried to force my heart to slow down, because the silence of the tower was the only peace I had known since I arrived in this place, and it was the first time since I came here that I felt like I could breathe without the constant, heavy weight of the Alpha King always hovering near me.Then, a loud, hard banging against the oak door shattered the quiet, and a voice barked from the hallway, "Get up, now," which made my heart jump into my throat like a scared bird, and I stood up, water dripping down my skin as I scrambled to grab the nearest towel, my voice thin and shaking as I called out, "Who is it?""Alpha King's order," the guard answered, his tone flat and cold, "you are to come to his personal chambers, immediately."Panic hit me in a wave, cold and sharp, and my mind raced, for I had not

24

Thalia's POV The sacred flames in the stone basin down in the courtyard had been burning at a consistent, matching height for the entire time I had been held in this tower, and I had been using them as a baseline because constants were useful when everything else in my life was a moving target.This morning, I was at the window in the deep shadow of the frame—back from the light the way the Alpha King told me to, though shadow-of-frame and not-at-the-window were two very different things, and I had decided this distinction was worth making for my own sanity—when I reached out to adjust the heavy wool of the blanket around my shoulders, and my bare hand connected with the cold, unforgiving stone of the window sill.All three flames jumped.They did not sway like they had caught a stray breeze.At all.They did not flicker like they were fighting a draft. They snapped violently upward and toward the tower—physically, unmistakably—moving in the complete wrong direction for any laws of c

25

Thalia-After Nara left, I sat at the table and stared at the wood grain, not wanting to think, but the thoughts were there anyway. I handled the news the same way I handled everything important—alone, in the dark, working through it in the organized way I had always worked through things that were too large to hold.Two hundred years.Someone put a ward in the stone of this room two hundred years ago, and it had been sitting in the rock ever since, waiting for a signal. Someone knew, someone planned for a specific person to show up in this specific room centuries later. That meant one of two things: either the person who laid that ward had knowledge of the old bloodline that nobody alive today had, or they were a bearer of that same bloodline and could trace the path of the future. Both of those ideas were too big for me to hold, so I set them aside and focused on what I could do right now.The waking was moving in my blood, happening whether I liked it or not. It meant I needed the

26

RAEL The grey light was just starting to bleed through the arrow slit in the stone, changing the room from solid black to something softer, when I got up. I did not want to leave the warmth of the bed, but the wolf at the base of the tower was still there. I could smell him. He was a younger one, part of the outer council staff, someone I had seen twice at Gerard’s table during the long, boring meetings that served no purpose other than to waste my time.I walked to the narrow window and looked down. He was standing at the base of the east wall, his face turned up toward the tower, doing nothing except being there. He was logging the light.He was taking inventory of what the tower looked like at this hour, making sure he had the evidence he needed to report back to his master. I memorized his look. I watched the way he held his shoulders and the way he shifted his weight, and then I turned away.I went back to the bed. Thalia was sitting up, watching me in the dark. She did not mak

27

Raelher."It is going to be a loud day," I told her."For you," she whispered, looking down at her hands."You should go," she added, her voice barely audible.I looked at her for a long moment, trying to find a way to say more, but there was no reason to. We both knew the weight of the day waiting for us outside that door."Stay away from Nara until I talk to Elodie today," I ordered."Nara came to me," she said, biting her lip."I know," I stated. "I am not saying she is not useful. I need to know what Elodie has before Nara says more."She nodded slowly. I stood up. I went to the door, and the transition from the private world of the tower to the public world of the pack hit me like a physical blow. Talos was on the landing, waiting. He had a message from Elodie. It was a formal request to see the Alpha King regarding the ward at the east tower, which had—according to the note—shown readings overnight that she found significant and wanted to discuss in person.I read the message t

28

THALIA-Rael did not come to the tower during the day. I had expected it—I knew Elodie’s request and whatever had been in Talos’s morning report were going to take up all his time. Still, the room felt different without him. It was quiet, but it was a heavy, suffocating kind of quiet. I found myself staring at the empty space where he usually stood, and I quickly forced myself to look away. If I started naming the reasons why I missed him, I would be in serious trouble. I wasn’t ready to admit what this was, especially not in the cold, bright light of the afternoon when my heart felt like it was doing gymnastics every time I heard a heavy bootstep in the hall.I sat by the window, letting the shadow of the frame fall over me like a shield. I had all my notes spread out—Constance’s messy ledgers, Nara’s cryptic archive secrets, and the frantic notes I’d made on the ward since this morning’s flame incident.I was hunting for the link. None of these things made sense on their own, but

29

THALIA's POV The guard arrived at my door with instructions that I was to attend the evening meal. That told me everything I needed to know. The evening meal was not a private tray in my room, it was a major pack event, and changing my routine like that without any warning meant someone high up had made the decision in the last few hours. They definitely hadn't bothered to go through the standard rules or ask for my opinion.I checked my reflection in the small, cracked mirror and smoothed out my grey dress. I twisted my hair back into a tight knot, which was really the only way I could control anything around here, and I took a deep breath before following the guard down the stairs.My heart was thumping against my ribs like a trapped bird, but I tried to keep my face as blank as a brick wall. The corridors were long, echoing with the sounds of people moving toward the main hall, and every time someone looked at me, I felt like a prize in a cage.The dining hall was the bigges

30

RAELGerard strolled into the morning council session like he already owned the whole fucking place.He carried himself with that settled, infuriatingly patient air of a man who knew exactly what was on the agenda and felt certain it played into his hands. He didn't even bother looking at me, just smoothed his robes, took his seat, and waited for the show to begin.I moved through the routine items—grain supplies, border patrol budgets, the usual administrative drudgery—with my full focus. I’d spent three hundred years knowing that neglecting the small stuff to deal with a sudden crisis was exactly how a secondary headache turned into a permanent migraine. I kept my expression as blank as a stone wall, offering absolutely nothing away.I was halfway through the third item when Gerard’s aide leaned over and slid a document across the table. I didn't even flinch. Gerard scanned his own copy with the stillness of a man who had been expecting that exact piece of paper for months."My Ki

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