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Garren takes a chair next to Leia and pulls it out for Alyssa. I roll my eyes, just imagining the conversations those two will have.
“How’s the pregnancy going?” Alyssa asks Leia, speaking for the first time. I wouldn’t mind if she remained quiet for the rest of the evening.
“It’s harder than I thought,” Leia replies with a soft chuckle. “He seems to have developed a love for kicking me in the kidneys.”
Gavin reaches over and takes his wife’s hands in his. “Our little warrior. Isn’t she glowing? I keep on telling her that she’s radiant.”
“That’s one of the few good parts of pregnancy,” Mother joins the conversation, leaning forward to look at Leia.
“Don’t even get me started about the ankles,” Leia lightly complains. “I’m scared to think just how much they’ll hurt if they’re already swelling now.”
Please kill me now, I beg my wolf.
Is it me or was the dinner with humans a lot more fun? my wolf wonders, making me wish that we were back in San Francisco.
Even Liam doesn’t seem too bad compared to this crowd, I agree, and my wolf snorts.
“I have a couple of ideas for that,” Mother tells her, helpful as always. “You don’t get to carry four boys without any tricks up your sleeve.”
“I’d really appreciate it,” Leia says, tucking a strand of her ashen-white hair behind her ear as she turns to Alyssa. “I’ll be happy to share them with you once it’s your turn.”
Garren chokes on his food and begins coughing violently. Alyssa immediately jumps to attention, patting his back several times.
Let him choke, I joke, saying it to my wolf because even I know they wouldn’t appreciate this piece of dark humor.
Darkness might be our ability, but it definitely stayed out of every other part of our life. In my case, even the power itself never truly manifested. If my physical looks weren’t like my brothers’, I would’ve thought I was adopted.
We have other skills that some might consider more useful, my wolf says, trying to encourage me as always. Besides, we want to stop the war not fight in it.
Yeah, I agree, without bothering to hide the disappointment because he has access to every part of us anyway. Including the one that has no idea about what skills he’s referring to. All we’re good at is spending Father’s money. That and charming the ladies.
I haven’t done anything that would make my father proud. I barely even graduated from the Academy, and even that was because my parents donated a shitload of money after I got in trouble for the umpteenth time.
“I’m okay,” Garren forces out, color returning to his face. “Thanks.”
Gavin and Garren exchange amused glances. They’re all being happy and enjoying their lives. It’s not right. It’s not fair that Gavin can be with Leia, even though she’s from another family because she’s of royal blood, and it’s not fair that Garren can be with Alyssa, despite her being a fucking commoner simply because she’s a wolf.
It’s not fucking fair.
“I can’t take it anymore!” I yell and slam the palm of my hand against the table. All heads turn my way and I’m aware that I’m making a scene, but I don’t fucking care. “Are you all fucking crazy? Are we seriously having a dinner with a fucking commoner like it’s nothing? Are we really voluntarily, and outside of an official event, sharing a meal with a foreign queen?”
“Careful,” Gavin growls.
Heads up, my wolf warns just in time for me to turn and see Garren rushing at me. He grabs me by the collar of my shirt and throws me against the wall with the pure force of a wolf. The impact dazes me, my head hurting like the day that I met Helia with my first hangover. I don’t trust myself to get up, but I do gather enough strength to lean on my left elbow, my eyes fixed on the floor as I try to sort out how I feel.
“First, you’re going to apologize to my wife, who is also your queen. You’re going to beg her forgiveness, and only if she chooses to grant it to you, you will have an opportunity to explain to us what the fuck is going on with you,” Garren says with a low voice, his hands clenched in fists so hard that his knuckles have turned white. He’s shaking with cold anger that I haven’t seen on him in a very long time. “If you get through all that, then you’re going to get your shit together and quit partying every night. I can honestly tell you that it leads nowhere but to rock bottom.”
They have no idea that we haven’t been to a party since we met Helia, my wolf growls, sounding upset that no one’s been paying attention. I remind him that it’s a good thing, otherwise they’d already know about my witch business.
I shake my head to clear the ringing in my ears and the slightly blurry vision, but Garren must’ve taken it as a sign of defiance. He takes a step forward, positioning himself to kick me. I shut my eyes and brace myself, but his foot never lands. I open my eyes again and see Alyssa kneeling next to me.
“While, under normal circumstances, I would demand an apology and even encourage an appropriate punishment to make sure this doesn’t happen again, I don’t believe that this will work here,” she tells me, her voice so gentle that I can’t look at her and turn my eyes downward. “You’re going to tell us what’s on your mind. You’re going to share with your family the burdens that you’re carrying, and you’re going to lean on them, lean on us, to help you get out of whatever mess you’ve found yourself in.”
I press my lips into a thin line. She’s talking a good game, but they’ll never understand. No one will. I should withdraw the money from the bank, take Helia, and run as far away as we can, hoping that the local coven or the wolves won’t find us first.
“I can’t,” I reply after it’s clear they’ve been waiting for me to say something. I shake my head, looking for words to ask them to let me be. “It’s impossible to explain. You wouldn’t understand. Even I don’t understand it.”
“Try us,” Alyssa says and though her voice is soft and gentle, there’s a hint of challenge behind it.
