Page 19 of The Wolf Queen’s Curse

“My mother died a long time ago, Bishop.”

“But you’ve discovered how she died. Not in an accident but on your father’s command. That rips open the wound. What I am saying is that while you’ve lost so much because of him, you’ve suffered losses because of my grandfather, too, even if you don’t realize it.”

I don’t know what to say to that, so I only nod.

Bishop continues, “You know my grandfather was exiled from the Pack. His crime was an attempted coup.”

I try not to react to that. I hear the way his voice changed, the awareness that he did the same, staging a coup against my father.

Bishop continues, “In the history of Alphas, your grandfather—Arthur—was considered a good one. A good Alpha if not necessarily a good man. The Pack was large and prosperous and powerful. And my grandfather wanted it for his own.”

He nudges me through a narrow spot and then follows, still holding my hand. “The Danverses had been the Alpha family in the past. In Arthur’s Pack my grandfather served as the enforcer. Arthur channeled Montague’s brutality into a weapon. Under some Alphas, an enforcer’s primary job is instilling fear in our enemies. What do people fear more than an unhinged killer? An unhinged killer werewolf, devoid of even the shreds of humanity other supernaturals grudgingly grant us.”

“Which made Montague a clever choice, then. Until he wasn’t.”

“Yes. Eventually Montague mistook fear for power. If everyone feared him, then why was he bowing to Arthur? The Danverses should retake the Alphahood. When I organized my coup, I laid out a plan and promised reforms, which won over enough of the Pack. Montague didn’t bother with any of that. He presumed if he seized power, the Pack would follow him. He started by killing your uncle.”

I look over sharply. “My…?” I inhale. “Marjorie mentioned that my grandfather had three sons.”

“With your grandmother, he had Godfrey, Silas, and Ann’s mother. Then after your grandmother’s death, he had Oliver. Godfrey was the oldest and the presumed heir, and so my grandfather killed him.” A pause. “He was twelve years old.”

“Oh!” The exclamation escapes before I can stop it.

“Godfrey was a child. Not a threat at all. Just a symbol. Montague isn’t particularly intelligent, but he is wily. He didn’t openly murder Godfrey. The boy died during a hunt, with no witnesses. Godfrey was too young to transform, but he’d go out on hunt nights and listen. Montague took a secret path to slip away and kill him. I believe he wanted your grandfather to know who killed his heir but not be able to prove it. However, not being particularly intelligent, he forgot about your grandmother.”

“My…?” I stop. “She was a necromancer.”

He nods. “The dead can’t tell us who killed them, but Godfrey was able to say enough for it to be clear that Montague was responsible. So he tried to silence your grandmother.”

I inhale, again unable to hide my reaction.

“He didn’t kill her,” Bishop says, “but he tried, and she never fully recovered from the attempt. Arthur couldn’t prove Montague killed Godfrey, which meant he couldn’t execute him. But for attacking your grandmother, Montague was exiled, along with his two sons, and all Danverses were forbidden from ever joining the Albion Pack.”

He glances over. “That is why Silas rebuffed me, again and again, until I proved myself. Even then, Julius and I would never have been allowed in if the Pack hadn’t been in such poor shape. Silas was desperate, so he overrode his father’s decree, on the understanding that my grandfather was long gone.”

“Dead?”

Bishop shrugs. “Or gone to America or Australia. Silas never asked for specifics. He also never made us swear Montague was gone. I believe, in his heart, he knew the old bastard lived, but again, Silas was desperate. Also, in essence, Montague had cleared the way for Silas himself to ascend to Alpha.” He looks at me. “So that is the full of it. Your family has been wronged by my grandfather, and not only is Montague alive, but I am still in contact with him, however much I might wish otherwise.”

“Because it’s not that simple.”

“It really isn’t.”

I think of Montague, in his little cottage, telling me of secret paths and of my grandmother’s garden, how much she’d loved it and how pretty it had been. I almost want to look back and see malicious glee in his eyes, talking to me about the path he probably used to murder my uncle, waxing poetic about the garden tended by the grandmother he tried to murder. But there’d been none of that. His actions were divorced from the people themselves. Nothing personal—he’d seemed to like my grandmother and probably bore no ill will toward my young uncle. They just got in his way.

Ahead we can see the road, with Julius waiting, and I slow my steps.

“Montague expects to return to the Pack,” I say. “To Trevelyan.”

“I’ve never said he will, much less promised it, but it’s his driving motivation. Before he dies, he wants to return to the Pack that cast him out. To march in as victor, the corpses of his enemies—real and imagined—littering the courtyard.”

“He’s going to find out you’re the Alpha,” I murmur.

“Not if I can help it.”

I turn to him. “Bishop, this isn’t a secret you can keep forever.”

He sets his jaw, eyes sparking, ready to stand his ground. Then he runs a hand over his face.