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No. I couldn’t believe he was. Not when there were so many other options that would have offered some sort of alliance to strengthen the pack in some way. And as much as I loathed Chamberly, I didn’t think she would have been my father’s first pick if he focused strictly on what the pack needed and nothing else.
I opened my bedroom door, sliding through and tucking it softly behind me. I rested my back against it, closed my eyes, and slid to the floor. I wrapped my arms around my legs and rested my head against my knees.
If that was the case, that meant my father and Chamberly had to have been meeting with each other, developing some kind of relationship. My stomach churned at the thought.
How?
How could this have happened right under my nose? Was I truly this stupid? And, more than that, how could I trust myself to be a pack leader, an Alpha, if I couldn’t even figure out that my own father and my ptofessor were seeing each other behind my back?
I barely slept. In the morning, I took a long, hot shower. I ate in the dining room rather than with my father and uncles. Taskier wasn’t in the dining room, which didn’t surprise me, but when I made my way into his classroom, he immediately beckoned me forward.
I set my things down at my table — Rianne was still nowhere to be found — and approached his desk.
“Judging by your absence this morning, I take it your father told you?” he asked, keeping his voice low.
I nodded once.
“Was Matthyw there?” Taskier asked.
“Why?” I asked.
“He wasn’t at breakfast this morning,” Taskier said, “and while that fits with his whorish personality, something tells me his absence was a statement more than a long night of arduous work.”
I wrinkled my nose. The last thing I wanted was to picture Matthyw with anyone else, tangled up in sheets, too exhausted to leave the bed.
“Not initially,” I said. “But he was there. He knew. He said he needed to speak to my father about something and I was sent away. That was the last time I saw him.”
“Did your father send him away?” Taskier asked, tracing his chin with his thumb and forefinger.
“Why would he?” I asked, shifting my weight. The door to the glass opened and it took everything in me not to check and see if it was Rianne. I knew I couldn’t talk to her about this, but I also knew I didn’t want to be alone.
“Unless your brother received a last-minute assignment from Master Grey, which is entirely possible, I doubt Matthyw would have left on his own accord,” Taskier murmured, still speaking to himself rather than to me. “But he would have been forced to, should your father have commanded it.”
“Yes, but I don’t know why Father would send him away,” I said.
“You can’t possibly think Matthyw would approve of your father’s selection, do you?” Taskier asked, arching a brow as he finally looked at me.
“Do you?” I asked, suddenly curious about his opinion on the whole situation. Taskier was much more level-headed than Matthyw and myself; perhaps hearing his perspective would help me understand my father’s decision more.
Taskier sighed, rubbing his temples. “I wish it was acceptable in society to drink in the morning,” he muttered.
“That’s not an answer.”
He opened one eye and his lips curved into a grin. “I beg to differ, niece,” he said. “In most circumstances, you can always find a drink to be the answer.”
The corners of my lips started to twitch up even though I didn’t necessarily want to smile. I wasn’t in the mood for indulging anybody today, and I still needed to figure out how I was going to handle seeing Chamberly after everything. If she would show her face.
“Listen,” Taskier said. “There’s nothing we can do about it now, especially with classes about to begin. And you already understand you can’t discuss this with anyone outside the family since your father hadn’t officially made any sort of announcement yet.” He sighed. “I’m not sure what I think about the whole thing. I understand your father wanted to marry a wolf in order to ensure any offspring he were to produce would be full-blooded and would be regarded as pure in the eyes of the pack. I also know that Megan is young and fertile, which makes conceiving successfully more likely.”
My cheeks pinched. My father’s reproductive activity wasn’t something I wanted to discuss right now, if ever.
“But,” he said, “there were plenty of other wolves who could have done the job better, while bringing something to the table that’s more than just youth. It was personal for him.”
“And yet, he wants to marry me to some wolf that would be best for the pack,” I muttered, casting my eyes down to Taskier’s immaculate desk.
“While I don’t think it’s fair to expect you to do something for the pack your father himself won’t do,” Taskier said gently, “you should know your father has had to make many sacrifices for the pack his entire life. This is the first time he chose to be selfish. And while I don’t think I’m ready to defend his actions just yet, I can understand them.”
That makes one of us, I thought bitterly.
