Chapter 5: Ferrin

I left Willa’s room and rushed down the stairs. Damen was close behind me as I entered the suite below hers. I immediately started pacing the floor.

“Ferrin,” Damen approached cautiously, “what did you find out?”

I released a yell as I swept my hand forcefully across the dresser, sending a vase into the opposite wall and shattering it. I struggled to control my breathing before collapsing into the armchair near the corner of the room.

“It’s her,” I finally said.

“Are you sure?” Damen pushed.

“She’s Melanie Carmine’s daughter,” I said. “That’s where her alpha blood comes from.”

Willa’s mother was the previous alpha of the Black Moon Pack. It was, and still is, the largest pack in the western territories, though their numbers have dwindled since her death. It was one of the first packs formed after the werewolf rebellion a hundred and twenty years ago.

For centuries, lycans ruled the kingdom of Whearhal. Werewolves were essentially servants, bound by social biases to remain subjugated under lycan rule. Of course, they inevitably began to rise up against the lycan nobility until they finally managed to start a war that won them their freedom and their own territory in the western part of the country they named Avilvale. However, their lands were still small in comparison to ours, and they soon started fighting among themselves for territory. It took more than one alpha to win the war, and each wanted their own rule, their own piece of the spoils. The packs had been battling each other ever since.

It was Melanie, a female alpha who inherited the leadership of the Black Moon Pack, who managed to accomplish a truce between them. It was tenuous, at best, but it was still the closest thing to peace they had experienced in a hundred years. So, when she reached out to me secretly, proposing a political alliance, I was intrigued.

But she never made it to the meeting. I didn’t find out until weeks later that it was because she had died in a car accident on the way to our rendezvous spot. However, I never heard any whispers of her death being intentional, and certainly nothing about my own people being involved.

“So why come after you?” Damen asked.

“She believes I ordered her mother’s assassination.”

“What? Melanie died in a car accident.”

I shook my head. “No, she didn’t. She was murdered. Willa was there. She witnessed it all.”

I felt the sick feeling churning in my stomach. I couldn’t imagine what Willa had gone through. Having to watch her own mother’s gruesome death. Shit. She had to have only been nine or ten at the time. My heart ached for the pain she must be carrying, the hatred for my kind. I couldn’t fault her for wanting me dead.

But others would.

I had no doubt that the council would want her executed the moment they found out we had her.

Anger suddenly flooded through me. Rage at the one who did take her mother’s life and caused my mate a lifetime of suffering. Suffering that brought her here, to a place that would destroy her just for existing. To a fated mate who she despised.

I shot up from the chair. “Find out what the hell happened to Melanie Carmine. If there was a lycan behind her death, I want to know exactly who.” Damen stopped me before I reached the door.

“And what about her? How are you going to handle this?”

I turned to him with determination. “You and I both know I had nothing to do with her mother’s death. I will do whatever it takes to convince her of that. And I will bring the bastard to justice, one way or another. They have committed treason. Against me and their future Luna.”

His eyes widened at my words. “Luna, sir? Do you really think…”

I closed my eyes and sighed. “I don’t know. But I won’t let her die for reacting the same way any of us would. I will do whatever it takes to save her. Even if it means letting her go.” Damen rested a hand on my shoulder. “But if that happens, whoever was responsible for Melanie Carmine’s death took my mate from me. And I’ll rip his fucking heart out myself.”

I yanked the door open and stormed down the stairs. I was almost at my office when I passed the next person I was looking for.

“Lord Boucher,” I called.

“Your Majesty,” he rasped out as I approached, bowing low. “What can I do for you?”

“Come with me.” He followed me the short distance to my office, and I made sure to shut the door securely behind us. I waited until I was behind my desk to continue. “You were the last one to see your cousin, Ava, correct?”

His brow furrowed. “Yes, but that was years ago,” he said with his gravelly voice. An injury he sustained when he was younger had left him with severe scars along his neck, making his voice sound muted and strained whenever he spoke. It was jarring for many to see. It was hard to leave those kinds of scars on a lycan. We heal too quickly. Typically, only a lycan could scar a lycan to such a degree.

“Where was that? I need to know anything you have on her possible whereabouts.”

“She was visiting the family at our villa on the northern coast. That was nearly ten years ago.”

“It was soon after she issued the prophecy, correct?”

“Yes, sire,” he replied solemnly. “Some of us fear it may have driven her mad.”

“Nonetheless,” I said, “if there is a chance she is alive, we need to find her. You will send me anything you can, understood?”

“Of course, my lord,” he replied. “I was planning on returning home first thing in the morning anyway. I will send word with what I can gather.”

“You’re dismissed.”

With a final bow, he left my office. Holding the door open for my head of housekeeping to enter. She approached me as the door shut behind her. She looked back at it and waited a few moments before turning to me.

“What can I do for you, Miranda?”

“You can tell me why you have guards sneaking food from my kitchens,” she stated, “and forbidding my staff from entering the tower wing to perform their duties.”

“That’s none of your concern,” I snapped but immediately regretted it, which Miranda proceeded to respond to with a raised eyebrow. I ran my hands over my face, letting out a frustrated sigh. I was bone weary, and my mood was volatile without the aid of exhaustion. But that wasn’t an excuse to take it out on my staff. Or my friends. “I’m sorry. It’s been a long few days.”

“That still doesn’t explain why you are disrupting my schedule,” she replied sternly, but there was still a softness to her voice that comforted me.

“I know,” I said. I should tell her. I couldn’t leave Willa up there with nothing, and quite frankly, I wasn’t happy that her only contact was with unmated males. And I trusted Miranda with my life. I looked at her from across the desk and motioned her to take a seat. “The truth is, I could really use your help.”

“You know I will do whatever I can,” she replied.

“I know, but secrecy is of the utmost priority in this matter,” I insisted. “Do you understand?”

“Of course, my lord,” she said with a nod.

“There is a woman staying in the top suite of the tower. I need you to make sure she has everything she needs. No one else is to go up there but you. Here is the list of the guards that have been assigned to guard her.” I handed her a piece of paper with the names Austin had provided. “I will be letting them know you will be attending to her.”

“I haven’t been a personal servant for twenty years,” Miranda replied teasingly, giving me a sideways look.

I chuckled softly. “Regardless, you’re the only one I trust with this. But you won’t be spending too much time with her. Just bring up her meals and anything else she requires. But keep it low contact for now.”

“She sounds more like a prisoner than a guest,” Miranda stated seriously.

I grimaced at her words, remembering how I had left Willa chained to the bed this morning.

“Her stay with us was… unexpected. For both parties. She’s going to need some clothes. Be discreet. I know just as well as you do how easily rumors start among the staff.”

Miranda nodded her acknowledgment but pursed her lips. She looked at me with concern, no longer filling the role of employee. “Who is this woman, Ferrin?”

“It’s complicated,” I told her gently. “Very complicated. I’m sure once you meet her, you’ll figure out part of what is going on, but there is so much more to this that I can’t tell you yet. I just need you to trust me.”

Kindness filled her eyes as she offered a concerned smile. “I trust you with my life.”

I smiled back at her, allowing the silence to settle in the room, taking comfort from her presence. Finally, she stood, bowing before turning toward the door.

“One more thing,” I said after her, hesitating for a moment. “Leave the suite below her vacant as well. I will be utilizing it for the time being.”

She did well to hide whatever was going through her mind, even though I knew she was about to come out of her skin with questions. But I admired and was deeply grateful for her restraint. Instead, she bowed her head and continued out of my office, leaving me to gather my thoughts. Thoughts that consistently returned to Willa and the dangerous game I was playing with both our lives.

But it wasn’t a game, was it?

Fated mates are sacred, especially to a lycan. If I had locked her in the dungeon and turned her over to the council, I would have suffered as well. Whether anything else happens between us, the bond between us exists now. And despite the risk, I wanted it to stay that way. A smile tugged at my lips as I remembered how she threw my argument right back at me. How her hazel eyes blazed when I touched her face. How she bit her lip while trying to figure out how to tell me she had to use the bathroom.

Then I thought about the hatred in her eyes when she found out who I was. And the shock I felt when she told me about her mother. The way she recoiled when I moved to comfort her. Her command to stay away was so strong even I felt its effects. She definitely wanted me dead. But she couldn’t do it. She had the opportunity. We both saw it. But something stopped her. That meant something.

I looked at the clock. It was past midnight, and I desperately needed sleep. I stood from my desk and made my way back through the castle. My feet carried me to the tower stairs without even thinking. I entered the suite on the floor beneath hers. I kicked off my boots and tore my shirt over my head before falling into bed. Sleep found me quickly.