Chapter 3

Good. It was just the immediate family here so far, and I went to take my regular seat next to Luna Addison.

The Alpha sat at the head, his three sons to his right and his Luna and me to his left. It wasn’t an honorary position as usually there weren’t any others joining us, and I was just there to listen to their odious conversations and pick out whatever I could that I deemed useful.

“No,” Luna Addison waved me away and shot her husband an exasperated look, “You sit at the end. We have guests today.” She rolled her eyes and swatted my hand away from the back of the chair. I pulled it back quickly after her ring-encrusted hand made contact with mine.

I fought the scowl and chose a hurt look, taking my hand in the other, nursing it.

“I’m sorry, I thought-”

“You’re not used to events, are you?” She looked at me with mocking sympathy, “You were so young when your parents died.” She said as if it wasn’t her mate that was responsible for killing them.

I stared at her blankly.

“Move.” She pointed, and then her eyes darted behind me, “Ah, Alpha Ben, Beta, come come we have had our omegas slaving away all day for you. You must be starving.” She whisked past me, and I moved to the end of the table unnoticed.

The food might have been good, but I wasn’t paying attention. The visiting Alpha from a newly established nearby pack was whispering to Alpha Raymond.

I stole a glance, and he looked confused. I waited a moment before stealing another glance, and now he looked furious, his fist clenched around his fork. I let myself take a long bite pretending to contemplate my food. My last look at him, now he was pale, his eyes wide.

“What is it?” Hunter asked his dad, bored, twirling his steak knife on the table. I wasn't the only one that noticed.

“Remember how at the end of last year we had the Red Ridge Beta visit from the North?” He slowly started.

I remembered him. He was older and never took a mate. He was bragging that night that he had a young pack member waiting in his room for him, so he couldn’t stay. He went on about how he forced the girl to reject her mate, or he would kill her mate in front of her.

The entire night I thought of the poor girl sitting in this monster's room, heartbroken and scared, knowing what was to come when this Beta returned. Taken against her will by the man that she probably hated most in the world.

Call it sympathy, call it practice, it didn’t matter in the end - the outcome was the same.

“The one that never made it home after he left us?” The Alpha Raymond went on; I caught a few nods out of the corner of my eye.

“People have been going missing, running away, whatever for a while. This isn’t news,” Hunter waved his arm, “What’s the point?”

I took another bite of my food, the only one that was showing any interest in anything that wasn’t the Alpha’s story.

“Well, Alpha Ben just informed me that he uh..”

“Spit it out, Father.” Hunter looked bored, I didn’t look, but I could picture the face that Alpha Raymond must be making at his middle son. At his son's brashness and lack of respect.

“Parts of his body have been found washing up on their river bank.” I dropped my fork and reached for it quickly, looking at my food, my face hopefully pale.

“How do you know it was him?” Dominick asked. A good question.

“This happened weeks ago, son.” The visiting Alpha spoke directly to him, “We had time to match dental records; he was past recognition.” I set down my fork and dared to look at the ranked members.

A mixture of confusion and shock passed on their faces in varying degrees, everything I already saw on the Alpha’s face.

“It wasn’t an accident.” The Alpha’s son, whose name I didn’t know, chimed in. He leaned over towards Hunter, Dominick, and Nolan and sloshed his glass of wine, studying them with a wicked smile.

Hunter looked bored, Dominick sized him up as an opponent, and Nolan, well, Nolan just looked like he wanted to leave.

“We pieced that together,” Dominick leaned towards him. Oh, this might be a fun evening after all, “But did you figure out who did it? You said you had the body for days.”

The visiting Alpha’s son looked taken aback for a moment, “We haven’t been investigating, really. Who is he to us?” I couldn’t tell if it was the truth or not. His dad placed a hand over his son’s chest, and he stopped immediately.

No one missed Hunter's dark smile at the visiting Alpha's son's subordination to his father.

I picked back up my fork again and tried to take a few bites, but my stomach protested against it. I was only able to force a few bites down the entire rest of the meal.

“Not eating?” The visiting Alphas son said, “Not eating?” He repeated loudly, and everyone went quiet. I moved my gaze toward him and found him staring at me from a few seats down.

“M-Me?” I looked up under my lashes, not expecting to be addressed by him.

“Yes, you.” He held up his empty wine glass and shook it at an omega.

“Oh, I’m not that hungry.” I hoped he would stop talking to me. Please stop talking to me. I clenched the skirt of my dress.

“Hmm,” I could feel his eyes on me, “Why not?”

“I was thinking about the Beta that went missing,” I answered honestly, turning slightly toward the head of the table, “I’m just scared now, If it wasn’t an accident, what could be out there?”

Alpha Raymond seemed satisfied with my answer, but I couldn’t tell why. He sat back in his seat and nodded, “All the more reason for you not to venture out.” Oh, that was it. Was he still worried I would leave?

“Y-yes, Alpha. You’re right.” I bowed my head to him, a move that made my skin crawl every time I did it.

“We’re safe here; one idiot Beta dying on the road, probably at the hands of rogues, means nothing to me.” He went on. I studied my hands as I heard a few cheers and a clink of glasses.

I stayed until the end before excusing myself due to exhaustion. Everyone was still there drinking too much to be of any use, besides the visiting Alpha’s son, who left without excusing himself before dessert ended.

I gripped the entryway before pushing myself out and saying my goodbyes. I looked like I had too much wine, too much terror for one night.

I was craving my bed, that dinner was draining for so many reasons. I rounded the corner to take the stairs when I heard a muffled voice.

“No, please stop it, I swear p-please I have a mate.”

“I don’t see a mark.” A familiar voice that I didn’t immediately place responded lowly. His tone made a chill run down my spine.