Chapter 7: A Union of Convenience

VICTOR

The fire burns low in my study, the embers casting faint shadows against the stone walls. The scent of aged whiskey lingers in the air, the glass half-empty in my hand as I sit in my chair, staring at the door Raven walked out of just hours ago.

The room feels colder in her absence, though I tell myself it’s just the night air.

It’s not.

I exhale slowly, pressing my fingers against my temple. My head aches—not from the whiskey, but from memories.

You will never be more than what you are.

The words had come from my own mouth, yet they cling to my chest like a curse.

I take another sip, the burn doing nothing to numb the weight settling in my bones. I shouldn’t feel this way. I shouldn’t feel anything at all.

But then, I think of Selene.

And for the first time in a long time, I let myself remember.

I was once a different man. A stronger man.

The Gamma of the Nightshade Pack. Respected. Feared. Trusted. My name carried weight. My command was followed without question.

And beside me, my mate—Selene.

She had been everything.

Fierce and wise, born of an ancient and noble bloodline. The kind of woman wolves spoke of in legends, carrying a power that ran deep in her bones.

I had worshipped her.

And when she carried my child—**when she carried Raven—**I had felt a pride unlike anything before.

But she had died bringing her into the world.

And I?

I have never recovered.

It wasn’t instant.

At first, I was numb, a shadow of myself, lost in grief that refused to fade.

Then the whispers began.

"Perhaps it was a curse," the elders murmured, hesitant but watchful. "Selene’s bloodline was powerful, ancient. It is said those born of such lineages pay a price."

Others spoke more plainly.

"Maybe the child should not have been born."

I wanted to fight those words.

But every time I looked at Raven—**small, frail, helpless—**all I could see was Selene’s lifeless body on the birthing bed, her golden eyes forever closed.

I wanted to love her.

I tried.

But grief rots the strongest of men. And I let it consume me.

Then Lilliana arrived.

She came as a widow, newly arrived from a distant pack, with a young daughter of her own.

At first, I thought nothing of her. I kept my distance, too buried in my own misery to care about some woman seeking refuge.

But Lilliana was patient.

She came to me with soft words, careful hands, a steady presence.

"I know loss," she said one night, her voice quiet, her eyes filled with just enough sorrow to be believable.

"You don’t have to be alone in this, Victor."

For a while, I believed her.

I was tired. Weak. Lost.

And Lilliana?

Lilliana offered stability. Companionship. A way to move forward.

At least, that’s what she made me believe.

We mated a year later.

And that was when everything changed.

At first, it was subtle.

Lilliana’s hands on my shoulders at council meetings. Her whispers of advice that sounded reasonable, logical, wise.

"You cannot let Raven hold you back, Victor," she murmured one night, fingers tracing lazy circles against my chest. "The pack is watching you. They see a Gamma too caught in grief to lead properly."

I bristled at first. "She is still my daughter."

Lilliana sighed, like a woman burdened by knowledge no one else could bear.

"Your burden, Victor," she corrected gently. "She is why you have suffered. Why you lost Selene. Everyone knows it."

The words sank their teeth into me.

Because I had already wondered it myself.

I had heard the whispers. The murmurs of Selene’s bloodline.

Had Raven been a curse?

Had she stolen Selene’s life before she had even drawn her first breath?

Lilliana was relentless. Patient. Cunning.

She didn’t push me all at once.

Just enough.

Enough to let my guilt twist into resentment.

Enough to make me turn away when Seraphina tormented Raven.

Enough to make Raven’s place in the pack lower and lower until she was nothing more than a ghost in her own home.

And by the time I realized what I had allowed to happen, it was too late.

Because by then, it was easier to do nothing.

The study door creaks open.

I don’t have to look up to know who it is.

Lilliana.

She fills the room like a cold breeze.

"She came to you tonight."

It’s not a question.

I exhale, setting my glass down on the desk. "Yes."

Silence stretches between us.

Then—

"And?"

I rub my temple. "And she left."

Lilliana steps forward, her voice lowering into something softer, more dangerous.

"You should have ended this years ago, Victor," she murmurs. "Allowing her to stay… it was a mistake."

I say nothing.

Because what can I say?

That I know she’s right?

That I know I’ve let Raven become something I can no longer control?

That I watched her walk out of this room tonight and, for the first time in years, felt something that tasted like regret?

Lilliana sighs, brushing her fingers along the edge of my desk.

"She is becoming dangerous," she warns. "I see it. Seraphina sees it."

My jaw tightens.

Dangerous.

Yes.

I have seen it too.

The way Raven holds herself now, taller, unbent.

The way she no longer cowers under Seraphina’s cruelty.

The way her green eyes burn now, like something waiting to break free.

I never saw Selene in her before.

Not until now.

I reach for my glass, swirling the whiskey absently.

"You worry too much," I mutter.

Lilliana’s gaze sharpens.

"You are blind," she corrects. "You still think she is the same girl you let suffer in silence. But that girl is gone, Victor. And if you don’t act soon, she will become a threat. To you. To Seraphina. To all of us."

I say nothing.

Because I know she’s right.

But the thought of putting an end to this now—to Raven, to what she might become—

I’m not sure if I have it in me.

And maybe…

Maybe that is my greatest weakness.

Maybe that is why I have already lost.