Chapter 0004

Layla’s POV

For a moment I could only watch in horror as the two men stood towering over me, one with his wrist secured firmly in the hand of the other.

“How dare you do that in front of your Alpha?” Alpha Hector roared, and from him a ripple of barely repressed violence ran down the Pack bond.

It was the angriest we had ever felt him, I realized, and in the next moment goosebumps rose all over my skin as soon as I registered just how close behind me he was standing—close enough that I could feel his body heat wash over me. I gulped.

Dad took several steps away from me, bowing his head in a show of submission. He hadn’t grabbed his wrist to massage it, though I could only imagine just how badly he wanted to.

“Alpha, I’m so—”

“I came home with a victory,” Hector continued, brutally cutting my father off. “And this is what I am greeted with upon my return?”

No one, not even the youngest among us, dared to speak a word.

He continued.

“The truth is clear. This Pack will never force a person against their will into a relationship.”

My lips parted in relief at his words, and only the fact that I could feel his heavy gaze boring into the back of my head kept my knees from buckling.

“The mating ceremony. between Layla Fabrini and Alexander Rockmountain is off,” he commanded, pausing briefly to let his word sink in. “My word is Law.”

In front of me my father shut his eyes for a split second, his lips drawing into a firm line as he struggled to compose himself. He wasn’t pleased with the Alpha’s decision, but at the end of the day there was nothing he or anyone would be able to do about it.

He wouldn’t even be able to appeal it, because once Hector made his decisions they never changed.

“Yes Alpha,” dad breathed finally, and slowly the rest of the pack echoed his words.

“I am disappointed in all of you,” Hector remarked once it grew silent again. “Creating a fuss like this in public, throwing our Pack into a chaos such as this like you’re all a bunch of pups.”

Each of his words dripped with disdain, and I felt a flush begin to creep across my cheeks as a wave of embarrassment ran through me.

“Gaius, you will have to take responsibility for this.” My father gave an uncertain nod, and the Alpha said: “You, Reno, and Alex will all be punished with double pack training.”

A sharp intake of air caused me to glance to the side, where I found Alex, still on his knees. It was the perfect punishment for him, because he had never been any good at Pack training. Seeing him now with his shoulders hunched over in defeat, I felt a faint stirring of pity go through me.

I was quick to quash it.

“You may all leave,” Hector said finally, and immediately the crowd started to disperse.

I made a move to follow as they all were, but hearing him utter my name stopped me dead in my tracks and with my heart jackhammering in my chest I slowly turned to face him.

My head was downturned, and with the tip of his bloodstained fingers he tilted my chin up until I was looking him straight in his eyes. I felt my limbs tingle.

“My office,” he said, before letting his hand drop and taking a step away from me.

I felt an inexplicable sense of loss, but before I could even begin to investigate it he turned on his heels and stalked off, leaving me behind. For a moment I stood frozen to my spot, looking at his receding back, and then a feeling of awareness that I was being watched settled over me and I turned to find Lu staring at me.

If looks could kill I would be dead in the ground, because the hatred in her gaze was immense. Spittle built up at the corners of her pert lips and she was shivering, though I sensed it was out of rage rather than cold.

Feeling uneasy, I broke our gaze and began to scramble after Alpha Hector, who was almost out of sight.

•

I had never been in Hector’s office before, and so my first thought as soon as I stepped into it was how surprisingly modern it looked even with its dark rustic color scheme, hardwood floors and wood paneled ceilings.

The sound of the door being shut softly behind me snapped me out of my reverie, and all at once it dawned on me that for the first time in my life, I was alone with the feared Hector of Sanguis—a man capable of killing all of his brothers to secure his claim as Alpha.

For all the fact that he had just stood up for me in front of the entire Pack, nothing stopped him from throwing me in a cell.

My mouth went dry at this thought and I felt my muscles begin to quiver, but then Hector brushed past me and as he did so I glanced up to find him staring down at me with an expression of such intense yearning that I startled, surprised.

In the next moment his expression shuttered, and I convinced myself that I had misinterpreted the look. Hector had always been nice to me, I knew, and so maybe he was just concerned

“Why don’t you want to bond with Alex anymore?” His baritone echoed through the large room, pulling me out of my thoughts. “And what was that you said about him being a cheater?”

He had his back turned to me, and watched the muscles there bunch and then flex as he pulled his ruined shirt off, dropping it to the ground at his feet, not self-conscious in the least.

As a species, we werewolves didn’t shy away from nakedness as we usually had to shift in that state if we didn’t want to rip the clothes we had on. Yet I felt the hair rise on my arms and the nape of my neck, and it wasn’t until he turned to send me a curious look that I realized that I hadn’t answered the question he asked.

“I-It was a slip of the tongue,” I managed weakly, “I just wanted the whole thing to be over and done with.”

I wasn’t prepared to tell Hector that Alex had cheated on me with my sister, because I didn’t know how he would react. He ruled our Pack with an iron fist, and even though I didn’t feel particularly favorable towards Alex or my family right now, the burden of getting them exiled or worst, executed, was not one I thought I could have on my conscience.

Of course there was a chance that he wouldn’t do anything, but like any good predator Hector was unpredictable and so I wasn’t going to risk it.

He didn’t reply to me immediately. Instead, I watched him methodically rinse his hands and face clean of blood at a sink I hadn’t noticed.

“How much do you know about the Triumph Procession?”

I blinked, not sure that I had heard correctly because he’d asked me that question seemingly out of nowhere.

Triumph processions were spectacles held after any win, and according to tradition it was the job of the Luna to dress like the Moon Goddess in a procession. She was to fulfil the most important rituals in the ceremony, giving offerings and praying that the Goddess would keep blessing us.

Since we didn’t have a Luna yet, the honour was given to our High Priestess, Delphine, temporarily.

“I know enough.”

I was about to add to this, but my mind blanked out at the sight of his firm abs and a V-cut that disappeared into the waistband of his low-slung jeans as he turned to consider me. To my horror he started to approach.

Hector’s long strides ate up the distance between us until we were barely an arm’s length away from each other, and his voice dropped low when he inquired.

“What would you like to do?”

I swallowed, and almost immediately my mind began to run through all of the possible implications of his question. I was suddenly aware of how hard my heart was beating, and my fingers ached with a bizarre need to reach across the distance and gently trace his skin.

I could barely keep up. Did this man want me to die of whiplash?

After what felt like an eternity, I responded.

“I’ll take anything that makes me feel a little less worthless right now, a little less like a loser.”

My voice came out in a whisper, and above me I sensed Hector frown. A long moment passed before he finally answered.

“What makes you feel like you’re not valuable?”

When I didn’t say anything to this, too choked up with emotion to even think of a reasonable response, Hector took my hand in his and I felt a sensation fill me up then.

It was like I was being flooded with warmth, and he led me to his desk, out of which he pulled a jagged looking dagger that I froze as soon as I saw. A bemused smile stretched over his mouth at my reaction, and he placed the dagger in my palm, curling my fingers around it.

Then in slow deliberate movements he guided my hand with his own, running the sharp edge of the dagger over his exposed wrist, leaving a wound that blood slowly trickled out of.

Gooosebumps broke out all over my skin, and I knew the only thing that kept me standing were his hands on mine, anchoring me.

“No loser could make me bleed,” he whispered into my ear, and my lips parted slightly as he smeared some of the blood on my forehead, turning me to face a mirror at the far end of the office so that we both watched as it vanished within seconds.

I felt like I was in a dream, and this loosened my tongue.

“Why did you do that?”

Hector chuckled, a low rumble I had never imagined he was even capable of making.

“You’ll know.”

But that wasn’t going to be enough for me. I pressed, repeating my question again, and this time he paused before letting out a long sigh.

“You’re going to be the Moon Goddess in the triumph procession.”