Chapter 15 #2
Luna Christy stuttered before Alpha Mark placed his hand in hers, silencing her, and they both bowed deeply, reeking of fear and unable to meet our gaze.
“We apologise for the oversight, Alpha Damien, and offer our heartfelt congratulations on your union.”
I bristled, my wolf incensed and far from satisfied with their lacklustre apology, but Raven was already responding to them.
“Thank you.” Her smile stayed polite until her soft emerald green gaze found mine, and her lips tipped into a wider, more genuine smile, the sides of her eyes crinkling with poorly hidden amusement at the Everfrosts’ expense, and my breath caught.
By the Goddess, she was stunning. What wouldn’t I give to have her look at me like that every day? To share inside jokes and feel her breath against my skin when she laughed. To hold her forever—
“You can let go now. They’re no longer watching,” Raven whispered, her words jarring me out of my thoughts as she nodded in the direction of the alpha couple who were now conversing with other guests. “You should get to your meetings. I’ll be at the buffet.”
I let go of Raven, a bitter taste on my tongue. Of course. This was just an arrangement. An act. Raven would never really be mine. Not that I wanted her to be. It was my wolf who was obsessed with her, not me.
“I’ll be right back,” I said gruffly, unable to look at her as I turned away.
“All this war talk is bad for business,” Alpha Seth commented, his disposition dark.
His pack was to the north of mine, and any human war would potentially spill over to his territory. I nodded grimly. As I’d expected, most of the alphas were ill at ease with the possibility of war on the horizon.
But with the murderer unknown and my sources in the Sky Pack unable to come up with any proof that Alpha Matt was behind the murders, it was an eventuality we had to prepare for nonetheless.
“You know you have my support, if you ever need it,” Alpha Seth clapped his hand over my shoulder. “Hopefully, it won’t come to that.”
Hopefully. With that said, Alpha Seth shuffled along, and Sinclair stepped up to my side.
“You called, Alpha?”
“Our alliance with the Silverstone Pack will be suspended henceforth, and all our business deals together cancelled. Make the necessary arrangements for that.”
Sinclair paused, a baffled expression on his face.
“But with the projects underway that could potentially bankrupt them—”
I met Sinclair’s gaze.
“They’ll manage. Get it done.”
I wasn’t doing this because I’d seen the pain their betrayal had caused Raven in her starry gaze.
It was just the principle of it. Once a traitor, always a traitor.
The mettle of an alliance was tested in hard times.
If they’d betrayed Raven so easily once she was down, how could I ever trust their loyalty?
Unbidden, my gaze unerringly found Raven across the hall, as though despite my efforts to keep her out of my head, I couldn’t help but know where she was at all times.
She was smiling at something a lady was telling her when she suddenly went still, her gaze rising to meet Elias, who’d just moved in front of her, his hand outstretched, an intimate, confident smile on his lips.
An uncontrollable dark rage rose within me, and my world narrowed until I could pick out Elias and Raven’s voices in the crowd as though they were next to me.
“Shouldn’t you be dancing with Ivy?”
“I only want you,” Elias took another step towards Raven, his tone ardent, uncaring of the fact that his fiancée, Ivy, stood several feet away, a bitter, vindictive look on her face as she watched them. “I know you, Raven. You were crazy about me. There’s no way you got over me so easily.”
I couldn’t read the look on Raven’s face.
“I’m engaged to your uncle.”
Elias took her hand in his, his gaze burning with earnestness.
“You were engaged to me first.”
At that moment, it didn’t matter that Sinclair was next to me, trying to get my attention, and that Elias was my only family left. All I could see was his hand on hers. I lost myself in an incandescent blaze of fury, stalking towards them only to feel a grip on my forearm forcing me to a stop.
“It’s been a while, Blackwell.”
I looked at the hand on my arm to the face of the only person who was audacious enough to attempt to reach me when I was in a rage, the alpha of the Sky Pack, my former brother-in-law.
“Matthew,” I said, corralling my sanity with difficulty. “You didn’t respond to my requests for a meeting.”
Alpha Matt let go of my arm, moving to stand next to me.
“I’ve been busy, as have you.” His gaze followed mine to Raven and Elias, his lips twisting into a dry, sardonic smile. “Your fiancée is stunning. Congratulations on finally having an heir.”
I didn’t respond, so naturally, he kept pushing.
“Rielle would have been happy for you.”
My hands twitched at my sides, and I took my gaze off Raven to meet his.
“No, she wouldn’t.”
Alpha Matt’s laughter was a dark, lonely sound.
“Rielle wouldn’t,” he agreed, his eyes holding a glint of an emotion that was as strong as it was bitter. “I wish you the best of luck in averting the war, old friend. Wouldn’t want to break up your perfect new family.”
My muscles tensed, my wolf rising to the surface.
“Is that a threat?”
The sides of Alpha Matt’s lips twitched, but he merely inclined his head in acknowledgement, his gaze focused somewhere behind me before walking off. I followed his gaze to where Raven stood a step behind me, an unreadable expression on her face.
Angry. Violent. Enraged.
Any of those words properly encapsulated how I felt any time Rielle’s name was mentioned.
“Sad,” Raven finished hesitantly, her eyes soft as she took my hand in hers.
“You don’t have to tell me anything, but I just wanted you to know I’m here for you.”
I ripped my hand out of her hold, enraged by how much I wanted to open up to her.
“I’ll say this just once, Raven. Mind your damn business. This relationship is just an act. You aren’t really my fiancée, so don’t you dare try to insert yourself into my personal affairs!”
My wolf howled at the hurt look on Raven’s face, but I pushed him down and away as I met her gaze dispassionately.
“Rielle is and will always remain none of your business.”