Chapter 6
RAANA
The late-summer sun was a brutal kiss to Raana’s skin, even within the confines of the vehicle rumbling over the sandstone streets of Io’s Imperial City.
She bit down on her tongue to keep her nausea at bay.
Not only was the ride uneasy—not only was the unrelenting heat made worse by the two massive bodies at her sides—but the prospect of what awaited her at the end of this journey made keeping down her breakfast feel impossible.
Because before she was to inspect the wall in Callisto, Imperial Alpha Cassius wanted an audience with her.
A surprise to both her and Adrien as they gathered themselves after her cottage at one of the royal family’s estates within the mountains.
Winslow, the Imperial Alpha’s liaison, had intercepted them just as they were about to leave with the order and “suitable attire for their guest.” And despite Adrien’s vehement protests, Raana found herself here, swathed in a simple dress fit for a citizen of this kingdom, heading for her potential doom.
She wrinkled her nose as she met the prince’s gaze in the mirror for the umpteenth time in the thirty minutes they’d been traveling. Amusement and concern shone in his eyes before she dragged her gaze away from him, sitting in the car’s passenger seat, to Winslow, driving them at his side.
The fact that the liaison had been the one behind the steering wheel appeared to be a shock to both the prince and the guards.
Their questioning comments to him regarding his driving received an excuse Raana took as bullshit, given the amusement on Adrien’s face.
One glance of his back told her she may have been the reason for the unusual setup.
Something that was confirmed when Winslow met her stare in the mirror and stiffened, his sun-tanned skin blanching.
Afraid. He was afraid of her. She didn’t know if he could shift, but regardless, he had much over her in size.
A sweeping breeze carried the scent of fresh bread and salt, and the sounds of cawing gulls.
Raana watched the people carrying their wares in wicker baskets as they hustled by shops draped and painted in vibrant colors, beyond the motif of burgundy and gold she’d seen almost everywhere.
The guards at her side had tensed as if they knew what would follow.
It had been an initial proposal that she and Adrien travel in separate cars to dispel any swirling rumors if the Crowned Prince were spotted with a mystery woman.
But the suggestion was met by protest from them both, most fervently by Adrien.
She wouldn’t be leaving his side, and anyone who had a problem with that could fuck right off—not his exact words, but it was something to that effect.
Now, she was trapped in this vehicle bearing a crest of a wolf, a crown, the sun, and the moon… a clear symbol of the royal entourage.
And everyone took notice.
The ruckus built steadily, in time with her nausea.
One person noticed their car, saw the prince, then another, and another.
Whispers became shouts, hands shot in the air, heads were bowed, baskets dropped, and then the preening began, daughters tugged by mothers and fathers into the car’s vantage. Into Adrien’s vantage.
With a twist of her gut—as Adrien lifted his hand to his citizens, that heart-fluttering grin across his face—Raana remembered the prince’s love life was a spectacle. He needed to find his mate, his one true match, and that someone did exist out there. A woman who’d literally been made for him.
He’d had a lover before, she remembered.
More a wife than a soul-bound partner, but he still regarded her as his mate.
He wouldn’t talk much about her to Raana, but she’d known losing her had been the reason for him needing to be healed by Helene.
Severing the bond between wolves tore them apart at their foundations.
Raana didn’t want to watch much more of the fawning, and her chest had begun to feel tight as the crowd multiplied.
People converged on them in a way she wasn’t quite used to, as they had in Deimos, and even then, she’d needed to bear down and fight through it.
So, she directed her gaze elsewhere, to the palm trees swaying in the balmy breeze, to the distant gates that stretched high, their golden tops nearly blinding in the blaring sunshine, and the gargantuan building behind them. That had to be the Pack Hall.
Raana blinked wide as she took it in. It was a palace, really.
A monstrous feat of marble and stone, columns and archways, gold and burgundy in billowing flags and drapes.
More citizens had been camped out beside those gates, waiting for them, for any one of the royal line, maybe.
Some held cameras, already snapping the bulky contraptions, replacing flashbulbs as they approached, with notepads in their hands.
Raana jerked, feeling warmth against the bare skin of her leg, just below her knee, enough to make her breath hitch and become shallow. Her body had chilled, and darkness crept into the corners of her vision. She’d been creating indents in her palms, too, from how hard she was clenching her fists.
She lowered her gaze, then followed the fingers caressing her skin to their source.
But Adrien hadn’t turned to look at her; he wouldn’t even meet her eyes in the mirror.
He was still focused outside on his people, waving and pretending he wasn’t doing anything at all.
He must’ve sensed her panic, the writhing of her magic.
She couldn’t settle or return the touch in thanks, though, sensing another set of eyes on her, from within the car.
She didn’t need to turn to the female guard on her right to know she’d noticed the prince reach back while everyone else was preoccupied scanning their surroundings.
And she didn’t need to turn to know her gaze was filled with both curiosity and disapproval.
Raana gave her leg a subtle shake, hinting at Adrien to remove his hand.
She didn’t meet his eyes in the mirror.
Inside, the Pack Hall was everything Raana had expected.
High ceilings that echoed their footsteps and their very breath, the alabaster interiors splashed with deep reds and golden yellows, gilded at every opportunity.
Only Winslow’s assistant, a young woman named Ravona, Adrien, and the female guard, whom she now knew was named Sandrine, had escorted her to the second floor.
Any ease of nausea she’d been granted upon exiting the car was long gone. She began picking mercilessly at her nails, not caring at all about the skin she peeled away. Her heart hammered, and despite Adrien now walking at her side, his arm a reassuring brush against hers, it couldn’t be alleviated.
She didn’t understand.
She’d been in much scarier places than this opulent establishment—within the depths of mountains, in the bowels of cursed woodlands, on hallowed ground known for its vengeful ghosts—but she’d never felt on edge like this before.
And it wasn’t, she knew deep in her bones, the prospect of speaking to Adrien’s father that had her feeling like this, even if the thought of the highest King of Wolves was intimidating as all hell.
Raana had noticed when she’d been within wolf territory weeks ago, had sensed it while walking the mountains, and she’d sensed it with every step now.
The shadows were different here, in the way they moved, the way they felt, and how they seemed cautious of her.
And yet, there was something here in this hall, in this path they walked, something that stirred the darkness and had it whispering to her in vague tongues.
Not wanting to protect her, not wanting her to wield them as a weapon, but wanting her to… see.
“What’s wrong?”
Raana jumped as the words warmed the shell of her ear, and she felt Adrien’s hand wrap around hers.
Damn it all to hell, she supposed. Whatever way she was behaving must’ve been bad if their ruse of not giving a shit about each other had completely collapsed.
Adrien slowed their steps, and neither Ravona nor Sandrine questioned them as they fell behind.
She missed his heat when he dropped her hand.
“I don’t know.” She could’ve easily said nothing, but it felt like lying would land her in deeper shit.
“I can stall him and give you a minute,” Adrien said. “It shouldn’t kill him to talk to his son for a while.”
Raana’s mouth lifted a bit at the quip. After the quickness of the morning, settling for even a moment didn’t sound so bad, but… “No, I’m fine. I just needed to catch my breath.”
“Are you sure?”
She forced a wider smile, her yes. “Stop worrying so much. People might start to think you like me.”
Adrien laughed through his nose. “Goddess forbid.”
By the time they moved, Ravona and Sandrine already stood before their destination—one of the many rooms in this hall—and remained there as Raana and Adrien stepped inside.
Raana had looked a crawler dead in the eye and killed it.
She had held a woman’s life in her hands, healing her while the man who loved her more, it seemed, than the world itself watched.
She, herself, was a monster unlike any in this world, crafted by shadows and the darkest of things, with little knowledge of the true extent of her power.
But the Imperial Alpha scared her shitless. Because unlike everything else that she knew would kill her, knew how they would kill her, he was entirely unpredictable.
Even with Adrien at her side, Raana felt herself shudder beneath the Alpha’s attention.
Cassius’s eyes were dark, such a deep brown that they seemed black, nothing like the golden green hue of Adrien’s.
His features were harsher, too. Finer lines etched by his brow, his mouth, likely due to too much scowling.
He was still handsome, in a terrifying way.
She figured Adrien would look the same in thirty years, though, hopefully… kinder.