Chapter 5
Valarie
We arrived just before sunset, to torches blazing in a courtyard filled with high-end cars, both antique and modern.
The Autumn Pack’s Lexus held its own with delicate gold leaf details and tinted windows that I tried not to look out of in awe.
Instead, I sat up perfectly straight, staring at Sophia as the princess composed herself.
We were the second to last car to arrive, and it didn’t take long for the twelfth and final car to trundle into the yard. At this, a messenger ran quickly up the steps of the palace and slipped through the door.
Inside the Lexus, Sophia and I couldn’t hear what was being announced. But the driver opened the door and stepped back, making way for me to step out first. I always hated having to be the first one out.
I wore a simple mauve dress, cut square at the neck, showing off my collarbones. Head held low to show respect, I half-curtsied as Sophia stepped out of the car and was announced to the waiting royalty and the large crowds of people.
I had never been around so many other werewolves.
The Autumn Pack was small, only a few hundred people, and everyone knew each other by first and last name. I had known every single person we went to school and graduated with. But this—I glanced up and couldn’t see an end to the crowd where they wound out to the gate and beyond.
The wolf in me recognized the presence of countless alphas and betas, and it wanted to submit.
But I needed to focus on my own alpha—my princess, and a contender for the Alpha Queen, who needed my support.
Despite her poise, I knew Sophia was nervous. It was in the stiffness of how the princess held her chin and the slight clutch of her fingers on the deep green gown she wore.
She swept forward across the cobblestones with me close on her heels, and curtsied deep before Queen Raquel and King Gabriel.
Still mirroring Sophia’s curtsy as the royal family greeted them with quiet murmurs, I glanced up and saw King Gabriel for the first time.
He literally took my breath away. Everything in me shuddered to a stop.
Damn it, I thought, looking down again as I rose. The last thing I needed was to be caught off-guard with so many eyes on me and the princess.
But Gabriel stood only a few feet away and he emanated the ultimate Alpha presence.
He seemed cold, stoic, his skin beautifully pale and hair the color of golden hayfields. He towered above his mother and almost every other person in the courtyard with his feet braced shoulder-width apart and his hands clasped behind his back.
The wolf in me whimpered and tried to coax me down to the ground again, to simper at his feet. But I fought it and stood tight and tall next to Sophia as we all waited for the final princess—from the Hickory Pack—to be introduced.
Gabriel’s eyes swept across the twelve princesses and their retinues once more before he said, in a low voice, “I hope you will all be comfortable here.”
He took a step forward and turned, striding down the length of them with long, deliberate steps.
“We have provided a set of apartments for each of you and your attendants during your stay. If you should need anything at all, please ask any of my servants, whom you should find placed around the palace at your beck and call.”
I couldn’t help trembling at the sound of his voice and tried to keep my breathing even.
I glanced at Sophia, trying to see if she was having the same reaction to the King.
But maybe it had to do with the hierarchical standing—Sophia seemed perfectly at ease, though a little nervous at being watched by so many.
King Gabriel had turned when he reached the Yule princess and started back, pausing only steps away from us. He raised his chin and his voice as he addressed the crowd.
“I am aware that this year there is added pressure, as there has been talk of an uprising.”
This time, me and every other person standing before the King couldn’t help looking straight at him. Staring, in some cases.
His own mother was clearly struggling with some shock at his words, and her jaw tightened.
“I would like to clear the air. Although I have put off choosing a mate, it has only been because none of those in previous years have been fit to be my mate.”
His eyes swept the line of princesses and some of them, who had participated in the previous years, were clearly upset at this declaration. He might as well have told them to return to their territories right then.
Gabriel continued, “I am looking forward to the Hunt this year, and the chance to find my match. But understand: this will be the year I choose a mate. And if any utterance of an uprising should be heard among my people, or those who have traveled here for the festivities, rest assured that they will be dealt with swiftly. As your Alpha, I will not tolerate any disrespect.”
The crowd had grown completely silent, and the scent of submission filled the air. Most people seemed startled, but I noticed as I snuck quick looks around, that some were glancing to their neighbors.
It must be true then, I thought, surprised that word of a possible uprising hadn’t reached our pack.
Although we were the northernmost pack and the least visited by travelers, it was no secret that small groups were unhappy with King Gabriel.
I had heard my parents whisper on occasion that it was only a matter of time before he was deemed unfit to lead the territories.
Gabriel’s gaze swept one final time over the princesses, and he addressed them again in a calmer, quieter voice.
“There will be a dinner held to honor your arrival in two hours’ time. Servants throughout the castle will lead you to the Great Hall, if you are unfamiliar with it. Please let us know if there is anything at all you might need.”
Did I imagine it, or had there been a slight purr to those last few words?
He seemed to be extending an invitation to more than just the dinner, and with a look to my left, I noticed the Blue Pack’s ladies visibly respond to his voice.
They straightened and rolled their shoulders, lengthening their thighs by stretching to the balls of their feet. Just looking at their heavy-lidded eyes had my pulse thudding in anticipation.
I kept my own eyes off King Gabriel as he turned, offered Queen Raquel his arm, and headed back into the castle.
“Well, that was quite the greeting,” Sophia murmured, smoothing down her skirts as we waited for the princesses before us to be led through the doors and to their chambers.
The driver, Rufus, was unloading the car behind us. I watched him lift out my own small trunk and wondered what exactly should be worn to a formal dinner. I had never been to one before.
“Come on then, Valarie,” Sophia whispered excitedly, lifting her gown, and stepping purposefully up the steps. I stepped quickly to keep up. “We need to get ready, and I wouldn’t mind a bit of time to write to Mother and tell her all about the welcoming committee.”
Sophia flashed a quick grin as we turned a corner, following a small manservant down a high-ceilinged hallway toward our quarters.
We had taken two lefts, a right, and another left to end up in our wing. Already, I knew it would be impossible to keep the layout of this place straight.
The furnishings in the hallways were so simple that for a moment, I wondered if Sophia and I should be offended. It didn’t look like an apartment appropriate for visiting alphas, until the servant opened the doors and showed us into the rooms.
The entrance opened into a large sitting room complete with skylights, dappling the room with light, and shadows playing from trees overhead.
I stared up at the shifting leaves and tried to understand how leaves could be in the middle of a castle. I couldn’t remember seeing a forest anywhere near where they were.
But it was obvious that King Gabriel, or his household, had thought out the lodgings for the Autumn pack and our princess. We felt most at home in the forests, after all.
The room was painted in beautiful shades of green, with thick rugs underfoot in deep browns. The furniture was wood, simple but gorgeous, and as I ran my hand along a table, I wished with all my heart that my father could see it all.
I turned and gasped as I saw the far wall.
It was made up almost entirely of floor-to-ceiling windows, looking out onto a deliciously overgrown garden.
This is where the trees were.
I could make out, even in twilight, the ruby color of beebalm flowers and the thin stems of tiger lilies. A tingle went up my spine and I itched to run to the doors leading outside, to lope through the greenery and roll beneath the lush plants.
The servant was showing Sophia into another set of rooms now and I hurried to keep up, almost tripping over the hem of my dress. I huffed and tossed my unruly locks over my shoulder, already wishing for pants.
These rooms were clearly Sophia’s.
The bed was huge, luxurious, four-poster with opaque fabrics in golden hues obscuring the interior. Again, deep-colored, and simple wood furnishings surrounded us.
The two other servants that had accompanied us carried in Sophia’s luggage and went about unpacking carefully, opening a large armoire as Sophia asked questions and complimented the layout of the room.
“And for you,” another servant that I hadn’t seen gestured to me and walked quietly from the room, across the living space, and into a small but spacious apartment.
The bed was much smaller but no less fine. My bones ached to sink into the mattress and plush comforter.
I was pleased to see a set of doors in this room leading out into the garden as well, which meant I could sneak out as often as I liked without disturbing Sophia.
“Here.”
The servant showed me to a small, attached bathroom with a deep tub and simple décor.
It was more than anything I had ever dreamed for myself.
Our bathroom at home was small and cramped.
I felt my eyes begin to water as I took the space in, feeling tired suddenly, but Sophia calling snapped me out of it.
“Yes?” I called back, walking out into the living space.
The Alpha’s servants showed Sophia’s other servants out and apparently to the quarters they’d be sharing.
“We don’t have much time,” Sophia said, already undoing the tie at the small of her back. “Do you think I can manage a quick bath before dinner? My hair smells like the road.”
And so, we went about preparing, laughing, and scrambling with only the two of us to ready ourselves.
“Did you see the other princesses?” Sophia asked as she lay in the bath, her perky breasts peeking through the soapy water. I traced the curve of the princess’s body with my eyes before looking away.
“I did,” I replied, pulling a brush through my own hair that had somehow become tangled in the short time since our arrival.
“Some of them had as many as ten people in their revenue!” Sophia exclaimed, sitting up with a slosh of water and ringing her hair out.
“Well, they also have much bigger territories,” I supplied, rising to wander out into the main bedroom and find the dress Sophia insisted on wearing tonight.
The princess chattered away about her first impressions of the other territories, the castle, and Gabriel himself.
“Did you see those eyes?!” she exclaimed, toweling herself off without the least bit of embarrassment. Luckily, her room didn’t have the large windows to the garden, meaning no one would be able to catch a glimpse of the Autumn alpha’s bare body.
“No, I didn’t,” I answered truthfully, fretting now over what I should wear.
“They were like frost,” Sophia sighed, dropping back onto the bed with her arms spread. “Like the first fallen snow. Like a robin’s egg.”
“So, they were blue,” I deadpanned.
I sat at the edge of the bed and felt the mattress dip dangerously. Sophia shot up quickly.
“Not just any old blue,” she protested as I rolled my eyes.
“Do you think you can manage brushing out your own hair while I go and find something suitable to wear?” I asked, trying to keep the nervousness from my voice.
“I suppose so,” Sophia answered imperiously, falling back onto the mattress.
I sighed and stood, heading for my own room. It was only now starting to sink in that I would be here, without my family, in the judgement of strangers, for a little over a month.
What had I gotten myself into?