18. Honour and Vengeance #2
All heat and desire had drained from my body. I instantly leapt off my bed, pulled up my pants, and wrapped a night robe around my body, then knocked at the door to Leif’s room.
The sobbing sound stopped, but no one answered, as if he hoped I would just go away if he pretended he wasn’t there.
Usually, I would still be training with Sigurd and Thyra at this hour, so Leif might not have expected me to be here. But why was he crying?
Did ... did something happen when he was with Allan Eclipse?
Leif had been happy these past few days.
His whole being was glowing, and since I’d known of Allan’s existence, Leif couldn’t stop talking about the alpha.
How Allan was so knowledgeable about everything, how they read the same books, how he was so insightful about some philosophical topics.
Honestly, I didn’t retain any of those details.
But seeing Leif so happy, my initial wariness had begun to ebb.
Did I let my guard down too soon?
“Leif, open the door,” I said.
“I’m sleeping!” he said, failing to hide the nasal sound from crying.
“Open the door, or I’ll kick it in,” I insisted, anxiety frying my nerves.
After a few seconds, the door was unlocked. I pushed into the room and saw Leif turning away from me, making his way back to bed. His head hung low, and I couldn’t see his face clearly.
“Leif, what happened?” I approached him gingerly, fearing to startle him further.
Leif sat on the bed with his back still turned. I sat next to him, noticing he turned slightly to the left, as though trying to shield my gaze from his left side.
“Leif, look at me,” I demanded, placing a hand on his shoulder. He was trembling.
Something was very, very wrong. I grabbed his shoulder and turned him toward me, and I saw it.
A tooth mark, or an unsuccessful bite mark, glared on his neck, slightly off from the scent gland. It wasn’t as deep and swollen as the one Damien had left on me, but the scratch was still pink and slightly raised, eye-catching against his alabaster skin.
Even more glaring than the bite mark, I saw that Leif’s left cheek was slightly swollen, too. Someone had hit him.
I stared at him, my stomach churned with dread.
Someone tried to mark Leif against his will; it was as bad as trying to rape him.
Even if the mark wouldn’t develop into a mating mark, it would still take a day or two to wear off, and the humiliation and violation, to both body and mind, would haunt his mind even longer.
I had failed to protect him.
“Who did this?” I asked. All I could think was that I was going to kill the bastard. “Was it Allan Eclipse?”
“He said he wanted to mark me, and I said it was too soon. He pretended to agree to it, and when we were ... when ...” Leif tried to contain the tears, but they poured out anyway.
“He tried to hold me down and mark me by force, but I got away. I kicked him ... He got angry and ...” He gestured at his reddened left cheek.
I pulled Leif into my arms, held him tight, and gently patted his back. As though the last line of defence had crumpled, Leif finally let it go and cried into my shoulder. His hot tears soaked my robe and drenched my heart in seething rage.
“It’s okay. It’ll fade. It’s not even on the scent gland,” I muttered when his crying began to quiet down. “Did you kick him in the nuts?”
That elicited a tearful chuckle from my brother, which sounded more like a hiccup. He nodded, though his forehead never left my shoulder.
“Good, served him right,” I said darkly.
“I thought he was good, you know. He has been so gentle and polite with me ... I thought he was different. That he respected me. I was so stupid.”
“All alphas are the same, and I say this because I am one.” I sighed. “It’s not your fault, Leif. Alphas can be deceptive if it serves our goal ...” Not to mention Allan was Lovel’s brother. I was sure this was their plan all along.
From Lovel’s perspective, Leif was the only thing standing between him and Damien. However, if another alpha marked Leif, Leif would become “tarnished” and “undesirable” in the eyes of the Nocturne court, and therefore could no longer be chosen as Damien’s mate.
Somewhere in my mind, I had suspected this, but having seen Leif so happy, I let it go and told myself that perhaps Allan was indeed a decent alpha, and perhaps I was too paranoid, seeing the worst in all the southern clans.
I was also too distracted by the thing I had with Damien and ... I failed to keep a closer eye on those scheming fuckers from Eclipse. I had let my personal pathetic fantasy come before the wellness of my brother. For that, I would never forgive myself.
While Leif slowly calmed down in my arms, I silently made a vow to the Great Wolf.
I would make Allan Eclipse pay in blood.
I visited the stadium the next day. It was an imposing structure, chiselled from black basalt, sitting proudly atop Mount Durgan, northeast of Erevos.
The heavy walls and sturdy columns had weathered centuries of storms, and the dark stone sucked all the light in, looking grim and solemn even under the afternoon sun.
The stadium was bustling with servants and guards today, busied with preparations for The Games. I left my horse with a groom, found my way in, and a guard pointed to the royal chamberlain’s temporary office. However, I didn’t find Graham there, only Johnathan.
He was sitting behind the desk, perusing some document, and didn’t notice my presence, or at least it appeared that way. I leaned on the doorframe, arms crossed, asking, “You are also in charge of The Games?”
Johnathan looked up, and after a brief moment of surprise, he smiled and said self-deprecatingly, “Yes. I’m known for my excellent logistical and diplomatic skills. What else would you expect from a male beta, anyway?”
“You are excellent in a lot of other aspects, except for darts, maybe,” I quipped.
Johnathan chuckled. “Maybe I pretended to be bad at it so you could win the prize for me.”
“Really?!” I gawked at him.
“I’m just messing with you, I’m a total garbage at darts.” Johnathan grinned, standing up and walking up to me. “Why are you here? I thought you weren’t participating in The Games?”
“Actually ... I know it’s a little late, but I want to put my name in,” I said.
Johnathan frowned in concern, saying, “Why? Isn’t it a little ... unsafe?” He glanced at my neck.
Johnathan had never really seen the mark Damien left on me, but the fact that he had guessed it was there still gave me chills.
“I have my own reasons,” I insisted.
Johnathan studied my face closely, as though trying to read my thoughts through every nuance of my expression. Eventually, he sighed and said, “Is this because of Leif?”
I blinked, horrified. How the fuck did he know? Could he really read minds?
“I told you to beware of Allan Eclipse. He’s been telling everyone how he marked Leif since last night.
Everyone in the palace probably heard about it by now,” Johnathan said regretfully.
“I’m sorry ... They must be using this to ruin Leif’s reputation.
Did he actually…” He didn’t finish his sentence, but the meaning was obvious.
“No, it was just a temporary bite. It’s already healing,” I said through gritted teeth. My hands balled into fists, so tight that my nails were digging into my palms.
Allan Eclipse ... I had to kill the bastard! And the only way I could do it without starting a war between Eclipse and Winterthrope was to do it in The Games.
Hearing that Leif wasn’t really marked, Johnathan exhaled in relief. “Then once Leif shows up in public without any mark, the rumour will stop, I’m sure.”
“He still tried to force him, though. And now he tries to tarnish his honour,” I said in a calm but icy tone. Every muscle in my body was taut with tension, ready to break someone’s skull. “Put my name in there, John. I have to settle this.”
Johnathan studied me for a prolonged moment, then shook his head and said, “I’m afraid I can’t allow you to do this, Fenris.
It’s too risky. I know how furious you are, and I would have wanted to do the same if anyone had harmed my family.
But if you are exposed, it could affect Damien as well.
I don’t want to see either of you get hurt because of this. ”
I half expected this. Johnathan was Damien’s companion. He had to put his prince’s welfare first.
“I’ll make Allan Eclipse pay, Johnathan, whether you enter me in The Games or not,” I said with a cold scowl. “At least in The Games, it is a legitimate reason, and no clans would go to war over this.”
He frowned. I could almost hear his thoughts churning, weighing pros and cons.
“I’ll be careful, and I swear to the Great Wolf and my honour that, if anything happens, I’ll make sure Damien stays out of it,” I said solemnly, hesitating for a moment, before adding in a softer tone, “I don’t want any harm to come to Damien, either.”
Johnathan sighed in resignation, knowing I wouldn’t back down.
“Are you sure?”
“Very.”
“Okay,” Johnathan said, looking worried. He placed a hand on my left arm and said softly, “Just ... be careful, okay?”
To prepare for The Games, I had to work on my wolf form’s agility and strength as much as my human form. I decided to use the Wolf Run at four in the morning, when all werewolves were asleep, so no one would see the mating mark when I shifted.
I had just finished running the longest trial courses, with various pitfalls and obstacles, for the third time, when I smelled Damien’s scent, followed by his sonorous voice.
“What were you thinking?! Why did you enroll yourself in The Games?!”