Chapter 4

Weston

The preliminary report should have been impossible.

I stood inside the small antechamber adjoining Blackridge’s Council hall, reading the same paragraph for the third time.

The doctor had worked quickly. Too quickly for certainty, according to the first line. Not quickly enough to make the rest any less disturbing.

Blood sample demonstrates abnormal resistance to silver. Preliminary comparison indicates possible markers associated with extinct lunar bloodlines. Further testing required. Primordial ancestry cannot be confirmed or excluded.

Those words should have made me feel better.

They didn’t.

Dominic closed the door behind him. “Well?”

I folded the report. “How much did the doctor tell you?”

He sighed. “He contacted the royal archive after we left the clinic. There are records of similar blood reactions.”

“How many?”

“Three.”

I looked at him.

“In nearly four hundred years,” he added.

Nox went still beneath my skin.

“And all three were Primordials?”

“Descendants,” Dominic corrected. “Or suspected descendants. The records are incomplete.”

The restricted archives stated that Primordial blood had been considered dangerous, yet coveted. Entire families had disappeared because powerful Alphas wanted what ran through their veins.

I looked again at the folded report.

“What happens if the Council learns?” Dominic asked quietly.

“They won’t.”

Rumors traveled faster than armies.

One whisper that Alexandra Delacroix carried Primordial blood, and every Alpha with ambition would suddenly become very interested in the lost Lunar Crest heiress.

Some would want an alliance. Some would want her power. Some would decide she was too dangerous to be allowed to exist.

Nox pressed against my chest.

Take her home.

Soon.

Now.

I slipped the folded report inside my coat.

“Add two more royal guards outside Alexandra’s room.”

His mouth twitched. “Planning to station the entire royal army outside her bedroom?”

“If necessary.”

Dominic did not bother arguing.

The Council doors opened.

The Elder stood on the other side. “Prince Weston.” His gaze shifted briefly toward Dominic before returning to me. “The Council is ready.”

I nodded and followed him inside.

The Council chamber was filled with restless tension.

Twelve Alphas circled the long oak table, their Betas standing behind them while the Elder occupied the seat at its head. Some watched me with measured curiosity. Others made no effort to hide their hostility.

My father sat apart from the Council members. As Alpha King, he would oversee the proceedings but would not vote unless the Council reached an impasse.

Darius Thorne sat opposite me. Callahan was beside him. His eyes found me the moment I entered. I ignored him and took my seat.

The Elder cleared his throat, and the low conversations died.

“The first matter concerns Blackridge’s existing neutrality agreements and defense treaties. With the transfer of Alpha authority from Darius Thorne to Callahan Thorne, several agreements are now eligible for renewal or withdrawal.”

That was why most of us had been summoned to Blackridge in the first place.

My father had entered Mooncrest into a neutrality pact with Darius years ago. He had regretted it long before I became Alpha.

So had I.

I had never liked the way Darius ruled. Too many territorial disputes. Too many defeated packs stripped of everything after supposedly legal challenges. Too many stories of wolves disappearing beneath the excuse of conquest.

The pact had kept Mooncrest out of Blackridge affairs. Callahan’s ascension gave me the first clean opportunity to end it. Tonight had merely removed whatever doubt remained.

The Elder continued. “Several Alphas have also requested immediate reconsideration following the events of this evening.”

Darius leaned back in his chair. “Tonight’s spectacle,” he muttered.

My jaw tightened.

The Elder turned toward me. “We are awaiting your decision, Prince Weston.”

“Alpha Weston,” I corrected.

A few heads turned.

“Tonight, I’m here representing Mooncrest.”

The Elder inclined his head. “Of course. Alpha Weston.”

I stood. Every eye in the chamber shifted toward me. They knew what my decision meant.

Mooncrest was one of the largest packs under the Crown. Losing our support would not destroy Blackridge, but it would leave Darius without one of his most valuable political shields.

“Nay.”

The word carried through the chamber. Several Alphas exchanged glances.

I placed both hands on the table. “Mooncrest will not renew its neutrality pact with Blackridge.”

Murmurs broke out around me.

Darius’s mouth twisted. “You’d abandon years of diplomacy over personal feelings?”

“Personal feelings?” I gave him a look. “I intended to end the pact before I arrived.”

Darius gave a short laugh. “How convenient. You discovered a mate, and suddenly you expect everyone here to believe this has nothing to do with her?”

Callahan’s head snapped toward his father.

“This has nothing to do with who the Moon Goddess decided to bind me to.”

Darius scoffed. “It has everything to do with what I witnessed tonight.”

Silence settled over the table.

“A woman stood in your grand hall bruised, bleeding, and half-starved. Your physician later confirmed a fractured rib, untreated injuries, and years of nutritional deficiency.”

Darius’s expression tightened.

“And she had lived beneath your roof for seven years.”

I let that settle between us.

“So no, Darius. Alexandra is not the reason I refuse to ally Mooncrest with Blackridge.” I met his eyes. “She is the reason I no longer have to wonder whether the stories about this pack were true.”

Darius shook his head. “Oh, please. And you’re suddenly the righteous one?” His gaze swept around the table. “Everyone here knows a certain young lady has been expected to become your Luna for years.” He smiled. “Yet one new woman falls into your arms, and suddenly years of expectations mean nothing.”

Nox growled beneath my skin.

I kept my expression neutral. “What happens between her and me has nothing to do with what happened to Alexandra under your roof.”

“Doesn’t it?”

“No.” I stepped away from my chair. “Alexandra is not a possession. She is not a prize I won, and I am not asking anyone in this room to support her because she is my mate.” I looked around the table. “I am asking you to acknowledge what Blackridge did because it was wrong.”

“But Blackridge’s claim over Lunar Crest was legal,” Alpha Nathan protested.

I turned toward him. “Darius challenged Lucien Delacroix, then seized Lunar Crest territory and slaughtered innocents who could have survived as rogues. He found Lucien’s daughter in the ruins and kept her here, in Blackridge, for seven years. She was starved, beaten, denied proper medical treatment, and forced into servitude while the world believed the Delacroix family was dead.”

Darius opened his mouth but could not speak.

I turned toward Callahan. The newly crowned Alpha had barely moved throughout the exchange.

“And you,” I said. “You knew she was your mate. You saw how she was treated. And still, when everyone was watching…” I paused. “…you chose to reject her.”

A chair scraped across the floor.

Alpha Brandon stood. “Mooncliff will not renew its neutrality agreement with Blackridge.”

Darius turned toward him. “Brandon.”

“My decision is made.”

Another chair moved. Alpha Zachary rose. “Hollow Creek will not renew either.”

Darius’s face darkened. “You’ve both lost your minds.”

Alpha Elias exchanged a glance with his Beta before speaking. “Stormhaven will suspend its defense agreement with Blackridge until the royal investigation is concluded.”

That caused a louder reaction. Two other Alphas immediately requested that their own agreements be placed under formal review.

Not everyone withdrew. Several remained silent. Others clearly wanted more evidence. But the room had changed.

Blackridge had entered the Council protected by years of treaties. Now those treaties were beginning to crack.

Darius looked across the table at me. “You! You planned this! You are destroying Blackridge over the word of one girl.”

Something inside me went very still. “No.” My voice carried through the chamber. “Your family began destroying Blackridge seven years ago.”

His expression darkened.

“Alexandra simply survived long enough for everyone else to see it.”

Darius went motionless.

Then I felt it.

Fear.

It slammed into me so suddenly that my breath stopped.

Nox went completely silent. Mate.

My chair crashed backward.

Dominic caught my arm. “Weston?”

“Alexandra.”

I was already moving.

I shoved through the Council doors and thundered down the corridor. Behind me, chairs scraped and voices rose. I barely heard them. The world narrowed to a single thought.

Someone had reached her.

And all that mattered was getting to her.

I tore up the stairs toward the royal suite.

Four guards stood outside the door.

“Where is she?”

They looked at one another. “Inside, Alpha.”

I shoved through the doors.

One of the maids stood beside the empty bed, white-faced. The other was pulling frantically at a narrow door set into the far wall.

“What happened?”

“Lady Hailey came through the servants’ passage,” she gasped. “We tried to stop her, but she locked the door behind them—”

Nox roared.

I crossed the room and hit the door. Wood splintered around the lock.

“Follow me,” I ordered the guards.

Then I caught Alexandra’s scent. Mint and wildflowers, twisted now with the sharp bitterness of fear.

I followed it into the narrow corridor. Voices reached me before I reached the stairs.

Hailey was screaming. “…you don’t deserve Weston Kingsley!”

I ran faster.

“You ruined Cal! You humiliated my family!”

Another turn.

“And now the Council is turning against Blackridge because of you!”

I rounded the corner.

Alexandra was pinned against the railing. Hailey had one fist twisted into the uneven remains of her hair, forcing her backward. Alex gripped the railing with one hand, the other pressed against her injured ribs.

“Let go of me,” Alexandra breathed.

Hailey jerked her head back harder.

“You think being a Delacroix changes what you are? You’re still trash. You don’t deserve to be a Luna. You don’t even deserve a mate!”

Something vicious tore through me. “Get the fuck away from my mate!” I roared.

Her head snapped toward me. For one second, her face went completely blank. Then panic replaced the rage. She released Alexandra’s hair—and shoved her. 

Alexandra stumbled backward. Her hip struck the railing.

“Alex!”

She went over.

Nox roared.

I threw myself toward the railing, reaching for her.

Too far.

I was too far away.