The moon was a jagged shard of silver hanging over the Lycan capital, but inside the royal chambers, the air was stagnant, heavy with a premonition that made the skin crawl. Selene lay sprawled across the expansive silk sheets of the King's bed, her silver hair fanned out like a spilled star.
A long, shaky sigh escaped her lips, vibrating in the hollow of her throat. Her stomach was a coil of cold anxiety; she could feel the threads of fate tightening around the palace, a gathering storm of redirected malice that she wasn't sure her divinity could contain.
"King Leo Axe Moon! Where the hell are you!"
The voice was a shrill, piercing clarion call that shattered the heavy silence of the hallway. It was the sound of old money, ancient blood, and a temper that had never been told 'no.'
Beside the bed, Leo, who had been standing by the window staring into the dark treeline, let out a sound that was half-sigh, half-growl. He looked at the door with an expression of profound, weary frustration- the look of a man who would rather face twenty thousand MoonShine warriors than the person currently screeching his name.
"In here, Kristie," he called out, poking his head into the corridor. His voice was a low warning, the rumble of a volcano before the eruption.
The sound of heels followed- sharp, rhythmic staccato strikes against the polished marble that sounded like gunfire. A tall Lycan woman waltzed into the bedroom, her presence demanding, arrogant, and sharp-edged. She didn't possess the ethereal, world-shifting aura of Selene, nor the crushing, gravitational weight of Leo, but she carried the authority of a bloodline that had ruled for centuries. Her dark brown hair was cut in a blunt, severe bob that ended just beneath her chin, framing a face that was beautiful in a cold, predatory way. Her brown eyes were currently twin pits of molten ire as they locked onto Selene.
"So you share a bed with her too!" Kristie sneered, her lip curling in a display of aristocratic disgust. She swept her gaze over the room, the designer silks of her outfit rustling with every jagged movement. "How could you do this to the kingdom, Axe? King Spear would be rolling in his ancestral grave if he saw the state of his son!"
Selene sat up slowly, scringing her nose at the woman. Kristie radiated power, yes, but it was a brittle, superficial thing compared to the raw magic Selene had been summoning in the garden. She looked like a woman who viewed the world as a series of mirrors, and right now, Selene was a smudge on her reflection.
"It's my decision, Kristie, not yours!" Leo growled, his frame blocking the woman's path to the bed. "And you will lower your voice in these chambers."
"Well, maybe I should challenge you for the right to rule!" Kristie screeched, her hands clenched into fists. "Someone has to be Queen, and it certainly shouldn't be this... this evil she-wolf! I would make the kingdom prosper while you're busy letting it burn. You obviously don't care about our people anymore! She is going to be the doom of us, and you're just handing her the matches!"
"Kristie," Leo started, his voice dropping into a lethal, low register, his Lycan eyes flickering with a warning glow.
"No, Axe, listen to me for once!" she shouted over him. "King Spear warned us about her kind. You remember the prophecy and you simply don't care! The kingdom is going to be in shambles because you decided that sleeping with the enemy was a thrilling little hobby!"
"Kristie. To my office. Now."
Leo didn't raise his voice, but the command was backed by the Alpha's Will. It was a physical pressure that made the air in the room hum.
Kristie let out a frustrated huff, turning on her heel and slamming the door behind her with enough force to rattle the paintings on the walls. The clinking of her heels faded down the hall like a receding storm.
Selene shifted on the bed, her head pounding with a sudden, sharp ache. "Who the hell is that?" she questioned, her voice tight. "An ex-lover? A jilted bride? Because if she's someone who can sway you, Leo, I'd like to know now before I unpack any more bags."
Leo let out a long, ragged sigh, his hand rubbing down his face in a gesture of pure exhaustion. He looked at Selene, his eyes softening with a mix of apology and affection. "That," he muttered, "is my sister."
The atmosphere in the King's office was even more suffocating than the bedroom. Leo sat in his high-backed leather chair, but he didn't stay there for long. He reached out and pulled Selene down onto his lap, his large hands anchoring her to him as if he feared she might vanish if he let go. Selene blushed a vivid, heated crimson. Despite everything they had shared, the open display of affection in front of his sharp-tongued family made her heart do a nervous flutter.
"So you brought her here too," Kristie sneered from across the desk. She was pacing the rug like a caged panther, her eyes fixed on Selene with a hatred that felt ancient. "You've really lost your mind, haven't you?"
"Be happy she's here, Kristie," Leo warned, his voice like grinding stones. "Because if she wasn't, I'm afraid of what I'd do to you for that performance in the hallway. You're testing the limits of our blood."
Kristie scoffed, tossing her head back. "You wouldn't dare hurt me. I'm the last piece of family you have left in this world. I'm the only one who remembers our father's face."
Leo's grip on Selene's waist tightened, his body becoming a pillar of unyielding muscle. He knew his sister was persistent- a trait she had inherited from a line of conquerors, and he knew she was dangerous because she truly believed she was doing the right thing.
Selene, sensing the mounting tension and the way Leo's Lycan was clawing at the surface, reached up and ran her fingers through the thick, dark hair at the nape of his neck. She leaned into him, her scent of lilies and starlight acting as a psychic anchor. Slowly, the rigidity in his spine began to melt.
"That's not exactly true, is it, Kristie?" Leo grumbled, his eyes narrowing.
"What's that supposed to mean, Axe? You'd kill your own flesh and blood for her?" Kristie gasped, her hand going to her throat in a theatrical display of shock.
"I mean," Leo said, his voice turning cold and clear, "that Selene is my family. She is my mate, my Luna, and my Queen. And I would kill anyone- anyone- who got in the way of my love for her. Blood or not."
Selene felt her heart swell, a warmth spreading through her chest that momentarily drowned out the anxiety. The declaration was brutal, yes, but in the world of the Lycans, it was the highest form of devotion.
"She's not truly family, Axe," Kristie argued, her voice dropping to a desperate plea. "You can still pick a Chosen Mate. A Lycan of high standing. Someone who understands our laws. Don't do this to the kingdom, to all of werewolf kind. You're smarter than this obsession."
"As I've told father, and as I've told the Council," Leo said, gazing deeply into Selene's eyes, ignoring his sister entirely for a moment. "I am never picking a chosen mate. I will always choose Selene. In every lifetime, in every world, before she was even born- it has always been her. And Kristie? You're just going to have to trust me. Selene will not be the death of our kind as long as she's by my side."
Kristie narrowed her eyes, her gaze flicking between the two of them. "I trust you, Axe. I have to. You're the King. But I don't trust her."
Selene shrugged, her voice calm and surprisingly light. "We don't have to be friends, Kristie. I'm not here for your approval. All I ask is that you don't burden your brother with your petty nonsense. He has a war to plan and a kingdom to lead; he gets enough headaches without you adding to them."
"I'll do what I want, Mutt," Kristie spat, the word dripping with venom.
The air in the room suddenly ionized. Leo didn't just move; he exploded. In a blur of predatory speed, he leapt from the chair, placing Selene gently on the edge of the desk before his hand closed around Kristie's throat. He slammed her back against the stone wall with a thud that echoed through the entire wing.
"You will not call her names," Leo roared, his voice the sound of a god's wrath. He lifted her slightly off the floor, his grip tightening. "You will treat her with respect. You will bow when she enters the room. Remember who has the authority here, Kristie. Even the Seven, who serve this throne, have more authority than you. You are a guest in this house, and guests can be removed."