Chapter 2
I didn't sleep.
The guest room had a bed , a dresser, and a lock . I used the lock. It didn't make me feel safer. The howling moved through the walls like the house was breathing. At 3:17am., something scraped down the outside of my door. Long, slow, claws on wood.
At 6:00a.m., I gave up and opened the curtains.
Blackthorn Estate in daylight was worse. No gardeners, no cars , no people. Just forest pressing close on all sides and men patrolling the walls in the distance. Men who moved too fast and never quite walked right.
A knock. Once. Hard.
I opened the door. A man my age stood there with a tray. Blond, built, eyes that were more gold than brown. He didn't smile.
"Breakfast. Alpha says you should eat."
"Who are you?"
"Rook. Beta of Blackthorn pack." He set the tray on the dresser. Eggs, toast, fruits. Normal food. "You don't leave the east wing. You go outside. You don't talk to the pack members."
Kael already gave me the rules."
"These are mine. Because I'm the one who has to clean up your body when you break his." He looked at my neck . "You're bleeding."
I touched my collar, my nails had cut me in my sleep. One small scratch. Rook nostril flared. His jaw locked. "Cover that now."
"Why?"
"Because you smell like a prey and this house is full of predators." He tossed me a scarf from the dresser. "Alpha won't claim you. That makes you available, available human dont last here .
He left .
I ate because I was starving and scared. And scared people need energy. The scarf itched.
I found the kitchen by following the smell of coffee. It was industrial, huge , empty except for a woman with silver hair and arms bigger than my thighs. She was cutting meat lot of meat.
"You're here," she said without looking up.
"Karen."
"Margot . I cook ." She pointed the knife at a chair . "Sit . You look like you will faint."
i sat . "Where's everyone" I asked curiously..
"Patrol. Training, working. We're wolves girl , we don't do brunch ." She slid a plate over . More meat , rare , "Eat , you'll need blood in your system if you want to last a week."
"I'm a vegetarian."
margot barked a laugh. "Not anymore."
The kitchen door slammed open. Three women walked in. Young gorgeous, and they moved like the owned the air . The one in front had black hair and a scar through her eyebrow. She saw me and stopped. "Well ," she exclaimed. "It real , the human is real." Margot didn't look up. Vivian, kitchen closed."
Vivian ignored her. She came to my table leaned down, and inhaled near my neck . "God . You really are human. No wolf . No strength. No mark." She smiled, "what's Alpha going to do with a wife who can't even shift?"
"leave," I said.
Vivian eyes flashed. Actually flashed, gold to silver and back. "You don't give orders here, human. You don't even rank pups outrank you."
She's Alpha's wife," Margot said . That outrank you."
Wife?" Vivian laughed. "Where's your mark? Where's your bite? He hasn't touched you, he won't , because claiming you will kill you" she straightened. "You're a placeholder till he finds the real Luna.
she left , the other two followed.
Margot pushed the meat closer. "Eat, or they'll eat you."
I didn't eat.
I spent the day , mapping east wing. Six rooms , a library, a door that was locked with a chain and a padlock. The windows didn't open. The main door to the rest of the house was guarded by two men, who didn't blink as I approached them.
At sunset, the house changed. Energy moved through the stone. The howling started again, but now it was organized. A calll and an answer.
Kael found me in the library.
I didn't hear him come in. He was just there, leaning against tge doorframe, arms crossed, still shirtless. A fresh cut ran over his ribs.
"Rook says you talked to Vivian."
"she talked to me."
"she'll challenge you."
"let her."
He pushed off the door. You'd die in three seconds.
"then maybe you should mark me . Isn't that what Alpha's do?"
He crossed the room. He smelled like pine and blood and something electric. He stopped a foot away. Close enough that I have to tip my head back.
"You don't know what you're asking." He said . His voice was quiet. It made the hair on my arms stand up. "My bite will put venom in your blood. you'd either turn or die. Humans don't turn, Karen . They die screaming."
"Oh."
"yeah,Oh," he looked at my neck. At the scarf . "You're bleeding again."
"it's a scratch."
He reached up , i thought he'd touch the scarf. He didn't. His fingers stopped an inch from my skin. The air between us went hot.
"Your heart is going too fast ." He said. "Your scent changed when you're scared, when you're mad, and when you're." He cut off.
"When I'm what?"
He dropped his hand. "Stay in the east wing , tomorrow is full moon. I won't be her to stop them." He left.
That night I woke to growling from inside my room.
The lock was still on. The window was still closed, but in the corner, by the dresser , a wolf sat watching me. Not Kael. Smaller eyes gold but not silver.
It stood , walked to my bed. Put its front paws on the mattress. And whispered my name. "Karen."