4. Four

four

I stormed upstairs. Penn had the good sense to wait until I reached the master bedroom before daring to enter my house, and he didn’t set foot on the second floor. Still, I shoved a chair under the doorknob. It wouldn’t prevent Penn from busting in if he wanted, but the obstacle would slow him down and warn me if he intruded.

My blood-stained hands trembled, my breaths coming too quickly. I looked down at the dress I’d been so excited to wear for the gala. Dark red streaks smeared across the fabric. My throat constricted. I hated the gown as though it had plunged the dagger into Dad’s chest.

Claws shot from my nail beds. I raked the sharp points across the silk, ripping and tearing at the material until it lay in shreds around my feet. I wanted to cry and scream and destroy the room, to create devastation in the physical world that matched the turmoil swirling inside of me.

For an irrational second, I actually thought that if I could just speak to my father, everything would be okay. He could fix any problem.

The bite of reality slapped me like a hurricane-force wind. Broken things could be fixed. Shattered ones could not. Nothing and no one could repair the damage done to my life with a single stroke of the dagger’s blade.

I fell to my knees and hugged myself tightly as though trying to keep the fractured pieces of me together. Dad would never hold me again. I would never hear his voice or smell his aftershave. We would never again laugh at an inside joke that was only funny to the two of us. The days of him grumbling about the cost of my clothes were over.

Hysterical laughter bubbled in my throat as I grabbed handfuls of my tattered gown and tossed them in the air like confetti.

Three sharp knocks on the door brought me back from the edge of madness. I felt Penn’s presence in the hallway. His muffled voice called out to me.

“The alpha is on his way. He expects you downstairs when he arrives.”

My hands clenched into fists. Finneus expected me to follow his orders? Yeah, well, I had expected him to honor his promise to serve my father and our pack loyally. That didn’t stop the bastard from bringing strays into Ophiuchus territory who’d mutinied against the rightful alpha.

I said nothing to Penn. He must not have anticipated a response because he retreated almost immediately after delivering his brother’s message. I climbed to my feet and strode to the bathroom. I would go downstairs to meet with Finneus when I was good and ready—once I’d scrubbed the blood from my hands and the tears from my face.

Weakness was no longer a luxury I could afford. When we were younger, Finneus used to call me Ice Princess because I rarely showed emotion. I had hated the nickname. It made me sound so haughty and uptight.

“You want an ice princess, Finneus? Congratulations. You made one,” I muttered to the steam filling the bathroom as I stepped beneath the hot spray.

I let myself cry. Great racking sobs that shook my entire body. The grief threatened to consume me. Oddly, it was the memory of Penn’s whispered words on the dais that helped me pull myself together.

“Do you think Basil would want that ending for you?”

The audacity to speak my father’s name after his brother’s betrayal filled me with rage all over again. Still, Penn’s point was as valid then as it was now. I wouldn’t disappoint my father or disparage his memory by crumbling in the face of adversity.

Dad had raised me on the notion that there were several types of power. He trained me to fight and taught me the difference between strength and stupidity. Under his command, the Ophiuchus wolves had known only peace, but he’d prepared me for a day when that might no longer prove true.

That day had come, and I needed to be strong not stupid.

I scrubbed my skin until the water swirling around the drain ran clear. Then, I found a pair of black sweats in my dresser, wound my wet hair into a bun, and marched downstairs.

Finneus, Penn, and three of the strays in human form waited in my living room. Finneus had put on fresh jeans and a t-shirt, but Dad’s blood still tinged his nails crimson. My stomach turned over, yet I managed to keep my expression blank.

“What do you want?” I demanded.

Five sets of eyes followed my every move as I descended the stairs. One of the strays stared at me hungrily—a lean muscled man with tattoos on his neck. Someone had given him nice, clean clothes, and he nearly looked like he could be a member of our pack.

Except for the eyes. They were more green than yellow, a sign of poor health in a shifter. Not to mention the wild look that suggested he spent more time as a wolf than a man.

Penn growled his displeasure. “She’s the daughter of a former alpha, show her respect.”

The stray sniffed, and the scent of my disgust made him grin.

“Leave us.” Finneus gestured vaguely to the door.

All the men moved to obey, except for Penn. He remained in the corner of my living room, perfectly positioned to keep his eyes on everyone at once. Finneus waited until the strays had stepped outside and closed the door behind them before inviting me to sit on my own sofa.

I stopped several feet in front of him and crossed my arms. “This is my house, Finneus. You have no right to stomp in here without invitation to demand an audience.”

He squared his shoulders. “I have every right. I am the alpha. Every inch of the pack lands belongs to me, including the property your house sits on.”

I narrowed my gaze. “A real alpha has the courtesy to knock.”

Penn stood at an angle behind his brother, just visible enough in my periphery to be distracting. He pursed his lips and grumbled my name.

Finneus shook his head like I was a foolish, na?ve girl who couldn’t face reality. Sadly, he wasn’t entirely wrong.

“This little defiant act is old. It’s tired and boring. Your father’s Council of Elders has accepted me as the Ophiuchus alpha.” He took a step closer. “The only two members of the pack who challenged my authority are dead.” Finneus towered over me. “The choice is simple. Swear loyalty to me and live. Refuse and die.”

Penn’s jaw clenched; his gaze so intense I worried he might pop a blood vessel while trying to warn me to keep my mouth shut.

“Why don’t you take some time to think it over?” Finneus suggested in a tone that said he found the offer very generous. “I wouldn’t want you to make any hasty decisions while grieving your loss.”

It took every ounce of willpower to not strike out at him. He made it sound like my father had succumbed to old age or illness. Finneus had always displayed a level of audacity unprecedented in a beta, but this was too far.

He waited, as though daring me to rise to the words he dangled in the air like carrots. The shower had done wonders to clear the haze in my head, and I finally stopped running solely on adrenaline and rage. I refused to give him the satisfaction of taking the bait or shying away in the face of his physical intimidation.

“While your loyalty is still in question, you are not to leave your house without an escort,” Finneus continued like there had been no pause in his speech.

My eyebrows shot up. “Who?” I demanded.

Finneus’ smile gave me chills. “There is only one person I trust with such an important assignment. My beta.”

I glared past him at his brother, and Penn didn’t avert his gaze. Fresh hatred boiled inside of me.

“Three additional enforcers will remain with you at all times,” Finneus continued.

My mind immediately went to the trio standing on my porch. “I won’t have strays.”

“You really aren’t in a place to make demands,” he reminded me. After a moment, Finneus seemed to reconsider. “Prove to me you can behave, and I will consider your request.”

I ground my molars together so hard, I thought they might crack. Finneus wanted to push me to the brink, and he knew just how to do it. Surrounding me with unfamiliar wolves would further my isolation from the pack. Shifters didn’t fare well as solitary creatures, particularly not those of us raised in a pack. Finneus intended to starve me of my inherent need for companionship, to make me desperate and compliant.

“Are we done here?” I asked, not sure how much longer I could look at him and still contain my anger.

Finneus mistook my lack of protest for submission and felt comfortable enough to turn his back on me. “Do you have any rules you’d like to add?” he asked his brother.

Penn studied me for a long minute before finally shaking his head. “Can I talk to you alone, Finn?”

“Go to your room, Drake,” Finneus ordered.

I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood. Not only had the asshole come into my house uninvited, now he was sending me to bed like a child. The man must’ve been stockpiling audacity.

Penn’s gaze flicked toward the stairs, silently urging me to obey. I swallowed my pride and turned to go, making it to the foot of the steps before Finneus called after me.

“Oh, and Drake, a real alpha is whatever I say he is. That’s the great thing about being king.”

Just keep going, I told myself. Let him think he’s won for now.

I put one foot in front of the other, cheeks burning with humiliation. I was accustomed to following orders, and I respected hierarchy, but my father never spoke to anyone the way Finneus barked at me. Tears gathered in my eyes. I blinked them back before they could fall. Things would get worse before they got better.

If they ever got better.

Once in my room, I stood by the door and closed my eyes, straining to overhear the conversation between the Williams’ brothers. Finneus spoke at a normal volume, but Penn pitched his voice so I could only catch every few words.

“I need people who never had loyalty to Basil around her,” Finneus insisted.

“…under your protection… keep…safe.”

“They answer to you. You’re the beta. If you tell them not to touch her, they won’t,” Finneus assured his brother.

Penn said something that made Finneus’ voice turn cold. “Why are you so concerned? Do you not trust me when I say no harm will come to Drake as long as she doesn’t forget her place. Do you really believe I would let stray wolves sniff around the woman I may take as a mate?”

Not a chance in hell, I thought, though I couldn’t say the news was all bad.

It was confirmation Finneus would protect me to an extent, even if that meant locking me in a gilded cage until he could decide whether marrying me to strengthen his hold over the pack was worth the headache of keeping me around. That gave me a small measure of power, a thread that I could pull and slowly exploit to my advantage. I just needed to be smart. And patient.

I heard the front door open and close when Finneus left. Penn remained in my living room. I felt his presence and when I stretched my senses, I heard his heart pounding. The talk with his brother had left him broodier than usual.

With Finneus gone, some of my anger went with him, and I just wanted to curl up in my bed and pull the covers over my head. Tomorrow was a new day. The sun would rise, and my life would go on.

But his is over.

The thought brought a fresh wave of grief. I considered another shower, if only so I could cry without Penn hearing me. One glance at my bed and I decided the invitation was too tempting to pass up. I curled into a ball on top of the comforter and buried my face in the pillow.

There was a light tap on the door.

“Go away, Penn,” I shouted into the pillow.

He cracked the door and poked his head through the opening. “I brought you something.”

I bit down on the pillow to keep from screaming, my response muffled. “I don’t want anything from you.”

He sighed loudly and crossed the room to set something on my nightstand. “In case you change your mind.”

The rich scent of chocolate filled the bedroom, making me irrationally angry. I spun to face Penn and reached for the mug. He understood my intention before I did and clamped one hand around my wrist and the other on top of the steaming cup.

“I’m your only friend right now and you’ve already slapped me tonight.” The scalding, sticky liquid sloshed between his fingers. It must’ve hurt, but Penn didn’t show any sign of pain.

“You are not my friend,” I hissed.

He leaned down, hovering over me in the bed. “Well, I’m all you’ve got.” His gaze glowed yellow. “Raise a hand to me one more time, and I’m going to start taking it personally.”

I thought it was Penn’s attempt at a joke, a way to lighten the mood, but I found nothing about the situation funny.

He yanked the mug from my grasp, spilling more steaming chocolate milk on his hand as he slammed it down on my nightstand.

“Drink it or don’t. It doesn’t matter to me.” His jaw hardened. “I have one rule, and you will follow it.” He pinned me with his golden gaze. “You are not to be alone with any of the strays. In fact, you aren’t to be alone with anyone besides me.”

My heart raced from a sudden rush of adrenaline. “What about your brother?” I challenged.

Penn’s lips twitched in something that almost resembled a smile. “He doesn’t trust you enough to be alone with you.”