Chapter 2
1064 Words
The storm arrived heavily that very night.
The rain lashed hard against the estate windows while the thunder rolled across Blackthorne territory loudly enough to shake the walls. Wolves hurried through the courtyard carrying supplies and small pups who could not keep up. I stood near the window watching when, all of a sudden, I noticed Rowan in the distance, and he was carrying something in his arms.
Everything seemed to stop.
Rainwater dripped from his dark coat onto the stone floor while a girl clung weakly to his shirt. She looked exhausted and terrified; her face was pale.
I saw the bruises on her body, and my eyes widened in astonishment.
“What’s happened? Who is this girl?” Alpha Magnus demanded as he suddenly descended the staircase.
“Father, it’s bad out there. Rogues near the northern border,” Rowan answered. “We found her unconscious, barely breathing. We couldn’t leave her to die. Mother would not have liked that.”
Kael closed the heavy doors behind them while Damon rushed to move the hair from the weak girl’s face.
“Father, she needs a healer,” Elias insisted as he rushed to Alpha Magnus’s side.
I swallowed hard.
The girl flinched at the raised voices surrounding her.
Rowan’s expression darkened protectively, the same way that he had always done for me when someone dared to upset me.
“She is safe,” Rowan said quietly.
I couldn’t deny the uncomfortable twist that settled in my stomach.
Magnus approached Rowan and inspected the girl carefully for a few minutes.
“What is your name, girl?”
“Selene,” the girl said in a small nervous voice.
“And what were you doing out there in this storm?” Magnus questioned.
“I escaped the Ashridge territory,” she whispered. “Please… Alpha, don’t send me back there. They will kill me.” She trembled.
Sympathy seemed to spread immediately within the group.
“Ashridge territory,” Alpha Magnus muttered.
That place was well known for its brutality.
“Father, she needs medical assistance at once, not all these questions,” Rowan growled.
“You will stay here until the storm passes,” the Alpha decided with a nod.
Relief flooded Selene’s expression instantly, and she clung tighter to Rowan. I looked away, not liking the way that she touched him like that.
“Thank you, Alpha,” Selene gasped as Rowan lowered her onto one of the sofas beside the crackling warm fire, and servants rushed around with blankets and a hot drink.
Without thinking, I stepped forward and picked up a blanket.
“Here,” I said.
The girl looked at me slowly. For a moment, her eyes searched my face carefully before she accepted the blanket with trembling fingers.
“Thank you so much. You’re very kind.”
Up close she was beautiful, her eyes a dark brown and her hair long and blonde.
Kael crouched beside her. “Selene, you are safe now. We will take good care of you. Nobody will hurt you, I swear.”
The other three brothers agreed instantly, and something about it made my heart thump in my chest.
Maybe because the brothers looked more protective of this stranger than how I was feeling in that moment.
I told myself that I was imagining it. It was no big deal.
“Lyra.”
Rowan.
I blinked as Rowan looked at me.
“Yes?”
“Can you ensure a room is prepared for Selene and some clothes while we wait for the healer to arrive?”
He did not bother to wait for my reply.
His attention returned to the girl.
That bothered me more than I could imagine.
Later that night, the storm worsened.
Rain hammered violently against the estate while most of the pack slept.
Usually the four brothers would sit with me through the storms; it gave me nightmares. Memories of the night I was abandoned in the woods, the same night I was found by the Blackthornes.
But none of them had come to me.
I guessed they were with Selene. I told myself that it would be selfish of me to expect them to abandon her since she knew nobody here.
I stood alone underneath the covered balcony listening to the thunder.
The door of my bedroom swung open, and my heart missed a beat.
My first thought was that the brothers had come for me. To comfort me and tell me that I need not worry about a thing.
Instead, Rowan stepped in, and he was alone.
“Rowan, you came.” I couldn’t hide the relief in my voice.
I reached out for him, but he stopped a few feet in front of me.
I frowned slightly. “What is it, Rowan?”
“Selene will stay temporarily,” he said.
“Okay.”
“She has been through a very traumatic ordeal.”
I clenched my jaw. “I know.”
His gaze searched mine carefully.
“She needs me right now. She is scared shitless of the storm. We’ve no idea what happened to her at Ashridge, so I’m sure that you can be very understanding of that, can’t you, Lyra?” he said.
The words stunned me.
“What?”
“Lyra, this is not the time. Selene needs to feel safe. You’re not a little girl anymore. Besides, you can look after yourself. It’s only for one night.”
I felt the fear rise in my throat like I was being suffocated. “But, Rowan, you know, I hate the thunderstorms, the nightmares. I can’t sleep. I need you, please.”
Rowan looked at me for a moment, his expression unreadable. Then he exhaled slowly, as if he regretted coming to even tell me anything.
“She’s vulnerable, Lyra. I would have thought that even you would understand that. Clearly I was wrong.” He shook his head and turned away, but I had already seen the disappointment in his eyes.
That hurt more than anything else.
Rowan had never looked at me that way.
A movement below caught my eye.
Selene stood beneath the lower archway staring at me through the rain.
The moment that our eyes met, she smiled.
Not sweetly, but coldly. Like she knew exactly what she was doing.
And that chilled me more than the storm itself.
- Writer
