Chapter 19
564 Words
The main course had just been served when the air in the room shifted subtly. Not because of words, but because of pack instinct. The guests from Silvermoon began to straighten their backs, their eyes narrowing slightly, their noses flaring ever so faintly.
They smelled something. Human scent.
The Silvermoon daughter turned slowly toward me, as if what she had only seen before she now felt. The Silvermoon Beta lowered his spoon slowly, then Alpha Silvermoon spoke for the first time since the soup had been served.
“So it is true. You keep a human inside the Alpha’s house.”
“She is my daughter,” Gabriel said.
“Your daughter? From human blood?”
“Why?”
The Silvermoon daughter exhaled softly as if holding herself back from laughing. “Gabriel Bloodfang acknowledges a human as his heir, that is news that will delight many ears.”
“You could have chosen hundreds of orphaned wolf children. But you chose a human?” Alpha Silvermoon asked.
“That is none of your concern,” Gabriel replied.
The Silvermoon daughter ran her finger along the rim of her glass, restraining the sharpness of her expression. “Do you think the Council will accept a human as part of your bloodline?”
“The Council will accept what they cannot topple. Seraphina lives under my protection. There is no legal consequence that can remove her,” Gabriel said.
“I simply do not understand. What can a human give to an Alpha?”
I opened my mouth, but Gabriel spoke first again.
“She does not need to give anything. She is my child and I have raised her since she was little,” Gabriel said.
“But…,” the Silvermoon daughter began.
“The dinner is not finished. Eat,” Gabriel said.
^^^
The wall clock showed nine eighteen when the last guest left the apartment. The door was closed by a servant with extreme caution, as if any tiny sound could trigger another war. Once the footsteps of the Silvermoon party disappeared in the outer corridor, the atmosphere of the dining room became somewhat calmer. Elena did not leave immediately. She stood at the side of the table with both hands clasped before her chest.
Gabriel removed his suit and handed it to Valeria without saying anything.
“You said it in front of Silvermoon.”
“I said what has been true from the beginning,” Gabriel said.
“You are aware that one sentence of yours tonight is enough to make half the Council open their eyes?”
“I am ready to close their eyes again,” Gabriel replied.
Elena let out a faint scoff, not a laugh. “With what? By parading your human ward?”
“Your decision is no longer a private matter. Starting tonight, every attack against you will look for that girl first.”
“I know,” Gabriel answered calmly.
Elena’s steps moved down the corridor, leaving me and Gabriel in the middle of the dining room.
I looked at Gabriel’s back. He did not turn yet. He stood in silence, hands clenched at his sides, like someone carrying a burden he chose himself.
“Daddy?”
“I do not regret acknowledging you. The only thing I fear is one, if one day they hurt you before I can stop it.”
- Writer
