Protective Brother Part 1
1154 Words
The Midnight Prince
“What happened when the princess finally found him?” my daughter asked.
I looked into the fire.
The flames snapped softly, throwing gold light across the room, but for a moment I saw snow instead. Dark trees. A frightened girl. A boy with winter in his eyes who had forgotten what mercy sounded like when it was spoken to him.
“She found him,” I said, “and he thought she had come to hurt the person he loved most.”
My son frowned. “Why would he think that?”
“Because when a boy is raised around wolves who use power like teeth, he learns to bite first for the people he cannot bear to lose.”
My daughter hugged her knees. “Did he hurt the princess?”
“No,” I said softly. “But he scared himself by almost needing to.”
Moon
Callan Drakewood’s smile was a polished thing.
Too polished.
Too practiced.
The kind of smile men wore when they wanted the room to forget the blade in their hand.
“Princess,” he said again, his gaze moving from me to Nara. “There you are. Why are you hanging out with this low-life omega?”
Nara went white.
Not pale.
White.
Every drop of color left her face, and her fingers tightened around the wrapped gift I had given her until the paper crumpled beneath her grip.
I stepped slightly in front of her.
Not too much.
Just enough.
Callan noticed.
His smile sharpened.
“Is there a reason you are following servant girls into the woods, Princess?”
“Is there a reason you are following me?” I asked.
His brows lifted. “Concern.”
“Interesting. I have heard concern before. It usually sounds less like an accusation.”
A faint flicker crossed his face.
Good.
Men like Callan expected fear. Anger, perhaps. Tears, if they were lucky.
Calm unsettled them.
I tilted my head, keeping my voice light. “You called her low-life.”
Nara’s breath shook behind me.
Callan shrugged. “That is what she is.”
“A servant?”
“An omega.”
“As if the two are crimes?”
His jaw tightened.
I smiled.
The princess smile.
Soft. Sweet. Dangerous enough to make the air listen.
“I was under the impression SilvaFrost was one of the kingdom’s noble packs. Surely noble sons are taught that rank is not a license for cruelty.”
Callan’s nostrils flared. “You misunderstand. Nara knows her place.”
“Does she?”
“She should.”
“And who assigned it to her?” I asked. “The Moon Goddess? Or you?”
The silence that followed was cold enough to frost stone.
Callan’s eyes narrowed.
Nara made a small sound behind me.
When I glanced back, I realized my mistake.
Not in challenging Callan.
In doing it near her.
Nara was not looking at me with relief.
She was looking at Callan as if she had already calculated the punishment waiting after I left.
“Nara,” I said softly.
She shook her head once.
Then she ran.
“Nara!”
She bolted past the split pine and into the woods, gift still clutched in her hand, her dark hair flashing between the trees before the shadows swallowed her.
Callan cursed under his breath.
I turned on him.
“Stay where you are.”
His face hardened.
I stepped closer, letting the command settle between us. “That was not a suggestion.”
For one breath, I thought he might disobey me outright.
His wolf pushed against the air, alpha-born arrogance pricking at my skin.
Storm rose beneath my ribs.
Silent.
Ready.
Callan felt her.
He stopped.
Good.
I gathered my skirts and ran after Nara.
The woods behind SilvaFrost were thick with black pine and ice-heavy branches. Snow crunched beneath my shoes, and the wind bit at my cheeks. Nara’s tracks were light, frantic, already filling with fresh powder.
“Nara!” I called.
No answer.
My heart pounded.
Not from the run.
From knowing she thought my protection had made things worse.
“Nara, I am not angry!”
Still nothing.
The trees pressed closer.
The packhouse lights faded behind me.
His scent moved through the cold.
Frost.
Winter roses.
Old magic.
Stronger now.
Closer.
I slowed.
Storm went still.
A shadow moved to my right.
Before I could turn, a body slammed into mine and pinned me against a tree.
The impact stole the air from my lungs.
A hand braced near my head. Another caught my shoulder, firm enough to trap, careful enough not to crush. Cold flooded the space around me, wild and sharp.
A face hovered inches from mine.
Ash-blond hair.
Winter-blue eyes.
A beautiful mouth drawn tight with fear and fury.
The server.
The masked wolf.
Ashen.
He did not know me.
Not at first.
All he saw was someone chasing his sister through the dark.
“Why are you following my sister?” he demanded.
His voice was low.
Not loud.
Worse.
There was a growl beneath it, deep enough to make the snow tremble on the branches.
Storm did not bare her teeth.
She bowed her head.
Not in submission.
In recognition.
I tried to speak, but my breath was trapped beneath the sudden weight of his presence. It was not even full pressure. I knew that. Somehow, I knew he was holding back with everything he had.
And still, the air around him felt like a frozen lake cracking open.
His eyes searched my face.
Then widened.
The rage vanished so fast it left terror behind.
He released me immediately.
“Princess.”
The word broke.
I coughed, dragging air into my lungs.
He stepped back as if his hands had burned him.
Then he dropped to his knees in the snow.
Fully.
Both knees.
Head bowed.
Hands open.
My chest hurt in a way that had nothing to do with the tree.
“Princess, forgive me.” His voice shook. “I did not know it was you.”
I stared at him.
At the servant clothes.
At the broad shoulders bent low.
At the boy whose wolf had felt like a king in chains.
“Ashen,” Nara cried from behind him.
So there it was.
His name.
Not guessed.
Not dreamed.
Spoken.
Ashen flinched like she had exposed a wound.
Nara ran toward him, tears bright in her eyes. “It wasn’t her fault. She helped me. Callan found us, and I got scared, and—”
“Are you hurt?” Ashen asked, still on his knees, not looking at me.
“No.”
“Did he touch you?”
“No, but—”
“Good.”
“Ashen, listen to me.”
He finally lifted his face toward mine.
There was no mask now.
Nothing between us.
- Writer
