Protective Brother Part 2
1125 Words
Princess Moon
He was more beautiful like this, but beauty was not the thing that made my throat tighten.
It was the fear.
He was not afraid I would punish him.
He expected it.
That was worse.
“Please,” he said. “Punish me, not her.”
The words struck so hard I almost stepped back.
Nara made a wounded sound. “Ashen, no.”
I found my voice.
“Stand up.”
He lowered his head again. “Princess—”
“That was not a request.”
He froze.
Not from fear this time.
From confusion.
Like he did not know what to do with a command that was not cruel.
Before he could obey, footsteps crashed through the brush.
Callan stepped into the clearing with four pack guards behind him.
He took in the scene quickly.
Ashen kneeling in the snow.
Me against the tree, one hand at my throat, still coughing.
Nara crying.
And then Callan smiled.
Not wide.
Not obvious.
Just enough to tell me he had found a weapon and knew exactly where to aim it.
“Seize him,” Callan ordered.
The guards moved.
Ashen rose halfway, instinctively placing himself between them and Nara.
“No!” Nara shouted. “He didn’t do anything!”
Callan ignored her. “Ashen Drakewood, you are being detained for attempting to flee pack territory, assaulting the Luna Princess, and endangering a pack omega.”
“He did not assault me,” I rasped.
My voice came out rougher than I wanted.
Callan turned toward me, all false concern. “Princess, you are shaken. Let us handle this.”
“Do not speak over me.”
His gaze flicked to the guards.
Too fast.
Too calculated.
Ashen did not fight when two guards grabbed his arms.
That was the part that frightened me.
Not because he could not.
Because he chose not to.
His eyes went to Nara, and in that one look I understood.
If he fought, they would hurt her.
Nara tried to push past Callan. “He was protecting me! She followed me because I ran, and he didn’t know who she was!”
“Nara,” Ashen said quietly.
She froze.
He shook his head once.
Do not make it worse.
My fingers clenched.
Something slipped from beneath my sleeve.
The ring.
It fell into the snow between us.
Silver-white against white powder.
For one breath, everyone looked at it.
Callan bent and picked it up.
My blood went cold.
The moment he saw it, his expression changed.
Recognition.
Sharp.
Violent.
He knew that ring.
He looked at Ashen.
Then at me.
Then back at Ashen.
The truth lit behind his eyes like fire finding oil.
“You,” he whispered.
Ashen went still.
Callan closed his fist around the ring.
Not wearing it.
Just holding it.
But even from where I stood, I saw frost curl around his knuckles.
His jaw tightened with pain, but he did not let go.
Now he understood.
The masked wolf.
The princess.
The ring.
Ashen.
Callan turned to the guards, voice suddenly hard. “Take him to the holding cells.”
“No,” I said.
But my throat still burned, and the word came out weaker than I felt.
Callan moved faster than I expected.
He grabbed Nara by the arm and yanked her against his side.
Ashen’s head snapped up.
The temperature dropped.
Every guard stiffened.
For one instant, I saw it again.
The huge white wolf inside him lunging against chains.
The chains groaned.
Storm surged.
Callan’s grip tightened on Nara.
“Careful,” he said softly to Ashen. “You already attacked one royal tonight.”
Ashen went pale.
Not for himself.
For her.
I had to play this carefully.
Nara was in his hand.
Ashen was in theirs.
My mother was somewhere inside the packhouse.
Solan was near enough, hopefully, to notice if this went wrong.
And Callan had my ring.
No.
Ashen’s ring.
I straightened, forcing air into my lungs.
“Let her go,” I said.
Callan looked at me.
“Now,” I added. “The queen will settle this.”
“Of course,” Callan said.
But he did not release Nara.
Instead, he looked to one of the guards. “Get my father.”
“Callan,” I warned.
He smiled. “Princess, this is a pack matter.”
“You accused him of assaulting me. That makes it a royal matter.”
His smile faltered.
Good.
Then Alpha Torren Drakewood arrived.
He came through the trees in a long dark coat, Lady Seraphine behind him, her face pale with anger she was trying to dress as concern.
“Princess Moona,” Torren said, voice smooth and warm in a way that made my skin crawl. “Thank the Goddess you are unharmed.”
“Am I?” I asked.
His eyes flickered.
“I only mean we were alarmed to hear Ashen frightened you.”
“He did not frighten me.”
Torren looked at Ashen then.
Not like a father.
Like an owner disappointed in damaged property.
“Ashen has always been difficult,” he said.
Ashen lowered his gaze.
The sight made something in me burn.
“He and the girl are not worth distressing yourself over,” Torren continued. “Useless orphan omegas. We took them in after their mother died. Out of mercy. The pack will deal with them.”
The clearing went silent.
Orphan.
The lie stood there between us, ugly and breathing.
I knew enough now to know exactly what it was.
Ashen Drakewood was not an orphan the pack had taken in.
He was Torren’s son.
Nara was his daughter.
And he had just erased them both in front of me.
“No,” I said.
One word.
Torren’s expression remained pleasant.
Too pleasant.
“Princess—”
“No,” I repeated, clearer now. “You will not take him anywhere. You will release Nara. You will return the ring. And you will wait for my mother.”
Callan’s eyes flashed.
His hand moved.
I saw the pouch too late.
Gray-silver powder burst into the air.
Witch dust.
Storm roared.
I stepped back, but the dust hit my face, cold and bitter, filling my nose and mouth with the taste of ash and lavender.
The world tilted.
Nara screamed.
Ashen said my name.
Not Princess.
Not Your Highness.
“Moon!”
It was the last thing I heard before my knees weakened.
Strong arms did not catch me.
They were bound.
The trees blurred.
The snow rose up.
And then another voice cut through the clearing, sharp enough to split the dark.
“What the hell is going on?”
Solan.
- Writer
