Chapter 15
1086 Words
Scarlett’s POV
He told me at dusk.
I had just finished pointing out a minor route change on his map, one that could probably save his eastern patrols nearly three days of food supply. He hadn’t said anything to me at first, just stared at me, there was a strange calm behind his eyes.
Then, without hesitation, he said, “I’ll be leaving before sunrise. The Blackmoon Pack has defied my direct orders.”
My body stilled, my fingers halted on the paper. ”They defied you? How?”
“They have ignored three summons, they hid a rogue I marked for death and refused to send their tax tithe last moon.”
His voice was level, I could have said he even sounded bored.
Like it was routine.
Like it meant nothing.
“And what’s your plan?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer to the question.
He shrugged. “They’ll be reminded of who they answer to.”
“What does that mean exactly?” I pressed.
He looked at me like I was not catching the drift. “I’ll take their gates and make an example of them. Bring them back under control.”
There it was.
The same script.
The same war machine that turned my home into ash and blood.
I stared at him. “Like how you did with the Furies pack?”
His eyes flickered, just for a second, if I wasn’t looking, I’d have missed it. “Scarlett…”
“You slaughtered my people, Draco. I watched my father fall at your blade, I saw my brother bleeding out in front of me and you’re about to do it to another pack.”
He exhaled, his jaw tightened. “It’s different.”
“How is it any different?” I snapped. “Because from where I’m standing, it’s exactly the same.”
He moved away from the map, crossing to the window in slow pace. He stood staring into the fields like it owed him something.
“They were warned, Scarlett.” He said.
“And so were we,” I whispered. “But everyone paid for the pack leaders’ mistakes. It’s not right.”
His fingers flexed.
“I gave them a chance. They spit on it. I know they think I’m getting soft.”
“Because of me?”
He didn’t bother answering.
But he didn’t have to, these pack leaders were obviously doing this because of me.
“How about you try diplomacy,” I said, my voice was more desperate now. “Talk to the Alpha. Meet with their advisors, give them one more chance.”
He turned to face me. “Do you know what would happen if I walked in to a council hall and simply asked them to behave? Come on Scarlett, they’d see it as weakness, every pack across my kingdom would revolt, it’s spread like wildfire. The Great Sovereign Lycan King begging at the foot of a minor Alpha.”
“I’m not asking you to beg, Draco.”
“Then what are you asking me for, Scarlett?” His tone raised. “Mercy?”
“Yes.”
He stared at me like he was trying to decipher if I was being naive or brave. “You want me to throw away decades of reputation because you’re afraid I’ll come back with another concubine, because I know you know about politics and order and state of affairs of a pack.”
That made my stomach churn.
He was right, a small part of me thought about if he brought back another concubine.
I stepped closer, folding my arms now. “Do you plan to?”
“I didn’t plan on you.”
“That’s not an answer.”
He looked away.
I wasn’t sure what to make of that.
***
He reached for me that night in our chambers.
He had that look again, the one I craved, as he looked at me with want pulsing through his body.
But this time when he touched my waist in the dark, I didn’t melt into him.
I stiffened a bit.
He paused. “Is something wrong?”
“I… I’m not feeling too good tonight. I don’t think I can.”
I hated how small I sounded. Refusing him for the first time.
But I was honest, I wasn’t feeling well, my heart was a war zone and my stomach was in knots.
His gaze scanned my face, searching but he didn’t call me out on my lie. He didn’t accuse me of withholding myself from him.
He simply nodded at me. “Alright.”
He moved towards me and pulled back the fur on the bed, he pulled me closer without saying another word. I lay there frozen unsure of what had just happened.
He put his hand around me. Not to force or to take.
But to comfort me.
I was pressed into the curve of his body and his face was against my neck.
I waited for his breathing to slow, for sleep to take him.
It didn’t.
He didn’t sleep that night and neither did I.
At the appearance of the pale morning light in the room, I felt his hand leave my body.
And just like that. He was gone.
***
The silence left in his absence was deafening.
I moved around the corridor alone, the omegas passed me with quiet nods of respect. I moved around to busy myself, my steps soft.
Draco had left for war.
I knew what he would return with.
Blood on his hands, a conquest behind him and maybe even a girl, one with eyes bright with revenge and a future snatched away just like mine was.
The thought made me feel so… helpless.
What was I doing?
Who would I be when he returned with another gir?
I wasn’t his prisoner right now and I wasn’t his enemy either.
I couldn’t be so near to him, so close and still be so powerless as to stop the version of him that had destroyed everything I loved. The version of him that I hated.
And yet when he held me last night.
He wasn’t that version, he was gentle.
I thought about how brutal he had been when he had fought with my pack.
The bloodlust in his eyes.
I had completely blanked that out of my mind.
I closed my eyes.
And wished that he would return as the version I had come to love.
- Writer
