The Unwanted Luna's Rise

Chapter Three

"Wear the black dress, Vivienne. Not the red. The red sends the wrong message for a first impression."

Elaine's voice drifted down the hallway before I even reached the linen closet door. I went still against the wall and waited.

Elaine was Beta Harris's wife. She and my mother had been close for as long as the pack existed and they shared the same particular cruelty that comes from having power you did not earn and spending years protecting it. Elaine rarely hit me herself. She just watched while other people did it and smiled like she was at a pleasant afternoon gathering.

Her daughter Vivienne was her mother's sharper version.

"The black dress makes me look like I am attending someone's funeral," Vivienne said, clear and bored. "I want him to notice me the moment I walk in."

"Alpha Rivers is not a fool," Elaine said. "You cannot walk in front of a man like that leading with your figure. He needs to see you are a Luna in your bearing, in your restraint. Desire comes later."

"I have been waiting my entire life for a chance like this." Vivienne's voice shifted into something quieter and far more focused. "His pack is the largest in three regions. If I become his Luna I never have to look at this place again."

A pause. Then Elaine: "Your father has laid good groundwork. Alpha Marcus supports the match. The council will not object. You simply need to make the Alpha want you."

"He will want me. I will make certain of it."

Their voices moved away down the corridor toward Vivienne's room. I let out a slow breath and stepped out of the shadow.

I already knew Vivienne was beautiful. The whole pack knew it. She was tall and blond and perfectly shaped and she walked like she knew exactly what she was doing to every room she entered. Every male warrior had tried for her attention at some point. Most had failed. Vivienne was not interested in the warriors of a small pack.

She had always wanted more.

I went back to my work.

The guest rooms were on the second floor, ten of them in a long hall. I started at the north end, opening windows, stripping beds, pulling fresh linens from the closet shelves. I worked quickly and quietly. The trick was to be done and gone before anyone thought to find me.

The green room was at the south end of the hall and it was my favorite room in the entire house. Forest green walls, warm dark wood furniture, two windows facing the mountain line directly south. On a clear day you could see the rock faces of the higher peaks. In the morning the light came in long and level and turned everything warm and gold.

I took a little longer in the green room. I re-made the bed with particular care, folding the corners tight the way I liked them. I replaced the towels in the bathroom with the thick ones from the top shelf, the ones usually saved for important guests. I wiped every surface clean, wiped the mirror, and opened both windows so the cold pine air moved through and replaced the stale smell of a room that had not been used in months.

I stood at the window for half a minute and just breathed.

The forest started fifty yards from the south wall. I could see the spot where the tree line broke and the river path began. My path. My morning sanctuary.

One day.

I did not finish the thought. I never did. I put it back in the deep locked part of me and finished the room.

Dinner was at seven. I had spent the afternoon on the guest rooms and the meeting hall, beating dust out of cushions and wiping down the long conference table and polishing the chairs. By the time I was done my shoulders ached and the cut above my eye had healed to a thin pink line.

I made pork roast and roasted vegetables and fresh bread. The smell of it filled the kitchen and I let myself feel the small pleasure of that before I carried it out to the table.

The dining room filled up fast. My father and mother and Beta Harris and Elaine and the warriors and the council members. I moved in and out of the kitchen with my head down and my hands steady.

Vivienne was in the red dress after all.

She sat two seats from my father and held the table with the easy, bright conversation she was known for. I poured water, cleared plates, brought out the bread baskets.

I was on my third trip through when Vivienne's voice found me.

"Nova." She said my name the way you say something you want to spit out. "What is this?"

She held up her plate. I looked at it. The pork was evenly cooked, the vegetables had color, nothing was wrong with any of it.

"Pork roast, Vivienne."

She stood and picked up the plate and threw it at me.

I got my arm up fast enough that it hit my forearm instead of my face. The plate cracked against bone and hot food splattered across my shirt and neck. I did not make a sound.

The table laughed.

"Eat it off the floor," Vivienne said. "You cooked it for yourself anyway."

I went to my knees and began picking up the food. The tile was cold through my jeans. I kept my face down.

"Use your mouth," Vivienne said. "Dogs do not use their hands."

I heard my father say nothing. My mother say nothing. Harris say nothing.

I put my hands flat on the tile and lowered my head. I ate the food off the floor. My jaw was tight and my whole face burned and somewhere deep in my chest Smoke was screaming things I would not let her say.

Vivienne crouched down close to me. Her voice dropped so only I could hear it.

"You are the reason this pack is small and weak and embarrassed. You killed Finn and you have been poisoning everything here ever since. The moment I am Luna, you are gone. Do you understand me?"

She stood up and pressed her heel down on my fingers. Hard. Deliberate.

I did not cry out.

"Alpha." The voice of the door guard came from the hallway, steady and urgent. "The Stonepeak Pack is here, sir. They arrived ahead of schedule."

The dining room shifted immediately. Chairs scraped. Vivienne straightened and moved to the mirror near the door. My mother and father stood. Harris was already moving for the front of the house.

"Clean this up and disappear," my father said as he passed me. He did not look down.

I stayed on the floor until they were all gone. My hand throbbed where the heel had pressed. My neck stung where the hot food had hit.

The dining room was silent.

I pushed myself up slowly and began collecting the broken pieces of plate.

I had almost reached the kitchen doorway when I felt it.

A heaviness at the far end of the hallway. The particular stillness that a large, powerful presence creates before you even know it is there. My wolf went rigid the way she went rigid before a threat, except it was not the same feeling. It was something else. Something more like the moment before thunder.

I turned and looked down the hallway.

A shadow stood at the far end.

Someone was there.

Looking at me.