Between two alphas

Episode4

VESHA

The moment I walked through the large black oak doors of Morvanes citadel, something shifted within me. It felt like a part of me fell off at the door, leaving a brand new version of myself.

People stood in the hall. Men, women, children.

And they did the most unexpected thing.

They bowed.

I froze in my tracks, turned around to look at Morvane who only gave a nod and a smile.

“How did they know I was coming?”

“I sent a message across earlier using my mind-link,” he said and gestured to a lady standing at the center of the gathering. Her frame looked familiar, like the lady who was with him at the river.

I expected an introduction of her as his wife, but she simply came forward, grabbed my bag and bowed.

“Echo is my best friend, not my wife…” Morvane said as if he’d read my thoughts.

“Ohh…I…”

“It’s rude to keep them waiting,” Echo interrupted.

That was when I noticed that their heads were still lowered. “When Morvane told me he was bringing home a Lycan wife, I didn’t hesitate to pass the message across. They’re excited,” she added.

Did she just say…Lycan wife?

My head sharply drifted to Morvane. He secretly brushed my arm with his fingers, a signal to play along.

“Go ahead, love. Return their gesture.” He muttered deeply.

How? The question hammered in my mind right before it was voiced. And by how, I meant how am I his wife, and how do I return their gesture.

But Echo only answered one part of my question.

“Bow,”

I did as instructed, then they lifted their heads with smiles boldly plastered on their faces.

They started off with greetings, blessing us, and when they finished, Echo offered to show me my room.

Oh…Morvane…what have you done?

************

The following morning, I was hit with the most unexpected news. Something I considered the worst kind of betrayal from someone who offered protection.

“Morvane is going to the Bluemoon pack. And you’re flung with him,” Echo said after she walked into my room.

I sat at the edge of my bed in silence, buying myself enough time to understand what I just heard her say.

“Is this some type of joke or what?”

“It’s not,” Morvane's voice cut through the air. He signaled Echo to leave us, then shut the door after she left.

I sprang from the bed. “What are you doing? What do you mean we’re going back there! You know I can’t go back there!”

“You can,” he cut in, breathing heavily against my face. I’d already broken the distance barrier between us, but Morvane did much worse in walking into my space. He didn’t stop until our bodies were grazing each other. “I made a promise and I plan on fulfilling it,”

“It’s barely been twenty four hours. We don’t even have a plan!”

“Well I do. I think fast,”

“You’re sending me back to my death?” I sobbed, unable to hold back the tears that rolled down my cheek.

“No, Vesha,” he cupped my chin, staring at me delicately. “I’m sending their death to them. And this is only the beginning of what we have in store for them. They’ll regret ever sending you away. They’ll regret treating you like you meant nothing,”

He wiped my tears with his thumb, slow and deliberate.

“You will not face them as a victim,” Morvane said quietly. “You will walk back into Wolfland as mine—under my name, my protection, and my law.”

My breath trembled. “And when they try to break me again?”

His eyes darkened, amber fire sharpening.

“Then they will learn,” he said, “why Lycans do not issue threats they cannot finish.”

A horn sounded in the distance—deep and resonant. A summons.

Morvane stepped back, already turning toward the door. “Prepare yourself, Vesha. Bluemoon will not see the girl they banished.” He glanced over his shoulder once more.

“They will meet the woman who survived them.”

“Wait…” I stopped him before he walked out. “Two things,”

Then he turned to me.

“Why did you lie to them? And to Echo, your best friend. Why did you tell them I’m your wife?”

Morvane sighed, as if relieving himself of some weight he’d held onto all night. “The law forbids werewolves and Lycans from being together. In order to protect you, and make you just as powerful as you need to be to make them suffer, you needed to become more than a mere Lycan to me. You needed to become my wife.”

“What’s in it for you?” I cut in.

He scoffed. “Is that your second question?”

“No, but I want to know,” I answered.

“Ask your second question, Vesha,”

“Answer mine. What’s in it for you?”

He seemed to get angry by the way I hammered on it. Lycans are known for being more aggressive than werewolves and easily angered. I feared he might get out of character, but he played himself perfectly, holding onto his smile as he reminded me of where I came from.

“You had nothing to offer in the Bluemoon pack even as the daughter of a villain. What makes you think I’d have anything to gain from you now? What you see here is genuine. Don’t question it.” He muttered.

I had no opportunity to ask my second question. I should have put it up first. I should have thrown it at him to show him how ready I guess I might have been.

I should have asked him right then and there…When do we leave?

But he waltzed out.

*********

After hours away in my bedroom, thinking through my conversation with Morvane, having meals served in bed because guests were scattered all over the house taking views of the new developments as I heard, I finally decided to escape my temporary prison called my bed.

I slipped the lightest cloth around and crept down the corridor.

Night had fallen again, and the guests seemed to be living one after the other, a lot slower this time.

I stopped by the large window on the staircase and watched as they boarded their fleets of cars and drove off. So much wealth, luxury, freedom…just enough to make me someone the Bluemoon pack hasn’t seen before. Enough to disguise me into their perfect karma.

“You should be in your room,” Morvane's voice startled me.

“You should be in your room,” Morvane’s voice startled me.

I turned slowly. He stood a few steps away, hands clasped behind his back, crown gone, power still very much intact. In the dim light, he looked less like a king and more like a man carrying too many battles.

“I needed air,” I said. Then, before I could lose my nerve, I added, “And… I owe you an apology.”

His brow creased. “For what?”

“For earlier,” I said quietly. “For pushing. For questioning your intentions when you were trying to protect me.” I folded my arms, not to shield myself from him, but from my own thoughts. “What you said… about me having nothing to offer. You were right.”

Morvane stiffened. “No,” he said at once. “I spoke out of anger. That was unfair, and beneath me. You deserved better than that.”

I shook my head. “I didn’t come from nothing because I am nothing. I came from nothing because I was never allowed to be more.” I lifted my chin. “I’m ready to change that narrative.”

Something unreadable crossed his face—respect, perhaps. Or approval.

“You already are,” he said softly. “And that’s what I admire about you, Vesha,”

Silence settled between us, thick and charged. I became suddenly aware of how close he was, of the warmth radiating from him. His hand lifted, hesitating near my face, as if asking permission without words.

My breath caught as he slowly leaned in.

I felt it then…the pull. Dangerous and Intoxicating.

Just before his lips could touch mine, I turned my head, my gaze drifting back to the window, to the last car disappearing into the night.

“But something has to be done first,” I said quietly.

He stopped immediately, drawing back without offense. “What is it?”

I faced him again, resolve settling into my bones.

“If I’m walking back into Bluemoon as your wife,” I said, “then I cannot look like a girl they once broke.”

His eyes sharpened with curiosity.

“They must not recognize me,” I finished. “Not until it’s too late.”

***************