His Twisted Claim

Chapter four

No matter how I tried to avoid the attention, they kept coming my way.

Martha said I was better suited for the healer's house.

She literally dumped me there.

And that was how I changed duties.

The healers who clearly didn't trust a newcomer to handle their patients had banished me to the herb gardens.

Apparently, my job was to pluck herb roots until my fingernails bled.

I was elbow deep in the damp soil under the scourging hot sun, wondering if the universe enjoyed the irony of a former Luna of a pack scavenging for weeds, when a shadow fell over me.

“You've got dirt on your nose. Looks cute on you though. Don't wipe it off.”

I didn't even need to look up. I knew that lazy, dramatic voice everywhere.

“Rowan. Don’t you have a border to patrol or a mirror to stare at?”

“The borders are boring,” Rowan said, dropping onto his haunches beside me.

He didn't wait for an invitation, he just pulled a small silver blade from his belt and started helping me harvest the stubborn roots.

How he manages to sneak up on me, I haven't discovered.

“You seem to only bother me when I'm working, I wonder why,” I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

“And why is it that every time I find you, you’re covered in something? Flour, mud, blood... you’re a very messy girl. I wonder why”

Fair enough.

He surely knows about my encounter with the warriors. He isn't talking about it.

He'd be the first.

I wipe my forehead with the back of my hand, probably adding more mud to my face.

“Maybe it's because I'm working. You should try it some other time, you know. It's when you do things other than bother me and look all pretty every day.”

Rowan chuckled, his shoulder brushing against mine.

He was one of the few people who didn't look at me in a weird way.

For a second, I forgot I was a resurrected vengeful spirit and just... laughed.

That was my first free laugh since I came back.

“Careful,” he teased, flashing a grin that had probably broken half the hearts in the pack. “If you keep enjoying my company, I might as well not leave.”

“The horror,” I said, pretending to tremble in my boots.

We both burst into laughter.

Our momentary peace was shattered by a younger pup running towards us, breathless.

“The Alpha’s wing. You. Now. Devric wants you,” he said in between pants.

The laughter died in my throat.

Rowan's expression shifted, his once playful eyes turned sharp as he watched me stand up, brushing the dirt of my tunic.

What possibly could he want me for?

The universe was probably laughing at me now, because all my effort to avoid Devric has been fruitless.

The Alpha's wing was just as I remembered.

Cold. Distant.

Just like him… well until I came into the picture.

I renovated some sides of his wing when I became Luna.

It looked less like a burial ground and more lively.

But I guess we are back to the old days.

Hmm. The irony.

I stood outside the tall heavy oak doors, my heart doing a slow thud against my ribs.

Knock. Knock.

“Come in.”

Devric was standing by the window.

He stood so still, like a shadow.

Mesmerizing as ever.

He didn't turn around when I entered.

“Sit.”

My eyes went to the guest chair at the other side of the table.

“Make yourself comfortable,” he said, still not turning around.

I don't want to be comfortable, at least not around him.

Nevertheless, I walked over to the chair and sat down.

After an awkward silence that lasted five seconds, he finally turned around.

There that face was, the man I fell for, my executioner.

“What pack are you from?”

The question caught me off guard.

Not the first thing I'd think he'd ask upon seeing me.

“Excuse me,” was the only thing I managed to say.

“You're a foreigner to this pack. As the Alpha, I should know which pack you are coming from.”

The question almost gave me a seizure.

Does he know?

No.

There's no way he'll know and still speak to me calmly.

His claws would have been in my throat by now.

“Sovereign Pack,” the lie slid down my tongue with confidence.

The Sovereign Pack shared territory with the north, it is one of the most safe guarded packs.

People hardly leave or enter.

And that was why it was the best option to lie with.

“Why did you leave your pack? What brought you here?” He didn't seem to give up with the questioning.

I straightened my back, lifting my jaw.

“Minor personal problems.” My voice came out steady. Hopefully he doesn't see through it.

“And those problems?” He asked, crossing one leg over the other as if dissecting people for answers was amusing entertainment.

“I'm sorry but I treated your men yesterday. You should thank me, not interrogate me.”

His eyes widened in surprise, was it the tone I spoke to him with or the fact that I didn't answer his question?

Devric was a man no one would dare talk back at. And here I was playing with my life.

He leaned back in his chair, watching me with that malicious smug, like I was one of his prey. “Well, thank you. I'd admit, if we had waited for the healers, those men would be dead.”

Did I hear that properly?

I had expected him to call his men to throw me outside or probably cut out my tongue for talking back.

I mean this wouldn't be the first time something like that has happened.

And whatever it was he felt for me in my past life didn't exist in this timeline.

“Yo… you're welcome,” my voice cracked as I barely managed to speak.

But then I'd be a fool if I let anything this man says soften my heart cause the next minute he slowly rose from his chair with a deliberate focus that pinned me to my seat.

He walked over to my side of the table, his footsteps closing the distance until he was right at my front.

He leaned back, resting his hip against the edge of the table right beside my knees.

He slowly leaned in, bringing his face inches from mine, his scent occupying my space, “Don't mistake me, lady. I am an alpha, and it is my duty to protect my pack,” he murmurs, his voice sending shivers down my spine. He leans closer, “now you'll answer my question, and you'll mind your tone this time.”

All of a sudden the breeze ran cold.

I opened my mouth in anticipation to say something, but my throat became dry, a word didn't come out.

Just when I thought it was over for me, the double oak door swung open and Kieran walked inside looking frazzled.

He stopped dead when he saw how I and the Alpha were in proximity.

His eyes flicked between us, a weird mix of confusion and something like guilt, I couldn't tell.

“I need a word,” Kieran said.

“Wait outside,” Devric commanded, not taking his eyes off me for a second.

Kieran hesitated, his jaw tightened, before retreating.

Once the door clicked shut, Devric straightened.

He stood upright, “Stay away from the borders,” he said, “I don't want you getting killed.”

I almost laughed.

I had to bite my tongue to keep the bitterness back.

He wants me alive now? That's rich, Devric.

Considering the last time we saw, he was the one sliding a blade between my ribs.

“I'd try to contain my thirst for danger, SIR,” I said, the sarcasm dripping from my tone.

He smirked, I refused to understand what was thrilling about what I said. “Go.”

I pushed past the doors, my blood still hot.

Kieran was leaning against the stone wall of the hallway.

He straightened up as soon as he saw me.

“Hey,” he said, stepping into my path. “You okay? He wasn't too hard on you, was he?”

I sighed, crossing my arms. “ Just the usual Alpha brooding. I'm fine. You look like you've seen a ghost.”

He rubbed the back of his neck looking uncharacteristically awkward.

That was weird, considering it was Kieran. The war captain.

“I just… I didn't expect to see you in his office so soon. Just be careful. Are you settling in okay?”

“Yeah. Just surviving the evil garden,” I said, giving him a weak smile.

He looked like he wanted to say something, but he just nodded and headed into the office.

I walked down the long corridor, eager to get back to the mud where I had my peace of mind. But I didn't make it to the stairs when I saw a woman standing there.

She was tall, draped in silk that cost more than the entire Healer's House, with hair that spun gold.

She looked at me like I was dirt she'd found stuck beneath her shoe.

“So,” she purred, her voice like golden glass. “This is the little stray the warriors won't shut up about. The girl who plays doctor.”

Didn't know my face had gone viral too.

I stopped. “And you are?”

She smiled, clearing her throat as she stepped forward.

“The name is Ivy,” she said, tilting her head, “Devric's fiancée.”

Everything went blank.

She swept past me, the scent of her expensive perfume clashing with the smell of mud and earth on my hands.

She turned around midway, “Ooh and don't keep playing doctor, you might get someone killed.” She said as she walked away.

I stood frozen in the hallway, rooted to that spot.

The world spinning around me.

Fiancée??

In my past life, Devric had never had a fiancée.

He had been a man of war and business… until me.

He had never even looked at another woman.

How?

What changed?

My stomach dropped as the reality of it hits me.

Yes. I was in my past, but what if I was in a different version of

it, why weren't things the same.

That would explain the change in a few events.

What if this Devric wasn't the same predicable person I know.

It was like pouring a bucket of ice on my head.