Betrayed by his Luna

What to do?

*Bryant*

"I order no one to disturb me," I command the servant outside my library just before I close the door behind me and lock it.

I need to prowl, and that's exactly what I do, weaving through the library, struggling not to remember the sight of Madelyn taking a seat at my breakfast table, just as I had imagined before we were married. The scene was an idealized version of marital bliss… to have company at every meal. To look up from my paper to see her sitting there. To catch only a hint of her sweet fragrance.

I will have to find another residence for her while she is here in London. I can't have her in my house. She would drive me mad with her nearness.

She is nothing like any of the she-wolves I have ever been with. Even Anne. For as much as I enjoyed her company, she is nothing at all like Madelyn. When she walks into the room, she brings with her an icy chill. Madelyn brings warmth.

It's incredible, my reaction confusing. I want to be rid of her. I will be rid of her. As soon as her sister is betrothed.

I march over to my desk, take my seat, dip my pen in the inkwell, and begin to scrawl the name of every eligible Alpha and beta I know.

*Madelyn*

Following breakfast, I stand at the window in my bedchamber and gaze out on the lush greenery. How often have I done the same thing at the country pack house? He exiled me there, and forbade me to come to London. He is doing the same now… exiling me, banishing me from his company.

I will have to face London without him. Sighing heavily, I wonder where Blake is when I need him. I asked Barkley when I stopped by his residence last night looking for Bryant, only to learn he now has his own residence. Barkley told me that he had word Blake was in India. He showed me on a globe in his library exactly where his brother might be. It seems so dreadfully far away.

I am on my own here, but then I have been that way for three years. Blake did not come to see me before he embarked on his adventures, nor has he written. Whether it was fear for my safety or fear of his brother's wrath, I don't know. Nor does it really matter. It could have been any of a hundred reasons. He is a soldier now, with more important matters to deal with.

The mating Season would go so much better for Beth if Bryant was at my side. And I have to admit it would be much easier for me as well. Only then would I have any hope of putting rumors about my mate’s romantic escapades to rest. Besides, I don't want him with other she-wolves while I am here. I no longer want it when I am in the country either.

I spoke true last night. I want to be his mate. I want children. I want respectability. I don't want people snickering about me and my inability to hold my mates interest. I have kept my knees clamped together as he ordered. I am damned well ready to unclamp them.

I think.

I still yearn for what I had three years ago… to know him before he came to my bed. Is that too much to ask? I know so little about him, and he no doubt knows even less about me. Why can't we have a courtship?

But a more nagging question is: If he doesn't want me, who does he want? And can I offer any sort of competition? Where do I even begin?

The only person in London who could possibly counsel me is Bryant's mother, and she isn't happy with me either.

I march across the room and yank on the bellpull. My life is in a sad state of affairs because I have chosen retreat over confrontation. I'm not going to make that mistake again.

In spite of the queasiness in my stomach, I am determined to call on the princess and ask for help.