Chapter 6: At the Family Dinner, Isn't This More Exciting Than That Night?
Elvira's POV
The main hall of Blackpine was blazing with light tonight. I changed into the black gown Caleb had picked out and pinned the moonstone brooch Helena had once given me herself onto my chest. Three years ago, when she fastened it on me with her own hands, she said only the future lady of Blackpine was worthy of touching that moonstone. Back then, I thought it was acceptance. Now I understand — what she called acceptance was nothing more than placing me in a position that was pretty, presentable, and obedient.
When I came downstairs, Caleb was waiting at the entrance to the dining room. He saw the moonstone on my chest, and something shifted in his eyes — like he had finally recovered some familiar sense of control. "You look beautiful," he said. I looked up and smiled just as gently as I always had: "As long as you like it."
He visibly relaxed.
Too bad I hadn't come back tonight to put him at ease.
Several elders were already seated in the dining room. Helena sat at the head of the table, her expression warm and composed, as though Leah's pregnancy, my night at Greystone, and Caleb personally coming to bring me home were nothing more than a harmless little misunderstanding between the younger generation. Caleb's seat was to her right, and the seat to Caleb's right had always been mine for the past three years.
I was just about to walk over when the sound of light footsteps came from the staircase.
Leah had arrived. She was wearing a white dress, one hand resting gently over her abdomen. Helena said warmly, "Sit over there — closer to Caleb, so it's easier for him to look after you."
She was pointing to the seat on Caleb's right. The seat I had occupied for three years.
But Leah put on a show of shyness, glancing toward me with a timid look. "Sister Elvira, thank you for your seat. I just want to be a little closer to the Alpha. I've been getting dizzy lately — it only gets better when I'm near him and can smell his scent."
I looked at her, then looked at Caleb. He said nothing.
I walked around to the other side and sat down, slowly smoothing my napkin. "Go ahead and sit. It's not good for a pregnant woman to stand too long."
Leah said softly, "Thank you, Sister."
I cut into the meat on my plate, the tip of the knife scraping lightly across the porcelain. "Don't mention it. After all, the one in your belly has more right to sit close than I do."
The table fell suddenly silent. Caleb said my name under his breath. "Elvira."
I looked up. "What — did I say something wrong?"
While the servants were bringing out the dishes, the butler came in to announce: "Lord Ashford of Greystone has arrived."
My knife and fork paused for just a moment.
Rhane walked into the dining room. He was wearing a dark gray suit, his tie loosely knotted, looking as unbothered as if tonight were nothing more than an ordinary dinner party. But the moment he stepped through the door, even from across the room, I caught that familiar scent of cold fir — faint, yet clearer to me than all the perfume and red wine filling the air. I didn't know why, but the wolf inside me was always instantly pulled toward Rhane's scent. Taking a proper look at him today — Rhane was actually pretty damn attractive. His brow bone was sharp, his eyes slightly long in shape, his irises a cool, pale brown. When he looked at people, it was always through a kind of haze — detached, with almost no readable emotion. Yet that strikingly handsome face of his made it impossible not to look twice — the high bridge of his nose, the clean line of his lips, the sharp cut of his jaw, the cold and beautiful angles of his profile. Damn it, the wolf inside me was stirring again, especially when I thought back to that night — his bare upper body, the defined muscles, the V-line trailing down his abdomen...
Caleb stood and shook his hand at just the right moment, cutting off my train of thought. "Right on time."
Rhane said flatly, "Blackpine extended such a warm invitation. It wouldn't do to be late."
They stood together the way they had so many times before — composed, familiar, college classmates, northern border allies, friends on the surface. If I hadn't woken up in Rhane's bed just last night, I might almost have believed in the warmth between them.
Rhane's gaze moved past Caleb and landed on me — held for just one second, then shifted away.
Caleb's mother Helena rose on behalf of the Blackpine elders to shake Rhane's hand as well, and arranged for him to be seated directly across from me. The position was both distant and charged — just a stretch of the foot, and you could flirt under the table without anyone being the wiser. God, I must have been reading too many romance novels to be thinking like this. I told myself over and over that last night was just an accident, and I needed to stop dwelling on it. He was Greystone's Alpha. It was a one-night stand. He wasn't about to take a luna Blackpine had thrown away and bring trouble down on his own pack.
Once dinner began, the elders talked about border patrols and the trade routes between Greystone and Blackpine. Caleb held himself together well, and Rhane played along graciously — the two of them laughed and chatted like genuine friends, not a trace of last night anywhere in their manner.
If not for the faint cut at the corner of Rhane's lips that hadn't fully faded, I might almost have admired his performance.
Leah had clearly noticed it too.
She asked quietly, "Lord Ashford, what happened to the corner of your mouth?"
Rhane picked up his wine glass, his tone as level as if he were discussing the weather. "Got bitten."
I nearly sliced into my own hand instead of the steak.
One of the elders laughed. "Even Greystone's Alpha gets bitten? Which wolf was bold enough for that?"
Rhane looked down at the color of the wine in his glass, and a faint smile touched the corner of his lips. "Bold enough, yeah."
I lowered my head and took a sip of water, pretending I hadn't heard a thing. But the next second, something beneath the tablecloth brushed lightly against my ankle.
I looked up. Rhane was listening to Caleb speak, his expression cool, not even the slightest flicker of his eyes in my direction — yet beneath the tablecloth, the toe of his shoe nudged my ankle again. Gentle. Precise. Just like the way he had last night — always stopping right at the point where it was hardest for me to bear, every single time he could have crossed the line.
I pulled my foot back. He didn't follow. He simply picked up the thread of conversation at an unhurried pace. "The salt route can stay as is. But Blackpine has been unstable internally lately — Greystone will need to reassess the risk."
Caleb frowned. "Internally unstable?"
Rhane finally looked at him. "Isn't it?"
The atmosphere went taut again.
Leah quickly dropped her gaze to her soup, as though trying to redirect the conversation on Caleb's behalf — but her eyes drifted to the brooch on my chest. "Sister's brooch is so beautiful," she said, her voice soft. "Lady Helena said only the future mistress of Blackpine is allowed to wear it."
She paused, then hurried to add, "I'm sorry — I didn't mean it like that."
Helena didn't correct her. Neither did Caleb.
I set down my knife and fork and reached up to touch the brooch. "Then you'd better take a good look while you can. After all, you're sitting in the future mistress's seat now — who knows, maybe next time it'll be your turn to wear it."
Leah's face went pale. Caleb said coldly, "That's enough."
I turned to look at him. "I was just following her lead. What are you so protective of?"
Leah immediately reached out and touched his sleeve, her voice thin as a thread. "Caleb, don't fight with Sister because of me. It's all my fault."
Rhane let out a quiet laugh from across the table, and everyone looked over.
Caleb kept his anger in check. "What's funny?"
Rhane set down his wine glass, his gaze moving from the moonstone on my chest to the hand Leah had resting over her abdomen. "Just think Blackpine's rules are interesting. A brooch requires the right status — but a seat, apparently, doesn't."
Leah's eyes went red.
Helena finally spoke. "Lord Ashford, tonight is just a family dinner."
"I know," Rhane said, his tone perfectly even. "That's exactly why I find it interesting."
Caleb's expression had gone as cold as it could get.
After dinner, the elders moved to the side parlor. Before Helena pulled Caleb away, he grabbed my wrist and warned me in a low voice, "Stop provoking Leah."
I pulled my hand back slowly. "Caleb, the thing you should be most worried about right now isn't me provoking her — it's that she'd better stop pushing me."
With that, I picked up my clutch and excused myself to the restroom. The corridor lights were cold and stark. I had just turned the corner when footsteps sounded behind me.
Not Caleb.
That scent of cold fir reached me before the footsteps did.
My heart clenched. Before I could turn around, a hand came over my eyes.
Then a firm arm locked around my neck and turned my head back.
The next second, a burning kiss came down.
Demanding. Taking what it wanted from my body.
God, had this man lost his mind? I wanted to struggle, but my body went soft and I couldn't push him away no matter what.
And the more I struggled, the more worked up this bastard got — like he wanted to swallow me whole.
His other hand reached straight up under my skirt —
My head had already been spinning from the lack of air, and the moment he touched me like that, my whole body began to tremble.
"Still this sensitive," Rhane rasped against my ear. "Do you like it?" The large hand beneath my skirt pressed harder against the most sensitive part of me.
He lowered his head, and his other hand yanked the moonstone brooch from my chest, gripping my pale breast in his palm.
He brought his lips to my ear and murmured, "Isn't this more exciting than that night?"
