Chapter 37

Silver’s POV

“So, everything got cleared up?” Rebecca asked on the phone, disbelief evident in her voice. It’s been a couple of days since our interview on the Merida Ryder show, and since we talked about our misunderstanding concerning the hotel room incident. I hadn’t had a chance to speak to my best friend about any of this though because we’ve both been so busy these last couple of days.

“Yeah, I think so,” I told her, taking a deep breath and running my fingers through my hair lazily. “Beta Leo and a couple of the pack gammas did some investigating and found that Shirley put aphrodisiac in his drink. Such despicable behavior.”

“And they let her off the hook?” Rebecca gasped. I could only imagine what her face must look like right now.

“Yes,” I muttered. “Because she’s a strong Alpha and an ally to the Crown pack. Elliot said he’s only doing what’s best for his pack. He said sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do for the greater good of our pack. I’m not sure how keeping Shirley around is for the greater good of our pack, but whatever.”

“That sucks,” Rebecca muttered, and I could practically hear the scowl in her tone. “It’s not fair that she gets off easy and you got shunned for days after a slight misunderstanding.”

I honestly hadn’t thought about it like that but now that I was, a ping of hurt surfaced in my chest and I had to rub the sore spot with a deep frown.

“I just don’t want to argue with him about it,” I murmured. “I’m sick of arguing and being upset.

Rebecca sighed, but she didn’t say anything more on the matter.

“Oh, I forgot to mention. I signed a contract with Hope’s Gallery yesterday. Elliot set up a meeting with his lawyer and we went over everything. I gave Mr. Wilson the manager of the gallery the contract this morning.”

“Oh, my goddess, Silver! That’s incredible. I’m so proud of you. You are a rising star and soon you’ll be even bigger than Stella.”

I chuckled.

“I doubt that, but I love your faith in me.”

She said something else as well, but I tuned her out when I heard a knock on my studio door.

“Rebecca, can I call you back later? Someone is at the door.”

“You better call me back later,” she told me. “We need to set up a time to hang out. I want to meet your new friends.”

“I’ll definitely make that happen.”

“Bye, girl,” she said.

“Bye,” I replied and then I pressed the end call button.

I still had a smile on my lips from that phone call when I opened the door. I stared surprised at Elliot who hovered over me. I wasn’t used to him knocking; lately, he’s been barging into my studio whenever he wanted. So, for him to knock, it was certainly something different.

“Why are you knocking?” I asked him, my voice teasing.

He frowned and glanced around.

“Because this is your private studio,” he told me as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

A smile tugged at the corner of my lips.

“Yeah, but you never knock.”

He ran his fingers through his hair and gave me a sheepish, almost awkward look.

“I promised you a private studio off limits to everyone and I haven’t really given that to you because I walk in without knocking. I wanted to change that,” he admitted.

I laughed at his awkward demeanor.

“I admit, it bothered me at first, but it doesn’t bother me anymore. I mean, you are my husband. We should have secret rooms from one another Contract husband or not,” I told him, shrugging.

He opened his mouth to say something, but then he shut it. I raised my brows at him, trying to figure him out, but it was proving difficult. He was locking his emotions uptight, and I didn’t like that.

“I want to take you somewhere,” he finally said, taking me by surprise.

“Where?” I asked him, my brows furrowed together.

He smirked and offered me his arm.

“I’ll tell you in the car.”

Even as we got into the car and drove away from the palace, he still didn’t tell me where we were going. I was surprised when we left the pack territory and started to drive on the highway. Even then, he still didn’t tell me where we were going.

An hour later, I was fed up with the silence and I demanded to know what he was taking me.

A smile twitched at the corner of his lips.

“I’m taking you to see my sister.”

My mouth dropped open.

“Excuse me, you’re what?” I asked him, my brows knitting together.

“I’m taking you to see my sister,” he repeated.

“Why would you do that?” It sounded a lot ruder than I meant it and I hated myself for that. But he didn’t flinch or take offense by my tone, it only caused his smile to widen.

“Because she might be able to help you. Or at least give you some information.”

“Help me how?”

He was quiet for a moment, and then he countered my question with a question of his own.

“What do you know about my sister?”

“Not much other than what others tell me,” I confessed. “You never speak to me about your family, so I kind of have to pick up the pieces from everyone else.”

“I assumed everyone knew about my family. Even those outside of my pack,” he told me, shrugging one shoulder.

I nodded and bit my lower lip.

“My family made it difficult for me to keep up with life outside of our pack,” I confessed.

He nodded thoughtfully.

“Well, my sister is the High Priestess of the Moon Goddess. She can see the past and future. Her power is incredible. She travels around the world often to help those in need. She mainly lives a couple of hours away from our pack though. She stays there when she’s not traveling.”

“I see, and you are taking me to her because why?” I asked.

“After the last full moon, when he transformed during the banquet, I spent a lot of time researching your condition,” he admitted.

My eyes grew large.

“You did? I asked. “Why?”

“Because I want to help you overcome whatever is happening to you. I want you to be able to live a normal life and not worry about others. I don’t want what happened during the last banquet to happen again. I guess I’ve been a little preoccupied these last few days trying to figure out how to help you.”

“That’s why you’ve been so busy at work? Because you were trying to figure out how to help me?”

He nodded, not even bothering to deny it.

“Why would you do that for me?” I found myself asking.

“I already told you—”

“I know you say you are doing it to help me. But why? Is it because I embarrassed you?” I asked him.

“No, of course not. But as the Luna of my pack, you need to be under control, and I have to make sure you aren’t a danger to the pack.”

His words hurt and I flinched like he had slapped me. I bit my lower lip and stared down at my hands as I fiddled with my fingers awkwardly.

“I don’t mean to upset you. But I’m the Alpha and my duty is to protect each of my packmates, including you. I want to make sure you are safe, Silver. I want to help you.”

I nodded, understanding what he was saying, but I still felt that sting in my chest that just wouldn’t go away.

“And you think your sister can help?” I finally asked.

“Yes,” he answered. “I think she might be able to shed some light on things. I contacted her and she told me the date on which she would be returning home. So yeah…”

I nodded.

“I get it,” I told him, still chewing on my lower lip.

The rest of the ride was filled with silence; we finally reached her house, and I had a nervous pit in the middle of my stomach. I was meeting Elliot’s sister for the first time. This felt huge.

“Are you close to your sister?” I found myself asking as we got out of the car.

“We used to be,” he told me. “But life happens, and we drifted apart.”

“I’m sorry,” I told him with sincerity.

“She’s certainly not as bad as your sister.”

I laughed at that and nodded.

“Nobody is as bad as my sister,” I agreed.

He took my arm and guided me to the front door. His sister lived in a cute cottage in the forest just outside of a small town. He knocked on the door and we waited with bated breath for someone to answer the door.

When I heard the lock on the door unlatching and it opened slightly, I found myself taking a step back and practically hiding behind Elliot.

A gorgeous woman stood at the doorway; she wore brightly colored robes and jewels, looking like a gypsy. Her figure was slender and yet curvy in all the right places. Her skin was tanned like she had just gotten back from the beach. Her long brown hair was braided down her back and entwined with different flowers. She didn’t wear any makeup, but she didn’t need any to be beautiful; she was naturally gorgeous.

She also had an insane resemblance to Elliot. She was literally the girl version of him.

“Elliot,” she greeted, rushing toward him and wrapping her arms around him. “It’s been so long.”

“Charlotte,” he greeted in return.

He pulled away and took hold of my hand.

“This is my wife, Silver. The woman I told you about.”