Chapter 30
Elena’s POV
“Well, Harvey, dear, what qualifications does this human have?”
“My name is Elena.” I interject as firmly as my voice allows. My soul trembles with a mixture of pain and fury. “It is nice to meet you, Queen.”
“Ah, I see. She is brave.” King Harvey’s mother turns to face me now, staring me full in the face.
Looking back at her in silence, I see she has King Harvey’s brown eyes and nose. Her light brown hair flows behind her freely, long, and soft.
“Mother.” King Harvey begins after he clears his throat. “You are to be kind to Elena.”
“As your mother, I can act as I please. I never believed you would mate with a human.”
King Harvey exhales. “We are not mated yet.”
“Oh!” King Harvey’s mother brightens up, her eyes shining like the moon. “Good, go pick a worthy werewolf woman.”
“King Harvey, I-!”
King Harvey’s mother interrupts me by pressing her taloned finger to my lips. I have no choice but to remain silent, the claw on her pointer finger brushes the tip of my nose.
“She is only human, Harvey. These creatures are not remarkable.”
The fire in my soul has been quelled and turned to ash and sorrow. I look up at King Harvey whose face remains unreadable.
“What is wrong with her being human?” King Harvey towers a few inches above his mother.
His mother laughs. “Your children would be half-breeds! Don’t tell me you have forgotten how weak werewolves have been treated in the past!”
“I am the leader of this pack; it will not happen under my watch.” King Harvey replies firmly.
His mother laughs again, coldly. “They will laugh at you.”
“Matters not, Mother. I was betrayed.” King Harvey hits back just as cold. “Our children would not. There is nothing wrong with Elena.”
King Harvey’s mother suddenly moves to me and runs her hands through my hair, each time her claws bump into my skull.
I know this is done to intimidate me. When she tries to do it once more, King Harvey grabs her wrists and pulls her away from me.
“There was nothing wrong with you, Harvey! Your children, your wife, is the problem!”
King Harvey exhales loudly then growls. I watch the claws on his balled hands expand, and the power radiating off his back hits me in hot waves.
Why did King Harvey not say something?!
“What did I do?!” I scream, losing all composure.
“Elena, you threatened Jane. You have made her Beta father stressed greatly. A Beta that helps us with our fellow werewolves in the North! This has hurt your father and I deeply! Let’s not forget your human blood, Elena.”
“…Jane threatened me. I can’t control being born human, Queen. Forgive me for that transgression.” I hiss through my clenched teeth.
“Jane doesn’t sp- “
“Mother!” King Harvey exclaims. “Enough! Jane has threatened Elena and her sister Emily. I have a whole collection of witnesses through the school, not to mention I took her to the nurse myself.”
King Harvey’s mother gasps. “I was told it was Beta Tom.”
“No, mother. I tend to my wife. As for Jane, kindness has been extended, she will be rehabilitated. Her father is still being watched. I will handle the issues with the North.” King Harvey stares his mother down mutely now.
His mother runs her hand through her hair messily. “She is still human, King Harvey.”
“My morals are his exactly.” I snarl.
She spins on her heel and glares at me. “Is that so? Raise the children with pride, teach them to hunt and kill, divide the lands, send them to war if needed? Weak half humans?”
“…Queen, humans are also your people. There is no way to deny that you can’t live without use, we are valuable.” I spit.
King Harvey’s mother tilts her head to the side and laughs icily, each sound sounding like cracking glass. The two sharp fangs that pop out her upper lip and slender but knife sharp.
“You do have the heart of a wolf, Elena… I will grant you that much. What evidence do you have that Jane tried to hurt you?”
“Your son’s words are not enough for you? What a mother!” I huff back.
King Harvey’s mother lets out a howl that shatters the circular window of King Harvey’s study.
“Elena, go to your room.”
“King Harvey, I really think that I should stay.” I say as firmly as I can.
“No, Elena, go to your room. Now.” King Harvey demands, and it is the same tone I have heard him use with Betas.
I do not feel respected.
“King Harvey!” I exclaim as he picks me up over his shoulder and throws me on the bed in my room.
The door slams behind me and I am speechless.
I hear King Harvey and his mother speaking, but their furious words make no sense.
A few moments later, the door opens and closes to my room and King Harvey bends over to look me in the eyes.
“What the hell are you doing, Elena?!” King Harvey roars at me, his eyes silver, and fangs full.
“You did not defend me! I am your mate, right?!” I yell back. “You have left me alone and unprotected!”
King Harvey rocks back on his heels and stands at full height. “Did I not stand in front of you? I protected you with my body!”
“The brave King Harvey remained silent as she yelled at me!”
“Were you not in that room? She was about to kill you! Why do you believe I stood in front of you!” King Harvey yells back. “I put myself in front of you!”
“She yelled at me!” I yell back, wishing I could punch something.
King Harvey turns to me with a lurid grin. “…which is worse, Elena? I thought you would be used to that bullshit by now!”
I hold back a scream of frustration by exhaling so heavily I feel that my lungs will deflate.
“I am used to the bullshit, King Harvey! I am also used to you protecting me!!”
“Elena,” King Harvey’s jaw hardly moves as he speaks through his fangs. “I protected you!! She would have killed you! A few words are not worth your life!”
“It is all the same! I am hurt! You are not my husband!”
King Harvey’s eyes now morph to be completely silver and shine so hypnotically I can’t look away. A low vibration makes it past his lips as he reaches out and squeezes my jaw in one of his massive hands.
He picks me up with one hand and dangles me above him. “Repeat that, Elena.”
His cold words hold no threat, and his hand applies no pressure to me whatsoever.
I am speechless, staring down at him.
His arms are covered in brown fur.
I don’t dare open my mouth to speak. I have nothing to say to him.
Wordlessly, he lets me go and turns away. The door slams behind him.
