Chapter 4 Do it
LENA POV
My claws began to extend before I forced them back.
‘Let me out.’
‘No.’
Sera snarled beneath my skin, furious enough that I could feel her pressing against every part of my control.
Fighting would give Luma exactly what she wanted.
These were Bloodmoon warriors standing inside Shadowfang Pack House. If I injured even one of them, Luma could twist the entire situation into an attack against her father’s pack. With Ethan already preparing to dissolve our ceremonial mating bond, I knew how easily the story could be turned against me.
The warriors forced me onto my knees.
Pain shot through my legs when they struck the floor, but the humiliation burned worse. I looked toward Madam Wynne.
She did not move.
That hurt more than I expected.
Not because I had ever believed she cared about me. Madam Wynne had made her feelings clear long ago.
But I was still Shadowfang’s Luna.
Bloodmoon warriors had entered her son’s territory, put their hands on his Luna, and forced me onto my knees inside his own packhouse.
Ethan’s mother was willing to stand there and watch.
I turned back to Luma. “Tell your warriors to release me.”
She gave me a small smile. “Or what?”
I lifted my chin despite the hands gripping my shoulders. “Or you remember that you are Alpha Felona’s daughter, not Shadowfang’s Luna.”
Her smile disappeared.
“Lena,” Madam Wynne warned.
I almost laughed.
So she had found her voice after all.
Luma stepped closer until her expensive perfume filled my nose. Beneath the sweetness was that strange metallic scent Sera had noticed before.
“You seem very concerned about authority for a she-wolf whose own mate is trying to strip hers away.”
Her words hurt, just as she had intended, but I refused to give her the satisfaction of seeing it.
“Trying?” I repeated, putting emphasis on the word.
Her expression immediately hardened, that single word was enough to upset her.
Whatever Ethan had promised her, whatever future Luma had already imagined for herself, I still carried the title she wanted.
At least for now.
Luma glanced toward Madam Wynne, but Ethan’s mother simply looked away, pretending not to notice what was happening.
It was a small reaction, but both Luma and I noticed it.
That was when I realized that no one in this house had any intention of stopping Luma from doing whatever she wanted.
Luma turned toward her Delta. “Twenty strikes across the face.”
My blood went cold.
For a moment, I thought I had heard her incorrectly.
“Twenty?”
The Delta stepped forward and began rolling up her sleeve.
Sera slammed against my control. ‘Shift.’
‘No.’
‘She wants to hurt us.’
‘I know.’
My claws threatened to break through again, but I curled my fingers into my palms.
Luma was watching me too closely.
Waiting.
She wanted me to lose control. If I shifted and attacked her Delta, she would leave Shadowfang with exactly the story she needed. Four Bloodmoon warriors, her Delta, and Madam Wynne could all claim that Shadowfang’s Luna had attacked Alpha Felona’s daughter and her escort without reason.
By sunset, the truth would no longer matter.
I stopped struggling, making Luma narrow her eyes. She wanted me frightened enough to beg, but I refused to give her that satisfaction.
If she intended to use one moment of self-defense as an excuse to humiliate me, then she would have to do it while I looked directly at her.
“Do it.”
The Delta hesitated.
Then, her palm struck my face.
My head snapped sideways.
Pain exploded across my cheek and spread toward my ear in a hot wave. For several seconds, I tasted blood where my teeth had caught the inside of my mouth.
Sera roared.
‘She hit us!’
‘I know.’
‘Lena!’
My claws began to emerge, but I forced them back. Even Madam Wynne flinched at the sight.
I slowly turned my face forward again.
My cheek burned, and my eyes had watered from the force of the strike, but I kept my gaze fixed on Luma.
The Delta raised her hand for the second blow.
“Enough.” Her palm stopped in the air.
I turned to Luma, expecting her to look pleased, but instead, she seemed irritated.
Perhaps she had imagined me crying before the second strike. Maybe she had expected me to plead with her or call for Ethan.
I had done neither.
“I’ve already wasted enough of my morning,” Luma snapped. “I’ll tell Ethan he can continue from where I stopped.”
The warriors released me.
I rose carefully because my knees had begun to ache, but I refused to touch my swollen cheek while Luma was still watching.
She turned toward the entrance.
Madam Wynne hurried after her. “Luma, please don’t misunderstand what happened last night. Ethan was drunk. Lena taking him upstairs meant nothing.”
Luma did not even turn around.
I watched the Bloodmoon wolves leave.
Their vehicles disappeared beyond the gates before Madam Wynne finally faced me.
“Useless girl.”
I stared at her.
“You couldn’t let her see Ethan without creating a scene?”
“She was trying to enter my bedroom.”
“To see Ethan.”
“My mate.”
Madam Wynne’s mouth tightened. “Don’t start that again. Luma came because she was worried about him. You could have stepped aside and avoided all of this.”
A bitter laugh almost escaped me. “So I should have allowed my mate’s lover into my bedroom?”
“Lower your voice.”
“Why? Everyone already knows.”
Her gaze darted toward the servants. “You never know when to stop.”
A Bloodmoon Delta had just struck Shadowfang’s Luna inside Shadowfang Pack House, yet somehow my mouth remained the greatest problem in the room.
“She pushed me first.”
“And you grabbed her wrist. She is Alpha Felona’s daughter.”
“And I am Shadowfang’s Luna.”
Madam Wynne went still, and then her eyes dropped to my bare wrist. “Are you?”
The question cut deeper than the slap.
“You removed your mating ring. You stopped using your scent blocker while His Majesty was in Shadowfang Territory. Then Luma arrived and smelled another male around you.”
“I didn’t sleep with Julian.”
“That isn’t the point.”
Of course it wasn’t.
Ethan could parade Luma around Shadowfang and quietly prepare to sever our ceremonial bond, but the moment I removed a ring, I became the disgrace.
Madam Wynne moved closer.
“Do you understand how important Bloodmoon’s support is to Shadowfang? I spent twenty years watching stronger packs look down on the Yanceys. Alpha Felona’s support can put Ethan among wolves who would never have given him a seat at their table before.”
That was what mattered to her. Not loyalty or concern for Shadowfang Pack, but her own status.
“So that is why you stood there while his daughter humiliated me.”
Something flickered across her face before she hardened it again.
“Next time Luma wants to see Ethan, you let her. Stop embarrassing Shadowfang because you are jealous.”
Jealous.
I lowered my gaze, afraid my anger would make me say something I might regret.
Madam Wynne took it as a sign that I was giving in, but I let her believe that.
She had no idea how much I knew about her spending.
The gowns she had bought using Shadowfang Pack's household funds and recorded as official expenses, the jewelry deposits hidden under supplier names, and the unexplained withdrawals she had personally approved.
I had noticed every single one of them but had chosen to remain silent.
Until now, I had been too busy trying to survive this pack quietly. I had thought keeping peace would protect what little position I still had.
I was beginning to understand that silence did not mean weakness.
It could also mean patience.
One day, Madam Wynne would discover that the she-wolf she treated like a useless burden had been keeping a careful mental ledger all along.
When she finally returned to her quarters, still muttering about the headache I had given her, Amelia hurried toward me.
“Luna!”
Her face fell the moment she saw my cheek. “Moon Goddess. It’s already swelling.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not.” She reached toward me, then stopped before touching the injury. “Please come upstairs. I’ll bring ice before Alpha Ethan wakes. If he sees your face…”
“He’ll probably ask whether Luma hurt her hand.”
Amelia fell silent as I gently touched my cheek. The skin still burned beneath my fingers.
“No ice. Just have a car ready,” I instructed.
Amelia raised her eyebrows in surprise.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
I turned toward the entrance Luma had just walked through.
“To see His Majesty.”
But I was not going there to cry in front of Julian and ask him to save me.
Luma had brought Bloodmoon warriors into another Alpha’s territory, forced Shadowfang’s Luna onto her knees, and ordered her Delta to strike me while Madam Wynne stood by.
That was more than humiliation.
It was proof that Bloodmoon had already become far too comfortable inside Shadowfang.
If Julian wanted information from me, then I could give him something useful.
And if I was going to ask for his help, I would make sure I had something to offer in return.
I was done approaching powerful wolves empty-handed.
Julian was staying at a private estate on the northern side of Shadowfang Territory.
Whenever the Supreme Lycan visited, the grounds came under temporary Lycan control, and his guards secured every entrance.
Amelia had found out that Julian usually went riding after his morning meetings, and I hoped he would do the same today.
When the car stopped near the public entrance, I asked the driver to wait and continued on foot.
I had covered my swollen cheek with a scarf, but once I was out of the guards’ sight, I removed it.
The cold air brushed against my sore cheek.
‘So we’re displaying our injuries now?’ Sera asked.
‘Evidence,’ I corrected.
She went quiet.
Without my scent blocker, my natural scent of vanilla and wild berries spread into the air.
Sera understood that too.
‘You want him to know we’re here.’
‘Yes.’
I continued down the trail until several wooden posts appeared between the trees.
A warning sign stood beside them:
PRIVATE LYCAN TERRITORY.
AUTHORIZED ACCESS ONLY.
I stopped.
Years ago, I had stood before a similar warning at Rubis Garden.
Back then, I did not know who Julian was.
He had caught me trespassing and asked whether I always ignored territorial warnings. I had told him only when they kept me from the prettier parts of a garden.
Julian had remembered that encounter when we spoke last night.
I looked at the warning sign once more before deliberately stepping past it.
This time, I knew exactly what I was doing.
I had not gone far when Sera suddenly became alert. ‘He’s here.’
I stopped. ‘How do you know?’
She did not answer.
Then I heard hoofbeats.
A massive black horse emerged between the trees, with Julian seated in the saddle. He wore a dark riding coat, his sleeves pushed slightly above his wrists.
Julian's golden eyes immediately met mine.
I felt that strange pull in my chest again, while Sera suddenly went quiet inside me.
His eyes moved over me before stopping on my swollen cheek.
The moment he noticed it, his relaxed expression disappeared.
