One eyebrow lifted, as I processed what father just said. I knew not to question the decision of an alpha, especially in front of another but I couldn't stop the words from escaping my lips. "What point does that make?"
Father's lips pressed into a thin line, the same time Alpha Reuel growled, obviously offended. I didn't give two fucks about what he thought.
From the corner of my eyes, I saw Keyleth checking out some of the castle guards who were—at the time—training on the sand where I and Jason had just fought.
"I don't see any point in answering your question," father took a swig from the glass of wine in his hand. "But if you must know; you'd have to be as old as I am to understand."
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. It was clear he didn't want to move on with the conversation. I wasn't having it, but neither was he.
"So Alpha Loren, did you hear?" Reuel's voice was gruff, his moustache brushing the brim of the glass he lifted to his lips and his obvious displeasure seeming to have dissolved at this news he was about to give.
"And what would that be?" Father appeared relieved with the sudden change of conversation, his fingers twitching over the glass he held in his hand.
"Word has it that the northern pack encountered a bunch of rogues with an elemental at the outskirts of their territory."
The relief on father's face vanished.
"An elemental?" Luna Elena gasped, her hand flying to her chest and Stella's eyes widened slightly.
"Yes Luna. They said he wields the water element." Alpha Reuel sighed, "My apologies. That would be 'wielded', as I'm sure they would've carried on with his execution by now."
Keyleth met my eyes, her warm brown skin glowing in the sunlight. Her attention had been across the dias some minutes ago, but now they were at me—concern evident in her eyes. Father's lips were pressed in a thin line, his eyebrows furrowed slightly. News like these were the sole reason I had to keep the embers in my chest a secret. I was an elemental, my powers having showed themselves early when I was just an infant.
"That's quite unfortunate," father's hand wrapped around the handle of the chair he sat on, strands of his long dark-brown hair coming out of the braids he had them in.
"Unfortunate? It is great news." Alpha Reuel said, astonished. "The rogues have something up their sleeves, it seems. They've gotten more confident, more daring in their attacks. We must act fast to quench whatever ill-minded audacity that has managed to crawl up their pathetic beings."
Father's lips parted, his eyes blank. "I thin–"
Whatever words the alpha of the Valeras pack was about to say was cut off by the sound of a howl, loud enough to sound like a roar. A shiver crawled up my spine, the cool demeanor I held threatening to break.
Both alphas were up in an instant.
Just when I thought my father would descend down the platform, the chief commander of Valeras soldiers sprinted down the yard in his wolf form, towards us.
"Speak Theophilus." Father walked down the steps of the platform till he reached the commander's bowing figure. The wolf shook, its furs whirling around and retreating, as Theophilus shifted. A series of bones cracked and fixed in place, the sound, painful to the ears. Seconds past and the commander of Valeras soldiers was nude, with one of his knees down and his head bowed towards father.
"There seems to be something strange just beyond our borders Alpha," Theophilus said with a sense of urgency, his chest heaved, going up and down, like he'd just ran a thousand miles to get to us.
My hand brushed against the hilt of my sword at my waist as I moved closer to him.
"Rogues?" Father questioned, his eyebrow pulled together as he analyzed the commander. It was barely noticeable but I could see it. The desperate need to get his act together. I had only ever seen Theophilus this way once in my lifetime. He was an excellent warrior, quick to get his murder instinct intact and a wonderful strategist. There was a reason my father had named him commander of the Valeras soldiers.
And then, there was a shift in the air. I felt it again. It was like I was being thrown back to the gray building. The embers thumped in my chest, like a vibration. Over and over again.
I turned to look at father. Had he felt it too? The shift? He appeared unfazed. Alpha Reuel too seemed to not have noticed the second shift in the air.
Father was already issuing commands when I came back to my senses. "Keyleth, escort Luna Elena and her daughter to the throne room. Oliver, you go with them and keep them safe."
The sound of my name snapped my head back to father so quick, I was sure they all heard the sound. "Father no, I want to com—"
"You will do as I say Oliver." His voice made no room for argument. "Ring the bells. Ensure everyone retreats to their homes." Father said to a nearby guard, his tone—a deadly calm.
—
Soon after, I was in the throne room, Keyleth strolling back and forth a single path, her hands clasped behind her back. Her dark hair was unbound, strands of it flying around her as she moved. Luna Elena was seated just at a corner with Stella. She appeared sleepy but struggled to stay awake.
"Brother," Keyleth was suddenly in my face. "I can sense your irritation and annoyance. You need to stay calm."
My fingers unfolded from the fists they were in, tipping my head back against the wall I leaned on. The embers had calmed down, no longer hammering at my chest, just a steady heat coiled beneath my ribs. It was getting difficult to keep them in control, they reacted to everything that happened to me. Some days, I wanted to just let them free. To feel the sparks on my fingertips as I watch my hand engulf in flames. Flames that were mine to control.
But I couldn't do that.
Using the elemental powers made it more difficult to keep them hidden.
Sighing, I flexed my fingers at my side. "It's been hours."
"An hour actually," Keyleth placed her hand on my arm, forcing me to look down at her. "I'm sure everything is fine and it was just something…minor."
"If that's your attempt to keep me from doing something idiotic, then I must tell you what a horrible job you're doing."
"You have always been an idiot." She rolled her eyes, snatching her hand away from my arm it once rested on.
The corner of my lips curved upwards, the usual banter with Keyleth easing off the tension from my shoulders. I felt a sensation at the side of my face and let my eyes drift to find Stella watching me. When she saw that I'd seen her, she averted her gaze quickly, heat crawling up her cheeks.
Well, if I was going to be stuck in a room with three females, I'd rather try to have a conversation with the one I was soon to be bonded to—rather than listen to Keyleth yap and feed ideas of her future adventures to me.
My legs moved on their own towards Stella, taking short but deliberate strides. Just when my lips parted and I prayed to not blurt anything stupid, the door to the throne room kicked open.
Father strode in first, Alpha Reuel of the Skylarron pack right behind him. The alpha of Valeras' expression was grim, his shoulders rigid, lips pressed into a thin line. More strands of hair had fallen loose from the braid at the back of his head.
I was in front of him in an instant. "Father?"
Lines creased his forehead—the kind that appeared only when he was deep in thought, or struggling to make sense of something that refused to be understood.
Finally, his green eyes met mine.
"An abomination," he said quietly. "That was what it was."
"The only reasonable name for it," Alpha Reuel added, the shock of what they had seen, clear in the tightness of his voice.
"I'd like to call it something ancient." A voice sounded from the entrance of the throne room. Deep and oddly familiar.
That heavy presence I'd felt earlier, the second shift in the air hit me hard again, making my knees almost buckle. My head snapped towards the entrance to notice a figure in all black, his hair dark like midnight with strands of it falling into his face. His eyes, a golden brown glinting from where he stood.
My eyes traced the lines of his face—and all the color drained from mine.
It was him.
The alpha from the gray building.