Chapter 128

Theodore’s POV

Shit.

All the hope in this scheme I’d gained from my small manipulations of Eva vanished at Tyron’s astute observation. I would have to play this very carefully.

Calmly, I took my time sitting down on the couch across from Tyron and Helene. Remembering their child we’d met when they hosted me and Violet in their territory, I smiled sweetly at Helene. “And where is your precious, little one today?”

Tyron answered for her. “With her mother. Don’t avoid what I said.”

I folded my hands in my lap, hoping they couldn’t tell I was stalling. Strategy was Violet’s strength, not mine.

“Tyron, my friend, I know this is a big adjustment, and everyone loves Alpha Donovan. Even though she is no longer my Luna, I couldn’t possibly deny that she is a charismatic and amiable leader. There is a reason I fell for her in the first place, after all.”

I leaned into the kernels of truth I fed them to bear the load of all the lies.

“So I understand how disappointing it might be to know that her future relations with Midnight will be purely professional and political instead of personal. However, I’m sure she would be more than happy to host you in Darkmoon. You need not worry about losing either of us as friends.”

Helene’s smile faded, her face still and observing. Tyron, on the other hand, gaped openly.

“You cannot possibly be serious,” he said, his voice not as quiet as he had started. “Even I can feel that whatever is between you and Eva is shaky at best. There is no way that strong bond you have with Violet is suddenly gone.”

“Of course the bond between me and Eva is shaky,” I responded. “It’s still so new. It needs time to stabilize.”

“And you’re really okay just letting Violet go?” Tyron challenged.

Never. I would never let her go. And it pained me beyond words to not yell it now for all the world to hear.

“Yes,” was all I could manage.

“Bullshit,” he responded at a level that surely everyone in the house had heard. Even Helene placed a warning hand on her husband’s arm. He didn’t seem to notice as he stared me down.

I was growing impatient and running out of ideas to convince him that Eva was truly my new mate. “What’s it to you? Is your territory economically dependent on my matehood with Violet?”

Alpha Donovan, I corrected internally. I should only be calling her by her formal title in public now that she wasn’t my Luna, but her name had just slipped out.

Tyron scoffed at my questions, his volume increasing still. “You think this doesn’t affect me? I likened your bond with Violet to mine with Helene.”

His wife interlaced their fingers as he bellowed the rest. “If a bond as impenetrable as yours,” his gaze flitted to the shattered band on my forehead, “could be disrupted by someone else popping into your life, who’s to say that couldn’t happen to any of the rest of us?”

I opened my mouth without knowing what to say, but he cut me off before I made a sound. He was yelling, the entire house undoubtedly able to hear him.

“But beyond how it impacts me, I’m your friend, Theodore,” he echoed the term of endearment I had used for him earlier. “I know when something is wrong, and I will not be told that I’m misunderstanding the situation when I know I am not!”

This was getting out of hand, so I made a split-second decision that I hoped wouldn’t come back to bite me.

Standing, I raised my voice even louder than his, ensuring that the entire household would equally hear me, though I kept my tone even. “You are a guest in this house, and you will lower your voice.”

Then I strode over to the double doors of the sitting room to close off this room from the rest of the house. Just before I closed the doors all the way, Dahlia popped her head down the stairs. I gave her a look of reassurance that all was well and a nod to let her know I wanted privacy.

She nodded once in understanding, disappearing back up the stairs as I shut the doors.

Then I turned around to face my friends again, rubbing at my temples as I whispered in frustration. “You are going to blow my cover, Tyron.”

His eyes widened at my words and Helene smiled next to him. I returned to my seat across from them.

“I knew it!” he exclaimed, and when I glared at him, he lowered his voice to a whisper. “What is going on, Theodore?”

So I explained all of it. How Eva was a false mate. How Violet and I were playing along to unmask the mastermind behind the scheme.

When they asked if we had any theories as to who would do such a thing, I hesitated. “To answer your question truthfully would make you accomplices to treason.” The statement told them exactly who we suspected without technically making them accomplices yet.

Their eyes widened in understanding, and they did not ask any follow up questions on the matter.

Helene sighed. “I’m both disturbed and relieved – though the relief may be selfish. It’s good to know our mate bonds are not as fragile as your situation made them seem.”

“And I’m relieved to know my instinct hasn’t led me astray yet!” Tyron added, still whispering. “The more you denied your bond with Violet, the more I worried that I couldn’t trust my own senses.”

“Besides,” Helene looped her arm with her husband’s, “you and Violet are so right together. Your union brings hope to this world and joy to your friends who want to see you both happy.”

I smiled genuinely, relaxing for the first time since my shower with Violet three days ago. It meant so much to have friends I could trust. Friends, I didn’t forget, that I wouldn’t have if it weren’t for my alari.

“So,” Tyron smiled mischievously, “now that we’re in cahoots, what can we do to help?”

My mind reeled, completely lost at what help to ask for when there wasn’t even a fully formed plan yet. But before I could express my uncertainty or my gratitude, we were interrupted by a knock at the front door.

My first, lovesick thought was of Violet – that it was her at the door having already somehow found a solution that brought us back together. But my fantasizing was cut short by the sound of footsteps thundering down the stairs.

Wanting to see for myself what was going on, I opened the sitting room doors to find one of Eva’s “friends” opening the front door like he owned the place. I also noticed Dahlia at the top of the stairs glaring down at him, as if she had tried and failed to keep him from doing just this.

From the front porch, a familiar voice floated in through the front door that the man who was surely Owen’s spy held open. “Delivery for Alpha Nightshade.” I stepped forward to look over the spy’s shoulder, confirming the voice belonged to whom I thought it did.

And that’s how Violet’s cousin, Bennett, a man of magic from across the border where magic still ran free, came to stand before a spy for the king who had outlawed magic in our lands on pain of death.