Chapter 356

Judy’s POV

Gavin was in the bathroom getting dressed when I entered. I folded my arms across my chest and stared at him. He was wearing a designer suit, and his hair was styled neatly. He looked at me in the mirror as he adjusted his tie.

He knew what I was thinking before I even said anything, but he still sighed and shook his head.

“Judy—”

“I’m coming with you,” I said with such finality that it shocked me.

“This dinner isn’t a courtesy, it’s a summons,” he said, turning to look at me. He was calm, but the muscles in his cheek betrayed him. “If anything smells wrong, I need you nowhere near it.”

“It already smells wrong,” I shot back, folding my arms across my chest. “Which is exactly why I’m not letting you walk into Blackwell territory alone.”

He raised his brows as he stared back at me, and I swear I saw the corner of his lips twitching. Was he finding it amusing? I was losing my mind about having my mate go to the dark regions, and he was finding this funny? He was lucky I loved him, or I would have killed him by now.

I was hurt; he’s been keeping things from me because he doesn’t want to stress me out. But he was lying to me and not telling me the entire truth, stressing me out more than he knew. His blocking his feelings from me was stressing me out. He didn’t understand what that kind of thing did to a mate because it’s been so long since he’s had one.

He wouldn’t have even told me about the dinner with the Blackwells if I hadn’t found the letter in his pocket this morning. Apparently, Beta Taylor arrived last night with a letter that was sent to the packhouse.

He wasn’t even going to tell me about it, which hurt both me and my wolf.

Seeing the expression on my face, softened his features.

“Babe….” He said softly as I stepped closer to him.

“NO more half-truths,” I said before he could say anything else. “No more ‘I’ll be at the office.’ We do this together, or we don’t do it at all.”

“And if it goes bad?” He asked.

“The Blackwells aren’t stupid enough to attack either of us during a simple dinner,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him. “Unless they want a war. You are Alpha Gavin Landry, the strongest Lycan chairman in the world, and you own the largest franchise in the world… even bigger than their empire. Yes, they are powerful and play by their own rules, but hurting either of us would be suicide.”

He knew I was right, and I could see the fight in him wavering. I reached out and laced my fingers with his, trying to get him to see reason. His eyes dropped to our joined hands and then climbed back to my face with something like surrender warming the storm there.

He kissed my knuckles and sighed.

“You’re impossible.”

A smile tipped the corner of my lips.

“But you love me,” I remind him.

His expression softened even more as he wrapped me in his arms, holding me close to him.

“And I always will,” he murmured as he pressed his lips against mine. When the kiss ended, he let out a breath and pressed his forehead against mine as if he needed to breathe my air in order to anchor himself. “Fine. You can come with me. But if I say we leave… we leave. No arguments.”

“No arguments,” I repeated, even though we both knew I’d argue if it meant protecting my mate.

I spent the next hour getting dressed. I decided on a casual black dress; the only one that didn’t make me feel fat, despite Gavin telling me that I don’t look fat, I’m just pregnant. I braided my hair and applied a little makeup. I was never much of a makeup wearer, but something told me I needed to look my absolute best when going to the Blackwell Manor.

I still couldn’t believe we were actually going to the manor this evening. The Blackwells were kind of like an urban legend in the werewolf world. They were heard but never seen. I couldn’t help but feel like we were walking right into their den.

The road to the Blackwell Manor crawled through pines that whispered like gossip, needle tips combing the wind. The closer we drew, the colder the air became, and old cold, the kind that remembers things. Stone walls loomed from the dark at last, not built so much as exhumed, wet with sheen that caught the moon in broken pieces.

The manor rose beyond the gates like a cathedral someone had frightened. Spires stitched the sky. Windows stared too long. Ivy clung like bruise-dark veins. I shivered, and Gavin’s hand found mine, entwining his fingers and giving me a reassuring squeeze.

“Maybe we should have brought security,” I said for not the first time. “Or at least Beta Taylor. He’ll be pissed if he finds out we came here and didn’t tell him.”

The natural territory that the Blackwell Manor was in was about an hour North of our borders. It was a territory outsiders would never dare to wander into.

“The less we bring, the better,” Gavin told me as he put the car in park. “We don’t want to escalate any issues. If they feel trapped, it could cause problems.”

“What about us?” I asked. “What if we feel trapped?”

“We get out.”

I nodded. I was about to push the door open, but Gavin reached for my arm, grabbing it gently.

“You do not leave my side, understood?”

The seriousness in his expression caused my heart to skip a beat, and I nodded.

“Understood,” I repeated softly.

His expression softened, and then he got out of the car, running around to the other side to open the door for me as well. He helped me out of the car, placing his hand on the small of my back, and I shivered.

I stared up at the dark and brooding manor; it was unlike anything I had ever seen before. They weren’t kidding when they said this place was the shadow region; everywhere I looked was shadows, and there was almost like a dark fog that rose from the grounds.

Two footmen in charcoal livery swung the doors inward before we reached them. The entry hall swallowed us whole—black and white marble underfoot, a chandelier of iron thorns overhead, portraits hanging on the walls like a jury. The air smelled faintly of candle soot and a sweeter, stranger note of herb smoke.

“Chairmen Landry,” The butler’s voice was a blade wrapped in velvet as he greeted Gavin. His sharp eyes turned to me. “Miss.”

“Luna,” Gavin corrected.

Buter’s brows raised as he took me in, scanning me head to toe.

“I apologize, I wasn’t aware. There’s been no mention of you taking a Luna.”

“I am not a Luna yet,” I blurted, giving Gavin a look.

Gavin frowned at me.

“You are my mate. Regardless of whether we have done the ceremony yet, you are my Luna.”

My cheeks flushed at his words; the thought of being a Luna had weighed heavily on my mind, but now was not the time to dwell on it.

“Come this way,” the butler said, clearing his throat.

The butler was a tall, lanky man with hair so dark that it was like charcoal. He walked in long strides, his head held high, and his hands clasped together behind his back.

Pictures of the Blackwell family lined the walls, my eyes finding Zachary Blackwell and his wife, Selene. She was gorgeous in the photo with her midnight, silky hair, threaded with a single silver clasp that glinted like a star. Her eyes, a piercing gray with shards of silver, remained sharp as though she was staring at me, even though it was only a photo.

Their sons, Emmet and Noah Blackwell, Noah being the eldest, stood beside the two. Emmet with his smiling face and dimpled cheeks, and Noah with a stern expression as though he had never smiled a day in his life. It's a perfect mix of the two. They were much younger than their current age, so I knew this portrait was an old one.

In Selene’s arms was a little baby that I knew had to be Lila. There was something about the baby that made it hard for me to look away; there was a slight familiarity to her that made my brows furrow. Lila has blonde hair, but this baby looked to have traces of dark hair, though it was hard to tell in this painting.

“First painting after Miss Lila’s birth,” the butler explained, startling me.

I hadn’t realized I had stopped walking or that they were waiting for me. I blinked a few times, getting my bearings straight. Gavin was looking at me with a concerned look on his face.

“Are you okay?” He asked me, keeping his voice low and soothing.

I swallowed.

“Yes, sorry,” I said, glanced at the portrait one last time, the light blue eyes of the baby staring back at me, like a warning.

Pulling my eyes away from the picture, we followed him down a corridor to a pair of doors carved with roses and vines devouring one another. The entire manor gave me an eerie feeling. My heart thudded against my chest, a nervousness clouding me despite Gavin’s presence beside me.

The butler opened the door, stepping inside.

“Alpha, Chairman Landry, and his Luna have arrived,” he announced to an unseen figure.

“Luna?” A deep tone, tinged with an accent, asked. “I had no idea he had taken one.”

“His mate, Sir,” the butler explained.

“I see. Allow them entry.”

The butler stepped aside, letting Gavin and me pass him. A table of black wood carved the space, set with crystal that winked like fangs. A chandelier with candlelight hung in the center, its presence giving the room dimmed lighting.

At the head of the table sat Zachary Blackwell.

His presence hit like cold iron in the blood. Not loud. Not showy. Just… absolute. A man carved from midnight and old oaths. At his right sat Selene Blackwell; the portrait and photos in the corridor did her no justice. She was even more beautiful in person, and my heart thudded rapidly against my chest at the sight of the gorgeous couple.

Emmet also sat at the table beside Lila, who stared at us with a predator's poise, her eyes sharp and unyielding.

And then beside her sat another woman, much older. She was in a wheelchair with snow white hair, and her eyes were fixed on me. My breath caught in my throat at the sight of her, and I had to take a step back.

My eyes had to be deceiving me.

It couldn’t be… could it?

That was the same woman who appeared in my dreams only a night ago. Her words echoed in my head, “Blood calls to blood.”