The Invitation

Lena Pov

Silvercrest Pack House stood against a wooded hillside, its pale stone walls decorated with silver banners for Grandmother's birthday. By the time we arrived the following afternoon, expensive cars filled the driveway, and guests from several neighbouring packs were already entering the main residence.

Madam Wynne stared through the window. "All these people came for one birthday?"

"Mother," Ethan warned quietly.

I turned toward the window before she saw my smile.

When the driver opened my door, Ethan's attention shifted to the necklace at my throat. He had been staring at it since I came downstairs that morning, but he'd waited until now to ask.

"Where did you get that?"

"A gift."

"From whom?" He asked.

"We're already late." I replied instead.

His hand closed around my wrist before I could step out, and Sera immediately pushed forward beneath my skin. I lowered my gaze to his fingers until he released me.

"Your family already thinks they're above mine," he said quietly. "Don't give them another reason to embarrass me today."

Ethan was always confident in Shadowfang, but whenever he came to Silvercrest, he seemed uneasy.

I stepped out without answering.

My father stood near the entrance greeting guests, and his expression changed the moment he noticed Madam Wynne behind us.

"I wasn't aware there would be three of you."

Madam Wynne smiled as though she'd received a personal invitation. "Family doesn't need invitations."

My father's face became impressively blank.

Before he could respond, Ethan stepped forward. "Alpha Somers, I have good news. His Majesty will be attending today."

My father's entire attention sharpened. "What?"

He added "I invited him personally."

I said nothing, but my father's gaze immediately moved to me and narrowed slightly. He knew me too well.

My mother appeared before he could question me, and unlike Ethan, she noticed my cheek immediately.

"Lena, what happened?"

"It's already handled."

My father heard that. "Handled by whom?"

I was saved from answering when a disturbance near the gates silenced several conversations around us.

Silvercrest guards straightened as a line of black vehicles entered the estate.

Sera suddenly rose inside me.

'He's here.'

The strange awareness I'd felt in Julian's territory returned beneath my ribs before the first vehicle had even stopped.

Ethan quickly adjusted his jacket while Madam Wynne smiled with obvious pride.

"I told you," she whispered. "He came because of Ethan."

Two Lycan guards stepped from the first vehicle before the rear door of the second opened.

Julian emerged wearing a black suit with the silver Lycan crest at his collar. The conversations around us died almost immediately, and every Alpha close to the entrance lowered his head.

Ethan moved quickly to stand beside my father.

"Your Majesty."

Julian acknowledged him briefly before his gaze moved past him and found me.

Sera went completely still.

His eyes dropped to the dark red stone resting against my throat, and the corner of his mouth lifted slightly.

It lasted barely a second, but Ethan saw it too.

Julian walked past him and stopped directly in front of me.

"Red suits you better," he said quietly.

Heat climbed into my face.

Before I could answer, Grandmother's voice came from the entrance. "Are you going to leave His Majesty standing outside, Lena?"

I turned to find her at the top of the steps, watching Julian and me with far too much interest.

I stepped aside. "Of course not."

Julian greeted her and wished her a happy birthday before one of his guards presented the gift he'd brought.

Ethan took the opportunity to move closer.

"Your Majesty, I'm glad my invitation reached you."

Julian looked at him. "Your invitation?"

The question wiped some of the confidence from Ethan's face.

"I mentioned the celebration to your people yesterday."

Julian's gaze shifted toward me before he answered. "Lena had already invited me."

The silence that followed wasn't particularly long, but it was long enough for Madam Wynne's expression to change.

My father looked at me differently too.

Ethan's eyes narrowed. "She did?"

Julian didn't bother answering him.

Grandmother smiled instead. "Then it seems we have Lena to thank for bringing such an honored guest to Silvercrest."

That was probably the nicest thing anyone in my family had said about me in months.

As Grandmother led Julian toward the entrance, he slowed beside me.

"The cheek looks better," he murmured.

I looked up at him, but he had already continued walking as though he'd said nothing.

Ethan stopped beside me almost immediately. "When did you invite him?"

"Yesterday."

"Where?"

I adjusted the necklace Julian had sent me and met my mate's eyes.

For once, Ethan was the one looking for answers, and I saw no reason to make things easy for him.

"Does it matter?"

I walked into Silvercrest before he could ask another question.

LENA POV

The effect of Julian's arrival spread through Silvercrest before he had even reached the main hall.

Guests who had been moving freely through the entrance suddenly slowed, their voices dropping as word passed from one group to another.

The Supreme Lycan had come to Grandmother Somers's birthday, and by the time I followed him inside, half the people near the doorway were already trying to work out why.

Madam Wynne, however, had no doubts at all.

"My son invited him," she told a woman beside her. "Ethan spoke to His Majesty personally."

The woman smiled politely, but her eyes flicked toward me before she moved away.

I kept walking.

Julian had already been escorted toward the front of the reception hall, where Grandmother and my father were receiving him. Even among several Alphas, he stood out without trying. He wasn't louder than anyone else, and he didn't demand attention, yet the wolves around him seemed instinctively aware of where he was.

Sera was too.

She had been quiet since he entered the estate, but I could feel her attention fixed on him beneath my skin.

'Stop staring,' I told her.

'I'm not the one staring.'

I immediately looked away.

Beside me, Madam Wynne was still studying the hall. Silvercrest's main residence was larger than Shadowfang's packhouse, and almost every important family in the surrounding territories had sent someone for Grandmother's birthday. She tried not to look impressed, but her eyes kept moving from the chandeliers to the silver pack banners and then toward the guests gathered around the long reception room.

At the inner entrance, one of Silvercrest's attendants stepped in front of her.

"Your invitation, please."

Madam Wynne blinked. "I'm with my son."

The attendant checked Ethan's invitation before looking back at her. "The invitation is for Alpha Yancey and Luna Lena."

Her face changed immediately. "I'm his mother."

"I'm sorry, Madam, but this is a private family celebration."

Ethan looked uncomfortable. "Lena."

Of course.

I moved closer and lowered my voice to the attendant. "She's with me. Please add her to my party."

He hesitated only briefly before stepping aside.

Madam Wynne entered with a dissatisfied huff. "Your family makes everything unnecessarily difficult."

I looked at her. "You weren't invited."

She ignored that and immediately noticed a group of women wearing council pins. Within seconds, she was heading toward them.

Ethan was no better. He had already found Julian across the room and was watching the wolves gathered around him with obvious interest.

"I'm going to greet His Majesty properly," he said.

"You already did."

"This is different."

I understood what he meant. Several powerful Alphas and council representatives were gathered around Julian, and Ethan wanted to be seen among them.

He adjusted his jacket and walked away before I could respond.

For a moment, I watched Ethan work his way toward Julian's circle. He greeted two council representatives he barely knew and positioned himself close enough to be included if Julian turned his way.

But Julian didn't. Instead, he continued talking with my father and an Alpha from the western territories, while Ethan stood nearby, waiting for a chance to join the conversation and smiling whenever someone looked his way.

A year ago, I might have felt embarrassed for him, but today, I saw things differently. Ethan had spent the entire morning telling me how much Julian respected him, yet here he was, standing just a few feet away, waiting for Julian to acknowledge him.

Meanwhile, his mother was already busy introducing herself to people across the room.

Neither of them had even bothered to ask about Grandmother.

I almost laughed at that before turning away. There was someone else I wanted to see.