The She-wolf He Noticed

LENA POV

Aunt Celeste was my father's younger sister and one of the few people in Silvercrest who had never treated me like a bargaining piece.

After mating into another northern pack, she had spent years away from Silvercrest territory, but whenever she returned to her birth pack, she always made time for me.

When I was little, I used to tell her things I couldn't tell my parents. On my way here, I had even thought about telling her about Ethan's petition.

Not everything, but enough to ask whether there was another way out.

One of the maids told me Aunt Celeste was resting in a private sitting room near Grandmother's wing. I followed the corridor and was about to knock when I heard voices inside.

"Every suitable woman Evelyn suggested," an unfamiliar woman was saying. "He refused all of them."

I stopped.

Aunt Celeste sighed. "Julian has never been easy to persuade."

My hand remained near the door. Julian?

The other woman continued. "That wasn't the strange part. There was one he actually noticed. He asked who she was, which was more interest than he'd shown in anyone for years."

"And then?"

"Nothing. He left for the northern border before anything could be arranged. When he returned, he refused to discuss the matter again."

Aunt Celeste was quiet for a moment.

"Was she from Silvercrest?"

My heartbeat slowed.

"Yes."

"Do you know which pack bloodline?"

"I do."

The answer came too quickly.

Aunt Celeste lowered her voice, forcing me to lean slightly closer.

"Then why not approach them now?"

"Because the woman is no longer available, and bringing it up would only irritate him. Rosalind tried once. He made it very clear that the matter was finished."

I straightened.

Standing outside a door, listening to the details of Julian's past mating bonds, was certainly not how I had planned to spend Grandmother's birthday celebration.

I knocked.

The conversation stopped immediately.

Aunt Celeste opened the door, and surprise crossed her face before she smiled.

"Lena."

She pulled me into a brief embrace. "Come in."

Another she-wolf sat beside the window, elegant and silver-haired, with the same pale gold eyes I'd noticed in several wolves of Julian's bloodline.

Aunt Celeste gestured toward her.

"You've met Lady Rosalind Locke before, haven't you?"

I hadn't.

I greeted her properly. "Lady Locke."

Julian's paternal aunt studied me for so long that I began wondering whether something was wrong with my dress. Then her gaze dropped to the red necklace around my throat.

The expression on her face changed a little, but I noticed it.

"So you're Lena Somers."

Something about the way she said my name made Sera shift.

"Yes."

Lady Rosalind looked at Aunt Celeste, who suddenly seemed more interested in her tea than in their conversation.

I sat beside my aunt.

"I heard you were here and wanted to greet you before the celebration became too crowded."

Aunt Celeste took my hand. Her smile softened, but then she looked properly at my face.

"What happened to your cheek?"

I should have known she would notice.

"It's nothing."

"Lena." She called.

"A disagreement at Shadowfang."

Her eyes narrowed. "With Ethan?"

"No."

I could feel Lady Rosalind watching me.

I had come here thinking I might tell Aunt Celeste the truth about the petition, but with Julian's aunt sitting only a few feet away, the words stayed where they were.

Aunt Celeste squeezed my fingers. "Is Ethan treating you well?"

For a moment, I considered lying.

Then I remembered the petition hidden inside his desk, Luma standing over me while her warriors held my arms, and Madam Wynne asking whether I was still Shadowfang's Luna.

"He's treating me exactly as he chooses to," I said.

Aunt Celeste's expression tightened.

It wasn't an answer, but it was enough.

She lowered her voice. "Mating bonds between powerful pack bloodlines are rarely simple. Whatever is happening between you and Ethan, don't let your anger decide your next move. Think carefully about what will protect you and secure your place in the pack in the long run."

I almost smiled at the irony.

Thinking carefully was the only reason I hadn't torn Ethan's petition in half and thrown it in his face.

"I am thinking."

Lady Rosalind finally spoke. "I imagine you are."

I looked at her.

There was something strange in her expression. It wasn't pity exactly. She looked more like she was comparing the woman sitting in front of her to something she already knew.

Her gaze returned to my necklace. "That's a beautiful stone."

My fingers touched it automatically. "It was a gift."

"So I assumed." Shd nodded.

Sera became alert.

Before I could ask what she meant, a maid entered.

"Luna Lena, Alpha Somers is asking for you in the main hall. His Majesty has requested that you join them."

Aunt Celeste looked at me, and Lady Rosalind did the same.

Neither of them said anything, and their silence made me even more uncomfortable.

I stood. "Excuse me."

As I reached the door, Lady Rosalind spoke again. "Lena."

I turned.

She studied my face for another second before giving me a small, almost amused smile.

"Nothing, ho. You shouldn't keep Julian waiting."

Not His Majesty, but Julian?

I left the room with Sera unusually restless beneath my skin.

'She knows something,' Sera said.

I glanced back at the closed door.

'I know.'

But what troubled me most was the possibility that Lady Rosalind knew something about the Silvercrest woman Julian had once noticed.

And judging by the way she had looked at me, I was beginning to fear that the woman wasn't a stranger at all.