I winced. Okay. So it was a big deal. “I know. But she came to fight, and I didn’t want to go there when waiting a few weeks will protect the pack. What could change?”
We were quiet for a second.
“That’s the thing, though. What could change? What is she going to try to do?” I asked.
“She’s going to the Tribunal to make a case stating that I took you from them.”
“Which is kind of true.”
Dastien huffed. “I know. Which is why I wanted to do the ceremony yesterday. You’re pack now, so it’s a bit of a moot point, but she wouldn’t have wanted you to wait if she didn’t have something up her sleeve. I wanted that extra protection.”
I chewed my lip as I thought. “I want to know why she’s doing this.”
“We’ve been over that. She wants you back with the coven.”
“I know. But why?” There had to be a bigger picture, but I wasn’t seeing it. “So she gets me back over there. Then what? Is she really that delusional that she thinks she can convince me to take over? And if she hates wolves so much, why would she even want me? Hello. I go furry and I’d never let her curse me like she did Meredith.”
“She wouldn’t exactly need your permission to curse you.” Dastien cut me off before I could protest. “Okay. If she doesn’t want you to run the coven, then why’s she doing this?”
I backhanded his stomach. “That’s what I’ve been asking.” Damn it. That hurt my hand more than it hurt him. Dastien rubbed his thumb along my skin, soothing the sting. “There’s one more thing I don’t like.”
“Just one more?” He asked.
“When I begged her to save Meredith, she said she’d only help if I stayed at the compound. I didn’t go for it. Even with Meredith’s life on the line. So, what’s she got that’s worse than killing someone I love?”
“Killing lots of someones.”
“War?”
“Yes. War.”
A chill ran through my body, but the question remained the same. “Why, though? I’m not that important.”
Dastien ran his fingers through my hair. He was quiet for a second. “She knows something about you that we don’t. Or she wants to use you somehow.”
He was on to something with that one. “Like what? What could she know? How could she use me?”
“I have no idea, but if she’d risk centuries of peace over this, it’s got to be big.”
I rolled over and pressed my face against his sternum, breathing in his scent. “I’m sorry.”
“For?”
“For the way things went last night. For not fighting for us.”
He ran his fingers through my hair. “It’s never a good idea to fight when it can be avoided.” He tugged on my hair a little until I looked at him. “But I wished we’d gotten to do the ceremony.”
“Me, too.” I pressed my lips gently to his. “Me, too.”
***
Since I still hadn’t fully moved over to Dastien’s cabin, I made my way back to my room to shower and change. And call my parents. They’d want an update.
Mom was shocked about what’d happened. She didn’t trust Luciana at all. It was the whole reason she’d kept me away from the coven growing up. She made me promise to keep her updated before hanging up.
I plopped down on my bed and stared at the ceiling.
This wasn’t how my day was supposed to be going. It wasn’t like we were going to get a honeymoon or anything. We had to stick around for the Tribunal, but I’d been looking forward to relaxing the day away with Dastien. Instead, he was revising his speech, which I should’ve been working on, too, but I couldn’t. The words weren’t there. How many ways could I say ‘leave me and Dastien the fuck alone’?
I dug through my bedside table until I found my red and blue bouncy ball. I threw it against the wall by my tiny window as I thought.
There had to be something more that I could be doing. This was my fault…well, not exactly my fault, but still. I wanted to fix it. I wanted to make this whole situation with Luciana go away.
When I tried to talk to her rationally about the curse she’d put on Meredith, it’d been a disaster. A complete waste of time.
Damn it. Why had I told my cousins we were doing the ceremony? That was so dumb. They’d been so helpful before, I’d just thought they were my friends. They were my family.
A blur of movement caught my eye before the ball was snatched out of the air. “You’re killing me with this.” Meredith wore a pair of pink camo sleep shorts and a tank, and her hair stuck out all crazy.
