Chapter 6

I spoke, mild. "Sable Calloway picked that one first. She wants it for her Marking. Rose is only a consort. She shouldn't overstep."

Adrian saw me and Sable. His face slipped, then hardened. "It's only a gown. No need to quarrel. Miss Calloway, Rose is not Bonding in on the same day as you. And whatever color she wears, she's still only a consort. She cannot outshine you. Why split hairs?"

Crack. Sable slapped Adrian across the face before anyone could move. "A wolf like you makes me sick. Siring a bastard before you're Bonded. Putting your concubine over your Luna. And now telling me in my face that a consort will walk in crimson. You think Calloway Pack is dead?"

"This Bond is off." She turned and walked out without looking back.

Word that Rose and Sable had fought in the Silk Market over a Marking gown was all over the Capital by evening. Back at Calloway Manor, Sable was shouting and crying for the Bond to be dissolved.

Margaret heard, and nearly choked on her rage. When Adrian and Rose walked into the Manor, she let out a roar. "On your knees, you snake."

"A consort — who dared send you to buy a Luna's crimson Mating gown? Who dared let you fight the future Luna in public?"

Rose sank to her knees in the courtyard and didn't dare speak.

I played peacemaker. "Mother, Rose just gave the Pack its firstborn grandson. Let your anger settle."

That only made her angrier. "A bastard firstborn, that's the root of it all. Why do you think she refused us? Rose, you think bearing one pup makes you something? Thorne Pack has never been short on pups. A bastard son and you're floating?"

"Take her. Ten lashes. Let's see if she learns not to fight her Luna."

I stepped in quickly. "Mother, Sable is still hot. She's young. It comes fast and it goes fast. Why not send Rose herself to Calloway Manor to apologize? It might cool her. The Bond might be saved."

Rose shrieked, "I won't go. She's not going to humiliate me. Future Luna, how cruel of you. You just want to watch me lose face."

"A Luna who can't even tolerate her mate's consort has no Luna's grace. A jealous mate like that — any Alpha could Sever the Bond."

I watched her keep digging her own grave. Margaret's face was grey-purple. I let my eyes fill. "Mother, Sable and I get along. I tried to help, to talk Rose into going, and look how she answers me. It's my own fault for caring."

Margaret patted my hand. "I know you're a good She-Wolf. Don't waste breath on that rag."

Then she turned to Rose, cold. "Don't want to apologize? Fine. You haven't been claimed yet. Leave this Manor tomorrow morning. Thorne Pack has no use for something like you."

Rose went, in the end, and knelt at Calloway Manor's gate the whole day. By the time Sable agreed to see her, she was blue with cold. Sable stood over her and sneered. "Rose. You think you're someone? These Bloom House tricks — they're nothing to a high-Pack She-Wolf like me."

"Your bloodline makes you nothing, and you tried to cross me. Remember this. I will Bond into Thorne Pack. I will be your Luna. You will kneel at my feet for the rest of your days."

"Oh — and I've already spoken to the Thorne Luna. The moment I Bond in, I will personally raise your pup. I am his true Luna, after all. Don't worry. I'll treat him well. He'll call me Mother."

Rose's eyes went bloodshot. "You wouldn't dare. He is my son."

Sable laughed. "A true Luna raising the Pack's pups is the law of nature. And with your Bloom House past, letting you raise a pup would shame Thorne Pack. The Thorne Luna has already agreed."

"A few more days and I'll be in Thorne Manor. Your pup will be mine. And when I bear one, your son can serve at his feet. What are you going to do about it?"

Rose came back to the Manor the color of ash. That night she sobbed to Adrian. "That Sable is poison. You can't let her take my son."

Adrian laughed. "She's blowing smoke. Caleb is the firstborn grandson. She won't dare touch him. Her pup will be the trueborn Alpha Heir. Caleb is a bastard, yes, but he's my son. I'll see he's taken care of."

Every word — bastard, trueborn — cut her.

I watched Rose drift around the Manor in a daze, holding Caleb in the gardens for hours. Adrian was too busy with the Marking arrangements to comfort her. I couldn't help laughing. In the last life they were inseparable. Now Adrian had lost his Heir's seat over her, and was scrambling to use his next mate's Pack to claw back influence.

My own mate Rhys was doing splendid work, and the Alpha King favored him. Father said the Alpha King had praised him openly more than once, said he was a wolf worth grooming, said Thorne Pack's future would shine under him.

On Edmund's birth moon, the Alpha King sent gifts, saying the Heir had done well, and the Alpha had raised his son rightly. After that, Edmund and Margaret looked at Rhys and me with open delight. And they looked at Adrian and Rose and felt sick.