"I have spent years learning to live with the beast inside me. Some days, I wonder which of us is in control."
— Alpha Orin
009.
"So... what you are trying to tell me," Orin fixed Magnus with an icy glare, "is that Bruce gave me his daughter in exchange for the debt he owed me? And not just any daughter, the one the pack tagged as a reject? What does he take me for? A fool?"
Magnus leaned forward and took a deep breath. He knew Orin was pissed, and he didn’t want to piss him off further.
If he were any other person, he knew he wouldn’t even be seated here, trying to defend himself while also convincing the raging Alpha that Seyra was actually a good choice since he couldn’t bring Astrid. His head would have been taken off his neck before he even opened his mouth.
"Alpha," he called softly. "I understand you, but you do know human commodities are actually valuable. Especially if you’re planning to sell her later."
Orin raised an eyebrow.
Magnus cleared his throat. "I mean, she looked different. That was why I took her. She has silver hair—a kind no one in Harlow Hades has ever seen before. Think about it. You could display her in front of the packs coming to visit for the hunt festival next moon." Magnus smiled when he saw that Orin was actually considering it. "You have a rare treasure, Alpha."
Orin crossed his legs and picked up a glass of wine. He swirled it, his lips curving into a smirk.
"I see." He took a sip. "You seem to forget, Magnus. Things like that do not move me, and even if that were to happen, it doesn’t stop the fact that Bruce disrespected me. He would have to pay for it."
Magnus’s smile faded. "Yes, Alpha. Of course he would."
Orin leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping slowly against the armrest.
He wasn’t angry about the girl. He was angry that Bruce thought he could give him something he didn’t see as valuable. No one would wake up one morning, and sell their daughter off to pay a debt.
He might be heartless, but he knew that much.
"But killing the girl would be a waste." Orin muttered.
Magnus’s eyes flickered.
There it was.
An opening.
"Exactly, Alpha."
Orin’s eyes narrowed. "Don’t sound so relieved."
Magnus immediately lowered his gaze. "I apologize."
"As you should."
Magnus swallowed.
He had no affection for Seyra. If anything, he had spent years wishing she would disappear from his sight. She was an embarrassment to the pack, a constant reminder that Bruce had somehow managed to produce a daughter who possessed neither beauty nor a respectable wolf.
But Astrid was different.
Astrid was his son’s mate.
Astrid was the future Lady Royal.
And if Orin decided to punish Bruce for sending him Seyra, there was a chance that punishment would reach Astrid too.
Magnus couldn’t allow that. This was the same reason why he had lied that the Alpha wanted one of Bruce’s daughters as collateral.
He knew Bruce wouldn’t bear to bring Astrid. And Seyra—he was certain that even if the Alpha didn’t kill her here, there were so many other ways she could lose her life in the palace.
And with her weak wolf? She wouldn’t even last for long.
"Alpha," he said carefully, "perhaps there is another way to make Bruce pay for his disrespect."
Orin raised an eyebrow.
"I’m listening."
"Keep the girl."
Orin’s expression remained unreadable. He was about to say he never said he wasn’t keeping her, but he was oddly delighted by watching Magnus make a fool of himself.
"She was given to you as payment for his debt. If you return her, Bruce gets to believe he can insult you and still walk away with what he wants."
Orin’s fingers stopped tapping.
Magnus continued. "But if you keep her, the debt remains settled. Bruce loses a daughter, and you lose nothing."
A slow smirk appeared on Orin’s lips.
The same daughter who had mentioned that her family didn’t care if they lost her?
He studied Magnus. Was Magnus playing around with him? Or was he just oblivious?
Still, he decided to play along.
"You’re asking me to keep something I never wanted," he said lightly, taking another sip of his wine.
"Something you could still make use of."
Orin stared at him.
Magnus cleared his throat. "Think about the hunt festival. Using her as a display won’t only make our pack more popular, but also more powerful."
Orin massaged his forehead.
"Fine, but that doesn’t mean I have forgiven Bruce." He stood to his feet. "I will not be insulted. One way or another, Bruce will still pay that debt. And as for his daughter..." His thoughts drifted to the frail-looking girl, who somehow was too honest for her own good. "She stays here."
Magnus sighed but nodded. At least, Seyra was out of the picture.
"As you wish, Alpha."
"You can leave."
Magnus stood to his feet, bowed, and walked out.
When Magnus was out, Orin let out a deep breath. He walked to his window and stood there, staring outside as his thoughts traveled back to the silver-haired she-wolf.
Seyra.
Ever since she left, he hadn’t been able to get her off his mind. There was something about her that unsettled him.
He’d already caught her scent before he met her outside with that guard. It had reached him the moment she stepped into the corridor.
At first, he thought it was the scent of the flowers growing around the palace.
Something sweet.
Something faint.
But then it grew stronger.
He’d followed it until he realized it was coming from her.
Orin had never smelled anything like it before.
It was a strange combination of wild jasmine and something warmer underneath it, almost like vanilla, with a faint sweetness he couldn’t quite place.
It shouldn’t have been appealing to him. Yet it was.
And that annoyed him.
He had encountered thousands of she-wolves in his lifetime. He knew what they smelled like. He knew the difference between an ordinary scent and one enhanced by attraction.
Seyra’s wasn’t either.
It was simply... different.
He had caught it again when she entered his chambers.
And when she looked up at him.
Orin closed his eyes.
For some reason, he could still remember the exact moment their eyes met. The exact moment he stared into her golden hazel eyes. That strange sensation had moved through his body before he could stop it.
His wolf had gone completely still.
His wolf had never been still around anyone.
He opened his eyes and looked out through the window again.
"Who is she?" he muttered.
He didn’t know yet, but somewhere in the back of his mind, he already knew one thing.
Seyra was not as ordinary as everyone believed.
And he intended to find out why. Because if his wolf, who was always thirsty for blood, could stay still when their eyes met, then there was something about her he needed to figure out.
Speaking of which, why wasn’t she here for her morning duty yet? He’d asked the head maid to assign her to his personal quarters.
He mind-linked the head guard, asking why his maid wasn’t there yet.
The head guard rushed into his chambers immediately and went down on one knee with a fist to the ground.
"Alpha, she is currently being punished..."
The head guard’s words hung in the air.
Orin’s grip tightened around the glass in his hand, hard enough that the crystal groaned in protest.
"Punished?" he repeated slowly, like the word tasted wrong in his mouth. "By whose order?"
"Head Maid Ophelia, Alpha. Thirty lashes. For—"
"I didn’t ask for the reason." Orin’s voice had dropped, quiet in a way that was somehow worse than shouting. "I asked who gave the order to touch what belongs to me."
The guard’s eyes widened. He hadn’t expected him to say it like that. Neither had Orin, apparently, judging by the flicker of surprise that crossed his own face before he buried it.
The glass in his hand shattered.
Blood welled up from his palm, but Orin didn’t seem to notice. His wolf, the one that had gone eerily still the moment he looked into her eyes, was no longer still.
It was awake. And it was furious.
"Take me to her," he said. "Now."