Luna of Mine (20 page)

“
H
ow many in Vasile’s pack have
expressed to you their concern regarding the Alpha pair’s death?”
Emilian asked the group that sat before him. He had sent out his
most trusted pack mates that were in agreement that the Eastern
Romania pack needed new blood, as well as new leadership. They were
tired of being the lower ranking wolves in their own pack and
willing to do what was necessary to ensure they moved up in their
world.

“
So far
we’ve got about seven-to-ten wolves per village that are willing to
voice their opinion out loud,” Ivan answered. “I have a feeling
that there are more who believe that the deaths were suspicious but
do not want to say anything against their Alpha.”

Emilian nodded. “The more
submissive wolves will not speak up. We must seek out the more
dominant ones.”

“How goes the search for
the bodies?” Marian asked.

The Western Romania pack
Beta growled. “Too slow for my own liking. I have no idea where
that mongrel buried his parents.”

“
Must we
have the bodies?” Izabela, Ivan’s mate, asked.

“
We
cannot just go around accusing the Alpha of the Eastern Romania
pack of something as grotesque as this without proof,” Emilian said
as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Do you think his pack will
listen to us after we have desecrated the graves of their beloved
Alpha and his mate?” Izabela’s brow rose. “There will be many who
care not what you find because they will be so blinded by their
anger over the atrocity that you were willing to
commit.”

“
Once
they get past the shock of it, they will realize the greater
atrocity is that they were lied to by their Alpha for centuries,
and their son has continued that deception. The greater evil will
win out. Betrayal from me is expected; betrayal from their own will
be enough to wipe out what I did.”

“And if it is not?” Her
eyes narrowed on him.

“
Then I
suppose I had better kill Vasile quickly so that it matters not
about their anger. The one who defeats an Alpha takes his place. I
do not care how we get to the outcome just so long as it is the
same―the Lupei dynasty crumbling down around the last heir of their
bloodline.” Emilian clapped his hands together as he stood
prompting the others to stand as well. “Now the time for talk is
over. Tonight we go hunting and we will not stop until we have the
bodies of the dead Alphas.”

Romani
an Proverb #11

Pui migdale în nasul
porcului si el spune cã e o ghindã.

Honey is not for the ass'
mouth.

“
M
ay I speak with you?”

Vasile looked up from his
desk to see his third standing in the door of his office. He
motioned for Ion to enter. It was the first person he had seen in
more than a week not because they did not seek him out but because
he had commanded that no one was to disturb him. Nine days ago he
had awoken in the middle of the night gasping for breath and
sweating as though he had been running through the very depths of
hell as a sense of loss engulfed him. His first reaction had been
to reach for her but she wanted space and he wanted to give it to
her. He had felt her reaching through their bond, and several times
he had nearly responded, but the selfish part in him, the part was
hurt by her words, kept him from doing so. More and more he had
sought out solitude, needing the quiet undisturbed time to consider
all the things that needed to be done to help restore his pack to a
thriving, healthy one. And even with all of that time, he was still
unable to concentrate long enough to come up with a plan that did
not include running back to his mate and taking her for his own.
Needless to say, as his third walked in, he was not greeted with a
warm welcome.

“
There
are rumors that someone in the Western pack is stirring up trouble
in the villages,” Ion began without preamble. He was not one for
small talk, and that was something Vasile had always appreciated
about him.

“What kind of trouble?”
Vasile asked.

“They are questioning the
events of the Alpha’s deaths. They think something is
amiss.”

Vasile tossed down the
parchment he had been looking over and stood from his chair. He
rubbed his eyes and then pinched the bridge of his nose trying to
will away the headache that had been beating the inside of his
skull like a relentless drum. When he finally looked back up at Ion
his brow drew together as he saw the concerned look on his
face.

“
Are you
alright, Alpha?” Ion asked him.

“
Aside
from dealing with my parents' death and the mess my father left the
pack in, I am as good as can be expected.”

Ion took a deep breath
seeming to consider whether or not he should ask the next
questions. “What of your mate? How are you handling the
separation?”

“
My
mate?” Vasile’s eyes narrowed. “She is fine. Why, have you heard
something?” He was suddenly a lot more alert as he considered the
idea that something had happened to her. He was sure he would have
felt her panic, and just as he started to open the bond, Ion
answered.

“
No,
nothing has happened. But being separated from your mate is
difficult, especially when you haven’t completed the bonding
ceremony.”

Vasile let out a resigned
sigh. He knew by the look in Ion’s eyes that he was not going to
let it go. “I am having trouble concentrating.”

“
Perhaps, you should go visit her,” he
suggested.

Vasile shook his head. “I
have things that need to be taken care of here and she is with her
family. She is safe.”

“
She may
be safe, Alpha, but being safe and being well are not the same
thing.”

Before Vasile could
respond his office door flew open, the sound of the solid wood
bouncing off of the stone wall reverberated across the room as Nicu
and Alin rushed in. Both warriors’ eyes were wide, and slightly
wild.

“What is going on?” Vasile
asked. It was then that he heard the mounting rumble of a crowd and
then yells beyond his window. He turned to go and look out but
stopped at the sound of Nicu’s voice.

“
Do not
look, Alpha.”

The anguish in the
warrior’s voice held Vasile’s attention.

“Why
not?”

Alin was looking anywhere
but at his face, and Nicu’s jaw was clenched so tight that Vasile
was sure it would shatter at any moment.

“
Answer
me!” he snarled.

It was Ion who spoke
through clenched teeth, his voice deep and rough. “They have your
parent’s bodies.” Ion had made his way over to the window while
Vasile had been questioning Nicu and was staring out at the
described scene.

Vasile’s head snapped
around and he moved using the speed of his wolf to the window. His
heart stopped in his chest as his eyes took in the mob, and in the
middle, lying in the caskets they had been buried in, were his
parents.

The temperature of the
room seem to drop several degrees as Vasile’s voice crooned out in
the calm, contained fury he was known for. “Anyone who was the
least bit involved with this is sentenced to death.”

A
lina jumped as the door to the small cottage flew open and
then slammed. Her father stormed in growling and muttering under
his breath about stupid, high strung males.

“
Is
everything alright?” she asked him as she stood from the chair
where she had been mending one of Serghei’s shirts.

Petre’s eyes snapped up to
meet hers and widened slightly realizing that he had an audience.
Alina took a step towards him and could smell the anger, fear, and
worry flowing off of him.

“
What
has happened?” she asked and even as the question left her lips she
felt a twinge of anxiety. But when she tried to reach for where it
originated, it dissipated like fog rising as the cool morning air
warmed.

“It is not anything you
need to concern yourself with,” he told her in that infuriatingly
placating tone that set her teeth on edge.

“
I am
not a child, Father; you do not have to protect me from all the bad
things in this world,” she bit out.

“
I know
you are a child no longer, Alina, but I will always do everything
in my power to protect you. That is what a parent does.” When he
saw that she was not going to be swayed, he let out a deep breath.
“There are some males from our village that are joining with other
males from other villages in our pack to go listen to some lies
regarding the former Alpha’s deaths. Emilian, the Beta of the
Western Romanian pack, supposedly has proof that Stefan had been
lying to our pack for centuries.”

Her thoughts immediately
jumped to Vasile and the things he had shared with her about his
parents. If what her father was saying was true, then there was
definitely need to worry. Was he safe? Were they going to do
something to him? She wanted to ask him, but she had given up
reaching out to him. She had accepted that for now, at least, he
wanted the space she had so foolishly requested. “What kind of
proof? And why? Why would they accuse someone who is already dead
and gone?”

“
I do
not know. Serghei would not say. As for why…well, ambition will
make a man do many things. If Emilian is the one behind this, then
it means he is looking to be Alpha. If they have proof that
Vasile’s parents were not honest with the pack, then the pack will
not trust him to lead.”

Alina’s eyes narrowed
dangerously. “Serghei is a part of these fools? Why on earth would
he want Vasile overthrown?”

P
etre watched his daughter closely for any reaction to
Vasile’s name but she did not bat an eye. She had not talked about
him for months now, and he could tell from the tired look in her
eyes that he was still keeping the bond shut tight. It had been
nine days since Georgeta petitioned the fae, and despite seeing his
daughter in pain, he agreed with Perizada’s decision. It was not
wise to interfere with fate, and Vasile and Alina were fated for
one another. As much as he did not want his daughter to hurt, he
wanted her more to grow and mature. Unfortunately, more often than
not, pain was a part of that process.

He watched as her brow
furrowed even lower, and he could tell that she knew something that
she was not sharing. He hated seeing the weight of so much on her
shoulders and missed the easy going smile that use to be so readily
given. But Alina was going to have to learn to be tough if she was
going to be mated to someone such as Vasile―a wolf who held so much
dominance, power, and strength. Maybe this experience would prepare
her for the many trials she was sure to face as an Alpha
female.

“
Serghei
is young and easily swayed by the excitement,” he
reasoned.

“
You
sound like you are describing a puppy rather than a grown man,” she
shot back.

He wanted to freeze time
in that moment, to hold it still, so that he could treasure the
flash of anger in her stormy, grey eyes and the tightening of her
lips that betrayed the emotion that never seemed to show on her
beautiful face. He had hated seeing her hurt when Vasile had closed
their bond, and it had made him appreciate her spirit that he, at
one time, found utterly tireless. “Whatever proof this Beta claims
to have is probably a farse, and all of those who chose to follow
him will realize they were fooled.”

She nodded, which was her
usual form of communication. Petre watched her walk to the door
struggling to think of anything more to engage her. She pulled the
door open and looked over her shoulder at him. “I am meeting Sisily
by the river for a little while. I will be back for supper.” Then
she was gone along with their fleeting moment of
reconnection.

A
lina stepped around the side of the cottage into the cover of
shadows and the forest. She pressed her back against the rough bark
of a tree and closed her eyes as the last rays of the sun slowly
began to fade. The lingering warmth did nothing to thaw the cold
inside of her. She imagined she could stand within touching
distance of the sun and never feel warm. Vasile had explained to
her just how dangerous things would get it the pack found out that
his parents had not been true mates. The trust that had been so
severely damaged in Stefan’s last decade or so as Alpha was
bleeding over into Vasile’s reign. If someone had indeed discovered
that Vasile’s parents were not true mates, things were about to get
a whole lot worse. She wished she could be there for him―wished she
could lend him her strength and encouragement. Perhaps he did not
need her. Maybe she would only serve to be a distraction during a
time in which he would need all of his wits about him. She was sure
his top wolves would protect him, not that he would ever accept
protection from another. He was a dominant among dominants after
all, but nonetheless she had a feeling those wolves would give
their lives for him whether he wanted them to or not.