Chapter 177

Grace

Sunlight, pale and hesitant, crept through the curtains, rousing me from sleep. I hadn’t dreamed, but I wouldn’t have called it an easy sleep. The warmth made it hard to open my eyes, anchoring me in sleep, but when Charles stirred, I couldn’t help it. The scent of blood was a lot fainter, almost gone now. Something buzzed. He turned over and slipped out of bed. I frowned, cracking my eyes open a little further. What time was it? He stretched tall and brought the phone to his ear.

“What’s happened?” He asked, stepping away from the bed. He padded barefoot to the balcony, and the floorboards creaked as he moved. His voice was a low murmur. He didn’t open the curtains fully. He cracked the door open and slipped out, not closing it behind him. He spoke so softly that I couldn’t make out much of what he was saying, but why had he stepped out? He probably just thought I was sleeping.

I thought back to when Devin would get calls at random times. He’d just leave the room. He didn’t do much to be quiet either, but if I hadn’t been awake already, I don’t know that I would have woken up to Charles getting out of bed.

I shifted in bed, drawing his pillow closer and straining my hearing. I couldn’t make out the words, but his tone was low and guarded, authoritative. He had to be talking to a Lycan Enforcer. My mind immediately jumped to the Duncan Pack. Had something happened after the delivery? Maybe they were heading back. I sat up, trying to hear more, but the conversation ended soon after. Charles let out a frustrated growl. A few more moments passed before he slipped back into the room. His features weren't etched with the grim seriousness I expected. Instead, a simmering frustration turned his expression hard and dark. He ran a hand through his hair; the gesture was followed by a low growl rumbling in his chest.

“Is everything okay?”

Was there something going on with his mate? Maybe Lycan divorce was harder than I ever imagined. “I’m sorry for waking you.”

“You didn’t,” I smiled, drawing my knees to my chest as he settled on the edge of the bed. “Well, you did, but even if you had just gotten up to pee, I would have woken up.”

He smiled. “You’re getting more sensitive to temperature too. Interesting.”

I frowned. “What’s that mean?”

He tilted his head. “Lycan senses, all of them, are more sensitive than werewolf senses, but that doesn’t mean we can’t handle extreme heat and cold.”

He looked at me. “Generally, our ability to moderate our body temperature makes it easier to deal with changes in temperature, but that comes with a sensitivity.”

He reached out, and it was so odd. I could feel myself getting cooler almost as his hand grew closer. His lips twitched.

“Your lycan abilities are surfacing… Probably because you’re eating properly now.”

I winced. “All that delicious food.”

He nodded. “No Shake and Bake.”

My face heated. “Eason told you.”

“I found a box of it in the cabinet and had no idea why anyone would eat it. Eason explained it and helped me donate most of your old pantry to charity.”

I frowned. “I thought… Well, I thought you could eat our food.”

“I can,” he said. “It just does nothing for me, or you for that matter.”

He sighed. “But, you’ll figure that out sooner rather than later. Eason’s streaking ahead since he had just a leg up in the first place, but I have a feeling you’ll start noticing more changes sooner rather than later.”

I hummed. “Are my boobs going to get perkier?”

He threw his head back and laughed. I pouted. “I’m serious!”

“Darling, if your boobs were any perkier, they’d be in your throat.”

I wasn’t sure whether to be offended or flattered.

He chuckled and reached out, taking a firm grip on my thigh.

“You’ll put on some more muscle, for sure,” he said. “Your clothes are probably going to get bigger on you.”

I blinked. “I’m going to lose weight the more I eat? You’re lying.”

He grinned. “I guess we’ll see, won’t we?”

He kissed my hand and got up. “To answer your question, no. The Elders are playing at undermining my authority.”

I frowned. “The Elders are…”

“They’re much like the Senate, made up of former and older chiefs. All of them are meant to be older than me and serve as council.” He huffed. “Honestly, they’re mostly just a group of old, terrified bastards afraid of change and playing at trying to control me.”

I nodded. “I can see how that would be irritating.”

He snorted, opening his closet. “Most recently, they’ve started playing war games with the vampires. Putting their pups up to try and disrupt the hard-won peace we’ve had with them.”

He shook his head, shifting through his clothes. The anger in his voice was raw and unfiltered.

“Those bastards have no idea what sort of hell they could have unleashed if their little plan had gone through.”

I bit my lip. My stomach flipped, and my heart raced. I'd seen Charles frustrated, exasperated even, but rarely did he let his true rage show. The situation must be truly dire to evoke such a reaction.

“What happened?”

"They set a group of young, easily recognized lycans to infiltrate and attack the vampire capital in a bid to sabotage all the hard work and diplomacy my father and I spent years building…”

I blinked. I didn’t know much about vampires, but hadn’t he said that Astarte was married to a vampire?

“What about… Astarte?”

His lips twitched. “While she would defend my honor, she wouldn’t get involved. High Vampyr Lucian was involved in the attack, so it’s him I’ll have to deal with.”

He set his jaw. “As much as I wish that I could wash my hands of this and condemn the attackers to death and treason, it’s… complicated.”

I sucked my lip between my teeth. “Why? If you can say.”

He glanced at me, hesitating. “… The only survivor of the attack is a young lycan I’ve known since he was a child.”

He shook his head. “And he’s under compulsion the way Ethan had been.”

My eyes widened. He growled. “Usually, such a thing would be almost impossible to place on a lycan, but I suspect that he’s been under enchantments since he was a kid, which made it possible to compel him. It’s messy, and I’m having the Enforcers see if they can help him break through at least the silencing compulsion.”

I frowned. “Eason broke Ethan’s. Could he break this one?”

“I’d like to leave that as the last possible option.” He set his jaw. “If I’m right, it would be better for him to awaken his own power to break it, or he might never reach his full potential.”

He set his jaw. “And his Elder is going on the fucking chopping block as soon as I can prove that he’s behind it.”

I winced. “But… you’d have to be able to get the young man to talk… he’d have to break through it to prove it all.”

“Exactly.”

I winced. “That sucks… So what do you do?”

"First, I have to get through this Council," he declared, his jaw clenched with determination. "Figure out a way to reason with Lucian to not declare war and cut the legs from beneath the Elders as soon as possible.”

He paused, his gaze meeting mine.

"I might have to… do something reckless, Grace. Something unorthodox. And when I do, I might need a favor. A big one."

I met his gaze, a playful smirk tugging at my lips. "Favors aren't cheap, Charles," I teased. "I'm running a pack, not a charity."

His lips stretched into an answering grin, tension momentarily easing from his shoulders. Maybe whatever he was planning wouldn’t be that bad.

"Oh, I know you are, love. And that's why I wouldn't dare ask anyone else.”

I smiled at that. “You’d better not.”

Charles got dressed, and I slipped down the hallway to my room to get dressed for the day, turning over Charles' words. The doubt settled a little, but then, there was just worry. Charles was amazing. He'd been king for a long time, but what was this Council he was talking about? And what would happen if Lucian wanted war?

I kissed Cecil goodbye and headed out with Charles. He twined our fingers together, making me smile and scoot closer to lean into him.

"You have to go back?"

"Yes."

"Margaret said that you fiddled with my expectations. If you need to stay longer…"

I would hate it, but I would deal. He was Lycan King. He couldn't be in Mooncrest with me all the time.

"You look pained when you said that." He smiled. "It's okay if you want to be a little selfish with me."

I met his gaze. "Can I?"