Chapter 203

Grace

He smiled softly at me. There was a sort of relieved light in his eye. It felt abrasive, grating against every part of me.

“Are we okay to actually discuss this now?”

I didn’t want to discuss anything. I wanted a name and a location. I wanted to feel like I was more important than his mate because I was.

His face flashed in my mind the way he earned from earlier when he told me no. He’d outright told me I wasn’t, and that was enough to put me in even worse of a mood. He said that they weren’t together. He said that they hadn’t been together in years, and yet she was still more important than me.

“You say that you made a judgment call,” My voice was low and tense. “But didn’t you also say that I had to be the one to lead Mooncrest the way I wanted? How do I do that when you’re withholding information from me? How do I do that when you didn’t even discuss it with me beforehand to get my opinion?”

“Well, you haven’t said anything about your opinion, Grace, and it’s not like I haven’t asked, but sure, I’m all ears. What’s your opinion on it? Aside from trying to hunt down, be one Alpha Shadow I know and get yourself killed.”

I glared at him. “If I can get to her, then the challenge circle goes away, and the threat to my position in Mooncrest goes away, too.”

He shook his head. “I can see that you only read part of the book.”

I scouted him. Because while that was true, he didn’t need to say it.

“If you violate the terms of the challenge circle with Alpha Shadow, you’ll die.” My eyes bulged. “Attempting to attack or endanger each other's lives counts. It’s one of the basic tenets of a witch challenge, inherent in every single one, even without you explicitly saying so. Otherwise, don’t you think Alpha Shadow would have just murdered you in secret already?”

I shut my mouth. A creeping sense of fear felt me as I thought about how many times she would have had the chance to kill me, and no one would have noticed Until it was too late. If she came to Moonrise to kill me, would he even protect me? Would you try to stop her? Wouldn’t kill her if that’s what was required. It was unnerving. The fact that I couldn’t be sure either way. It was even worse that I felt like I couldn’t ask. My stomach churned. I felt sick. The anger in me was boiling in me and defensive.

Do you love me?

I could see Devon’s face. I could hear his lukewarm reply.

You know I do.

I remembered that he never really said it. I don’t remember if he ever said it, even when we were dating.

“If you’re done with that line of reasoning, here’s another thing to think about: your Mooncrest challenge circle has nothing to do with Alpha Shadow. It has everything to do with what you told a citizen of Mooncrest. If you got rid of Alpha Shadow and then decided not to pursue the Senate seat, you would be compelled to step down. Anything else?”

My stomach sank. I looked into his eyes, and I saw nothing but truth. I turned away, irritated. Why couldn’t he just give me what I wanted? What did I have to say to make him tell me her name and where she was? I bet if I was his mate, he wouldn’t be so obstinate.

“I still think I have the right to know the truth.”

He chuckled. “The truth is that you have established you, your family, and all of Mooncrest property under a long-term cease-fire with the witch community, and that’s honestly as safe as you can get. Alpha Shadow isn’t Sean and Fenris’ supplier, and whoever the supplier really is will either back out soon or start weaning him off so as not to endanger anyone in the Noir Coven.”

He smirked. “Because of that, assuming that he has been taking the potions I think he’s been taking, your longevity drug is going to be more desirable on the shelves sooner rather than later, and you’ll have forced his hand.”

“How can you be so sure of that? They’ve attacked us before.”

“Witch potions that are geared towards longevity require a constant amount in the system to work, and the longer you’ve taken them, the less effective they are. If he was smart, he would have been using them sparingly in the beginning, to add a few years here and there until he reached about the right age in terms of looks. Maybe mingled in a few rejuvenation rituals, but that would have required him to know enough about potions. And that feels unlikely.”

“He doesn’t have to know anything about potions for someone to stop or keep selling them to him.”

“He doesn’t. But after what he did to the Noir Coven. He’s made himself an enemy of most witches. Even witches who aren’t allied, or on good terms, with the Noir Coven, would be wary about continuing to supply him.” He sighed. “My best guess is that he stockpiled a bunch of potions a while back and is running out.”

“What exactly did he do to the Noir Coven?”

“Sean is one part of the reason that Astarte’s husband, Set, and her daughter are no longer with her, or will at least soon no longer be with her. All of the Noir Coven, past, exiled, or otherwise, wouldn’t give him a drop of elixir even under pain of death.”

I crossed my arms. I didn’t know much about the witch community, and usually, I wouldn’t have cared to think more about it, but the thought of being able to influence a whole coven’s worth of people without so much as a word, to have that kind of loyalty made the slinky woman lounging around in lingerie seem so much bigger than a pin-up of a woman. The thought irritated me even more. I felt my hackles rising at the thought. Well, of course, she had the loyalty of her coven. It probably wasn’t anything like a werewolf pack in terms of size. They were probably all family members in one way or another.

That wasn’t hard. I set my jaw, meeting his gaze. He looked like he wanted to say something. Was he guessing what I was thinking? He set his jaw and stared back at me. His eyes were daring me to say something. I could almost hear how protective he would sound talking about her and her people.

“You sound like you think quite highly of her…” I grumbled. “Even though one of her members is a psychopath.”

Charles laughed. “I’ve yet to meet a member of the Noir Coven I could not think highly of.”

“At those sex parties?”

He smirked. “Or over a large dusty tome when I need information. And again, I think you’d find it pretty liberating.”

“Doubtful.”

He chuckled. “Well, I’ll take you being in a better mood... You seem calmer.”

“I’m not.”

His lips twitched. “ All right. Maybe not completely, but do you understand? That challenge circle is the only thing keeping another attack like it from happening in Mooncrest again. The ritual is either on hold or being plotted for somewhere else, or--”

"But that’s just in Mooncrest, right? What about the rest of the States? She’s a psychopath, and you’re protecting her! Who knows what else she’s going to get into?” I screamed, frustration boiling over.

“So, you do care about someone other than the people of Mooncrest.?”

“I only care about the fact that she attacked me first,” I growled. “I have never backed down from a fight.”

He opened his mouth. I could see the comment on his tongue, and then he shut it.

“What?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. You were saying?”

“Tell me where she is. I can turn that information over to the Interpack police.”

“Not even if that was a good idea. It would be a bloodbath. An international crisis.”

“She might be your mate, but she’s still a murderer,” I hissed.

“Grace, I challenge you to take a deep breath and evaluate what you’re saying. What you’re feeling, and figure out if it actually makes sense.” He narrowed his eyes. “ I know that the Shift a hell of a ride, but—"

“I’m not crazy!”

“I didn’t say you were crazy,” he said and cocked his head. “Though you do seem triggered… maybe even more triggered than simply riding the Shift. Do you want to talk about--”

I snarled at him, baring my teeth. He didn’t even flinch. The bastard. Did he think I was lesser than him? Because I was only half? Because I was a woman? Because I was younger?

“Triggered? You’re protecting her and blowing me off. You say I can’t attack her directly, but you won’t help me bring her to justice either. It’s just a bunch of excuses not to help me! And you should be helping me if any of the things you’ve been saying about us are true…”

I turned back to look at him, to search his face for some sign that it was true, but he wouldn’t look at me.

My stomach plummeted.