Chapter 49

Kieran

After interrogating Adrian, my brother paced for hours. I wondered why he'd let Zara talk to the prisoner if it made him so nervous. I didn't ask him, though. I didn't feel like fighting with Lucian. I just wanted to know what was going on with Zara.

When Zara came out of the tower, she told us everything that Adrian said. I could tell she was upset, but all she asked for was some time alone. Lucian allowed it, and then sent a new guard he’d recruited to watch over her.

“You trust that guard?” I asked. “She was a Rogue agent.”

“She’ll be an asset, once she’s loyal,” Lucian said. “This is a good way to build that loyalty.”

I shrugged and let the matter drop. Lucian was good at forging the remains of conquered packs into a single, unified whole. I just managed the logistics.

“Bring me her sister,” Lucian ordered.

“Chloe? Why?” I asked.

“She supposedly bonded to Adrian after he rejected Zara. If that’s a lie, then we know there’s still a link between Adrian and Zara.”

“All right, I’ll go get her,” I said.

It took a few minutes to find Chloe. When I did locate her, she was surrounded by her gaggle of sycophants. I cleared my throat, and the whole group froze.

Chloe bowed low and the rest followed.

“Alpha, it is wonderful to see you,” Chloe said.

“You’ve been summoned by Alpha Lucian,” I said. I held up my hand towards the others. “Only you.”

“Of course, Alpha Kieran,” Chloe simpered. “It is an honor to be summoned.”

She probably wouldn’t feel so honored when Lucian started asking questions.

I didn’t knock on the office door. Lucian expected me, and I was his brother. I didn’t have to bother with formalities.

Chloe bowed low with a smile. “Alpha Lucian, you summoned me?”

“Yes. We need to discuss your behavior towards your sister,” Lucian said.

Chloe frowned and stepped back slightly.

“My… my behavior?” she stammered. “You mean… Zara told you about the poison? I should have known she’d try and get me in trouble.”

Actually, Zara hadn’t told us anything because she hadn’t known about the poison. It was interesting that Chloe thought she knew, though. I traded looks with Lucian. We’d have to discuss that with Zara, later.

“You tried to murder your sister,” I said.

“It’s not murder!” Chloe protested. “I was removing a rival!”

“You consider Zara a rival?” Lucian said. “But you were bonded to her fated mate.”

“And I severed that bond, Alpha, when you banished him.”

“You’re sure of that?” Lucian asked.

“Yes!” Chloe insisted, and then bowed. “It was the proper thing to do, Alpha, to better serve you. It was the only logical choice.”

“Like it was the logical choice to attack Zara?” I asked.

“Well, yes. She needs to learn her place, Alpha. I was merely… well, you saw.” Chloe shrugged.

“I did,” I agreed. “I also saw that when it was just you versus her, she was the clear victor. You needed a whole gang to defeat one hybrid.”

Chloe’s sultry grin froze. “I… I, well, that is, she’s always training. Always trying to prove she’s better than the rest of us. It’s not proper, or fair.”

“I see. So you decided to even the playing field with poison?” Lucian asked.

“Yes! No one would blink if I took out a rival in a challenge. How is this any different?”

“For one thing, there was no challenge. You gave her no chance to defend herself. For another, if you broke the bond with your mate, who exactly is she a rival for?” Lucian asked.

“Why, for the chance to become your Luna, of course. What else would be important enough to try to kill my own sister?”

“You think you are a candidate for Luna?” I scoffed.

“Well, yes. I am the former Alpha’s daughter. I have had offers from several neighboring Alphas. I simply preferred to stay here and elevate a younger Alpha, that’s all.”

“Right,” I said. “You simply chose to steal your sister’s fated mate because you could. To prove your superiority.”

Chloe shrugged. “It’s not my fault she had designs above her station. A half-blood like her had no business trying to ensnare an Alpha mate like Adrian.”

“Neither you, nor your sister, are Luna candidates,” Lucian informed her coldly. “You presented yourselves for selection, neither of you was our fated mate.”

“B-but you haven’t found your mate, even after the Ball,” Chloe said. “That means the position is open.”

“It is only open if I say it is open,” Lucian said, “and I do not.”

Chloe stared at him, shocked.

“You will allow a healer to examine you, to confirm that the bond was fully severed,” Lucian continued.

Chloe bowed, “I will do as you wish, Alpha.” She managed a sultry grin. “Anything you wish, anytime.”

“As to the matter of your attempt on Zara’s life,” Lucian continued, “You will be held in the dungeon until such time that I determine you are no longer a threat to your pack.”

“Threat to my pack? She’s not pack! She’s just some human foundling dropped on my father’s doorstep like trash,” Chloe protested.

“Your father took her in,” I pointed out. “He must have confirmed she was his.”

Chloe shrugged. “I guess so? I never asked. No one talked about where she came from, ever. Not even rumors. I always figured my father was embarrassed by the whole thing.”

“I see,” Lucian said. “If you recall any more, I suggest you share. It may be a mitigating factor in your punishment.”

Chloe whimpered at the word punishment. I snorted. Zara was annoyingly stubborn and she did not know her place. But she never whimpered.

I escorted Chloe to the dungeons myself, and then summoned the healers to examine both her and Adrian.

Once the examination was complete, Lucian ordered Zara summoned to his office.

“This concerns her,” he explained to me when the guards left to collect our wayward personal servant. “It’s only right she hears the result with us.”

The new guard, the former Rogue whose name I might bother to learn, led Zara to our office. She frowned when she saw the healer.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

“No,” Lucian said. “The healer has information that affects you, so I thought you should hear it, too.”

“Oh. What is it?” Zara asked.

Lucian nodded to the healer.

“I examined both the Rogue, Adrian, and the she-wolf Chloe,” the healer stated. “And I have determined that both of them bear the signs of a severed mate-bond.”

“Okay,” Zara said, “didn’t we know that?”

“We knew they claimed to have been mates,” Lucian said. “This confirms it, and the severed bond.”

“There is another thing,” the healer spoke up. “But it makes no sense.”

“Yes?” Lucian asked.

“I examined Zara, at your request,” he said. “I assumed the symptoms you mentioned were bond shock. But she showed no signs of that.”

“You said as much,” Lucian said.

“Well, the thing is,” the healer looked baffled. “The reason Zara shows no signs of bond shock is that she shows no signs of a mate bond at all. Neither a completed bond, nor an incomplete fated mate bond.”