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Emory laughed. ‘Lucy, you’re a brilliant friend and ally. You came running to help me, you told the truth and you stood by me.’ He hugged me. ‘I won’t forget it.’
My phone rang: Greg. I gave Emory an apologetic smile as I moved aside and swiped to take the call. ‘Hey.’
‘Thank you,’ Greg said straight away. ‘Thank you for trying to save him. I’ll never forgive my mother for this. It’s madness.’ He had a network of brethren spies, but I was still surprised at how quickly he’d learned the verdict of the kangaroo court.
‘I hear you – it’s insane. I’m actually with Emory just now. You want to speak to him?’
‘Please.’
I passed over the phone. As Emory walked off to the other side of the room to talk quietly with Greg, I hugged Jess. ‘I’m sorry. This sucks.’
‘I don’t care for my sake,’ she admitted. ‘I don’t give a fuck about being the Queen of the Dragons, but for him… Being the King is all he’s known for the last decade ormore. It’s something he uses to define himself. I know we’re all more than our jobs, but being King is more than a day job, you know?’
I did know, more so with each passing day. The crown lay heavy on my head, too.
Jess continued, ‘He’s putting a brave face on it but I can feel his anguish and betrayal through our bond. It kills me. I want to fix it but I can’t. What is he going to do?’
I shook my head, speechless for once, and hugged her more tightly. ‘It’s going to be okay,’ I said finally, though I couldn’t quite see how.
She drew back and looked at me wryly. ‘Sometimes being a truth seeker sucks,’ she sighed.
I winced. Her radar had undoubtedly pinged when I’d said it was going to be okay. ‘Sorry,’ I muttered.
Emory walked back to us and held out the phone to me. ‘Manners has sent a car to pick you up. You’re required at the mansion. Your guests have arrived.’ Of course they had. Bloody perfect timing.
‘Guests?’ Jess asked.
I grimaced. ‘I invited some werewolves who aren’t totally awful alphas to come and hang out with me at the mansion. They were friends of LordSamuel.’
‘Getting more allies.’ She nodded. ‘Smart.’
‘Thanks.’ I certainly needed allies; since my triumph over my challengers and my success in ‘taming’ the seat of power, things had been eerily quiet.
I was certain it was the calm before the storm.
Chapter 3
Leaving Jess and Emory was hard, but they were planning on packing up and heading to Jess’s house. Neither of them had mentioned their wedding and I didn’t want to be the one to raise it; I guessed I’d either get an invite or it would be postponed.
In the circumstances, I wouldn’t have blamed them in the slightest if they’d pushed it back. It certainly wouldn’t be the high society wedding that Elizabeth Manners had been planning for them, that was for sure. A wedding was supposed to be a joyous occasion but Emory was bound to be grieving his change in circumstances for some while to come; I certainly would have been if I were in his shoes. My crown was new, but I already knew that I’d find it hard to relinquish. Iknewit was my destiny to bring about good changes for the wolves, and I was sure Emory felt the same about the dragons.
Becoming the Queen of the Werewolves had been a hard concept to wrap my head around, but now I found that I desperately wanted to serve the packs properly. I wanted to put an end to abusive alpha behaviours, even if that meant ending those alphas permanently. I wanted to make the packs strong again – in the right way.
I hadn’t managed to see Amber DeLea before I left for home and I wasn’t even sure if she was still at Caernarfon castle; if she was, I’d bet she was nursing one heck of a hangover. Jess’s hen do already felt like it had taken place ages ago. Momentous occasions had the effect of weirdly distorting time.
I texted her as Archie drove me home, asking if she was coming by today for us to keep on working on the amulet. Amber and I had been working together on a special amulet to allow Jess to speak directly to her hellhound, Gato. Even if the wedding was delayed, we could give it to Jess as a ‘pick me up’. God knows, she could probably do with one.
I immediately got a response: Amber was already out and about and she promised she’d arrive at my lands soon. I gave her a thumbs-up in response, pleased that we were both on the same page about continuing to work on the amulet. Ithadto be nearlydone by now.
As we pulled up on the mansion’s gravel drive, calm settled over me. I was home. ‘Thanks for coming to get me,’ I said to Archie, who’d been my silent chauffeur for the day.
‘You’re welcome, my Queen.’ Archie wouldn’t make eye contact with me; he was still punishing himself for lying to me about Larsden’s death.
I sighed internally. I’d let it go and I wished he would. I truly didn’t blame him for keeping Thea’s secret; if Jess had killed someone, I’d bury the body and not tell a soul about it. Actually, I’d probably feed the body to our unicorn, Ares, but I still wouldn’t tell anyone about it.
I climbed out of the car but didn’t go into the mansion; instead I went to see Nina. Before I could knock on her wooden door it swung open and I walked in to what I thought of as ‘my rooms’. Nina had built a suite just for me as well as many separate rooms for the loners.
I had used the Great Pack to call all the lone wolves to me, but I’d been shocked when so many had shown up at my door. The mansion was full to bursting already, so Nina had somehow expanded herself to accommodate the loners. What I couldn’t work out was how she’d done it, even though I’d seen her in operation; when one of the loners walked to the front door, it opened into theirabode but when I walked up it opened into mine. Magic, I guessed.
