Chapter 5
The prison wagon headed north, rolling on without a break day or night.
I was trapped in a cramped cell, with no sky above me and no scents from the outside world.
Three times a day, someone passed food in through a small window from outside.
The food wasn't much, but it was enough to keep me alive.
May was locked up in a different wagon, and I had no idea how she was holding up.
I kept sniffing for any trace of May, but I couldn't stop thinking about Edward.
He had thrown something into the quiet emptiness where my wolf had been sleeping, and now she wouldn't settle down.
It didn't make any sense. A pup who looked at me like I meant less than nothing had claimed something of mine in front of everyone.
I turned that little pouch over in my mind again and again. There was nothing on it that should have mattered to him.
The only answer I could come up with was that he was trying to send me a signal. But what message could a seven-year-old pup have for a mother he barely knew?
Then a wild thought came to me.
Seven years ago, right before I left, I tucked a letter into the blanket swaddling him, hoping it would reach Richard.
Had that letter ever even made it to Richard? Or had something gotten in the way?
The more I thought about it, the more my wolf stirred with unease.
*****
Two weeks later, the prison wagon finally stopped, and the scent of Blackwood hit me before I even looked outside.
From outside came the noise of wolves talking and carriages moving around.
I knew right away that we were back in Blackwood.
Someone pulled the door open, and the sunlight was so bright that I had to squint, my wolf shrinking back.
Lucas stood there with a blank stare. "Luna, if you would. The Alpha is waiting for you back at the manor."
I climbed down from the wagon and saw that Blackwood was as lively as the day I left it, the air thick with familiar scents.
But I was a prisoner now, not the proud Luna of Frostveil Pack anymore.
The pack's carriage was waiting nearby, and they "invited" me to get in, though we all knew it wasn't really an invitation.
They brought May over too. She looked all right, just a little drained.
When she saw me, her eyes turned red, but she managed not to cry.
The carriage headed for the Sterling Manor, and with every passing moment, my heart sank a little more.
What was waiting for me? Richard's fury? Or nothing but shame and suffering? I couldn't tell, but my wolf was already bracing for the worst.
The carriage finally stopped at the gates of the Sterling Manor.
The gates were wide open, with two rows of wolves standing at attention and the heavy scent of authority hanging in the air.
They led me inside, and I walked through the courtyard I once knew as my own territory.
Nothing around here seemed to have changed.
The trees, the flowers, even the stones under my feet were exactly where I remembered them.
But I didn't belong here anymore, and everyone knew it.
They took me straight to Richard's study.
Two wolves with cold, hard eyes stood by the door.
Lucas pushed the door open and nodded for me to step inside.
I stepped in, and the room smelled of him, that familiar, deep scent I hadn't forgotten.
Richard sat behind his desk in dark clothes, his hair pulled back, reading through papers.
Seven years had passed, but he looked almost the same. Still heartbreakingly handsome, though there was something colder and sharper in his face now.
Time had made him more controlled, but I could feel the danger rolling off him like a warning.
He didn't look up, like my scent wasn't worth acknowledging.
He left me standing there, using the silence to remind me who was in charge and how little I mattered to him now.
I stood there without a word, watching him. This was the man my wolf had once claimed and once wanted to reject. But now, all I felt was a hollow kind of calm.
The seconds ticked by, one after another.
The only sound was the soft scratch of his pen on paper.
The tension in the room was so thick that I could barely breathe.
Finally, he set his pen down and slowly lifted his head, his eyes meeting mine.
His eyes were deep and cold, full of emotions I couldn't quite name. Anger, resentment, defiance, and a kind of pain I didn't recognize.
We looked at each other, and neither of us said a word.
This silent standoff stretched on for a long while.
In the end, he spoke first, "You're back." His voice came out rough and low.
It didn't sound like a welcome. It felt more like an Alpha passing a sentence.
"You had me dragged back," I said, my voice steady.
My calmness seemed to push him over the edge, and I could hear his wolf growling low in his chest.
He shot up from his chair and crossed the room to me in a few strides.
His tall frame loomed over me, and the weight of his Alpha presence pressed down so hard that my wolf wanted to submit right there.
"Yvonne," he growled, gripping my chin and forcing my eyes to meet his. "You have any idea what you did?"
His fingers dug into my jaw so hard that I thought he'd shatter it.
The pain made me wince, but I wasn't about to beg. "What did I do wrong?"
"What did you do wrong?" He was so mad that he actually laughed. "You left your mate and your pup, ran off with another wolf, and vanished for seven years. And you're asking me what you did wrong?"
I froze. He actually thought I'd taken off with another wolf.
"I didn't," I said.
"Still denying it?" His eyes flashed, and I could feel his wolf rising beneath the surface. "Then who is he? That dead mate of yours everyone in Willowcreek talks about. Who is he really?"
Then it hit me. I'd made up that whole story about losing my mate to get by in Willowcreek, and now he was using it like proof I'd been unfaithful. The irony was almost funny.
"Richard, we're not mates anymore," I said, keeping my voice steady. "What I do isn't your business."
"Not mates?" He laughed like I'd told him the stupidest thing he'd ever heard. "That letter? You actually think I bought that?
"You left your own pup behind. You seriously expect me to believe anything you say?
"You're my mate. You're Edward's mother. And you've been gone for seven years. That's long enough for your little game."
He shoved me so hard that I nearly fell.
I stumbled back, hit the bookshelf, and barely managed to stay on my feet.
Richard let out a sharp growl, and two pack wolves pushed the door open and rushed in.
"Lock her in the dungeon," he ordered. "And no one sees her without my permission."
The wolves stepped forward to grab me, their scents reeking of duty and nothing else.
"Richard," I said, looking him straight in the eye. "Don't you want to know why I left seven years ago?"
He froze for a second, and then turned to face me with a look full of conflict.
I knew that question had been gnawing at him for seven years, like a thorn he couldn't dig out.
He wanted to know, but his pride was too big to let him ask.
"I don't care," he said coldly. "All I know is that traitors don't get happy endings."
I let out a bitter laugh, so sharp that it nearly brought tears to my eyes.
"Fine," I said. "You'll be sorry for this, Richard."
Without saying anything else, I let the wolves take me away.
As they led me out of the room, I heard something smash behind me.
It sounded like he had thrown something against the floor, hard enough to break it.
The dungeon was dark and damp, and the air stank of rot and something metallic, like old blood.
They locked me in the deepest cell, the kind meant for rogues and traitors.
The iron door slammed shut behind me, and the echo bounced off the walls.
I found the cold wall in the dark and slid down to the floor.
I wasn't scared, and I hadn't given up.
Only one thought stayed with me, and it was about what Edward had found out.