I bit my tongue.
This was the dance. Always the dance.
Most people thought Lucien was just a peacock in silk and body glitter. They didn’t see what I saw. What he truly was. The dramatics were smoke and mirrors, camouflage for the political monster underneath. He smiled with teeth, charmed his enemies, and bent the entire social structure of the pack to his will with enough flair to keep them distracted. He was brilliant, really.
And I wasn’t merely his assistant. I was his fixer. His handler. His emotional support wolf. His contingency plan. I was whatever he wanted me to be in any given moment.
And lately, it felt like I was being groomed for something I never asked for.
I loved my cousin. I loved this pack. But deep inside, restlessness clawed at my ribs. There had to be more than brunches and power plays and perfectly timed smirks.
Lucien’s voice broke into my spiral. “There are… changes coming.”
I looked up. He sat upright and adjusted his robe, his expression suddenly, jarringly serious.
“In the structure. In leadership. In legacy. And I need people I trust at my side.”
My stomach twisted. “You mean me?”
He sipped his latte slowly and deliberately. “The version of you that stops running from responsibility and starts embracing it.” He tilted his head. “And also, the one that makes my brunches look flawless. But mostly the first thing.”
“Is there something specific coming?”
Lucien smiled, all teeth. “Darling, you’ll find out soon enough. For now, just be prepared to perform and do what’s asked of you.”
I laughed under my breath. “When am I not performing?”
Lucien went still for half a beat, then he looked at me with something too close to empathy.
It knocked the air right out of my lungs. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
The words hit harder than I expected. Too close. Too true.
Perform. Pretend. Smile on cue. Charm the pack. Hold the center together while everyone else swayed. I was good at it. I didn’t know what I’d be if I stopped.
I didn’t belong in this machine, but I was tied to it, blood-deep.
Lucien smirked, and the moment vanished like it never happened. “Now run along. I’ve got an aromatherapy ritual to finish before our meeting in fifteen minutes.”
I swallowed my questions and walked out of the room with the faint scent of eucalyptus clinging to my shirt.
The air inside the main hall of the Velasquez mansion felt like it was choking me.
Too many wolves in one place. Too many minds. The weight of magic saturated every inch of space and clung to the walls. Sweat. Dominance. Pride. All of it crawled into my nose and settled at the back of my throat. I kept to the edge of the foyer, tracking exits, marking the cleanest path out of the room if things got to be too much. It was habit now. Ritual. One of the few ways I kept from coming apart.
This wasn’t where I wanted to be.
There were about a hundred other things I’d rather be doing. Watching
The Sound of Music. Alphabetizing the spice rack. Literally anything that didn’t involve standing in the center of the pack’s political machinery with a fake smile stapled on my face. But duty called. And when Lucien said jump, I jumped. That was the job. That had always been the job.
My alpha. My cousin. My family.
My leash.
I was halfway to claiming a seat along the back row when I heard a woman’s smug, syrupy voice. “Roman.”
I didn’t even have to turn around. My spine knew the shape of her presence before my brain caught up.
Seraphina. My ex.
She drifted up beside me like she’d been waiting for the right moment to pounce. Her hand landed on my arm, fingers too smooth, too familiar. My muscles tensed, and my skin went tight. I didn’t like being touched unexpectedly. Never had. Not even by people I used to kiss.
Especially not her.
“I’m so glad to see you,” she said, the perfume of moonstone oil and expensive desperation curling around her. “Would you like to sit next to me at the meeting?”
I sighed. “I should probably sit with the other pack leaders.”
Her eyes sparkled, her teeth too white and too perfect when she smiled. “You know, if you had me on your arm, you could climb the ranks faster, right? Not to mention, I would climb you, which would be an added bonus.” She said it like a joke, but I knew she wasn’t kidding.
My soul tried to eject from my body.
I didn’t answer. I took a deliberate step away. She got the hint-sort of-and pivoted, her back to me now like I’d become invisible. Her curtain of perfect blonde hair caught the light as she flipped it over her shoulder, just in case anyone wasn’t watching.
Unfortunately, everyone was.
I caught the stares. A few of the elders tilted their heads, eyes gleaming with interest. I threw a sheepish little wave and pretended my ex hadn’t just offered to ride me into alpha power in front of half the pack.
Damn audience.
Inside the main chamber, the pressure doubled. The room was wood-paneled and overly warm, the windows shut tight. Energy coiled like a spring under everyone’s skin as pack members murmured in low voices. Territorial magic crackled in the air, status games playing out through body language and pack hierarchy cues so subtle that outsiders would have missed it.
I slid into a chair near the others who held positions of power. As I adjusted my cuffs, I counted the beat of my fingers on my thigh in sets of eight.
Breathe. Just breathe.
Lucien moved to the podium with the poise I’d seen a thousand times. Imposing. Cold. Perfectly styled. His black suit was immaculate, and when he stepped forward, the room quieted before he even opened his mouth. That was the kind of power Lucien had. He didn’t need to assert his dominance. He was pure dominance. So much so that his presence was almost suffocating.
I respected him. I really did.
He was more than my cousin and my alpha. He’d been my anchor when my parents died. My protector. My mentor. My closest friend. The brother I never had.
But lately, I didn’t know where I ended and his vision for me began.
Lucien opened with the usual updates: Patrol routes, diplomatic talks, some minor economic notes. I already knew all of it. Hell, I wrote half the damn report. I tapped my fingers in time to my internal rhythm, forcing the rest of my body to stay still. If I had to sit through one more line about enchanted livestock exports, I was going to chew the leg off my chair.
Lucien’s tone changed. “Now for the real reason I called this meeting.”
Silence fell over the room like a trap had snapped shut.
“There’s been a rift in the ley line that feeds the magic of our territory. It started small. Glimmers of energy loss near the eastern edge and so on, but it’s growing. If it continues unchecked, it will destabilize the enchantments that shield our borders and compromise the strength of our bond magic.”
My stomach twisted. Why was I just now hearing about this?
Lucien’s voice was steady. “The elders believe that an imbalance in our collective resonance is causing it. Too many unattached, unsealed wolves and not enough grounding magic. Not enough connection. We’ve run the numbers. It’s real. Additionally, as you all are aware, Nicholas, my beta, is very ill. I am continuing my search for a replacement beta, as Nicholas is unable to fulfill his duties.”
Resonance imbalance. The words looped in my mind like static.
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