MALIA’S POV
It wasn’t every day one saw a pregnant woman on the training field, so it came as no surprise when several of the soldiers stopped to stare.
I giggled and Penelope scowled when some of the teenage boys tried to mimic her waddle.
“Luna Malia, you need to have them locked up for at least a week,” she said and I laughed harder.
“They are just kids, Pen. They do not know any better,” I replied.
“Oh, they do. I caught that blonde-haired one with one of the kitchen maids necking the other day. They would have had sex right there in the library if I hadn’t shown up.”
I smiled when I remembered how Lila and Derek had also used the library as a make-out stop.
“I think we need to write a warning on the library door against sex and other related practices,” she suggested.
“And other related practices,” I chortled, finding her choice of words quite funny.
Lucien walked up to us. He regarded Penelope with an arched eyebrow. “We do not train pregnant women,” he stated. “And where’s my grandson?” he queried.
“Why don’t you train pregnant women? Is it because you think we are not strong enough? Trust me, I can prove you wrong. And as for your grandson, Mary, the kitchen head, kidnapped him from me,” she replied.
I giggled. Penelope wasn’t exaggerating about the kidnapping stuff. Mary had practically snatched little Damien and had taken off in the opposite direction when we were on our way to the training field.
The only reason we were not bothered was because we knew how much she adored him as if he were her own.
Lucien regarded his daughter-in-law for a moment and then shook his head. “I would have loved to watch you prove me wrong but my son is never going to forgive me if something bad happens to you in the process.”
Then he fastened his gaze on me. “Please do tell me why she’s here.”
I shrugged. “She said she wanted to do something different today,” I replied.
He sighed and moved his gaze to her. “Please try to stay far away from the weapons. You can only watch from a distance. And if I catch you trying to do anything you know you’re not supposed to do, I’m going to banish you from my field.”
“Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to steal your friend for a little while. Who would’ve thought that I’d like or miss fighting with a woman?” he queried and walked off without checking to see if I was following.
Penelope looked at me with an incredulous expression. “Is he supposed to talk to a Beta’s wife like that?” she queried.
I shrugged. “This is his turf. And please, try not to do anything careless,” I replied and walked off to join Lucien.
We fought for a while, using our preferred weapons and I had to admit to myself that I had missed doing this with him.
We plopped down to the ground in exhaustion when we were done and after we had finished catching our breaths, he spoke.
“So, how did it go with the Alpha? Were you two able to sit and talk?”
I nodded and gave him a wide smile. “Thanks for the advice. It was worth implementing,” I replied.
He chuckled and kept his eyes forward, fastened on something I couldn’t see.
I wondered how he was faring without his mate. Margaret had still not returned.
“You miss her, don’t you?” I asked. I didn’t need to explain who I was referring to. His eyes told me he understood.
“Of course I do, Malia. I’ve been such a fool,” he replied.
“Has it ever occurred to you that she misses you too?” I queried.
“I don’t think she misses me. She hates me and if I were in her shoes, I’d hate me too. What am I even saying? Of course, I hate myself every day for what I did to her. I nearly killed her. She nearly died because of me,” he answered, his voice filled with pain and agony.
“I think you should go see her,” I suggested.
He shook his head. “I’m not sure I can face her, Malia.”
“Well, you have to. You two still have the mate bond, so I’m sure she doesn’t hate you. What if she just wants you to come find her? You need to go to her, Lucien.”
He buried his face in his hands for a moment and when he raised his head back up, I could see the determination in his eyes.
“I guess I should go. I’ve put this off for far longer than necessary.”
I nodded, took his hand and squeezed gently, offering silent support. “I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you,” I said.
The moment of empathy passed and I found holding his hand a little bit awkward so I let go.
The silence between us was suddenly uncomfortable and I just had to do something. I reached out my hand to pull out a blade of grass and I heard his sharp intake of breath.
I turned to face him to see what was wrong and I saw that his eyes were fastened on my wrist.
I brought my hand self-consciously, in between my thighs and arched an eyebrow at him. “Is something wrong?” I queried.
“Please don’t take this the wrong way but could you please give me your right hand?” he asked. “I thought I saw something. I just want to confirm if it’s what I think it is.”
My eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion but I warily gave him my hand.
He gently turned it and peered closely at my inner wrist. Then he raised his head to look at me. “Have you always had this tattoo?”
I shook my head. “Could you please tell me how and when?”
I was silent for a while, wondering how much I could say to him or if I could even tell him anything at all.
I took my hand back and sighed.
“You know I’ve never believed that story you and the Alpha told me when Zade was looking for you. You can trust me, Malia.”
I decided that I could tell him. I was Luna now and well protected. I had nothing to worry about.
I inhaled deeply. “Zade is my mate. I was his Luna.”
“Oh Ryder,” he murmured.
“He didn’t kidnap me from him or anything like that. I was the one who ran away from my pack and I would have died at the hands of rogues if he had not found me,” I quickly added.
“I know he didn’t.” He sighed again and I wondered what any of these had to do with my tattoo.
“You didn’t hear this from me but Zade and Ryder are step-brothers.”
I gasped in shock but he continued as though he hadn’t just said something shocking.
“What I don’t understand is how you got that tattoo. You had to have gone to a witch willingly.”
I felt there was no point in hiding anything anymore so I told him about the curse and how Ryder had taken me to a witch to have it lifted.
“And that was when I got the tattoo. I didn’t know the exact moment because she gave me something to drink and I became unconscious right after that. It was when I got home that I noticed it,” I concluded.
“She did a cloaking spell on you and that is why you have that tattoo,” he explained.
I was speechless as my brain tried to process all that I was hearing.
“But why did he ask her to do that?” I wondered aloud.
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t you know that now that you have your wolf, the mate pull becomes stronger between you and Zade? Your scent too becomes stronger and it’s going to be pretty easy for him to find you,” he replied.
I felt the anger build up in me like a storm. Lucien placed his hand on my arm.
“Do not handle this situation with anger. It’s not going to help one bit. I know he did this without your permission but that was before you two had a talk yesterday. So go easy on him,” he advised.
I took a deep breath and nodded. Lucien was right. But why hadn’t he told me that Zade was his step-brother? He had intentionally withheld that information from me and I wondered why.
A few moments later, Penelope waddled over to where we were and I tried to brighten my mood so that she wouldn’t start bombarding me with questions right there. “I’m tired. Let’s return to the palace,” she said.
Lucien scoffed. “Are pregnant women allowed to get away with ordering the Luna about?”
I chuckled. “Fortunately for this pregnant woman, she is the Luna’s best friend,” I replied.
“You two should quit talking about me like I’m not here,” she said with a scowl.
“How scary,” Lucien murmured and I giggled.
I got up when she turned and started to walk away in irritation.
“Malia,” Lucien called out and I turned to face him.
“Do not forget that you’re not supposed to handle the situation with your emotions,” he said.
I nodded and jogged to catch up with Penelope.
Ryder was home when I arrived at the palace. He wrapped his arms around me and I tried not to stiffen.
“You’re sweaty,” he said.
“Penelope wanted to go to the training field and when we got there, Lucien and I decided to duel,” I explained.
“Let me guess. You beat him.”
I shook my head. “It wasn’t actually a competition. We were just having fun.”
He scoffed. “Since when did you and Lucien start having fun?” he wondered.
I shrugged. “It happens. Perhaps, ours is the enemies to lovers story,” I replied and tried to smile.
He snorted. “Enemies to lovers indeed. He had better not get any ideas.”
I gave him an incredulous stare. “Ryder!”
“What? Age is not a deterrent for a man like that. He cheated on his wife with that young waitress or have you forgotten?”
I shook my head. “I think he’s a changed man now,” I replied.
“If you say so,” he murmured.
This time, my smile was genuine. I couldn’t believe he was being jealous.
“Go have your bath so that we can have lunch. I’ve been waiting for you to return before I eat,” he said.
“Food sounds good,” I murmured before making my way to the bathroom.
I decided not to confront him with what I had learnt that day because he was going to guess that it was Lucien who had told me since I already told him Lucien and I were together that day.
I didn’t even tell him the next day.
I brought it up a week later, just after we had had dinner.
We were already lying in bed and I was in his arms enjoying the way his fingers lazily ran along my skin.
“Why didn’t you tell me that you and Zade are stepbrothers?” I queried.
He stiffened and his fingers stilled. “Who told you that?”
I moved away from his arms and sat upright on the bed. “Is that what is important right now? You withheld such information intentionally from me. You ought to be giving me an explanation.”
“And besides, was that cloaking spell really necessary?”
I tried to be as calm as possible. I just needed answers. I didn’t have the strength for an argument.
He sat up too and tried to touch me but I shrank away from him.
He allowed his hands to drop with a sigh.
“It’s true that Zade and I are stepbrothers. I didn’t tell you at first because I felt I didn’t have to. We were strangers and I didn’t have any obligation to tell you something like that.”
“I should have told you later on when I started falling in love with you but I felt it was going to reduce any chances I had to be with you. I thought you might like me a lot less or lose your appeal for me if I told you that I was a brother to the man who hurt you.”
I didn’t say anything but just sat there trying to decide if his excuse was reasonable enough.
Would I have fallen for him if I had known that he was Zade’s brother? I wondered.
“Please say something, Malia,” he begged.
I sighed. “What happened between you two?” I asked. “Zade never even told me he had a brother somewhere.”
He gave a harsh laugh and I knew that there was no love lost between them.
“Of course, he didn’t.”
He was deep in thought for a while and I waited patiently for him to speak.
“My mother was just a one-night stand for Zade’s father. My biological father. According to my mom, they had had sex just the day before he met his mate which happened to be Zade’s mother.”
“When my mother found out she was pregnant, she went to him and told him that she had no intention of destroying what he had with his mate. But her baby was going to need a father and she wanted him to take responsibility.”
“He agreed and luckily for him, when my mother gave birth to me, Zade’s mother who was heavily pregnant at that time agreed to raise me as her own so that my mother could go live her life.”
“Since I was the first son, even though I was illegitimate, I was a threat to Zade, who had always hated me since the day he found out that I wasn’t his mother’s son. Both he and his mom didn’t like that. Especially when they found out that my father was already preparing me to take his place after he passed.”
“Zade killed my father because he was the only one standing in his way. He and his mother had already managed to get the support of the elders and they kicked me out of the pack when my father died.”
I returned to my mom who had already met her mate and was Luna already. Luckily for me, her husband accepted me as his.”
“So you understand now why we hate each other,” he finished.
I nodded even though I was totally confused. I understood that he hated Zade but his story didn’t add up.
From what he explained, he must have been a teenager before he returned to his mom. He and Ronan are just about three years apart in age. So he must have known that Ryder was his stepbrother. Why hadn’t he mentioned it to me? I wondered.
I didn’t say anything about my doubts to Ryder. I didn’t want to cause any fights between us. But I was curious about what really happened and I decided that I was going to go visit Ronan the next day.
I sighed and wrapped my arms around him while he wept like a baby and told me how sorry he was for not telling me before he asked the witch to do a cloaking spell on me. He had lost his father and his position to Zade. He didn’t want to lose me to him too.
I held him until he stopped crying and he slept off almost immediately.
I laid awake for some hours after that, wondering whether or not I had married a pathological and manipulative liar.
I fell asleep fearing what the truth would be.
When I went to visit Ronan the next day, I was told that he had passed away in his sleep.
I didn’t want to believe it at first. I demanded to be taken to his prison room. He wasn’t there.
I still didn’t believe it until his body was shown to me.
I passed out immediately from the shock. When I woke up, I was lying on my bed and Ryder was sitting beside me, his eyes filled with worry.
He caressed my cheek. “Malia,” he sighed
“Ryder, I just had this terrible dream that Ronan died. Can you imagine?” I queried.
I saw his eyes fill with tears. “It wasn’t a dream, Malia. My brother is dead.”
I didn’t know when I started screaming.
Ryder held me and I vaguely heard him ask a servant to get the doctor.
I guessed I must have passed out again. I wasn’t sure what had happened. It was all just a blur in my head.
Ryder was still by my side when I woke up again. I was sure he had no idea that he had my hand in a death grip.
“With the way you’re holding my hand, I think I’m going to lose it soon,” I joked.
His eyes were filled with relief and he laughed. “I’m so glad you’re awake. You scared the hell out of me,” he said.
“I think it’s going to take more than shock to kill me,” I chuckled.
Then I began to laugh hysterically and Ryder’s amused expression instantly turned to concern.
He immediately wrapped his arms around me when I began to sob.
I kept on crying until I couldn’t and all through, Ryder rocked me in his arms, saying soothing words to me.
It was at his burial that I realized how much so many people had loved their former Beta.
Some of them sobbed openly. I had no tears left to cry and I felt numb anyway.
Penelope and I were in her chambers a week after the burial admiring the new baby clothes she had bought when she suddenly paused to regard me with a strange look.
I arched an eyebrow. “Do I have something on my face?” I queried.
“Hasn’t it occurred to you just how strange Ronan’s death was?” She asked in a low voice.
I lay down the dress I had been admiring to give her a look. “He died in his sleep. It’s not a strange occurrence,” I replied.
“Alright. If you say so,” she said and continued folding the clothes.
I rolled my eyes. “Penelope, you obviously have something to say, so say it.”