“My mother would be horrified if I left him here,” I told him. “I need to get him upstairs to his room.”
“Let me help you,” he offered just as Levi came forcefully through the kitchen doors. He quickly apologized for running into Declan and then started cursing under his breath when he saw Liam passed out against the cabinets.
“The boys said he had too much to drink again,” Levi said angrily. “I was hoping they were wrong.”
“This is happening more often than it used to, Levi,” Declan said as he moved to help my brother. “He needs to be cut off.”
“I know, Dec,” Levi agreed as he threw Liam’s body up into his arms and then over his shoulder. “I’ll talk to him tomorrow when he wakes up. For now, I need to get him up to his room before my parents see him.”
“What do you mean this has been happening more often than it used to?” I asked, reminding them that I was still here.
“Not now, Luna,” Levi snarled, out of breath as he carried our brother out of the kitchen. I wanted to follow them, but Declan stopped me.
“It’s best you leave him alone, Lu,” he told me. “You know how Levi likes to put the blame on himself. Now’s not the time to pick a fight with him.”
“You knew about this?” I asked. “Why didn’t anyone say anything?”
“Levi asked me not to,” Declan answered. “I’m the one who brought Liam back from the tavern the many times he passed out there. He’s become a frequent visitor.”
“I can’t handle all these secrets anymore,” I snapped as I stomped out of the kitchen. Declan followed me, but he didn’t stop me like he had before.
I wasn’t completely sure where I was going but I needed fresh air. The ball was over in my mind and I needed to get away. I walked fiercely through the garden and found myself on the path to the stables. It wasn’t my intention to go in that direction, but nothing made me more relaxed than the horses. My father had bought a horse just for me a few years ago, black with white hooves; he had never seen another horse like her, and it reminded him of me. I named her Chloe and I tried to get out to the stables every day to at least brush her and sneak a few treats to her. If I was lucky, I would actually get to ride her.
“Come back to the castle, Luna!” Declan shouted from behind me. “It’s too dark out here.”
“I can’t go back there right now,” I yelled back just as I pushed open the stable doors. The horses were still awake, unfazed by my intrusion. I felt a sense of relief as I surrounded myself with creatures who didn’t care who I was or who my father was.
“What’s wrong?” Declan asked as he came up behind me, his hands dropping down on my shoulders. My body shivered as he moved closer to me, my mind unsure if I liked him being that close.
“That murdering bastard struck again,” I mumbled as I reached for Chloe, petting her head as she moved a little closer to the door of her stall.
“He usually doesn’t drop bodies until after Juda’s birthday,” Declan said. Most of the villagers didn’t know the whole situation when it came to the man threatening the alphas, but Declan’s father was on the council. It also sounded like my father had been filling him in on the secrets he had been keeping all these years. He probably knew more than I ever would.
“Well, apparently he started early,” I said as I pulled away from him. “He dropped all the bodies at our gate this time instead of in their own territories.”
“It’s no secret that the alphas are all here for your birthday ball.” Declan leaned against Chloe’s stall as he spoke. “I guess it’s not surprising that he left all of them here.”
“This is what your life will be like if you bind to me,” I warned him. “You’ll constantly be worrying about the people and how your mistakes will affect them.”
“You think I don’t know that? I’m well aware of the responsibilities I’ll be taking on when we bind together. Your father has been trying to prepare me as much as he can.”
“They’ve been talking about us binding for years,” I spoke absently. “Did you know that? They’ve been deciding our futures for years and let us believe we had a choice.”
Declan was silent. Either he didn’t know his father was discussing this with my father for as long as they had, or he didn’t know what to say. He took a few steps towards me, moving more hesitantly than he had before. I didn’t stop him, curious as to what would happen if I let him come closer. Would it feel natural or would it feel forced? I needed to know this could work between us and the only way I was going to find out was if I stopped pushing him away.
“I wish there was something I could say to make you feel more confident about your father’s plan,” Declan said, his body only a few inches away from me. “I have my doubts as well, but I’m willing to give it a try.”
“I don’t want you to wake up one day and realize you made a mistake,” I told him once again. “I don’t want the opinion you have of my father to change because he forced you into this.”
“I’m not doing this for your father,” he told me, reaching for my hand. “No matter what I believed I knew I would be bound to someone from a noble family. I know you know this already, but the council children aren’t exactly the greatest among us thanks to how they were raised. Your family has become mine over the years. Your parents treat me as one of their own, and your brothers have shown me what it’s like to have siblings. Then there’s you…”
“Sorry to disappoint,” I whispered, hoping he didn’t see the tear that was about to fall from my eye. I wasn’t sure what triggered the tears, but I was struggling to hold them back the more he spoke.
“You didn’t,” he assured me. “I never saw you as a sibling like I did your brothers. I cared about you just as much as I did them, but it was also different. I didn’t understand it until your father brought up the binding ceremony. I think it was why I never looked at you as a sibling … because you’re more than that. I know this is forward, but I also know there’s a connection between us. I don’t fully understand it, but I know it’s there. That’s why I’m willing to go through with the bind.”
“How can a girl say no after a speech like that?” I chuckled as he wiped away the tear I’d failed to hide. He tugged at every heartstring I didn’t know I had. I didn’t know what there was between us, but he was right. There was some kind of connection pulling us together and I didn’t know if I wanted to keep fighting it, even though it went against everything I ever believed. If I were to be a part of this experiment, at least he would be a part of it with me. There were worse things that could happen.
Chapter Four
When my eyes opened the next morning, I couldn’t recall where I was. I lifted my head to observe my surroundings only to see that I was in my room. How the hell did I get here? The last thing I remember is talking to Declan at the stables, but after that, nothing. My mind was completely empty. Declan had to have been the one who brought me back to the castle.
But why don’t I remember it?
I threw the blankets off, jumped out of bed, and walked to the curtains that were still closed to see what time of day it was. The sun was high in the sky, which meant it was at least late morning. When I turned back towards the rest of my room, I froze when I saw a shirtless male sleeping on the couch. It was Declan, but I didn’t know why he would be in my room. Panic set in as I started to think about all the things that could’ve happened last night. Did Declan and I do anything that I’m probably going to regret later? I doubted it. If something had happened between us, we would be in the bed together instead of him sleeping on the couch.
I could wake him and see if he knew anything, but I didn’t want to face this just yet. I also didn’t want anyone to walk into my room unannounced and see Declan with only half his clothes on — especially with the girls here in the castle; the odds of someone letting themselves in was pretty high. I sat on the table in between the two couches and poked his arm, hoping it wouldn’t take more than that to wake him up. I needed to get h
im out of here, even though I knew we would eventually have to discuss how this scenario happened. I poked him again, a little harder this time. He moved but he didn’t wake up.
“Declan,” I said as I pushed his arm, giving up completely on the poking. “Wake up! I need answers!”
He groaned as he turned his head away from me. My frustration grew, my soft push turning into a hard punch. His head jumped up, whipping around in different directions trying to figure out who woke him up.
“Pay attention!” I snapped as I grabbed his chin and forced him to look up at me. “What are you doing in my room?”
“What are you talking about?” he asked as he sat up on the couch, the blanket covering his lower half. I wasn’t complaining about the view of his abdominal region. It was rock solid and basically flawless. Actually, it’s wasn’t basically flawless, it was just flawless. No other way to describe it.
“You’re on my couch,” I told him. He followed my line of sight to the seat and then started looking around at the rest of the room.
“Why am I in your room?” he asked me, completely forgetting that I had asked him this question before he realized where he was.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to ask you,” I told him as I rolled my eyes. “I woke up in my bed and then I see you on my couch. Start talking.”
“I don’t remember anything after you and I walked to the stables,” he said.
Both of our memories blank at the same time? This wasn’t good at all.
“How did we get back in here?” I asked, not expecting him to respond. “I also remember going to the stables with you, but then everything goes black and I wake up here with the sun fully blazing high in the sky.”
“Somebody has to be playing a prank on us,” Declan suggested confidently. “There’s no other explanation.”
“How does that explain our memory loss?”
“Well, it doesn’t,” he acknowledged. “This isn’t good, Luna. Memory loss is serious shit. This isn’t like drinking too much wine the night before and waking up with a headache the next morning.”
“I wonder how Liam’s doing.” I asked to no one in particular. I wasn’t thinking about him until Declan brought up the wine. He probably wasn’t feeling very good today. I still needed to get to the bottom of whatever was making Liam drink so much lately. If Levi and I couldn’t get him under control, then he would have to deal with our parents, and no one wanted that. I don’t care how much Liam annoyed me on most days, I didn’t want to see him get in trouble.
“He’s probably doing better than we are,” Declan snarled as he stood up from the couch. His pants were still on, although I couldn’t tell if I was disappointed or relieved by that revelation. When the blanket dropped from his waist, I didn’t have any expectations for what I might see, but I was starting to think I missed out on something I would’ve loved.
“Why don’t we go downstairs and ask if anyone saw us come back to the castle last night?” I asked, stopping myself when I realized I would somehow have to explain why Declan was in my room. Since I truly didn’t know, I wouldn’t be lying, but no one would let it go. I would be talking about the more serious matter of our memory loss and everyone else would still be thinking about Declan and I sleeping in the same room. I was on the bed and he was on the couch. Nothing happened between us.
“No one can know about this,” Declan said sternly. “We have no explanation for why we can’t remember anything from when we were in the stables to now, which means one of your sorcerer siblings played a prank on us, or someone doesn’t want us to remember whatever it is we saw or possibly did.”
“If it were my siblings, that would explain how we got back in the castle, but if it wasn’t them, then why would they bring us back? Why wouldn’t they just leave us in the stables?”
“What if we weren’t in the stables?” Declan asked. “What if something else caught our attention?”
“There’s no proof of that, Declan,” I scolded him. “We can’t just assume something like that in order for us to have an explanation for our memory loss.”
“One doesn’t just lose their memory, Lu.” He threw his arms up toward his head, more than frustration falling from his expression. He was worried and I didn’t like that. He was usually calm in situations like this. He expressed a sense of urgency, but he never worked himself up.
“I don’t know what else to tell you,” I said, dropping my shoulders in defeat. “The more I think about it though, the more I think my siblings were not involved in this. They would be outside my door waiting for us to come out so they could get a good laugh, but there’s not one heartbeat standing on the other side of that door.”
“That’s why I’m frustrated,” he admitted, as he walked over towards the fireplace. Ivy must’ve come in and started it while we were still sleeping. Judging by how small the flames were, I’m guessing she started it hours ago. “With the bodies being dropped at the gate last night, and then we wake up inside the castle with no memory of how we got back… there’s just something eating at me telling me it’s all connected somehow.”
“You think the hooded assassin did this?” I thought about it as I questioned him. The alphas did say he was a sorcerer. He’d have the strength and knowledge to wipe our minds but getting us back into the castle would be more difficult. How did he do it without anyone seeing him? Just when I thought we were about to get some answers, I found myself asking more questions.
“It’s possible,” Declan answered me. “We have no proof though. It’s like you said, we can’t just assume something to justify why we can’t remember the final hours of last night.”
“Neither one of us seem to be hurt, so that’s a plus, right?” I asked, trying to look on the bright side for once. It seemed foreign, but it wasn’t hard trying to be positive.
“That we know of,” Declan countered, acting more like I usually did.
“I’m supposed to be the bratty one, remember?” I chuckled, hopefully lightening the mood. All this tension right after waking up didn’t help my own energy.
“I’m sorry,” he said genuinely. “I don’t like others getting the drop on me, and I don’t like that they went after you too.”
“I was probably their target and you were the one caught in the crossfire,” I told him. “It’s because of me that you’re in this mess. I don’t mean to say, ‘I told you so,’ but I did.”
“It doesn’t matter.” He turned away from the fireplace to face me. “I know what I’m signing up for, Luna. Nothing you say is going to change my mind. I’m going to figure out who did this to us and then I’m going to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
He stomped away from me, his heavy feet quickly moving towards the door. He turned the doorknob and swung it open, ready to slam it behind him, when he remembered where he was. Only I slammed doors in the alpha’s castle. Everyone else would have to deal with my mother. I used to get in trouble for slamming doors, but my father somehow convinced my mother that I was releasing anger when I made all that noise. She hasn’t said a word to me about it since. I can’t believe she actually fell for it. I think my father was still surprised that it worked. I wasn’t going to be the one to bring it up, but one day I’d find out why she gave in so easily.
I was still in my dress from the ball, so before I left the room I went for the bathroom, where a cold bath was waiting for me. I guess it would’ve been hot had I woken up at the usual time, but that was the least of my worries right now. How was I going to explain this to my parents? I had no answers for the many questions they were going to ask me, and I didn’t want to get Declan in trouble. If my parents found out he was in my room the whole night, it most likely wouldn’t end well even if they did believe the truth.
I slipped on a loose-fitting dark blue dress before throwing my hair up on top of my head. I usually didn’t move this fast after just waking up, but I had things to solve today. Odds were I wouldn’t get answers, but I at least had to try. When I shut the
door behind me, I was startled by my brother’s laughter echoing throughout the hallway.
“Not now, Levi,” I snarled as I tried to walk away from him. He caught up to me quickly, stopping me before I could get to the staircase.
“Where are you off to in a hurry?” he asked, being nosy. I really couldn’t complain since all I did was eavesdrop on other people’s conversation.
“I’m going out to the stables,” I told him. I had decided just before I left my room that I needed to return to the last place I remembered if I was going to get anywhere on my search for answers.
“Weren’t you out there long enough last night?” he asked, a smile smeared across his face. He doesn’t smile, so why was he doing it now?
“What do you know about last night?” I turned around to face him, stopping him before he could move any further.
“Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me,” he assured me as he brushed me off, knocking me out of the way with his shoulder. He didn’t use very much effort to do it, showing off his strength like he usually did.
“I mean it, Levi,” I yelled after him. “What do you know about Declan and I out in the stables?”
“Do I really need to explain it to you?” he asked, more uncomfortable now than he was just a few seconds ago. I grew frustrated with him, because I felt like he wasn’t taking this conversation seriously.
I gritted my teeth. “Forget what you think happened between Declan and I, because nothing did. I’m being serious. Did anything weird happen while we were out there?”
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