Suddenly Fated (Wolves of Riverton #1)

13. Esyn

13. Esyn

“I’m never going to remember all of this,” I told Avelin as we sat in the library, going over the geography of the different packs and the names of all of their Alphas. She’d been making notes in a leather covered journal about her upcoming meeting with her father. It wasn’t for several weeks yet, but I quickly learned that she was really into preparing for every possible outcome of a given situation.

“You will. I know them like the back of my hand, but that’s because I’ve been studying these things since I was a child. Flashcards can be helpful.”

I imagined how people would react if their new Luna showed up to a summit with flashcards to reference and blew out a breath.

I had lessons daily from either Avelin or Luna Elise. I enjoyed the former. The latter was sheer hell. Luna Elise made it known every day how much of a disappointment I was and how I’d never compare to Avelin.

I learned etiquette, geography, history of the pack and of the family. I shadowed Luna Elise as she went about her day, running the house and giving orders, conducting meetings and making decisions. It seemed like University all over again, but much more intense. The bright point in my training came during the several days that I spent with Alpha William. He was a strong leader but also a kind man. He listened to his people and treated everyone fairly.

“What would you do in this situation, Esyn?” he asked me one day as three servants sat in the next room, waiting for his ruling on their issue. Some money got stolen from a cash box in the community building and three servants were blaming each other.

“Well…Luna Elise would suggest you fire all three of them.” I answered with a scrunched face.

“You’re likely correct, and I can see by your expression that you don’t agree.”

“No Sir, I don’t.”

“Then tell me what you, Esyn, would do.”

I took a deep breath. “Well, Rose and Lizzie have been working here at the community building for over ten years and have never had a complaint against them. Anya has only been working there for two months.”

“So you would have me fire Anya?”

“On the contrary, Sir. I believe that Anya is telling the truth. She didn’t steal from the cash drawer because the money went missing on Tuesday. I know for certain that Anya doesn’t work on Tuesdays, because she goes into Riverton to help her mother in the bakery. Lizzie and Rose work on Tuesdays, so it had to be one of them. Since they’re sisters and neither will give the other up, the sensible thing would be to at least threaten to fire them both and see who cracks first.”

Alpha William beamed at me. “How did you know Anya’s whereabouts on Tuesdays? That is information that I did not have.”

“Well Sir, I observe, and I make a point to have conversations with the servants. I like to find out about them, their families, and what they do. I’m practicing ‘coming out of my shell’, as Avelin would say.”

Anya was a sweet girl of only 17. Lizzie and Rose were both catty and mean. I’d seen how they bullied Anya and made her do all of the menial chores that they normally split three ways. I didn’t tell Alpha William that part, though.

A little while later, Anya left the room beaming, Lizzie and Rose fuming mad and fervently whispering to one another.

Alpha William patted me on the back. “Well, my Dear. I must say, you have a good head on your shoulders. You’ll make a fine Luna for my Son.”

My insides warmed at the compliment, and I smiled at him. “Thank you so much, Sir. You have no idea what that means to me.”

“I’d like to tell you a secret. We have video surveillance in the room where the money is kept. I saw Tuesday’s video myself. Rose took the money, Lizzie watched the door.”

My mouth formed an ‘oh’ of surprise. “But, if you knew it was them, why did you ask me what I would do?”

“I asked you because I wanted to get a feel for your instincts. You went above and beyond. Elise doesn’t give two damns about the lives of our servants. Even Avelin learns and uses their names, but doesn’t make friends. She’s used to this life. I think your background is what is going to make you a better Luna than either of them. You have experienced more of ‘regular’ life than any of us. You’ll be a Luna of the people. The pack is going to love you.”

I left Alpha William’s office feeling like I walked on air.

It was hard to recall that feeling as I sat in the quiet of the library with maps and lists of names. My head hurt and my eyes burned.

“Av, I think I’m going to call it a night.”

“Sure. Brett should be waiting outside with the car. Ask him to come back and pick me up in about an hour, would you please?”

“Of course. See you later.” Avelin gave me a tiny wave but didn’t look up from her writing.

I hugged my mother goodbye and walked out into the chilly evening. Mom agreed to stay after hours to keep the library open just for Av and I. I hoped that Avelin would remember that and not overstay her welcome.

The car sat parked a few spaces down from the front door, but Brett was nowhere in sight. I sighed. Maybe he went to the bathroom or something. I decided to get in and wait for him where it wasn’t so windy.

I made myself comfortable, blowing on my cold hands. A few minutes later, the driver’s door opened and shut.

“I’d like to go home please, Brett,” I said through the crack in the partition window, then leaned my head back against the comfortable headrest, closing my eyes. I needed a long, hot shower after a long, tedious day. When I opened my eyes, I realized that we were headed in the opposite direction of the manor.

“Um, Brett? Where are we going?” I asked, but he remained silent. Warning bells went off in my head. “Brett? Brett!”

The driver sped up. We passed the town limits and reached a dark section of the road. “Brett, if this is some kind of prank, it isn’t funny, you’re scaring me.”

We’d just reached the top of a small hill when Brett opened the drivers’ door and jumped out of the car. I screamed, looking back as he rolled several times in the grass. Panicking, I looked forward and realized that I sat in the back of a driverless vehicle, speeding up as it careened down the hill. I stuck my fingers into the space between the car’s ceiling and the glass partition, trying to push it down so that I could jump into the drivers’ seat. It wouldn’t budge. “Fuck fuck fuck FUCK!” I screamed again as the car left the road and made a beeline for the trees. I hastily re-buckled my seatbelt and ducked down, covering my head with my arms.

The car sideswiped a tree and flipped. Branches ripped past, shattering the windows and covering me in glass. It seemed to happen in slow motion. Finally, the car came to a rest on the drivers’ side. I hung suspended sideways in my seatbelt. It took me a full minute to realize that I was still alive and in one piece. I unhooked my seatbelt and braced myself as I landed hard on the opposite wall, cutting my hands on the glass. It took me several tries to get the passenger door open, since I had to stand up and push, and then another several tries to haul myself up and out of the wreck. I stood shivering in the night. A mental check told me that I was relatively ok - my headache now raged, my hands hurt, and my chest and shoulder felt burned from the seatbelt. I started to cry as the adrenaline began to recede. Now what? I checked my pocket for my phone, but it wasn’t there, probably still inside the car.

Ari! Ari, help me! I thought as hard as I could, hoping that this mind thing worked over long distances.

Esyn, where the hell are you?

Just past town, in the trees to the left. The car is wrecked. Brett is gone, he jumped out! He jumped out of the car and let me smash into the forest! I’m ok though, I think.

Holy shit, I’ll be there soon!

Ari insisted on taking me to the hospital to get checked out, even though I assured him that I was ok. My hands already healed, but I had a raw, reddened area in the shape of the seatbelt across my body, and my head still pounded. The Doctor gave me some pain killers and pronounced me fit to go home and rest. Ari drove us back to the manor in a sleek blue sports car that I’d never seen before.

“Tell me again how it happened,” he asked me.

“Ari, we’ve been over this several times.”

“Yes, but it still doesn’t make any sense. Why would Brett jump out of the car? Where did he go? Jamie said he looked all over the wreck site but couldn’t find him. Oh, and incidentally, your phone got smashed.”

We pulled up to the house, Ari leaving the car right by the front entrance. He picked me up and carried me inside amid my protestations that I could walk on my own.

“Esyn, I’ve had the life scared out of me tonight over not knowing if you were really ok. Please just let me take care of you.”

At that, I stopped arguing and snuggled into his warm body. We made it a few steps inside the entry before Alpha William’s voice called, “Michael, come in here please.”

In the formal sitting room, Alpha William stood with Luna Elise, Avelin, and Jamie. They all stared at Brett, who sat on a gold brocade chair holding an ice pack to his head while the servant Ann-Maria clucked over him like a mother hen.

Ari plopped me down on a sofa across from them, snarling and moving menacingly toward him. “What the fuck were you thinking? How could you do this to her?” He roared. Ann-Maria yelped and hurried from the room.

“Michael, please control your language,” Elise said in a disinterested voice as Jamie held Ari back so that he wouldn’t attack Brett.

Brett’s eyes widened with fear. “Alpha Michael, I did nothing to Miss Stone! I swear it!”

Alpha William sighed. “Apparently Ann-Maria found him lying unconscious in one of the garage bays.”

“Someone attacked me,” Brett exclaimed. “I came out to warm up the car to pick up Miss Stone and Mrs. Belisarius. Someone hit me in the head and I passed out. I never got a chance to see who it was. I am deeply sorry.”

“The same person that attacked Brett must have stolen the car,” Alpha William frowned. “Clearly this was another attempt on Miss Stone’s life.”

“Preposterous,” Luna Elise argued. “What motive would anyone have? She’s insignificant. She’s not even a true member of this family.”

“Mother, if I didn’t know better, I’d think that you were the one trying to get rid of Esyn,” Ari ground out. “You’ve done nothing but complain and criticize and put Esyn down the entire time that she’s been with us. You never miss an opportunity to compare her to Avelin and find her lacking.”

“Well I never! William, are you going to stand there and allow your Son to impugn my honor in this way?”

“Indeed I am, Elise. He’s not wrong, and honestly I’d like to know your whereabouts this evening. Have you been plotting with anyone lately?”

“William Belisarius! The nerve! I’ve never been so insulted in my entire life, and by my own family! How dare you! How dare you both!” With that, Luna Elise stormed out of the room.

Alpha William sighed and wiped his hand over his face. “I need to go and finish this with her.”

“Alpha William, Ari, thank you both so much for standing up for me. I appreciate it so much.”

Ari leaned down and scooped me up again. “I will always stand up for you, Little Mate.”

“Never forget your worth,” Alpha William told me before leaving the room.

Brett sat watching the drama unfold, looking a bit green at the gills. “Ari, I think we should make sure that Brett gets to the doctor,” I told him. “I truly think he’s a victim in all of this as much as I was.”

“Thank you for that, Miss. For what it’s worth, if I could have, I would have done something to stop this from happening.”

Ari huffed out a breath. “I apologize for earlier, Brett. I believe you would protect Miss Stone in any way you’re able.”

“Yes Sir.”

We all gathered in the bedroom. Ari refused to allow me to sit in the chair in front of the fire. “You need to lie down and rest.”

“You know, you told me in the beginning that you could be controlling. You were telling the honest truth.” I scowled but agreed to get in bed as long as they didn’t leave me out of the meeting. They all pulled chairs up beside me.

“That’s two attempts to kill Esyn in one month,” Jamie pointed out. “We don’t know why, and we don’t know who. Assuming it really isn’t your mother, Ari.”

“Jamie, I’d love to tell you that I’m sure, but I can’t. Appoint someone to have her followed.”

I felt shocked by Ari’s command. “Seriously? I know your mother can’t stand me, but do you really think-”

“We can’t rule it out, Esyn. She is cold-blooded and will stop at nothing to get what she wants.”

“But what could she possibly want that would mean killing me?”

“It would get you out of the way so that Avelin could be Luna,” Jamie pointed out.

Avelin shook her head. “She knows that Ari and I aren’t in love and that there’s no chance of cubs in that scenario. If she wants a new heir, Esyn is her best chance.”

“Plus, she was nowhere near the teapot or the car,” I told them.

“True,” Ari said. “But she still has enough respect and power to convince other shifters to do her bidding. Esyn, from now on, your lessons with my mother are suspended. I don’t want her anywhere near you. I’m going to make sure that the servants know and will inform me immediately if they see her in our wing of the house. Jamie, I want guards posted on the grounds as well.”

My Luna lessons were much less stressful after the car incident. Avelin and Ari both proclaimed that I was doing beautifully. With Alpha William’s support, my confidence began to grow. The time flew by and it got closer to the scheduled meeting with Alpha Blackwell. Avelin looked more and more stressed and nervous with each passing day.

“Av, is your father that bad?”

“He’s horrible, Esyn. You have no idea. My mother died having me. The only attention he paid me as a child was to physically punish me for my mistakes. I loved the times when he traveled away from home, even though that meant that he was at war with another pack. He is brutal and violent and finds women to be of little value beyond the bedroom or as political pawns. The best thing that ever happened to me was coming here to live. Luna Elise is like a fairy godmother compared to him.”

“Goddess, Avelin. I’m so sorry. I can’t believe that you volunteered to meet with him on my behalf. Is there time to get someone else? I don’t want to be the reason that you have to face him.”

Avelin’s eyes filled with tears and she hugged me tightly. “Esyn, you are wonderful and I love you like the sister I never had. I’ll face him for you. For us all.”

Soon after, the results from the tea came back - Wolfsbeard, a cousin of Wolfsbane.

“It’s incredibly poisonous and incredibly rare,” Ari read aloud from a book. “It used to be used often to assassinate shifters because it’s virtually impossible to detect when ground into a powder. Now it only grows in one area of the world, thousands of miles from here. It’s against the Wolf Code to grow, harvest, sell, or possess Wolfsbeard.”

We knew what poisoned me, but not who did the poisoning. I still didn’t think that Luna Elise was capable of murder. Ari disagreed. He’d had her followed for days, but she did nothing nor met anyone unusual.

“It is so frustrating that someone is out there trying to hurt you and I can’t do anything about it.” Ari complained. “If I find the shifter responsible for this, they’ll wish they’d never been born.”