"Too much?" Sebastian asked carefully.
"No." Lilith touched one of the bite marks on her shoulder and felt the echo of pleasure it had caused. "No, I just... I look like I was mauled."
"You were." Sebastian did not sound even remotely apologetic. "By me. And now everyone who sees you will know you’re claimed."
Lilith felt heat rush through her at the possessiveness in his voice, and through the bond she felt Sebastian’s immediate response to her arousal.
"Don’t," he said, his voice strained. "Don’t do that or I’m going to fuck you again and you’re already too sore."
"I didn’t do anything...."Lilith replied.
"You’re thinking about last night and I can feel it through the bond." He got out of bed and held out his hand. "Come on. Let’s get you in the bath before I lose control again."
***
An hour later, Lilith was clean and dressed carefully, because every movement reminded her of exactly what Sebastian had done to her, and sitting in Sebastian’s destroyed bedroom trying to figure out what came next.
The windows were shattered. The bedframe was cracked straight down the middle. There were scorch marks on the dresser and the walls, and glass covered nearly every surface.
"We can’t stay in here," Sebastian said, surveying the damage. "We’ll move you to my room temporarily until this is repaired."
"Your room IS destroyed."
"I meant Nicholas’s room. Or yours." He paused. "Actually, we should probably just share Nicholas’s room. All of us. Once Lucian marks you...."
A knock at the door cut him off.
"Come in," Sebastian called.
The door opened and Nicholas stepped inside, took one look at the destruction, and raised an eyebrow. "I see the bond completion went well."
"Fuck off," Sebastian said without heat.
Nicholas’s lips twitched but he did not smile. Instead he looked at Lilith and his expression softened. "How are you feeling?"
"Sore. But okay." She replied.
"Good." He walked over and sat on the edge of the broken bed beside her, his hand finding hers automatically. Through their bond she felt his relief, his satisfaction that Sebastian’s marking was complete, and underneath it a thread of concern she could not quite identify. "We need to talk."
Sebastian tensed. "About what?"
"The pack." Nicholas looked between them. "Last night’s power surge was felt throughout the entire territory. Every wolf in the pack knows something happened. And this morning I received formal petitions from three of the elders demanding an explanation."
Lilith felt her stomach drop. "Petitions?"
"Formal requests for a pack meeting to address concerns about your... nature." Nicholas’s voice was careful. "This isn’t the first time, Lilith. When Kael marked you and the room shook, that was noticed. Whispered about. The elders have been watching ever since. But last night’s surge was impossible to ignore. They’re scared."
"Scared of me?" she asked.
"Scared of what you might be. What you might do." Nicholas squeezed her hand gently. "They want answers. And they want reassurance that you’re not a threat to the pack."
"She’s not a threat," Sebastian said immediately, his voice hard. "She’s their Luna...."
"I know that. You know that. But the pack doesn’t know her the way we do." Nicholas looked at Lilith. "They need to see you. Hear from you. Understand that you’re still the same person even though something inside you is waking up."
Lilith felt panic rising in her chest. "You want me to stand in front of the entire pack and what? Explain something I don’t even understand myself?"
"No. I want you to stand beside us while WE explain it. But you need to be there. You need to let them see that you’re not afraid of them and they don’t need to be afraid of you."
"But they should be afraid," Lilith said quietly. "I shattered every window in this room without meaning to. What if I hurt someone? What if I can’t control it?"
"Then we’ll help you learn to control it." Nicholas’s voice was firm. "But hiding from the pack isn’t an option. Not anymore. They need their Luna to be strong. To face them."
Lilith looked at Sebastian and saw the same resolve in his eyes. They were right. She knew they were right. But the thought of standing in front of hundreds of wolves who were scared of her made her want to crawl under the broken bed and hide.
"When?" she asked finally.
"Tonight," Nicholas said. "I’ve already called for a mandatory pack gathering at sundown. Every wolf in the territory will be there."
"That’s not enough time...." She started saying.
"It’s exactly enough time," Nicholas interrupted gently. "Any longer and the fear will fester. We address this now, tonight, before it becomes something we can’t control."
Lilith closed her eyes and tried to breathe through the anxiety clawing at her chest. Through the bond she felt Sebastian’s immediate response....steady, grounding and supportive. And through Nicholas’s bond she felt the same.
"You won’t be alone," Nicholas said. "We’ll be right there with you. All three of us."
"What do I say?" She asked, looking at Nicholas.
"The truth. As much of it as we know." Nicholas stood and pulled her to her feet. "Come. We have work to do before tonight."
***
Nicholas’s POV
Nicholas stood in his office reviewing the petitions that had been submitted by the pack elders and felt a headache building behind his eyes.
Elder Morris had written three pages about the "unnatural power" Lilith possessed and the "threat she posed to pack stability." Elder Theodore had demanded "immediate action to assess and contain the danger." And Elder Edward, his own twice-removed uncle, had submitted the most damning petition of all: a formal request to invoke the ancient pack law that allowed for the removal of a Luna deemed "unfit or dangerous to the pack’s survival."
They wanted her gone.
Or at the very least, they wanted her power suppressed, studied and controlled.
Nicholas crumpled the petitions in his fist and threw them across the room.
"That bad?" Lucian asked from the doorway.
Nicholas turned and found his youngest brother leaning against the frame with his arms crossed and his expression dark.
"They want to invoke removal protocols," Nicholas said flatly.
Lucian went very still. "They want to remove her as Luna?"
"They want the option on the table if tonight’s meeting doesn’t satisfy their concerns."
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