Quinlan

"This is why you refused to bring her to court!" Tessa screamed. "This is why you begged for more time for her. You gave her your mark! My mark!"

My left eye twitched.

It wasn’t often that a woman could make me feel irritated enough to consider breaking her delicate neck, but Tessa has always had that effect on all of us.

Seeing her sink her teeth into Maisie’s neck like that... Fuck knows I thought it. We all thought about the different ways we would enjoy killing her.

Her nose was reddened. And her eyes glowed with fury.

"Marking her means nothing, Tess," Soren coaxed, stepping over the ruined furniture. She had broken every furniture in sight, leaving only the bar off the corner untouched.

That was Tessa Graham.

Tessa broke things. Tessa ruined things when she got upset. Or when things didn’t go her way. She was batshit crazy and we hadn’t accounted for her showing up like this, out of the fucking blue.

She whirled, shoving her palm into Soren’s chest. "That you went through such lengths, feeding lies to even the Queen about her, tells me everything I need to know. What were you planning, Soren? To replace me with her?"

Mercer stiffened. "That could never happen, and you know that."

Her gaze coasted over to Mercer and she lashed out in a cold rebuke. "When I want your opinion, I will demand it, bastard."

We all flinched, feeling the spike of anger from Mercer. Mercer’s side of the bond was always red. There were few moments when it spiked from the average red to murderous.

He clenched his fists. Any one else who dared to speak to any of us like this would be six feet under. But Tessa was the Queen Bitch’s favorite doll.

It was the only reason why we were trying to talk her out of ther rage. Pacify her. Because whatever displeased Tessa often found the ear of the Queen, and more than any one else in court, the Queen favored Tessa—her perfect little prodigy.

And even if she didn’t, our crime was grave enough that we knew there would be a sure punishment for marking one female while being betrothed to another.

The punishment would come. There was no escaping it. It would hurt. It would be as dark and thorough as the Queen’s methods often were.

We could only hope it didn’t break her.

It was why we worked so hard to keep what she was hidden, after all.

Only to have it all fucked up by her awakening too fast for either of us to handle.

Every Lycan felt it.

The Queen had summoned Soren to Court the every next day and demanded an explanation. And Soren did what he knew how to do best.

He mixed up the lies and the trusts, interweaving them so intricately, that the Queen didn’t catch it.

It was risky. People didn’t simply lie to the Queen. The Blood Crown on her head was a relic of the Moon Goddess’s, instilling the wearer with wild power.

One of them included being able to discern lie from truth.

But my brothers and I have always been wild cards. It infuriated and drove her mad with the need to always keep us in line. Because she couldn’t read us. Couldn’t control us. Couldn’t find something to force us into submission or break us.

If she had found out what we’d done to Adams, death would’ve been the least of her worries.

Soren had claimed Maisie’s transition too swift and volatile to move her. He wouldn’t risk bringing her to court until she was fully transformed.

And the Queen had conceded to that too easily, merely demanding that the girl be brought to court with us on the eve before the wedding.

The Queen Bitch was up to something and that was what scared the fuck out of us. That it didn’t matter how many spies I sent into those treacherous walls, none of them ever got out. I couldn’t find out what it was.

Tessa’s voice yanked me back to the present as she said to us, "Does she know? Does she know how terribly you’ve altered her life?"

My back went rigid. "We told you, Tess. Marking her meant nothing. What need was there to tell her if she’ll be leashed to someone else in a few months? The only reason we marked her was to give her a fighting chance of survival through the transition. But the Queen wouldn’t have understood this, which is why we said nothing—"

"You should’ve let her die!" she cut in ruthlessly. She looked each of us in the eye. "If what you say is true, and she means nothing, I want her gone."

I stiffened. "No."

Tessa’s steel grey eyes met mine and held. "Have you seen Charlene lately? I don’t imagine she’s holding up well, being unable to use those beautiful eyes of hers."

The air plummeted to a stifling temperature and vehemence tore out of me.

Once, I had taken a human lover.

Tessa didn’t mind the lovers. No. She even liked to watch sometimes. What she cared about was attachment. If she caught a whiff of anything so much as affection, she instantly got rid of the competition.

She would mar them. Like she had rendered Charlene’s eyes useless, because I bought her flowers after fucking her.

I didn’t even care for the human. I had been drunk and she had come on to me. Being my first, I had knotted in her, unable to control it.

She bled all over my sheets. She was a sweet girl, trying to make me feel better, even if I had hurt her. I healed her with my blood, but I knew I had scandalized her. So I bought her things human women would like. Different for every day a week. Flowers, chocolates, books, dresses, shoes.

And in retaliation, Tessa gouged her claws into Charlene’s eyes.

My Lycan rattled violently in my chest at the threat toward Maisie.

But I maintained an aloof expression because Tessa was watching closely. We couldn’t give it away. We couldn’t let her know we cared.

So I shrugged, slipping my hands into my pocket. "You may gouge out the girl’s eyes, but the Queen will be very unhappy to know you harmed a woman showing great promise in her transition. She’s the first in so many years. We cannot throw her out. She stays."

Tessa thought about that. It must have been convincing enough because she blinked slowly. "Prove to me that she means nothing and I will hold off from slitting her pretty neck and informing the Queen of your betrayal."

She suddenly smiled cruelly. "Since you’ve been gracious enough to pick a stray, house her, feed her, and clothe her, I suppose she will have no problem in working to repay the favour." She made a face. "It won’t be a problem to have her serve me, would it? After all, I can’t have her getting the wrong idea about what her place here is."

We all paused. I felt the start displeasure roiling through the bond, the taste acrid.

Maisie had been through enough shit in her life and having her serve another cruel master disturbed me so fucking much.

But having Tessa out for her blood was not something she could survive, not yet, at least.

Jericho opened his mouth to voice this, but Soren cut in nonchalantly. "Do whatever you want with her, Tessa, so long as it doesn’t compromise her transition."

"I don’t like this," I seethed through the bond.

"None of us do, Chastain," Mercer responded.

"There’s no coming back from this. This will push her away farther than we already have," Jericho growled.

"If you’ve got a better idea, I’d love to fucking hear it." Soren retorted.

But there was none.

We were throwing a lamb out to the wolves and hoping it developed enough bite to fend for itself.