Chapter 41: Consequences - Callista's POV

I took a shower first, then got dressed for the academy. My breathing was ragged, because I knew the moment I stepped out of my room and headed downstairs his parents were going to know what we had done just a little while ago.

I swallowed hard, staring at the marks on the base of my throat. The Moon Mark from the Moon Goddess could be hidden by my shirt collar and my hair. This was much more prominent. There was no hiding this, especially when our scents are intertwined.

I left my room and shut the door the same as Riven. He glanced my way, then outstretched his hand, waiting for me. I closed the distance between us and slid my hand into his, our fingers lacing together.

We walked together down the stairs hand in hand. When we hit the last step, I heard a sharp inhale come from the kitchen. But we still continued and I knew the moment we walked into the kitchen that they knew.

Though the scent of eggs, toast, and coffee filled the air, what I noticed most was the silence. It was sharp and sudden. It was the kind that fell over the room in an instant. Both of his parents turned their heads with their nostrils flared.

I kept my chin up, though my entire body trembled.

"Callista. Riven,” Alpha Nightshade said, his voice low. “What have you done?”

Luna Nightshade had tears in her eyes as she stared at my throat, right where the mark is. “You marked each other.”

She wasn’t mad or even disgusted. Just surprised. And somehow that made it worse.

"What have you done?" Alpha Nightshade asked again.

Riven stepped partially in front of me, blocking me from view. “We did what was necessary. I asked her to.”

“Asked her to?” Alpha Nightshade’s gaze cut to Riven sharply. “You asked her to do this. You asked a sixteen year old girl to let you permanently mark her without a ceremony and without going through the proper way. Riven, what have you done? All wolves go to the Alpha King for approval before the ceremony. You were supposed to wait.”

"Dad—"

"Do not." He held up one hand, and Riven went silent. "I am not done."

Luna Nightshade had moved to the counter, one hand pressed flat against it like she needed something solid to hold on to. Her eyes kept drifting to my throat, then away, then back again. I resisted the urge to pull my collar up. There was no point. The mark was there and it wasn't going anywhere.

"Sit down," Alpha Nightshade said. "Both of you."

We sat at the kitchen table. Riven kept his hand in mine beneath it, and I held on tighter than I probably needed to.

Alpha Nightshade pulled out his phone. He didn't look at either of us when he said, "I'm calling your parents, Callista."

My stomach dropped straight through the floor.

"Sir, with respect—" I started.

"This is not a conversation." He was already dialing. "Your parents trusted me to keep you safe while you were here. They deserve to know what has happened in my house and under my watch."

I closed my eyes as Riven’s thumb traced a slow circle on the back of my hand. It was the only comfort available and somehow, it was enough to keep me from completely falling apart.

The call connected on the third ring and I heard my mother on the other line.

My mother's voice came through, warm and still half-asleep. "Hello?"

"Luna Monroe." Alpha Nightshade's tone shifted into something carefully neutral. "It's Alpha Nightshade. I apologize for the early hour. I need to speak with you and your mate. Both of you."

There was a pause, before the sound of rustling and a muffled voice filled the background. “What’s happened? Is Callista okay?”

"She's unharmed." He glanced at me briefly. "But there is something you need to be told."

What followed was one of the longest silences of my life while Alpha Nightshade explained. He was precise about it, controlled, the way he seemed to be about everything. He laid out the facts without editorializing and without raising his voice. My mother made a sound somewhere between a gasp and a sob. My father said nothing for so long I wasn't sure he was still on the line.

Then my father's voice came through, low and careful. "Let me speak to her."

Alpha Nightshade crossed the kitchen and held the phone out to me. I took it with a hand that wasn't entirely steady.

"Dad."

"Tell me yourself." His voice was rough. "Look me in the eye as best you can through a phone and tell me this is true."

"It's true." I touched the mark on my throat without meaning to. "We marked each other last night. It was my choice too. I need you to know that it wasn't just him. I wanted this."

Another long silence.

"Are you safe?"

"Yes,” I said, my voice low.

"Is he good to you?"

Riven was watching me from across the small distance between our chairs, his expression open in a way I was starting to understand meant he was scared. He was scared and letting me see it.

"Yes," I said, softer this time. "He is. I know it’s soon, but…you know how wolves are once they’re Moon Marked.”

My father exhaled slowly. My mother had started crying properly now, the kind of quiet crying she did when she was trying not to let anyone hear. Alpha Nightshade stood at the counter with his arms crossed, studying the floor.

"We're coming," my father said. "We'll be there by—"

A knock at the front door cut through the kitchen. Everyone went still.

Luna Nightshade straightened. "I'll get it."

"Dad," I said quickly, "I have to call you back." I didn't wait for his answer before I ended the call, already turning toward the hallway.

Luna Nightshade reappeared in the kitchen doorway a moment later. Her face was unreadable in a way that made the back of my neck prickle. She was holding a sealed envelope, carrying it the way you'd carry something you weren't sure was safe to touch.

The wax seal on one side was deep crimson and once I got a good look, I’d know the crest pressed into it anywhere. It was a crown of thorns wrapped around a crescent moon.

The Alpha King.

Alpha Nightshade crossed the room and took it from her before anyone else could move. He broke the seal and read it. The silence that followed was the loudest thing I had ever heard.

His face gave nothing away, but his hands were perfectly and deliberately still. When his left eye ticked, I wondered just how bad it was.

"What does it say?" Riven asked.

Nightshade looked up. He looked at Riven first, then at me, and in the two seconds that look lasted, I felt every choice we had made last night sitting heavy on my chest. He held the letter out.

I took it. The paper was heavy, cream-colored, and faintly warm, as though it had been held recently by someone whose body ran hotter than most. The handwriting was precise and unrushed, each letter formed with the confidence of someone who had never once needed to rush.

Come to the Alpha King’s mansion tomorrow. We have much to discuss about your unusual bond and what lives inside it. I look forward to seeing both of you.

—Alpha King

I read it twice. Then a third time, as though the words might rearrange themselves into something less catastrophic, but they didn’t.

What lives inside it.

He knew about the demon.

I glanced at Riven, but his expression was a mask he wore when he was thinking faster than he wanted anyone to realize. His mother had gone pale. His father hadn’t moved or spoken.

The phone was still in my hand. My parents were waiting for a callback. My father was probably already telling my mother to pack a bag. None of that seemed to matter right now.

Riven reached over, taking the letter from my hands. He read it once, his jaw tightening.

“We have to go,” he said quietly.

"We'll go," I agreed.

I looked back at the letter in his hands and at those final words.

The Alpha King knew what we had done. He knew what lived inside our bond and I knew that we might not be able to hide it much longer.

And he'd been waiting for this moment.