90- Beneath the Silver Lake
POV Lunara Grimwald:
“If any of you—anyone at all,” he said, staring directly at the she-wolf, “raise a hand against Lunara or disrespect her in my presence, you will suffer my wrath. She is an Eldoria; she deserves respect as much as anyone here. And, above all, she is mated to me. What she feels, I will feel too.” He raised his voice, looking over the members of his pack. “This is not an order. It is your alpha’s promise. Break it and you will meet death sooner.”
“That goes for you too,” Thalira snapped sharply, leaning forward and fixing their faces. “That includes you,” she decreed.
“Edric... forgive me, I...” she murmured, trying to find words but failing to form a coherent sentence.
“Shut up, Thalira, and get out of my sight. If you provoke Lunara again or lay a hand on her, I’ll send you to the elders’ prison for defying my orders.”
Tears glittered in her eyes, a sob escaped her lips, and a pink flush spread across her cheeks. Lowering her gaze, she spun on her heels and ran away, avoiding everyone’s stare.
Edric ran a hand through his hair, pulling it back, and breathed deeply. He looked me over from head to toe.
“Are you all right?”
I felt as shocked, if not more, than the rest of the pack.
Of all the things he could have done, that was the only reaction I hadn’t expected. Thalira had humiliated me on countless occasions and Edric had done nothing in any of them. Seeing him react—not against me, but to protect me—was... unsettling.
I nodded, unable to form a verbal answer.
My tongue felt like lead, glued to the roof of my mouth. My heart pounded so loudly I could hear a ringing in my ears.
“Good,” he said, then turned and walked away under the scrutiny of the entire pack.
The music resumed and the murmur of voices blended with the melody as the celebration carried on—though different now. I noticed people’s looks, the comments they made about what had happened: some surprised, some shocked, some worried, others pleased.
I watched Edric’s back until he vanished among the trees and out of sight.
“I’ll have another drink, see if I can process the shock of what just happened,” Lyris remarked.
“Hey, save some țuică for me,” Celindra protested.
“I was ready for trouble,” Andrei said. “I wouldn’t let her hit Lunara.”
“Neither would I,” Anton declared. “I could already hear Thalira’s whole performance for Edric, about how we would have been disrespectful to her.”
Lyris laughed. “And he put that bitch in her place himself, without anyone else needing to get involved.”
“This is the best Samhain ever,” Celindra murmured, sounding slightly drunk.
“Shocking,” Andrei agreed.
I kept staring down the tree-lined path where he had disappeared, torn between leaving him alone and going after him. One part of me begged to approach him; the other feared what his reaction might be.
I squeezed my eyes shut, tuning out the conversations around me and focusing on what I felt. On what he felt.
Confusion. Calm. Hesitation. Resolve.
It was confusing, strange, and senseless. But it gave me the surge of courage I needed. So I stepped forward, leaving them to talk among themselves, and went after him.
...
I knew exactly where Edric was. It wasn’t his scent that I could trace in the air, but the heat of his presence. My body pulled me toward him, moving on its own, like a magnet.
I finally understood how he had always managed to find me just in time whenever I’d been in danger. It was strange—almost instinctive—as if our souls always knew each other’s exact location.
The cold was worsening, growing sharper by the minute. Away from the Samhain bonfires that warmed the celebration, the air felt brutally harsh.
I approached the lake with deliberate, quiet steps. The leaves were damp with dew, soft beneath my feet, no longer crackling as I walked.
Edric stood with his back to me, staring at the lake, his shoulders tense. The moon stretched across the water, lighting it up and turning it into a magnificent silver mirror. The landscape was even more beautiful beneath the veil of night, making me wonder why I had never come to bathe there at this hour during the summer.
He pulled an object from his pocket. I slipped behind a tree and peeked out. It was the small white box carved with flowers that he kept on the top shelf of his wardrobe.
He gazed at it and let out an exasperated sigh. His thumb brushed the carved petals before he opened the box and, without hesitation, threw the ashes inside into the air.
“I choose to keep the good memories,” he whispered to the wind.
Then he tossed the box into the middle of the lake, letting it go as well.
I had no idea what it was, but it clearly meant a great deal to him—and it had to be connected to Catalina. It was a new year for them. Samhain was about leaving things behind, in the past, and that was exactly what Edric seemed to be doing.
I shouldn’t have been there. It was his moment. I knew what the lake meant—and what had happened there. It was on its shore that she had died, that a wolf consumed by obsession had taken her life.
I was intruding on his privacy.
Stepping back from the tree, I began to walk away, trying to make as little noise as possible so as not to be noticed.
“Come here, little wolf.” His voice cut through the air.
I froze, pressing my eyes shut and exhaling through my nose before turning and moving toward him.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to invade your privacy,” I murmured, clutching my coat close to my body, nervous. “I just wanted... um... to thank you for defending me.”
He remained still, his eyes fixed on the slowly rippling water, stirred gently by the wind.
“I should’ve done that a long time ago,” he confessed. “Thalira and I share a past—she represents a lot to me, and I respect her—but she tends to cross the line sometimes.” He turned to me. “I’ve never treated Thalira that way before, especially not in front of everyone,” he whispered, swallowing hard. “She’ll never be a problem for you again.”
I nodded and ran a hand through my hair, tucking a loose strand behind my ear.