Chapter 7: The Secret

Rowan POV

“It’s really nothing to freak out about,” Ylana was saying.

Rowan couldn’t agree. Ylana was still as pale as he had been when they hurried back from the dinner they were at. They had left as soon as they received the call from Claude about the accident.

Not only did Rowan know who built the bookshelves for their library, but he also climbed all over them as a kid and teenager. Children from the pack still scuttled up one or two when visiting the estate. They had never fallen. Harkin insisted on constant inspections so this type of thing wouldn’t happen.

“It is a big deal,” Ginger was telling Ylana as she soothingly ran a hand up and down her back.

Harkin was pacing around the fallen bookcase. “Claude checked these two days ago and everything was fine.”

“Why is everyone making such a big deal out of this?” Ylana asked with a raspy voice. “These things happen.”

“Not here,” Harkin grumbled.

All Rowan could think about were Carmine’s reports about how so many pack members were upset about Rowan marrying a human. Even after word had spread that Ylana was his mate, they were still unhappy. A human being so close meant that the secret could be out and that posed a danger to all of them.

There was a pack in Maine that had been discovered by humans who decided it was a good idea to hunt them. There were many deaths on both sides, and the pack was whittled down to the single digits. Those who lived finally agreed to stop the fighting, part ways, and never speak of it again.

Rowan was terrified that someone in the pack (or multiple members) decided to take matters into their own hands and eliminate Ylana.

He wasn’t sure what he would have done if Ylana had been hurt. He should’ve been in the library with her, or she should have been out with him and the rest of his family. Rowan was starting to regret his decision to keep her away. He thought it would keep her safe, away from anyone who might hate her because he figured no one would dare try something on the estate, but he had been so wrong.

Ylana sighed loudly. “Can I please just go to my suite? I’m suddenly exhausted.” She didn’t wait for anyone to give her permission. She got off the couch to leave but stopped in front of the fallen bookcase. She bent down and picked up a book. “Funny. This was the one I was grabbing for.” She held the book to her chest and went on her way.

Rowan looked to his father, fighting the urge to follow Ylana. “Are you thinking what I am?”

Ginger answered instead, “Of course he is. I’m thinking it too.” The rage was clear in her voice.

“I never thought someone in our pack would do such a thing,” Harkin said. “They know what losing a mate would do to you.”

“Who would do this though?” Rowan asked.

“So many people spoke up against the marriage,” Ginger said quietly. “But they stopped right after the wedding. I thought they got used to the idea.”

Harkin nodded. “I thought so too. They must have just let it fester instead.”

Rowan stomped a foot. “We have to figure out who planned it. I won’t rest until we find out who’s responsible.”

Harkin put a hand on Rowan’s shoulder. “We will. We just have to go about it cautiously. I will ask Carmine to start putting out feelers to see if anyone is truly this upset about your marriage. They may be more likely to speak to him if we’re who they have a problem with.”

Rowan decided then and there that he was not going to let Ylana out of his sight until they found out who did this.

*****

Ylana POV

Ylana felt like the Garnets were overreacting to her accident. She hadn’t died or anything when that bookcase fell thanks to Claude and what could only be his Olympic-worthy running skills. She was still confused as to how he got to her so quickly but was eternally grateful, nonetheless.

As for the rest of them, they were starting to get on her nerves.

Ylana was hardly on her own since the accident. Ginger helped her get ready every morning as if they were going somewhere, Rowan joined her in the gym and always sat next to her at meals, Harkin sometimes took her on walks around the grounds of the estate, and Carmine sat in the library with her to read.

Ylana had noticed that the bookcase was put back up the day after her accident. It looked like nothing had happened there. It was strange that there was no evidence of the accident. It had seemed like such an ordeal at the time, and now it was nothing.

“You can stop all of this, you know,” Ylana finally said to Rowan as he walked her back to her suite. This had become a new habit of his since the accident.

“All of what?” His tone suggested he knew exactly what she was talking about.

“The hovering. I’m never alone anymore.”

A grin graced Rowan’s face. “I thought you weren’t happy being alone all the time.”

Ylana felt like raging. Rowan just didn’t understand, the stupid man. “It’s the reasoning for it all! It’s not because you actually want to spend time with me. It’s because you feel guilty that I almost got hurt.”

Rowan’s eyes widened at her yelling. “That’s not why. It’s, um, it’s . . .”

Ylana huffed. “That’s what I thought.” She went into her suite and slammed the door in Rowan’s face.

Ylana hated that she was so miserable. At least when she lived with her father, she was in the city and could go out to stores or restaurants. There was nothing around the estate that wasn’t twenty minutes away, and the town car was always being used by someone anyway. She didn’t have her own car either and she had a feeling that even if she did, no one would let her use it now.

She spread out on the purple couch Harkin had bought for her when she moved in. The entire suite had been redecorated to fit her tastes; there were brighter colors and paintings that depicted more magical-looking subjects and her old bedroom furniture was put into the new one. Yet she still didn’t feel like the suite was her own. Nothing in the mansion was her own.

Unlike what she had hoped, she wasn’t becoming a Garnet after all, she was just a problem they had to manage.

Her phone went off, signaling that it was time for her daily video call with Indigo. He called at the same time every evening, mostly to vent about their father, but it had become the thing she looked forward to the most every day.

She answered with, “Hey.”

“You still look glum,” Indigo said with a frown.

“Yeah. It’s so weird here. They all ignored me and now they’re up my butt.”

“To be fair, you could have died.”

“Not you too,” Ylana whined, wishing people would stop bringing the death part up.

“I looked at the picture you sent me. The thing was a monster.”

Ylana desperately wanted to change the subject. “How’s Dad doing?”

Indigo rolled his eyes. “I’m sure the Garnets can’t be as up your butt as Dad is mine. I have to attend every one of his stupid meetings now. He’s forcing me to hang out with the sons of his friends and is already trying to set me up with their daughters.”

Ylana felt somewhat jealous. Odo had never encouraged her to make friends and always complained whenever girls from school invited her out. The fights got to be so much that she stopped accepting invites to go out, and eventually, they stopped inviting her. When it came to dating, Odo begrudgingly allowed it but disliked every guy she went out with even if they were sons of his friends.

“You’re lucky, Indigo, he’s letting you have a life. I didn’t have that luxury.”

Ylana heard her father’s voice from Indigo’s side of the call.

Indigo threw his head back in exasperation. “Dad needs me.”

“Of course he does,” Ylana laughed. She wished Indigo good luck and then settled into bed since she had nothing else to do.

The next night was the night of the month that the Garnets decided to be strange again. Ylana was able to see the signs by now. They all spoke in calm voices, shared side-eyed looks, would stop speaking when she walked into a room and asked her several times if she was going to stay in her suite that night.

This month was a relief for Ylana. She would have some breathing room because they all completely disappeared after the sun went down to do whatever they did at night.

Unfortunately, Ylana was unable to sleep that night. She tossed and turned trying to find a comfortable position, but it never came to her. She eventually gave up and decided to search for a book to read.

As she made her way down to the library, she noticed how eerily quiet the mansion was. It seemed like she was the only person inside, which made no sense because of the silly rule about going outside after dark.

Feeling spooked, she quickly chose a book she had read before and hustled out of the library. She paused right outside the kitchen. She briefly wondered if she should get a drink before heading back upstairs when she heard strange sounds. It sounded a little like dogs fighting.

Leaving the lights off, she made her way into the kitchen to look out the large window. A howl broke out in the night that made her jump. She was afraid one of the wolves that had a habit of sneaking onto the property might have been hurting a potentially lost dog. She didn’t want to have to find the owners and tell them that their dog had been killed by a wolf. She had to try and rescue it.

Dropping her book, she ran to the sunroom where the door to the patio was and crossed over without a plan but stopped suddenly by the edge of the pool. There was a group of people she didn’t recognize several yards away. Did the Garnets have a secret dog-fighting ring? Was that why they wanted her to stay inside at night and why she sometimes heard howling? Ylana was planning to inch further toward the group to follow them but halted when they started taking off their clothes.

For a moment she was beginning to think some weird sex party was going on that she hadn’t been invited to, which offended her on some level.

That train of thought stopped, though, when it looked like the people started to vibrate. Her heart started pounding when their shapes began to change. Ylana couldn’t make sense of what she was seeing and then the vibrating stopped. Where six people had been standing earlier was instead six wolves.

That was when she screamed.