The room went quiet.
For the first ti since Nina had walked in, sothing shifted across Lady Gina’s face. It wasn’t horror exactly, but it brushed close enough to it that Nina instinctively wondered if she’d said sothing wrong.
Across from her, Emory stared with her mouth slightly open.
She closed it.
Then opened it again.
"What do you an?" she asked slowly.
Nina blinked at both won. "I have no skills." She hesitated, suddenly uncertain. "I can wash clothes, and I clean well." Her brows pinched together as she looked between them. "Are those... skills?"
Lady Gina lifted a hand and pressed it flat over her face as though fighting off a headache. Her other hand tightened around the back of her chair.
Emory still looked stunned.
Nina’s gaze moved between them, genuinely confused by the reaction she’d caused.
"Are you not a noble?" Emory finally asked, her tone dangerously level. "How do you not have a single skill?"
Nina opened her mouth—
"What are we going to do?" Lady Gina interrupted, turning sharply toward Emory. Her voice dropped into the strained hush of people discussing an approaching disaster. "The Hunt is in a month. She cannot possibly learn anything to a presentable standard before then. There isn’t enough ti."
Nina’s eyes flicked between them as though she were watching a conversation about soone else.
Emory exhaled slowly through her nose and pressed two fingers against her temple. "We’ll find a way around it." She paused, thinking. "If she falls pregnant before the Hunt, we can use the condition as an excuse to pull her from the parade."
Nina’s head turned toward her with painful slowness.
"What?" she asked blankly, eyes widening. "What parade?"
"The Hunt is a yearly ceremonial event," Lady Gina explained, smoothing invisible wrinkles from her dress as she regained so composure. "This year, Vermont Pack is hosting."
Nina nodded slowly, though that explained absolutely nothing.
"Every Alpha attends with his Luna," Gina continued, studying Nina’s face carefully. "There is a parade called The Moon’s Chosen. The hosting Luna is expected to stand out." She paused delicately. "In beauty. Elegance. And..." Her shoulders sank slightly. "Skill."
The final word landed heavily in the room.
Nina blinked once, then swallowed as she leaned back into the chair, tension slowly draining from her spine.
Seems the Vermont Pack was in trouble then.
She bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing.
"There is a way out," Gina said suddenly.
Nina straightened at once. "What way?"
"Like I said," Gina replied calmly, "if you fall pregnant before the Hunt, you would be excused."
Silence swallowed the room.
Nina stared at her.
Then at Emory.
Then back at Gina.
A laugh nearly escaped her throat.
Lady Gina turned toward Emory with alarming seriousness. "Go on then," she said casually, as though requesting tea. "Teach her so bed skills. She’ll be needing them."
"No!" Nina blurted imdiately. "I am a very fast learner. I can learn another skill."
Both won looked at her for a long mont.
Emory folded her arms. "Learning bed skills first would still be faster."
Nina stared at her in disbelief.
Thirty minutes later, she was seated stiffly at a table, staring at a page filled with two carefully sketched nude portraits.
Emory tapped the drawing of the man with a thin wooden pointer. "You know what this is."
Nina swallowed.
Unfortunately, her mind betrayed her imdiately.
Rodrigo’s bare chest flashed into her thoughts without warning—the hard line of his shoulders, the sharp V disappearing beneath the waistband of his pants when she’d found him in the closet—
She blinked hard and dragged her attention back to the page before her face could combust.
"This," Emory continued, moving the stick toward the woman in the illustration, "goes into this."
Heat crawled slowly up Nina’s neck.
Did they truly need this much detail?
Surely the Alpha would know what to—
Nina violently stopped that thought before it finished forming. She pressed her lips together and stared at the paper with desperate concentration.
What was wrong with her?
She shook her head faintly.
"You lie down," Emory continued in the sa calm voice one might use to explain table manners, "spread your legs, and allow him in. You do not move. You do not touch. He is the Alpha."
Nina looked up at her.
Do not move?
She frowned privately at the page.
How was that supposed to work?
The instruction sounded deeply impractical, but she kept every question trapped firmly behind her teeth.
"You may feel pleasure," Emory went on, entirely unfazed, "however, your priority is pleasing him first. Your comfort is secondary."
Nina cleared her throat awkwardly.
Emory lifted her eyes. "Do you have a question?" she asked sharply.
"No," Nina answered imdiately.
She looked back down at the page and said nothing else.
There was no reason to waste brain space thinking about any of this anyway. The chances of it actually happening were nearly nonexistent. Rodrigo barely looked at her for longer than three consecutive seconds before suddenly discovering sowhere else he needed to be.
Lady Gina and Lady Emory seed to have forgotten exactly who their Alpha was.
Nina nodded absently as Emory flipped to the next page and continued her lecture.
"To get pregnant," Emory said matter-of-factly, "you must lie still afterward and allow his seeds to do the work."
Nina slowly lifted her head.
"His seeds?" Her brow rose. "What seeds?"
For the first ti all lesson, Emory hesitated.
Then she cleared her throat delicately.
"You will find out when he deposits them into you," she replied, tapping another illustration with the pointer.
Nina nearly choked.
"You must remain lying down with your legs elevated," Emory continued with painful seriousness, "while his seeds join with yours to produce heirs." Her expression remained perfectly composed. "You should remain still for at least an hour afterward to ensure the process completes successfully."
Nina coughed weakly into her hand, mortification threatening to consu her whole. The worst part was that neither woman seed remotely embarrassed by this conversation.
"Do you understand?" Emory asked.
Nina cleared her throat again. "Understood."
"Good." Emory shut the textbook with a decisive snap and pushed it across the table toward her. "That is all for today. Review the material again before tonight and ensure you haven’t missed any steps."
Relief hit Nina instantly.
She was already halfway to her feet. "Thank you for the lessons," she said quickly before practically fleeing toward the door.
"Luna."
Lady Emory’s voice stopped her mid-escape.
Nina closed her eyes briefly and cursed under her breath before turning back around.
"Yes?"
"You’ve forgotten sothing."
Emory pointed toward the textbook still sitting on the table.
Nina forced a tight smile onto her face, walked back with stiff dignity, and picked it up.
Then, without another word, she escaped the room.
...
Rodrigo stood alone at the archery grounds, the battered target before him riddled with more holes than could be counted.
A hard frown sat between his brows.
Around him, the lycans remained silent, careful not to make a single unnecessary sound. Even the air felt tense.
Rodrigo drew another arrow.
The bowstring snapped sharply.
The arrow struck the center of the target with enough force to blast another shaft clean off it.
He stared at the ruined target for a mont before turning toward the nearby table. His hand hovered in the air.
No arrows remained.
Without needing to be told, the lycan stationed nearby rushed forward. He quickly gathered the scattered arrows from the target and returned them to the table before stepping back again.
Rodrigo picked up another arrow.
But his thoughts had already drifted elsewhere.
Back to the previous night.
The mont he had shifted, sothing inside him had dragged him toward her with terrifying force. He had felt panic—sharp and frantic—and heard soone calling to him from far away.
At first he hadn’t understood what it was.
Then he’d found himself standing in front of Nina.
Rodrigo’s grip tightened around the bow.
His jaw clenched.
His wolf had bonded with her.
He had denied the possibility imdiately, crushed the thought before it could fully form, but seeing her again that morning had made the truth impossible to ignore.
He had spent years controlling himself.
Years avoiding attachnt.
Years making certain he never mated.
And yet last night, every instinct inside him had slipped beyond his control.
The need had been overwhelming.
Violent.
Unnerving.
As though his senses no longer belonged to him.
Rodrigo shut his eyes briefly and forced himself back to the present.
The muscle in his jaw ticked.
Footsteps approached across the grounds.
"Alpha," a voice called carefully.
Rodrigo didn’t turn. "Caleb," he replied coolly. "Took you long enough."
Caleb imdiately dropped to one knee. "I apologize, Alpha. My illness worsened unexpectedly, and I was too weak to return sooner."
Rodrigo released another arrow.
This one missed the target entirely.
His eyes shifted toward Caleb at last.
"et with Seven," he ordered. "He’ll brief you on the mission within the week."
"Yes, Alpha."
Caleb rose smoothly to his feet.
At that mont, Seven entered the archery grounds.
"Caleb." A grin spread across his face. "You’re back."
He gave Caleb a light tap on the shoulder before looking toward Rodrigo.
"Brief him on the operation," Rodrigo said flatly, already reaching for another arrow. "He’ll be joining us."
"Yes, Alpha," Seven answered.
Then he paused.
His eyes flicked toward the target shredded almost beyond recognition before returning cautiously to Rodrigo.
"Alpha," Seven said more carefully this ti, "the Council has gathered. They’re waiting for your arrival."
Rodrigo didn’t answer imdiately.
He continued firing arrows one after another in asured silence.
Finally, he lowered the bow onto the table.
Seven’s gaze dropped briefly to Rodrigo’s fingers.
The skin along his first finger was raw and reddened from overuse.
Seven could only imagine how long he’d been standing there.
"Let’s go."
Rodrigo turned toward the East House without another word.
Seven followed behind him.
The guards at the entrance imdiately pushed the heavy doors open as the Alpha stepped inside.
Every council mber rose to their feet at once.
"Alpha," they greeted with slight bows.
Rodrigo walked to the head of the long table, his expression unreadable, and sat down. Seven took his usual position behind him on the right while the rest of the council slowly resud their seats.
Rodrigo’s eyes moved across the room.
Dominic was absent.
So was his mother.
The Matriarch as well.
He blinked once.
"You may begin."
Hogan stood first.
"Alpha, the events of the previous night necessitated this eting." His voice echoed through the hall as his eyes swept across the table. "It is clear there is trouble ahead."
Low murmurs imdiately spread among the council mbers. Unease sat plainly on their faces.
Rodrigo remained motionless, one hand resting flat against the table as he waited for Hogan to continue.
"It has been twenty years without any news regarding the Earthstone," Hogan said heavily. "I fear..." He hesitated before finishing grimly, "we may need to inform the people and prepare them for what is coming."
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