Chương 14: Chapter 14 Wayward Child

Ravyn POV

She'd only met Bram Faolan briefly, but she remembered he definitely favored his mother, Emer, with deep blue eyes and reddish gold hair. He stood with his hands up in a combat pose and his claws extended.

Jude's eyes shifted to their wolf colors, and he bared his teeth. "This is hardly the welcome-home I expected."

"You LIED to us," Bram spat.

Jude looked ready to spring on his own son, but instead he said, "Ravyn is not my Luna. She's here to help me choose one and I'd like you involved. Let's talk more about it at home."

With a wounded child's face, Bram muttered, "I'm busy."

He shifted into his wolf form, black with silver fringe on the paws like his father, and rippling with powerful muscles.

Muscles tensing, Jude prepared to shift. "I have to go after him."

Ravyn smirked. "There are distinct advantages to traveling with a witch. I wanted to approach your home the long way and see something of your territory, but I'm not letting that boy out of our sight. Permission to teleport?"

With a grateful look. Jude barked, "Do it."

Ravyn drew the rune for teleporting faster than she did during or after any of the battles with Hades/Absalom. She cast the spiral wide and beckoned Jude and his guards to press close. The glowing edge of her spiral caught Bram when he attempted to escape, and the energy swirled so fast it made her dizzy.

Bram's confused growl echoed as the shimmering spiral faded and revealed that they all stood in the inner courtyard of a castle. Harland Ells, Jude's Beta, and Mali, who favored her father, greeted them, along with the Wise Woman, dark-haired and copper-skinned, holding a medicine rattle. "Welcome home, father, and welcome to you, Pack Mother Ravyn," Mali said with a smile. Then in the same breath, "Bram! We have company. Human form!"

Bram complied, his expression sullen.

Eamon, a tough-looking, handsome young man mated to Mali, gaped at Ravyn. "No matter how many times I see someone teleport, I never get used to it."

Ravyn smiled, taking in the pink sandstone courtyard that matched the rest of the castle. Behind her, tall wooden gates kept out intruders, and in front of her, a weatherbeaten but strong-looking solid wooden door welcomed guests. Carved with wolves and moons and featuring door handles in the shape of wolf's paws, the doors looked more elaborate than the entrances to Cresta House and Sinsworth House.

In the courtyard, traders and merchants unloaded their wagons while the members of the household staff came out to welcome their Alpha home with hot towels, cool drinks, and huge smiles. The love they had for him shone in their eyes.

Ravyn raised an eyebrow. "Hot towels?"

"It was Mother's idea," Bram piped up, still pouting. "To give people a warm welcome and clean off dirt and germs from the road."

Jude smiled fondly. "She was very particular about that."

Ravyn grinned, charmed by the idea. "Hmmm. It adds a touch of class. I think I may have to mention something to Luna Lilia and Luna Garnet about it. Lords and ladies and posh resorts greet visitors with them."

One of the staff offered her a hot towel and she made a huge show of warming and wiping her hands with it. It did feel like luxury. Handing it back to the maid who gave it to her, she said, "Thank you."

One of the kitchen staff pressed a glass of something bluish-purple in color. "Berry milk? It's a pack specialty," the woman said.

Taking a sip of the sweet creamy beverage, Ravyn smiled. It was a bit too sweet, but she said, "This is delicious."

Bram huffed. "Of course it is. It's a Faolan family recipe."

"Perfected by your mother, I'm sure," Ravyn said, impulsively putting an arm around the boy, whose hurt rolled off him in waves.

He stiffened, and his walls went up. "She always made everything so special."

"She was a beautiful, wonderful woman." Ravyn hugged him, then stepped back when he tried to wriggle free.

Mali gave her a sympathetic smile. "Pack Mother Ravyn, may I show you to your room? Let's get you settled."

Linking arms with Mali, Ravyn couldn't help comparing her and Bram to Garnet and Cyran. Bram, the heir apparent who had become a wild child through grief, and Mali, the put-together Alpha's daughter. She wondered if Mali had the same patience and love mixed with fear that Garnet did towards her brother, or if she just viewed him as a brat.

Not your business, Ravyn, she told herself. You're here to find Jude a mate.

But his son was a barrier to finding a mate, wasn't he? If Ravyn were his mate, she'd have to deal with Bram just spoiling for a fight and ready to snap at her over every little thing.

If she were his mate …

The wooden doors opened and, to distract herself, Ravyn admired them, commenting on the carvings. "These are beautiful. It makes our doors in Evenhide look shabby."

"Really? I always thought metal doors would be more modern," Mali confided while they passed through the long, cavernous entrance hall with silvery accents. "If Eamon and I live in a place of our own, I want metal doors." She looked guilty. "Mother loved them, though."

Ravyn patted her arm. "When Lilia was a child, she wanted us to have a magic wand shop instead of a crystal shop. Now, she runs an entire pack!"

"Good for her," Mali said boldly. "I help my father, and eventually Bram … that's enough headache for me!"

Gently, Ravyn seized her opportunity. "Be patient with your brother. He's grieving."

Mali's brown eyes glittered with pride just like her father's. "I'M grieving. You don't see me acting like a spoiled child."

At a loss, Ravyn strode onward, following Emer.

The girl spoke after an awkward silence. "Sorry for speaking so rudely to you."

"The apology is unnecessary."

Ravyn had the feeling Mali was sizing her up. "Mother would have been furious with me for being hard on Bram."

Ravyn smiled, putting an arm around Mali. "She was a remarkable woman and you'll see her again someday."

"Not too soon, I hope," Mali said lightly. "I have a lot of living to do. Now, you are going to love your room."

Behind them, she heard Bram growl at Jude, "You are NOT remarrying."

Mali grabbed her arm and murmured, "I can have you upstairs in minutes."

With a raised eyebrow, Ravyn said, "You don't just leave a pot on the stove to boil over and expect someone else to clean up the mess. Your father and I knew this would happen."

Mali's fingers dug into her arm. "You can walk away."

Ravyn stared into the girl's face and saw the sorrow in her eyes, the trembling of her shoulders. In her own way, she was hurting.

"People walked away from my son Cyran," she said in a low voice. "That didn't end well."

"Bram isn't like that," Mali whispered, stung by the comparison.

Ravyn patted her on the arm. "We're going to make sure."

* * * * *

Jude POV

The carpeted entrance hall might as well have been the training area, with Bram spoiling for a fight. Jude tensed, ready to give the pup a lesson he'd never forget.

"You have no say in whether or not I take a mate," he said. "You're my son and I love you–"

Bram sneered, his face so like his mother's, but distorted with bitterness and spite. "Not enough to do the right thing and step down. This pack needs new leadership."

Jude summoned up all his patience and wished there was something in the bare entrance hall he could throw at Bram to distract him. But violence would just embolden the people who were filling Bram's head with poison. At least he knew who it was–although Cyran was right, the Dark Goddess loved to use nasty, broken people.

He kept Cyran's warnings in mind. He'd also talked to Garnet and Jiro before he and Ravyn left. Garnet urged him not to give up on Bram, and warned him not to make Emer the "perfect" child. "That's a trap of its own, take it from me," she said.

Jiro humorously provided him with the agreement he made Cyran sign when Cyran was making amends to the Crimsontails. Among the things Jiro had enforced with Cyran:

1. Sparring

2.Family dinners

3. No dark magic

He could insist on sparring and family dinners while Ravyn was here, and afterwards.

When WAS the last time they had a real family dinner, anyway? Either Alpha business called him away or Bram was off with his friends …

"We'll talk about it over dinner tonight–"

For a moment, Bram softened, but the wolf eyes were back quickly. A lighter gold than Jude's. "With you and your new mate? HAH!"

"Ravyn is NOT–"

Arcturus, his wolf, growled in agreement with Bram.

Bram laughed bitterly. "Lie to me and lie to yourself, but a wolf is a wolf is a wolf. I see how you are with her. Well, I don't care if she is Evenhide or a witch or nice … she will never be welcome here!"

It took all Jude's control not to flatten this insolent pup, who was old enough to know better. He'd always been the eager one, sneaking into council meetings and following Jude on patrol, giving Emer fits. Suddenly, he'd become someone Jude didn't recognize.

"And I'm not scared of the Crestas like you," Bram threw out.

Jude threw back his head and laughed. "You never said I was scared before. You always said no Alpha in history could be tougher."

"I'll be even stronger!" Bram was loud enough for the entire castle to hear. "I'm ready. I've been ready to rule. I can't wait. If my name were Dane Cresta, you'd happily–"

"Some days I wish you WERE a Cresta."

The words left his mouth like arrows and he couldn't snatch them back. They echoed in the entrance hall, mocking him.

Mali gasped. "FATHER!"

Ravyn stepped in-between them before Bram could explode. "You know you don't mean that. Neither of you means what you're saying."

Bram and Jude just stared at her, their mouths open.

Mali added. "Both of you! Stop fighting!"

His words to his children exactly. He slouched, hearing them aimed at him. His wolf prodded him to be calm.

Ravyn brushed back her long blonde hair, which mesmerized both men, because Emer had done that with her luxurious red hair, just exactly like Ravyn was doing.

Bram muttered, "Sorry."

Jude approached his son and put an arm around him. Bram was his blood, the one who stayed at home as backup when Jude went on trips, including that long-ago war council with Evenhide when Dane brought Lilia home. Jude's father Finn always left him home to lead the pack in case Finn didn't make it back from a trip or war …

"I'm sorry too," Jude said.

Two young men and a young woman, three of the Hemmings, surrounded them. D*mn. They'd either crept into the castle or been here all along.

"Your father disrespects you," Ewan Hemming sneered. "YOU are the true Alpha, not a man who cozies up to Crimsontails and bows to Evenhide."

"Old hatreds," Mali snarled. "I dare you to go over to Cresta House and challenge Alpha Jiro. Or ANY Cresta. The tiny pups could beat you!"

Ewan's sister Grainne bared her teeth. Although beautiful, she had a hard look. "Brammy, come away with us. We'll take care of you. We're your true family."

Jude smelled his son's change of mood from a spring meadow to a cold winter. He held more tightly to Bram. He was about to order them to leave, but Ravyn's voice stopped him.

"CRYSTAL FREEZE!"