33 Lightning

♔Tristen (P.O.V)

It's been a week since Eustacia joined me at my pack, yet she's not a member of The Royal Lycan pack. I offered her a spot here even if she decided to reject me, but she said she had to think about it.

Part of me wishes she would just choose to join and stay with me, but even though I want something, it doesn't mean it's what she wants, and I respect that.

So instead of dumping the entire pack and luna thing on her, we've been spending time together and working on things she needs to know. Like how to channel her senses better now that she knows what she is. She's still weak, even though her wolf has come back, so I haven't allowed her to train with me in wolf form. Instead, we've taken to hand to hand combat, which she's surprisingly good at.

Our brief time together hasn't been perfect. The first few nights, we slept in the same room, nothing lovey-dovey just me being overprotective, I guess. Randomly during the night, she would get out of the bed in the middle of the night and end up asleep on the floor. If it wasn't that, she'd scream in her sleep, and I would have to wake her up and calm her down. Sometimes she freaks out just standing still, but I try my best to help her even in those times.

Although, it's hard to help someone when you know nothing about what they're struggling with. Being in the dark has bothered me a lot, but I understand why she's so guarded. Three days ago, before we went to bed, I finally asked what was happening, and if I could help, she broke down when I asked. Since we had been spending so much time together, I could feel her heart shatter as she started to cry.

That night she told me everything that happened to her in that hell hole. The fact she was stripped of her title, forced to live like no person should and even how Emma beat her right before Flynn pretended to care and turned her into her wolf form. She told me how he rejected her, but wouldn't let her reject him back.

Honestly, with what all she has told me- I think Flynn has a few screws loose upstairs. Which means he has no filter, he will continue at all costs. So, I'm afraid of what he might do since I brought Eustacia here. Although I don't believe he's any threat to a pack of strong werewolves, I still fear that red post-it with his name on it from my father.

It must have had a reason. Perhaps his instability and excessive rogue recruitment? If only my father was here, he'd know.

"Tristen?" A petite female's voice brings me back to reality.

"Eustacia," I sigh a relief seeing her rosy cheeks peek her head through my office door. Her long silky black hair has been pulled back into a long ponytail. She wears a new pair of solid black leggings with a hoodie that says 'wolf' on it in white bubble letters and a gray pair of socks over her bare feet.

A nice look for her.

"You told me to get you if you weren't at the meeting now," she says sheepishly, twirling the end of her ponytail.

"Shit," I groan. Eustacia agreed to be introduced to the pack, and possibly join us today. To do that, I had to organize a gathering of all the pack members. Which thankfully, it is only a few hundred, that is if we stop expanding like we are. Rogues that Flynn has lost or ran into have come running into my pack territory asking to join.

We normally try not to let many regulars in, but times are changing.

"What time is it?" I question, shrugging my thoughts out of my head, watching her as she tiptoes over to my new and improved dark wood desk.

"Nearly five," she says softly as she sits gently on the clear edge of the right side of the table.

"Well shit," I groan once more, almost sounding like a deflating balloon. I knew it was late, but I wasn't sure how late. I had been daydreaming and sorting through papers my father left me. None of them drastic like the red post-it he left, all normal pack ordeals. Treaties, requests from allied packs, and so on.

I won't have time to change, so I'll just have to go in my baggy gray sweatpants and a plain white t-shirt. Much like Eustacia, I also only have a pair of socks on. We are, after all, in the house.

"Has everyone gathered?" I question.

"I'd think so. I'm not sure how many members you have, but a hoard of people is outside the house," she states.

With so many pack members and the number increasing daily as new members come out of isolation into the pack, we don't have a very good meeting spot. So Felix suggested we use the balcony from his room to address them like some cliche movie king and queen.

A cringy idea, but a good one none-the-less.

"Well, shall we go?" I question in a sarcastic kingly voice as I stand up offering my left arm for her to take.

"Indeed we shall," she says in a mocking tone as she giggles softly, taking my left arm with her right.

We walk down the hallway, adorned with paintings of all the past kings, queens, dukes, and duchesses. Large high chandeliers decorate the hallway and shine bright against the cream-colored walls. We pass my bedroom and Jakub's, on the right side of his room is Felix's.

I cling tightly to Eustacia's arm, shaking, as I carefully start to open the white-colored door.

"What's wrong?" Eustacia asks concern in her voice, halting my movement. I stare at her beautiful face as she looks up at me with worried eyes.

It wasn't much of a surprise that she knew something was wrong. I was practically shaking like a newborn deer, but even without those cues, our mate bond has gotten stronger. Even without marking each other, we can feel each other's emotions and pain.

"It used to be mine, one of the only rooms with a balcony," I laugh heartily, "but I moved to Felix's old room three years ago after my mother passed away."

"Oh, okay. I was worried for a second," she says quietly, her face turns as red as a tomato as she looks down at her feet.

"Why would-" I stop myself as I feel a small amount of guilt rush through her thanks to our small bond.

Of course. Ever since she's got here she's been skittish and afraid of me. Although she's warmed up to me now, she's always thinking I'm going to reject her or push her away. It was one of the big reasons we haven't marked each other or brought her officially into the pack.

"No, no, no, no. Stop thinking that," I glare at her and softly flick her on her tiny nose with my right hand. Gently I grab her chin with my left hand and bring her gaze toward mine. "You are great, and I will never, and I can not express that enough, never leave you or second guess this," I breathe, staring into her bright blue eyes.

"You've never told me what happened to your mother," she says quietly, changing the subject.

"We were having a picnic in our woods here, three years ago, I was nineteen at the time. We all took a family photo after we ate a few sandwiches, and she asked us to go get something stupid- I think it was a blanket, which I still don't understand. By the time we got back, blood and the scent of rogues littered the air. Right there in our picnic spot my mother's solid white wolf body laid, her throat had been crushed, and her white fur was stained red," I state somberly, the pain of the memory rising in my chest.

My mother came from a pack near Eustacia's. I don't know much about her past, and I never really pried into it. Everyone just knew her as Sophia Clark, Teaga Clark's mate, and the Queen to the Royal Lycan pack and all werewolves. A werewolf of alpha blood, and mother to the next heir, me.

My parents often fought about small things. Sometimes I thought it was about me when I was younger because they would refer to her son. Eventually, as I got older, I realized my father was sour against mates. He would always mention that sometimes the mate your given isn't as perfect as they lead you to think. Eventually, that warm caring father I had when I had my first shift faded away.

I realized that when she died.

My father didn't react to it how someone should have. He was upset and hurt, sure. However, he wasn't crying or rushing to hold her body. Instead, I was the only one howling in pain, and begging her to come back with her blood, soaked on my hands as I held her tightly.

My father had her buried and held a service, but he wasn't present for it. He went on working, and shut me out of his life, up until the day he summoned me for that talk- the talk about how I would have to take his place. So in a way, even though it still killed me to take his life, I lost him the same day I lost my mother.

Quickly I bite the pain down and glare at her. "I'll let it slide this time, next time you won't weasel out so easily. We will eventually get you over this," I state sweetly.

"Fine," she groans, stomping her foot on the floor.

"Alright let's get this over with," I chuckle, softly kissing her forehead.

I finish opening the door, and the room is almost bare, Felix really doesn't have a taste for apparel.

The room has large white walls with gold trimming. A solid brown bed sheet is set on the large king-sized bed, which sits against the far right corner of the room. The bathroom is on the left side of the room, the door swung wide open. A few wooden dressers like mine decorate the wall directly to the left of us, on the right side of the bathroom door. The balcony door is a clear see through single sliding door on the far left of the back wall.

As we make our way through the sliding door one at a time, the entire crowd below us howls with excitement. I can smell the scent of barbeque floating through the air, it's a celebration to my people. Eustacia tenses up next to me slightly, but quickly recovers and clings tightly to my left arm.

"You're okay," I coo, "I'm right here."

"Thank you," she whispers quietly, I can feel the anxiety swarming off of her in waves. The balcony is small and egg-shaped, just enough for two or three people to stand. The ground is a light wood color while the railing is a dark maroon color.

"My people!" I shout, greeting the crowd as we approach the oval-shaped dark wood railing.

"For the last week, I have kept a secret from most of you! For a week, I have had my mate beside me, but for special reasons, she was not introduced to the pack or made an official member yet! Although we have not officially agreed on being mates or marking each other, with the approval of all of you, she will become a part of the pack! What do you say?" I shout, addressing and questioning my pack.

Almost instantly, they all shout in agreement, happiness fills my heart as I stare at my mate beside me. Even if she decides to leave me, I want her here- I want her safe, and my people agree with me although they don't know the entire story.

I feel Eustacia flinch beside me. "Can I say something?" She questions softly beside me.

"Of course," I whisper back to her.

"I know that a lot of you don't know who I am or where I came from. When I first arrived here, I was stuck in my wolf form, thankfully your duchess was able to help me quickly," she pauses and looks at me with sadness in her eyes.

"Before I came here, I was an Alpha, but my title was stripped from me after a male took over when my father died. That male turned out to be my first mate, and he rejected me and marked another female. That very female abused me, she's broken my limbs and used any form of torture she could think of. Eventually, he forced me into my wolf form and kicked me out of my pack. He used me as a fighting wolf, and that's where Tristen found me," she hugs me tightly as she continues, "I've never been more thankful for someone, and come to find out I have family here, an aunt. Your previous duchess! So thank you for allowing me into your pack!"

"It's official then!" I howl excitedly. "Eustacia Van, I welcome you into the Royal Lycan pack! We are pleased to have you as a new member of our family," I whisper the last sentence, hugging her tightly against my chest.

"Thank you, Tristen," she breathes.

"Tristen! We need to talk!" Howls Felix into the pack link.

"Can it wait? I kind of just got a step closer to my mate accepting me," I groan.

"No. Luka is back, and he brought two werewolves from that pack. They say he's planning something, and it's happening tonight!" Alarm rushes through his voice as he shouts into the link.

"Meet me in my office with them," I say as fear rushes through my body, something is about to happen, and I have to figure out what.

I gently push Eustacia away from me so I can look her in the eyes, gently cupping her face. "Eustacia, something is going on. Two people from your pack are here, and they say Flynn is planning something."

"I'm coming with," she states as dread spreads across her face.

"I don't know if that's-"

"I'm coming with, and that's final," she says cutting me off, a small growl in her voice.

"Fine, we're going back to meet in my office," I sigh as I start walking, her trudging behind me.