Chapter 5
Draven.
The Carter estate was less than impressive.
As the Beta of the Moonstone Pack, Gabriel Carter had built a reputation as a refined leader, a man of calculated strategies—but standing in his poorly managed courtyard, I saw nothing but mediocrity.
The stench of decay lingered in the air, and the guards at the gate were unfocused and undisciplined. The servants avoided eye contact, moving like ghosts in their own home.
Weak. All of them.
And yet, Gabriel had the audacity to stand before me now, shoulders squared, gaze unflinching, his expression barely masking his irritation.
“Alpha Draven.” His voice was clipped, forced into formality. “To what do I owe this sudden visit?”
I scoffed inwardly. He was pretending he knew nothing.
“As I announced at the Lunar Ball last night,” I said, my tone smooth but firm, “I’ve come to take Meredith to be my wife.”
Gabriel’s lips pressed into a thin line. “You must be mistaken.”
A bold response. A dangerous one.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jeffery Allen, my Beta, tense beside me. His sharp gaze flickered between Gabriel and me, his anger radiating like a slow-burning fire.
“Beta Gabriel,” Jeffery said, his voice edged with irritation. “Are you not going to offer us a seat?”
Gabriel turned his cold gaze on him. “My apologies for not being a good host.” He didn’t mean a single word. Then, looking back at me, he added, “I wasn’t informed of your visit.”
So that was his excuse for his lack of hospitality. In other sense, he was asking us to endure his insolence.
I said nothing to that. I didn’t need his approval, nor did I care for his pathetic attempt at challenging my authority.
Gabriel had not welcomed me and my entourage into his home, not that I cared, but curtesy was something a man like him should know and extend. It was obvious he wasn’t going to offer me any seat either. And that was fine. I wasn’t planning to stay.
If Gabriel thought a lack of welcome would deter me, he had gravely miscalculated.
I let my power roll off me in slow, unmistakable waves. It was a warning, a reminder, a test.
At that moment, his wife and three older children hurried out of the house, their expressions taut with unease.
“Would you do me the honour of bringing Meredith to me, or should I find her myself?” My voice was calm and devoid of warmth as I offered options.
Gabriel’s jaw tightened. “Alpha Draven, you have no right to come to my home and demand my daughter,” he declared, and meant it.
“And yet, here I stand,” I countered, unmoved.
His gaze darkened with defiance at my comment. “Even if you asked the proper way,” he continued, voice low with warning, “I wouldn’t give her to you.”
Gabriel should understand that I had left my men at the gates out of courtesy and walked in with only my Beta. Therefore, the earlier he understood that I was going to leave with his daughter, Meredith, and no one would stop me, the more time he would save.
Gabriel’s wife, Margareth Carter, stiffened beside him. Her fingers twitched, brushing the hem of his sleeve—a subtle gesture, a silent warning.
She feared me. Smart woman. But her husband ignored her.
“Now that I have made my stance clear, please be on your way, Alpha,” Gabriel said with finality as he gestured with his right hand. He was dismissing me.
A Beta. Dismissing me.
Jeffery inhaled sharply beside me, ready to step forward, to put Gabriel in his place. But I lifted a hand, stopping him.
Instead, I spoke, my voice even, slow and dangerous. “Beta, heed my command.”
Jeffery immediately dropped to one knee. “Yes, Alpha.”
“Gather the men. Search the estate. If you have to turn every stone to find my bride, do so. I must not leave the Carter estate and the Moonstone Pack without her.”
The courtyard went still.
A sharp inhale came from Margareth. One of Gabriel’s daughters paled, hands clenching at her sides. But it was Gabriel’s reaction I was waiting for.
He snapped. Finally. “Alpha Draven!” His voice boomed, his body shaking with barely restrained rage.
I turned to him slowly, my golden gaze cold and unyielding. “Beta,” I said, my tone clipped, “You will say my name with respect.”
The entire courtyard was watching, waiting.
Gabriel’s pride warred with logic. He wanted to fight, but he knew he would lose. No matter how daring he was, the consequences of defiling his future King was not worth it. He could never bear it.
Jeffery rose to his feet, already turning to carry out my command when—
“Stop!” Gabriel barked, his voice cracking under the weight of his own fury.
Jeffery halted and then turned to Gabriel, his stance loose but ready for a fight. “If you stopped me, that means you’ve made a decision,” he said to Gabriel smoothly, mocking his hesitation as a way to get back at him for disrespecting me.
A heavy silence followed.
Margareth’s hands curled into fists. Gabriel’s face twisted. Then, with obvious reluctance, he exhaled sharply.
“Gary,” he snapped at his son, “bring Meredith out.”
Gary’s jaw tightened, but he bowed his head slightly. “Yes, Father.” Then his gaze flickered toward me, burning with resentment. He had the same temper as his father.
He was angry at me for whatever reasons best known to him.
I didn’t care. His emotions didn’t deserve my attention.
As Gary stormed off toward the back of the estate, Gabriel wasn’t finished. He turned his two older daughters into errand girls next.
“Monique, Mabel,” he called, turning his burning gaze to them, “gather your sister’s things and bring them out here.”
“Yes, Father,” they muttered, quickly scurrying away.
And then, it was just us—Me, Jeffery, Gabriel, and his wife, Margareth, who clung to his side as the silence stretched, heavy with unspoken tension.
Margareth did not speak, but she was watching me—not with open defiance or submission, but with something else.
Something unreadable. Something… protective.
Interesting.
From the little I had gathered about Meredith’s family dynamics, she was hated by everyone in her family and pack, but why did it seem the situation was different with her mother?