Every step that took me further from Grace was like someone was tightening a vice around my heart. I feared that soon that it would stop beating all together and that would be an act of mercy after what I had done by leaving her. Valerie had remained silent beside me the entire way home not venturing to tempt the beast that was so close to the surface. As it was my head was throbbing from trying to main control over him because all he wanted to do was carry us back to Grace and kill anything and anyone who thought to get in the way.

I had avoided talking to anyone since we had returned to the main house. I'd been hiding out in my old quarters but my time to hide was over. I pushed into the dining hall after I had been requested by one of my fathers men to join the family for dinner.

"I see that you've chosen to return of your own free will, pity." Lennicks remarked with his usual carefree manner as he looked up quickly from where he sat at the table before looking back down in boredom. I glared at him wanting nothing more than to paint the room with his blood, "Yes—well it seemed like you all were pretty useless without me, so here I am." I reply flatly. Valerie remained silent at my side with her eyes focused on the ground as was expected in the presence of royal blood. Lennicks leaned back in his seat, "How was your little pet when you left? Did she cry?" I clenched my jaw tightly but kept my mouth shut tight.

Twirling the dinner fork between his fingers, "Too bad you didn't bring her with you. I would have loved to sample a taste of her. Of course after you were done brother..." He taunted with a smirk without looking towards me.

I couldn't stop myself from reacting. I leaned across the table and snatched him up by the collar of his shirt ready to beat the living shit out of him, "Mention her again, I dare you."I could see the fear flicker through his eyes for a moment.

"Silver put Lennicks down." My oldest brother Remus commands as he comes into the dining room. I let out a growl of frustration before I drop him back down in his seat. I turn my attention toward Remus to see that he is exactly as I remembered him. He is the tallest out of us and the most graceful. His face doesn't give anything away in the realm of emotions, I'm not entirely sure he even has feelings. His shield trailed behind him silently, pulling out the chair near the head of the table for Remus.

"So lovely to see you made it out of the library dear brother..." Lennicks remarks sarcastically to Remus. He takes a seat only regarding Lennicks with a small glance before focusing his attention elsewhere in the room.

"God this is bound to be a boring dinner if Remus is here—" Illyiana's voice carries over the silence and I glance over my shoulder to see her entering the room with my third eldest brother. The one who had always bore a special hatred for me. His eyes zeroed in on me, "If it isn't the prodigal son returned. Oh happy day!" He clapped his hands together dramatically though his tone of voice was hostile.

"Constantine..." I spit out his name like a curse and he gave me a wicked grin in response. Valerie took a step closer to me as if assessing the possibly of a fight breaking out between the two of us. At this point I couldn't fault her with my wolf so unsettled by the fact that I had left our mate behind completely unprotected while hunters were after her. I gritted my teeth and clenched my hands tightly into fists at my side.

Valerie reached out and grabbed a hold of my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze of understanding. I yanked my hand out of her touch before pulling out my own chair and taking a seat. Illyiana excitedly took a seat beside me, "I'm so glad you are back Silver. It was incredibly boring without you—Constantine isn't nearly as fun." She whines as she pouts her lips in my direction.

"What she means is, life isn't nearly exciting without you losing control of your wolf and trying to murder half the royal guard every couple of weeks." Constantine comments as he takes a seat next to Lennicks. I shift in my seat trying to ignore the urge to shift and rip my family apart. Lennicks peers up at me with a grin as if knows all to well what I am feeling. Amongst all my siblings he is the one who has the most awareness when it comes to me and my wolf.

"Oh I think you would be surprised how much control our little brother has gain during his absence." He held my gaze for a moment and I was the one to look away first when I heard the door open. A familiar presence swelled in the room that made my skin crawl and my wolf claw at the recesses of my mind for release.

"Good evening children—" Our father said in a cheerful tone that made me clench my hands into fists under the table, "I'm so glad to see all of us together again." I knew he was speaking about the fact that I had finally returned to them. I kept my gaze focused on the table in front of me not wanting to look at the man who had controlled every fiber of my existence. If I knew I could win in an outright challenge against him I would have challenged him long ago.

A moment later the room was filled with servers bringing us our meals. I looked at the plate of food that was sat down in front of me and cringed. I had gotten used to eating the food that my pack members had scrounged up and looking at the food before me made me sick to my stomach. The sounds of forks and knives scrape across the fine chinaware grated on my already stretched nerves. I squeezed my eyes shut and pushed back on my wolf, breathing in quiet calm breaths.

"Is the food not to your liking Silver?" My father asked and I opened my eyes, finally turning my gaze towards him.

His dark hair was perfectly quaffed to the side, except there was more greying at his temples then there had been before. He had a very stern face that made it appear as thought he was always on the verge of releasing his anger. It had concerned me a lot as a child—in fact I remember flinching every time he touched me. I would say the only thing I inherited from him where his green eyes though his had dulled considerably with his age. He lifted a brow still waiting for my reply.

"Perhaps someone should fetch him something a little more fresh father—after all the time he's spent in the wild with those savages." Constantine jumps into the conversation with a slight chuckle.I sent a glare in his direction but he simply smirked at me and took a bite of his food.

"God, you should have seen them Father—they definitely put shame to their linages. Particularly that female..." Illyiana hissed with a dark look in her eyes.

"Oh I don't know. I found her manner of being quite entertaining..." Lennicks remarked looking towards me with a knowing expression. I knew I couldn't show any emotion about the matter or else I might give something away but I was struggling. I reached forward and grabbed the glass of what I hoped was alcohol and downed in.

Illyiana huffed beside me, "An Alpha female?! Your taste is questionable Lenny..."

"What did you just say?" Our father interrupted, his tone of voice suddenly losing any good humor. We all turned and looked towards him with varying looks of confusion over his interest. Illyiana looked toward Lennicks for a moment before turning her face in our fathers direction, "I—uh—said that Lennicks taste in women was questionable..."

"No before that! You said the female—she was an alpha. Is this true?" He placed his elbows on the table with a loud thud, leaning forward in an intimidating position. Illyiana quickly adverted her gaze to the table, chewing on her lip nervously. Lennicks cleared his throat calling the attention to him, "Yes father it's true, but what does it matter? It's clearly a result of the dilution of bloodlines—nothing worth dwelling over." He said dismissively with a force smirk.

I felt a strange chill creeping over my skin as I let my eyes roam over out father. The way that he had responded was almost like he knew something about Grace or at the very least he felt threatened by the fact she existed. I narrowed my eyes and my fathers dull green orbs met my own. In a quick moment almost so fast I wasn't sure I saw it but it looked as though there was fear in his eyes.

He cracked a strained smile, lifting a cloth napkin to his face and dabbing it clean, "Of course—I completely forgot that there was an important matter that slipped my mind. I'm sorry to leave you all so quickly but a monarchs job is never over." He tossed his napkin onto his half filled plate and rose from his seat. The suspicion swelled stronger inside until I could almost taste bile in the back of my throat. I watched him as he left the room abruptly without another word, the door slamming shut behind him.

"Interesting..." Lennicks mutters and I peer towards him to see him swirling the liquid in his cup before bringing it to his lips. His eyes meeting mine over the rim with the same suspicion swirling in my mind. Our father knew something involving Grace and the only questions left were why did it matter to him? And What did he know exactly? Questions I intended to get the answers too.

The only positive aspect to this entire situation was that Grace was far away from the threat of my family.

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Song: 'DOA'- Foo Fighters