"How could you say something like that about your own brother? And not just your brother but your twin? And your Alpha? He's spent his entire life protecting you and looking after you? And this is how you replay him?"

Opal Nowak stood up from the chair that she had been perched on, setting down her needlework in the basket beside her favorite chair as she glared at her daughter to make sure that her disapproval was known. As if Isolde could have missed it. Of course her mother would choose sides in this. Just because she'd gotten her brother taken away in chains, down to the prison cells.

Once again she had to go playing favorites.

"Mother, you don't understand. I'm going to be the Luna of not just our pack but a new larger pack. Alpha Cadman and I are going to combine our pack with Amber Moon."

Izzy had come to her mother's sitting room the moment she'd actually seen her brother and his Beta shackled and chained in the prison cells in the basement. She'd made sure that they were at opposite ends of the dungeon. And she'd requested that the Royal Guards were the ones down there on guard duty, even stopping to ensure that they knew that not a single member of the Obsidian Moon pack, apart from herself, was to be allowed inside.

She hadn't really expected her mother to be happy for her or to appreciate the enormity of her successes in the last few days. After all the old Luna hadn't met the skank that her brother had accepted as his mate. Besides, the former Luna of Obsidian Moon had always spoiled her oldest son. She hadn't been a bad mother to her daughters, she'd just always fawned over Fin.

Izzy could hardly blame her mother. The entire pack did it. Izzy had come to believe that it practically ingrained in their DNA as werewolves. But she sure as Hell wasn't just going to accept that because Fin was born first and happened to be male, that he was more fit to rule this pack. And Izzy had known for at least a couple of years that she was willing to take down anyone that stood in her way from getting what she wanted. This whole mate and monster situation had just set up the perfect excuse and opportunity.

Opal shook her head as she walked to the window and stared out into the darkness.

"And this is why the King and Queen are here? At Obsidian Moon?" The older woman's voice was filled with anguish, although her face was the same mask of calm that she had managed to maintain for years as one of the leaders of this pack.

"I asked them not to tell you. I explained that I would, once he was safely tucked away in the dungeon." Izzy's voice was sugary sweet as if they were discussing the latest fashion trends and not her betrayal of her twin.

"Your brother is in the prison cells below our feet right now? What about his mate? Do you have my future daughter-in-law down there too?" Turning back towards her daughter, Izzy realized that her mother actually had tears in her eyes. The younger woman raised an eyebrow. She wasn't sure she could remember a time, even at her father's bedside and later at his funeral, when she had seen her mother cry.

"Don't worry mother. She's not worthy of him. I'm sure once she's out of the picture he'll move on eventually and find someone else. That whore you're imagining as a future daughter in law has slept with half of the males at Amber Moon."

"The Moon Goddess selected her to be the mate your brother needs by his side while he leads our pack as Alpha."

"He will never be Alpha." Izzy shouted the words, her canines lengthening before she managed to regain control of herself. "And you will see that I should have been the one that you and father raised to rule. At least Alpha Cadman sees my potential."

"That man is a monster, Isolde. If you've been swept up into something with him you need to be careful. There's still time to do what's right. There's always time. At least while your brother and his mate, and whoever else has been sucked up into this are still alive."

Izzy trembled with rage at her mother's words.

"I may already be carrying his pup, mother. I hope that I am. And he's going to mark me soon. Then all the world will know that we're the most powerful couple in the midwest. And eventually in the entire country. They'll recognize how important I am, even if no one here ever did."

"Isolde."

"No. I don't want excuses. Not when you're just trying to get on my good side now that I'm the one with all the power."

Opal closed her eyes, her hands trembling as she listened to her daughter's footsteps retreat towards the door.

She returned to the window and stared out into the darkness, ignoring her own reflection. Opal's face, which was so similar to her daughter's, had only barely been touched by the two decades on earth that she had been on earth longer than the twins, and while she had a few grey hairs threaded in with her shiny blonde locks, there was little doubt in the minds of anyone who saw the family together who her oldest daughter took after.

The matriarch of the Nowak family couldn't remember a time when she hadn't been worried about her oldest daughter. If Fin had been born with a naturally laid back and happy personality then his twin had been the complete and total opposite. She'd regarded the world with suspicion on good days and anger on bad days. And while Opal had gone out of her way to spend more time with Izzy than her two of other children combined, it never seemed to be enough.

Her mate had always been busy and he'd thought that his Luna's worries were silly. "The girl will be fine," he'd said whenever she voiced her concerns. Sometimes werewolves near metropolitan areas saw psychiatrists or psychologists but Obsidian Moon was a long way from any city and Opal didn't know anyone who had ever gone to any sort of talk therapy. She could have only imagined what her husband's reaction would have been if she had suggested it for one of their children.

But now as Opal watched the years of inaction regarding Izzy unfold before her she knew that the consequences of hoping that Izzy would just be fine had finally come to a head. And it seemed that she wasn't the only one who was going to pay the price for it.

Turning away from the window, the former Luna returned to her chair, but she didn't sit down. Instead she picked up the large, black shawl that she had knitted and wrapped it around her shoulders. Then she walked quickly to the doors and turned the handle.

The guard who spun around to face her looked nervous the moment he met her eyes. He was hardly older than a pup. As she stepped forward into the doorway he put out his arm, and the former Luna's eyebrows shot upward, nearly to the top of her forehead.

"Excuse me? What is going on here? I cannot imagine that I have been confined to my rooms by the King and Queen. What is it that I am supposed to have done to have incurred this restriction?" She used the same voice that she had once used when she had led the pack beside her husband, half surprised that it wasn't rusty from disuse.

"Oh no, ma'am. No one is accusing you of anything. But your daughter gave instructions that you aren't to leave this room until she returns."

"My daughter?" Opal was only barely able to keep the growl out of her words as she felt her canines begin to lengthen. "Since when does my daughter have the authority to order Royal Guards? You're under her command now?"

The two guards both frowned and looked quickly at each other.

"No. Of course not." The guard on her left side, who had been silent until now, was the one who answered her question.

"Sometimes, when I'm tired in the evenings, but can't sleep, I like to bake. If you insist on following through with this charade, and acting like my oldest daughter has some sort of authority, then you may accompany me to the kitchen. I'm going to make chocolate chip cookies. And oatmeal cookies. And maybe I'll even make a batch of sugar cookies too. And if you two are very good I might let you have a few. Although I have to be honest you two don't look like the cookie eating type."

The men made eye contact again and Opal was certain that they were discussing her proposal via mind link.

"Okay. Lead the way." Opal nodded, giving the men a small smile as she turned, drawing her thick knitted cloak around her shoulders and began to chat with them as she led the way through the dim halls towards the large community kitchen of the pack house. By the time they arrived and she began to pull down all the ingredients from the shelves, she'd learned that they were both the younger sons of Alphas who had pledged ten years of their lives to serve the King. Apparently it was not an uncommon choice for younger sons to make. Perhaps it was something that she would know if she had had a younger son.

"Make yourselves comfortable, Boys. This is going to take a while and I promise I'm not going anywhere until these cookies are done. If you want to eat anything, the cupboards are full, and so are the fridges and the freezers. You're welcome to help yourselves." The men both nodded and thanked her, but stationed themselves near the two entrances, looking outward, clearly still on duty. She smiled, glad that they were watching for other threats and that they didn't seem concerned with what she was up to.

Now she just needed to whip up the most tempting cookies that she'd ever made.

A/N- I hope you are enjoying this story! If you are I'd love it if you'd comment and click that little star button to vote for it.

This is Chapter Forty-Six and I will continue posting weekly updates here until the entire novel is finished. You can now read the entire novel, all sixty chapters, on Patreon! And for those of you who want more stories, long and short, right this second and who want to read Patreon exclusive short stories, you may also want to check out the link below:

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