Page 35 of Wolves’ Witch

Chapter Eighteen

Aubert threw back the last of his wine, refilled his goblet and settled in a chair in the library. Edmond was not happy with him. It oozed from his twin’s pores, his face scrunched up in an unfamiliar scowl.

He had been harsh with Isobella. Harsher than he’d needed to be. Aubert resisted the urge to rub at the ache in his chest. It was rare he was at odds with his twin. Since Sabine, he could count the times on one hand. He gritted his teeth, refusing to meet his brother’s gaze as Edmond settled in another chair beside him.

Gaharet eased behind his desk then pulled out parchment and ink. He ignored them both, as the scratch of his quill across parchment filled the silence.

His alpha was unhappy, too. Because of the news they had brought? More challenges for the pack. Or because of them? A private meeting with their alpha… They were not here to discuss trivialities.

Gaharet put the quill down, leaned back in his chair and regarded them both. Aubert had stared down the chevaliers of opposing counts across a battlefield, pitted his skill with a sword against far larger numbers than any other warrior would dare challenge, but he quailed in the face of his alpha’s scrutiny.

“Lance is still out there. He is a threat to us, to our mates. Erin is with pup. Constance’s father, Didier, has crawled back into whatever putrid hole he emerged from, and Faucher…” Gaharet focused on his hands for a moment, his brow furrowed, before fixing them both with a stare. “I do not need to tell you both that the pack is undergoing significant challenges right now. More than ever before, we have reasons to fear for our continued existence.”

Lance lived? It had been too much to hope Gaharet and Lothair would have tracked the traitorous wolf to his death. Wounded or no, Lance was not an inexperienced pup. While he hid away healing, he would be scheming against them. Fate could not have picked a worse time for them to have found Isobella.

Gaharet sighed. “I need to know. Is Isobella your mate?”

Edmond did not hesitate. “Yes.”

“Aubert?”

It hurt to admit what Isobella was to him, but there was no hiding anything from Gaharet. “Yes.”

Gaharet nodded. “We cannot ignore this. Mates… We need them. As wolves, as a pack, but…”

“This will not be like before,” assured Edmond.

“How can you say that?” demanded Gaharet. “You have already defied pack law by turning her without sanction.”

“What?” Aubert straightened in his chair. “No.”

Edmond looked as shocked as he. “We sent Remi—”

Aubert jabbed his finger at Edmond. “You sent Remi.”

“After you had turned her,” said Gaharet.

Aubert gaped at his brother. “Edmond, did you tell Remi to—?”

“No!” Edmond snarled. “Yes. I sent Remi well before we agreed to turn her, but—” Edmond huffed and raked a hand through his hair. “It should not surprise us that the little thief is also a liar.”

Aubert met his alpha’s gaze head on. “I would have turned her, sanction or no. Our mate was dying. It left us little choice.” Aubert would take responsibility for their actions. Edmond could take Isobella.

“No. No, Aubert. You will not take the blame for this.” Edmond met their alpha’s stare head on, stabbing his chest with his finger. “I was the one who wanted to turn her before we received word from you. Aubert wanted to wait. But she was dying, Gaharet. We have already lost one mate. I could not go through that again. Seeing Sabine like that…” Edmond dropped his head. “I could not let Isobella die. Remi arrived with the potion as I was about to turn her, but…” His sigh was heavy but contained no regret. “I would have turned her, anyway.”

“You said the pack needs mates,” said Aubert, backing his brother. “Would you have us let her die?”

Gaharet rose and refilled his goblet from the jug on the side table, giving them his back. When he resumed his seat, his expression was troubled. “Have you forgotten what happened with Sabine? Between the two of you? I have not.”

How could Aubert forget? His brother’s eyes swollen, his nose broken and his lip split. The bruises, the livid handprints on Edmond’s throat where he had almost choked the life out of him. His own body bloody and battered. Edmond had been no easy conquest. Well matched in strength and prowess, they had both fought with everything they had. Over her. Sabine.

’Twas not his mother’s screams, his alpha’s orders, the hands that had fought to pull him off, nor his brother gasping for breath that had penetrated his rage-fueled haze, but Sabine’s cries urging him on. To kill Edmond. It had pierced through the fog that had descended over him with sudden clarity, and he had released Edmond, staring at his hands as he had backed away from his brother. The horror of it. Had he not stopped, Edmond would not be sitting beside him today. His brother. His twin.

“Things will be different this time,” Edmond assured Gaharet. “Aubert and I have discussed it, and we have agreed not to fight over her. To let her choose. The way we should have with Sabine.”

The female’s right to choose was inviolate, but with Sabine they had done everything in their power to best each other. To be her choice. Aubert could have lost more than his brother that day. Denying Sabine her right to choose could have had him banished from the pack. In the end, they had both lost her.

Gaharet’s eyes narrowed on him. “Aubert?”