Trapped in You by Morrison Lee: Shadows of Our Love novel · Chapter 2 of 24

Chapter 2: Dawn Convoy

At the Silverfang gate Corbin claims Sabine as his mate in front of the cameras and the Blackmoor Alpha says there is no mark on her, so she lets her Alpha scent out and the whole yard drops to its knees, then he tells her an Accord says she walks her parents' rites with him.

I was at the Silverfang gate before the sun was up.

I wore the same grey dress, and the ruby was in my fist inside my pocket.

The yard was already full.

Kettlewell Aerowerks was launching its glider today, and half the staff stood behind a rope with phones raised.

Two camera crews had set up beside the hangar.

Three black trucks rolled through the gate at the stroke of six.

No one in the yard spoke.

The back two trucks carried long pale crates strapped down with iron bands.

My parents were in those crates.

I walked forward until my boots touched the line painted on the ground.

The door of the first truck opened, and a man stepped down.

He was tall, with short dark hair and a thin scar through his left eyebrow.

He wore a black coat, and he stopped as soon as the wind brought him the yard.

He turned his head slowly and took in the yard.

Then he looked at me.

His eyes were grey, and for a moment they flashed gold.

I did not look away.

"I am Mathis Draycott, Alpha of Blackmoor," he said. His voice carried without being raised. "I am looking for Sabine Ardrey."

A murmur ran along the rope.

Nobody here knew that name.

"Alpha Draycott." Corbin's voice came from behind me, warm and easy.

He walked up with Verena on his arm, in the same pale suit, with a smile ready for the cameras.

He was late, and he did not apologize.

"What a pleasure," he said. "I'm Corbin Kettlewell, Alpha of Silverfang. This is my mate, Sabine Wells. She's been waiting for her parents for a long time."

He put his hand on my back.

I let it stay there for one breath.

Mathis's eyes went to the hand.

Then he took one slow step forward and breathed in.

"There's no mark on her," he said.

Corbin's smile stayed where it was. "I'm sorry?"

"No mark. No claim. Her neck and her shoulder are clean, and nothing of yours is on her skin." Mathis tilted his head. "I would smell it from the gate."

Behind the rope, a phone clicked.

Verena's hand tightened on Corbin's sleeve.

"She is an Omega," Corbin said. "We keep our private life private."

"She is not an Omega."

Mathis said it quietly.

Then he looked at me, and he waited.

I knew what he was asking.

For three years I had pulled my scent down so deep that I forgot it had a floor.

I reached for it now.

It came up the way a blade comes out of a sheath.

It rolled out of me across the yard, cold and heavy, and I let it.

The staff dropped first.

Phones hit the concrete. Men and women went down on their knees with their hands flat on the ground, gasping.

The camera operators folded behind their tripods.

Verena sat down hard on the gravel with her mouth open.

Garrow Lazenby, who had just come around the hangar, went to one knee with his head bowed.

Corbin's legs shook.

He did not kneel.

He stood there gripping the gate post, white to the lips, because a man who had just been called my mate could not kneel to me in front of a camera.

He looked at me, and he was not surprised.

I noticed that.

I put it away.

Mathis Draycott did not kneel either.

He stood in the middle of it with his hands loose at his sides, and the gold rose in his eyes until no grey was left.

Something in his throat made a low sound.

He did not seem to know he had made it.

"That's the scent," he said. "I smelled it once on your father's coat."

I pulled the scent back in.

The yard breathed.

"You have my parents," I said. "Give them to me."

"I will." He did not take his eyes off me. "That is what I was ordered to do, and I keep my orders."

"Then do it."

"After the rites."

I stared at him. "What rites?"

For the first time he frowned, a small line between his brows.

"The Ardrey rites. The three nights at the border grove, with the Blackmoor Alpha beside you. It is in the Accord."

"I have never heard of any Accord."

He studied my face for a long moment.

"Your name is on it," he said.

I had signed nothing.

Over his shoulder, on the steps of the hangar, an elder in a grey cloak was watching us.

She did not look surprised either.

← Chapter 1 · All chapters · Chapter 3 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend