She crosses her arms. “Then I’ll wait for him.”
I plaster on a fake smile and shake my head. “He won’t be home for a while.”
Her face reddens, and she narrows her eyes, taking a threatening step forward. “Did you forget that I own you? So, whatever game you think you’re playing, don’t.”
“No games. Just telling you he isn’t home.” I move to close the door, but she slams a hand against it.
“You little bitch! Do I need to remind you of the little conversation we had before your lesbo friend assaulted me and my friend?”
I squeeze the door handle and briefly close my eyes. She insulted Emily. Anger rises within me, but the electrical sparks that usually accompany my extreme emotions don’t come. I take a deep breath to calm my nerves, before I punch her in the face.
She shoves her foot between the door and the frame. “I don’t think you understand who you’re messing with, Jessica,” she taunts, forcing the door open and stepping into the entryway. “I warn you—disrespect me again, and I will end you!”
“Did I just hear you threaten the Princess?” a low baritone voice bellows behind Elaine. When I look behind her, it’s Shadow. A hand on my shoulder pulls me back.
Joe places himself between Elaine and myself. “That’s what it sounded like to me,” he answers for Elaine.
Elaine lifts her chin in defiance. “Princess? She’s not a real Princess. She doesn’t have a drop of royal blood in that ugly, mutated body of hers. She’s nothing more than a mutt. Not even her actual parents wanted her.”
I wince at her declaration.
Joe pushes me behind him. “Careful,” he growls. She ignores Joe.
“I would do everyone a favor if I got rid of her!”
“Is that another threat?” Shadow snarls.
Without batting a fake eyelash, she squares her shoulders. “Do you know who I am?”
Shadow stares at her, stoic and emotionless.
“I’m Elaine Powers, Daughter of Alpha Powers of the third territory, Luke's future mate, the future Luna Queen. I don’t threaten. I make good on my promises.”
Shadow raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms over his chest. “Is that so?” He slowly steps forward. “Do you know your history, Elaine Powers?”
“Who the hell cares about history!” she spits. “People in positions of power don’t care about history!”
Shadow’s lip quirks. “I see. You believe your bloodline is superior to the Princess’s?”
She sneers, “Of course I’m better than her. I am an Alpha’s daughter. She is nothing but an adopted child, probably born of a whore.” Shadow and Joe both laugh.
I’m not sure what they find funny. For all I know, it could be true.
“I think I should educate you, for future purposes.” Shadow steps closer to Elaine, looming over her now. “The Powers Pack is not an original pack of the LS. The Powers Pack was a group of about twenty shifters brought in as laborers from the Europeanterritory to work in the Ruby Falls vineyard. When a female of the Powers group mated with the Alpha’s Beta, the Alpha granted the hardworking laborers a sliver of land, giving them an opportunity to make a living of their own.
“A man named Bartholomew Powers elected himself leader of the group. He felt entitled to it because his daughter mated the Beta, and later, he gave himself the title of Alpha. When the territories were numbered for political purposes, the Ruby Falls Alpha gave the Powers Pack the official title to the land now known as Territory Three.”
Elaine’s posture stiffens. “How dare you talk down to me!”
“I will talk down to you because you do not have a single drop of original Alpha blood in your miserable, wretched, self-entitled being. I take threats in regard to the Princess’s life very seriously.”
Joe moves closer to Elaine as well.
“I will have you know that one day, I will be the Luna Queen, and I will have you on your knees, begging me to spare your life!”
“Is that so!?” My mother’s sharp tone echoes throughout the foyer.
Elaine whips around to face my mother and instantly bows her head. “Your Majesty,” she squeaks.
