Page 18 of Stone Crest: Rise of a Raven
He's sprawled out in a wing back chair, wearing a velvet purple robe.
“What are you wearing, Hugh?” I chuckle.
He takes a puff of a cigar. “It’s my after party attire.”
I snatch up some joggers I left on the bench and step inside of them.
“Overnight guest?” I arch a brow.
He scoffs, blowing smoke into the air. “You know I don’t do overnights. Too messy.”
I approach the bar in the corner, pouring me a shot of whiskey.
“From my experience you vampires tend to be messy,” I prod.
He ignores my jab. “What’s on your mind?” He asks.
I knock back the liquid. “Kingston.”
He lifts a brow.
“He paid me a visit today.” I clench my teeth at the memory of him speaking to Raven.
The look in his eyes.
She's oursmy wolf snarls. I ignore him. Again.
“What did he have to say?” Declan puts out his cigar in the ashtray on the coffee table.
“He came with a warning.” I take a seat on the leather couch across from him. “Apparently they think it was us who crossed over onto their territory.”
“Their territory," Declan sneers. “That’s your fucking land.”
I brace my elbows on my knees. “Hadn’t been mine for a long time, Dec. You know that. I want no part of the pack land.”
“Alpha Malikiah still being a pussy I see. Sending his spawn to do his dirty work.” Declan stands from the chair and heads to the bar.
“You forget we do share the same genes,” I remind him.
“You share a mother. Not a father. Your father was nothing like Malikiah.”
He wasn’t. I was nothing like the beta, who befriended my father, the alpha, just to stab him in the back. I’m nothing like the man who destroyed my family then exiled me from the only home I had ever known. Regardless of his given position as the alpha of the Moonstone Pack, I was the one with the alpha blood. Not him.
“I told Kingston it wasn’t us.” I stand to meet Declan’s angry eyes. “That means we got company again.”
He nods and opens his arms. “Looks like we need to roll out the welcome mat.”
I shake my head with a chuckle, thankful the conversation is over, and he isn’t going to push on where I really was.
Or so I thought.
“I know you hate having to see your brother, but you want to tell me why you’re really out prowling around at two in the morning?”
I didn’t respond, which meant I clearly didn’t want to reveal where I had been.
“Alright. I’ll let you work it out. But don’t think I won’t ask again the next time.”
He disappears down the hall to his wing while I make my way down mine. I finally lay my head down a little after three. I could get a few hours of sleep in now. My wolf would finally rest. He always did after we watchedher.
