Scheming neighbours

Before Eleanor could talk to the girl, Jonathan walked out of the house and onto the courtyard. Everybody, the girls and the guards included, stopped what they were doing and stood on alert, heads bowed and trembling in fear. Eleanor was the only one who watched him as he made his way over until he was standing right in front of her. He smiled at her before raising his voice to address everyone in the courtyard. “Everybody, I want you to meet Eleanor,” he said. The bowed heads rose in sync and every pair of eyes in the courtyard focused on her. While everyone watched, Jonathan reached forward and took her hand. “Eleanor is my Luna from today and should be treated and respected as such.” Gasps rose from the girls, and Eleanor could feel eyes digging into her like lasers. Just a few moments ago, she had declared that she was not here to vie for Jonathan’s attention and even said she was not his mate. Now, here he was, declaring that she was his Luna. What was he playing at? What happened to letting her think about it? “What are you doing?” she asked, lifting an eyebrow at him. “Just making sure everybody knows how special you are to me,” he told her, keeping his voice low this time. Turning to the guards, he raised his voice again. “Take everybody else to their rooms. Without my permission, none of them is allowed to come outside.” “But Alpha–” one of the girls who had approached Eleanor earlier began, but Jonathan silenced her with a single withering look. After that, no one else made any protest. The girls walked towards the house, escorted by the guards. Eleanor wondered how long he kept them locked up in the house every day. Jonathan focused on Eleanor once more. “It’s just us now. Come with me, let’s have lunch together.” Eleanor didn’t really have much choice, so she followed him. He led her to a dining room where a huge table sat, enough to seat twenty guests. Only two places were set, but there was enough food to feed at least a dozen people. “Have whatever you like,” Jonathan told her as he pulled out a chair for her. “If there’s anything you fancy, just say the word and my cooks will take care of it.” Once she sat down, he sat at the place at the head of the table. She was on the seat to his immediate left. “What do you think of this place?” he asked as they started eating. He indicated the room around with his knife. “Do you like it?” “It’s okay,” Eleanor said, looking around too. It was. It was expensively furnished and modern. She wondered how he had managed to establish such a luxurious packhouse in the middle of nowhere without drawing attention from the surrounding packs. But then again, he had only started making his moves recently. From what she knew about him so far, he was the kind of psychopath to spend years planning how he was going to take everyone down and rise to the top. “If you don’t like anything about it, just tell me. I’ll make any changes you want. After all, this is now going to be your home. It needs your touch.” The only touch Eleanor cared to leave behind was one that involved a matchstick and gasoline. She would rather die than be stuck here, calling such a prison home. “I think you have quite good taste,” she told him. “I wouldn’t change anything.” “Really?” he asked, grinning. “It looks like we have some things in common, then. We are going to be quite the match, me and you.” Eleanor sliced her knife through a piece of steak and imagined it was his chest. “Do you like the clothes I left in your new room?” he asked her. “I tried emulating your style as I’ve seen in your photos, so I hope they were to your liking. Of course, if you want new ones, just say the word.” When he mentioned that, it reminded her of when she went to Darkfall and the room and clothes Henry had prepared for her. Who knew she would go through something like that but under such a different situation? “They are okay,” she told him. Thinking about her first day at Darkfall made her miss Henry so much. She hoped he had reached out to the Mountain King for an alliance. The Western Mountain Pack warriors were more familiar with the territories and terrain around and their help could be a game-changer. At that point, one of Jonathan’s servants walked into the room and reported that there was an urgent call for him. “Excuse me,” Jonathan said to her and rose from his chair. He took the phone from the servant and walked into the adjoining room to receive the call. Eleanor knew it was so she couldn’t listen in on his conversation, but there was something he did not know about her. After her wolf woke up from hibernating, her sense of hearing had been enhanced noticeably even in her human form. She sat with her fork and knife posed over her plate while she focused on the conversation he was having in the next room. “Alpha Elroy,” Jonathan said when he received the call. “I was waiting for your call.” Alpha Elroy was one of the Alphas who had vehemently rejected her proposal for legal changes to benefit she-wolves and Omegas. But more importantly, his pack neighboured Henry’s Darkfall. Eleanor could not make out Elroy’s voice, but just hearing Jonathan’s side of the conversation was enough to let her know what the two were cooking up. “We cannot wait any longer,” Jonathan said. “Are you ready to make your move? We should not give him more time to prepare. Darkfall is already strong as it is.” There was a pause as Jonathan listened to the other side. Eleanor remembered that one of the issues Henry had been dealing with when she visited Darkfall involved neighbouring packs holding training sessions with hybrids and vampires. She had suspected that they were doing so to increase their strength so they could overpower Darkfall, something they had failed to do over and over again. It appeared that her speculation had been right. “You must beware of him,” Jonathan said into the phone. “As long as you assist me as we agreed, I’ll help you take over Darkfall. With my forces, it’ll be a walk in the park.”