Nine: Ellery Corbin
1144 Words
Nine:
Ellery Corbin
The first thing Ellery was aware of was how big Crescent Manor was. “How many stories is the house?” she asked when she stepped inside.
“Well, it’s supposed to be three,” Landry answered.
“Supposed to be?” Ellery said.
Landry nodded. “The whole house was enchanted by witches. It can add levels as needed, depending on how many guests are here, or if it feels like a family member is under attack and it wants to confuse enemies.”
Ellery’s eyes widened. “It can add levels?”
“Yes. It also has the ability to get you anything you want, as long as you speak it. Be careful though. Once, Noel and I were in a fight and he said he was going to kill me with an ax and the house thought he was serious, so it made an ax appear in front of him.”
Elle coughed. “So, it doesn’t get nuance or sarcasm, huh?”
“Not at all.”
“Good to know. How many brothers do you have?”
“There’s four of us. We had a sister, but she died.”
He didn’t elaborate, and Elle didn’t think it was her place to ask. Not when they barely knew each other. “Oh,” she said, “I’m sorry. That’s hard.”
“Death always is, isn’t it?” he said.
“Yeah. It is.”
“What are your brother's names?”
“Noel is the oldest. He’s in line to be alpha.”
“What’s an alpha?”
“Like our group's version of a king. Sort of."
“Huh. Weird. How old is he?”
“Twenty-eight. He won’t inherit until dad dies, though. There’s only two ways to become alpha. To inherit, or to challenge someone for their power. But challenging an alpha means that someone will die, and it’s usually the challenger. The goddess likes order, and she doesn’t like people who try to change that order.”
Elle frowned. “So, how can she like this?” she gestured to the two of them. “I mean, a werewolf and a Huntress? That’s not exactly kosher.”
He smiled. “We’re a unique circumstance. We had to use the witches magic to make this happen. But I’ve dreamed about us. She was the one that gifted me your necklace and told me to come to find you so that you could have it.”
“So, we’re blessed?”
“In a manner of speaking.”
“And your other brothers?”
“Noel has a mate, but it's complicated. His first mate was Madeline Wilkins. She died tragically, and her sister became next in line to be his mate. My brother and November haven’t been able to move past the guilt of her death. She’s also your age, and so the age difference has been hard. Quentin was part of the reason for Madeline’s death, and he was banished to France because of that.”
“France?” said Elle. “Why France?”
“It’s where our kind comes from. Our home city is a place called Gevaudan. The First Alpha lives there. We call him the King, and his family is the royal family. It’s also home to The Pack Council, and The Moon Children Society.”
“What are those?”
“The Pack Council oversees all of the packs in existence. The Moon Children Society oversees werewolf, vampire, and witch law.”
“What about Huntress law?”
“I don’t know how that works. The Huntresses are their own, separate thing. They’ve always been very secretive.”
“That doesn’t make sense. If there is a society that oversees all parts of the Moon Children, Huntresses should be included in that.”
“Political, huh?”
“Caring about what’s right isn’t political. It’s just being a good person.”
He smiled at her. “Well, you’ll shake things up for sure, I bet.”
She smiled at him. “We’ll see. But you’ve got one more brother, you said?”
“Yeah. That’s Griffin. You won’t see him. He’s in France too. He’s got one more year until he graduates the academy.”
Elle raised an eyebrow. “There’s a wolf academy?”
He nodded. “We help keep the Moon Children under control. The vampires, that is.”
“Who keeps you under control?”
“The witches,” Landry said, “and the Huntresses keep all of us in our place so that we don’t, you know, try to destroy the humans or anything like that.”
“Is that a problem?”
“Sometimes,” he said, “every once and a while, you get a psycho that gets it into their head that the humans need to be destroyed. Obviously, we’re very much against that. Most of us.”
Elle chuckled. “Good to know.” They stood there staring at each other. Elle didn’t know him, and now she was part of this thing where she had to get to know him. “So, what should we start with first?”
“How about my room?” he offered with a smirk.
Elle’s stomach flip-flopped. He must have seen the look on her face because he reached out to grab her hand as if to stop her from running.
“Hey,” he said, “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m not going to force you to do anything you don’t want to do. Claiming is a big deal. Besides, once we sleep together, that means that the mating is complete, and you are bound to me.”
“Bound to you?” Elle asked. “What does that mean, exactly?”
“I’ll be able to feel you. You’ll be able to feel me. And if someone else so much as looks at you wrong, I’ll probably want to kill them for you.”
“So, you become my own, personal attack dog?”
“In a manner of speaking,” he said.
“Right, well. Let’s start with something else. How about the kitchen? I’m kind of starving. I haven’t eaten anything yet today.”
Landry smiled. “Yeah sure, we can go to the kitchen.” He was still holding onto her hand. “Mind if I keep on holding onto you?”
He looked so hopeful as he said it. Elle’s heart clenched. Attraction to someone couldn’t happen this fast, could it? But he wasn’t anyone. He was a werewolf. And if she let herself fall for him, they’d be bound together in ways she couldn’t ever undo.
But she didn’t want to hurt him. “Sure,” she said, and she let him hold her hand as he led her to the kitchen.
- Writer
