Chapter 32
Lila
The summons came mid–morning, delivered by hand in sleek parchment sealed with black wax. The message was brief:
Report to the western courtyard. His Majesty will address a challenge to the throne.
The phrasing was deliberate. A challenge to the throne, not a complaint or request. It was a warning hidden in formality.
Several of the other candidates were already gathered on a raised terrace overlooking the outer gates. Not all of them, just a selection. The best ranked. The boldest. The ones the Court wanted close enough to shape, or to monitor their reaction.
I took my place in the back.
No one spoke above a whisper, and even Vanessa looked wary instead of smug. This wasn’t just court drama; this was a serving of political posturing with a dash of potential treason.
Damon stood at the top of the steps like a statue of war. Dark tunic. Black leather gloves. No crown. He didn’t need one.
Below him, the gates were open. Alpha Rodrik stood at their center, flanked by seven wolves in formal armor. His posture was proud, but tight. Wrong, He looked like a man trying to act unafraid.
Damon didn’t speak. But when he looked down at the Alpha, I felt it…the unfiltered power of the Lycan King. The reason he was able to keep all the Packs in line.
“I gave you the terms,” Damon said at last, voice carrying easily across the courtyard. “Your daughter was not chosen. The combat trials are final.”
“She was wronged,” Rodrik said, his voice not quite steady. “She was ambushed –”
“She was bested,” Damon interrupted coldly. “Just like you’re about to be if you don’t withdraw.”
The guards around the terrace didn’t move, but I saw their eyes shift towards Damon, just waiting for some sort of signal.
Rodrik didn’t move either. His chin lifted slightly. “You speak of justice, Your Majesty. Where is it now?”
Damon descended one step. Then another. “Justice?” he said softly, “You want justice for a daughter who failed under our laws?”
“She’s strong,” Rodrik snapped. “And she’s noble–born. She deserves another chance.”
“No one deserves anything,” Damon said. “Least of all someone who brings warriors to my gates without invitation to threaten the peace and sanctity of this selection process.”
My mouth had gone dry. My fingers curled into the folds of my skirt to keep from shaking.
He was going to do it. Damon was going to make an example of this Alpha.
Damon gave a small gesture with two fingers and a blur of movement followed.
Guards stepped in from both sides, swift and silent. Within seconds, Rodrik’s warriors were disarmed, knocked to their knees, growling but outmatched.
Damon appeared in front of Rodrik faster than I could track, claws poised over the Alpha’s heart with his teeth bared at Rodrik’s neck.
Holy shit. I knew Damon was holding back when we sparred, but I had no idea he was this much of a beast. Literally. I’d never seen any formidable.
No one cried out. Not even Rodrik.
Chapter 32
Damon growled Into Rodrik’s ear. “Your daughter will never set foot in my Court again. You will not leave your tenitory without dearme year. If you do, I will finish this finish you – and break apart your Pack
Rodrik dared to spit in the dirt. “Your reign won’t last forever.”
Damon’s smile was thin and dangerous. “But it will last longer than you.” He slashed a mark across Podick’s chest and threw him into the dirt. Then calmly turned on his heel and walked back up the stairs without looking back.
The guards released the warriors, shoved them toward the gates, and just like that, it was over.
The women around me were stunned into stillness. One whispered, “Gods, he didn’t even blink.”
Another murmured, “That could’ve been my Alpha.”
I didn’t say a word. Because I was too busy wondering what he’d do if he knew what I was hiding.
Ruby was stone still in the back of my mind, as if afraid that any sound from her would draw his gaze in this mood.
He wouldn’t be kind, she whispered finally.
No, I agreed softly. I don’t think he would.
Damon glanced up toward the terrace before he disappeared into the palace. His eyes swept the group but didn’t linger on me.
That should’ve made me feel safer.
It didn’t.
That night, I sat on the balcony attached to my suite, legs drawn to my chest, trying to shake the memory of Damon’s voice.
I hadn’t seen him lose control. I’d seen him enforce control like a weapon.
He didn’t need the claws or fury. He’d wielded power like it was nothing. Took down a power Apha in his own right like he was a child playing at it.
And I’d lied to that man’s face.
I gripped the edge of the railing and pressed my forehead to the cool stone. My palms were damp.
Not long until the next trial and I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t Elena. Not even close.
The mind–link came like a thread of ice down my spine. Sharp. Unwelcome.
Lila.
sat up fast. Father.
You’re still standing. I suppose that’s something. There was no pride in his voice, just fact.
Barely, I muttered.
Good. Then you have the strength to do what I need. I hear Damon favors you. Use it to get me what I want.
My stomach turned. “I haven’t seen him –”
You’re going to ask him for something. A council seat. Mine. I’ve been patient long enough. He needs allies. Make him see that.
You think he’ll just hand you a seat because I ask him to? I barely contained the mental scoff.
The iciness in his voice was exactly as I remembered. I think if you do nothing, I’ll pull you from that palace and let your mother’s condition resolve itself.
2/2
16:39 Sat, 31 May
Chapter 32
Rage flooded me so quickly it made my hands shake. You can’t do that, we had a deal.
Try me. Three days, Lila. Or I start writing obituaries.
The link cut off, sudden and sharp and I sat there for a long time, fists clenched, fury buzzing under my skin.
I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t ask Damon for a favor. Not now. Not after what I saw today.
He didn’t give second chances. He made examples. And I was already misstep away from being next.
I pressed the heel of my palm to my chest, trying to breathe past the fury and the guilt. He always did this. Found the one crack in me that still hadn’t healed and jammed the blade in deeper.
“Get me what I want.” That was all I’d ever been to him. But this time, it wasn’t just me he was threatening, it was my mother. My only reason for being here at all.
I stood and walked back inside, the night air too pleasant to bear any longer.
He knew exactly how to trap me. And worse, he was right.
I couldn’t stall forever. I had three days to find the nerve, the angle, and the words that might convince a King to gift power to a man he barely tolerated.
A man who’d sell out his own daughter without blinking. Because that’s exactly what he was doing.
Tomorrow, I’d have to find Damon.
And ask him for something I knew he wouldn’t give.
AD
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