Chapter 144 144 (Ending)
Damien's POV
They came one by one over the course of two days.
Some sent word ahead asking for a meeting. Some just showed up. I let them all in because turning them away wasn't the what Amelia wanted.
The first one was Alpha Grayson from the western territory. He had been one of the louder voices against me in the past, not the one who organized the attack but someone who had been easy to manipulate because he already didn't like me. He came in and sat down and spent about four minutes telling me he had been misled by Richard's people and that he hadn't known what he was actually participating in.
I listened to the whole thing.
Then I said, "Did you ask questions before you acted on the information you were given?"
He was quiet.
"Did you verify anything independently?"
He was still quiet.
"Then you weren't just misled," I said. "You were willing to be misled because it was convenient for you. Those are different things and I need you to understand the difference before we continue this conversation."
He looked uncomfortable. They want to get on my good side now because things didn't work out for them. If it worked out for them, they wouldn't have tried to get on my good side.
That was how most of the first day went.
By the second day I had heard enough individual versions of the same story that I decided to do it differently. I called them all into the same room at the same time. I wanted to have a meeting with everyone who had participated in or benefited from the actions against my pack.
I stood at the front of the room and I looked at all of them and I said what I actually wanted to say.
"I'm not going to pretend the past didn't happen," I said. "I'm not going to stand here and accept apologies and tell you it's fine because it's not fine. You failed your own people by being careless with your decisions. You failed the Lycan line that was protecting you without your knowledge, running interference between you and threats you didn't even know existed. And most of you failed me specifically, which I'll be honest matters less to me than the first two things but it's still true."
I'm doing all of this because Amelia wanted peace with everyone. She didn't want any war anymore and innocent people dying which is why I'm accepting this. Or else I would have killed all of them.
"I know some of you are here because you're genuinely sorry," I continued. "I know some of you are here because you're scared of what happens if you're not. I'm not going to pretend I care, I really don't. But I'm also not going to make that distinction the deciding factor in what comes next because what comes next has to work regardless of your individual feelings about it."
"You have a choice. You can fall in line under a united structure with real accountability. Or you can leave. Walk out of this room and manage your own territories independently and see how that works for you going forward."
I let that sit for a moment.
"I'm not making this offer twice," I said. "And I'm not going to chase anyone who walks out. But I will remember who stayed and who didn't and I will act accordingly."
Nobody moved toward the door. I waited a full thirty seconds to make sure. They have always wanted to work with me after seeing the prosperity of my Pack. My refusal caused them to hate me and snap at me all the time.
I nodded. "Then we have things to discuss."
We spent the next two hours going through what the united structure actually looked like. I had Lucas run through the specifics because Lucas was better at the administrative details than I was and I was better at making people understand the consequences of not following them.
It was functional. Productive in a way that I hadn't expected to feel. I was near the end of it when Alpha Orland stood up. He had been sitting at the side of the room the whole time. He had participated in the discussions but quietly, more listening than talking, which was different from his usual approach.
He stood up and he looked at me and he said, "I want to formally state something for the record and in front of everyone present."
I looked at him.
"I formally endorse Damien Cross as Lycan King," he said. "My son and brother did a lot of things behind my back that I didn't even know about. I'm the least person deserves into be in this place right now but he hasn't shown any prejudice against me despite my actions towards him in the past. I'm deeply with grateful of everything he did to protect everyone despite the hate towards him. Don't you think someone like him deserves to be the King?" He paused. "I should have said something like this a long time ago. I didn't. I'm saying it now."
Then one by one the Alphas in the room added their endorsement. Some formally, some just with a nod or a word. It moved through the room quickly and by the end of it the thing was done.
I stood up to finally settle everything.
Lycan King.
I had known it was coming. Amelia and I had talked about it. The prophecy pointed to it. The bloodline confirmed it. I just never expected that every Alpha in this room would ever be looking at me as their King. This was a different thing than I expected it to be. I spent all these years hating everyone and resenting them for what they did to me. Amelia was the only light in my life.
I looked toward the doorway. Amelia was standing there.
I don't know how long she was standing there. She was holding our son against her chest with one hand supporting his head, and she was looking at me with love.
I looked at her across the room full of Alphas. She smiled slightly. After everything. We got here and finally fulfilling our dream of uniting everyone and making sure everyone of our kind stays safe. This way no one else would try to hurt others without others finding out again. And the responsibility of protection wouldn't fall just on one clan, participate. I'm standing in front of every pack leader in the territory and.
Alpha Rhen from the southern territory had his hand up slightly. He was one of the ones I believed was genuinely remorseful. He had brought documentation of what had been done to his pack by Richard's people to manipulate them and it was thorough. He promised that something like this would never happen again and he was willing to give part of land from his pack since they had a lot of land, to contribute to the community to build something that would benefit everyone.
Richard deserved everything he got. He should rot in hell and not deserve to have a good next life.
.....
Amy's POV
DAYS LATER
The baby went to sleep at nine. I felt happy because I was already tired. He was finally asleep. I straightened up slowly and turned around.
Damien was sitting on the edge of the bed watching me do all of this.
"He's asleep," I said.
"I can see that."
"Don't say anything."
"I didn't say anything."
I sat down on the bed beside him.
I did a full inventory of the past several weeks the way I sometimes do when things finally slow down enough to let me. I wanted to say everything I didn't get to tell Damien before earlier.
I said it anyway.
"I love you so much." I looked straight ahead at the same wall he was looking at. "I've been trying not to for a long time and I'm genuinely annoyed that it didn't work."
I kept looking at the wall. Then I felt him turn his head toward me.
He was staring at me. Just genuinely staring like he was making sure he had heard me correctly.
I held his gaze. "I mean it. I'm not saying it because of everything that happened or because I'm emotional about the baby or any of that. I've been in love with you for a while. I know I already told you how I felt about it so many times. Wasn't sure of my feelings at that time but now I completely I'm very sure. I promised myself in that room that I was going to say it the moment I got the chance so I'm saying it." I paused. "You don't have to say anything back right now if you need a moment."
He kept staring at me. Then he laughed.
I glared at him.
"That," he said, getting the word out between the tail end of it, "is the worst declaration of love I have ever heard."
I opened my mouth. "Excuse me?"
"You're annoyed that it didn't work," he said, still smiling. "That is what you led with."
"I was being honest. Besides, I think I have declared my love to you more than you ever have. I'm much better than you anyway."
"Do you want me to grade it? Because I will."
"Do you want me to take it back?" I said. "Because I can take it back."
He stopped smiling. He reached over and pulled me toward him and kissed me before I finished the sentence and I stopped thinking about taking anything back immediately.
"Don't ever thinking of getting away from me. You're mine."
The rest of the night was different from everything before it. We got intimate again and this was one of the best ones we ever had.
He was slow about it in a way that I wasn't used to from him. He was deliberate like he was paying attention to everything and was not in any kind of hurry. I had nothing to compare it to that was quite like it.
At one point I laughed at something and he pulled back to look at me and I said sorry. He told me not to apologize for that ever and then we were both laughing for a second and that was also new. That had never happened before.
Afterward I was lying against his chest and he had his hand in my hair and the room was still quiet and our son was still asleep in the corner. This was one of the best feelings I ever had in my life. Everything complicated sing to fade away. Like everything was where it was supposed to be.
"Say it back," I said.
His hand stilled in my hair for a second.
"You know," he said.
"I do know," I said. "Say it anyway."
He was quiet for a moment.
"I love you," he said. "I think I have for longer than I was willing to admit to myself."
I pressed my face against his chest.
"That was also not a great delivery," I said.
"It was better than yours."
"It was not—"
"Genuinely annoyed that it didn't work, Amelia."
I laughed. He felt it against his chest and his arm tightened around me.
I closed my eyes. I started to think about everything that we need to do after this. There was so much in mind to do that I couldn't stop thinking about it.
"The baby's powers need to be sealed properly. We can give it back to him when he's older."
"I know."
"And you have seventeen things to sort out with the council."
"Amelia."
"What."
He turned his head down toward me. "Can we have tonight first."
I looked up at him.
"Yes," I said. "We can have tonight."
He kissed my forehead. I closed my eyes again.
Maybe he's right. I should just shut up and not talk about unimportant things at moment like this. We finally went through all these hurdle together just to be in this moments like this. I don't ever want to lose this kind of love ever again. Will be crowned King and Queen soon, maybe I never lost my destiny of becoming a queen anyway.
I just need to navigate the next days ahead because I don't know what is going to happen to me or my family.
The END