Chapter 132 Let Her Hope pt 2
Alpha Brian
I let the silence stretch. “What are your instructions?”
“Hold her,” the king said without hesitation. “Let the realm feel her absence. Panic spreads faster than truth. When the time is right, we’ll decide whether she becomes leverage…or a lesson.”
The line went dead. I stared at the darkened screen longer than necessary, the finality of the moment settling in my bones. Then I drained the glass in one swallow, the burn sharp and grounding.
This was the point of no return. Duncan would come for her. The royals would howl for blood. And Seren—Princess, Luna, symbol of everything we intended to fracture—would wake in chains beneath my feet.
My next call was to Lenore.
She was my best option for intelligence within Crescent Moon. Her mother was useless, her father far too loyal to that sanctimonious Alpha. The phone rang. And rang. And rang. Voicemail.
I ended the call before the automated greeting could finish. Lenore would call back—unless she was dead or captured. Either way, she’d soon stop being my problem.
A sharp knock cut through the quiet.
“She’s awake,” Devin said from the other side of the door. “Not happy about it.”
I smiled slowly, setting the phone down. “Of course she is,” I murmured. “That would be far too easy.”
And with that, I headed for the dungeons—to meet my prize while the fire was still fresh in her eyes.
The dungeon smelled the way despair always did: cold stone, damp iron, old magic baked into the walls until it clung to the lungs. Silver bars lined the corridor, etched with runes that pulsed faintly, a constant hum beneath the silence. The wards were old, refined over generations to weaken werewolves and sever long-distance bonds. Even a Luna would feel them gnawing at her strength.
Seren sat upright on a narrow cot when I entered.
Her wrists were bound in silver cuffs, the metal biting into her skin, already leeching color from her cheeks. Yet her posture was proud, spine straight, chin lifted as though she were seated on a throne instead of a slab of stone. Emerald eyes snapped to me the moment I crossed the threshold, sharp and furious, flaring as she drew in a breath and tested the air.
“You,” she rasped. Recognition sparked on her face, hot and immediate. “I remember you.”
I inclined my head, the gesture almost courteous. “I’m flattered.”
Her lip curled, nostrils flaring as anger poured off her in waves. The scent of her—wolf, Luna, something uniquely hers—was muted by the silver, but not gone. Power still coiled beneath her skin, restrained but very much alive.
“You’ll die for this,” she said, voice rough but unwavering. “Duncan will tear this place apart stone by stone.”
I stepped closer, stopping just shy of the ward line etched into the floor. The runes glowed faintly under my boots, a warning as much as a boundary. “Perhaps,” I allowed. “Or perhaps he’ll be forced to choose. You…or his pack. War…or obedience.”
Her jaw tightened. Good. The more fiery she was now, the more fun to break her later.
“You think you’ve won,” she snarled, fingers curling against the cuffs until the silver bit deep enough to draw blood.
“I think,” I corrected softly, “that the game has finally begun.”
She surged to her feet, chains rattling violently as she lunged forward, stopped short by the wards. Power slammed into the barrier in a violent rush. The wards flared, sending a sharp pulse through her body. She hissed, knees buckling for just a moment before she straightened again, breathing hard.
I felt it then, her wolf. Muted, strained, but not broken. Not dormant as it should be with this much silver and the wolfsbane in her system. Interesting.
“You’ll never break him,” she said, eyes blazing. “And you’ll never break me.”
A sinister smile crossed my lips. “I don’t need to break you. I just need you…contained.”
For a long, taut moment, we stared at one another—Alpha and Luna, captor and captive, destiny stretched tight between us like a blade.
Then my phone shrilled. The sound cut through the dungeon like a knife. I stepped back into the hallway, closing the heavy door behind me as Seren’s glare burned into my spine.
“Yes?” I snapped.
“I only have a minute,” Lenore hissed. “I saw your call. What do you need?”
“An update,” I growled. Her usefulness was undeniable, but her arrogance grated. Intelligence without discipline was a liability.
“Your fucking rogues are mostly dead,” she spat. “Which is fine, but they put Alpha Duncan in a coma. You were only supposed to distract him. The hospital doesn’t know if he’ll wake up.”
She laughed then, a shrill, panicked sound. “How am I supposed to be Luna here if he dies?”
Satisfaction bloomed slow and molten in my gut. Duncan in a coma. The only thing better would have been a body.
“That changes nothing,” I said calmly. “If he dies, the pack will fracture. If he lives, he’ll wake to chaos. Either way, they won’t be searching for Seren anytime soon.”
“But I wanted him,” Lenore whined. “I was supposed to replace her.”
“You wanted the title,” I corrected coolly. “Not the man. Titles can be reassigned.”
She went quiet, sulking.
“Lay low,” I continued. “Listen. Watch. The moment you hear anything about a coordinated search, you call me. Immediately.”
“Yes, Uncle,” she muttered.
I ended the call without another word. When I turned back, Seren was standing again, closer to the bars now, eyes sharp and calculating.
“Tell me,” she said, voice deceptively calm. “How long before you start lying to yourself about why you really took me?”
I laughed, low and genuine. “Always the romantic.”
“Coward,” she shot back. “You couldn’t face Duncan head-on, so you hid in the dark and stole what he loves most.”
Her words struck true enough to sting.
“I didn’t steal you,” I said softly, stepping closer to the bars. “I claimed a resource. A symbol. A pressure point.”
She leaned forward despite herself, fury vibrating through her. “I’m not a thing you get to use.”
I met her gaze, unflinching. “Everyone is a thing, Princess. Some are simply more valuable. Now,” I said, waving my phone at her. “Your Alpha is in a coma. No one is coming for you. Not today. Not tomorrow.” I paused at the door on my way out. “Make yourself comfortable.”
As I walked away, her voice followed me—raw, furious, unbroken. “You will choke on this mistake.”
I smiled to myself. Let her fight. Let her rage. Let her hope. Hope made the fall so much sweeter.