Chapter 70 THE ULTIMATUM OF BLOOD & THRONE
Varkos
I step into the living room and find them seated like vultures around a carcass.
The Council of Elders.
Five of them.
Clothed in dark and ceremonial robes, silver badges pinned at the collars. Their ancient faces were carved from years of authority and arrogance. Lady Ravena sits among them, her posture rigid as usual, chin lifted.
And beside her—
Kenna.
Much to my utter disdain!
Of course.
Of all people to be present at this meeting, it had to be her. I walk forward slowly, my boots echoing across marble.
“Who invited you to my home?” I ask coldly. No bow. No greeting to any of them. One of the elders—Eldric, the oldest among them—folds his hands calmly over his cane, then he parts his lips to speak in response.
“We were summoned.”
“By whom?” I ask, though I already know.
“I’m the one who summoned them,” Lady Ravena’s voice cuts through the room. I turn my gaze on her instantly.
“And what emergency required dragging the Council into my house without my consent?”
Eldric clears his throat. “Your conduct…Alpha.”
A laughter tears out of me—a quiet, humourless sound that echoes through the entire sitting room. “My conduct?”
“You have committed a grave violation of the laws of Bleeding Rose,” another elder states sharply. “An abomination precisely.”
“And what abomination would that be? Huh?”
Eldric’s gaze sharpens as he steps closer. “ Your affair with the human slave.” The words ‘slave’ lands like a slap across my face.
Who the hell did this old fool just refer to as a slave?
For a moment, I say nothing. Silence swallows the entire room, so much so that every sound of breath is heard.
Then—
A laughter tears out of me again, nothing lightly or funny about it. I laugh as they’ve just told me a child’s tale. The sound echoes across the sitting room, unsettling them.
“So the reason you summoned me,” I said slowly, “out of my busy schedule was to lecture me about who I choose to share my bed with?”
“You dare mock the Council?!” one elder snaps.
“Oh! I dare to do much worse!” I snap back evenly, but before I can open my mouth to say more, Lady Ravena stands up abruptly. Her lips formed into a thin line.
“You have disgraced your bloodline, Varkos!” She barks. “If I were you I would be very ashamed of myself.”
I turn to face her fully now. “No,” I say quietly. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of here. You’re the only one who’s mistaking disgrace for defiance.”
Eldric taps his cane once against the floor, cutting through the tension, “ Your relationship with that filthy human Ginnie has violated the sacred laws of Bleeding Rose.”
Her name sounds different when they say it.
Dirty.
Condemned.
“You have tainted your future,” another elder adds, “Done nothing but corrupt the throne and weakened the stability of Bleeding Rose.”
I look at each of them slowly, scanning the mugged expressions on each one of their ugly faces. “Well…seems like I give you all two seconds of my time and you mistake yourselves for being important?”
The temperature in the room drops.
“I am the ruler of Bleeding Rose,” my voice drops to a low, dangerous whisper. “And I do not answer to any of you! Do you fuckin get that?”
“You answer to tradition,” Eldric fires back.
“I answer to no one.”
My wolf stirs beneath my skin.
Dangerous.
Unleashed.
“I could rip each of your throats out right here,” I continued calmly. “And there would be no one powerful enough to stop me.”
Lady Ravena slams her staff against the marble. “This is the Council of Elders,” she snaps. “Show some goddamn respect, Varkos!”
“Respect?” I turn to face her again, “You brought these things into my home to judge the woman I love…and you expect me to show respect?”
The word rolls out of my tongue before I can think.
Fuck!
Did I just say that?
“She has bewitched you,” Lady Ravena shoots back, her voice cracking through like a whip. “That slut has twisted your mind all because she opens her legs for you.”
“Say her name properly,” I snap.
“She is beneath us!”
“She is far better than you’ll ever be!”
The room crackles with tension.
“Alpha…” one of the elders' voices slices through the tension, “You would throw away centuries of your family’s bloodline for her?”
“I would burn centuries to the ground for her.”
Then—
A soft sob breaks through the room. I turn instinctively and my eyes land on her. Kenna. She lowers her head, her shoulders trembling like a gutted animal.
“I cannot believe this,” she whispers.
Here we go again!
The performance begins.
“I stood before the entire pack,” she continues shakily. “Dressed in white and ready to be your Luna.” The tears spilled down her cheeks freely, “And all you could do was to leave me standing at the altar.”
The elders exchange glances, pretty sure they were already convinced by her fake act.
“I loved you,” Kenna’s voice breaks, she steps towards my direction now. “I devoted my life to you.”
Meanwhile, I stare at her.
Unmoved.
“You expect me to believe this…this stupid act of yours?” I say flatly. Her tears halt for half a second, but only to become even more intense.
“I gave you everything—”
“You gave me nothing,” I interrupt coldly. “Not a damn thing, Kenna.”
Gasps ripple through the elders, Kenna’s expression flickers—anger cracking through her sympathetic demeanor before she masks it again.
“How could you allow that human to steal you from me,” she cries.
“She didn’t steal me from you,” I reply without hesitation. “I chose her and I’ll keep choosing her till eternity.”
“Enough!!”
Eldric cuts in sharply, rising slowly to his feet. “You have shown arrogance, “ he says gravely. “Clearly proving that you feel no atom of shame for your actions.”
“And now,” another elder adds, “you will face consequences.”
I cross my arms.
“Am I supposed to be shivering at that word?”
“You will hand that human filth over to the Council,” Eldric says, his voice etched with all seriousness. “She will be executed for seduction, corruption of bloodline, and treason against the throne.”
My heart stops for a fraction of a second, the sitting room tilts around me but I do not show it.
Execution?
“Or,” Eldric’s voice drifts through my thoughts, “You will be forced to forfeit your position as ruler of Bleeding Rose.”
For a terrifying second, there is nothing but silence. Absolute silence. Even Kenna looks startled, but Lady Ravena remains perfectly still. Unmoved by what has just been said.
I feel something inside my chest split open.
That would only happen over my dead body!
“You are asking me,” I say slowly, “to choose between my throne and my mate?”
“You have three days,” Eldric replies.
This Fucking piece of shit!
The audacity of it.
I step closer to him in three swift motions. The elders instinctively step back, “My answer is simple,” I say quietly. “I would rather die than hand her over to vultures like you.”
My wolf surges forward fully now, eyes blazing with pure fury, filling the entire sitting room. “And I will not forfeit my throne.” The chandeliers tremble slightly from the force of my voice.
“If you so much as step foot near her—”
My claws extend.
“I will kill you all in the most painful way there is.”
They all flinch at the tone of my voice, fear flashing openly across their faces now. Eldric tightens his grip on his cane.
“Leave,” I growl. “Get the hell out of my house before I forget you were once useful to me.”
Lady Ravena stands abruptly.
“Varkos—”
“Do not test me.”
The elders gather themselves quickly, running towards the direction of the door in hurried steps. But before they leave—
“You have three days to decide, Alpha,” Eldric speaks one final time, his eyes meet mine without blinking. “On the fourth, if you have not chosen wisely…”
His voice drops.
“…We will come for war.”