Chapter 188 188
Damien POV
I pull my red sports car up in front of the Alpha house and immediately know something is wrong.
Men who should be stationed at the gate are standing outside the house instead.
“The gate is unmanned. Get the fuck back there. Now,” I snarl through the mind-link, my command sharp and unforgiving. I feel their instant submission, necks bowed to my fury. My irritation isn’t reserved for them alone Lucas will answer for this lapse too. This happened on his watch.
I stride into the house, heading straight for my office, and what I find nearly forces my wolf to the surface.
Lucas stands rigid behind my desk, jaw clenched, barely holding his wolf at bay.
And sitting in my chair—my chair is my father.
His boots are propped up on the desk like he still owns the place.
A low, dangerous snarl rolls out of my chest, teeth bared, announcing my presence long before I speak. Not that he wouldn’t have known already my car arriving would have been enough. But he always enjoyed getting inside your head, pushing just far enough to provoke a reaction.
“Ah, my boy,” he says smoothly, smiling. The expression never reaches his eyes. It’s hollow. Performative. He doesn’t mean a word of it. “So glad you could finally join us.”
“What are you doing here?” I grind out, clamping down hard on the growl clawing its way up my throat.
“I’m sorry, Alpha,” Lucas cuts in through the mind-link, tension heavy in his voice. “He was… forceful. The men stayed close. They refused to return to the gate until you came back.”
“That’s quite alright, Lucas,” I reply evenly. “I know what he’s like. You’re free to leave, if you want.”
I won’t subject anyone to his presence unless absolutely necessary. That’s exactly the kind of Alpha King he was one who ruled through fear alone.
“I’ll stay,” Lucas answers without hesitation. He doesn’t trust him any more than I do.
My father clasps his hands together and presses them beneath his chin, leaning forward in a mockery of authority. A pathetic attempt at dominance.
“Can’t a father check in on his son once in a while?”
Tough shit.
I’m the Alpha King now.
I feel someone pushing against my mind-link persistent, urgent but this is the worst possible moment. I already have more than enough to deal with. When the pressure doesn’t stop and I realize they’re reaching me, not Lucas I snap back.
“What?” I growl through the link, my eyes never leaving my father.
“Alpha… Alpha Aurélie has arrived. I granted her access. She’s with the betas and the children.”
It’s the same pack member I’d just ordered back to the gate. He must have shifted and run, guilt driving him after abandoning his post.
Fuck.
The last thing I wanted was for her to come face to face with him. He is darkness incarnate everything that stands opposed to her light.
“What do we have here?” my father murmurs, interest sharpening as multiple car doors slam outside the Alpha house.
Aurélie enters like the Alpha she is purposeful, commanding, her presence filling the room as she searches for me and whatever made me leave without explanation.
What I curse internally is that she isn’t alone.
Dominique and Delphine follow her in.
Her eyes blaze a deep, furious green like the crown of a forest raging against the wind that dares disturb its peace as they lock onto my father. Fabrice and Florence step in behind her already moving as a unit, seamlessly performing their duties as a beta pair.
This—this is exactly why I need the mind-link with my mate. So I could have warned her. Told her to turn around. To leave.
My father’s gaze tracks Aurélie slowly, deliberately, from head to toe. She isn’t the same woman he watched me marry four years ago. When his eyes linger on her chest on the hint of cleavage still visible beneath her red dress a vicious growl tears from me.
She didn’t even change.
None of them did.
They came exactly as they were, as if they’d jumped straight into their cars the moment I left driving like reckless idiots just to get here this fast.
I glance out the window and spot her warriors speaking quietly with mine, all of them watching the house with sharp, focused attention. She only brought one vehicle of warriors the rest must still be at Saint Wolf.
Tension coils thick in the room.
Aurélie refuses to break her stare from the former Alpha King, meeting his dominance head-on. He’s the first to look away but only to assess the next Alpha King standing beside her.
Dominique can’t hold his gaze. I don’t blame him. He’s only four, and my father’s stare is dangerous even to seasoned warriors.
Smoothly, instinctively, Aurélie moves guiding both children behind Fabrice and Florence before stepping fully in front of them. The shift pulls my father’s attention away from Dominique and back to her.
“Is there a problem?” he asks with a smirk, one brow lifting.
“No,” Aurélie replies coolly. “No problem at all. They just don’t know you.”
Her eyes harden.
“And I’d like to keep it that way.”