Chapter 8 The Alpha's Demand
Chapter 8:
Dante's POV
The private office felt smaller than I remembered, or maybe Sera just filled more space now. She paced like a caged predator, Asher curled in a chair watching her with those unsettling silver eyes. My son. The word still felt unreal.
"You should have told me." I shut the door, engaged the privacy wards. "Five years, Sera. Five years I had a son and didn't know."
She stopped pacing, turned those cold eyes on me. "You rejected me. Sent me to die. Why would I tell you anything?"
"Because he's mine!" The words exploded out. "My heir, my blood-"
"Yourmistake." Her voice could freeze fire. "You made your choice at that ceremony. You don't get to claim him now because it's convenient."
Asher's head swiveled between us like watching a tennis match. Smart kid, stayed quiet but absorbed everything.
"Convenient?" I moved closer, struggling to keep my voice level. "That's what you think this is? I just found out I have a son who's more powerful than any Alpha alive, who's being hunted by the High Council, who looks exactly like me and you think I see him as convenient?"
"I think you see him as leverage." She positioned herself between me and Asher. Always protecting. "Another piece on your political chess board."
"That's not fair."
"Fair?" She laughed, sharp and bitter. "You want to talk about fair? Let me use my Alpha Command on you, see how fair that feels."
I tried anyway. Couldn't help myself. Let the Command flow into my voice, that compulsion that made wolves obey. "Tell me why you kept him from me."
The Command hit her and... bounced. Like throwing a pebble at a mountain. She didn't even flinch.
"Still trying that?" She moved faster than I could track, suddenly inches away, hand around my throat. Not choking, just holding. Her strength was absolute, I couldn't break the grip. "I told you, Dante. That doesn't work on me anymore."
"Mama, you're scaring him." Asher's voice, small but clear.
She released me immediately, stepped back. "I'm not...I'm just showing him-"
"You're being mean." Asher climbed down from the chair, walked to stand between us. So small, so fragile-looking. "Uncle Marcus says when adults are mean to each other, it's because they're hurt inside."
"Uncle Marcus talks too much," Sera muttered.
"Is that true?" Asher looked up at me with those storm-gray eyes, my eyes. "Are you hurt inside?"
The question gutted me. This child, this stranger who was my son, seeing through all the posturing and pride straight to the wound.
"Yeah, kid." I crouched to his level. "I'm pretty hurt inside."
"Because you miss Mama?"
"Asher-" Sera warned.
"Because I threw away something precious," I said quietly, keeping eye contact with my son. "And I've regretted it every day since."
"Then why did you do it?"
Why did I? Because I was arrogant. Because I believed lies. Because I chose pride over truth and power over love.
"I was stupid," I told him honestly. "Sometimes adults make really, really stupid choices. And then they have to live with the consequences."
Asher studied me with unnerving intensity. "Do you still love her?"
The question should have been impossible to answer. Should have required political maneuvering and careful deflection.
Instead, I looked at Sera over our son's head. At the woman who'd been weak and afraid, now powerful and terrifying. At the mate I'd rejected who'd become a Queen.
"Yes," I said simply. "I never stopped."
Sera's expression cracked for just a moment...surprise, pain, something that might have been longing. Then the walls slammed back up.
"That doesn't change anything," she said coldly.
"Doesn't it?" I stood slowly. "We just fought side by side. Our powers combined to save Asher from that spell. The mate bond recognized what we were too stubborn to admit. We're stronger together."
"The bond is damaged-"
"But not dead." I took a risk, stepped closer. She didn't retreat. "You felt it too. When we touched, when our powers merged. It's still there, Sera. Hurt, yes. Broken, maybe. But not gone."
"It should be gone." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I wanted it gone. Tried to sever it, tried to bury it, tried everything to kill what you destroyed."
"I know." I'd tried the same. The bond with Lydia had never felt right because it wasn't real, wasn't true. This-this pull toward Sera despite everything was the real bond trying to survive. "I'm not asking for forgiveness. I'm not asking you to forget. I'm just asking for a chance to prove I've changed."
"Why should I believe you've changed?"
"Because my territory is dying without you." The admission hurt, but I forced it out. "The land itself knows I rejected my true Luna. The pack is fracturing. Everything I built is crumbling. And I finally understand, it's not about power or politics or pride. It's about you. It was always about you."
She stared at me for a long moment. "Pretty words."
"True words." I spread my hands, showing vulnerability I'd never revealed to anyone. "I don't expect you to trust them. But let me prove it through actions. Let me help protect Asher. Let me stand between him and the High Council. Let me be the father I should have been from the start."
"He doesn't know you."
"Then let me fix that." I looked at Asher. "If you'll let me. If you want me to."
Asher's little face scrunched up in thought. "Will you teach me to fight like you do? With the fast moves and the strong hits?"
"Asher!" Sera's voice sharp with surprise.
"Uncle Marcus teaches me strategy," Asher explained seriously. "Uncle Rhett teaches me strength. Mama teaches me control. But nobody teaches me Alpha-style combat."
"Because you're five," Sera said.
"I'm a target," Asher corrected with disturbing awareness. "People want to take me. I need to learn to fight them."
He wasn't wrong. I'd seen his power in the hall...raw, immense, barely controlled. With training, he could be unstoppable. Without it, he'd hurt himself or others.
"I'll teach you," I said. "If your mother agrees."
All eyes turned to Sera. She looked trapped, cornered by logic and her son's hope and the reality that we needed to work together.
"Trial basis," she finally said. "You train him, you follow my rules. First sign that you're using him for political gain or trying to turn him against me..."
"I would never-"
"First sign," she continued coldly, "and you never see him again. Clear?"
"Crystal."
"Good." She moved to the door. "We start tomorrow. Early. And Dante?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't mistake my pragmatism for forgiveness. You're useful right now. The moment you stop being useful, you're nothing to me again."
She left, Asher's hand in hers. The door closed with brutal finality.
I stood alone in my office, the ghost of her grip still tight around my throat, and wondered how the hell I was supposed to prove myself to someone who'd perfected the art of not caring.
A knock interrupted my spiral. "Come in."
Lydia entered, her face pale, eyes red from crying. "We need to talk."
"Not now." I didn't have energy for her drama.
"Yes now." She closed the door. "That woman...Sera....she's going to destroy everything we built."
"We didn't build anything, Lydia." The words came out harsher than intended. "Our bond is fake. You know it. I know it. Everyone knows it."
"It doesn't have to be fake." She approached, reached for me. "We can make it real. Work at it, strengthen it-"
I stepped back. "It's never going to be real. It was constructed by the High Council to destabilize my pack. You were planted here to weaken me."
"That's not....I didn't-" But her face betrayed her. Guilt written in every line.
"How long have you known?" I asked quietly. "That you were their tool?"
"Since the beginning." The admission came out broken. "They approached me after your mate bond with Sera snapped into place. Said she was dangerous, that her bloodline was corrupt, that she'd destroy the pack. They offered me power, status, everything I'd ever wanted. All I had to do was convince you she was unfaithful and accept their false bond magic."
My hands clenched into fists. "You helped them destroy an innocent woman."
"She wasn't innocent!" Lydia's voice rose. "She was weak, pathetic, unworthy of an Alpha like you. I did you a favor-"
"You destroyed my mate. My true Luna. The mother of my child." Each word came out controlled, but fury burned beneath. "You helped send her to what should have been her death. And you call that a favor?"
"I loved you!" Tears streamed down her face. "I've always loved you, since we were children. When the bond with Sera formed, I was devastated. The High Council gave me a chance to have what should have been mine-"
"It was never yours." I moved to the door, opened it. "Pack your things. You have until sunrise to leave Crimson Fang territory."
"You can't exile me-"
"I can and I am." I let Alpha Command fill my voice. "You conspired with the High Council against your own pack. You tried to murder the Twilight Sovereign's heir. You're lucky I'm letting you leave alive."
"Dante, please-"
"Sunrise, Lydia. Don't make me have you dragged out."
She fled, sobbing. I felt nothing. No regret, no sympathy. Just cold clarity.