Chapter 64 IN TURN
ALISANDER'S POV
The pressure from her slides off of me like water off stone before disappearing.
Ava simply stares.
Shock flickers across her face quickly and ugly that she cannot hide at all.
“That’s impossible,” she snaps out, taking a step back in disbelief. “No Omega can resist a Beta command.”
I tilt my head, smiling faintly as I give her a taunting smile. “Then perhaps,” I say calmly, “you should reconsider who you’re actually speaking to.”
Her jaw tightens as anger replaces disbelief on her features.
She tries again.
This time she gathers everything from. The pack authority, years of service, Ragnar’s shadow, the laws etched into bone and blood coupled with the Alpha of Alphas authority.
Her aura flares violently as dominance floods the room in a crushing wave.
“KNEEL!”
The force hits me like a storm.
The walls around us groan faintly as Sebastian’s heart stutters painfully in my chest.
His breath hitches in our lungs as his nerves scream in our body.
I feel the strain–oh heavens, I feel it.
Because she is right about one thing.
Being a weak Omega sleeping with the Alpha of Alphas is guaranteed to get me killed or disposed of.
My true Alpha form is gone, my authority and power is bound and chained deep within my soul.
My memories are either missing or fractured and what remains of my power is a dying ember of what I once was.
But that's enough.
Because even an ember–
–is still fire.
I bare my teeth wide open and let it slip.
Just a fraction though but for ancient commands, it's enough to even control mad Alpha.
You want power Ava, I think coldly. Then I'll show you power.
I release my Alpha command.
“Kneel Ava.”
I don't shout or even speak to loudly.
It is a mere whisper she's guaranteed to hear with her superior hearing.
It explodes outward and it is absolute.
A pressure far heavier than hers and even rivaling that of Ragnar slams down on her, ancient and merciless as it leaves her spluttering for air.
It is absolute power layered with authority so old it doesn’t require me to shout.
It was forged with the experiences of battlefield soaked with blood and death fear more than any wolf in this time period could even dream of.
Ava gasps for air.
Her knees hit the floor with a sharp crack.
The sound comes from both her knee's cracking and the marble breaking.
She doesn’t just kneel, she folds and bends to the pressure.
Her spine bows with her head forced down as her body betrays her entirely without a shred of resistance.
Her palms are flattening against the floor as if compelled to submit by something far beyond her understanding.
The sound she makes is small and choked out with the lack of air in her lungs.
Her aura shatters.
Silence crashes down between us but this time she's the one fully affected by it
She's suffocating from it.
Sebastian stares at her through our shared eyes feeling stunned.
“Alisander… what did you do?”
He asks almost quietly.
I rein the command back in immediately, the command snapping back into me like a recoiling blade from her neck.
She gasps and falls to the floor in relief as she swallows in large gulps of air now that she can finally breathe.
The strain is instant and brutal on me as pain lances through my skull white-hot and my vision starts flickering at the edge.
A kind of backlash for me since I didn't let the command be fully carried out and I took it back in.
I grit my teeth and stay standing, willing my knees not to give out.
Ava remains on the floor, breathing hard with her shoulders trembling.
Sweat is beading along her temples with her expression pale and shaken like she's afraid.
She doesn’t look angry at me anymore.
She looks terrified.
I crouch down just enough to bring myself into her line of sight.
“Now,” I say softly, and dangerously calm, “let’s correct a few misunderstandings between us shall we?”
Her throat works as she swallows but she doesn’t speak.
“I am not just ‘borrowing power’,” I continue. “I am restraining it. And what you felt just now?” I smile faintly at her. “That was mercy from me.”
Her fingers curl against the stone floor.
I straighten as I ignore the sharp protest from Sebastian’s body from the strain.
“I could take this further,” I admit. “I could make an example of you and strip you off of your authority. I could force you to swear obedience repeatedly until your voice cracks around my name.”
Her breath shudders with fear.
“But I won’t.”
Sebastian pushes forward then, not physically but emotionally. A pulse of fear and of him telling me to stop talking to the Beta like that.
‘Please,’ he whispers inside me. ‘Don’t make this worse.’
I pause.
And exhale slowly.
Then I step back.
“Because,” I say coolly, “we are not enemies… yet.”
Ava lifts her head slightly, her eyes burning with a mix of rage and disbelief.
I continue, “You fear I’ll ruin Ragnar. You fear I’ll weaken the pack. So let’s address that ‘fear’ of yours properly.”
She says nothing to my statements.
“There is a challenge coming,” I say. “You know this already.”
Her jaw tightens. “Yes.”
“I will win it.”
Her eyes flick up sharply.
“Not survive,” I clarify. “Or scrape by. I will win.”
A short disbelieving laugh escapes her. “You?” She scoffs weakly. “An Omega?”
I step closer.
“If I fail,” I say calmly, “you are free to do whatever you wish with me. I won’t resist and I won't run or hide behind Ragnar.”
Her eyes narrow at me.
“But if I win,” I continue, “you will publicly endorse my relationship with Ragnar. You will stand before the pack and the visiting Alphas and stake your honor as Beta on it.”
She looks at me as I continue. “You will silence dissent from anyone in the pack and you will make it clear that I am not a weakness to him.”
Her breath hitches.
“And you will never, ever threaten Sebastian again.” My voice goes low towards the end to signal my threat.
The room is silent.
Slowly, Ava pushes herself from the ground to her feet.
Her movements are stiff as her pride is clearly wounded.
She straightens and dusts imaginary dirt from her clothes before lifting her chin in mockery towards me.
“You aim too high,” she sneers. “You think winning one challenge will rewrite centuries of hierarchy for you?”
I meet her glare evenly. “I think you’re afraid of what happens to you if I succeed and remain with Ragnar.”
Her lips curl. “I’ve never buried an Omega before,” she says coldly. “I’d be curious to see what it feels and looks like.”
Sebastian recoils inside me.
‘I don’t.’ Sebastian murmurs in fear.
“Then watch closely,” I say quietly. “You might learn something before you dig that grave for yourself.”