Chapter 66 POWER OF LOVE?
RAGNAR’S POV
The corridor outside my quarters feels longer than it ever has but I know I have to go unless I risk him coming back.
Each step I take toward the council wing tightens something ugly in my chest.
A pressure inside me that has nothing to do with dominance or authority starts building because I know what exactly waits for me at the end of it.
My father.
He returned barely an hour ago from his tour of the outer territories and he didn’t even give himself time to remove his travel cloak before summoning me.
That alone tells me our conversion will be anything but civil.
The guards at the entrance of his wing straighten the moment they see me, with their fists striking their chests in salute.
Their respect is immediate and instinctive for them but I have no time to think about this now.
Their respect doesn’t soothe me at all.
I push the doors open.
The room smells faintly of rain and old parchment paper My father insists is better compared to the new ‘trash’ everyone now likes writing on.
My father stands near the wide table at the center with his hands braced against its surface and his head lowered as if in prayer. I wonder if he's praying for restraint.
He doesn’t look up when I enter.
“So,” he says, his voice low and tight. “It didn’t even take a full season of me gone.”
I close the doors behind me. “You summoned me.”
“Yiu want to play dumb or deny it?” He laughs sharply lifting his head at last.
His eyes, so much like mine are blazing and looking at me in anger. “Or that you could lie to my face?”
“I don’t lie,” I say evenly.
“No,” he snaps back. “You just disgrace yourself openly.”
The word hits harder than I expect.
“Careful,” I warn as Yurik surges with dominance rolling subtly into my tone. “You may be my father, but–”
“But I am still Beta to this pack,” he cuts in, finally turning fully toward me. “And I carried you Ragnar, I raised you and I've bled for you. So do not speak to me as though I am some council relic you can intimidate with your ‘presence’.”
Silence stretches between us as we both contemplate what next to say.
I straighten my spine. “Then speak plainly.”
His lips are thin. “You’re sleeping with an Omega.”
There it is.
No surprise or confusion from him.
Judgment.
“Yes, I am involved with Sebastian,” I say, refusing to soften the words.
His face twists. Not with shock but with fury barely contained. “An unranked, untrained, recessive Omega,” he continues, with his voice rising. “One with no political value, no strategic advantage, and definitely no place at your side!”
“He is my guard,” I snapped back.
“He is your weakness!” My father shouts back, slamming his palm against the table. “And the entire realm already smells it on you already.”
I feel my wolf bristle with hackles rising inside me. “You don’t know him.”
“I know exactly what he is,” my father says coldly. “And worse, I know what you are becoming because of him.”
I take a step forward. “Say it.”
“You hesitate,” he says. “You’ve gone soft and you're easily bendable.”
“That’s leadership,” I retort. “Not tyranny.”
“Don’t insult me with idealism, boy!” he snarls. “I ruled before you ever drew breath. Compassion is a luxury, Ragnar. One you cannot afford as Alpha of Alphas.”
I grit my teeth. “You didn’t summon me just to scold me Father.”
“No,” he admits quietly. “I summoned you because the other Alphas cornered you today.”
My muscles tense.
“They challenged your authority,” he continues. “Because they believe you are compromised. Because they believe you’re distracted and can be easily provoked.”
“And were they wrong?” I ask sharply.
He meets my gaze without flinching. “Yes.”
That surprises me.
Then he adds, “But they won’t stay wrong for long.”
The room feels smaller.
“I handled it,” I say. “There will be a challenge.”
“Yes,” he agrees with his head nodding. “One you never should have allowed.”
I laugh bitterly. “You taught me better than that. You taught me that refusing a challenge is weakness.”
“I taught you to pick your battles!” he snaps back. “Not invite bloodshed over a bedmate.”
Something hot and furious coils in my chest. “He is not just a bedmate.”
My father studies me for a long moment, something like grief flickering behind his anger.
“That,” he says softly, “is the problem, Ragnar.”
I exhale, slowly forcing control back into my voice. “What do you want from me?”
He straightens like how he did all my life when he was about to do something particularly cruel and official.
“You will end it.”
The words fall like a verdict.
“No.”
He doesn’t react immediately. Then, he nods once to himself, as if confirming something to himself.
“Then you will step down.”
The room goes deathly still.
I stare at him. “You think I’ll abdicate because of an Omega?”
“I think you’ll be removed,” he corrects quietly. “One way or another.”
My wolf surges violently in me. “Is that a threat?”
My father’s expression softens then, not with mercy, but with something painfully sad.
“No,” he says. “It’s the truth.”
He steps closer with his voice lowering. “Look around you, Ragnar. Truly look and find me one Alpha couple thriving in power together. One ruler bound by love who wasn’t eventually destroyed by it.”
I open my mouth–
–and close it again.
“Power is lonely,” he continues. “It has to be. Attachment creates leverage for you and love creates enemies that will use that leverage against you. An Omega at your side doesn’t make you noble, it makes you predictable.”
“You think I don’t know the risks?” I demand.
“I think,” he says carefully, “that you believe you’re an exception, the exception.”
I turn away with my fists clenched. “I won’t abandon him.”
“Then you will lose everything else,” my father replies. “Your title, your pack and your authority.”
I look back at him slowly. “You’d tear the realm apart over this?”
“No,” he says. “You will.”
The silence that follows is suffocating for me.
Finally, he adds the final blow, “Choose, Ragnar. Leadership or your affair.”