Chapter 46 Chapter 46
DAMON’S POV
The moment Anna walked out of my room, the air inside it felt wrong. It felt too quiet and empty. My chest rose and fell, my breath uneven, and for reasons I couldn’t understand, something inside me twisted hard.
I didn’t like the feeling.
I didn’t even want to name it.
My hand shot out, grabbing the first thing in reach—a glass tray on the table—and I flung it across the room. It hit the wall with a sharp crack, the sound slicing through the silence as shards scattered everywhere. The noise didn’t calm me, it only lit the anger in me higher.
I overturned the table, and sent books flying. Tore the sheets off the bed and swept my arm violently over the shelves until every item crashed to the floor. My pulse was wild, my breath harsh. I didn’t stop. Not even when the room was already a mess.
I couldn’t stop.
Because something was wrong.
Something had shifted—and I didn’t know what.
My hands went to my hair, pulling hard. Elijah’s voice replayed in my head like a drumbeat.
“I’m going to save Anna from you.”
I froze.
That sentence… that damn sentence… had been buzzing in my skull since he said it. I had brushed it off that day. I had pretended it didn’t matter, and Elijah was just being dramatic.
But today…
Today he was going to make an announcement.
A big one.
A public one.
Right before her birthday.
Her twenty-first birthday.
My jaw tightened so hard it hurt. I felt the walls closing in, everything clicking into place with terrifying clarity.
Her birthday was the day her Tribid powers would fully wake, the powers she didn’t even know existed yet.
A slow, dangerous heat spread through my chest.
Everything I had planned, everything I had waited for, everything I had manipulated, every lie I fed her, every touch, every game… all of it was to get her alone and vulnerable when the time came. Once she turned twenty-one, I would take her power.
I deserved it. I had waited long enough.
But Elijah… Elijah was getting in the way.
He was ruining everything.
My breath grew heavier as realization clawed deeper into me.
Elijah wasn’t just making an announcement.
He was planning something.
He was going to reveal something.
Maybe he wanted to reveal the truth about Anna's identity. If he did that… If he exposed her identity, I would lose everything.
No, this wasn’t happening.
This ends tonight.
I grabbed my jacket, shoved open the door, and stormed down the hallway with a darkness inside me that felt almost alive. The guards standing at Elijah’s chamber straightened, sensing the storm coming as I approached them.
“Lord Damon,” the first guard said, stepping forward. “The king is—”
My fist slammed into his throat before he finished the sentence. He dropped instantly, choking on his own breath. The second rushed me, but I grabbed him by the face and slammed him into the wall so hard the stone cracked.
He struggled, shouting, but I smashed my knee into his stomach, winding him. Before he could fall, I seized him by the hair and dragged him toward the door.
Elijah needed to see this.
I kicked the chamber doors open.
Elijah looked up from his desk, calm, cold, and collected—as if he had been expecting me.
One raised brow.
He had no fear, concern, not even annoyance written across his face. The calmness irritated me more than anything Anna ever did.
I dragged the guard in, threw him on the floor, and stepped on his chest to keep him down.
Elijah didn’t move.
He watched me with those unfazed, detached eyes. Something about that look made my skin crawl.
“Damon,” he called out slowly, “you’re late.”
Late?
Late for what?
I didn’t respond. I grabbed the guard again, pulling him up by the collar. The man begged, begged Elijah with his eyes—but Elijah didn’t look at him.
He only looked at me, like he was studying me, like he was waiting to see what I would do.
Good.
I wanted him to see.
I bared my fangs and sank them into the guard’s neck. The man screamed, his nails digging into my arms, but I held him in place, drinking deeply. His blood rushed into me, strengthening me. His body shook violently in my hands. His heart raced, then slowed, then stopped.
I dropped the lifeless body on Elijah’s floor with a heavy thud.
Blood dripped down my chin as I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.
“This,” I began, my voice turning deep and dark, “is what happens to anyone who gets in my way. Stay away from Anna and don't try to help her because I'll still kill that bitch!”
Elijah leaned back slightly in his chair. He looked at his dead guard, then at me, then back at the dead guard again.
Then he simply shrugged.
A slow shrug, like the body didn’t matter, like nothing about this shocked him.
My jaw went tight.
“Elijah,” I growled. “Are you even listening?”
He didn’t move when I stepped closer, and he didn’t even look at me. He just said quietly, almost like he was speaking to himself, “Damon… I no longer care what happens to Anna.”
I froze.
For a second, I couldn’t breathe, and I couldn’t think, and I couldn’t even blink.
“What?”
Elijah finally lifted his eyes, and they looked wrong. He looked too calm, and too empty, as if something inside him had already died.
“I don’t care what happens to Anna, Damon.” he repeated.
The room tilted.
I couldn't believe this was Elijah talking.
Elijah, who once guarded Anna like she was his heartbeat, and Elijah, who would have attacked me without thinking if I moved near her. Was this the same Elijah who used to look at Anna as if she was light in his darkness.
And now he said he didn’t care about her?
I stepped closer, watching him carefully and waiting for a crack in his voice or a twitch in his jaw, anything that would tell me he was lying.
There was nothing.
He stood there like a man who had burned everything he felt and was staring at the ashes.
“What changed?” I demanded, and I tried to sound calm, but my voice came out hardened. “What did she do? What happened?”
Elijah didn’t answer.
He didn’t blink or frown. He didn't even show pain or anger. He just stared ahead, as if Anna was already gone from his world.
I let out a slow breath, trying to understand and trying to process it.
“You truly don’t care if she lives… or dies?” I asked again, still in shock.
Elijah’s jaw tightened for the first time, but his voice stayed flat. “I care about one thing now,” he said. “I only care about becoming the Alpha King. That’s all.”
I stared at him.
The man who once loved Anna more than himself… now only wanted the crown.
It almost felt unreal.
“I never cared about your throne,” I replied, a bitter chuckle slipping out, “I just wanted Anna. You can have your throne and stay out of my business. I'll take Anna's powers for myself and kill her when I'm done. If you attempt anything, I'll kill you like I've done your bodyguards.”
He didn’t react, and not even a flicker passed over his face. I searched him again, desperate to see a lie, a crack, or a spark, but there was nothing.
Elijah was actually done with her.
The realization slid into my chest like warm fire.
All the tension I’d been carrying melted, and all the fear of my plans collapsing disappeared, and all the anger I had at Elijah for interfering turned into something dark and satisfied.
If Elijah didn’t care—then nobody would stand in my way.
Anna was unprotected, unclaimed, and unwatched.
She was mine.
A slow smile pulled at my lips as the truth settled fully. Anna's birthday was coming, and her powers were coming, and now nothing—absolutely nothing—could stop me from taking what I wanted.
I turned away from Elijah and headed for the door, stepping over the guard’s body without a second thought.
My hand reached for the handle, and then I paused.
I glanced back.
Elijah still hadn’t moved, and he didn’t even look at me, and he stood there like a man who had given up everything and felt nothing.
A cold thrill rushed through me.
It was perfect.
I opened the door and stepped into the hallway, and light spilled across the floor, touching the blood on my boots.
Finally, everything was back in my hands.
I walked away from the room feeling lighter than I had in days, and one thought beat in my chest like a dark promise.
Now I could do whatever I wanted with Anna.
The hall was already filled when I arrived. Conversations died the moment I stepped in. Every face turned toward me. Some stiffened while a few even stepped back.
They should be afraid.
I was the hybrid. I was the one they feared so much and hoped never noticed them.
My gaze drifted through the crowd until I found her.
Anna.
She was standing close to the front, her hands clasped, and her eyes filled with love for me. She saw me and waved with a shy smile, the kind that made the people around her gossip even louder.
I forced a smile in return, smooth and polite, the kind she wanted to see. Then I walked straight to her, ignoring everyone bowing as I passed. When I reached her, I slid an arm around her waist and pulled her close to my side.
I could hear her heart skip a beat.
She blushed.
Of course she did. She thought she meant something to me...
If only she knew...
Everyone watched us like they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Some looked confused. Some jealous. Some afraid. But they didn’t matter. None of them mattered, because I was only using Anna to get what I wanted.
She leaned into me slightly. “They’re all staring at us, Damon,” she whispered with a nervous laugh. “They think we're together. I don’t know why—”
“I could fuck you right here and give them a show...” I teased quietly, my voice low, almost gentle. “I know how badly you want me, Anna. You shouldn't lie to yourself anymore!”
Her heart sped up.
I could hear and feel it. She thought it was because I liked her. She thought this meant something deeper, something sweet, something romantic. She was already falling in love with me faster than I planned.
Good!
She looked up at me with wide eyes, and for a moment I pretended to look back at her the same way.
But inside?
I felt nothing for her.
Anna smiled again, leaning closer as if she belonged at my side.
And I nodded, pretending she did.
I was pretending she was mine, guiding her closer like she belonged to me—while imagining how her blood would taste in my mouth when I finally bit into her and drained every drop… how her body would go still against me… how she would stop breathing while I watched.
I couldn’t wait...