Chapter 259 259
Damien POV
Clad in armour, I stood on the decking downstairs, a massive map spread out before me the full borders of the Darkvale lands. Vast didn’t even begin to cover it. The sheer size of what we protected sat heavy in my chest.
Everyone was on edge, scrambling for anything useful physical maps, online satellite images, any scrap of information that could help us piece together a war council on the fly. My office was built for this kind of thing, reinforced and ready. This lake house wasn’t. It had been designed as a refuge, a sanctuary away from bloodshed and command. And yet here we were, dragging war straight into its heart.
Aurélie leaned over the map, guiding me through her territory. Her finger traced the borders with precision, tapping at weak points areas with just enough coverage to tempt intruders. Guards were already on patrol, her mind-link stretched taut as she stayed in constant communication with her pack. She let out a low groan as she severed yet another mid-link conversation.
“Florence says Maurice is on his way down,” her voice slipped into my mind, even as she continued speaking aloud to Fabrice and Lucas about defensive strategies. “And he’s angry.”
“Good,” I shot back through the mate link. “Maybe it’ll finally sink in what she’s done.”
There was a pause brief, but weighted.
“I mean… he’s angry with you,” she clarified, not unkindly.
“You bastard”
That was all the warning I got.
Maurice grabbed my shoulder and spun me around with brutal force, his fist slamming into my left eye. The blow caught me completely off guard. Pain exploded through my skull, my eye socket instantly stinging, already swelling from the impact.
“Maurice watch it,” I growled, forcing my voice steady despite the sharp throb radiating through my face.
“She can’t heal,” he snarled. “She’s still bleeding.” He seized the armour at my neck, yanking me forward until we were nose to nose. Every instinct screamed at me to hit him back, to put him down but I didn’t. He was hurting. And me retaliating wouldn’t fix a damn thing.
“Then she should have thought about her actions,” I snapped, shoving him away from me. I didn’t have time for this. Not for a spoiled teenager with no understanding of our world, someone selfish enough to think only of herself of her guilt.
Did she think I didn’t carry my own?
Did she imagine I didn’t lie awake questioning my soul, wondering what would happen when the time came to stand before the Moon Goddess? Whether she would deem me worthy of her afterlife… or condemn me for the choices I’d made, for the way I had once treated my own mate?
Of course I had guilt. I lived with it every day. The difference was that I was willing to do what had to be done to protect my family and my pack even if it damned my eternal soul.
Two men were dead because of her. Two. Children who would never see their fathers again. Mates who had their bonds violently severed, far too soon all because she couldn’t stomach a guilty, dangerous man meeting the fate he deserved.
“I’m taking her back to my pack after this,” Maurice said tightly. “I should’ve listened to my gut from the start.”
“I hate to tell you, mate,” I replied coldly, “but she can’t feel the mate bond. Or if she can, she’s twisted enough to fight it. I wouldn’t waste my time on her.”
The impact came again another punch to my eye. This time the skin split. I smelled blood immediately. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe they were perfectly suited both of them unable to handle the truth.
“Well, not all of us can shun our mates so easily,” Maurice growled.
“Maurice!” Aurélie snapped sharply as my wolf surged forward, roaring at his words.
“Keep going,” I warned, my voice dropping to something lethal. “I’m more than happy to remind you why I am the Alpha King.”
I’d had enough. He’d crossed the line.
He was angry furious but his rage was aimed in the wrong direction. I never meant for her to get hurt. But this wasn’t helping. We were running out of time.
“Like I keep saying,” he smirked, meeting my gaze, “you’re no king of mine.”
Yet even as he said it, I saw it the flicker in his eyes, the anger beginning to ebb. He needed this. Needed to throw a few punches, to bleed out some of the fury choking him from the inside.
And for now… I let him.