Chapter 93 93
Damien POV
Destined to me by the Moon Goddess and I ruined it before I ever truly had her.
I neglected her for the first two years, consumed by my own ambition, obsessed with becoming the strongest Alpha King there had ever been. Power first. Legacy first. Everything else including her came second.
My grandfather founded the alliance. Years later, my father expanded it. Then it passed to me. Decades of blood, loyalty, and strategy poured into building the Bloodnight alliance.
And then fuck.
She needed only four years.
Four years to build her own alliance. Four years to begin dismantling mine piece by piece.
She never even had to show her face. Never visited packs. Never made demands in person. She applied pressure from the shadows, hidden from me hidden with our children.
And yet she left such an impact that packs were willing to abandon a long-established alliance and stand against me.
Just how powerful was Aurélie?
What path lay ahead of her?
And that that was why Geneviève wanted her dead. Why she wanted her erased. Did she see it back then? Did she know the threat Aurélie would become?
She wanted her gone.
She wanted my child dead.
She poisoned my mind against my own wife fed me lies about Fabrice, claimed Aurélie was pregnant with his child, insisted they were lovers. She made me look unhinged, vengeful, capable of anything capable of destroying the Darkvale pack.
Rage coils tight in my chest, burning hotter by the second. Rage at myself. Rage for Aurélie.
I didn’t protect her then.
But I will protect what is mine now.
My feet move fast, driven by the need to destroy her driven by the shame of ever wanting her, of ever believing she was Luna material. Disgust claws through me, and I want to rip the skin from my body where she once touched me.
I reach the holding cells and find only one guard stationed there.
The young one. Inexperienced.
“Lucas,” I roar through the pack link, fury tearing free, “there’s only one fucking guard watching the cells.”
I cut the link before he can respond.
“What’s going on?” I demand as I storm toward the guard. “Why are you alone?”
“Alpha it’s just a changeover,” he stammers, shaking beneath the weight of my aura. “That’s all.”
“Open the cell door.”
My wolf snaps his teeth inside my skull, restless and violent. I was explicit two guards minimum. Preferably more. The guard hesitates, glancing behind him as if waiting for backup.
“NOW!”
He unlocks the door.
I enter the cell without hesitation, not caring whether she’s awake or not.
“Wake up!”
I kick the bed hard. She jolts awake with a startled gasp.
“Damien?” she breathes.
“Did you do it?” I snarl, stalking closer. “Did you attack Aurélie’s pack? Did you kill her parents?”
My hands itch to close around her throat, to squeeze until she can’t breathe but I need the truth first.
“Did you do it?” I roar, grabbing the chair and hurling it at her.
She ducks as it smashes into the wall, splintering apart. She straightens slowly, a sneer curling her lips the devil beneath the mask finally surfacing.
“I only helped you reach your potential,” she purrs. “To become the monster everyone knows lives inside you. You just have to let him out.”
“You want a monster, Geneviève?” I growl. “I’ll show you a monster.”
My rage is unlike anything I’ve ever known white-hot, consuming, focused entirely on the woman before me. I don’t need a judge or a jury.
I will kill her with my own hands.
I let the monster rise.
My frame expands, shoulders broadening, spine straightening as I tower over her, dominance rolling off me in crushing waves. I reach for her
Gunshots explode behind me.
Three shots.
It takes a moment to register the impact burning pain tearing into my back. I spin around to see the young guard standing there, gun raised, hands shaking.
The bastard shot me.
And I feel it instantly the poison. Wolfsbane flooding my bloodstream, weakening me fast.
My legs give out. I hit the ground hard, my mind screaming at my body to rise, to fight.
Geneviève steps over me, ripping the gun from the guard’s hands.
“Goodbye, Damien,” she says calmly, lifting the weapon and aiming it at my head.
Heavy footsteps thunder toward the cells.
She snarls, then turns and runs, disappearing from view.
“Lucas… Lucas…” I try to force the mind-link open, but I’m too weak.
My vision blurs.
My last thoughts are of my children the ones I never got the chance to know. Aurélie’s face fills my mind, beautiful and fierce, and regret crashes down on me so hard it steals what little breath I have left.
Moon Goddess… if this is my time, then so be it.
Watch over Dominique and Delphine.
Show Aurélie the kindness and love I failed to give her.
Keep them strong.
And maybe one day I’ll see them again.