Chapter 68 Kaden's POV
"The answer is still no."
I stood at the head of the council table, facing six elders who'd been arguing with me for the past three hours. My patience was gone, my control was fraying and they just kept pushing.
"Kaden, be reasonable." Elder Marcus said for what felt like the hundredth time.
"She nearly killed pack members, she is dangerous."
"She lost control once it won't happen again."
"How can you possibly guarantee that?"
"Because I will help her learn control, I will train her myself if necessary."
Elder Rowan leaned forward. "And what happens while you are training her? What if she loses control again and this time someone dies? Will you take responsibility for that death?"
"Yes. If it comes to that, yes. I will take full responsibility."
"That is not good enough," Elder Vera said quietly. "The pack is terrified that half the servants won't go near her quarters. People are talking about leaving if she stays."
"Then let them leave anyone too weak to handle a little fear that doesn't belong in this pack anyway."
"A little fear?" Marcus's voice rose.
"Kaden, she used Luna aura without being Luna! She commanded power that shouldn't exist! That's not a little fear, that's rational concern about an abomination in our midst!"
"Don't call her that."
"What else would you call it? An omega wielding Luna power? It is unnatural."
I felt my hands clench into fists on the table. "She is my mate. The heavens chose her for me that makes her natural and right, regardless of her rank."
The elders exchanged glances then Marcus spoke, his voice dropping to something colder.
"Your mate. Yes. Let us talk about that." He pulled out a file from the stack in front of him.
"Let us talk about what happened the last time an Alpha of this pack took an omega as their mate."
Ice flooded my veins. "Don't."
"Your father made the same choice you are making now. Choose an omega over the good of the pack. Do you remember how that turned out?"
"I said don't."
"He married her despite everyone's objections. Claimed she was his fated mate. Promised she would be a good Luna." Marcus opened the file. "And within five years, everything fell apart."
"That was different-"
"Was it? Your mother was unstable. Emotionally she couldn't handle the pressure of being Luna. And your father, instead of putting the pack first, became obsessed with protecting her. With keeping her happy. By sacrificing everything for one woman."
"Stop talking."
"He neglected pack business made poor decisions, alienated allies and when she died-"
"I'm warning you-"
"He went insane with grief, completely insane. Locked himself in his quarters for months. Refusing to see anyone, including his own children, the pack nearly collapsed. We had to beg him to resume his duties."
Elder Vera spoke up, her voice gentler but no less cutting. "And your sister, your twin, disappeared during that time. Vanished without a trace while your father was too consumed with grief to notice."
The words hit like physical blows. Memories I had spent years trying to bury came flooding back.
My mother's funeral, my father's empty eyes. Coming home from school to find Kira's room empty waiting for her searching for her never finding her.
"Your father's obsession with an omega mate destroyed your family.” Marcus continued.
"Destroyed him; he was never the same after your mother died. And you….you became what you became because of it."
"What have I became?"
"Cold, distant, heartless you've slept with dozens of women and discarded every single one.”
“You refuse to form emotional attachments. You built walls so high that no one could reach you." Marcus's eyes were hard.
"And we accepted that we even encouraged it. Because we thought you would have learned from your father's mistakes. That you would never let yourself become weak over a woman."
"Loving someone isn't a weakness."
"It is when it blinds you to your responsibilities. When it makes you sacrifice the pack for one person."
He leaned forward. "You are making the same mistake your father made. Choosing an omega mate over the good of the pack. And it is going to end the same way with disaster."
"Elara is nothing like my mother-”
"She is exactly like your mother! Unstable! Dangerous! Unable to control herself!" Marcus slammed his hand on the table.
"Your mother's weakness destroyed your father, destroyed your family, destroyed any chance you had of a normal childhood. And now you want to repeat that mistake with another omega who's already proven she can't control her power?"
"My mother wasn't weak.” I said, my voice dangerously low. "She was kind and gentle and she loved us."
"She was an omega who couldn't handle being Luna. Just like this girl can't handle the power she's somehow wielding and your father's love for her killed him.”
“He never recovered from her death. He became a shell of who he was. And that's what will happen to you if you don't exile this girl now."
"She is carrying my child."
"A child that might be just as unstable as its mother! A child blessed by the heavens if we even believe that is true but cursed with an omega's blood!"
Marcus stood. "Kaden, I knew your father. I watched him deteriorate and watched him lose everything because he couldn't let go of an unsuitable mate don't make his mistakes."
"You didn't know my mother you didn't know what she went through-"
"I know she was weak, I know she couldn't handle the pressure. I know she became increasingly unstable until the day she died."
His voice was brutal now, cutting. "I know that if your father had chosen strength over sentiment, chosen a proper Luna over an omega mate, your sister might still be here.”
“Your family might still be whole. And you might not have grown into the cold, broken man you are today."
Something inside me snapped.
"All because your mother was an omega," Marcus continued. "All because she ruined-"
I shifted.
Not fully just enough just my hand transforming into claws as I lunged across the table.
Marcus barely had time to react before I had him by the throat, my claws pressing into his skin not hard enough to break skin yet.
But close.