Chapter 21 Chapter 21

Chapter 21 Chapter 21
Tristan

Bianca's voice rose again, having caught my scent. 
"Tristan? Tristan, I know you're there! You can't do this to me! We had an agreement!"
"We never had any agreement," I muttered, more to myself than to Derek or Lucas. "Stay here," I instructed them both. "I'll handle this alone." Lucas frowned. 
"Alpha, I don't think-"
"That's an order, Lucas," I cut him off. "I need to make some things very clear to her, and I don't need an audience for it."

I strode down the corridor toward Bianca's voice, my footsteps echoing on the concrete floor. The holding cells were rarely used, mostly for newly turned werewolves during their first few shifts, when they couldn't control their wolves yet. They were secure but humane, with proper beds and facilities. Not that Bianca would appreciate such considerations.

She was waiting for me, pressed against the bars of her cell, her face flushed with anger and her usually perfect blonde hair in disarray. Her grey eyes narrowed as I approached.
"Finally," she spat. "Come to apologise for this ridiculous misunderstanding?" I stopped a few feet from the bars, keeping my expression neutral. 
"There's no misunderstanding, Bianca."
"Like hell there isn't!" She gripped the bars tighter, her knuckles turning white. "You can't seriously be choosing that... that human over me. I'm a pure-blooded werewolf from one of the oldest families in Sovereign Claw territory. I'm beautiful, powerful, everyone knows we're meant to be together."
"Everyone but me," I replied coldly. "And the Moon Goddess, apparently." Bianca's face contorted with rage. "Don't give me that fated mate bullshit. She's human. Humans can't be fated mates to werewolves. It's impossible!"
"Evidently not."
"She's a weak human from a backward pack," Bianca hissed. "That little bitch wouldn’t even be worthy of the Luna title even if she was a werewolf." I felt my control slipping, anger rising hot and fast at her words. 
"Watch your tongue when you speak of her." Bianca laughed, the sound high and brittle. 
"Oh my god, you actually believe it. You think she's your mate." She shook her head in disbelief. "What would your father say if he could see you now? The great Alpha King Tristan Norththorn, brought low by a human whore." My vision flashed red, rage surging through me like wildfire. Before I could stop myself, I had reached through the bars, my hand closing around Bianca's throat. She gasped, her eyes widening in shock as I pulled her face close to the bars.
"I said," I growled, my voice barely human, "watch your fucking tongue." 

I unleashed my Alpha aura, letting it roll over her in crushing waves. Bianca whimpered, the sound choked by my grip on her throat. Her wolf recognised the dominance display, even if her human side was too proud to submit.
"Let me make something perfectly clear," I continued, my voice deadly quiet. "Whatever you thought existed between us is over. It was never real to begin with. You were convenient, nothing more." Hurt flashed across her features, quickly masked by renewed anger. 
"You bastard," she wheezed against my grip.
"You've been feeding information to my brother," I continued. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice? Did you think I trusted you?" Shock replaced anger in her eyes. So she hadn't known that I was aware of her betrayal. Good.
"Darius used you, Bianca. He knew I would never take you as my mate. He knew it was impossible. But he let you believe you had a chance because it served his purposes. And you fell for it." I released her throat, and she stumbled back, coughing. 
"Liar," she spat, but there was uncertainty in her voice now.
"Am I?" I raised an eyebrow. "Think about it. If he really believed you could be my mate, why would he risk losing his spy in my bed by encouraging you to push for a mating ceremony? He knew it would never happen. He was counting on it."

Confusion flickered across her face, followed by the dawning realisation that I might be telling the truth. Then her features hardened again, pride overtaking reason.
"It doesn't matter," she said, lifting her chin. "You've made a fatal mistake, choosing her. A human can't be Luna of Sovereign Claw. The pack won't accept it. The Council won’t accept it. They'll see you as weak, compromised. And Darius will use that to take what's rightfully his."
"The pack will accept whatever I decide," I said coldly. "Including my choice of mate. And the Council will come around."
"She'll die bearing your child," Bianca said, a cruel smile twisting her lips. "Human women can't survive werewolf births. Everyone knows that. You'll lose your precious mate and your heir in one go. And then where will you be?" The words struck a nerve, voicing my own deepest fear. I forced my expression to remain impassive, refusing to give her the satisfaction of seeing her barb hit home.

"Tomorrow," I said, changing the subject, "I will formally present Isla to the pack as my mate and future Luna. You will be there, Bianca. You will bow to her, show her the respect her position demands, or you will remain in this cell indefinitely." Bianca's eyes widened with genuine shock. 
"You can't be serious. You expect me to bow to a human?"
"I expect you to bow to your Alpha's mate," I corrected her. "Her species is irrelevant."
"I won't do it," Bianca said, her voice shaking with anger. "I'd rather die."
"That can be arranged," I said softly, letting the threat hang in the air between us. For the first time, real fear flashed across Bianca's face. Good. She needed to understand that my patience had limits, and she had pushed well past them.
"The human won't last a week in this pack," she said, recovering her composure. "If the pregnancy doesn't kill her, something else will. There are many who will see her as an abomination, a threat to our way of life." Her grey eyes gleamed with malice. "I could kill her in her sleep, you know. It would be so easy. One slash of my claws across that pretty throat of hers, and all your problems would be solved." The image she painted sent a surge of protective rage through me, so intense it momentarily blinded me. I reached through the bars again, faster than she could react, and seized her by the throat once more. This time, I lifted her off her feet, her toes barely scraping the ground as she clawed at my arm, panic in her eyes.
"Listen carefully," I said, my voice a deadly whisper. "If you so much as think about harming her again, I will end you. Slowly. Painfully. In ways that will make you beg for death long before I grant it." I tightened my grip slightly, just enough to make her gasp for air. "Do you understand me?" Bianca nodded frantically, her face turning an alarming shade of red. I released her, and she collapsed to the floor, coughing and gasping.
"Tomorrow," I repeated, "you will bow to Isla, or you will never leave this cell. The choice is yours."

I turned to leave, disgusted with her, with myself, with the whole situation. I had allowed Bianca into my life, into my bed, knowing she was ambitious and untrustworthy. I had used her as much as she had used me, a convenient distraction from the loneliness of my position, the pressure of the curse. And now I was paying the price for that weakness.
"This isn't over, Tristan," Bianca called after me, her voice raw but defiant. "You'll regret choosing her over me. I swear it." I paused, looking back over my shoulder. 
"No, Bianca. It is over. It was over before it began." I walked away, leaving her screaming threats and obscenities after me. Her voice echoed down the corridor, following me like a shadow, a reminder of the chaos that Isla's arrival had unleashed in my carefully ordered world.

Lucas and Derek were waiting where I'd left them, both pretending they hadn't heard every word of my conversation with Bianca. I nodded to Derek.
"Keep her contained until tomorrow's presentation. No visitors, no messages in or out."
"Yes, Alpha," Derek replied, his expression carefully neutral.
"And increase the security around the penthouse," I added. "No one enters without my explicit permission. No one." Lucas raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing until we were back in the elevator, ascending toward the upper floors.
"You don't really think she'd try something, do you?" he asked quietly. I stared at the illuminated floor numbers, watching them climb. 
"I think Bianca is proud, angry, and feels she has nothing to lose. That makes her dangerous. If not her, then my brother will not be happy that I am one step closer to stopping his chances of getting the pack. He will be more dangerous."
"To the human, yes. I mean to Isla," Lucas corrected himself at my sharp look.
"To all of us," I said grimly. "My brother is ruthless and Bianca has connections throughout the pack, and not all of them share my view on humans. Some will see Isla as a threat, a weakness."
"Like me," Lucas said bluntly. I turned to face him fully. 
"Is that going to be a problem?" Lucas met my gaze steadily. "I serve the Alpha,and I will continue to do so with honour. Regardless of if I agree with him or not" It wasn't the ringing endorsement I might have hoped for, but it was honest. And honesty was what I needed from my commander, especially now.
"Good," I said simply. 

The elevator reached the penthouse level; the doors sliding open silently. I stepped out, then paused, turning back to Lucas.
"She's not what either of us expected," I said quietly. "But she is my mate. That means something, Lucas. It has to."
A flicker of something like sympathy crossed his usually stoic features. "I hope for your sake it does, Alpha. And for hers."