Chapter 50 Stripping rank
stripping rank
Damon pov
He was standing in the hallway, and immediately he saw me, he stood erect, his eyes meeting me in a silent challenge.
My wolf dax growled dangerously, my vision flashed red for a second, losing it completely.
I lunged at him.
In a flash, I was at his front, a loud crashing sound followed by bones breaking drummed in my ears like pleasant music. My hands clamped down hard at his neck, sharp claws brushing at his jugular artery.
“Why are you here?” I managed to ask with gritted teeth, barely holding my wolf dax from crushing him in one snap.
“We need to talk, my king.”
“No,” I said, voice low. “There is nothing to talk about, step aside.”
His jaw clenched. “Is it true?” he asked. “What Daphne said…about the blood ritual?”
My fingers clenched into my fist.
Damn it, “you should not poke your nose in where it doesn't belong. That’s not your business to worry about.”
“It is if you are considering using your blood to wake him up,” he snapped, eyes flaring. “You know what that means. What it could do to him, what it did to her…”
“I said, it’s not your goddamned business.” I growled at him, my fangs flashing.
He didn’t back down. Of course, I should have known, he was too stubborn for mere words to stop him.
“Are you doing this because you think he is special?” he said. “Or because you are scared of what might happen if he doesn't wake up?”
“You…”
I saw red,
My hands moved before I could stop it connecting with his jaws. The sickening sound of bones breaking echoed through the hallway.
“you dare not question my choices.” I growled, my eyes locked at him. “Now answer my question before I rip you to shreds?”
James didn't flinch at my tone. “I came to redeem myself,” he said calmly.
“For what? Another chance to let your alpha down?” I spat.
His jaw tensed. I could see the way his whole body trembled like someone who was being electrocuted, but I didn't care.
Gbam!
His knees crashed to the ground. “I would die before letting anything bad happen to him.”
“And yet,” I growled, stepping forward, “he almost died.”
My claws pressed at the edge of my skin. Dax at the surface, just one breath away from ripping through my last control. Dax was howling for blood, mine or his…I wasn’t sure anymore.
“I went to help in the fight.” James argued, his voice tight, “I told him to stay behind. He was supposed to be safe.”
“You were supposed to protect him!” I roared, slamming my fist against the stone wall behind him, creating a large dent in the reinforced wall that even a bullet could merely leave more than 2 centimeters of dent on. “That was the order. I trusted you as my beta to keep to it!”
“Like you said, I am the beta to this pack.” James stared at me. No fear in his face. “You trusted me to follow orders. And in the time of need, I choose to protect my pack. Your orders was not for me to become his fucking babysitter.”
Pregnant silence descended between us. Even after one minute he spoke, the word babysitter continued to echo round the walls. More than anything else
My eyes narrowed to slits. My breathing slowed, not because I was calm.
Noo,
Because something inside me… snapped.
“You’re right,” I said, voice low, deadly. “You’re not his babysitter, You are not his protector. You are nothing anymore…”
His brow furrowed. “my king”
I stepped forward, my hands reaching out “remove your badge.”
His gaze followed mine to the silver crest proudly sitting on his chest. the emblem of power and authority as my Beta.
He stared at me, his expression becoming uglier by the second. As if he was hoping this was some kind of a cruel test.
“my king…” he whispered. “Don’t do this...”
My hands moved, faster than he could follow. I ripped the silver wolf insignia from his chest, the badge that signified the second highest authority after me.
“Effective immediately,” I said, my voice cold and emotionless, “you are hereby stripped of your position. You will no longer serve as my Beta. Report to Commander Grath for reassignment.”
He froze, his face twisting into shock, hurt rage all at once. the air between us becoming even more tense.
“Just like that?” he whispered, staring at me, disbelief cracking through his voice. “You’re stripping me of my rank?”
“You stripped yourself,” I said coldly. “The moment you decided he was not worth saving.”
I turned away from him, pocketing the badge without a second thought.
“You should have fought for him like I did.” I walked away before I could see the look on his face.
“You don’t get to pretend this is just about duty. I have known you since we were a pup. You…care for him.”
I froze, for just a milli seconds, before I continued my steps, pushing the door leading to my chamber open.