Filed to story: Luna Riannon and Alpha Brayden Novel
The words made the first lycan freeze, eyes begging his King for permission to fight. “You are not helping her,” the wolf god explained, and he finally stopped struggling.
“As I was saying-” Vincent was about to continue with his lies, showing yet another image of Salome on the border, accompanied by the northern army.
“It’s all me,” the girl whispered, but no one heard her, so she repeated. This time louder. “It’s all me!”
The people in the room turned their attention to her, and she finally stood up, raising her head high.
“I am the only one at fault here! I used the token I got after the Luna Trials to move the army to the border. I planned to destroy the South and attack while it was weak. For me.”
Fenir closed his eyes. It was the end.
“Nonsense.” Vidar angled his head to look at the witch with a cruel grin. “One little witch doesn’t need this. But thank you for your heartfelt confession. Take her to the cell!”
“No!” Warg growled, and more warriors arrived to restrain him.
“On that note, I would like to ask our guests to leave.” Vidar put his hands in his pockets, leaning on the glass wall as if he was the victor, proud of everything he had done.
“Not before you return my wife to me!” Gideon growled.
“Queen Riannon is our guest, and her safety is ensured as long as the West does not interfere in our matters,” the deity explained.
“So, not only have you abducted her, but you are also blackmailing me?” the Westerner seethed.
“Of course not.” Vidar shook his head. “Please, don’t read this the wrong way and give us some privacy. We are almost at war.”
Gideon stood up, clenching his fists so hard his knuckles turned white. Astrea followed him, knowing they would have to find her sister as soon as possible.
Fenrir was the only one who remained still.
“What are you waiting for?” Vidar raised a brow at him.
“I am waiting for the show. You like those, don’t you?” he challenged his enemy.
“Very well.” Vidar never refused an opportunity to show off.
“I would like to address the Alpha Convocation. The matter is urgent, and our situation calls for a vote! We need a High Chancellor, even if a temporary one, to deal with the ones who attacked us! This cannot be left alone, and too many things seem shady! We need a leader, and our laws allow us to elect one within a Convocation gathering when we are on the brink of war.”
Vidar spoke with more and more confidence. It showed that he had a lot of practice as a public speaker after millennia of ruling over the New Asgard. “I have gathered as much proof as possible in such a short time. I am the only one not allied with anyone here. Fresh blood. Blood ready to be spilled for our Republic. As the son of my father, I summon all of you today for an Urgent Vote to choose an Emergency High Chancellor to lead us during this time.”
“Let me guess,” Fenrir gritted his teeth, “you offer yourself as the candidate?”
“Yes, I do!” Vidar did not even bother pretending to be modest. “I believe I am the best choice right now, but I will let you all decide who will lead us during the dark times.” The room fell silent as everyone contemplated their next action.
“Jordan is not here,” someone remembered about Joran. “
Hed offer himself as well, and he-“
“He is not present,” Vidar reminded. “Therefore, he’ll have to miss this vote as a candidate.”
“Let’s go!” Fenrir grasped Astrea’s hand and pulled her behind him, gesturing for Warg and Gideon to follow them.
“So,” they heard Vidar’s eager voice behind their backs as the door were closing, “shall we?
Joran was storming through the halls in the direction of the Convocation Hall, knocking a man off his feet on his way and making dozens of papers fly in all directions.
Usually, he would have stopped to fix his mistake and looked charming while he did it, but now… Now, he did not care about his perfect reputation anymore and had more important things to do
After all, he was out for blood!
He was ready to knock the doors out when they opened in his face, and fellow Alpha Convocation members started walking out, most avoiding his gaze as if they had done something wrong.
Instinctively, he already knew.
“Where have you been?” A member of his inner circle seethed and walked past him, hitting his shoulder on the way.
Joran couldn’t care less. There was only one person he wanted to see now.
“Late as always!” Vidar sneered at him, making his fists clench in response. “Thanks to your incompetence, I am now officially the High Chancellor. And my first order was announcing the war against the Northern Lycan Kingdom.”
Although that silent prick was clearly behind everything, he still wasn’t the one who betrayed him.
“Congrats! You get to witness and hide in one more war!” Joran didn’t grace him with as much as one look, walking into the hall and seeing his target still in his chair with his eyes closed.
Betrayal wasn’t easy for Forrest Romero.
“You f*****g traitor!” Joran was next to him in the blink of an eye, grasping his neck with enough force to make it hurt but not enough to kill him. Not yet.
Pinning him against the wall, he watched the southern Lycan struggle against his grip.
“Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” He lifted him so high that Forrest’s legs did not touch the floor anymore, using almost his full strength.
He trusted that man. Not entirely, but even the drops of trust he gave him were priceless.
“Because of you-” the dragon couldn’t finish that sentence.
If he said that out loud, it would be real. “I lost Bjorn!”
“Just… because… you care about that one,” Forrest gritted his teeth, his breathing laboured as he grew his claws and pierced the dragon’s arm, struggling to get free, “doesn’t mean… you are suddenly… a good person and in the… right!
“The audacity!” The Serpent scoffed, throwing him across the room and watching the muscular body knock out chairs on its way. The dragon shook his hand, healing the claw wounds like it was nothing.
To his credit, Forrest was back on his legs in seconds. He had nothing to fight against him but still took a battle stance.
This was going to be fun!
“Don’t blame me when so many suffer because of your actions!”
“You’d better shut up while you still have your tongue!” Joran took a slow, lazy step towards him.
“Or what? You are going to kill me?” Forrest let out a low chuckle, narrowing his eyes. A bruise was already forming on his sharp caramel cheekbone, and his lower lip was bleeding.
Jordan’s jaw flexed. “You are going to die either way. I don’t tolerate betrayal.”
“Why?” Forrest arched his brow. “You betrayed your brother, didn’t you? You aren’t exactly a moral compass to judge me!”
“Don’t compare us! We are not the same!”
“Yeah, I don’t take children from their parents and don’t turn them into my pawns! Seriously, Jor, you were nowhere to be found, and what was I supposed to do when a god approached me?! It wasn’t exactly a request!”
“You could havé warned me! You could have lied to him!”
“Lied to him and get killed for you?” Forrest shook his head. “And who will take care of the county, then? You?
Him?”
Joran did not respond to that. He did not give a damn about the country, and they both knew it.
“There is always a way!” The Serpent’s eyes glowed as he awakened the magic inside him, that ancient part that was the most powerful and did not require any stolen gifts or beads.
“For you – maybe” Forrest rubbed his swollen cheek, ready to fight until his last breath. “For someone like me-unlikely! I can’t fight gods on my own! How long will a powerless lycan like me last?!”
A smirk curled onto Joran’s lips.
“Is it power that you want, Forrest?” He stepped towards the man, but Romero held his ground, brows furrowed. He knew he met the most dangerous predator in his life, and if he tried to escape, it would only be worse. “I’ll give you power!” the dragon god’s fingers clenched around Forrest’s neck again as magic illuminated everything around them.
Blinding and all-consuming force filled every cell of the lycan’s body, burning it and replacing it.