Chapter Two— The Cost of Choices
1336 Words
Damien's Pov
"You told him."
Klein didn't deny it.
He stood across from me in the room behind the ceremony ground, arms crossed, expression completely unapologetic. "Someone had to," he said. "Two months ago when you came back from that meeting room you could barely function. Your father needed to know."
"You had no right," I said.
"I had every right. I'm your Beta."
I turned away from him.
Through the small window I could see the ceremony ground being prepared. Lanterns being lit one by one. White jasmine being laid across the altar. Everything ordered. Everything in place.
In one hour it would be done.
"What exactly did you tell him," I said.
"The truth," Klein said. "That the bond revealed itself two months early. That you felt it in that meeting room." A pause. "That her name was Lena Cole."
I said nothing.
"He didn't seem surprised," Klein added quietly. "That was the part that worried me."
It didn't surprise me either.
Footsteps outside.
The door opened.
My father walked in like he owned the room. Which he did. He owned every room he walked into — that was simply the nature of Alpha Marcus Stone. Fifty eight years old. Silver at his temples. Eyes that had never once given anything away for free.
He looked at Klein.
Klein straightened and walked out without being asked.
Marcus closed the door.
He crossed to the small table and poured himself a glass of water. Unhurried. Completely at ease.
"The light will fall on Victoria tonight," he said.
Just like that. No preamble.
"You paid someone," I said.
"Elder Mara's assistant." He set the glass down. "It cost significantly. The northern land agreement comes to the council table before the month is out. The Greywood alliance follows after the wedding." He turned to look at me. "Everything moves forward tonight."
I looked at him. "You already knew she was my mate. Before Klein told you."
"I suspected," he said. "When you came back from that meeting two months ago you were not yourself. I know what the bond looks like on a man." A pause. "I also know what it looks like when a man is about to destroy everything he has worked for."
"Like you did," I said.
The room went quiet.
Marcus set his glass down slowly. He looked at me with an expression I had never quite seen from him before. Not anger. Something older.
"Yes," he said. "Like I did."
I hadn't expected that.
"Your mother was an omega," he said. Flat and simple. "Lowest rank. No family name. No money. Nothing this pack would have chosen for its Alpha." A pause. "I felt the bond and I chose her anyway. Against my father. Against the Elders. Against everything." He paused. "I loved her. I made her Luna."
I had heard pieces of this story. Never the whole thing. Never from him.
"The pack never accepted her," he continued. "The Elders made her life difficult from the first day. Ranked families refused to follow her. She was an omega in a Luna's position and this pack reminded her of that every single day." His jaw tightened. "She suffered. I watched her suffer and told myself she was strong enough. I told myself it would pass."
"So you sent her away," I said quietly.
"I made a decision," he said. "The same decision I am making for you tonight."
"She was my mother," I said.
"She was my mate," he said. Just as quietly. "Do you think that was easy?"
The silence between us stretched long and thin.
"She's gone now," I said. "You know that. I heard from her family two years ago. She died alone and—"
"I know," he said.
Two words. And underneath them something I had never heard from my father before and didn't know what to do with now.
Something that sounded almost like grief.
I looked away.
My chest was tight. I pressed it down.
Marcus straightened his jacket. "The ceremony starts in forty minutes. Victoria's father is expecting us at the altar." He walked to the door.
"Father," I said.
He stopped. Didn't turn around.
"Did you ever regret it?" I said. "Sending her away."
A long pause.
"Every day," he said quietly.
He opened the door and walked out.
I stood alone in the room with that answer and the silence it left behind.
I didn't move for a moment.
Every day.
My father, the most controlled man I had ever known had spent thirty years regretting the choice he was now asking me to make.
My wolf stirred in my chest. Low and heavy.
I pressed him down.
I straightened my jacket and walked out.
The pack had gathered by the time I reached the ceremony ground.
Three hundred wolves. All in their best. The air charged with the particular energy that came once a year, breathless and electric and full of possibility.
I took my position at the front and kept my face composed.
Then I saw her.
She came through the crowd with Nadia. Green dress that wasn't hers, I could tell immediately. I had seen Lena Cole in the pack house enough times to know she didn't own anything that fitted her like that.
It fitted her well.
My wolf pushed forward in my chest. I shut him down before he could surface.
She took her position at the outer ring. Furthest from the altar. Head up. Shoulders straight.
Victoria arrived. Ivory silk. Pearl clips. She found my eyes and smiled slowly.
I nodded.
She passed Lena Cole on her way to the front. Said something. I watched the Cole girl's chin lift. She responded. Victoria's smile flickered.
Something tightened in my chest.
I looked away.
Elder Mara raised her hands and the ceremony began.
The old words moved through the clearing. Three hundred wolves went still.
Then the bond hit me.
No warning. A force through my chest so sudden and complete that my breath caught. My wolf threw himself forward with everything he had — pressing against me, pushing, demanding.
I clenched my jaw, planted my feet and held him back.
Elder Mara's assistant moved near the ceremonial bowl. A small invisible motion.
The light bloomed.
Silver white. Spreading outward through the clearing like moonlight on still water.
It moved past the outer ring.
It settled on Victoria.
The crowd erupted.
I crossed to Victoria. She took my hand. Warm and glowing and certain.
I turned to face my pack.
"The Moon Goddess has spoken," I said. Steady. Final. "Victoria Hale will be the Luna of Blackridge Pack."
More cheering. Flower petals in the air.
I did not look at the outer ring.
I told myself I wasn't going to look.
Then I looked.
She was completely still. The entire celebration moving around her like water around a stone. Nobody noticed her. Nobody looked.
Her face was—
I turned away before I finished that thought.
Then she moved.
She walked out of the ceremony ground quietly. Nobody parted for her. She came out onto the dark forest path and stopped at the edge of the lantern light.
Back straight. Hands still.
She didn't look back.
Then she walked into the dark.
My wolf hit me so hard my vision went dark at the edges. A snarl built in my throat. My hands clenched at my sides. My feet nearly left the ground.
"Damien." Klein's voice. Right beside me. Low and sharp. "Your eyes."
I breathed. Hard. Forced my wolf back down.
It took too long.
When my vision cleared Klein was close enough that nobody else could see what had happened. His expression said everything he wasn't saying out loud.
"I'm fine," I said. Rougher than intended.
Klein said nothing.
I rolled my shoulders. Straightened my jacket. Turned back to Victoria and my father and Elder Hale and everything I had spent thirty years working toward.
My wolf went still.
Not calm. Not settled.
Just still.
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