The Lycan Don's Unclaimed Mate

Chapter 4: The Five Families

Cornelia Point of View

The double doors of the black boardroom forced open, letting cold air and tension thick enough to slice a steel spill into the hallway.

I walked half a step behind Dante, my spine straight, my hands loosely clasped behind my back. Under the tailored black silk suit Dante's tailors had delivered to the penthouse suite at dawn, my skin was hyper aware of every eye in the room. The silver handled dagger my father had given me for my eighteenth birthday was strapped tight against my inner thigh, cold and comforting against my skin.

The Grand Council Chamber smelled of old wood, brandy, leather, and five different, suffocating predators.

The heads of the five pack families sat around the massive wooden table, flocked by their own enforcers. The air was thick with competing Alpha presence, a crushing pressure that would force an ordinary human to their knees, gasping for air.

I didn't bend. My father had spent eighteen years training me to stand tall in rooms like this. I swallowed the slight burn in my throat and kept my expression a cold, unreadable mask.

At the head of the table sat Vince Laurent, the Don of the Laurent Syndicate. He was older, his silver hair combed back tight, his eyes glowing a predatory amber as he looked me over like someone appraising livestock.

"Don Draxus," Vince drawled, leaning back in his leather chair, tapping a heavy gold ring against the marble. "We heard a rumor that Hector Silva cleared his five million dollar inventory debt last night. We expected a trunk full of bonds or dock deeds." Vince's mouth curled into a sharp, yellow toothed smile. "Instead, we hear you accepted an executioner's human stray."

A low ripple of dark laughter moved through the Laurent side of the table.

Dante didn't answer right away. He pulled out the high backed chair at the foot of the table and held it for me. His bare fingers brushed the small of my back as I sat down.

The moment his touch landed, that familiar, electric golden heat flared under my skin. It flooded my veins, burning away the heavy weight of the room's Alpha pressure like a match lighting in the dark.

I caught the small tightening in Dante's jaw. He knew what his touch did to me. He knew it gave me strength, even though we both clearly hadn't figured out why a supposedly human girl reacted to an Alpha's mark like a spark hitting gasoline.

Dante took his seat at the head of the table across from Vince, leaning forward, resting his thick forearms on the table. His golden eyes flared, open, cold, and dangerous.

"She isn't collateral, Vince," Dante said, his voice a rough rasp that cut off every laugh in the room instantly. "She is my fiancée. Cornelia Silva is the future Luna of the Blood Syndicate."

Silence dropped over the chamber like a heavy blanket.

Vince's smile vanished. Across the table, the representatives of the smaller families leaned forward, their eyes widening in shock.

"A human Luna?" Vince scoffed, though his scent spiked with sudden, sharp unease. "Under pack law, an Alpha cannot claim a mate without a blood mark, Draxus. A regular human cannot survive a pureblood Alpha's bite. You're running a shell game to keep the Silva territory from falling under my control."

"Test the claim then, Vince," I cut in, my voice sharp, clear, and cutting straight across the table.

Every head snapped toward me.

"Careful, girl," Vince sneered, his amber eyes locking onto mine with the full, crushing weight of his Alpha pressure. "You're standing in a room full of purebloods. Your father isn't here to pull your leash."

"My father taught me how to bleed a pureblood in three seconds flat," I said smoothly, uncrossing my legs and leaning forward, placing both palms flat on the cold shining desk. "Hector signed the territorial deeds over to the Draxus house. The Silva bloodline has stood as the High Council's Executioners for three centuries. If you challenge the legality of my engagement, you challenge the executioner's mark, and you're welcome to take that up with the silver blade strapped to my leg."

Vince's jaw tightened. The enforcer behind him reached quietly toward his holster, but Dante's hand shot out, slamming his palm onto the shining table with a gunshot-like sound.

The table cracked straight down the middle under his hand.

"Reach for a weapon in front of my Luna," Dante growled, his voice dropping into a full Alpha roar that shook the glass windows in their frames, "and I will tear your arm off and feed it to your own enforcers."

The enforcer froze, his hand hovering over his weapon, sweat breaking out on his forehead.

Dante stood up, adjusting his cuffs, his golden eyes burning into Vince with total dominance. "The contract is signed. The Silva territory is under Draxus protection. The six month mourning period after Hector's forfeiture will end with our mating ceremony. If any family has an objection to pack law, file it with the Council. If you step foot on my docks," Dante paused, a slow, terrifying smile spreading across his face, "my executioner will be waiting."

Dante reached down, offering me his hand.

I took it. That instant golden spark shot through my palm, up my arm, and into my chest.

As we turned our backs on the most dangerous predators in the state and walked out of the chamber, I glanced up at Dante's sharp side profile. He was hiding something from me, something deep and dangerous about why my touch unlocked his power, and why his pack presence didn't bring me to my knees.

He thought he had bought a human weapon for fifty million dollars. But as we stepped into the private elevator, I decided I was going to figure out what game Don Draxus was really playing before the six months ran out!