DAMIENS POINT OF VIEW
I ground my teeth together so hard my jaw ached.
I didn’t have a choice. That was the truth of it. I never had. The oath I took as Alpha wasn’t symbolic. It wasn’t ceremonial. It was binding. Every decision I made affected the pack. One mistake from me—one moment of weakness—and everything my father built could fracture. Life depended on my control. Stability depended on my obedience to duty.
I turned slowly to my mother, my hands curling into fists at my sides. I snarled at her, unable to stop it.
“You got what you wanted, didn’t you?” The words came out rough, stripped of restraint. I hated that she could still pull this reaction out of me. Hated that even now, she stood calm while I was barely holding myself together.
“No,” she said coolly. “I didn’t, you brou
