Chapter 18 - Inherited Weight
1637 Words
Damon’s POV
I didn’t say another word after the warning I had just given Marius.
The air was thick with finality, I didn’t threaten him. I just wanted him to know that he had said enough.
But Marius didn’t leave, he didn’t shrink back. He just stood where he was, his spine straight in his stance like a man who had fought too many battles that cowering over this was never going to happen.
I acknowledged that he was still my Beta. Still the one I trusted the most and still the only one that was allowed to challenge me even though most times he overstepped with that privilege.
Possibly because of the age difference, he felt the need to take up a father figure as well.
His voice broke the silence gently. “Alpha Damon… I didn’t mean to strike a nerve.”
I looked at him from the corner of my eye.
“I should’ve known better than to mention your father in this conversation…” Marius trailed off, then reset his tone, more grounded this time. “It was beneath the moment, you have done your duty and you have grown past his shadow. More than most Alphas your age ever do.”
I didn’t interrupt, I let him finish this time.
“A wise man once told me that being a Beta means being anything your Alpha needs,” he said. “You can be a shield, mirror, sword, voice of reason or even a voice of conscience. I don’t regret checking you but I do regret how I spoke about it. You’re right the past is the past and your father’s legacy is no longer your burden to bear.”
A minute passed.
“But I do need to say this and I hope you listen, the choices you make now, especially when it comes to Mara won’t just shape your own future. It’ll shape ours, every wolf under your command and every pup under your name. You are not just a man, you're the line between prosperity and destruction. Everything you do is expected to be the ultimate… I need you to remember that.”
He paused.
“My only joy is that you continue to rise but never that you fall for the wrong reasons…. or reasons that can be avoided.”
That part hung in the air.
I flexed my fingers slowly, I was still remembering the exact way Mara’s waist had felt under my hand during training. The soft curve of her body, the heat of her body and the small tremor in her breath. The way she didn’t recoil but she didn’t lean into me either.
My jaw tightened slightly.
The Moon Goddess didn’t make mistakes. She was perfect in everything, her choices and her actions.
If she chose Mara as my fated mate, then the path to getting her, no matter how sharp or tangled wasn’t wrong.
Not for me and not for my pack either.
I finally turned to Marius, my voice even.
“If you’re following me now, then forget about reporting back to my father about the way I handle things.”
Marius stilled.
I stepped forward, closing the space between Marius and I with quiet Alpha command.
“My father’s era ended eight years ago. On the night I took my seat as an Alpha. When I took my path and buried his blade and swore by my own. That was my moonrise… not his.”
A cold sweat broke on Marius’s forehead, his eyes dropped instinctively with his shoulders bowing, not in fear but in full recognition. That was the effect of the Alpha energy I had just exuded subtly.
“Yes, Alpha Damon.”
I didn’t need his submission, I just needed him to understand that I was no longer anyone’s son.
I was Alpha.
And no one would tell me that loving the mate the Moon Goddess gave me was a threat to my people or my seat.
“The report on the lead you followed…” I said after a breath.
Marius straightened, shifting gears like a race car driver in F1 Racing tracks. He went straight back into work mode.
“Yes. I tracked down the informant, his name is Keaton Vale. To the public, he runs a salvage yard out of Timberbrook. But what he really deals in is illegal alchemy. He smuggles and dabbles in forbidden magic. What he does prefer is emotional dampeners, little charms designed to alter or disrupt natural instincts.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Like the mate bond suppression?”
“Not quite, he dabbled in stuff that can make you more complacent at the work place. Not growl at your omega boss or just to maintain a steady mid behavior no matter the provocation. A way to control one’s emotions, if a person isn’t disciplined enough to listen then they get that and it’s smooth sailing.”
“So does he know anything about the mate bond suppression magic then?” I asked, wondering why he was a lead.
“Yes, he does.” Marius said grimly. “Apparently, he had some other people who dealt in illegal alchemy ask him once if he could try to make a charm that could suppress the mate bond. It had been on a dare to see who was better at the alchemy game and so he had taken them to his workshop and done his magic.”
“Okay, I think I see where this is going.” I folded my arms.
“He claims that at his workshop, he created ten charms and they were completely experimental as he never actually tested them. In the process and show off, six were partially destroyed but the guys had taken the rest of the four and promised to let him know the feedback.”
“How did he get rid of the partially destroyed pieces though?” I asked, hoping we weren’t looking at botched illegal alchemy as well.
“He destroyed them completely that same night, no trace of the six. Just those four that are unaccounted for because he has no idea where they took them to nor has he heard any supposed feedback since then…” Marius stated.
“So let me guess, these other alchemists left no trail…”
“The trail is as clean as a priest’s bed,” Marious muttered. “But… Keaton made mention of the bar and they don’t have cameras or even a care system. It’s truly underground.”
“So what else did we get from this lead?” I asked, a bit irritated that it brought no leads.
“He said the guys had sat specifically around him and tanks that he thought about it, it was like they knew him and were baiting him the entire time. They had planned the whole thing and knew that he would fall for the bait…” Marius continued.
“So… no names, no photos, no videos but we know there were four of them and they claimed to be alchemists. Does he know what can happen to people who use it long term?”
“He said all his products weren’t for use forever, they had expiry dates so clients could return for new ones. He said he didn’t think it was his four that were still in use now because they should have stopped working after a year so he thinks maybe they were truly alchemists and they remade his work into theirs.” Marius finished.
“f**k!” I exclaimed. “So that’s how they got the job done.”
My brow arched. “Do you think Aiden was part of the original group?”
Marius shook his head.
“I doubt that, but I’d stake my rank on the fact that he was and is being used by one of them to not only test and perfect his charm but also for distribution.”
I turned and paced slowly.
So maybe Aiden hadn’t just stumbled into this, maybe someone had brought him in and he had enjoyed it way too much because he was already a very f****d up person.
He may have even used it earlier to steal what wasn’t his.
Her fate and her bond.
Her love.
The sneaky bastard.
I stopped at the edge of one of the windows and stared out at the clear sky outside. The area was quiet at all times and I could clearly hear the crickets and the noise from the trees swaying in the wind.
Kai didn’t want to keep quiet though.
“He stole her soul’s compass. That’s what I think.”
Yes. Kai was right.
But not for long.
“We might need to pull Keaton into custody before the end of the week,” I said, turning back to Marius. “Don’t let him disappear, this isn’t about his other businesses but this one.”
“Understood.”
“Also,” I added, “I want you to start looking into the enotional damage from these pendants. The effects of long term use, if Mara’s been bonded to Aiden under false suppression. I need to know what kind of trauma that’s caused by it as well. Long term and short term. In fact everything….”
Marius blinked.
“You think she is…?”
“Not just bonded…” I clenched my jaw. “I think she’s been cut off from her own instincts. From everything the Moon Goddess gives. And it might be that he’s been using these charms since the time they met.”
Marius let out a slow breath. "And if she finally wakes up from his charm?”
I scoffed. “She won’t just leave him, I think she’ll burn him to the ground.”
- Writer
