Damon – POV
The council eting had gone as expected.
Threats. Posturing. Blood.
One idiot had the nerve to challenge — he was now decorating the wall with what was left of his spine.
The others got the ssage.
I was in control. And once I completed the final part of the prophecy... once Elena gave herself to fully — body, soul, and bond — not even the gods would stand in my way.
So imagine my fucking delight when I returned to the grounds, prowling along the edge of the training field, and saw her.
Elena.
Smiling.
Laughing.
Sweat-slicked and radiant in the early dusk light, sparring with soone who wasn’t . Soone with too-pretty eyes and a jaw that deserved breaking.
The fucker touched her back.
She didn’t slap him.
She didn’t burn him alive with a glare.
No — she leaned in. Laughed at sothing he said.
What. The. Fuck.
I didn’t move. Just stood in the shadows like a damn ghost as the two of them wrapped up their little session. She looked flushed — not from embarrassnt. Not from anger. From exertion.
And excitent.
He said sothing to her. She nodded.
He left.
She watched him go.
I wanted to rip his fucking throat out.
Elena turned, just barely, like she sensed . I stepped back before she could see. Vanishing into the trees like the shadow I’d beco.
My wolf was pacing under my skin, snarling.
She’s ours. Ours.
She’s not mated yet, I reminded it.
Yet.
It wasn’t jealousy. No. I was above that petty shit.
This was possession.
The prophecy. The bond. Her body. Her soul. They belonged to — whether she admitted it yet or not. She could flirt. She could train with him. Hell, she could fuck him for all I cared.
But she would still be mine in the end.
Still moan my na.
Still co apart on my cock, sobbing for rcy and wanting more.
Let her play her little gas.
I’d bide my ti.
And when she ca crawling back, desperate, frustrated, aching with the need I knew she carried for ...
I’d remind her who she fucking belonged to.
******
I found him behind the weapons shed, wiping sweat from his neck with a towel, still wearing that smug, easygoing smile that made want to remove his teeth one by one with a rusty spoon.
"Hey," he said when he spotted . "Alpha—"
My fist connected with his jaw before he could finish the word. The sound was satisfying. Bone cracking against bone, flesh caving under the force of rage I’d been holding back all damn day.
Luca went down like a sack of bricks, groaning, blinking up at in confusion. "Wha—fuck—what the hell?!"
I grabbed the front of his shirt, yanked him up, and slamd him back against the tal siding of the shed hard enough to rattle it.
"I’m sorry alpha." he panics "I didn’t know"
"You didn’t know she was the Luna?" I snarled, fangs threatening to pierce through. "That’s your excuse?"
"I—shit, I swear! I didn’t know, Alpha!" he panted, blood dripping from his lip. "No one said—she didn’t wear a mark—there’s no claim—"
"You don’t need to see a fucking mark to know she’s mine," I growled. "Look at her once and you know she’s not for your filthy hands."
He trembled. The scent of fear pouring off him was delicious. My beast purred. But I wasn’t done.
"If I ever, ever see you with her again..." I leaned in until my nose was almost against his, my voice low, guttural, pure alpha dominance. "You won’t be able to walk. Or fight. Or breathe without rembering what it feels like to be hunted."
Luca nodded so fast his head nearly flew off. "Yes. Yes, Alpha. Never again. I swear it."
I dropped him, and he slid to the ground like a sack of bones. Still breathing. For now.
I walked off, fists still twitching.
The dining hall buzzed with the usual midday chatter. Trays clattered, cutlery scraped, and I didn’t give a fuck about any of it.
I spotted her instantly — like my eyes were trained to seek her out.
Elena.
She sat at the far end of the long table, surrounded by a few warriors and female fighters. She was chewing a piece of bread like it personally offended her, stabbing at her plate with the kind of focus she usually reserved for combat.
Her hair was slightly damp from the shower.
Her neck was bare.
She didn’t look at when I entered.
Didn’t flinch. Didn’t pause.
Didn’t even acknowledge .
Great.
Fucking perfect.
The woman I’d nearly taken against the wall that morning, who had begged for to claim her, was now acting like I didn’t exist.
I didn’t move toward her.
Didn’t announce myself.
I just stood there, watching her chew, every now and then lifting her eyes to soone else at the table to respond to so aningless chatter — a sharp nod, a flick of a smile.
She was pissed.
I could feel it like a cold front across my skin.
And honestly?
She had every right to be.
I’d left her burning. Aching. Needy.
Walked out without a word and went straight to business.
Because if I hadn’t... I wouldn’t have made it to the council chamber. I’d have stayed buried inside her all fucking day until she was marked, mated, and carrying the next generation of monsters destined to rule the world with .
But I couldn’t do that.
Not yet.
Not until she chose it.
Chose .
*****
She was ignoring .
Elena — my mate, the woman who had practically co undone under my hands this morning, who had thrown herself at — was ignoring like I was a waiter who forgot her drink order.
Unbelievable.
I stood in the corner of the dining hall, arms crossed, watching her.
She didn’t so much as flick her gaze in my direction.
No reaction.
None.
Not to my presence, not to the scent she was clearly attuned to — mine — not even when I purposely let a low growl slip past my lips.
Nothing.
She sat there, eating like a goddess on a warpath, stabbing her food like it was my damn heart. Smiling at warriors who had no business being smiled at. Laughing—laughing—with that another cute little snort that used to only co out when she laugh.
What. The. Fuck.
I had handled rogue uprisings, alpha rebellions, political executions, and supernatural treaties. But this?
This was a whole new battlefield.
And sohow, I was losing.
Gods, I should’ve stayed. Should’ve claid her, marked her, taken her until she couldn’t walk straight or think of anyone but .
But no. I had to be responsible. Had to march off to my throne like a good little tyrant and deal with spineless Alphas who couldn’t even sniff without asking permission first.
And now?
She was making pay for it.
I moved toward her, slow and smooth, watching the way her shoulders tensed the mont she sensed . Ah, there it was. She did feel . She was just pretending she didn’t.
That should have amused .
It didn’t.
I slid into the seat next to her like I belonged there. Because I did. She was mine.
"You didn’t wait for ," I said casually, voice low, as if that would soften her mood.
She didn’t flinch.
Didn’t speak.
Didn’t even turn her head.
I leaned in, close to her ear, letting my breath dance against her skin. "I would’ve made you breakfast, you know. You seed... hungry."
Nothing.
Not even a twitch.
But the scent coming off her said otherwise. She was still flushed. Still burning. Still wet for , if my nose wasn’t broken.
So I pushed further.
"I an, I heard all that moaning and thought, damn, I should’ve stayed. Could’ve helped with that tension."
A knife could’ve dropped and clattered with less tension than the one that radiated from her in that mont.
Still, she said nothing.
So I smirked and dropped the dagger.
"Oh, co on, Elena. Don’t act like you didn’t enjoy it. You were practically begging —"
Her chair scraped violently as she shot to her feet.
Well. That got a reaction.
She leaned over, lips inches from mine, and hissed, "You don’t get to flirt with after leaving high and dry. You don’t get to tease like it didn’t an anything. You don’t get to look at like you own when you haven’t even earned the right to touch ."
I didn’t flinch.
Didn’t blink.
But fuck , her words sliced deeper than any blade ever had.
And the worst part?
She was right.
She turned and walked off, hips swaying, shoulders stiff, jaw tight — and I just sat there, stunned. Frozen.
Because I wasn’t expecting that.
I expected her to be annoyed. Maybe roll her eyes. Shove a little. Give hell, sure.
But this cold, hard freeze-out?
I felt it in my soul.
And the beast inside — Hades, whatever the fuck I was now — roared. Not in fury. In possession.
Because that?
That was mine.
And I had fucked up.
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