Chapter 288
Chapter 288:
“Well?” I demanded, my voice trembling not with weakness, but with a rage that had been simmering for ten years. “Braydon says you let my parents die. Is it true p>
Marcus straightened his spine, attempting to summon the Alpha aura that used to make me cower. But here, in the presence of a Lycan King, his aura was nothing more than a flickering candle in a hurricane.
“Adella,” Marcus began, his tone dripping with practiced, condescending sympathy. “Braydon is emotional. The attack that night was unprecedented — hundreds of Rogues. By the time our patrols received the distress signal, the border was already breached. We did everything we could p>
He looked at me, but his eyes kept darting to Dallas, who stood beside my bed like a statue carved from obsidian and barely contained violence.
“Lies,” Dallas said. The word wasn’t shouted — it was spoken with a terrifying calm that dropped the temperature in the room ten degrees.
𝘞𝘩at e𝘷𝗲𝗿𝘺𝗈ne 𝘪𝘀 𝗿e𝘢𝗱𝘪𝗇𝘨 𝗼n
Marcus flinched. “King Dallas, with all due respect, you weren’t there. You don’t know the logistics of p>
“I know that your patrols were stationed three miles from the Everett border that night, contrary to standard protocol,” Dallas interrupted, his voice smooth as silk wrapped around a razor blade. He took a step forward. “And I know that the Hyde Pack has been financially insolvent for five years p>
Marcus’s face drained of color. “That is private Pack business p>
“Not anymore,” Dallas countered. “As of this morning, I have purchased every outstanding debt your Pack owes to the Council and the banks. I own your land. I own your title. You exist as an Alpha today only because I haven’t yet made the call to dissolve your Pack p>
The silence that followed was deafening. Marcus looked as if he had been gutted — his power, his pride, his legacy stripped away in three sentences.
“You…” Marcus choked out, his hands curling into fists. He couldn’t look at Dallas — he couldn’t fight a Lycan. Instead, his wild, bloodshot eyes snapped to his son. “You did this! You brought him here! You destroyed us for her p>
With a roar of pure, impotent fury, Marcus lunged at Braydon.
Braydon didn’t even flinch. He didn’t have to.
A low, vibrating growl erupted from Dallas’s chest. It wasn’t loud, but it hit the room like a physical shockwave. The windows rattled in their frames. I felt the crushing weight of his power press down on my chest, my body trembling with an instinctive fear I couldn’t control. Even without a wolf, I understood what it meant to be in the presence of an apex predator.
Marcus froze mid-step, his body locking up as if invisible chains had wrapped around his limbs. The Lycan command. Absolute. Irresistible.
“Sit,” Dallas ordered.
Marcus collapsed into the nearest chair, gasping for air, his dominance completely shattered.
“Now,” Braydon said, stepping over his father’s defeated form to loom over his mother. His voice was cold, stripped of any love a son should carry. “Tell her, Mother. Tell her why the patrols were moved. Or shall I show the King the emails you sent to the Northern Rogues p>