Dahlia's POV The dance was a disaster. A large one of an unprecedented view with a total of eleven Alphas starting the first waltz. It's the most sumptuous honor for any pack. Out of the 13 seated Alphas in the League -- well, 12 now without my mom, 9 came. The only two that didn't show up were the other two Supreme Alphas. Apparently, they had issues with Damon because he refused to mate before claiming the title. The last Alpha that joined us was Justin. Though not have a seat in the League yet, he was seen as the most likely candidate with Damon's accident endorsement. And now he was standing right next to Damon. From two meters away across from them, I could feel Damon's frustration. His body was stiff and his eyes ice cold. His Alpha aura spouting like a fountain that through our touched arms, I felt Justin's girl shiver beside me. My incident lit jealousy in Damon toward Justin. If only I didn't pick Justin to kiss last time. But I couldn't explain even though I had time
Dahlia's POV I don't how I managed to my feet, but I force a smile when I put my hand on Damon's shoulder. If I don't finish the dance, worse would happen to me than just one broken bone. He grabs my waist before taking my fingertips. The music starts again and I move with it. Piercing pain shooting through my leg, I manage to stand but there is nothing I can do about the trembling. He stops, again. In the center of the dancing pool, we are the only pair standing still. I look up in confusion and fear as I whisper: "Sorry, I can--" He leans in before I can finish and picks me up, landing my feet on his shining shoes. I stare at him in shock, and he glares back. So I swallow my objection and keep my eyes on his throat where my eyes land naturally. Though it gets much easier now, it still hurts every time he moves his foot under my broken one. But with him doing all the dancing I can focus on holding my groans in. Every time the pain burst to my throat I grip his hand or a whimper
Dahlia's POVLucius walks over so close that he is towering over me, his Alpha aura smells lethal and strict. Even in Damon's most scary rage I never felt death, like right now.But I can't flinch. I'm Damon's omega, I can't cave to other Alphas. I clench my teeth and stare back at the Supreme Alpha that is demanding my head."Back off, Lucius," Letting out a low growl, Damon takes a side step, hiding me with his body.Lucius cocks an eyebrow, apparently shocked."You don't want to spare her, Damon," Lucius says calmly, like a strict parent."Oh, really? What if I do?" Damon snorts, letting out his Alpha aura and instantly the air tenses around us as the two Alphas compete in silence."She is just an omega, sexy sure, but still, not worth it, Damon," Lucius says, tilting his head to search for my eyes."I WAS going to punish her, but now I don't want to!" Damon snorts coldly, curving his lips as he pulls me into his arms provokingly, "She is MY Omega and mine to discipline. She will a
Dahlia's POVDeadly silence fills the room."I know..." I say slowly, peeking at his face.His face pales as blood drains from it. The anger in his eyes replaced by horror as he stares at me with his breath held nervously.I'm having a euphoria of scaring the most scary Alpha before I add--"I know how much it hurts to break a bone now," I look away coldly, "thanks to you."Werewolves take it a pride to be able to endure the pain of breaking a bone. When you shift for the first time, all your bones break before reforming as you turn into your wolf form. If anyone cries or faints at their first shift, they would be a joke among their peers.But as a wolfless, I never knew how it feels until today. Mom protected me well."Why do you hate me so much?" Damon suddenly asks.His calm sullen scares me more than his outburst.I don't know how to answer his question. Because he might be responsible for my pack's fall? "You know what you did," I say in a light voice, looking into his eyes for
Damon's POV[I can reject her if you want, Damon.]This isn't the first time Lupus suggests it. My wolf can't love. Though he feels the mate bond, it's only a sexual pull to him. He is this way because of me.I manage out of the mansion bearing the piercing pain in my chest, almost stumbled when I finally make it to the lake. The quiet view usually soothes me, but not today. Even the bouncing moonlight on the water seems annoying.It's not the moon's fault, it's because of Dahlia. Nothing hurts more than the pain your mate can give you.I wouldn't have believed it if someone told me I would fear pain three months ago, but now I have seen it with my own eyes. Every time when she disclaims me, when she throws cold words at me, when she just shoots me cold glares in silence, it hurts. It's like someone is trying to pull my heart out of my throat with all the blood and flash attached. It's an excruciating pain that reaches all the nerves I have and will never stop.I don't know what to d
Damon's POV"Lucius," I jump up and comb my hair before I check my look, "thanks for earlier."I didn't want to punish Dahlia for messing up the dance. It aches me to see her toughing through the pain of a broken bone biting her lips, but if I had protected her, my enemies would all put their targets on her. She doesn't have a wolf to defend herself from the slightest malevolence, and I can't protect her every second.Lucius sacrificed his own reputation so I could spare Dahlia--It would be a great honor for me to stand up to a Supreme Alpha, and Lucius's objection gave me the perfect reason to spare Dahlia without revealing how special she is to me."You are not denying, Damon," Lucius lets out a resigned sigh, looking into my eyes for the answer."Have some confidence in yourself, Supreme Alpha," I joke with him, dodging his eyes. I know he helped me because he knew I would spare Dahlia anyway, but he does not approve of her."Damon, it's not a good idea," Rarely, Lucius doesn't dr
Dahlia's POVDamon didn't come back the whole night.He dodges me whenever we have a fight. He would disappear, and for long it depends on how big a fight we have. He messes up and proud as he is, he won't apologize but just lets time heal me. I fucking hate that!Dad would apologize to mom. They would never let a fight last overnight. I think that's what a healthy relationship is, but I guess we are not in a relationship. I'm less than a sex slave now. He turned me into a sex tool.Last time he disappeared for three days. I assume this time it would only be longer. But I can't let him this time.I have questions that he has to answer for.That's why I'm here, in front of his study. Well, in front of the only room that can be his study because I have searched everywhere else for him.The longer I searched, the less courage was left in me. How do you ask a ruthless Alpha whether he destroyed your pack? I die if he admits to it, and I die if he is offended by the false accusation. Not
Dahlia's POVHe said no.I asked him whether he knew who I was when he met me for the first time, and he said no."So you just happen to show up right at the moment when I was about to be raped?" I blurt, and Damon frowns and dodges my eyes before he says--"That's your second question now.""Can you just answer me?!" I roll my eyes impatiently."Yes," Damon says with a heavy sigh, "yes, I didn't plan to be there that night. It was an accident to me, too."I bite my lips, not sure if I can trust his words. If he didn't know who I was, then it's unlikely that he planned the attack on my pack. Being the princess of the pack, I made to news quite often. After all, I have never seen another familiar face in Damon's pack that participated in the attack. Only Jared. Unfortunately, also Damon's cousin.If he were behind the attack, it would make sense if all the men he sent were his, or none of them were. But not when just one of them was.I can't figure out what all these means, but I know
Dahlia’s POVHome is too strong a word for me now. Let’s just say, I agreed to go with Dad.Damon is gone, and Justin left soon after. Kayle disappeared from my sight, and so did Lola. My life suddenly became a vacuum. One thing to my solace is that Dad became the perfect dad in my memory after we left the headquarters.Sometimes I feel like the few weeks during the trial of Damon was just a nightmare, just like my memory of Dad before I was five.It was on the plane that I finally got the whole story of what happened to Dad after I was taken.Dad found out that the attack on our pack was a well-planned scheme. Damon gets me, the land of the pack, AND mom’s title for his friend. Well, by the time when this was planned, Justin was still Damon’s friend. And the rogues he hired got all the money they could scrap from our home.Dad had no choice but to flee the land. He ended up in a new city with the help of an old friend. And that’s our new “home”.Like I said, this is not home.Dad is
Dahlia’s POVA rejection is the worst experience you could have as a werewolf.The mate bond is what connects two souls together. The humans can’t feel their souls, but to sensitive creatures like us, our souls are almost tangible, and so are our mate bonds. To break something like that is like cutting us open, except the wound is not on our body, but on our souls.You won’t be able to even imagine the pain if you have never lost a limb.The rejection tears. It tears apart something that should not be apart. It leaves one bleeding, hurting, and itching for all their conscious time, as well as in their sleep. It’s like your flesh is cut open, and left open in the air, and unlike a physical wound, you can’t faint due to blood loss. You will always feel that something is broken in you, and you have no way to heal it.It’s hard to understand the concept of one’s soul being complete by itself, is also complete when it’s combined in the most intimate way with someone else’s soul, while keep
Dahlia’s POVThe van is quiet. No guards anywhere near it, not even a driver. Not exactly what I had in mind for a jail of “the devil”.Not daring to hesitate, I pull open the back door and slip up. Though it looks like a trap off the textbook, I don’t really have any other move left.It isn’t a trap. Damon is in the trunk, alone, hands not even cuffed. He is smiling at me as I close the door behind me with a thumping heart, panickedly looking for a proper place to sit when my move is so limited by the handcuffs I hid under the shirt.I feel like I’m the prisoner, not him.Damon remains silent, but I see taunt in his eyes.“Hi...” I break the silence, frowning lightly. This is not exactly what I expected. I thought he would be angry, desperate, regretful, or sad. But not this. Not this calmness with a shred of taunt.He curves his lips.“Hi yourself, Dahlia.”His voice is the bass I always indulge in, and his tone is not exactly aggressive. I’m confused now. I rise my eyebrows questio
Dahlia’s POV“Where are you heading to, miss?”I maintain my smile and clear my throat, stalling because I didn’t come up with a good excuse.Aiden managed to put together a plan at the last minute. Well, sort of. He found out where the prison van for Damon was parked, AND he took on the job to distract the guards. All I needed to do was to make it to the elevator to parking lot G and see Damon.Who would know they’d put a guard in front of the elevator door on each floor?!“I--uhhh, my Alpha told me to go meet him in the parking lot,” I open my mouth, only to realize Damon’s case definitely made the “news” here. Revealing my identity might not be the wisest move.“Which section of the parking lot, ma’am?” The guard asks with extreme patience, sympathy even. I would have taken him as caring if I was the old me. But recently I have realized that the colorful fog around people that I can see, is not something that everyone can.I can’t quite explain it, but I can more or less tell the p
Dahlia’s POV“Do you even know what you are doing?! He is the monster that destroyed our home!” Dad presses on, but Aiden steps up and he stops a few inches away. He is furious and panting, as if he just hurried over when I decided to visit Damon. Two seconds ago.Could it be? Did Dad plant surveillance on me? This thought gave me a chill down my spine. Or maybe I feel cold because of how easy it is for me to suspect my own father now.I guess I can’t just forget everything like I was little just for a few days of kindness from him anymore.“You still haven’t shown me any evidence that pins what happened on Damon, Dad,” I remind him calmly. He is hiding something from me, I can feel it. And it annoys me. If Dad was using the stress of the case to explain why he avoided letting me in on anything before the trial, he is definitely failing to explain himself for still not showing me any of his investigations now.“You have no idea how brutal they are. Do you really want to look at the pi
Dahlia’s POVIn the end, Damon was found guilty.Something about him refusing to give the court Jared and stuff. I guess that explained Dad’s sudden change of attitude -- After five months, he finally got the justice he wanted.I wanted to visit Damon, but I couldn’t find a good reason.To see my old owner who kept me as a sex slave? To see the evil who was found guilty of the crime over my fallen pack? To see the man whom I betrayed and had a bad fallout with the last time we saw each other? Or...Just to see my mate.That word feels so strange to me now.I don’t have a wolf to feel the mate bond, and with Damon gone from my life, I have totally forgotten that I have a mate. Who is in prison now, for the most horrifying crime one can do.I can’t justify visiting him, and luckily, Dad and Justin helped me from struggling myself into halves.Dad has been unprecedentedly nice to me ever since the trial. Even nicer than before the incident, I would say. He insisted on having EVERY meal w
Dahlia’s POV“She’s lying!” My Dad growls at the judge, “She’s fucking lying! How dare you, you little useless brat?! You--”“Liam Palmer!” Damon suddenly raised his voice before the judge could react to my Dad’s outburst. He turns to Dad with a calm smile yet his eyes are cold as ice, “She is an Alpha now, as much as you are. I don’t want to see you disrespecting her again.”“She is MY daughter! And I won’t take orders from a murderer! You! You murdered my wife!” Dad spat at him. Frankly, I find it shocking that he dares to shout at Damon. No one else in the Leagues seems to have the courage to do so, not even Kayle.But I guess by suing Damon, Dad already put him on Damon’s bad side permanently.Damon shoots a worried look at me. I blink in confusion.Did he think that Dad’s mentioning of Mom’s death would change my mind? I hate the murderer and I want a thousand deaths of him, but that doesn’t mean I would jump and bite anyone who my Dad accuses without proof like I’m his mad dog.
Dahlia’s POVI’m daunted in the face by this life or death question.“Dahlia Morgan, please answer my question,” The lawyer urges, his tone getting cocky, “Did Tom Sanders call out Alpha Damon’s name in the last phone call you shared with him, 10 minutes before he showed up dead in front of you?!”The truth is, Tom did. But somehow I feel wrong to answer yes.Too many things feel wrong.First of all, Tom lived in Damon’s mansion for weeks, and yet never has he showed any particular fear toward him. He is timid in front of Damon, but any Omega does in front of a fearful Alpha.Secondly, when Tom told me about that he heard the man who captured him calling the man behind the attack on that night “Alpha Damon”, he only mentioned that as highly suspicious of Damon, unlike the night at the train station when Tom shouted “It’s him! Alpha Damon is here!”If I’m trusting my gut, I would say that something made Tom recognize the man from the night of the attack on my pack, not Damon this perso
Dahlia’s POVI never got to see Dad again in those 48 hours, and it was pretty clear that even if I could, it would be fruitless. Even after two days of thinking, I still don’t understand how a simple inquiry on the case turned into such a bad fight with him.I can’t see Damon either. Apparently, the 48 hours is all they have to get anything out of him, and they are not allowing any visit until the hearing.I got a subpoena to attend as a witness, hence here I am, in the witness waiting room with a bunch of people that I have never seen in my life. Aiden can only appear as an audience.“This way, ma’am,” After what felt like an eternity, the guard came for me. I’m the last one to appear in court.The moment the guard pushes open the courtroom’s heavy door, I instantly feel Damon’s hot sights landing on me. But when I look over, he is already looking at the file in front of him on the defendant’s stand as if he never looked over.He looks the same as I remember him. Handsome, neat, sha