Chapter 104
DARIAN’S POV
I lifted my head and met the Council member’s prideful glares with a careless one of my own. But they were suspicious. Every other time that they had delivered the next one of their little games, I’d read it right away and then we’d have a drink and I would act like they weren’t the scum of the earth who all deserved a painful death preferably at my hands.
It was easy those times because I’d been prepared, I had time to get everything in order and the herbs were already in my system; meaning that every emotion and gnarly sliver of humanity that could get in my was gone, hidden away and I could get the job done.
But this meeting wasn’t planned, it was sprung on me while I was off chasing that fucker who was with Hazel at the club.
I recognized him from a meeting at the Council a long time ago, I’d recognize his eyes anywhere because they were the first thing I saw lighting up in the dark corridor before he stepped into the light for a second and then poof, gone like a breath like he was never there but I did get a good look of his tattoo; a snake that slithered down his arm and the head filled the back of his hand. It was a nice tattoo, I might frame it and hang it up in the office once I’m done with him.
The herbs were right there in the robe, I could smell them, but I couldn’t touch them with the Council members present.
Opening the envelope and reading the rules for the last game meant reading what I had to do to her, my last horrific act towards the girl whose only wrong was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Hunt wasn’t where I first met Hazel, it was a meeting with her Alpha last year where he begged me for an invitation to this year’s annual Hunt. It was pathetic, I answered his desperate plead for a meeting only because the Council wanted him quiet and the King was the only one in a position to grant someone an invitation after the initial decisions had been made.
Once I arrived at his pack I saw Hazel playing by the pond with her sister. She was devoted, loving, and fiercely protective. Of course, I noticed her celestial beauty but how her fist connected with another girl’s nose when she tripped Mathilda was what made me curious.
“It’s a shame that Ophelia isn’t here to witness this, is it not your majesty?” Derek’s thick accent made what he said sound almost as funny as he wanted it to be.
“Yes, surely your wife would’ve loved to see how it ended. She did love her games that woman,” Augustine remarked.
I laughed and enjoyed how their faces shifted uncomfortably.
“My wife was a spoiled bitch whose only success in life was to fuck her way to the top,”
“Sure had you fooled though, didn’t she,” Derek snarled.
I walked closer, the guards readied themselves behind the two cunts facing me and my chest swelled with pride from the faint smell of fear on their wrinkled souls.
“Mention my wife again and I will rip that envelope to pieces and cram it down your throats,”
“Are you prepared to pay the steep price that will follow such a violent act? Were the screams not enough? Do they not still haunt your nightmares when you sleep next to that whore you chose as the pawn for this game? And did you truly believe that you could protect her by simply sharing a room? All these questions and still I stand very much alive. Do not test our patience, King Darian, the power shift has already begun and we’re here to see to it that it continues.”
“We can take them, all of them,” my Lycan, Rhys, growled.
“And lose everything in the process,” I warned. “Stand down, we’re not ripping any heads today,”
“My King,”
I looked at Nora who stood smiling with a tray in her hands. On the tray were crystal glasses filled with scotch for our guests, and leaning against one of them was the envelope with the last game that would be played.
Her eyes glimmered and her smile was nothing short of professional as she waited for me to grab it off the tray. I flexed my fingers and gritted my teeth. After I took it, she strutted around the room and handed a drink to each man, gazing at them fondly and dragging her fingers over their fingers seductively when they reached for a glass.
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Chapter 104
“Is there anything else I can do?” She asked and batted her thick-coated lashes at the men from the Dark Guard.
They looked at their leaders for a sign but kept a straight, cold face while doing so.
“She only bites if you want her to. Your men are safe,” I said when I saw the reluctance on their faces.
Nora was good, maybe even the best I’ve hired. She knows where to look, who to touch, and what to say to get men to lower their guards.
She was the best secret weapon during any negotiation and she was the best decision I made when it came to Hazel’s protection.
Nora sees everything but also blends in perfectly with any crowd and she scored the highest points when it came to close combat and pain resistance during initiation with MarryBell.
Derek threw the guys a nod and they walked over to the lounge chairs where Nora welcomed them while Derek, Augustine, and myself sat at my desk.
The envelope was getting moist in my hand and when I took my seat in the leather chair behind my desk I knew there wasn’t an option but to read it and act just like I had every other time.
Cold, excited, ruthless, and heartless.
I opened it and they leaned back in their chairs.
The object of this game has always been to restore power and control over Valeria to those fit to rule it. The Council has long lived as second in command to the royal Lycan but that will soon come to an end. Every sacrifice on your part has brought us closer to the end while it has also brought you closer to your promised price. You have played valiantly, King Darian, and for that, we salute you. Now is the time for the final scene: Tying up loose ends.
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The Alpha’s Hunt
