320
Lucy
"David," he growled, his voice like gravel grinding against stone. "Fancy seeing you here, gracing us with your… presence, just like your father."
What did that mean? I looked between the two of them. David remained unflinching. I could almost see the vein jumping in his jaw at the mention of his father.
“I didn’t think you capable of giving a compliment,” David said coolly. “Alpha Oren, how nice for you to grace us with your presence.”
David’s voice was tense. It was so unfair. I could hear the pain in his voice. Maybe I could just feel it. I could almost see an image. It looked like a man standing with Delilah in a long white dress with the armor I was wearing. My heart ached as the images flipped through my mind. I could see them growing older and closer through the photos. I felt his grief and his fury.
I saw his father cradling Delilah’s body in his arms. His wail of pain echoed in my heart and stole my breath. The rage crashed over me and set my jaw.
Him. It was Oren’s fault. I didn’t know how I knew that, but I believed it. David had the same hatred and anger for Oren that I felt toward Selene. Oren glared at him.
“I had thought when your father had the good sense to die, we’d be done with these ridiculous traditions,” he snarled.
“I wouldn’t expect you to understand the nature of traditions and their meanings,” David said stiffly.
“You sound like your mother,” he snarled. “The only tradition that matters is power, and you have a lot of nerve pretending that you have any, whelp. Xavier was weak. He died weak. And you’ll do much of the same.”
“… I believe we agreed to see each other on the pitch,” David said. “Though if you’d like to hasten that, it can be arranged.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You don’t have the guts to challenge me here.”
The air crackled with unspoken tension; Oren's fury was almost tangible, and the silence was loaded. I felt the tension in David, felt how close to just punching Oren here and now, or worse, he was. I was in awe of his restraint, but what was Oren trying to achieve, antagonizing him like this?
David pushed me gently a little more behind him, shielding me. Then, I realized that I was wrong. It wasn’t restraint I was feeling from him. It was the desire to protect. He was more concerned with keeping me safe. I smiled.
“Guts? Plenty, I also have the good sense and poise not to disrupt the festivities to put up with your tantrum.” His voice turned mocking. “If this is about Chance Industries’ failed acquisitions and my subsequent successful acquisitions, then you should take that up with the man running your company… Last I heard, that was you.”
He snarled. “You’re playing a game you’re bound to lose. There’s a reason that Blue Moon is the most powerful pack.”
David scoffed. “I’m not going to argue with your delusions.”
“You—"
“Honestly, twelve years, and you still manage to pick a fight with people you can’t possibly beat.”
The voice was stern and familiar. I turned to see Prince Triton and his entourage from Sea Shell Cove sweeping toward us like a glittering tidal wave. Triton smiled at me. His eyes twinkling. Then, he turned to look at Oren. His usual playful facade vanished as he glared at Oren.
“You’re just as uncouth as ever. I really wished Xavier had dropped his good breeding for a moment and challenged you all those years ago. I imagine we would all be living very different lives.”
David shifted, nudging me further away from Oren.
Oren turned to him. “Stay out of this, fish man.”
"Charming.”
He snarled. “This whole Festival, the idea of it, is a hoax. Werewolves are the supreme race, and the sooner you all realize that and fall in, the easier it will all be.” He made a fist. “I would hate for there to have to be another war to prove a point.”
I frowned. That sounded like he was here for the last one, but hadn’t that been…. Centuries ago?
“Still howling about werewolf supremacy, Oren?" he drawled, his eyes shimmering with mischief. "Newsflash, pup.”
Oren growled.
“Werewolves make up such a small portion of the supernatural populace, it’s laughable, and the only chance your fractured packs have of unification, of any of us having any chance of unification, is under Blood Moon’s banner. I’d suggest you learn some respect before heads start rolling.”
Oren's face contorted into a mask of murderous rage. His snarling growl sent shivers down my spine. Fur rippled up from beneath his collar. In a flash, he lunged at Triton, a whirlwind of claws and fangs.
David, in that split second, moved with impossible speed, drawing his sword in a smooth, gliding pull and holding it to Oren’s neck. Oren went still as the blade bit into his neck.
"Enough, Oren,” David growled. “Stop, or it won’t wait for the pitch, and I’ll take your head here.”
The room fell silent, every eye trained on the tense standoff. The music stopped abruptly. The air crackled with the raw energy of unleashed power. Oren snarled. His eyes flashed with moonlight. David’s body was firmly between us. I knew from his stance that he very well could take Oren’s head off if he swung hard enough. My heart hammered against my ribs.
Oren turned, drawing back from the blade. Then, a blur of silver light engulfed Oren, freezing him in place. The light wrapped around Oren's limbs, rendering him powerless. It was so elegant. He hadn’t said a single word. He set the tip of his blade on Oren’s shoulder.
“Last chance, Oren,” David said. “It makes me no difference.”
The light broke, and Oren staggered. His snarls choked. He turned and grabbed the woman hard, yanking her with him as he pushed through the crowd. David took in a deep breath. He turned to look at me.
“Are you alright?”
I nodded. He sheathed his sword and let out a long, frustrated breath. His gaze, hard and unforgiving, settled on Triton, who stood amidst the stunned crowd, his usual nonchalance replaced by a flicker of something akin to respect. He looked impressed.
“You really are Xavier’s son.”
"Dear cousin,” David's voice, though low, carried across the hushed room. “Why provoke him? "
Triton shrugged, a sardonic smile playing on his lips.
"No games, dear princeling," he drawled. "Merely stating a fact. It’s been clear since the beginning that the Blood Moon banner flies the highest, no matter what propaganda has been spread. I was only hoping to get Oren’s head permanently corrected."
The tension in the room began to ease, replaced by a murmur of hushed whispers. Oren's outburst, David's swift response, and Triton's words had sent shockwaves through the gathering. David shook his head.
“You’re a shit starter.”
“Thank you.”
He turned to address the crowd, telling the band to start playing again and trying to get everyone back in a celebratory mood, but from what I could hear, everyone was more curious about David meeting Oren on the pitch.
“Are you really?” A woman asked. She was pale and tall in the way I imagined vampires would look.
“I will be there,” David said. “Whether he will withdraw his challenge or not is up to him.”
Her lips twitched, and a vicious red light drifted through her eyes.
“Dear prince, Oren does not know how to withdraw a challenge… Nor does he issue challenges he believes he will lose.”
Triton burst into laughter, and as much as it warmed me to see someone have so much faith in David, I couldn't shake the tremor that ran through me. Witnessing Oren's unhinged rage, feeling the raw power crackling in the air, had unnerved me to the core. Why would he act like that now? And then, a chilling sensation prickled at the back of my neck, a familiar presence sending shivers down my spine.
Across the room, bathed in the ethereal glow of a moonlit balcony, stood Selene. Her eyes, cold and predatory, met mine for a fleeting moment with a silent promise of the chaos to come. She smirked at me.
I saw the pages of the book flash through my mind. I saw that vision of my body staring out the window. I could smell my hair burning in the flat iron, and my stomach lurched.
Would I be trapped in that body with her, helpless to escape, helpless to look away as she did whatever she wanted with my body?
I clenched my fist. The Ball was, apparently, just the beginning.
David slipped his hand back into mine with a tense smile. “How about dinner?”
I nodded stiffly and looked back to where I’d seen Selene. She was gone, but I knew it wasn’t over yet.
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