Chapter 24

I felt my eyes flash with cold fury, my hand clenching by my side as Rita’s father kept yammering on about how ‘unfair’ and ‘excessive’ his daughter’s punishment was. The tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife, and people were already starting to gather.

"Mr. Blackwood," I began, keeping my voice low and dangerous, "I don't think you fully grasp the gravity of your daughter's actions. By the laws of Eclipse, Rita should be rotting in the dungeons or wandering the wastelands as we speak."

Rita's father, red-faced and trembling, jabbed a finger in my direction. "You dare lecture me about our laws? What could you possibly know about our laws?!”

I raised one eyebrow and calmly started quoting. “Sanctioned Laws of Eclipse Pack, section 8, subsection B: ‘Public defamation of the Alpha or Luna of Eclipse pack is to be met with a minimum of three years labor.’ Same section, subsection C: ‘In the event that the Alpha or Luna of Eclipse pack is wrongfully and willfully accused of criminal activity, the offender is to be met with a minimum of twenty years imprisonment and can, at maximum, be banished from Eclipse pack in its entirety.’”

Rita’s father was all but purple with rage. “That’s ridiculous! You made that up.”

“So you don’t recognize your own laws?” I asked coolly. Rita’s father seethed, and like all weak men when they knew they were losing, he pivoted the argument.

“My daughter may have made mistakes, but at least she's not parading around like some high-class harlot!"

The words hung in the air, shocking in their vulgarity. I felt my wolf stir within me, bristling at the insult, but more importantly I felt everyone in earshot holding their breath to see how I would react.

“Watch your choice of words, Mr. Blackwood, unless you would like to be tried alongside your daughter,” I warned.

Mr. Blackwood sneered, spittle flying from his lips as he shouted, "You can’t silence me! We all know it’s the truth, that you're nothing but a lucky whore who managed to poke a hole in the condom!”

Rage roared inside of me. He could call me whatever he wanted, but no one was ever going to imply my child was anything other than wanted and loved, no matter how unplanned they may have been.

“Do not insult my child, Mr. Blackwood,” I warned, baring my teeth.

“Why not? How do we even know it’s really Alpha Elroy’s baby?” The room inhaled as one, and I felt something in me straining to maintain control.

“Amazing,” I snarled, “how in a matter of minutes you’ve managed to insult your Luna, your Alpha, their unborn child, and the very Moon Goddess who saw fit to accept me at my Luna ceremony.”

“I would never doubt the Goddess!”

“And yet you imply that she gave the honor of Luna standing to a ‘high-class whore,’” I said loudly, making sure my voice carried. “Especially one you think baby-trapped your Alpha. You have the right to doubt me, I haven’t proven myself to you yet, but to turn your sights on an unborn baby is a new level of depravity.

“But fine. If my word and the word of your Alpha aren’t enough for you, then kindly remember that a fetus won’t take nourishment from an Alpha that is not biologically related to it, and my Mate nourishes our child nightly. That alone is proof this is his child.”

“Our Alpha has a brother,” Blackwood spat. My wolf yowled.

“I am not a cheater!” I shouted, my wolf’s furious roaring underlining my words. I was losing control, but I couldn’t help it. He could call me anything else he wanted, but he could not say that I was like Damian.

No, worse. He was implying that I slept with Elroy’s actual, blood-related brother.

“See, she’s hysterical!” Blackwood shouted, pointing at me and looking around the large foyer where, unfortunately, many people were now watching us. “She’s not fit to be Luna!”

“Righteous indignation is a hell of a lot better than criminal activity,” I spat.

“My daughter is not a criminal!”

“She is, and she’s barely even getting a slap on the wrist because her Daddy’s on the council! One month of house arrest against twenty years in prison? What a fucking joke!”

Blackwood lunged forward, hand raised to strike. Time seemed to slow as I watched in horror, my body tensing to take the hit even as my arms came up to block. I could tell I was going to be a millisecond too late, but I knew how to take a hit, he was aiming for my face so my baby would be safe--

The crack of flesh meeting flesh echoed through the room. The young man in front of me stumbled backward, a red mark blooming across his cheek.

My heart pounded in my chest as I realized that one of the manor’s staff—a beta man who worked the kitchens—had jumped in front of me to take the blow. That was the second time now that one of Eclipse’s civilians had put themselves between me and a threat. First the waiter at the bakery, now the kitchen worker, and both of them got injured in my stead.

Something in me snapped.

I rushed to catch the falling beta, almost not noticing as the air in the room suddenly grew thick and oppressive. A weight pressed down on all of us, an invisible force that made it hard to breathe. Blackwood staggered like he’d been hit.

My wolf stirred restlessly within me, recognizing the unmistakable aura of an Alpha. But this... this wasn't the familiar, icy presence of Elroy. No, this power felt raw, untamed, like a storm about to make landfall.

The pressure intensified, and I saw Rita's father stumble back, his face pale with shock. His knees were weakening under the onslaught of power and all I could think was Good.

I hoped it fucking crushed him.

Suddenly, I felt my wolf howl in pure, unbridled joy. The realization hit me like a bolt of lightning, and I knew, with every fiber of my being, who that presence belonged to.

It belonged to me.