Chapter 54

~Alexander~

“Get out of the way, old man,” I growled, but I was hesitant to take any physical action.

The Lycan elder was the oldest living Lycan in the world, and his wisdom held great power. He was honored as a Lycan, and his words were always heeded.

However, he had not been very vocal recently, which I had been grateful for. I had to be able to run the Black Lycan clan by myself.

His guidance was appreciated, but if given too often, it was more of an annoyance.

Which is why I hesitated to merely brush him aside now.

He had to have felt very strongly about something in order for him to speak out to me at this moment in time, and I would be foolish not to listen to him.

But he really had to do it right now? I was really in a time crunch, and it just was not the time to bring up my ruling performance.

“I have sat by and let you sort things out by yourself, trusting your judgement. Your father was a great leader, and I believed he passed those traits onto his son,” the Elder spoke with a sharp tone.

I felt an aching pain in my chest. It had been so long since I’d seen my father… He really was the greatest leader this clan had seen. And I tried so damn hard to follow in his footsteps, but…

I was still a child when he died, leaving the weight of the clan on my shoulders, alone.

What was I supposed to do? I had no one to teach me, and yet I rose to the top. I am the most powerful alpha here. Everyone fears me.

But it stung to think that my father would be disappointed in the empire that I had built. The family I cultivated.

I lowered my eyes, staying silent.

“When your family was murdered, you swore you would restore the clan’s honor. How many years has it been? You have a responsibility to this clan and you’ve been putting it off for far too long,” he continued, leaning on his cane.

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Why do you hesitate? Have you gotten too distracted, or do you just not care?”

I closed my eyes, growling. His words cut me deep, and I could sense the ones who were left from the crowd that had been filtering out, stop to look at me.

Looking around, I saw cameras pointed in my direction. I clenched my jaw in annoyance.

Of course the media was eating this up. Not a sense of privacy for anyone. They eat any goddamned bit of drama up.

My gaze fell on the grey eyes of the Lycan Elder. He watched me intently, his gaze authoritative and powerful.

My clan or Grace?

How did it come down to this?

Why did I have to choose right now? Couldn’t this wait until after I sorted everything out?

I sighed. Deep down, in my heart, I knew that if I sought after Grace, I would never be able to follow through with my revenge. I couldn’t restore the clan’s honor.

She would stop me from bloodshed. She’s already changed the man I was, and I wasn’t sure I even wanted that anymore for myself.

Damnit.

The whole world was watching me right now. My fellow clansmen and women were wondering what my next move would be. Would they see me as weak or kind if I were to go after Grace?

Would they even accept me as their King anymore?

Did I even deserve to be King if I had let my revenge grow cold for so long?

Pent up pain swelled deep within my chest, and suddenly I howled in agony, never having to face this difficult of a decision before.

Goddamnit!!

~Grace~

Exotic food, precious gemstones, and flashy clothes lay around me in heaps. Rogue after Rogue brought in gifts in boxes, all with expensive brands on their labels.

Laying on the bed, I simply waved away at them as they came in. They would open the boxes for me, their silky bows fluttering to the floor, and I would be presented with the most luxurious items imaginable.

Where was Christopher getting all this money? Could he even afford stuff like this? Or had he stolen it all?

Or maybe they were dupes?

Either way, I didn’t care.

I rolled over onto my stomach, sighing. I really just wished to be left alone.

I didn’t need all these gifts. Perhaps it was Christopher’s idea of cheering me up, but it was kind of the last thing I cared about.

My heart had just been ripped out of my chest, and he was trying to fill it with material items.

I buried my face in my pillow, trying to block out the endless line.

Boxes had piled up in the corner of my room, and soon, there would be nowhere to walk.

I slept through the night like a rock. Waking up early this morning, I was happy to find my splitting headache gone, and my eyes were only a little puffy from last night’s cry.

While I was no longer in constant agony from the thought of Alex’s betrayal, I still felt an emptiness inside me that left me numb to pretty much everything.

It was nice of Christopher not to keep me here against his will, but honestly, I didn’t really care. Even if he wanted to keep me here, I think I would just stay here for a while. I had nowhere else to go, anyway, and he gave me free food and a place to sleep.

Honestly, if I were a lesser woman, it would be incredibly easy to play him like a fiddle and make him get me anything I wanted.

But even in my apathetic state, I had morals. The thought of stooping that low made my gut churn, anyway.

Someone dropped something made of glass, because I heard it shatter on the floor. Some panicked voices cried out, and I heard shuffling. I covered my head with my pillow.

God, I just wished they would leave.

I lay still for a moment before sitting up.

Looking wearily at the group huddled on the floor, trying to sweep up the glass and looking very pale and nervous, I sighed.

“You all can go,” I said flatly.

They looked up at me with surprise.

“B-but King Christopher-” One began, trembling.

I shook my head.

“What he wants doesn’t matter. This is my room, isn’t it? I can clean up the mess, you’ve done enough,” I sighed.

The group cast nervous glances around at each other. I could tell they wanted to go, but were hesitant to.

Was Christopher really that scary?

“Go,” I emphasized, waving my hand toward the door. Finally, the group got to their feet, hurrying out of the room.

I sighed, rubbing my temples. Finally, they were gone.

I looked around the room. Boxes stacked on top of boxes, each overflowing with extravagant gifts.

I chuckled to myself. I kind of felt like a princess, being courted by all of the princes in the kingdom to ask for my hand in marriage.

My heart suddenly fell at that thought.

Marriage. I doubt I’d ever get married again.