Crowned by the enemy Alpha

Warning

CHAPTER 15

~DAMON~

Three days.

Three f*****g days since I sent those guards to Draven Crest, and not a single word back.

I pace across my chamber, my hands clenched into fists. The silence is driving me mad. By now, they should have returned, either with Lyria or with Kaelan’s response. But there’s been nothing. No message. No sign of them.

It’s not like Kaelan to be silent. He’s always been the type to gloat, to make a show of his victories.

Which means something is wrong.

“He’s underestimated me,” I mutter, turning sharply on my heel to pace back the other way. “He thinks he can just ignore me? Keep what’s mine and pretend I’ll do nothing about it?”

Cole, my Beta, stands by the door watching me with that carefully neutral expression he wears when he thinks I’m being irrational.

“Alpha, perhaps we should consider….”

“I don’t want to hear it.” I cut him off. “Kaelan wants war? Fine. I’ll give him war. I’ll show him what happens when he takes what belongs to me.”

“Lyria doesn’t belong to you anymore,” Cole says quietly. “You rejected her. In front of the entire pack.”

Before I can respond, the door bursts open without warning.

Selene sweeps in, her face flushed with anger, her sapphire eyes flashing. “Three days, Damon. Three days you’ve been locked in here, pacing and obsessing over pack business. When are you going to give me time? When are you going to act like we’re actually mated?”

I take a breath, trying to calm myself. The last thing I need right now is Selene’s jealousy on top of everything else.

“I’m sorry,” I say, forcing my voice to soften. “There’s been an issue with Draven Crest Pack. I sent guards….”

“I don’t care about your guards!” She moves closer, her hand settling on my chest. “If you truly loved me, you’d make time for me. You’d prioritize us over whatever petty rivalry you have with Kaelan.”

“It’s not petty…”

“Isn’t it?” Her voice drops, becoming almost seductive. “Come on, Damon. Forget about pack business for one evening. Forget about….” She pauses, her lip curling slightly. “Forget about her.”

She means Lyria. She won’t even say her sister’s name.

I pull Selene close, kissing her to avoid having this argument. Her lips are soft, familiar, but something feels hollow about it. Like I’m going through the motions rather than feeling anything real.

We’re still kissing when a knock interrupts us.

I pull back with a growl of frustration. “What?”

Cole opens the door. “Alpha, there’s a messenger here. From Draven Crest Pack.”

Everything else falls away.

“Finally,” I breathe. “Send them in.”

“They’re waiting outside the main hall. The messenger insisted on delivering the message publicly.”

That’s… unusual. But I’m too eager for answers to care about protocol.

“Fine. Let’s go.”

Selene follows me, her hand tucked into my arm as we make our way through the packhouse. By the time we reach the main courtyard, a crowd has already gathered, word travels fast, and everyone knows about the missing guards.

But when I step outside, I stop short.

The messenger isn’t one of Kaelan’s usual diplomats. It’s a woman dressed in full warrior gear—leather armor, weapons strapped to her body, boots made for combat. She’s holding a sword in one hand and a large cloth bag in the other. Five guards from Draven Crest flank her, all armed and alert.

She’s beautiful in a dangerous way, short black hair, sharp features, a scar cutting through her eyebrow. She looks like she could kill everyone here and not break a sweat.

For a moment, hope flares in my chest. Maybe Kaelan is surrendering. Maybe he’s realized he’s outmatched and he’s sending warriors to escort Lyria back to me.

The woman bows her head respectfully. “Alpha Damon.”

“You’re from Draven Crest?” I ask, studying her.

“I am.” She straightens, and there’s something almost predatory in her smile. “I’ve come with Alpha Kaelan’s response to your message.”

“Where are my guards? Why didn’t they return?”

Instead of answering, she reaches into the cloth bag.

What she pulls out makes my blood run cold.

A head. Human…..no, wolf. The face is bloated, pale, but I recognize him immediately.

The messenger I sent.

Gasps echo through the courtyard. Beside me, Selene makes a strangled sound of horror. Someone in the crowd screams.

The warrior holds the severed head up for everyone to see, completely unbothered by the blood dripping from her fingers.

“I am Sentinel Vera of Draven Crest Pack,” she announces, her voice carrying across the stunned silence. “And this is Alpha Kaelan’s response to your demand for Luna Lyria’s return.”

She throws the head.

It lands at my feet with a sickening thud, rolling slightly before coming to rest facing up, dead eyes staring at nothing.

I stumble backward, pulling Selene with me. My mouth opens but no words come out. I can’t think. Can’t process what I’m seeing.

“The rest of your guards are still alive,” Sentinel Vera continues, as casually as ever. “For now. They’ll be returned to you piece by piece, one body part per month, starting with the next full moon feast.”

“You—” I finally find my voice, but it comes out strangled. “You killed my messenger. That’s an act of war!”

“No, Alpha Damon.” Her smile widens, showing teeth. “Your demand for another pack’s Luna was the act of war. This is simply our response.”

She sheathes her sword in one fluid motion.

“Luna Lyria sends her regards, by the way,” Vera adds, her tone almost friendly now. “She wanted me to tell you that she appreciates you rejecting her. She says if you hadn’t, she never would have found a pack that truly values her. She never would have met Alpha Kaelan.”

Each word is like a knife twisting in my gut.

“And she wants you to know,” Vera continues, “that if you ever send anyone else to take her, she’ll personally cut off their head and deliver it herself. She’s quite capable now. I’ve trained her well.”

Before I can respond—before I can even think of what to say—Sentinel Vera moves.

She jumps, impossibly high, clearing the courtyard fence in a single leap. Her guards follow, all of them moving with supernatural speed and grace.

Within seconds, they’re gone, disappeared into the forest surrounding our territory.

Leaving me standing in my own courtyard with a severed head at my feet and the shocked, terrified faces of my pack members watching me.

Selene is clinging to my arm, her face buried against my shoulder. “Damon,” she whispers, her voice shaking. “What are we going to do?”

I don’t know. I don’t have an answer.

Kaelan didn’t just refuse my demand. He sent back a declaration of war wrapped in blood and severed body parts.

And Lyria, weak, pathetic Lyria who couldn’t even stand up for herself—sent a threat that actually sounded credible.

What the hell happened to her?