Chapter 37
Eden
My heart pounds as I look between Logan and his father. I have no idea where this is headed. Marcus looks ready to kill me, and Logan, he’s standing in his father’s path, but his hands are clenching and unclenching, his mind clearly at war.
Just like mine.
What am I to him? Not someone worth defying his father or the pack elders for. We’re not that deep.
Logan’s icy blue eyes lock onto mine, and my heart seizes.
This is it. The moment he shatters what we built.
Marcus looks smug. “That’s right. Show her that she can’t get away with disrespecting her future Luna.”
Yang and the other pack elders smile, and I know they are waiting for Logan to turn on me.
And I know he will. Logan might not like how his father and the pack elders have run the Valentine pack, but he isn’t brave enough to stand up to his father.
He isn’t going to defend me. Axel senses it too because the second Logan moves, Axel stands up from the floor and positions himself in front of me.
I’m distraught. I know Axel said he would become my friend and that he promised loyalty, but this? Standing up to his Alpha for my sake? What the hell!
I stand there, crippled by my own shock while Axel releases a deep, threatening growl and then bares his sharp teeth at his own Alpha.
Logan’s eyes flash with surprise. He looks at me as if somehow trying to seek the answer to his own Beta’s behavior. When he can’t find the answer he seeks, he looks back at Axel with cold, deadly eyes.
“Stand down, Beta.”
Axel doesn’t budge.
Those massive chocolate ears are flat against his big head, giving away his fear. My friend is terrified and yet he won’t move out of the way.
It makes Logan lose his patience.
“I said, stand DOWN!” He roars, his Alpha command making the walls vibrate.
ward
Axel whimpers, still refusing to move. It makes Logan’s last bit of patience snap. He rushes forward in human form, shape–shifting into his white wolf to fight the other wolf.
The fight doesn’t last long.
Logan’s larger wolf has Axel down on his back within seconds, his teeth sinking in Axel’s neck fluff. When his teeth pierces Axel’s skin, the smaller wolf whimpers and then goes still. Too still.
“Axel!” I gasp, watching in horror as Axel kicks with his feet, struggling to break free.
But he can’t.
Logan is stronger and Marcus laughs at the violence, the sound chilling my blood. “That’s what happens to mutinous Betas. Now for the omega.”
Logan turns to me after Axel is lying deathly still on the floor. There’s conflict in his blue eyes despite his impassive expression. I can see him warring with himself as his father’s expectant gaze burns into him.
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Chapter 37
Axel tries to get up again, determined to protect me despite his injuries. His loyalty breaks something in me, I can’t let him what let my
“Stop!” I run over to where Axel is, my arms stretched out to protect the chocolate wolf behind me from the larger white one. This is Between s Paris. Axel has nothing to do with it.” I lif
my chin, meeting Marcus’s cold stare. “If someone needs to be punished, it should be me. Not him s
Logan shape–shifts back into a human, his face sprayed with Axel’s blood. “Eden…”
“Finally, the omega shows some sense,” Yang says with a smirk.
Marcus’s eyes gleam with cruel satisfaction before he looks at the other pack elders. “Take her to the dungeons. A night in isolation should teach her some respect.”
“Father-” Logan begins, but Marcus cuts him off.
“Unless you’d prefer to handle her punishment personally? In front of your betrothed?”
Logan’s jaw clenches, a muscle ticking in his cheek as he remains silent.
“That’s what I thought,” Marcus sneers. He gestures to two warrior wolves who have appeared in the doorway. “Take her away.”
The warrior wolves grab my arms roughly, and I don’t resist. When they drag me toward the door, I catch Logan’s gaze. For a split second, I see anguish in those blue depths before his mask slips back into place.
“Wait,” Paris calls, her voice filled with vicious delight. “I want to see this. I deserve to witness her punishment after what she did to me.”
Marcus nods approvingly. “Of course. The future Luna should observe justice being served.”
They drag me through the gleaming halls of the Valentine mansion, my naked feet scraping against marble as I keep my eyes on the floor, afraid that if I look up, I’ll shatter. Dread curls around my ribs, tightening with every step. They said twenty–four hours–but something in their silence tells me my punishment in the pack dungeons isn’t temporary. This is just the beginning. And Moon Goddess help me, I don’t think I’ll survive what comes next.
AD
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