The Alpha's Secret Luna novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: What the Elders Offered

The Elders waited for us in the great hall of the Valen Manor, under a tall window that showed the whole gray sea.

I came down the stairs in a borrowed dress, and Corbin walked behind me at exactly three steps.

Every wolf in the hall saw it.

The old owner's gray-suited guards stood along the walls.

Six Elders sat in a half circle on carved chairs, and the oldest of them rose when I entered.

"Cassandra Greaves," she said. "Daughter of the Alpha who gave his life for this pack."

"Elder," I said.

"Dale Mercer's wolves left the cliff road below this manor at dawn," she said. "They saw our cars and ran. He will not come again until he has a force worth the risk."

"He'll wait for the crowning," I said.

"Yes."

She lifted a black wooden box from the chair beside her.

She opened it, and the silver ring lay on a bed of velvet, polished clean.

It was the ring Corbin had laid on the Tower steps.

"The ring is yours," the Elder said. "By blood and by law. We ask you to take it, and to stand as Alpha of Stonehaven."

I looked at it.

For four years I had thought the ring was a weight on my father's hand, and then on Corbin's.

I had never thought it would be mine.

"I'll take it," I said. "But first, tell me what the law says about him."

The oldest Elder's eyes moved past me to Corbin.

"A mated Alpha who signs his bond away in secret has broken the Moon Goddess's trust," she said. "The old penalty was exile. The older one was death."

The hall was very quiet.

"Under the law, the ring's keeper chooses," the Elder said. "You may exile him. You may take his life. Or you may name a lesser sentence. It is yours."

← Chapter 21 · All chapters · Chapter 23 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend