Chapter 8

Nox’s father, the previous Alpha of this pack, waited for us inside his office on the top floor of City Hall.

The retired Alpha Oliver, who had once been like a second father to me, was also the man who had sentenced me to my fate. He’d done so knowing the horror’s the servants of the Lycan Camp faced.

He was going to regret not executing me when he had the chance.

It was our custom to call all retired leaders by the title of Sir or Ma’am. While they were no longer considered the Alpha or Luna, there still had to be a certain degree of respect when addressing them.

Too bad respect was the one thing I didn’t have for Oliver.

“I apologize for arriving late, father. There were a few unexpected hold ups.” Nox said, announcing our presence.

I didn’t miss the way he side-eyed me, making it known I was the one that held us all up.

Nox’s father stood at the window overlooking the town, his hands clasped at his front. It seemed he hadn’t given up his need to look impeccable at all times, because he wore a slate grey suit that looked freshly cleaned and pressed. Not a speck of dust rested on the fabric, but if it had, Oliver would’ve found it.

He turned, and as he did so, I spotted the wisps of grey at his temples, fading into the inky black hair that he and Nox shared.

Oliver and Nox shared many things in common, actually. One of their few differences was their eyes.

Where Oliver’s was dark, almost as dark as the thick mop of hair on his head, Nox’s were the same pale blue as his mother’s.

“Lilac.” Nox’s father said with equal parts disdain and contempt.

Did he think I’d cower before him? Did he think I cared how he felt about me?

“Oliver.” I sang his name sweetly. “Or should I call you father-in-law?”

The fine lines etched into the corners of his eyes thinned out in his irritation. To further show how unfazed I was, I proceeded to walk the length of his office, eying the knick-knacks and books he kept in neat little rows upon a wall of built in shelves.

With the flick of my wrist, I spun the sphere of a miniature globe.

“Oliver is fine.” He replied stiffly. The granite in his voice told me that it was in fact not fine, but I didn’t particularly care regardless.

I knew it was not me he was speaking to when he said, “Did she not learn respect at all in those four years under your supervision?”

A little hour glass sat atop a stack of books on one of the shelves. Humming quietly to myself, I flipped the piece over and watched as the sand began to trickle and fall. One by one, the granules hit the bottom of the glass.

Harriet’s raspy voice came next.

“I taught her many lessons, Sir. It seems they didn’t take.”

A chuckle must’ve slipped past my lips because Oliver spoke directly to me.

“Is something amusing to you, Lilac?” The distinct lack of curiosity in his voice showed he also couldn’t care less, but I felt obliged to answer anyway.

“There are many things that are amusing to me.” I replied, stopping my perusing of Oliver’s shelves.

Glancing down at my feet, I couldn’t help but notice the way my beat up sneakers stood out against the expensive Persian rug covering the floor of the office. Jeremy, who had been growing more red-faced by the second, chose this moment to open his mouth.

“This is all just a game to her. You’re wasting your time here.” He said sourly .

“Be that as it may, we have no choice but to participate. As Nox’s fated mate, we need her cooperation if he is to officially step into my position.” Oliver sighed, gesturing to the center of the room. “Let us all be seated. It’s about time we make a deal and see what Lilac here wants.”

What I want your downfall—to see the look on your face as I tear down your pack brick by brick and steal from you the life of your son. That is what I want.

Even as the thought entered my head, bringing the sweetest of smiles to my face, I said nothing. Doing as Oliver instructed just this once, I waltzed over to the large oak table at the center of his office. The circular monstrosity was clearly to host board meetings or some other form of boring event, and had nearly a dozen chairs perched around it’s edges.

I pulled one out and plopped into it, meeting Hakeem’s eyes as he followed suit. When Nox drifted by, I grabbed the empty chair to my left and pulled it out.

“Sit next to me, mate.” I cooed, fluttering my lashes at him.

Oh, how I enjoyed the agitation that rippled across his rugged face. The tendons in his throat constricted, but I had a feeling that was for another reason entirely. Surprisingly, he did as I said and lowered himself into the seat at my side.

To my right, Hakeem flashed me a curious look, which I returned with a devious grin.

Oliver clasped his hands together and rested them on the surface of the table. He looked almost regal in that suit of his, broad shouldered and hair speckled with grey. Nox embodied the youth his father no longer had, only minus the suit. Nox had always preferred a simple t-shirt and torn jeans, another thing that hadn’t really changed.

Oliver’s baritone cut through the tension clogging the room, demanding we all fall in line and pay attention. “Our terms are as such. You will play the part of my son’s mate, stand by his side, and fulfill all duties as his Luna. You will have a total of one week to be marked and fully mated. After this point, you will have one year before I expect you to carry his pups.”

I snorted audibly, smacking my hand on the table. “A week? No, that’s not happening. Six months.”

Oliver’s jaw clicked shut, clenching tightly enough that I could see the muscles overlapping his bones.

“Six months? You need half a year to bite my son and accept him into your bed?” He said with a raised eyebrow.

Little did he know, Nox would never see the inside of my bed. I’d sooner pull my own teeth out than let that happen.

“You’re strangely invested in your son’s sex life.” I murmured, refusing to back down.

If I thought Oliver had been pissed earlier, I hadn’t seen anything yet. The notes of warm amber that swam in his eyes brightened as his wolf pushed itself to the surface. Once, I would’ve been scared shitless at the thought of pissing off Alpha Oliver, but I’d looked death in the face and knew her intimately.

This man could not scare me.

Oliver stood, using his masculine build and height to tower over me, slamming his hands down on the table hard enough to make the likes of Harriet jump. I leaned back in my seat, folding my arms over my chest as I peeled back my lips in a grin.

That’s right, Oliver. Look at you, powerless for once in your life.

As if he could read my thoughts, his face twisted and contorted into a look of fury. I was no longer staring at Nox’s father, the man that had a hand in raising me after my mother had been murdered, but the acting Alpha of the Midnight Fall’s pack.

His eyes flickered with magic, but I was more than ready.

“I can and will make you do this, Lilac.” He said, his voice several notes deeper.

“I knew you’d say that.” I whispered with a sickening smile.

Slamming my hand down on Nox’s arm hard enough to bruise, I latched onto him and sunk my nails into his skin. My lovely mate snarled under his breath, his head whipping in my direction to stare at me with icy blue daggers.

“Go ahead, Oliver. Use your magic on me, try and persuade me. You just might be fast enough, but is that a risk you’re willing to take? You know what I can do.” Darkness flooded my voice in waves of glistening oil, and that box—the one I kept shoved into the very back of the closet—quivered with the prospect of being opened, of being set free.

“He’ll be dead before you get a single word out.”

Just like that, the fury in Oliver’s eyes vanished.

If there was one thing in this world I could count on—could bet my life on, it was the fact that Oliver Griffin loved his son with every fiber of his being.

Apart from my father, only Oliver and Nox knew what I could do. After all, they were the ones that dealt with Beta Silas’s body.

“Three months.” Oliver said, the note of finality in his voice unmistakable.

It wasn’t much time to get revenge and systematically destroy this pack from the inside out, but I could manage it well enough. I removed my nails from Nox’s arm, and as I flattened my hand on the cold surface of the table, I was left with the slight tingle that rippled across my skin, an after affect of the sparks from the mate-bond.

“Three months.” I rolled the words around on my tongue before giving him a curt nod. “Alright, deal.”

“Wonderful, glad we could come to this amicable agreement.” Oliver’s voice and expression were both very dry, a fact I found hilarious. He lowered himself back into his seat and gestured at me with an open hand. “Go ahead and state your terms.”

“I don’t ever want to step foot in another Lycan camp ever again. I can’t make that clear enough.” I said.

Oliver made a sound of agreement. “Is that all?”

“One last thing.” I hummed. “I want my friend here to made into a Lycan.”