in Vengeance 138_A Broken Alpha Heiress' Revenge

Lucien’s POV

 + Pearls

 Duke gave a crisp nod before signaling to the Stormridge guards behind him. They moved instantly–two towering wolves in dark suits, each with the presence of a sentry and the strength of executioners.

 Without hesitation, they seized Seraphina’s arms like iron shackles snapping shut. Her screams erupted the moment she was tom away from the hem of my 

 y coal.

 “No! Let go of me!” she shrieked, voice jagged and shrill.

 Her feet kicked wildly, heels scraping across the marble floors, her manicured ws leaving screeching trails like an animal/ dragged to ughter.

 The hall had been filled with tension before. Now, it cracked open. 

 Seraphina knew me. Far too well.

 She’d spent over two decades in the Duskgrave family, ying the role of Luna with a smile stitched out of venom. And in those years, she had learned a hard truth:

 If I dared do something publicly, it meant I’d already ounted for the consequences.

 If I did something in private–well, then there were no limits.

 Just like earlier. I hadn’t lifted a de myself when it came to those rogue wives–I’d simply made their husbands do it. Under pack </bw, that counted as nothing more than a domestic dispute. Nothing to investigate. Nothing to trace back to me.

 I didn’t have to leave blood on my hands. I left it on theirs.

 That was the kind of Alpha I was. The kind Seraphina feared most.

 “Lucien!” a voice rang out

 Ford

 My father in name only,

 He stormed forward, his voice thick with fury and disbelief. “You can’t do this. She’s your stepmother!”

 I turned my head slowly, meeting his gaze with nothing but frost.

 “Oh? So attached, are we?” My voice was smooth,ced with cold steel. “Why don’t you take her ce, then?”

 The air changed

 It was subtle–like winter winds curling into the bones. Even the warmest corners of the banquet hall felt suddenly frigid, as if the blood moon itself had passed over 

 e flushed crimson, from his neck to his ears. Like a rooster cornered in a pit fight, too proud to admit he’d already

 “You will noy another finger on her he bellowed “No matter what she did. I won’t allow it!”

 He stepped in front of Seraphina, arms outstretched like a shield made of wet paper. He might’ve thought it noble.

 I found at pathetic.

 Seraphina’s eyes lit with a flicker of hope. She iwed at Ford’s sleeves, sobbing like a broken thing “Save me. Ford! Dont let

 then take me

 45 PM p p.

 “So touching.” I said coldly. “Fine. Take them both.”

 The guards didn’t even hesitate.

 +8 Pearls

 Two of them stepped forward and seized Ford’s arms. The man resisted, twisting and jerking, barking threats that fell t in the cars of wolves who no longer saw him as their leader.

 “I’m your father, Lucien! You’ll regret this!”

 “Mother! Are you just going to stand there and let him betray his blood?!”

 His words were meant for my grandmother–Matriarch Duskgrave–who had been watching in silence from her chair of carved obsidian. The regal lines of her face twitched, but she said nothing. 

 Only when I nced her way did she finally open her mouth.

 “Lucien…

 “I know what I’m doing, Grandmother.” I said, my voice respectful but firm.

 ‘She exhaled a long, slow sigh. Then she nodded once and closed her eyes again.

 She understood.

 She remembered.

 She was there the day my mother died–driven to madness and despair by the woman Ford now cradled in his arms. Seraphina hadn’t just taken her ce. She had spar on her memory.

 I’d been five years old. 

 A child.

 But even then, I had picked up a knife.

 To barged into their wedding chambers, ready to kill both of them.

 The adults pulled me away before I couldnd the strike–but not before I made a promise that silenced the entire house

 can kill you now, and thew won’t touch me. I’m too young.

 I’d said that with blood in my eyes. And from that moment on, Seraphina had never stopped trembling in my presence

 Not even now

 The doors to the private room mmed shut. Momentster, the screams began

 Seraphina’s voice tore through the silence, a raw, animalistic wail that sent a ripple of unease through every noble in the

 Then came Ford’s voice–rage turning into panic.

 The sounds from behind the door grew sharper, crueler Crashes men Bones, maybe I didn’t need to know the 

 details

 Eseryone the

 They were frozen in ce

 Even Kaley–who stood at my side like a me wrapped in silk–showed no reaction. She didn’t need to

 Because this wasn’t about vengram anymore

 3:45 PM

 Minutes passed.

 D

 +8 Pearls

 Or hours. The screaming faded, leaving only the rhythmic thrum of blood in the ears of those who still had the nerve to

 listen

 Then the door creaked open.

 Duke stepped out first.

 Behind him, Seraphina was dragged into view–though “dragged” was generous. She was a heap of broken limbs, her arms and legs bent at grotesque angles, the bone clearly shattered beneath ruined skin.

 Her face–once the pride of the Duskgrave household–was shed beyond recognition. Blood dripped from her cheeks like tears. Her mouth, now a cavity of raw flesh, bled freely. Every tooth was gone. She couldn’t even scream anymore.

 She wasn’t a Luna.

 She wasn’t even a wolf.

 Just a carcass breathing on borrowed time.

 Ford followed.

 No injuries to the body, no visible marks.

 But his eyes..

 Empty. Hollow. Like a soul had been ripped from him and thrown into the Abyss.

 The guards held him upright, but his legs had already given up.

 There were no more protests.

 No more pleads.

 No more delusions of control.

 Only silence.

 The entire banquet hall had fallen into a frozen hush. Nobles stared, wide–eyed and pale. None of them would ever forget

 And that was the point

 1 turned my eyes back to the gathering.

 Let them tremble. Let them remember that the Duskgrave name meant something again

 That I–Lucien Duskgrave—was no longer the boy with a knife.

 I was the Alpha now

 And there would be no more mercy

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17kNovel

in Vengeance 138