Defying the Rogue Alpha
Chapter 149: Ritual

Chapter 149: Ritual

He stood, spreading his arms, the sleeves of his robe flowing dramatically. He began the ritual again, weaving his hands through the air with theatrical flair. The words of the incantation rolled off his tongue, the language ancient, arcane, and heavy with forbidden meaning.

The mark on Ava’s neck, that silvery crescent Lucas had given her in the heat of a moment, caught between anger and admiration, a confession he could not put into words, began to fade. Alaric smiled with satisfaction, eyes twinkling with dark triumph. "Goodbye, Lucas," he whispered.

*****

Lucas watched from the barred window as his soldiers stood tense, angry, and utterly done with diplomacy. Councilmen attempted calm discussions that no one on the receiving end was interested in. His pack didn’t come to talk.

They came to take.

Lucas suddenly felt it—like a bullet to the chest.

He staggered, heart lurching violently in his ribcage. The pain was sharp, cutting through his body. His knees hit the floor with a crack, and for a second he thought he couldn’t breathe.

"Lucas!" Dennis screamed. "What’s going on?!"

But Dennis didn’t need an answer. He knew.

Lucas clutched his chest, roaring. His body convulsed as if trying to hold on to something it was being forced to release. His bond with Ava—it was being severed.

"No. No. NO!" His voice cracked with a pain no wound could inflict.

Rage swallowed him whole. He surged forward, slamming against the council’s enchanted restraints, the silver biting into his wrists, but he didn’t care.

"You don’t break a bond like that," he snarled. "You don’t just—take someone from me!"

The leashes groaned under his strength. "You’re going to rip your own arms off!" Dennis shouted.

"Let them tear," Lucas growled. "I’ll crawl to her if I have to."

And in the pit of his soul, something shifted. A dormant power stirred. He was Alpha. He was her mate. Her husband.

They didn’t know the meaning of wrath.

"I’m coming, Ava," he whispered through clenched teeth.

Lucas didn’t just call on Manic, he dragged him from the depths of agony, clawing through pain and memory. The grief, the sheer loss of Ava, it boiled inside him, and in that cauldron of chaos, Manic stirred.

The silver binding his wrists hissed violently, reacting to the surge of power. The metal glowed red-hot, steaming against his skin, but Lucas didn’t flinch. If pain was the price, then pain was welcome. He needed Manic. He needed the monster.

Dennis stumbled back with wide eyes, mouth hanging open in disbelief as he watched Lucas’s pupils darken into pitch gold, his breathing shift from ragged grief to slow, deadly calm. "Oh... hell," Dennis muttered, unsure if he should cheer or prepare to flee. Manic was unpredictable on a good day. Today definitely wasn’t a good day.

"Lucas... brother?" Dennis said cautiously. "You good in there?"

Manic turned slowly. His smirk didn’t belong to Lucas. It was wild, toothy, and completely devoid of remorse.

With a flick of his free hand, Manic gripped the cuff on his other wrist and snapped it. Sparks flew as the silver exploded, bits clattering to the floor. He stood, rolled his shoulders, and cracked his neck, giving Dennis the exact kind of grin you’d expect from someone who just finished licking blood off a blade.

Dennis swallowed. "Okay. Definitely proud. But also... a little afraid."

He approached Dennis, who instinctively tensed, Manic snapped the cuffs off him too, then turned, shifted fully and bolted out the door without another word.

"Cool. No, yeah, leave me behind, that’s fine," Dennis grumbled before shifting into his wolf, racing after the dark blur tearing down the hallway.

The corridors were empty.

Outside, Kade and the soldiers were still at the gate, muscles taut, snarls ready. But when Lucas appeared; massive, dark, glowing with untethered fury, they howled in unison. A chorus of power, unity, and vengeance.

Councilman Eryx was still trying to calm the troops, using every ounce of fake political charisma he had left, when the howls began. He turned around just in time to see the monster leap.

It was a terrifying sight. Manic mid-air, jaws open, aimed straight for Eryx’s jugular. Eryx’s eyes widened. "Oh sh..."

A blur of tan fur crashed into Manic mid-flight. It was Dread, teeth gritted even in wolf form, determined to stop the carnage. The two wolves tumbled across the ground.

Manic skidded to a halt, growling. He whipped his head toward Dread, tail flicking irritably.

Manic bared his fangs but paused. Eryx was scrambling backward, white-faced and trembling, one hand clutching his chest dramatically.

The soldiers stepped back reassured by Lucas’s arrival. Kade grinned wide, and barked the orders to ram the gate.

Manic’s growl reverberated through the courtyard. Dust kicked up beneath him as he bared his teeth, ears flat, eyes locked on the familiar wolf standing in his path; Dread, his brother and currently his obstacle.

Manic snarled viciously, the beast inside him howling for vengeance, for blood. For justice. But instead of moving, Dread stood his ground, his golden eyes calm amidst the chaos.

"Don’t burn everything down, Manic," Dread’s voice echoed in his mind, calm but commanding. "What will Ava come back to?"

Ava’s name cut through the madness. But it wasn’t enough. Not yet. Manic’s fur bristled, and he lunged a step forward, nose almost touching Dread’s. "Out of my way!" he snapped mentally, breath hot and heavy with rage.

"Focus on getting Ava back."

Manic scoffed, shaking his head with a feral laugh. "She’s gone! You know she is! Because of them!" His head whipped toward the councilmen, now cowering.

"Not yet. She isn’t gone. You and Ava... you were bonded before the mark. You were hers long before you sank your teeth into her neck. You just have to hold on."

The logic... it grated against the rage. Manic stood with muscles trembling. What if Dread was wrong? What if Ava never came back? What if Herod was having his way with her now?

But then... he remembered her laugh.

She was warmth, and chaos, and beauty and his. She was his. Will always be.

Manic’s growl softened, barely, as he stepped forward, brushing past Dread. The tip of their snouts touched in a brotherly nudge.

Then, Manic turned just in time to see the gates burst open. The soldiers poured in, howling. His pack. His family.

The beast didn’t think. It moved.

Manic charged, leaving the building in the dust. He didn’t have a plan. Lucas did plans. Manic? He did damage. And right now? He was going to get his girl back. And that was on period.

*****

In the regal stillness of the king’s bedroom, Herod sat. Beside him, Ava lay still, breathing softly, her dark lashes casting shadows on pale cheeks. She looked so delicate, so impossibly fragile. But Herod knew better.

This woman could topple empires.

He leaned closer, studying her face as if trying to read the secrets etched in her skin. Alaric had placed her there after the ritual. Her powers had flickered briefly the night before, flaring. And then... nothing. Just this slumbering silence.

Was this what Alpha Lucas had seen in her? Herod wondered. Was it her power or love?

Herod rolled his eyes at the thought. He had years of navigating courts and armies. Love had no seat at his table. It was unpredictable. Messy. Often snotty. People wept over love. Died for it. Made dumb decisions.

But then... she stirred in her sleep.

Just a little. A twitch of her fingers. A soft sigh. Herod’s breath caught. He leaned in, almost without realizing, watching for more signs of life.

Maybe Lucas hadn’t fallen in love with her powers. Maybe he had simply fallen for her.

Herod scoffed. "Ridiculous," he muttered, sitting straighter.

Waiting. Watching.

Dorian had suggested grand gestures

Herod had rolled his eyes at the time, but now, as he sat awkwardly beside a barely-conscious Ava in his bed, he started to panic. Grand gestures? What even counted? Flowers? Breakfast in bed?

She groaned softly, shifting on the plush pillows. "Mmm..." Her hand lifted to her head as though trying to hold her brain inside her skull.

Herod leaned forward. "Are you alright?"

@Lindsey_Tennyson: You always come through

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