Defying the Rogue Alpha
Chapter 183: Fire

Chapter 183: Fire

Ava stared at him, fire in her eyes. "Then how is it that Herod is hanging from the ropes you sent him, very dead? Did he just trip, tie a perfect noose, and hung himself for dramatic effect?"

Lucas released her hand as if it had burned him, his brow furrowed, the pieces clearly not adding up in his mind. "Okay, first of all, I don’t give a damn that Herod is dead, good riddance to royal trash but what exactly are you accusing me of here? That I forced him to kill himself?"

He scoffed, the disbelief evident in his voice. "Sweetheart, I don’t need powers to get things done around here, and I sure as hell didn’t make Herod do anything. I could’ve marched in there and ended it myself."

"Then make it make sense, Lucas!" Ava snapped. "Make it make sense how that rope left your hand and wound up ending his life!"

Lucas took a step back, visibly grinding his teeth. His arms folded across his chest, the gesture stiff and defensive. "I’m not going to talk to you when you’re like this," he said. "You either calm down, or we have no conversation."

"Oh, don’t you dare pull the emotional maturity card right now!" Ava shouted, throwing her hands in the air as sparks of silver danced across her skin. "I didn’t come here for a conversation."

Lucas blinked. "Then what the hell did you come here for? To accuse me of something I didn’t do and fry me in front of everyone?"

Ava took a deep breath. "Do you know why I didn’t want you sentencing Herod?" she asked. "It was never about him. It was about you."

Lucas’s posture softened. The shield of indignation cracked a little. "What do you mean?"

"We both have these powers, Lucas." Ava’s eyes locked onto his. "Powers strong enough to crush minds, bend will, silence anyone. Do you know what that kind of temptation feels like?"

He looked away now, jaw tight.

"I just thought," she continued, softer, "maybe... just maybe, letting Herod live would be a test for you. A test to see how much you’ve changed. To see if you could be strong enough not to rely on what makes you powerful, but what makes you good."

Lucas said nothing.

Ava laughed bitterly, wiping the corner of her eye with a shaky hand. "I wanted to believe that you could be that man. That you wouldn’t need your powers to get justice. That you could look the past in the face and choose something better. That you could be good enough!"

"Good enough? Good?" Lucas stormily spat the words like they were poison in his mouth. "If you think for one second I was going to let him live for what he did to you, then you are clearly delusional!"

Ava blinked, caught between flinching and frying him with lightning.

Lucas stepped forward, every inch of him brimming with rage, love, and savage protectiveness that should’ve been terrifying but to Ava, it was simply infuriating.

"I would have taken great satisfaction in ripping him in half myself," Lucas went on, his chest heaving. "Do you hear me? Ripping. Him. In. Half. Slowly. With just one claw!"

"Oh, now you’re poetic?" Ava shot back, eyes glowing again. "You think rage makes you righteous?"

"I am Lucas Raventhorn!" he shouted, pointing to himself like she had somehow forgotten. "You always knew that. My name struck fear in the hearts of people both strong and weak! And you...you...expect me to grant life to a man who laid hands on my mate? Touched my mate?"

His voice cracked on that last part, the pain behind the fury slipping through.

Ava felt her stomach twist, but she hardened her face.

"Herod stopped living the moment he touched you," Lucas continued gravelly. "Powers or not, that bastard was already fucked."

There was a long, tense silence. Birds chirped awkwardly in the background.

Ava crossed her arms, her breath slow and controlled. "Then you should have. You should’ve killed him with your own hands, Lucas. Not made him do it himself. You’re the coward not him."

Lucas gave a hollow laugh, tired and brittle. "I didn’t make him do anything. I gave him what no one in my position would ever give him...a choice!"

He turned away, pacing now. "The one thing he denied others, I handed back to him. Just... a rope. He could’ve let it sit in the box. Could’ve used it as a belt for all I care. But he didn’t."

"And you’re proud of that?" Ava snapped.

"Yes! Fucking yes!" Lucas said, stopping mid-step. "I’m proud I made him pay and I still came out of it like a fucking hunk! What greater gift can you give an enslaved king than the one thing he stole from everyone else? Freedom to choose."

He turned to her again, eyes bloodshot, lips trembling.

But Ava was already backing away. "I can’t even look at you right now."

And with that, she turned, her dark curls whipping behind her. The castle guards along the corridor all pretended to examine the stonework very intensely as she passed, lest they be caught in the crossfire.

Lucas stood frozen, watching her go. His hands clenched at his sides, the restraint it took to keep from running after her visible in every muscle.

"Wow!" Dennis drawled from behind Lucas, leaning against a column like he had front-row seats to the emotional demolition that had just occurred. "You really did it this time."

Lucas glared at him over his shoulder, his scowl sharp enough to cut stone. "Shut up."

Dennis grinned wider, unbothered. "I mean, damn. Did you really? Did you submit Herod?"

Lucas sighed, pressing his hands into his lower back like a man carrying not just a kingdom but a pissed-off wife and a dead tyrant. "No," he said eventually. "We had... an understanding. Without even saying the words."

"Oh?" Dennis raised a brow, clearly enjoying himself. "Do enlighten me."

Lucas rubbed his face, as if dragging the thoughts out physically. "I wanted him dead. My wife...my pregnant, power-radiating, terrifying wife wanted me to show mercy. And Herod... he just wanted Zoe to take the throne and to find out what happened to her mother."

"Wow," Dennis said again. "So, he got his wish. And so did she."

Lucas nodded. "Yeah. Which makes me the bad guy no matter how you slice it."

Dennis chuckled and clapped him on the back. "And you, my brother, are becoming a huge softie."

"Tell that to my mad wife!" Lucas snapped, but it came out more like a whine.

Dennis raised both hands in mock surrender. "Hey, I’m just the comic relief around here. But honestly? It’s just pregnancy hormones and shit. She’ll be fine."

Lucas groaned. "You say that like I didn’t just get publicly electrocuted in front of half the castle."

"I know. That was fun to watch!" Dennis giggled but covered it up after Lucas sent him a glare.

Lucas rolled his eyes, finally allowing a small smile to crack through his exhausted features. "I just want to get out of this place. I want to go back home."

"Well, excuse us for not getting married fast enough," Dennis said dramatically, placing a hand on his chest. "So sorry our happily-ever-after is keeping you from fleeing."

Lucas snorted. "Yes. Please. Hurry the hell up with your damned wedding."

Dennis tilted his head. "Why the rush? You still have the High Council issue waiting. That’s a massive headache."

Lucas stared off at the castle in the distance, where he knew Ava was likely pacing and fuming

Lucas was pissed, a simmering slow burn. He felt wounded. Not because Ava had yelled. He could take her anger. Hell, he found her even sexier when she was mad, dangerously glowing, hair all wild, voice like thunder but what stung was the fact that she thought he was the kind of man who’d need powers to make someone obey.

He wasn’t weak. He wasn’t manipulative. And more than anything, he hadn’t wanted those divine powers. He hadn’t asked for them.

And now his own wife looked at him like he’d already fallen.

He cursed under his breath, running a hand through his hair as he turned away from Dennis, trying to bury the frustration before it boiled over.

*****

Nelly opened the door to one of the guest rooms in her house and gestured grandly like a hotel concierge. "You can stay here tonight before you leave for the pack in the morning," she said sweetly. "Do I need to lock the door from the outside?"

Kade, who had been trailing behind her with his hands in his pockets and a thoughtful frown on his face, blinked. "Why?"

"Well..." Nelly said, shifting her weight with one hand on her hip. "May has a room in this house too. You know...May? Your mate? Your very human, oblivious-to-our-entire-species mate?"

Kade blinked again, then broke into a slow, boyish grin. "Nelly, relax. Your secret’s safe. I will not do anything to oust you to your sweet, unsuspecting human neighbors."

(Kade may be a getting a book of his own. I’m liking where my brain is going with his story.)

Shoutout to: @kashvi, @nolegirl, @kie, @tramoney.