Defying the Rogue Alpha
Chapter 212: Steel

Chapter 212: Steel

The interior of the Crimson Pack’s main house looked just as Ava remembered. As she stepped across the threshold, she was sweat-glossed, breath heavy, but that did not dilute the fire in her gaze or the steel in her spine.

She spotted a gamma and headed toward him.

"Where is your Alpha? Take me to him."

The poor man didn’t question it. Couldn’t. He simply nodded, turned, and walked ahead.

As they reached the office door, Ava paused and glanced down at the amulet around her wrist. Its surface remained neutral. Her brows furrowed slightly.

Leon stood behind his desk, a faux-warm smile stretched across his face. He hadn’t expected her. In fact, he hadn’t expected anyone. If she was here, then they knew. But he had Alaric to protect him right?

"Ava," he said, "what a pleasant surprise."

Her chin tilted up. "It’s Luna Ava to you, Leon."

That wiped the smirk off his face for just a flicker of a second. But he recovered fast. "Okay... Luna Ava," he echoed, his smile returning as if he had all the time in the world. "You look great. I knew you were expecting, but I didn’t know you were this far along. You look... radiant."

She stepped inside without invitation, eyes scanning the room. "Nothing seems to have changed," she murmured, letting her fingers trail along a shelf. "Including you. You still seem to be the same slimy coward I was once stupid enough to call mate."

Leon’s smile faltered. "And you seem to have adopted your husband’s arrogant attitude," he snapped, stepping around the desk.

Ava simply raised a brow and tilted her head. "It kills you, doesn’t it?" she said. "You thought I was just a weak, wolfless omega. A burden. You watched your wife humiliate me while you stood there with your dick in your pride and your backbone somewhere in a drawer."

Leon’s jaw clenched.

Ava continued, her eyes gleaming. "You dismissed me. Tossed me aside like I was nothing. And now? Now I’m Luna to the most powerful Alpha in the East. I sleep wrapped in the arms of a man who would burn the world down to protect me. I’m not so much a weak, wolfless omega anymore, am I?"

As she spoke, she kept one eye on the amulet, but it remained dull. Leon’s smirk was back now, but thinner, less convincing.

"Is that why you’re here?" he asked, "To gloat? To prove how far you’ve come? What do you want, Ava?"

"I want answers," she said, sharp as broken glass.

"Oh?" Leon chuckled. "So your big warrior Alpha sends his Luna to fetch information? Pregnant and glowing with misplaced confidence? What do you want from me? Why are you here?" Leon said, tired of the insults.

"I heard you want to—" Ava began.

But then it happened.

A low, vibrating hum crackled against her wrist. The amulet flared suddenly, glowing brighter and brighter, until it bathed the entire room in a radiant pulse of light. Her head snapped to the door.

A slow smile curled her lips—sharp and wicked.

Showtime.

Without hesitation, she marched to the door, her steps loud and deliberate. Her hand wrapped around the knob, and she yanked it open with a theatrical flourish.

Caught mid-spell, Alaric’s lips partway through a chant, fingers curled. Surprise contorted his face. His mouth fell open, the half-whispered spell evaporating on his tongue. His hand twitched in the air.

"Goddess..." he exhaled, eyes wide, as if Ava was some divine retribution incarnate.

He wasn’t wrong.

Ava didn’t waste time gloating. She had the upper hand and wasn’t about to let this slippery bastard slither away again. Power surged through her, the silver glow flaring across her skin, coalescing in her palms.

"You slimy son of a bitch," she hissed, voice layered with power and fury. "You dare go after my husband? My husband?! You are done for."

With a sharp exhale, she pushed her power outward in a violent, shimmering wave. It slammed into Alaric, sending him flying down the hallway. His boots squeaked across the polished floor before he collided with a column, sliding to the ground in a heap.

She stepped into the hallway, hair flowing around her face, her baby bump a badge of both vulnerability and unimaginable strength. More gammas came rushing forward—poor souls who didn’t know better. They headed straight for her but she had no time for formalities or explanations.

With a deep breath, she clapped her hands together. The energy shot from her fingertips in shimmering arcs, catching the incoming warriors mid-sprint. They were thrown backward, crashing into the walls with surprised yelps and confused grunts.

And then—

Three figures rounded the corner.

Lucas. Kade. Dennis.

And they saw everything.

There was Ava, a goddess of destruction with swollen feet and zero patience, glowing, standing in the wreckage of an Alpha’s pack house, surrounded by groaning gammas, power radiating off her in glorious waves.

The three men just... stopped.

Rooted to the spot.

Mouths open.

Eyes wide.

No one said a word.

Dennis blinked first. "Holy shit."

"What the fuck?!" Lucas gasped, eyes darting between his wife and the sputtering body of Alaric.

"I mean... should we do something?" Kade whispered beside him, sounding both concerned and weirdly impressed.

Lucas blinked slowly, awe coating his features. "No... no... no. She’s got this."

"I love this," Dennis sighed dreamily, clutching his chest.

Ava stepped over the groaning gammas. Her eyes locked onto Alaric, who had scrambled to his feet and was trying to backpedal while chanting something under his breath—his hands weaving shaky glyphs in the air.

"No, no, no," he muttered, panic creeping into his tone. "Shield of the nine moons, veil of—"

Ava had heard enough.

With a graceful sweep of her hands through the air, she summoned threads of energy straight from the heavens. The sky itself shimmered above her for a brief second as moonlight curled down into her palms. She twisted her wrists with precision, then flung the energy forward, wrapping it around Alaric. The strands wound tighter, and with a flick of her fingers, he lifted into the air, flailing.

"I should kill you," Ava said. "I will kill you. But not yet. You’re going to the High Council. You’ll rot where everyone can see."

That’s when Leon stepped out.

He emerged from the shattered hallway, eyes ablaze with righteous indignation, completely oblivious to the fact that Lucas was standing just a few feet away.

"He isn’t going anywhere!" Leon shouted. "Your husband is a menace, Ava. You know it. You just don’t want to admit it. But he has to go down!"

Ava didn’t even look at him at first. She was too focused on keeping Alaric suspended and not snapping his spine. But when Leon’s words fully registered, her head snapped toward him.

"On. Your. Knees." she commanded.

Lucas, Dennis, and Kade all paused mid-breath. They knew that tone. The tone that made wolves lower their eyes. That made full-grown alphas fold.

And so they waited.

Waited for Leon to crumble.

But Leon just smiled.

"Yeah..." Leon said. "That’s not going to work. Alaric here told me something very interesting about your powers." He tilted his head, eyes glittering. "They don’t work on your fated mate."

Time stood still.

Ava’s eyes widened. The power in her hands flickered, the threads holding Alaric briefly sputtering before she reinforced them. But her entire body stilled.

Behind her, Lucas’s jaw clenched.

Dennis stopped breathing.

Kade blinked hard.

"What? Did that put a wrench in your plan?" he goaded, tilting his head.

Ava didn’t answer.

She didn’t need to.

Instead, she turned toward Alaric—who was still spinning in the air and with a flick of her wrist and a touch of fury, she hurled him straight into the stone wall at the end of the hall. The thud echoed down the corridor, and Alaric crumpled into a heap, groaning once before slipping into blissful unconsciousness.

She turned back to Leon with the cold precision of a queen who had just cleaned house.

"I guess," she said, "we’ll just have to do this the old-fashioned way."

With that, she shifted her stance—feet apart, knees slightly bent, arms glowing with silvery energy as she rolled her shoulders. Her long hair, slightly damp with sweat, clung to her cheeks, but her eyes burned with pure divine intent. Warrior. Mother. Luna. Goddess.

Leon, surprisingly, didn’t falter.

He cracked his neck and smirked, taking one bold step forward, fists clenched, clearly forgetting that he wasn’t facing the girl he once rejected, but the goddess-infused Luna of the most powerful pack alive.

But just as he lifted his foot to launch an attack, a hand—solid, rough, and furious—grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.

"A—Alpha Lucas?" Leon stammered, his bravado shattering.

Lucas didn’t say anything right away. He stared down at Leon.

Behind them, Alaric lay motionless in the hallway. His defense against Lucas was currently unconscious.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.