Chapter 298 - 32: Alpha of Freewill

Destiny didn’t let her guard drop. She folded her arms across her chest and slid sideways, cutting off Dane’s path to her mother.

"No," she said, her voice chillingly steady. "I’ve had enough of your charity. I refuse to be a burden on your family or paraded through your halls like a stray you rescued. Respect your own house, Alpha Dane, and leave us be. My parents and I are packing and we’ll be gone in an hour."

Dane blinked at her, stunned. "Leaving? Destiny, you only arrived yesterday. The mountain passes are crawling with Vance’s enemies, and whatever was hunting you beyond the road is still out there. You can’t just walk out that gate."

She let out a short, humorless laugh and turned toward the narrow window. Midday sunlight sliced across her sharp jawline. "I’d rather risk wild beasts and freezing nights than sit in your dining hall, being insulted, patronized, treated like I’m less than a werewolf."

The words hit Dane like a fist. Less than a werewolf. The same sting he’d felt back in his mother’s sitting room when they were talking about Vance’s arrogance. He hated the assumption that Bloodmoon was a pack to buy and sell, that his life was a piece on someone else’s ledger. He felt humiliation burning through him.

He looked at Destiny who came from nothing fiercely guarding her pride and the thought that had been simmering in his mind finally snapped into place.

"Marry me," he blurted.

Destiny stiffened. Her mother’s hand froze over her teacup. The room went razor-quiet.

"I mean it," Dane pressed, stepping closer, his voice firm. "Marry me, Destiny. I swear on my life and blood, I will never belittle you or your family. Together, we face them as equals."

"That’s enough!" Marcus’s voice shook the rafters. He rose and planted himself between Dane and his daughter, eyes blazing. "Don’t you have a princess waiting for you in the great hall of Silvercrest? What game are you playing with my family, Alpha?"

"No games." Dane raised his hands. "My council wants me to wed Princess Aurora, bind Bloodmoon to Silvercrest. But I loathe Vance. If I marry her, we become vassals. We’ll never stand equal."

He met Marcus’s stare. "I refuse to be sold off like I’m jewelry or something to that over pampered spoiled Princess. If I take Destiny’s hand—"

"You’ll doom us all," Destiny’s mother finished, setting down her cup with a soft clink. Her tired eyes never left Dane. "Out of respect for your kindness on the road, I beg you: leave this room and forget we exist."

Dane’s gaze flicked from her resolute face to Marcus’s hard glare, then back to Destiny. Her dark eyes were wide with shock, disbelief warring with caution. She said nothing in his defense.

Something inside Dane went still. The weight of his title, his pack, his father’s legacy... it seemed suddenly disposable.

He smiled—a small, dangerous, free smile.

"Fine," he said quietly. "I’ll come with you."

Marcus’s eyebrows shot up. Destiny stepped around her father, staring as if he’d lost his mind. "What?"

"I leave with you in an hour," Dane repeated evenly. "If this title means obeying deals I despise and sacrificing my pack for treaties I hate, then I renounce it. I won’t be forced into a marriage I despise."

Destiny took a hesitant step forward, searching his face. "You’re serious?"

Dane rubbed the back of his neck, the weight of his choice settling in. "All my life I’ve felt a hollow pull, like I was meant for something beyond council seats and border disputes. The moment I found your family on that road—I finally crossed a finish line."

Marcus grunted, arms crossing over his chest. "So you’ll throw away a birthright to protect your pride? You arrogant son of a gun."

Dane tilted his head, unfazed. "I call it choosing my own path. So, Marcus—does this valley’s road have room for one more traveler?"

The door burst open with a crack as it hit the wall.

"You will do no such thing."

Ramon filled the frame, his presence turning the air icily still. He wasn’t the weary old pack-lord anymore but the fierce warrior Dane remembered from the time he was still in his prime.

"Father—" Dane began.

"Don’t." Ramon’s voice was a whip. He strode forward in three long steps, stopping so close Dane had to look up. "I heard every word. You’d abandon everything my family built—my father’s work, for a girl you met two days ago."

"It’s not just her," Dane said. "It’s refusing to be sold off by a Lycan king."

"It is both," Ramon shot back, eyes flicking to Destiny, then slamming back to his son.

"You think I don’t know pride? I spent twenty years swallowing mine so this pack would survive. You’d burn it all down in one afternoon because a king made you feel small."

"He made all of us feel small," Dane snapped. "You included. I watched you sit there and take it. How can we be so afraid of Vance that he gets to push us around like we are sheeps."

Destiny and her parents watched them go at it without a single person intervening.

Ramon’s fist clenched at his side. They stared at each other in a silence thick enough to choke on. When Ramon spoke again, his voice dropped so low it shook.

"I took it because someone had to. The pack cannot survive a war with Silvercrest, and you’re not the one who’ll bury the wolves who would die in that fight." He stepped so close Dane could see the rage in his eyes.

"You can give up your birthright if you want, but you won’t drag Bloodmoon to ruin, and you won’t pretend you understand sacrifice when you’ve never made one."

"Then let me make one now," Dane said, unblinking. "Strip me of my title yourself if it keeps Bloodmoon out of a war I can’t win inside a council chamber. I’d rather lose the name than lose myself in it."

Ramon stared at him for a long beat, fury and something deeper warring in his face. At last he exhaled through his nose.

"You’re a fool," he said quietly, "and you’re still my son. But I won’t let this stand."

With that, he pivoted and walked away, his boots echoing down the path.

Ramon leaving left a brittle silence in its wake. Marcus didn’t move from his place between Dane and Destiny, knuckles white where he clenched his fists. Destiny’s mother sat motionless, her hand suspended over the rim of her teacup.

Destiny sucked in a thin, ragged breath and stared at Dane as though he’d lost his mind entirely.

"Have you lost your mind?" she cut through the quiet, voice sharp as a blade. "Renounce your title? Just like that?"

Dane’s jaw tightened. "I meant what I said."

"You think this is some kind of game?" She took a step forward, fire in her gaze. "This isn’t some romantic adventure—being rogue means being hunted."

"I never said it was an adventure," Dane answered, calm and low.

Marcus shoved a heavy palm against Dane’s chest, holding him in place. "Listen to her. You talk about dropping your name like it’s nothing more than a cloak. You don’t know what it means to be alone out there—to be prey."

Dane pushed his hand away—not with violence, but with an unyielding certainty.

"I know what it looks like when my father kneels to a tyrant," Dane said, voice clear and edged. "If I stay, I marry Aurora. Vance swallows Bloodmoon whole. I’ll take my chances with the cold."

He turned his dark eyes back to Destiny, unblinking.

"You leave in an hour," he stated. "My offer hasn’t changed. I don’t need your permission or your protection. But when you walk through that gate—I’ll be right behind you."

Destiny opened her mouth but found no sound. She scanned his face, no lie there, only a hard and startling truth.

Before she could form a reply, the rhythm of heavy boots rang out from the stone hallway, coming closer fast.

Marcus’s claw shot out. "He’s brought the guards."