novelraw Chapter 125: The Conditions
Chapter 125: The Conditions
Leo’s POV
The door creaked open, and the three of them filed in like they were walking a red carpet. Talia, Camilla, and Bianca. Their eyes were red, and fake tears tracked down their cheeks. They looked like fragile victims—the perfect picture of ruined royalty.
I felt a surge of pure, unfiltered disgust.
"Get out," I barked at the guards. They hesitated for a split second before bowing their heads and retreating.
I didn’t stop there. I paced to the door, locking it with a heavy click. I leaned my head against the wood, closing my eyes and extending my hearing. I filtered out the sound of the crying babies outside and focused on the hallway. I heard the receding footsteps of the guards and the heavy, distant breathing of our fathers at the end of the corridor.
Once I was certain no one was eavesdropping, I spun around. The girls were still standing there, clutching their robes.
"Stop the pretense," I spat, my voice vibrating with Alpha authority. "No one is here. Drop the act before I lose what’s left of my patience."
Almost instantly, the trembling stopped. Camilla wiped a dry cheek, her expression shifting from heartbreak to a cold, triumphant smirk. Talia and Bianca stood taller, their fear vanishing like mist.
"You drugged and raped us," Liam said from the shadows of the couch, his voice low and filled with anger. "You have everyone wrapped around your fingers. Our fathers, our pack... even the kids outside. You’ve won the trap."
They didn’t deny it. They didn’t even bother to look guilty. They just stood there, watching us with the eyes of predators who had finally caught their prey.
Leon stepped forward, his eyes burning. "Why us? You are princesses. Daughters of a High Alpha. Men are drooling over you from every corner of the North. Why go to these lengths for men who clearly despise you?"
Camilla took a step toward Leon, a chillingly calm smile on her lips. "Because you men are special," she purred. "You are the best—the strongest, the most powerful. My sisters and I want nothing but the best. You are the most renowned Alphas in the North. It’s quite simple, really: either you marry us and make us the most powerful Lunas in the world, or your pack goes to war with ours."
My vision tunneled. The arrogance of her voice snapped the final thread of my control. Before I could think, I blurred across the room. My hand shot out, catching Camilla by the throat and slamming her back against the wall. The sound of her impact was loud in the silent room.
Her eyes finally filled with real fear as she struggled for breath, her hands clawing at my wrist.
"Leo, calm down!" Liam shouted, standing up. "Not now! We can’t give them a reason to scream!"
I held her there for one more second, letting her feel the raw power of a wolf she had tried to provoke, before I released her. She slumped against the wall, gasping for air. I didn’t look at her; I focused my hearing back on the hallway, making sure the scuffle hadn’t drawn our fathers.
Silence.
"My jaw tightened, rage burning in my chest.
"Fine," I spat. "We will marry you, and you will get your titles."
Their faces lit up instantly. Bianca actually clapped her hands together. But I stepped back into the center of the room, my glare fixed on them.
"But there is one condition," I stated. "We will never mark you. You will be Lunas in title only. You will never have our bond, and you will never be connected to our souls."
To my shock, the girls didn’t even flinch. They didn’t care about the bond or the love—they were just excited about the status.
"We don’t care if you love us or mark us," Talia said, tossing her chocolate-brown hair. "As long as we are the Alphas’ wives, the rest doesn’t matter."
"It’s not that simple," Liam countered, his brow furrowed. "Our fathers want to see the marks. The pack expects it. The marking is part of the public ceremony. If we don’t do it, they’ll know the alliance is a sham."
Camilla straightened her robe, her eyes narrowing. "Liam is right. Everyone will be present at the wedding. You have to mark us in front of the priest and the witnesses. So, how can you ’fake’ a mark? The skin either changes or it doesn’t."
I let out a short, mocking laugh. This is where my intelligence came in. I had spent enough time in the ancient archives to know things our fathers had forgotten.
"I have my ways," I said, looking each of them in the eye. "But first, you three must agree to the terms. You marry us and become Lunas in title only. You stay in your own wing, you leave us alone, and you play along with the fake marking. If you agree, the war stops tonight and we get married. If you don’t... I’ll take my chances with the Silver Lake wolves."
The sisters exchanged a quick, silent look. They were greedy, and a fake mark was a small price to pay for the crown.
"We agree," Camilla said for all of them. "We don’t care about the mark. But tell us, Alpha... how can you possibly fake a soul-bond marking in front of a thousand people?"
I leaned in, making my voice sound cold and flat. "We are going to trick everyone in two ways. First, we use a very thin patch that looks like skin. We will treat it with special Moon-Lily ink. Right before the wedding, we’ll put these patches on your necks. When we bite, our teeth will hit the patch, not your skin. The pressure will make the ink change the color of your skin so it looks like a real Alpha’s mark."
The sisters looked at each other, fascinated by the trickery. But I wasn’t finished.
"That only fixes how it looks," I said, narrowing my eyes. "To make sure our wolves don’t try to make a real soul-bond, we are going to drink a small amount of wolfsbane right before the wedding."
Talia’s face went white. "Wolfsbane? That’s poison. You’ll be weak. You could fall down at the altar."