The alpha’s eyes narrow. For the first time, a hint of fear crosses his face. His realization that his story ends here. In the dirt. On his knees. With nothing left to control.
Darius looks at me.
I nod.
The head alpha laughs.
Low at first. Then louder. His shoulders shake with it, his bound hands curling into fists behind his back.
“You think this changes anything?” He looks up at Darius, and the fear is gone, replaced by something uglier—contempt. “Coming from the boy who couldn’t protect his own father.”
Darius doesn’t move.
“You want to kill me?” The alpha leans forward on his knees. “Do it. Put me down. Mercy is a weakness, boy.”
Darius doesn’t take the bait. He stands perfectly still, jaw tight, fists at his sides.
The alpha turns his head towards me. “And you.” His lip curls. “The feral little omega slut. You should have chosen the rotation. On all fours, like the omega bitch you are. At least then you might have borne some pups and been of some value in this world.” He spits at my feet.
I bare my teeth. “Keep talking. It’s making what comes next easier.”
He straightens on his knees. Pulls his shoulders back. Lifts his chin as if he’s still sitting on a throne instead of kneeling in the dirt.
Then he opens his mouth, and his voice drops to that register I know. The one that sinks into bone. The one that crawls beneath your skin and wraps around your spine and squeezes until your body stops belonging to you.
An alpha command.
“Kneel.”
The word rolls across the clearing. I feel it hit me like a wall of pressure, and my wolf flinches. My knees buckle for half a second before I catch myself. Around me, some of the wolves stagger; the loyal ones drop.
Darius doesn’t move. Not even a twitch.
Archer stands like a wall behind me. Elias doesn’t blink. Silas shifts his weight, absorbing the command, but it just rolls off him.
Nothing happens.
The alpha’s face changes. The contempt flickers. His lips part, and for one beat, I see the moment he understands that his bark doesn’t work anymore. That is the thing he’s relied on his entire life, the power that bought obedience, means nothing in this clearing.
He tries again. Louder this time. Desperate. “I said KNEEL!”
The command crashes over us all, and this time, nobody moves.
I smile.
His composure cracks. Then his jaw loosens. His shoulders drop an inch. The mask he’s worn for decades, the cold authority, the certainty that the world will bend because he tells it to, slides off his face, and what’s left underneath is small.
Just a pathetic male on his knees in the dirt.
Darius crouches down in front of him. Slow. Deliberate. Eye to eye. The way he crouched for Sophie in the hallway, except nothing about this is gentle.
“My father wasn’t weak,” Darius says. “He was merciful. There’s a difference. He believed people could change.” His voice drops. “I won’t make that mistake again.”
He stands.
“Shift,” Darius says. Not a command. An invitation.
The alpha’s eyes widen. He understands. If he shifts, it’s a fight. Wolf to wolf. And Darius is giving him that. A chance todie on four legs instead of two. More dignity than he ever offered anyone in this compound.