Defying the Rogue Alpha-Chapter 39: Mercy

Lucas wasn't finished. He was just warming up.

"You know," Lucas mused, pacing the room, "Ava has been lecturing me on this useless little thing called mercy." He rolled his eyes as if the mere word was physically painful. "It's a concept so foreign to me, it hurts when I think about letting my enemies go. But she thinks it'll do me good, make people respect me more than they fear me."

Leon's expression remained unreadable, but Lucas caught the way his fingers twitched against the desk.

Lucas smirked. "Do you know why?"

Leon shook his head. He had always known Ava wasn't cruel at least, not naturally. She had been shaped by suffering, but some part of her still clung to morality.

"Because she wants me to assume authority over your pack," Lucas continued, watching Leon's expression carefully. "And showing mercy is the first step in doing that." He leaned forward, bracing his hands on Leon's desk, eyes gleaming. "Now, tell me, Alpha Leon. The decision is entirely up to you." He smiled, slow and predatory. "Do I let Sharon live and let your people believe I'm not nearly as evil as they say? Or do I kill her and let them continue to think I'm the monster they already fear?"

Leon swallowed. He knew exactly what this was.

Political chess.

Lucas wasn't just looking for vengeance, he was looking for control.

Leon leaned back in his chair, keeping his expression neutral. "According to the contract you're about to sign, you cannot attack our pack for at least ten years."

Lucas let out an exasperated sigh, rubbing a hand down his face like Leon was an insufferable child. "Taking over doesn't mean I have to attack, Alpha Leon. There are many ways I can force you to bend the knee."

Leon clenched his jaw. He had inherited the sins of his father, but was he going to hand the same fate over to his own child? If Lucas took control, Crimson Pack would never be free again.

He had to find a way to get rid of him.

Silence stretched between them.

Lucas smirked. "Cat got your tongue?" He straightened and rolled his shoulders as if already bored. "I'll leave the decision to my Luna, then. How about that? Seems we both let our Lunas do some controlling."

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Leon bristled at the reminder that Ava was no longer his.

Lucas turned on his heel, heading for the door. "Let me know when we need to meet for sentencing."

And with that, he was gone, leaving behind the scent of dominance, fury, and the lingering shadow of a war yet to come.

Leon sat in his office long after Lucas left, staring at the contract in front of him.

He had underestimated Lucas. He had hoped Ava would soften him, but instead, she had only sharpened him.

The beast hadn't been tamed, he had been focused.

Leon exhaled heavily, rubbing his temples.

One way or another, he had to stop Lucas before it was too late.

Because if he didn't?

He would have lost everything; his pack and his mate.

*****

Ava watched in satisfaction as Sharon was dragged into the courtyard. The morning sun bore down on the clearing, making the sweat on the backs of the guards hauling Sharon glisten. A hush fell over the gathered crowd, and she could feel their anticipation.

Everyone was waiting.

Waiting for her judgment.

And yet, Ava's mind was anything but focused. She wanted to be sharp, ruthless, unshaken by anything other than the memory of Sharon's abuse. But she couldn't. Because he had said it.

'I love you.'

The words had dropped between them. She should have laughed in disbelief or even teased him like she usually did. But she had just... frozen.

And Lucas had seen it.

Ava clenched her fists, trying to push away the image of the raw vulnerability in his golden eyes, the way he had waited for her to say something, anything. And when she hadn't, she had watched the light in them dull, as if he had finally resigned himself to something.

And damn it, why did that hurt?

She had been abused for so long and now she was becoming someone untouchable, unbreakable. Love? Loving Lucas would mean weakness. It would mean forgetting that she had climbed out of hell. It would mean putting him before her vengeance.

It would mean losing herself.

She took a slow, steady breath, pushing every ounce of emotion deep, deep down, until all that remained was ice. Stay focused.

"Ava?" Zari nudged her gently. "It's time."

Ava snapped back to the present. Sharon knelt, bound and trembling, her once-arrogant face streaked with dirt and sweat. Ava's gaze flickered to Lucas, who stood next to her, his expression unreadable, his lips curled at the edges in what could have been amusement or admiration.

Then to Leon and Selene on her right. Leon's face was set in stone, but his wife's expression was sheer outrage, barely concealed behind thinly veiled horror.

And finally, to Sharon's father, Leon's beta whose frown deepened as he watched his daughter in the same position Ava had once been in. The irony of it all made Ava want to laugh.

How poetic.

She stepped forward. "Flog her until I tell you to stop."

A sharp inhale rippled through the crowd.

Selene gasped in horror, and Ava caught the slight upward twitch of Lucas's lips. Proud bastard.

Kade obeyed without hesitation. The first crack of the whip echoed across the courtyard. Sharon's scream followed soon after.

Ava felt nothing.

Not pity. Not guilt.

The woman who had once held all the power over her now writhed in pain, each lash carving justice into her skin. The crowd stood motionless, their faces a mixture of shock, approval, and unease.

As Sharon's cries grew louder, Ava waited.

Waited for the moment that would crown her victory.

Waited for Selene to break.

Leon stood unmoved beside his wife, and when Selene turned to him, frantic and pale, he did not move to help her.