"Furthermore," Lucien said, voice low but lethal, "any claims of maternal incompetence are rendered null and void under Pack Guardian Statute. I stand as Seraphine's bonded protector and Alpha of Duskborne Creed Pack."
The words detonated like a bomb.
Whispers exploded through the courtroom. People turned to each other, stunned. Someone even gasped aloud.
Alpha Lucien Rhode.
The name carried weight. Dangerous weight. And now it hung in the air like smoke from a fire that no one could put out.
The judge stiffened in his chair. His fingers twitched near his gavel. For the first time that day, he looked like a man who realized he'd made a terrible mistake. He hadn't even read the marriage certificate.
Why would he?
He never thought Valessia had that kind of power behind her.
"This… alters the framework of the petition," he stammered, trying to recover his footing.
Lucien didn't blink. Didn't flinch. "It alters more than that, Your Honor."
Silence stretched. Thick.
There was no yelling. No threats. Just that one sentence and the look in Lucien's eyes that said: You don't want to find out what happens if you challenge me.
The judge cleared his throat, clearly shaken. "Given the legal union… and the protective bond invoked… I hereby dismiss the petition for custodial transfer. Minor Seraphine Evric remains in the care of Valessia Rhode under the guardianship of her mate, Alpha Lucien Rhode."
BANG.
The gavel hit like a gunshot. Sharp. Final.
Valessia rose slowly from her seat, her body still wired with tension. Then a slow smile curled her lips. It wasn't sweet… it was relief.
She tilted her chin just enough to lock eyes across the room, right into the cold, furious glare of Madam Fiona.
That look said everything:
This wasn't a defeat. It was a delay. A delay to what was coming next.
…
Outside the Courtroom
Under the gray overcast sky, Valessia finally let herself breathe. Her shoulders slumped slightly as she leaned against the sleek black car parked at the curb. Seraphine, smiling softly from her wheelchair, looked up at her mother with sparkling eyes.
"She's safe now," Valessia whispered to herself, voice trembling.
"You made that happen," she said aloud, turning toward the man beside her, the man whose black eyes she hadn't dared meet since the day she foolishly, desperately, accepted his offer of a contract marriage.
Lucien.
A man who now stood to lose more than she could ever repay.
"I didn't do anything," Lucien said, his voice low and even. "You're the one who endured their accusations and vicious words. I just stood where I was needed."
Valessia shook her head faintly. "You don't have to act modest, at least not this time."
Silence settled between them like an intimate pause.
"Never in my wildest imagination did I think you'd actually show up," she admitted, her voice soft. "I was stunned... when you walk in just like everyone else."
Lucien glanced down at her, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "The plan in the first place was to ensure you won. With the judge clearly compromised, my presence was the only move left. And seeing you smile, it made it all worth it."
He studied her for a moment, silently observing how the colour had returned to her face. There was life in her eyes again, something he hadn't seen in far too long.
Then, a dry cough snapped him from his thoughts.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," Varek said, approaching with a slight bow of respect. "I just received word from Nerina. The board meeting started about fifteen minutes ago. They're requesting your presence, Alpha."
Lucien's gaze darkened slightly, making Varek avert his eyes.
"You had a meeting... and you still came here?" Valessia asked, eyes wide with disbelief.
"This was just as important," Lucien said simply.
He gestured toward Zara, a tall woman in a black suit standing near another parked vehicle. "Zara and the others will drive you home."
He turned to Seraphine, brushing her hair gently with a tenderness that contrasted the power he carried.
"Get home safely," he murmured before stepping into the car Varek had already opened.
Valessia stepped aside, gently pushing Seraphine's wheelchair back to give his car space to drive off.
She watched the black car until it disappeared down the road.
A quiet murmur escaped her lips. "He's really become something extraordinary... exactly what he dreamed of becoming."
Her trance broke as she felt Seraphine's small hand curl around her index finger.
"Let's finally go get that ice cream you've been asking for, huh?" she said brightly, kneeling to kiss her daughter's forehead.
Zara stepped forward. "Allow me, Luna. I'll roll her to the car."
Valessia shook her head with a warm smile. "It's fine. I've got her."
…
Thirty minutes later, the grand doors of a lavish mini-palace burst open as Elder Fisher stormed into the sitting room, rage burning in his eyes.
"Why didn't you tell us that the man she married was Alpha Lucien himself?" he shouted, glaring at his wife, Madam Fiona. His stormy blue eyes spitting fire.
"Do you want to get our entire family killed after what we just did to the Alpha's Luna?"
Fiona's face twisted. She threw her handbag onto the brown velvet couch like it burned her. "Everything I've done, every word I spoke was for our son and the entire Evric family's future! And now you accuse me of endangering us?"
"Don't lie to me," He growled.
"I didn't say anything because I was certain Alpha Lucien would not waste his precious time on a trivial case like this," she snapped. Her voice faltered slightly.
"Or maybe... because I was too humiliated to say I'd been locked up in that stinking, dreadful pack dungeon for two nights."
The memory made her shudder.
Elder Fisher froze. "You were what?"
"You told me you were at the women's hangout with the other Elders' wives," he said slowly, disbelief creeping into his voice.
"I lied," Fiona admitted. Her voice trembled now, not from fear but from shame. "I couldn't bring myself to say that a respected Elder's wife like me was imprisoned for insulting a wolfless omega with no name, no rank."
Silence fell.
Elder Fisher paced restlessly across the sitting room, hands clasped behind his back.
"If Lucien's willing to imprison and humiliate an Elder's wife over an omega... then it's only a matter of time before he meddles in the ownership of Silver Crest Construction," he muttered, more to himself than to Fiona.
The thought of losing their only real source of wealth made his chest tighten.
"That can never happen," Fiona said sharply, her voice laced with fear. "We can't let it."