Chapter 4

The pain made my entire body curl in on itself.

Damon looked down at me, the toe of his boot pinning the hem of my dress to the floor.

“You don’t get a say here.”

My inner wolf roared in fury, throwing itself again and again against the crushing Alpha dominance.

I braced my hands against the floor and had barely managed to lift one knee when the pressure slammed down across my shoulders again.

Noah reached toward me through his tears. “Mommy! I want Mommy!”

His small hand accidentally scraped across Damon’s jaw, leaving two bloody marks behind.

Damon immediately seized his wrist. “No manners, just like your mother!”

He shoved Noah into the arms of the guard behind him.

“Take him to the sitting room. Shut the door and let him calm down.”

“Don’t take him away!”

I tried to lunge forward, but Damon’s Alpha dominance was so heavy that I could barely raise my head.

The guard tightened his hold on Noah and turned away.

“Mommy!”

Noah’s cries grew fainter as he was carried farther down the corridor.

Gritting my teeth, I dragged myself forward on my knees, but Damon stepped in front of me and blocked my view.

“How long are you going to keep making a scene?”

“Give him back to me!” The taste of blood rose in my throat. “He’s only four years old. He’s going to be terrified!”

Damon lifted one hand, and the pressure bearing down on my back abruptly disappeared.

I had only just struggled to my feet when two guards seized my arms.

Damon turned to the steward. “Draft a custody transfer agreement. Now.”

The steward immediately lowered his quill to the parchment.

“Under Greyrock law, once paternal blood is confirmed, a pup may be taken into the custody of his father’s pack.” Damon untied the coin pouch at his waist and tossed it at my feet. “Three hundred gold coins in exchange for you willingly giving up custody.”

Vivian suddenly rushed forward and slammed her hand down over the steward’s.

“You’re going to acknowledge him?” She turned on Damon, her chest rising and falling sharply. “Don’t forget that my pup is your heir!”

“That bastard has no right to inherit anything!”

“Of course I know that!” Damon cut her off impatiently. “He doesn’t need an inheritance for me to keep him fed. He has my blood in his veins!”

Vivian stared at him for a moment before the tension around her mouth finally eased.

“Then let that bastard serve our pup as an attendant.”

She turned toward the steward and tapped the parchment.

“Write that down clearly, so he doesn’t grow up entertaining ideas he has no right to.”

The steward’s quill paused for a moment before continuing across the page.

“The mother becomes a nanny, and the son becomes an attendant.” Vivian smoothed the wrinkles from her gown. “Isn’t that a hundred times better than living outside the pack as rogues? Evelyn, you really should be grateful for our generosity.”

I twisted my wrist hard enough to expose the mate bracelet beneath my sleeve.

“Look carefully! This is the Frostmoon Luna’s mate token!” I stared straight at Damon. “Bring Noah back immediately!”

Vivian grabbed my wrist the next second. “You’re still trying to scare us with a fake even now?”

Before I could pull away, she tore the bracelet from my wrist.

The edge scraped across my skin and left a bloody cut over the bone.

“Give it back!”

Vivian raised her hand and smashed the bracelet against the floor.

The moonstone bracelet shattered into pieces.

Kieran had placed it around my wrist with his own hands, and our initials were still engraved on the inside.

Vivian stepped on the broken pieces and gave me a vicious smile. “You really think you have the right to impersonate the Frostmoon Luna Queen?”

Someone at a nearby table tapped approvingly against a wineglass, while several others even applauded.

Meanwhile, Noah disappeared around the corner of the corridor, and his crying grew so faint that I could barely hear it anymore.

“Damon.” My lips trembled so badly that I could hardly form the words. “Please give Noah back to me.”

At last, he smiled.

“If you had spoken like that from the beginning, you could have spared yourself all this trouble.”

He took the completed agreement from the steward and held it out in front of me.

“Sign it, and I’ll let you go to the sitting room.”

My eyes fell on the final line.

“Evelyn voluntarily relinquishes all custody of Noah and unconditionally transfers full custody to Damon.”

Damon forced the quill into my hand. “Sign it. Wouldn’t Noah be better off with me than with you?”

I gripped the quill so tightly that I wanted nothing more than to drive its tip straight through his throat.

But Noah had to be terrified right now, and I needed to get to him as quickly as possible.

The tip of the quill hovered over the parchment, trembling slightly in my hand.

Damon finally lost what little patience he had left.

“Sign it!”

At that exact moment, the doors to the banquet hall flew open with a thunderous crash.

A vast wave of Alpha dominance surged into the hall, forcing everyone inside to lower their heads.

Then Kieran’s commanding voice rang through the room.

“Who dares force my Luna Queen to sign anything?”