All Chapters of BENEATH THE BLOOD MOON: CLAIMED BY HER ALPHA: Chapter 51 - Chapter 53

The council chamber reverberated with silence after selene’s words. Her plea for diplomacy still hung in the air like incense soft, cloying, and easily dismissed in the choking heat of hostility. Luna sat on her obsidian-carved throne at the head of the chamber, her silver eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. The faintest curl of a smirk touched her lips, not of amusement, but of a predator humoring a prey animal that thought it had claws.“Diplomacy,” she repeated, her voice velvet laced with steel. “with callista.” She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the carved arms of the throne. The light from the braziers flickered across the scars on her forearms, trophies from old wars. “Do you think she wants words, little dove? Do you think she wants peace? She doesn’t want crescent vale at the table, she wants it at her feet.”Selene’s hands tightened around the folds of her gown. She stood tall, though her heart was thrumming like a trapped bird. “I know she wants dominance. But if you m

The council chamber of Crescent Vale was a cavern of stone and fire. Torches lined the walls, their flames snapping in the draft, casting jagged shadows across the carved wolf totems that loomed over the chamber like silent judges. The long table of dark oak stretched between the gathered elders, betas, and generals, each seat filled with a wolf whose voice carried weight over the fate of the pack.At the head sat Luna. She wore no crown, but her presence was heavier than steel. Her armor had been stripped, replaced with a black tunic that emphasized the corded strength in her shoulders. She leaned forward, knuckles against the table, eyes like sharpened silver blades.Selene sat at her right, though not by choice. Rowan had led her there, his hand steady on her shoulder when her knees threatened to give. She wanted to be anywhere but here, yet the very fact that she had been seated at the Alpha’s side told the entire council what this meeting was truly about.The air was already thic