Chapter 48: The Summit Part II

Brayden desperately tried to get into her mind and this time she let him.

“Riannon,” he growled, grasping her hand again, “What have you done?”

“A lot of things. For example, I helped to create a very good law,” she tried to call

Onyx as well. Right now her sharp claws would have been of great use in helping

her free herself.

“Ri, what is going on?!” He sounded as if he was on the verge of breaking

mentally.

“You will find this out right now,” she said coldly, “And now let me go. People are

watching.You already made a spectacle of yourself when you voted against the

law you personally wrote according to your own words. That was stupid.”

“Ri,” he wanted to say something else but Gideon started speaking again and

she shut him off, finally getting her wrist back as he unclenched his fingers.

“The next issue to deal with for today is a divorce between a Luna and an Alpha,”

the Lycan king announced, and a wave of whispers went through the room.

Some were not surprised, of course, some were shocked and some were openly

displeased. Zack Morgan gave Riannon a reassuring smile and the werecat next

to her looked at her with amusement on her face.

“For real?” she snorted quietly, “You are something, Riannon Thorn!”

“What is the reason for the divorce?” an Alpha she did not know too well asked.

“Breach of their marital contract,” Gideon lazily tilted his head to look at the one

who spoke, “The Alpha in question and his Luna were chosen mates. They

marked each other. Yet the Alpha met his true mate and did not reject her. He

brought her to their house and made them leave together.”

“This is not how it happened!” Brayden gritted through his teeth as now

everybody in the conference room was concentrating their attention on him. The

rumors of their story spread fast and the law project only accumulated them.

“Right,” the lycan chuckled, “Since Alpha Thorn spoke first, why wouldn’t he

explain to us what all that was about and how it really happened, since I don’t

have the right information at my disposal. We are listening to you.”

“Roxanne was abused in her old pack. She would have died if I had left her

there.” Bray said, carefully choosing his words. He already realized what kind of

trouble he was at and crystals of sweat were trickling down his spine.

“And that’s an honorable thing to do,” one of his buddies tried to support him.

“Indeed,” Brayden agreed, “ you could still have rejected her, though. And not

bring her to for her to stay. But you chose this place to be your house. The one

that you share with your Luna. What did you expect to happen?”

“This was necessary at that moment in time,” Brayden grunted, and Riannon

wisely chose not to participate in their exchange of words. Her mate was

handling it well.

“How so?” Gideon played with the pen in his hands.

“Does it matter?” the werewolf in question almost growled at the Lycan king and

the room suddenly became quiet.

“Of course, not,” the latter agreed, nodding sympathetically, “If you agree to the

divorce, then it doesn’t matter.”

“I do not agree!” Brayden protested, slamming his fist over the table.

“Then I am afraid you will have to elaborate what was that need to keep your true

mate in the same house with your Luna and not reject her in the first place. It

went beyond simply helping a poor omega,” Gideon gave him a cold stare that

was almost menacing.

“It was required for the sake of my wolf,” Riannon got embarrassed for her soon-

to-be-ex-husband the second he sounded his pathetic excuse. What was he

counting on? If they were still together, this would have been the moment where

she would have to take the word and smooth the situation over. But they weren’t

together. Not anymore. He lost her back in her previous life. This time she was

fighting only for herself.

“Your wolf agreed to accept the chosen mate and you two placed a mark on her

neck,” the Lycan king said the words through clenched teeth, as it was physically

hard for him not to tear that pathetic excuse of a man to pieces. “This was a

union of two souls. But you chose tobreak it. You are not the only one in the

world with a chosen mate. You are also not the only one who met his true mate

after marking another woman. Moreover, you are not the only one who has faced

something like that in this room today.”

Ria looked at Gideon in shock, as this was the first time she had heard about

this.

“Alpha Dominic,” the lycan nodded at one of the oldest Alphas in the room,

“Twenty-five years ago you were in the same kind of situation. What did you do?”

“My king, I apologized to my true mate but I still had to reject her. I made sure

that she was well taken care of later. But I had made my choice years before I

met her and her appearing in my life did not change anything. I loved my wife

and Luna until the day she was taken from me in a battle.” The man told his story

and Riannon’s heart skipped a beat when she saw how sad his eyes were just

remembering his late wife. This was how it was supposed

“And what about you wolf?” Gideon sneered, looking at Brayden. Alpha Dominic

looked at him apologetically too but replied honestly.

“My wolf was the one to recognize her. There was a pull. But the marks me and

my wife already placed on each other’s necks were stronger. She was the love of

my life, without a doubt. She gave me wonderful kids and heirs. She was my

perfect Luna and even after her death I wasn’t tempted to go and look for my true

mate again.”

“Well, I hope it answers all the questions,” Gideon summed up, “So...”

“But we don’t have kids yet!” Brayden said all of a sudden, “Pups make the

connection stronger. Everybody knows that.”

“True,” the Lycan king nodded, “That’s why the divorce will be easier for you two.”

“I will not agree to this,” the werewolf said firmly, crumpling the documents before

him.

“You don’t need to agree to this,” for the first time Riannon spoke, “I have a right

to divorce you. I don’t need any form of permission from you. This is over. Just

accept it already and stop embarrassing us both.”

“Kids,” he said suddenly and she sighed because she was tired from all of this

already,“ You may be with my pup this very moment. According to our laws, you

cannot be divorced before it is confirmed that you are not pregnant. And if you

are...”

“I am not,” she opened her leather folder and handed him a piece of paper, “I

visited the pack doctor yesterday for the required check-up. There are no babies

in my womb if that’s what you are worried about.”

He took it from her, not even being able to read it. He knew that she thought this

through.

She always did. She was always one step ahead. And he f**cked everything up.

Big time. He had to notice earlier how displeased she was. He had to do

something about it.

He was sure that he had been tackling this matter for the past two days when he

was helping her to get what he though she wanted to please her. But he was

mistaken. She played him and she played him well.

Brayden sat back in his seat, still holding the doctor’s note.

He couldn’t lose her. Not like that. Riannon was always his. He was not giving

her up, not without a fight.

He saw how everyone stared at him. He had never been humiliated this way

before in his life of thought, “Effective immediately. I already have the papers

signed by Riannon Thorn. The signature of Brayden Thorn is not required

anywhere except for the delivery of the decision slip.”

“Riannon Michaels now,” the woman who stole everyone’s attention today

corrected the king, “I will use my maiden name from now on.”

“Very well,” Gideon allowed himself to smile at her for the first time, “Riannon

Michaels, you are a free woman now. Congratulations.”

She smiled at him too. It probably wasn’t the end of their troubles. But it was a

victory nonetheless.

“And since we just approved the new law which was effective immediately as

well,” her lycan smirked, “Riannon has the right to all the property, lands and

funds that belonged to her and her family members prior to the marriage and to

which Brayden Thorn received access through their union.”

“Iobject,” the Alpha almost shouted, “We merged our packs. We cannot separate

them now after six years. People wouldn’t want that!”

“Then we will ask them which pack they want to live in,” Ria said calmly, “After

you move out of my land. I will gladly give people a choice.”

“They have homes on that land!” Bray breathed out sharply through his nostrils.

His handsome face did not look that handsome anymore.

“And that is exactly why they would have a choice,” his now ex-Luna responded

politely. “And who would be the Alpha of your new pack?” he looked at her with a

bitter smirk.

“The Pearl Moon is not a new pack. We existed decades prior to the Silver

crescent,” even Riannon was slowly getting annoyed by his outburst. “And as for

your question, I would be the Alpha.”

Another wave of commotion rippled through the room.

“You must be kidding!” Brayden shook his head in disbelief.

The werecat next to her snorted and mumbled something that was hard to

decipher.

“Oh, no, I am dead serious,” Riannon responded to him one last time and turned

away.

“All right,” Reid coughed a few times since the room was silent for too long, “We

have a few smaller matters to discuss. The budget for...”

“Excuse us!” Brayden stood up in one abrupt movement and yanked Riannon by

one of

A loud menacing growl that shattered the walls stopped them all from what they

were doing. And even Brayden stood still, turning his head to glare at the Lycan

king who looked as if he was ready to transform and tear his head off.

“Take your hands off MY MATE!” Gideon snarled, standing up...