Alpha Damon (Sienna) novel Chapter 216

Nikolai:

The scent of this place hadn’t changed. Not in decades.

It was fun while it lasted, this spec of power when we wanted to change things. It was just when Giovanni had become alpha when everything around us seemed to go from us training. Just now being in charge of an entire pack of people, of an entire rule.

Leather, smoke, aged scotch, and that subtle undertone of blood that clung to the walls like wallpaper. Giovanni’s office. A place once filled with laughter, long hours, plans scrawled out on old maps… a place where two men built their dreams out of ambition. A place where we wanted to make our park and ground grow. He my alpha and I his beta. But the two of us were always equal as brothers despite their positioning.

Now, it reeked of betrayal. Now it’s streaked with blood, blood that I knew was of those who were innocent

I stepped through the tall doors, my boots heavy against the marble. The echo followed me in, along with the ghosts of what used to be. Ghosts that unfortunately used to be us, him and I. Two friends, two children who grew up together, watched as their father stood by one another side. I never understood why my father turned his back to Giovanni’s.

But now something inside me tells me that I’m doing the same thing.

Because now everything changed. Because now he took the path that he once swore that he never would.

Flashback 22 Years Ago

“I’m telling you, Nikolai,” Giovanni said, pouring two glasses of scotch, “we are going to change everything. The way packs live, the way power is shared. You and I? We’ll be legends. We are going to change everything that my father did. The darkness, the anger, the rage. We are going to be different. We’re not going to follow that dark path.”

I smirked, accepting the glass. “Legends usually die young. Fighting those of darkness, they normally end up losing themselves.”

“Then we die on fire, I believe that the two of us will be able to do it.” he grinned. “But at least we die as kings. At least we will die being remembered as heroes, being remembered as those who made a difference.”

I remember how I laughed, because back then, I believed him.

I believed in him.

Because I knew that I saw it in him just as he saw it in me.

“Then we die together. Just as we live and stand by one another side together, we lose our lives together.” I said, extending my hand to him. He shook mine before pulling me to his chest, hugging me. I hugged him back, my friend, my brother, and the one man I trusted most. Just as I knew he trusted me. “Just as we were raised together. Until our last breaths.”

End of Flashback

That man was long gone.

That man had lost himself to power a long time ago. I just did not want to see it. I did not want to admit it to myself.

I pushed open the office doors without knocking. The guards didn’t stop me. They wouldn’t dare. I rarely ever knocked the door to walk inside the office anyway. The two of us did not have that rule. He could be fucking a woman and I would really care. He knew that.

Giovanni was seated at his desk, head down, scribbling something on a parchment. His hand stilled before he slowly looked up. “I heard you were back. I did not think that you would come back so soon. I thought that you would be taking her away.”

I took a step forward. “And I heard you’ve turned your own blood into weapons. I heard that you, the man who fought to defend his daughter, to keep her safe, now chose to not only turn her as a weapon. But chose to turn on her.”

It drove through my back, deep, sharp, twisting.

A gasp escaped my lips.

One of his men. I hadn’t seen him. I was so damn focused.

I stumbled forward, but Giovanni caught me.

And then… he bit.

His canines drove into the side of my neck, tearing into muscle and sinew. I roared in agony, but it was too late. His bite tore deep and clean. I collapsed to my knees, blood soaking my shirt, the world spinning.

Giovanni crouched beside me, lips stained red.

“You always thought you were the better man,” he whispered, breath hot against my ear. “But legends fall, Nikolai. And you? You were just the first. I refuse to be one of them, not until I end everyone who stood against me.”

My vision blurred, my lungs stilled. “Send his body to the traitors. I believe that they would want to see what happens to those that betray me.”

And in my final breath, I swore I saw the boy I once knew vanish behind those cruel eyes.