Alpha Damon (Sienna) novel Chapter 312

Lysandra:

“Again.”

Carter collapsed, breath ragged, hands bloodied against the cold stone. He’d been thrown onto his back so many times his body had stopped bruising and simply began to swell in protest.

And though I knew that it was painful, I also knew that he needed to deal with it. I was also in pain. I had to admit, I never expected to deal with this much agony. When it came to fighting, it was never the one to combat. But Giovanni also taught me that giving up was not going to be an option.

Giovanni.

How the name of father became so foreign to my tongue that I noticed simply referred to him as Giovanni, who’s no longer my dad. He was no longer the support that I had. He was known that I had in my life. He was just a man that tormented me to get what he wanted.

“Lysandra… please,” he gasped. “I can’t. If I keep doing this, I can’t fight back, Lysandra.”

“You can,” I said flatly, circling him like a predator assessing a broken wing. “You just don’t want to. And that is why I’m not going to allow you to stop, Carter. We’re going to keep doing this.”

The courtyard was quiet but heavy, every swing, every breath echoed. Damon stood at the far edge, arms crossed, jaw clenched. Ethan beside him, tense, eyes burning with the instinct to intervene.

And I knew that they wanted to.

But they didn’t.

Not yet.

Technically, because I did not want them to, I was going to end up turning against them no matter what was going to happen. I told them not to intervene unless of course I was taking my last breath. Then they were allowed to intervene.

Because this wasn’t their battle.

It was his.

And he was going to need to fight it, no matter how hard it was going to be for him.

I crouched beside Carter. His eyes were dilated, one of them beginning to darken from the last throw. His entire body trembled, not from exhaustion, but from fear. Not of me.

Of her.

“I know she’s still in there, I know that she’s still trying to get inside your mind.” I whispered. “She whispers, doesn’t she? Tells you to break me. Kill me. She’s trying to play you and you’re fighting hard not to let her in.”

His jaw tightened.

“She’s testing you,” I added. “And so am I. That is why you’re going to keep fighting until you break free from her, until she’s out of your mind, until she understands that she’s not going to have the power over you.”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, voice cracking. “And she wants me to hurt you, Lysandra. I can’t keep fighting, not when I am weakening like this.”

“Then hurt her.” I said softly. “Because I know for a fact that the man that I trust is going to stand here by my side and is going to keep fighting until the very end of this. Now fight.”

I rose again, stepping back.

“Come on, Carter. Show me whose body this is.” I said, glaring at him, my eyes hardening as I knew that I was going to need to toughen up as well. This was going to be harder than anything else because I knew that I was going to anger him. “Unless of course you believe that it belongs to her, then if that’s the case, then how about we just end it all here? But you know for a fact that I’m not going to allow it to end, not until you’ve snapped out of it.”

He staggered up, hands on his knees, spitting blood onto the stone. I could feel the shift in him, not physical, not power, but a storm finally choosing to rise instead of wait. His eyes darkened as he looked at me and I smiled.

“Lysandra, this is not going to end well.” Damon said, giving me a warning. I looked at him over my shoulder and shook my head.

“There’s no time to step back now. He’s going to fight and I’m going to fight back, and neither one of you is going to interfere. You already have that rule and I don’t want you crossing it unless you want me to turn my back on you.”

“Lysandra…”

Suddenly, Carter’s entire posture changed, stopping all of us from having the conversation that we were.

He charged.

Fast. Strong.

Gone.

For a moment, no one spoke. No one dared to. I didn’t even move. The current or after what just happened, I needed to breathe.

I walked toward him, crouched, and tilted his chin up until his eyes met mine. Red-rimmed. Broken. But clear.

“You hesitated,” I said softly. “And you did it.”

“I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be,” I interrupted. “You stopped yourself. You stopped her.”

A slow smile curved my lips.

“You’ve regained control.”

His mouth parted, stunned. For the first time in days, maybe weeks, Carter exhaled without pain.

Damon approached, quiet now, no longer needing to step in. Ethan followed, a hand on Carter’s shoulder, offering silent pride. Sienna watched from the balcony above with Delilah beside her, both unmoving, both finally allowing themselves hope.

Because for the first time… we were no longer running from Tatiana.

We were preparing to face her.

“Now come on, let’s get you inside. I think they’re going to need to get some rest. But of course you need to shower first. You stink.” I said, and he laughed.

“Thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me. Not yet anyway. Come on, let’s get you inside.”