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 whereshe 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...
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