The silence was palpable as Lucian stared at her in all her confusion.
"You didn't know Danika?" He asked with a smirk curling on his face.
Danika nodded in the negative. As much as she didn't want to spend time here engaging with this man, she couldn't ignore what he had just revealed to her.
"Your brother didn't reveal what he did to you?"
She nodded in the negative again. Doing a perfect job of masking the ache that had taken seed in her heart again on hearing about Damon's other betrayal.
"Few days to the ritual where we Alpha heirs were to either claim or reject your pheromones before everyone, a letter got sent to each of us. At first I believed it would be a congratulatory message, haven been found worthy by the deposed Alpha Bernard to be his daughter's mate" he paused, taking in her reaction as he mentioned her father.
Danika had flinched on hearing him say that. Deposed? He didn't even refer to him as late but deposed? That fast? Was that what was now being spoken of about her late father across the werewolf kingdoms?
Lucian smiled inwardly and continued. He was just returning to her the insults she had given him before in equal measures.
"But it appeared to have been a threat written by Damon himself. Threatening to massacre any of the Heir's who would accept your pheromones and make you their Luna. We were all threatened to reject you, Danika you see but instead, I gave you a chance! I wanted to go against him! I wanted you so badly that I decided to rebel even if the odds were in his favor that he would win the revolution. Who would have thought that he would win it that quickly? I could have become one of his sworn enemies by now"
Danika's attention had drifted and she was no longer paying attention to what he was saying.
With the added information she just learnt now, she couldn't comprehend why Damon or his mother hadn't issued an ultimatum to Damien to send her back to Crimson Veil pack.
It was the only plausible thing they would do if they were reasonable. Anyone would do it too after murdering her father who was the rightful moon bestowed Alpha of Crimson Veil. Wouldn't it be in their favor then if they were to kill his offspring as well? But they were leaving her instead in this pack? Not behaving as if she existed? Something about it didn't feel right before her.
Lucian cleared his throat as he was about to continue talking, snapping Danika back from her trance.
What was it he wanted to say now. Had he not said enough already for someone who was supposed to keep what he just exposed as a secret?
Lucian had paused too, believing that he revealed too much. But then she was an omega and had been put in the right place she belonged. Then her father's authority had shielded her from this but now she was finally here. What would she be able to do with the information he just spilled. She even lacked a small thing as a wolf. How possible was it that she would be able to lift a finger.
"The opportunity you once had to be the mate and Luna of the future Alpha of Dread fang circle has already passed Danika, but I am a man of multiple opportunities and I am willing to offer one to you"
Danika dreaded this. Especially when he began walking close to where he was, covering the space between them.
He should just boast about how he wanted to rebel against Damon because of his obsession with her body, honestly, she would be at peace with just hearing that. At peace with him taunting her because she had been reduced to a servant in a other pack. At peace with him mocking her helplessness.
Nor his stupid ploys of wanting to help her elevate herself and her status because even if she were on the verge of death, taking help from a man like him would be the last thing on her mind to do.
"Everyone knows how much I adore women and hate to see them suffer" he began and Danika's breath hitched in her throat, trying hard to control the words she wanted to hurl at him for the lie he had just told.
Adored women? More like treated them like they were objects and properties. If not because of the elders council that had sanctioned his father once over his behavior, Lucian had been taking advantage of the women who worked in their palace whether or not they were married.
The irony of him speaking about how much he adored and respected them enough to hate seeing them suffer.
"I can help you Danika. I swear, I will still be able to. One of my women ran away. And now there's currently a vacancy. If you follow me now, I'll announce to your Alpha that you're my new woman and he'd have no choice than to let you go. Even Damon won't be able to go after you because you'd be under my care as one of my women" he towered over her, trying to hold her shoulders to look in his direction and consider what he had just told her.
One of his women? Surprising how he was masking his request for her to become one of his bed warmers.
Still disgusted by what she had just heard him spew from his mouth, she noticed a hand touching her bosom and when she turned to stare down at herself, she saw him trying to cup then in his hand.
The second she noticed this, she stepped away from him and spat on his face. Lucian slapt her immediately the spit landed.
This attracted the attention of Damien's cabinet members who were stepping out of the throne room, as the meeting was over.
Lucian noticing this as an ample opportunity in his stead, leaned close to her to take it.
"Everyone is watching Danika. How would they react when they hear about how you disrespected an alpha heir?" He laughed in her ear.
Danika seethed with rage and her heart pounded knowing what he meant by that. Who would be willing to take the words of a lowly omega against that of an alpha heir? Lest hers? She of all people.
"Apologize and bow before me now" he demanded as he was still leaned close to her ears.
" This is your last chance to accept to be my whore, Danika" he said finally, no longer bothered about masking his words and what he meant by his proposal.
She shifted her head and once again spat on his face. Unbothered about the members who were gathered and watching.
Feeling humiliated before everyone, Lucian extended his hand towards her cheek to give her another harsh slap but what happened next he did not anticipate.