Chapter 32 · Moonclaim - Chapter 32: Everybody Obeys

Leon's mouth kept moving.

"Kneel."

The word came out flat. Dead. His eyes were gold all the way through now, and they weren't looking at anything.

Ivy's knees buckled.

She caught herself on the edge of the table, fingers white on the steel. Her legs were shaking. Not from fear. From something worse. Something that wanted to obey.

"No," she said. Her voice cracked. "Leon, don't—"

Alaric smiled. He still had one hand on Leon's shoulder, casual, like he was holding a dog on a leash.

"He can't help it," Alaric said. "Alpha command. He's got king's blood, sure, but he's been playing human too long. Forgot how the hierarchy works."

Leon's claws were still buried in the concrete. The floor around him was torn up, gouges everywhere, dust and chunks of rubble. He was bleeding from his fingertips. The smell of it hit her—sharp, wrong, too bright.

She knew that smell.

She'd smelled it the night her father died.

"Let him go," Ivy said. She was still holding the table. If she let go she'd fall. "You want me, fine. Let him go."

Alaric laughed. Not loud.