Chapter 181: Gee, Why Wouldn’t He Want The Syringe One

There were, Nova was learning, two versions of the High Luna: the one who threw wine glasses into fires and called her Nancy, and the one who walked into a war room and made the entire council sit up straighter. She had only met the first. She was about to meet the second.

The war room filled again, a full house, every seat along the holo-table taken. Dante and Freya were both there, settled in among the elders like they’d always belonged. Captains, high-ranking officers, the whole apparatus of the pack convened under one roof.

The High Luna entered last.

She crossed the room and took a seat.

Alpha Thunderfang didn’t react to his grandmother joining the council at all. But Nova read the room off everyone else, the small shifts and traded looks that rippled through the elders and captains, and gathered that the High Luna in a war room was not a normal occurrence.

"The debrief on Starborne," one of the elders began, pulling a transmission log into the air above the table. "He is formally demanding the return of his daughter. It appears he was not informed of the dissolution of the pairing beforehand, so he is operating as though Celeste was wronged rather than arrested."

A second elder leaned in. "There is more, Alpha. The High Elders’ Council of Helix has received your dissolution paperwork and they are strongly urging you move forward with your bonding to the Starborne princess. They will drag out the paperwork for as long as it takes."

Nova knew the High Elders’ Council of Helix sat above all packs and Alphas. But that was still a surprise to hear.

"Her title does not put her above the law for assault and attempted murder," Alpha Thunderfang stated.

An elder leaned into the light of the holo-table.

"We relayed exactly that, Alpha. We informed them she is being tried under Thunderfang law. But every person in this room saw the holo footage. She will be found guilty. And the punishment for attempting the life of an Alpha is death. My stance is that we return the Starborne princess to Starborne regardless, so that we do not set a precedent the other packs of Helix can turn against us. Thunderfang has daughters newly mated into Starborne men. Alpha Starborne could take this out on one of them in retaliation, or use it as grounds to declare war. The fact that he has not done either yet, that he is simply demanding his daughter back, is reasonable." He raised a hand before anyone could object. "Even if her crimes are not. He is a father first."

Nova kept her face smooth, but something in that framing was funny. She had spent her whole life inside the Starborne manor. Whatever Alpha Starborne was, father first was not a phrase she would have reached for. Then again, Kai and Celeste were the two most spoiled people she knew.

"The Starborne Elders are the only reason he hasn’t already moved on us," the High Luna cut in. "And every person at this table knows it."

Based on the two dinners Nova had with the High Luna, she’d have put money on the High Luna having drunk the Starborne Kool-Aid straight from the pitcher. But at this table, in this room, she was not performing. She sounded like a High Luna, and considerably less like a woman doing theater.

"There is another component to his demands, Alpha. He is demanding Nova’s return and offered to refund the full sum paid for her. Two hundred and fifty million," the elder added.

Nova’s blood ran cold.

"Absolutely not. I heard him the first time, and my answer hasn’t changed." Alpha Thunderfang didn’t so much as glance at the transmission. "Celeste, I can at least follow the logic. Him asking for Nova is ridiculous."

"To be clear for the room," Tavian chimed in, "he is demanding Nova in lieu of Celeste staying behind bars. Meaning he is perfectly content to let his daughter rot in a Thunderfang cell, so long as he gets Nova back in exchange."

Nova’s composure cracked for a moment. That was new information. That was also absolutely horrifying information. Why would he want her back?

Tavian spread his hands. "So to summarize, he’d rather have the one he put in silver cuffs and sold than the one he raised. Families, am I right? Nobody look at me, I have my own things."

The room came apart into noise.

"He’d leave his own daughter in a cell? That deal does not make sense."

"Why would he want her back? He has other slaves. He can’t sell her then take her back. That’s not how this works. She’s Prince Derek’s mate."

"A father first? Sure. What does—"

The questions overlapped and climbed, elders talking over captains talking over each other, the whole table visibly recalculating what kind of man they were dealing with.

Maria leaned towards Nova and whispered. "Daddy is willing to leave Celeste in a cell to get you back. That’s almost sweet. If you squint at it and don’t think about it."

"Gee. Why wouldn’t he want the one who carries syringes around?" the Elder next to Dante deadpanned, his voice being the last of the rapid fire questions. It was the same elder who defended Celeste due to a spatial miscommunication. Even he had flipped.

"Did he give a reason for that?" Dante asked, speaking for the first time.

"He has not sent this officially yet. But my sources supplied what he gave the High Council and what he will be sending us tonight," the High Luna answered.

The room turned towards her.

"Word of Derek’s condition has gotten out. He’s leveraging that and the fact that Prince Kai does not have a mate. He wants to pair Nova with his son as his consort, not Luna," she explained, using Nova’s name like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Nova replayed the words in her mind once. Twice. Three times because she rejected the first two. Then physically recoiled. The disgust she felt was total, a full-body rejection with no counterargument anywhere in it.

If Celeste was her sister, then Kai Starborne was her biological brother. Surely her father knew that. He had to know that. Right?