Chapter 259

Hannah

The meeting location that Alpha David picked out was, indeed, in neutral territory.

And it was far less unsavory than the place where I had met Jen.

My eyes immediately locked onto David, who was sitting at a corner table of the upscale lounge with his own security detail surrounding him. The sight of him made my blood boil, memories of our encounter in the parking garage and my subsequent humiliation in his prison flooding back.

My hands clenched into fists at my sides, and I had to take a deep breath to steady myself. The taste of bile rose in my throat as I remembered the cold cell, the leering guards, the feeling of utter helplessness.

“You okay?” Viona whispered, her hand brushing mine as we walked into the lounge.

I nodded tightly, but inside I was berating myself all over again. Seeing him in the flesh like this just reawakened those memories, and I still felt like a fool for letting his Beta and guards take me into custody that day.

How could I have been so careless? So naive?

No wonder no one took me seriously as an Alpha.

As if reading my thoughts, Viona squeezed my arm. “Hey. It wasn’t your fault, Hannah,” she murmured, her voice low enough that only I could hear. “You were only trying to protect Melody. And besides, we should have stopped it.” She gestured to herself and my security officers, who were currently flanking me. “That’s on us.”

I swallowed hard, trying to push down the lump in my throat. “Well, I still shouldn’t have gone with them so easily,” I muttered. “But I won’t make the same mistake twice. Whatever David wants, we’re handling it right here in this lounge or he can shove it.”

We approached the table, and David stood, a smirk playing at his lips. His eyes raked over me with no shame, and I felt my skin crawl. “Alpha Hannah, so good of you to join us. I was beginning to think you might not show.”

“What do you want, David?” I asked coldly, not bothering to sit down. I could feel the eyes of everyone in the lounge on us, but I kept my gaze fixed on him.

David gestured to the chair across the polished table. “Please, have a seat. Can I offer you a drink? The whiskey here is excellent.”

“I don’t intend to pay you back with sexual favors,” I sneered, “so I won’t allow you to buy one. Let’s just cut the pleasantries and get to the point, shall we?”

David’s smirk faltered for a moment, replaced by a flash of annoyance. But he quickly schooled his features back into a mask of indifference. “Always so dramatic. This is a business meeting, nothing more. But if you insist on standing, by all means.”

“Then let’s get to business,” I said, my voice sharp. “What is this about? Why did you call me here?”

David leaned back in his chair, his fingers steepled in front of him. He seemed to be savoring the moment, drawing out the tension. Finally, he held out his hand toward his Beta, who placed a tablet onto his palm.

“We both have something the other wants,” David said as he tapped on the tablet screen. “I have evidence that will help you put your darling cousin behind bars, and you have land that I want to absorb into Darkmoon.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. “Evidence? What kind of evidence?” My heart was pounding, but I kept my face impassive. I couldn’t let him see how desperate I was for anything that could help me put Alvin in prison.

Without a word, David tapped one last time on the tablet, and a recording began to play. I recognized Alvin’s voice immediately, and what I heard made me shudder.

“‘The bitch will never sire a little brat of her own,’” Alvin’s voice came through, loud and clear. “She’s such a dumb whore who only cares about being skinny, she’ll probably even take enough pills to kill herself before too long…’”

Before the recording could play to the end, David stopped it and looked up at me with a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

“Your cousin-dearest loved frequenting the brothels in my pack, as you well know,” David clarified as he handed the tablet back to his Beta. “But what he didn’t know was that this particular brothel is sanctioned by Darkmoon, and thus has security cameras in every room. Which means that his grandiose bragging was immediately reported.”

I tried to keep my expression neutral, but inside, my mind was racing. This footage was invaluable. With it, there was no way the Council could ignore Alvin’s crimes.

David leaned back, a smug look on his face. “Of course, I could give you this evidence, even testify in front of the Council for you. But we have a history, don’t we?”

My eyes narrowed. “If you expect me to sleep with you in exchange for—”

“Nothing like that, I assure you, Alpha Hannah,” David stopped me with his hand held up. “All I ask is for land; if you give me that sweet little chunk of your northern land that sits on the border between Darkmoon and Silvermoon, then I will help you. And perhaps we can put everything else behind us as well.”

I knew the land that David was referring to; Darkmoon had been trying to get it for years. My father always refused, saying that Darkmoon would just keep asking for more if we gave them what they wanted.

But Alvin was also the one last threat to my daughter that I knew of. And this evidence that David had in his possession could be the one thing to put him behind bars, where he couldn’t hurt anyone except himself.

I turned to Viona, speaking in a low voice. “What do you think?”

She frowned, considering. Her eyes darted between me and David, weighing our options. “The evidence is highly valuable, and having him testify would be a huge boon,” she whispered. “But giving land to David might make him think he can ask for more in the future... It’s a dangerous precedent to set.”

I nodded, my mind whirling with possibilities and potential consequences. The land David wanted wasn’t exactly crucial to Silvermoon—it was just a large swathe of forest—but the idea of giving any part of my territory to him after what he’d done to me made my skin crawl.

And yet, the chance to finally bring Alvin to justice…

Finally, I turned back to David. “Here is my offer. As a one-time thing, I’ll give you the land you want and even a little extra on top, on one condition: you never ask to expand your borders into Silvermoon territory again. This is it, David. One deal, and then we’re done.”

David’s eyes lit up at the mention of extra land, but he remained silent, waiting for me to continue.

“And there’s one more thing,” I added, my voice firm. “You leave Jen alone. Clear her criminal record in Darkmoon and don’t try to come for her. She is a member of Silvermoon now, and she is rehabilitating herself and no longer drug dealing. She gets a clean slate. Understood?”

David leaned in to confer with his Beta, their whispers too low for me to hear.

After a moment that felt like an eternity, he straightened and nodded. “Very well. I’ll take the offer. It seems we both get what we want.”

Relief washed over me, but I kept my expression neutral. I couldn’t let him see how much this meant to me. “Good. We’ll have our lawyers draw up the paperwork. I want everything in writing, notarized and binding before the trial in a month.”

David stood, offering me a thin smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Of course. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He extended his hand, and after a moment’s hesitation, I took it. It was all I could do to resist the urge to hit him again.

When he finally released my hand, his smile widened. He snapped his fingers and his security team rose as one, brushing past me like a cold wind.

“See you at the trial, Alpha Hannah,” David called over his shoulder before slipping out of the lounge.

Only once he was gone did I allow myself to sink down into the chair beside me. And despite my shock, my wariness…

I couldn’t help but smile.