Page 106 of The Delta’s Rogue (Crescent Lake #4)

Lyall launches himself forward, shifting in midair to a dark gray wolf with white paws. His jaws open, ready to clamp around Selene’s body, but Sarina lifts her chin and releases my hand from her grasp to stand beside Selene.

“Stop,” Sarina orders him. Her voice is a near whisper, but it’s laced with every ounce of power she holds within her.

Lyall drops to the ground mid pounce. His paws collapse underneath him with a snap, and he yelps.

Sarina wrinkles her nose at his pathetic cry of pain. “Shift back.” She stares at him without lowering her chin as he unwillingly changes from his wolf form to his human form. “Kneel,” she commands him, spitting the words through her clenched teeth.

Lyall promptly drops to his knees and gapes at her. “How— How is this possible?” he asks through giant gasping breaths of pain. “You’re a rogue. He’s just a delta. Neither of you have any real rank or power.”

Sarina’s shoulders straighten. Her aura doesn’t pulse from her. It floods the grounds, extending to the furthest borders of Crescent Lake and beyond. It’s an ocean of power, the vast depths of which remain unexplored. It’s a galaxy of power, glittering with stars of vengeance.

It’s not a suggestion anymore but a full-blown, unavoidable, undeniable command. It passes over every wolf and forces their heads into submissive bows with its tenacity.

Everyone except me.

Her voice, unwavering and regal, rings across the grounds. “I am not a rogue. I am a direct descendant of Conan, first of the lycans, first king of the werewolves. My name is Sara Anaís Goodrich Cisneros, and I am the alpha of all alphas. I am your queen .”

Behind me, the eyes of all three of my friends bore into my back. Their befuddlement is palpable, and I wink at them over my shoulder, their matching expressions of surprise at this ace up our sleeve giving me some brief, much needed comedic relief .

“Queen?” Wes murmurs. “She took over already?”

I nod. “Her dad transferred the title to her in secret earlier today.”

“So you’re officially Luna Sebastian now?” Reid asks.

I straighten, crossing my arms and lifting my chin, displaying every ounce of pride within me and my lycan at our new title, our new position as Sarina’s king.

“And you waited this long to tell us because…”

Nolan elbows Reid in the ribs, and Reid mutters an “ouch” under his breath.

Sarina shoots a quick glare our way, promptly shutting us all up.

“But I’m a demigod!” Lyall’s protests against Sarina’s ability to control him sound like the whining of a bratty teenager caught out past their bedtime. “We are above the compulsion of lesser beings.”

“You were a demigod,” Sarina corrects him. “You’re not anymore. You ceased to be a demigod the moment you received your wolf.”

Beneath her mask of a regal, confident queen, I sense the toll the battle took on her. I stroll to her, wrapping my arm around her lower back so my hand rests on her hip, but I stay a hairsbreadth behind her.

She is the queen. This is her moment, her first public act as the monarch, as the alpha of all alphas, and I will not ruin it for her. I will remain silent. A stalwart, steady beacon of support for her until she tells me she needs more from me.

“What? Why? How?” Lyall sputters.

His body jerks with resistance as he attempts to break free from Sarina’s aura. But she’s too strong for him, and he’s in too much pain from his severing mate bond.

“Everything in our world must have balance. Lycans are only born from those who’ve held the title of alpha.

I can’t command other members of the royal family.

You were never meant to be a demigod, so you can’t be both.

” Sarina’s lip curls into a smile so cold I feel it in my bones. “Now you’re just a ‘lesser being’.”

Lyall jerks towards her with a growling snarl. I tighten my grip on her reflexively, but she aims her aura towards him like an arrow, and he crumples over his knees, his palms flat on the ground.

“Where did you get the lightning bolts?” she demands.

“My benefactor,” he pants.

“Zeus? ”

Lyall’s jaw ticks, and his mouth clamps shut tight. But Sarina’s aura forces him to spit the answer out. “Yes!” he admits, scowling at her as he does.

“Does he know you attacked us?”

“No. He’s mostly been hands off. He’s provided me with what I’ve needed when I needed it. He didn’t care much what I did, as long as it hurt you ”—he glares pointedly at Selene—“and it didn’t lead back to him.”

“The lightning bolts are a pretty obvious giveaway,” Sarina points out.

“A last resort. For dire situations.”

“Or temper tantrums when plans didn’t go your way?”

Lyall’s eyes narrow, but Sarina is unfazed.

“And Brenna?” Sarina glances at her friend, who still has her arms wrapped tightly around her stomach and her face hidden in Micah’s chest. “Why Brenna?”

“She was to be my prize.”

“But why her?” Sarina presses.

“Amara brought her to the compound years ago. As soon as I witnessed her using her powers, I knew I had to have her. I knew together we would be untouchable, and our offspring even more so. That’s when I asked Zeus that the mate bond he promised me be a mate bond with her .

” His disgusting eyes sweep over to Brenna, and his lips part in a nauseating grin.

“It helped that she resembles Asteria with her long dark hair, her snow-white skin, and her bright blue eyes.”

Micah’s nostrils flare, and he backs away, taking Brenna out of Lyall’s line of sight.

Selene stiffens, and her hands curl into fists at her sides.

Sarina doesn’t react. Not outwardly, at least. But through the bond, I sense her pure, unfiltered disgust and hatred.

“Do you have any more lightning bolts?” she asks.

“No. I used them both,” Lyall confesses through his teeth.

Sarina jerks her chin towards the bolt he threw at Dominic. “Pick it up.”

There’s a sharp intake of breath from Lyall. “What?”

“Pick up the lightning bolt,” Sarina repeats.

“Only an immortal can touch it without harm.”

“I know. ”

Any ounce of amusement or humor left on Sarina’s face, and in her demeanor, vanishes. Her voice vibrates deep in her throat, tinged with the low growl of her lycan. She takes three slow, prowling steps forward. Her eyes flash gold, her aura turns brutal, and she zeroes all of it in on Lyall.

“Pick. It. Up. And stab yourself with it. Right in the heart.”

Lyall’s muscles violently shake as he fights against Sarina’s command. But there is no resisting her. She is a force to be reckoned with. She is a sword of vengeance and justice.

A true queen.

Lyall rises to his feet and moves across the grounds robotically.

The bolt crackles and sizzles in the dirt next to the log.

Lyall folds himself in half. His arm tenses as it reaches for the bolt.

There is a pause as his hand uncurls from its fist and his fingers extend.

He stares at the bolt, veins popping beneath his skin and within the whites of his eyes as he tries with all his might to fight Sarina’s alpha command.

Sarina growls, and Lyall’s body jerks into motion once more.

The tips of his fingers brush the bolt. Electricity twines around his digits.

It crawls and leaps up his arm as he wraps his hand around it.

An agonizing noise of pain rips through him.

The bolt pulses, and the cracks of lightning echo across all of Crescent Lake.

His body jolts and contorts with each strike.

His arm moves towards his chest, kept on its path by the command Sarina issued—the command he can’t fight off even as he electrocutes himself with the weapon in his hand.

Lyall collapses to the ground with another shout of pain. The pungent scent of singed flesh, blood, and excretions wafts towards us as he writhes on the ground, his hand trying to plunge the bolt into his heart.

Beneath the cracks, the thunder, and Lyall’s screams, his heartbeat slows. From a racing gallop to a leisurely stroll to a struggling climb up a vertical hill, the pace diminishes.

And then it stops.

His arm collapses, and the bolt falls to the ground beside him.

Sarina’s shoulders slump, but she doesn’t pull her focus from Lyall. I wrap my arms around her from behind. Her hands grip my wrists, and she takes several deep breaths while I hold her.

“Brenna,” she mutters, craning her neck to see her. “Is she—”

“Micah has her,” I reassure her. “Focus on yourself please.”

Her cheek falls against my chest. “I should say the same to you.” She strokes my arm. Her lashes lift as she gazes up at me. Myriad emotions swim in her deep brown eyes, all of them meant for me.

I shake my head and push the lump in my throat down. “We’re not finished here. We have a job to do.”

“Your family needs you.”

“Seb.” Maddie’s voice overlaps Sarina’s.

Maddie stands behind us, looking so small, broken, and too young for the horrors she just experienced.

“Seb…” she croaks again, and as soon as I release Sarina from my arms, Maddie slams into me, sobbing into my shoulder.

It hits me then. All of it.

The pain, the exhaustion, the loss.

I rest my chin on Maddie’s head, and I let it all drag me under. It blurs my vision and wraps around my throat. It wrenches out of me in silent, heaving sobs. Another body rams into me, and my silent tears turn into embarrassing, sloppy sniffles as Wesley embraces both of us.

We hug for several minutes, and as we do, Sarina caresses my back. Small sniffles drift to my ears from her nose, and through the bond, I feel all the emotions I saw in her eyes: anguish, resolve, anger, relief, love. None outweighs the other. All are an echo of the emotions rolling through me.

Wesley releases us first, backing up and crossing his arms. Maddie mimics his posture. Her facial muscles tremble with the tears she can’t stem, and she gazes at the lake.

I wipe at my face with the back of my hand and tuck Sarina into my side. I need something to hold. To anchor me. To prevent the world from disappearing beneath my feet.

Everything hurts, and everything is wrong. I never imagined a world where my dad wasn’t here. Where he wouldn’t be here for the most important moments of my life. A world where he only got to meet one of his grandchildren.

“His body,” I blurt out. “Dad’s body… We can’t just—”

“Reid and Nolan are taking him to the hospital,” Wes says. “I’m sure Mom will want to say goodbye before… ”

Before they cremate him. As is Crescent Lake custom for their alphas.

“We all will,” I agree.

I stare at the log at the forest’s edge, where Dominic stood before he took his last breath, and my heart breaks further. There isn’t a body for Savvy to say goodbye to. Dominic was finally able to be a bigger part of her life, and now she’ll never know her other dad.

“When do you want to have their funerals?” I ask through the tightness in my throat to distract myself from the too depressing thoughts swirling in my brain.

“After we take care of Zeus,” Wes says. “They would want us to finish this before we truly mourn them.”

“But how are we going to take out Zeus?” Sarina asks. “We can’t kill him. He’s Zeus .”

“I haven’t been to Olympus in a very long time.” Selene strolls up to us, lightning bolts in hand and vengeance in her eyes. “I think it’s time I returned.”