The Lunar Curse: A Second Chance With Alpha Draven novel Chapter 423

Chapter 423: Reginald Suggests A Duel

[Third Person].

The room went silent.

Even Wanda, who had been quietly tracing the rim of her wine glass, froze. Meredith’s hand tightened faintly beneath the table, but she said nothing.

Draven’s jaw flexed before he continued. "We destroyed the lab. Every record, every vial, every piece of data that could allow another human to attempt the same thing. If they ever think to repeat that crime, they will have nothing left to work from."

His gaze swept across the room, not challengingly, but with the authority of someone who knew he was being measured.

"But not all our people made it home. The ones Brackham experimented on—the ones we found were already gone. They were beyond saving."

A solemn hush settled. The statement carried no embellishment, and that made it hit harder. A few of the elders bowed their heads in respect.

Randall looked toward his son—pride briefly visible through the calm façade.

Dennis and Jeffery sat taller, their eyes glinting with the memory of the mission’s cost.

When Draven finally leaned back, the silence held for several heartbeats before voices began again—low, fervent, half in admiration, half in unease.

The first Alpha to speak was Solas of the Bloodfang pack. "You did what most of us wouldn’t have thought possible. Smart tactics for a strategist," he said, lips curving faintly. "You brought justice without open war."

Oscar smiled quietly at that—his way of agreeing without words.

But even as the room rippled with acknowledgement, Meredith could feel the other side of the tension: the older eyes measuring, the ones who wondered whether Draven had been too careful, too composed, too hard to manipulate.

And across from her, Wanda sat with her head bowed just slightly, pretending composure as a thousand thoughts ran through her mind.

Draven’s voice carried calm confidence, and the way Meredith’s presence beside him reinforced it—it unsettled her more than she could admit.

Meanwhile, the tension in the hall had grown heavier. The first few questions from the Elders were ceremonial—praises wrapped around inquiries—but now, the real testing was beginning.

An elder with a snow-white beard leaned forward. "You said you found Brackham and his human conspirators," he said. "What punishment did they face?"

Draven’s gaze was steady. "I left them to the vampires."

For a moment, silence. Then outrage broke across the table.

"You what?" Elder Rowan half-rose from his chair. "You handed them to blood-drinkers?"

Draven didn’t flinch. "They created their own monsters. It was only fitting they be eaten by them."

"Do you understand what you may have caused?" another elder barked. "The vampires could have turned them—infected them! We could face a hybrid army in the future!"

The room stirred, whispers rising like heat from coals. Even some of the Alphas exchanged uneasy looks.

Draven’s calm remained absolute. "And if that happens," he said, "then we will deal with it. The world doesn’t wait for us to sleep in safety. If war comes again, it will find us prepared."

His voice wasn’t raised, but the quiet conviction in it silenced the table for a beat. Still, several elders muttered, unsatisfied.

From the far end, Alpha Victor of Silvercrest muttered, "Arrogance can look like courage to those who want to be impressed."

The tension grew thick enough to cut—until a clear female voice broke through it.

"With respect, Elder Victor," Wanda said, rising from her seat with measured composure, "I disagree."

All eyes turned toward her. Her chin was lifted, her confidence natural, her tone precise.

"When I was stationed in Duskmoor," she said, "I learned one thing about vampires—they rarely attack unless provoked. Humans, however, always do. They poke at power they do not understand, and when it turns on them, they cry victim."

A murmur of reluctant agreement swept the hall. Even some elders nodded. Wanda continued, her gaze flicking briefly toward Draven.

"Alpha Draven made a choice that ended the war without bringing it to our own gates. He saved nearly ninety per cent of all our people living among the humans. That is a victory worthy of Stormveil’s gratitude."

She bowed her head slightly toward him—a formal gesture that made her look every inch the disciplined warrior she was.

Draven’s expression didn’t even change for one bit. He didn’t care that Wanda defended him, and it had worked.

There was no warmth in Wanda’s eyes—only a gleam of pride, and beneath it, something sharp and possessive.

Meredith saw it all, but her chest tightened in quiet realization: Wanda’s defence wasn’t just loyalty. It was a claim.

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