Chapter 9 A Father’s Disapproval

KATNISS

The words hung in the air between us, heavy, solid, and utterly terrifying. I stared up at Hassan, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.

“Future Luna?” I scoffed, forcing a sharp, defensive edge into my voice to hide the sudden tremble in my chest. “Don't get ahead of yourself, Blackthorn. We signed a fucking contract. A business deal. Don't start throwing around sacred titles like we actually mean something to each other.”

Hassan didn't flinch.

A faint, almost imperceptible tilt of his sharp jawline was the only sign that he had heard my protest.

“The paper says you take the title, Katniss. My people need to see a Luna who commands respect, not a business partner hiding behind legal clauses. If I don't claim you as mine, they will dismantle you piece by piece.”

“I can handle your people,” I snapped, my silver-gray eyes flashing with immediate defiance. “And I can handle you. Just remember the goddamn boundaries. No interference. No feelings.”

“I remember,” Hassan murmured, his dark gray eyes dropping to my lips for a fraction of a second before he stepped back, letting the cold air rush between us once more. “Go back to your pack, Katniss. Deal with your father. The real storm begins tonight.”

***

My father always looked at Hassan Blackthorn like he was a threat. I looked at him and wondered if he was right.

The mahogany doors of my father’s private study slammed shut behind me, the heavy echo vibrating through the soles of my shoes.

Alpha Cedric Ashbourne stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, his broad shoulders tense beneath his tailored suit, his hands clenched tightly behind his back.

The air in the room was suffocating, saturated with the thick, oppressive scent of his furious Alpha aura.

“You did what?” Cedric turned slowly, his face a terrifying mask of dark crimson, his eyes blazing with a dangerous, volatile anger.

“I signed a contract marriage with Hassan Blackthorn, Father,” I said, keeping my voice eery and level as I stood my ground. “It’s already bound under pack law. The ink is dry.”

“Are you out of your fucking mind, Katniss?” Cedric roared, slamming his fist onto the edge of his desk, making the crystal decanters rattle violently. “Hassan Blackthorn is a goddamn monster! He is a ruthless, cold-blooded warlord who views people as nothing but chess pieces! You just handed our entire legacy to the most feared Alpha in the modern world on a silver fucking platter!”

“I didn't hand him anything!” I shot back, the raw trauma of my past life bleeding through my defenses, making my chest tighten with an agonizing intensity. “I bought us a shield! Damien Ravenscar was going to slaughter us, Dad! He was going to annex our territory, strip you of your title, and discard me like trash the second the marriage deeds were finalized!”

“You have no fucking proof of that!” Cedric bellowed, stepping into my space, his dominant aura pushing against me like a physical wall. “Damien is the golden boy of the Alpha Council! He has been nothing but honorable to this family! You are throwing away a year of careful diplomacy, a perfect political alliance, all because of some paranoid, hysterical nightmare!”

I clenched my fists so hard my nails bit into the raw cuts on my palms.

It was a suffocating, brutal torment.

I couldn't tell him the truth. I couldn't tell him that I had already lived through the execution, that I had felt Selene’s silver blade tear through my heart while Damien watched with a cold, hollow smile.

He would think I had entirely lost my sanity. I had to fight this battle using the cold, calculated logic of the present.

“It isn't a nightmare, Father! It’s strategy!” I yelled back, refusing to bow an inch to his dominance. “Look at the border movements! Look at how Damien integrated his vanguard along our western flank last week! He’s surrounding us! If I marry him, we become prey. If I marry Hassan, the Blackthorn military guarantees our total independence.”

“Independence?” Cedric let out a bitter, mocking laugh, throwing his hands up in despair. “You think Blackthorn understands the word independence? He’s a tyrant, Katniss! He’s going to swallow this pack whole. You are making a life-altering decision based on pure, unadulterated fear!”

“I am making a decision based on survival!” I screamed, tears of frustration burning my eyes, though I forced them back with an unyielding resentment. “You wanted me to lead this pack as Luna? This is me leading! This is me choosing a fate where we don't all end up fucking dead!”

“You are a child playing with fire,” Cedric growled, his voice dropping into a deadly, commanding register. “I am the Alpha of the Ashbourne Pack. I will not allow my daughter to become a puppet for the Blackthorn empire. I am calling the Council. I am invalidating that piece of garbage paper you signed.”

“You can’t invalidate it, Alpha Cedric.”

The deep, baritone voice rolled through the study like a localized earthquake, instantly obliterating my father’s suffocating aura. The temperature in the room plummeted, the air filling with the chilling, intoxicating scent of dark cedarwood and heavy ozone.

The double doors swung open smoothly. Standing in the threshold was Hassan Blackthorn.

He didn't wear his ceremonial armor or a military vest; he was dressed in a pristine, tailored black suit that made him look like a billionaire corporate king, but the lethal, predatory grace in his stride was pure alpha. Kael Thornridge stood just behind him in the hallway, his arms crossed, a smug, sarcastic smirk playing on his scarred jaw.

My father spun around, his inner wolf instantly snapping to the surface, a low, murderous growl rattling in his chest. “Blackthorn. You have a lot of goddamn nerve breaching my private sanctuary uninvited. Get the fuck out of my estate.”

I expected Hassan to unleash his terrifying, legendary power. I expected him to drop my father to his knees and demand submission, just like he had done to his own elders an hour ago.

Instead, Hassan stopped exactly three paces into the room. He dipped his head in a slow, remarkably respectful nod, his dark gray eyes entirely calm, his posture completely relaxed.

“I apologize for the intrusion, Alpha Cedric,” Hassan said, his voice deep and smooth, carrying an undeniable weight of diplomatic courtesy. “I knew my presence would cause friction, but I felt it was entirely necessary to address your concerns face-to-face. I am not here to insult your authority or invade your home.”

Cedric blinked, caught entirely off guard by Hassan’s respectful demeanor. He braced his hands on his desk, his eyes narrowing skeptically. “Don't play the polite diplomat with me, boy. I know exactly what kind of blood-soaked monster you are. You saw a weakness in my daughter's panic, and you swooped in to steal my territory.”

“Your territory remains entirely yours, sir,” Hassan countered evenly, stepping slightly closer to my side, his presence a solid, grounding heat against the cold anxiety clawing at my chest. “The contract explicitly guarantees the total sovereignty of the Ashbourne Pack. I have zero interest in governing your people or taking your lands. I have enough empires to run.”

“Then why the hell did you sign it?” Cedric demanded, his gaze darting between Hassan and me, his protective fatherly instincts flaring beneath his anger. “Why would the most powerful Alpha in the North tie himself to a contract marriage with an heiress whose wolf is completely dormant? What is the catch, Hassan?”

Hassan turned his head slightly, his dark gray eyes locking onto mine with an intensity so fierce, so burning, that it made my breath hitch completely in my throat. For a split second, I saw a flash of raw, primitive emotion behind his cold mask—something proprietary and deeply hidden.

“Your daughter brought me an opportunity to dismantle the Ravenscar monopoly,” Hassan explained, turning back to face my father, his tone shifting into a firm, unyielding register. “Damien Ravenscar has been encroaching on my southern borders for months. This alliance doesn't weaken the Ashbourne Pack; it completely fortifies us both. I signed it because she was smart enough to offer me the perfect tactical victory.”

Cedric stared at him, the heavy silence stretching between them for what felt like an eternity.

He looked at the signed document resting on his desk, then at the rigid, determined stance of his daughter, and finally at the absolute, unwavering presence of the Blackthorn king.

The furious crimson was slowly fading from my father’s face, replaced by the heavy, exhausting burden of political defeat. He knew he couldn't fight us both. He knew pack law was absolute.

Cedric closed his eyes, taking a deep, stabilizing breath. When he opened them, the anger was gone, leaving only the sharp, calculating gaze of an old ruler who loved his child.

“You’re a brilliant strategist, Blackthorn. I’ll give you that,” Cedric murmured, leaning back against his desk, his eyes drilling into Hassan’s soul. “And I can see that my daughter has completely made up her mind. I will consider this marriage. I will let the Council drafts proceed.”

A sharp wave of pure, victorious relief washed over my chest. I looked at Hassan, a faint smile touching my lips.

But before I could even draw a breath to celebrate, my father raised a heavy hand, his voice dropping into a chillingly serious, emotional whisper that froze the blood in my veins.

“But only if you can prove one thing to me, Alpha,” Cedric stated, his eyes flashing with a dangerous, protective fire.

Hassan tilted his head, his face an impenetrable stone mask. “Name it.”

Cedric looked straight at the man everyone feared, pointing a finger directly at his chest.

“Convince me that you want my daughter, not just my territory.”