Defying the Lycan King (Kira and Derek) novel Chapter 246

Chapter 246: If You Found A Nexus

After the meal, Derek set the empty tray aside and looked at the exhaustion lining her face.

"So," he murmured. "Now that you have eaten enough to feed a small army, tell me what you were doing before I walked in? You looked like you were trying to solve a life changing riddle on that screen."

Kira exhaled, rubbing her temples with her knuckles.

"My first hearing with the Wolf Council is tomorrow. And I’ll be meeting Rolf himself face to face for the first time since our last visit to Moonfang."

She gestured at the desk. "So I’ve been reading up on werewolf pack laws, succession rights, and territorial claims. Jessica’s been helping me through the trickier bits over the phone."

Derek rose from the sofa, crossed to the desk, and gathered up the stack of books and her laptop. He carried them back to the sofa and settled in beside her, opening the laptop and studying the screen with deep, quiet concentration.

Kira let her head fall back against the headrest. "I’m so tired," she groaned. "I just want to sleep for a hundred years."

"Then sleep," Derek said simply.

But she shook her head. "I can’t. I need to get all of this into my head first. Most of those men on the Council are as patriarchal as they come. They’ll do anything, twist any rule, to keep a pack out of a woman’s hands. I refuse to walk in there and lose on some technicality just because I didn’t know the law well enough."

She sighed, and something smaller crept into her voice. "And honestly... I’m a little scared of meeting Rolf face to face tomorrow. The man spent twenty years making me feel like garbage."

Derek turned slowly to look at her.

"Kira," he said, his deep voice carrying a sudden certainty. "Look at me."

Kira turned her head, her eyes locking onto his brilliant amber gaze.

He reached out and gently took her hands in his.

"You’re stronger than you think, Kira," he said, his thumb gently tracing the back of her hand. "Far stronger. And you are none of the things that man ever told you that you were."

His jaw tightened. "He is a criminal and a liar. I am truly sorry, that I ever used those same words against you. I had no right, and they were never true." He held her gaze. "You’re going to win this. No matter what. I believe that."

A genuine, grateful smile tugged at Kira’s lips. She looked into his eyes.

"Thank you, Derek," she said softly. "You don’t know how much those words mean to me right now."

Derek smiled back. "I’m glad they made you feel better."

He cleared his throat gently, trying to mask how much her soft smile had affected his own racing heart, and turned his eyes back to the laptop screen to continue scanning the pack laws.

Kira watched him read for a moment before she sighed, leaning over to point at a specific paragraph on the glowing screen.

"Look at that part. The clause says that if someone believes the Council gave the wrong verdict on pack ownership, they can challenge the current Alpha to a duel. Winner takes the pack." She threw her hands up in exasperation. "But how on earth am I supposed to challenge Rolf to a duel?"

Derek glanced at her. "You won’t need to. Why are you so certain you won’t simply win the case in the Council itself?"

Kira fell quiet.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify