Luna Forsaken (Arya and James) novel Chapter 239

239 No Protection 2

Arya’s POVO

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Manu

For the first time that evening, he looked less like a schemer and more like what he truly was underneath it all, a man used to exploiting systems, not being dragged under them.

“Silverfang is one of the older Union members,” he said. “You cannot do this.”

Lev lifted his eyes to him.

“Yes, I can.”

The simplicity of that nearly made me laugh.

Marcel’s face darkened even further. “I will not stand for it.”

He turned then, almost desperately now, to Radimir.

There it was.

The plea.

Not even disguised.

“Say something,” he bit out. “You know this is beyond his authority. He is acting in temporary capacity.

You are the one with final say.”

The whole hall went still again.

Every eye moved to Radimir.

I watched him too.

Because this was the moment, wasn’t it?

The moment Marcel had been building toward with every helpless glance.

The moment when the older power in the room was expected to rescue the lesser one. When regency and old hierarchy and all the old arrangements would finally be tested out loud.

Radimir’s face did not move much, but I saw it. The slight tightening around his mouth. The brief

narrowing of his eyes. The irritation at being dragged into the centre of it that openly.

Before he could speak, Lev smiled.

Not warmly.

< 239 No Protection 2

Not politely.

He smirked.

It was the sort of expression that warned ruin.

“Blackbirth is mine,” he said.

The hall seemed to sharpen around the sentence.

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“Not yours,” he added, his gaze on Marcel, though every word also struck Radimir. “And not anyone

else’s.”

A faint silence followed, the kind that comes when everyone knows a line has been crossed but no one

is quite sure who has lost more by it.

Lev did not stop.

“Radimir is regent,” he said. “And now that I am taking over, I will run Blackbirth as I see fit.”

The room felt carved into stillness.

Every word was deliberate.

Every word was a declaration.

Every word stripped another layer off the illusion that Radimir could simply override him by old habit

and call it order.

My pulse jumped.

Not from fear.

From the force of it.

Because he meant every single word.

Because he was not speaking like a nephew trying to edge toward power. He was speaking like a man

already standing in it.

He looked back to Marcel fully. “If you do not agree with my methods, feel free to seek land and

shelter with Briarwood.”

The contempt in it was light.

That was what made it sting more.

<239 No Protection 2

Not a shout.

Not a threat barked in anger.

Dismissal.

Marcel looked like he had been slapped.

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And the thing was, everybody in that hall knew Lev meant it. You could hear it in his tone. In the complete absence of bluff. He would toss Marcel out of Blackbirth land and tell him to take his pride to Briarwood if he pushed him far enough.

No one doubted that.

Not even Marcel.

Lev let the silence sit on him a moment longer, then looked around the room.

His gaze moved over the suspended packs one by one.

“There is something all of you should understand very clearly,” he said.

No one moved.

“You no longer have Union protection.”

The sentence hit differently this time because now it was not just punishment. It was consequence in

practical terms.

Exposure.

Vulnerability.

The thing those men had counted on for years being stripped away in front of witnesses.

Lev continued, “If any of your packs come under attack during the period of suspension, you will

defend yourselves. The Union and Blackbirth will not come to your aid.”

I felt my own heartbeat slow.

Then he added the part that truly changed the room.

“Nor will the Union penalise your attackers.”

The silence that followed that was not merely tense.

It was horrified.

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I watched it travel through them.

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Because every Alpha in that hall understood what it meant. Not just the suspended ones. All of them. This was not a symbolic slap. This was the removal of shelter. A warning so severe it turned titles into paper if men chose to abuse them.

Northwood looked pale.

Redclaw looked furious but frightened under it.

Cliffsand’s representative was gripping the edge of the table hard enough to whiten his knuckles.

Even Irongate, who had tried so hard to sound outraged earlier, now looked as if the floor had shifted

under his feet.

Good.

Let them understand.

Let them feel exposed.

Let them imagine for a second what it felt like to live without protection while bigger wolves circled.

Lev’s voice remained steady. “Take this as a deterrent to any who would use Union standing to exploit

others.”

He let the sentence sit.

Then: “I will not stand for such behaviour.”

That was it.

No grand speech.

No performance.

No need.

The room had already heard enough.

For a long second, no one tried to protest.

That surprised me a little.

Maybe not because they agreed.

Because they knew.

<239 No Protection 2

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They knew they had been cornered cleanly. That Lev had used law and authority and land rights and timing so well there was no elegant opening left for them. Anything else they said now would only remind the room they feared consequences because they had expected immunity.

At last, Radimir spoke.

“You should reconsider.”

His tone was controlled, but there was strain under it now. Not quite anger. Something tighter.

Something like frustration dressed in restraint.

“Exposing those packs in this way is not wise.”

There were a dozen things hidden in that sentence.

Concern for stability.

Concern for order.

Concern for optics.

Concern, perhaps, for the fact that stripping that many wolves of protection at once would create

ripples no one could fully predict.

Maybe some of those concerns were even real.

I did not care.

Lev didn’t seem to either.

“They should have considered that before attacking a fellow Union member,” he said.

No wasted words.

No concession.

Then he turned slightly toward Marcel again, and I felt the temperature inside me change.

“As for you,” he said, “you should have considered your own situation before making false promises to

exploit another Alpha.”

Marcel’s face twisted.

False promises.

Exploit.

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Another Alpha.

Memu

He had been reduced from manipulator to accused predator in front of everyone, and there was not a