Claimed by the Alpha I Hate – Episode 68
Daisy and Nolan emerged onto the mountainside as the lower castle collapsed. Elias and the Blackwood team reached them through the outer courtyard.
Daisy searched immediately for her grandfather. He had escaped with the earlier group and waited beyond the gate, bruised but alive.
She embraced him while Nolan watched the castle. Klaudius’s presence had vanished from every magical current.
“Is he dead?” Elias asked.
Daisy could not confirm a body beneath the ruins. She could confirm that his control over the vampire court was gone.
Freed vampires gathered in the courtyard, uncertain whether the wolves had come to conquer them.
Nolan lowered his weapons first. “Blackwood came for Klaudius, not your throne.”
Daisy told them no ruler would claim their loyalty through blood again. What happened next had to be chosen.
Some bowed to her as Klaudius’s heir. She asked them to stand.
“I won’t replace one forced ruler with another.” The refusal transformed her father’s inheritance into something he could never understand.
Elias reported that Scott had not survived the shattered vessel. The old Eastwind Alpha was no longer a threat.
Mila remained missing, and Lucien had vanished before the collapse. His absence felt more dangerous than a body.
In the throne room above, hidden passages protected one chamber from the damage below. Lucien entered after the courtyard emptied.
He found the black crown beneath fallen stone and lifted it from the dust.
Mila waited in chains near the wall, furious that he had abandoned her during the battle.
Lucien reminded her that ambition had brought her willingly. Freedom had never been part of his promise.
Outside the castle, Daisy examined Nolan’s injuries. He kissed her forehead and insisted he had suffered worse.
“Klaudius is gone,” she said, testing the reality of it. Vera and Nolan’s parents could not return, but their killer no longer shaped the future.
Nolan took her hand as Blackwood began the journey home. Their bond felt calm for the first time, no longer pulled between hatred and survival.
Behind them, a single tower window glowed red. The old vampire lord had fallen, but Lucien was already preparing to claim the empty throne.