The Vicious Vixen: Mother To The Panther Lord’s Pups Chapter 10
The Stray’s Exile
Cassian stepped forward.
Vivienne tried to cut him off.
“Darian, thank God you’re home.” Her voice cracked perfectly. “That woman destroyed everything. She attacked my son, she stole my jewelry, she turned the pups against me—”
Darian did not touch her. He let her grab his shirt and watched her.
“She’s out of control,” Isolde sobbed. “She pulled the emergency alarm in the middle of the night, she locked my accounts, she gave Cassian a blade—”
“Isolde.”
One word. Low and flat. Every soul in the room lowered their eyes.
“She’s spending your money, she threatened your grandmother—”
“Isolde.” Quieter this time.
She finally stopped and looked up at him with tears in her eyes.
Darian removed her hands from his shirt.
Then he turned to Cassian.
“Come here.”
Cassian walked forward with his shoulders back and his chin level.
Three months ago, this boy could not hold eye contact with an adult. Now he stood in front of the most feared lord in the Northeast without looking away.
Darian studied him for a long moment.
“Tell me everything.”
Cassian did not hesitate. His voice was steady and clear. No drama. No begging.
He told his father about the empty trust, Lucien and the heated lighter, the thin blankets, the bare rooms, and the staff who answered only to Isolde.
He told him about the nights Liora cried herself to sleep hungry.
Then he pulled up his sleeve.
The burn scars were still there, raised and ugly against his skin. Lighter burns left permanent marks on a pup.
Darian looked at them.
His face did not change, but his hand curled into a fist.
Isolde saw it. Her tears dried up fast.
“He’s lying,” she said. “She coached him. She’s been turning them against me for months—”
“Liora,” Darian said.
Liora looked up from my lap. She had been quiet through all of it, holding my sleeve.
“Liora. Is what Cassian said true?”
Liora nodded. Small but certain.
“Mommy fixed it,” she whispered. “Mommy made Isolde stop.”
Isolde’s face twisted. “Darian, you can’t believe a five-year-old over—”
Darian reached into his jacket and pulled out a folder. He dropped it on the table.
Everyone looked at it.
“I had Gideon send me the files two weeks ago,” Darian said. His voice was low and controlled.
“The passkey logs. The transfers to Rafe Calder. The frozen accounts. I have seen everything.”
Isolde went pale.
“I trusted you,” he said. “I sent money every month. I called every week. I asked you directly, are my pups safe? And every time, you said yes.”
“They WERE safe—”
“Three years of Night Road revenue, Isolde.” He tapped the table once. “You stole from my pups and used it to pay a jackal who sold my route keys to raiders. Every convoy that got hit. Every ambush on the Night Road. They knew exactly where my men would be, because you told them.”
Isolde’s mouth opened. Nothing came out.
He had already known before he walked in.
He had come home ready.
“My Lady didn’t kill you,” Darian said. “That was her mercy.” He looked at me. Then back at Isolde. “I won’t be that kind.”
Isolde grabbed the edge of a chair to stay upright.
“You have until sunrise,” he said. “Take nothing. Not a ring, not a coat, not a single coin. You leave this territory as a stray. No house name. No protection under Nightfall law. If I see your face after dawn, I will not ask you to leave again.”
“Darian—please—where am I supposed to—”
“That is no longer my problem.”
She looked around the room. The guards would not meet her eyes. Octavia said nothing. I sipped my wine.
Isolde turned and walked out. Her heels clicked down the stone hall. Then she started running.
The front door slammed.
No one moved.
Then Liora tugged Darian’s hand. “Is she really gone, Daddy?”
He lifted her up. Pressed his forehead against hers.
“Yeah, pup. She’s really gone.”
Over Liora’s shoulder, Darian looked at me again.
“We need to talk,” he said. “Tonight.”
I set down my glass. “I’ll be waiting.”
—