Chapter 28

Night descended over the Frostwell mountains like a heavy wool blanket, carrying a bitter frost that settled across the pine needles. Deep within the shadow of the central estate, Elder Thomas’s private manor remained deceptively dark, its curtained windows hiding the panicked betrayal unfolding within.

Inside his underground study, hidden behind a heavy mahogany bookcase, Thomas worked in frantic haste. Sweat beaded on his wrinkled brow as he unlocked a iron safe, pulling out a sealed leather pouch containing his private communication cipher and gold tokens stamped with the seal of the Silver Crest Dominion. His old hands trembled as he ignited a black tallow candle to melt sealing wax. He needed to dispatch his covert courier immediately to warn his foreign benefactor that the Frostwell Alpha was closing in.

“I warned Cassius he was too reckless,” Thomas muttered under his breath, his voice thin with panicked venom. “Foolish boy left a trail...”

“And you were a fool to think he was the only one,” a low, thunderous voice reverberated from the darkness of the room.

Thomas spun around, dropping the wax in horror.

The heavy stone door of the secret chamber didn’t just open—it was violently kicked off its iron hinges. Delta Curtus stepped through the dust, while Gamma Liam slipped inside with twin silver daggers drawn, his squad of elite sentries instantly flooding the underground chamber and sealing off every escape route.

Then, stepping into the dim candlelight came Alpha Asher and Luna Lydia.

Asher’s towering frame radiated an apocalyptic Alpha aura, his icy blue eyes glowing with lethal fury in the shadows. Beside him, dressed in a sweeping dark velvet cloak, Lydia stepped forward without a single trace of hesitation. Her green eyes locked onto Thomas, her expression cold, regal, and entirely unyielding.

“Alpha...” Thomas gasped, his face draining of all colour as he scrambled backward against his desk, instinctively hiding the foreign cipher behind his back. “What is the meaning of this intrusion? I am a senior councillor—”

“Save your breath, traitor,” Asher growled, his voice vibrating with absolute death. In a fraction of a second, Asher blurred across the stone floor. His broad hand snapped around Thomas’s throat like a vice of cold iron, lifting the elder wolf clear off his feet and slamming him against the granite wall.

The foreign cipher and silver coins spilled from Thomas’s limp fingers, clattering loudly across the floor. Liam picked up the parchment, holding it up to the candlelight. “It’s the exact matching seal from the old packhouse ledger, Asher. Addressed directly to the Silver Crest High Command.”

Thomas choked, his eyes bulging as he clawed uselessly at Asher’s unyielding grip. “You... you can’t... the council...”

Lydia walked up slowly, standing right before the gasping traitor. Her voice rang out sharp and clear into the quiet cellar, carrying the full, magnificent authority of her title. “The council will see you executed for high treason, Thomas. You sold my life for foreign gold and power. But you failed. Frostwell will never fall to a coward hiding in the shadows.”

Asher’s eyes burned with vicious pride as he looked at his mate, before turning his gaze back to the writhing traitor in his grasp. “Your trial begins at dawn,” Asher growled softly against Thomas’s ear. “And your execution follows at noon.”

With a flick of his wrist, Asher tossed the disgraced elder to the cold stone floor like a rag doll. Curtus stepped forward instantly, slapping heavy, silver-threaded cuffs over Thomas’s wrists with a sickening metallic click. The elder wolf wept and scrambled against the flags, his pious veneer utterly shattered, but no one in the room offered a drop of pity.

“Drag him to the lowest subterranean cell,” Asher commanded, his voice cold enough to freeze blood. “Put double sentries on the door. He stays in total darkness until the sun hits its peak.”

By dawn, the grand Council Hall was packed to capacity. Rumours of the late-night raid had torn through the Frostwell estate like a wildfire. When Asher and Lydia entered the room in full formal attire, taking their twin thrones, a suffocating silence settled over the crowd.

Gamma Liam laid out the evidence with brutal efficiency: the decrypted foreign ledgers, the silver coins stamped with the Silver Crest Dominion seal, and the original cipher key detailing the exact route maps for Lydia’s ambush. The remaining Elders stared in stunned horror at the overwhelming proof of their peer’s betrayal. When forced to stand before the dais, Thomas could offer no defence, reduced to pitiful groans as his own handwriting condemned him.

The council’s verdict was swift and unanimous: death for high treason.

At noon, beneath the harsh glare of the midday sun, the pack gathered in the central courtyard. Thomas was brought forth in iron chains, forced to his knees before the stone block. High on the stone balcony overlooking the grounds, Asher stood with his arm wrapped securely around Lydia’s waist, pouring steady golden warmth into her spirit.

Lydia looked down at the man who had traded her life for foreign influence, her emerald eyes calm, steady, and unyielding. She did not flinch when Asher gave the signal, nor when Liam’s broadsword fell with swift, absolute finality. The internal rot that had plagued the Frostwell pack was officially excised.

Later that evening, standing on the private balcony of the Alpha Residence, Asher wrapped his heavy fur cloak around Lydia, pulling her back against his chest as the mountain wind whistled through the pines.

“The snake in our house is gone, little one,” Asher whispered, resting his jaw against her crown as his thumb brushed over her glowing mate mark. “You are completely safe.”

Lydia turned in his arms, resting her hands against his broad chest. “Thomas was the hand inside our walls, Asher,” she said softly, her green eyes burning with sharp, regal determination. “But the Silver Crest Dominion provided the gold. They will come for us eventually.”

A fierce, dark smile touched Asher’s lips. He leaned down, pressing a lingering, possessive kiss to her lips that set their mate bond ablaze. “Let them try,” he growled low in his throat. “We stand together now, Luna. They will find only fire and steel.”