CH.4

RORY

I slammed both hands down onto the wood, ignoring the flare of pain in my fractured ribs. "Absolutely fucking not!"

"Elder, the Unity Clause hasn't been exercised in more than two centuries," Zane took a hard step forward. "It requires mutual consent or an active, declared wartime emergency."

"We're in an emergency!" Matthias insisted, resting his hand beside the gavel.

"You've got ambition dressed as an emergency!" Zane shot back.

Beside him, I raised two fingers.

The command was slight, barely catching the light, but it landed like an iron gate.

Zane snapped his jaw shut, his instincts warring violently against his training before he forced himself back half a step.

A bitter taste of copper flooded his mouth where he bit his tongue.

His wolf snarled in his chest, wild and desperate to tear the throat out of every smug parasite on that dais.

He knew what I was doing. I was reckless with my own blood. I baited monsters because death had tried and failed to take me so many times it had become background noise.

I could spit in an Elder's face and survive whatever venom they threw back.

Zane couldn't.

He was still flesh, bone, and ordinary beta.

If he stepped over the line, the Council wouldn't debate; they'd execute him on the chamber floor for treason to make a point, and I would tear the world apart trying to stop it.

I wasn't silencing him to keep the peace. I was building a wall between him and the firing squad because I was the freak who could absorb the bullets, and he was the only piece of home I couldn't bear to see bled dry.

I kept my eyes locked on the five vultures above, my back rigid.

"I refuse!" My voice became cold and unwavering. "Find yourself another sacrificial bride."

Corina's lips curved with cold malice. "If you refuse, we'll declare Shadow Moon rogue by sunset. Your pack will be stripped of legal sovereignty. Your neighbors will have full statutory clearance to pacify your territory by force!"

Satisfaction rippled through the gallery.

Darius Vollen grinned down from the rail; Marrok Dane adjusted his cuffs, his gaze fixed on me like an accountant waiting to claim a forfeit.

"And if the Crown refuses... the Council will be forced to withdraw its administrative mandate across the southern provinces. You'll manage the territorial fallout alone, Sire." Raymond added, adjusting his platinum pocket watch chain.

"Say that again and I'll dissolve this Council, burn your charters, and mount your heads on the palace gates!" A low, resonant growl shook the chamber walls.

The entire chamber went deadly silent until Matthias cleared his throat.

"Your Majesty... this isn't a threat. It's a desperate measure. We must act for the greater good of our kind. The East Coast will drown in blood without central leadership. This union's the only path to peace."

"It's extortion dressed in formal velvet," Evren replied flatly.

The chamber held its breath as he rose and walked down the sweeping marble stairs into the well of the room.

He moved with steady purpose, stopping five paces from my podium. He looked at me not with pity, but like a general taking stock of a contested ridge, then turned toward the five Elders.

"If the southern territories rebel, I'll crush them. If this Council attempts to challenge my authority again, I'll dismantle it before nightfall and let history judge whether I was merciful!"

I hated how calm and steady the threat sounded.

Matthias lowered his dark eyes just enough to feign deference, his fingers tapping an impatient rhythm on the stone. "Then help us avoid a massacre."

Silence stretched over the floor, thick and stifling.

I watched the cold calculation move behind Evren's grey eyes, and my stomach sank.

"Don't you dare," I hissed under my breath.

Evren's gaze cut back to me, unblinking and still.

"Don't stand there pretending this is noble," I spat, my posture taut. "I'm not your pacification treaty. I'm not your broodmare, your bride, or your collar on the East Coast."

"You're an isolated Alpha whose territory's being picked apart by hyenas," Evren's voice dropped low and sharp. "Standing in a chamber that's already drafted the orders to carve your lands into pieces."

The words hit hard because every syllable was accurate.

"And you're an arrogant king who thinks that makes you my savior!" I was furious.

"I'm not your savior," Evren replied, his eyes dark and fixed on mine. "I'm simply the only thing in this room they fear more than they crave your land."

He turned back to the dais, his broad shoulders cutting off my view of the Alphas in the tiers above.

"Under protest," Evren's voice carried across the marble. "To prevent the useless slaughter of wolves who can't defend themselves."

"It requires mutual consent, Your Majesty," Matthias rose slightly to seize the trap before it could snap shut. "Under the statutes, an Alpha may only reject a Crown decree if her pack officially accepts rogue designation and summary annexation."

The galleries stirred with eager anticipation.

"Alpha Moonridge!" Matthias called out, lifting the gavel high. "Declare your pack rogue now on the official record or proceed to the antechamber to settle the provisional treaty. You've got ten seconds before the enforcement order's executed."

Those words pressed down hard on my chest.

Zane stepped closer behind me, about to say something but was stopped.

I clenched my fists until my nails broke the skin of my palms.

I looked at the five predators on the dais with their ceremonial robes and dark secrets, at the wolves waiting in the shadows to pick over my lands, and finally up at Evren Stormvale.

He wasn't gloating or smiling. He simply stood there, solid and unyielding, offering me an alliance forged in iron rather than an open grave.

"Fine," I kept my eyes locked on Evren, the word tasting of ash and swallowed fury. "The antechamber. But if you think a ring around my finger makes me yours, Your Majesty, you're about to learn just how expensive a mistake you've made!"

The corner of Evren's mouth pulled tight.

He stepped aside, gesturing toward the heavy side doors with cool courtesy.

"After you, Alpha Moonridge."