Chapter 5 – The Authority

Zebub suddenly looked up, fake tears brimming in her eyes like glistening jewels.

“I'm so sorry, Luna. I didn't want this. I'll go. I don't want to cause trouble for you and the Alpha. I’m just a nobody… I don’t want to be the reason your relationship breaks. I’ll just go back into the woods. I’ll survive. Probably.”

The manipulation was so clever I could almost taste it.

She was laying the groundwork, making herself the tragic hero while I was being cast as the bitter mate. I could see Vance’s heart breaking for her, his grip tightening around her waist in a silent promise to protect his 'true' match.

“Good,” I agreed sharply, cutting her off before she could finish her little speech. “Then go. The door is right behind you. I’ll even have the pack kitchen pack you a lunch for your journey back into the 'wilds' you love so much.”

Vance blinked, clearly stunned.

He looked like I’d just slapped him.

“What?! Amani, stop! You're being cruel. She has nowhere to go. She's traumatized, she’s been through hell, and you’re just going to throw her out into the cold? Look at her! Her wolf is shivering!”

“I don't care,” I replied indifferently, crossing my arms. I looked at him and wondered how I’d ever been so blinded by the bond that I didn't see the spinelessness underneath.

He wasn't a leader, he was a slave to his own instincts.

“I am the Luna of this pack. That’s not just a title for your bed, Vance. I handle security. I handle the intake of everyone crossing that border. At this moment, we're at war, in case you forgot while you were playing Robinhood in the woods. You don't bring a stranger into the packhouse without a background check and a week in the holding cells. That's the law. I wrote it, and you signed it.”

“But she's my mate!” Vance roared, and I felt his Alpha aura flare out.

He was trying to overwhelm me, using the sheer weight of his rank, that suffocating pressure that was designed to make every wolf in the pack submit.

 It hit the room like a wave of heat, meant to make me give in, to make my wolf whimper and tuck its tail. It was heavy, oppressive, and smelled of burnt ozone.

In my first life, that pressure would have brought me to my knees. I would have been gasping, my head bowed, my will shattered.

But now? I’d felt the literal hand of the Moon Goddess on my forehead.

I had seen the void. I had died.

Vance’s little power trip felt like a light breeze compared to the absolute power of a deity. I didn't even flinch. I just stood there, my eyes bored and unimpressed, while his own aura bounced off me like water off a stone.

I stepped right into his personal space, into the very center of his power, my eyes burning with a resolve that finally made him stumble back.

“I'm the one who spends eighteen hours a day ensuring this pack has enough food and silver to keep fighting,” I hissed dangerously. “I handle the politics, the logistics, and the internal disputes so you can go out and play warrior. I’m the one who keeps the Elders from staging a coup every time you make a reckless move.”

I paused so my words could sink in.

“Without me, the Eclipse Star would have dissolved into rogue territory months ago. If you want her here, you better call a Council meeting. Stand in front of the elders and tell them exactly why you're breaking every security protocol we have for a girl you found in a rogue cage. Until then, she goes to the South Border station. She stays in a cell until I say she's clear.”

Zebub's grip on Vance's arm tightened, and for a second, just a fraction of a heartbeat, she looked pissed. The ‘helpless girl’ act slipped, and I saw the sharp, calculating viper underneath. Her eyes flashed with a promise of murder, but I just smiled at her.

I’d already seen the edge of her blade, she couldn't scare me anymore.

“You're being cold, Amani,” Vance muttered, stepping back as if the heat of my anger was too much for him. “I don't even recognize you anymore. Is this what you’ve become? A Luna who has no heart for a victim of her own kind?”

“No, Vance,” I corrected him with a cruel, thin smile. “I'm being smart. Something you forgot how to do the moment you saw a pretty face in the woods. I’m protecting the pack you’re supposed to lead. I’m doing the job you’re too distracted by a 'bond' to finish. Guards!”

Instantly, the door swung open.

Two warriors, Kael and Carl, stepped in. They looked at Vance first, out of habit, then their eyes shifted to me. They’d seen me run the pack meetings, balance the books, and negotiate the treaties while Vance was out hunting.

They knew who really kept the lights on in this pack. Without  hesitation they bowed to me.

“Take the guest to the South Border station,” I ordered. “She's to be questioned under full security protocol. No visitors. No exceptions. If anyone, including the Alpha, tries to gain access to her cell without my express written permission, they are to be arrested for treason against the pack. Am I clear?”

The guards moved swiftly.

They didn't wait for Vance to countermand the order. They saw the 'favor' of the Goddess radiating off me like a fever, and they weren't about to risk their lives crossing me. They grabbed Zebub by the arms. The girl looked at Vance, her bottom lip quivering, waiting for him to fight for her, to roar and reclaim his ‘mate’.

But Vance stood there as if paralyzed.

He was caught between his biological urge to protect her and the sheer, terrifying authority I was radiating. He looked like a boy caught between two fires. He looked small. He looked unimportant.

As they pulled the girl toward the door, I leaned in close, my lips almost touching the shell of her ear. I caught the scent of her, underneath the fake sweetness, there was a metallic tang of old blood and malice.

“I know what you are,” I whispered, the words a dark promise. “And this time, you aren't getting the title. I know about the lies you told. And I’m going to make sure the whole pack knows before I’m through with you. You’re going to die in that cell long before you ever see the inside of my packhouse again.”

I pulled back and watched as the guards dragged her out, her fake sobs echoing down the stone hallway.

 The room was suddenly too quiet, filled only with the sound of Vance’s ragged breathing. I didn't look at him, just turned back to the window, watching the sun rise over a pack that would be no longer his. I watched the light hit the forest, the very place where he’d found his 'mate,' and I felt nothing but a cold desire to see it all burn.

Vance stood there for a long time, but I didn't care if he stayed or left. He was no longer my mate, he was just a piece on the board I needed to move. And right now, he was standing in my way.

“Get out, Vance,” I said, not even turning around. “Go wash the rogue blood off your hands. You’re going to need a clear head for the Council meeting this afternoon. Because I’m going to make sure every elder knows exactly what kind of 'liability' you just brought into our home. And I’m going to make sure they know exactly who is really wearing the crown of the Eclipse Star.”

The door clicked shut behind him.

Finally, I was alone.

I sat back down on the edge of the bed, my hands finally starting to shake, not from fear, but from the sheer, intoxicating rush of power.

The Moon Goddess hadn't just given me a second chance.

She’d given me the keys to authority, and I was going to use them to unlock a future where Vance and Zebub were nothing more than a bad memory.

I looked at the date on the calendar and laughed.

Today was the day I stopped being a mate and started being the true leader.