The Council Falls

We didn’t go back to the palace.

We went hunting.

Kade’s surrender bought us peace with the wolves for now, but the two traitor elders had fled back to the Council Citadel with the news. They were rallying what was left of the old guard. Trying to declare me illegitimate before the Lycan packs could fully swear to me.

Darius wasn’t having it.

“Now,” he said, silver Lycan eyes hard as they swept over the 200 Lycan warriors behind us. “We end this.”

The Council Citadel sat on Blackspire Mountain, built into the stone itself. 300 years old. Supposedly unbreakable.

Supposedly.

I rode at Darius’s side on a black Lycan war-beast, Elias in front of me wrapped in my cloak, hand pressed to my stomach where our Lycan daughter kicked like she knew what was coming.

“Mommy, are we going to kill them?” Elias asked quietly.

Darius answered before I could. “We’re going to stop them from ever hurting you or your mother again, little moon.”

The gates were closed when we arrived. The walls were lined with Council loyalists. Archers with silver-tipped arrows aimed at our hearts.

Elder Mara’s replacement stepped forward on the wall. Elder Vex. Older than dirt and twice as cold.

“Halt!” he called, voice echoing off stone. “You cannot enter, Lycan King. The Council does not recognize your mate or your pup!”

Darius didn’t even slow down. “Open the gates, Vex. Or we open them for you.”

Vex laughed. “You think you can take the Citadel? With a pregnant Lycan and a pup? The old laws are on our side!”

I stood up in the saddle, letting my Lycan power flare. Silver light rolled off me in waves, and the arrows on the wall wavered.

“The old laws died the night you tried to kill me and my Lycan son,” I called back. “The Moon chose me. The Moon chose my family. And the Moon says the Council is done.”

A roar went up from our Lycan warriors behind us.

Vex’s face paled. “You dare—”

I didn’t let him finish.

“ATTACK!”

The gates didn’t stand a chance.

Darius hit them like a battering ram in full Lycan form, claws tearing through reinforced steel like paper. Our warriors poured in behind him, a silver tide of Lycan fury.

The Citadel became chaos.

Lycans vs Lycans. Brother vs brother. All because six old fools were too afraid of change.

I fought beside Darius, Elias on my back in a carrier, using silver daggers and Lycan speed to cut through anyone who got too close. I wasn’t as strong as Darius, but I was faster. And I was furious.

We found the Council Chamber on the highest level.

Four elders left. Vex and the two traitors from last night, plus one other I didn’t recognize.

They were huddled around the ancient Moonstone, trying to use it to strip my Lycan bond.

“Stop!” Vex yelled as we burst in. “You cannot do this! The Council is the law!”

Darius roared and slammed him into the wall hard enough to crack stone. “The Council is tyranny! And it ends now!”

The other elders attacked.

It was over in minutes.

Lycans are not meant to fight other Lycans, but when they do, it’s brutal and fast. The traitor elders didn’t stand a chance against Darius’s 300 years of combat and my Moon-blessed fury.

When the dust settled, only Vex was left. Kneeling. Bleeding. Defeated.

I stepped forward, Elias on my hip now, and looked down at him.

“You tried to kill my son,” I said quietly. “You tried to kill my unborn daughter. You tried to take my mate.”

Vex spat blood. “You’re an abomination. The old prophecies—”

“The old prophecies are wrong,” I cut him off. “Or maybe they’re right, and you’re just too blind to see it.”

I looked at Darius. He nodded once.

I drove my silver dagger into the Moonstone.

It shattered with a sound like a scream.

The Citadel shook. Power flooded out of the broken stone, and for a moment I saw visions - the Lycan lines stretching back 1000 years, all of them broken and twisted by the Council’s control.

Then it was over.

The Moonstone was dust.

And the Council was done.

Vex collapsed, lifeless, the last of the old guard gone.

Darius pulled me and Elias against him, blood and silver Lycan fur and moonlight all mixed together.

“It’s over,” he whispered in my ear. “We’re free.”

Elias wrapped his arms around both of us. “We’re safe, right Mommy?”

I looked at my Lycan family. My mate. My son. My unborn daughter.

For the first time since I came back, I believed it.

“We’re safe,” I said. “And we’re finally home