Chapter Five

Morning arrived not with sunlight, but with a cold, suffocating fog that blanketed Ironfang Keep in grey ice.

I didn't sleep. I sat beside the cold hearth, my back pressed against the stone wall, the silver blade resting across my knees. Every muscle in my body throbbed from the impact when I'd tackled Zion, but my wolf was wide awake, pacing beneath my skin like a caged beast.

When the heavy iron bolt on the door finally retracted, it wasn't Zion who stepped into the room.

It was Elder Silas, flanked by four elite guards clad in full black-iron armor.

"The sun is up, little surrogate," Silas rasped, his withered face twisting into a sinister smile as he leaned heavily on his ebony cane. "And the High Council does not wait."

"I took a bolt for your Alpha last night, Elder," I said coldly, staying seated, my fingers tightening on the hilt of my hidden blade. "Where is Zion?"

"Alpha Zion is currently at the northern wall, dealing with the aftermath of last night's... unfortunate breach," Silas replied, his sharp yellow eyes sweeping over my torn, blood-stained clothes with clinical disgust. "Which leaves you under the direct jurisdiction of the Council until the second ritual tonight. Stand."

The four guards stepped forward, their hands resting on the hilt of their broadswords.

I didn't give them the satisfaction of dragging me. I stood up on my own, ignoring the sharp bite of pain in my sliced palms, lifting my chin to stare Silas down. "Where are you taking me?"

"To the court," Silas said, turning on his heel. "Where your father's banishment terms are being finalized. Unless, of course, you lack the courage to see the man you sold your soul for?"

My jaw locked. "Lead the way."

They marched me through the freezing corridors, but we didn't head for the main execution hall. Instead, they led me into the subterranean Council Chamber illuminated by flickering braziers.

At the center of the elevated stone dais sat the twelve High Elders of Ironfang.

And standing on the lower marble floor, bound in thick silver chains that hissed against his skin, was my father.

His face was bruised, a deep cut splitting his left eyebrow, his grey hair matted with dried blood. When his eyes met mine, a flash of pure horror crossed his features.

"Emerald..." he wheezed, his voice broken. "No... why are you here?"

"Silence the traitor!" an Elder on the left barked, slamming a wooden gavel against his desk.

"I am here to ensure the contract is honored," I said. I stepped past the guards, stopping three feet from my father. "The blood-pact was signed last night. My father is to be escorted to the northern border at first light with basic rations and his life."

Elder Silas slowly climbed the steps of the dais, taking his central throne. He rested his chin on his clawed hands, looking down at me like an insect.

"Plans have changed, girl," Silas murmured softly.

My heart slammed against my ribs. "The pact is magically bound by blood! You cannot alter the terms!"

"The pact states your father receives exile upon your successful compliance with the surrogate mandate," Silas countered, his yellowed teeth flashing in a grotesque smile. "However, after last night's treasonous attack on Alpha Zion, new evidence has come to light regarding your house."

Sylvia Sterling stepped out from the dark shadows behind the throne dais.

She was draped in a gown of dark sapphire silk, her hair perfectly braided, holding a heavy, leather-bound ledger stamped with a faded red crest.

The Kirby crest.

"This morning, my house guards searched the old archives," Sylvia announced. "We uncovered the original plunder manifest from twenty years ago. Marcus Kirby did not just commit treason against the old alliance—he stole ancient, forbidden dark-magic artifacts from the royal vault before his fall."

She hurled the heavy ledger onto the stone floor at my feet. It burst open, pages fluttering.

"The silver ring on her thumb isn't just an heirloom," Sylvia hissed, pointing a manicured finger at my hand. "It is a dark channeler used to suppress Alpha aura! She used it to disorient Alpha Zion last night, opening the window for her assassin accomplice!"

Gasps rippled through the twelve Elders.

"Lies!" my father roared, his silver chains rattling violently as he tried to surge forward. "The ring is a royal seal! It carries no magic! She saved the Alpha's life!"

A guard slammed the butt of a spear into my father's ribs. He collapsed to his knees, gasping for air as blood trickled from his mouth onto the cold stone.

"Stop!" I screamed, taking a fierce step toward the guard, but two iron gauntlets seized my shoulders, pinning my arms behind my back.

"You see?" Sylvia smirked, stepping down from the dais until she was inches from my face. "The traitor's blood is wild and dangerous. She is not a suitable surrogate. She is a poison introduced into Ironfang Keep."

"Where is Zion?" I rasped through clenched teeth, glaring at Sylvia with raw hatred. "He knows the truth! He saw me block the bolt!"

"The Alpha is busy securing his borders from your people," Silas declared from his throne, lifting a quill. "As the High Council, operating under emergency war powers, we hereby void the surrogate arrangement on grounds of concealed treasonous artifacts."

The air in my lungs turned to ash.

If the contract was voided, my father died instantly—and I was a dead woman walking.

"Execution at dawn was postponed," Silas continued, placing the tip of his quill on a new parchment. "Execution will take place right here, right now. Guards, bring the silver axe."

"No!" I shrieked.

Before I could to think, my wolf screamed inside my chest, breaking through five years of forced suppression. A surge of raw, golden energy exploded from my core, shattering the hold of the two guards pinning my arms. They were thrown backward, crashing hard into the stone pillars with deafening groans.

The Elders gasped in sheer terror as a suffocating, ancient Alpha aura—far too powerful for an Omega—flared wildly around my body, lighting up the dim chamber in brilliant gold.

Sylvia stumbled back, her eyes wide with shock. "What... what is that power?!"

I lunged forward, snatching the silver blade from my sleeve, ready to slit the executioner's throat before he could touch my father—

"STAND DOWN!"

The voice tore through the heavy oak doors of the chamber like a cannon shot.

The doors burst inward, exploding off their hinges in a shower of splinters and twisted iron.

Alpha Zion stood in the threshold. He wore full obsidian battle armor, covered in fresh, black rogue blood, his broadsword unsheathed in his right hand. His eyes were pitch-black, his aura erupting outward with the force of a hurricane, instantly snuffing out my golden light and forcing every guard and Elder in the room to their knees.

Silence fell like a hammer.

Zion strode into the room, his heavy combat boots crunching over the wood splinters, jis gaze locked straight onto me.

He closed the distance until he stood between me and my father in his towering frame. He reached out, his massive, blood-stained hand catching my chin, forcing my face up. His thumb wiped a smear of soot from my cheek.

"I leave for two hours to execute the sniper," Zion rumbled, his deep voice vibrating, "and my Council tries to murder my surrogate's father."

Sylvia gasped. "Zion! She unleashed an Alpha aura! She is a monster—"

Zion turned his head slowly, his obsidian eyes fixing on Sylvia with a look that made her instantly choke on her words.

"Speak again in my presence, Sylvia," Zion whispered, "and I will sever your head before your father can raise an objection."

He turned back to Silas, who sat frozen on his throne, his withered hands trembling over his ebony cane.

"The blood-pact is bound to my soul, Silas," Zion declared. "Not the Council's. Emerald Kirby will carry my heir, and her father departs for the northern border now, under my personal guard."

Zion reached down, grabbed the heavy silver chains binding my father, and shattered the lock with a single bare-handed squeeze. The iron link snapped like dry twigs.

My father fell forward, but Zion caught him by the collar, hoisting him up and tossing him toward Beta Julius, who stood at the ruined doorway with six elite warriors.

"Escort Marcus Kirby to the border line," Zion commanded Julius. "If a single scratch appears on him before he crosses, you answer to me."

"Yes, Alpha!" Julius barked, dragging my father out of the chamber.

My father looked back at me once, his eyes filled with tears, before the guards swept him out of sight. He was alive and safe. Relief hit me so hard my knees buckled.

Zion caught me before I hit the stone floor. His arm wrapped around my waist like a steel band, hauling my body up against his broad, armored chest.

"You bold, foolish little wolf," Zion murmured against my ear, his breath hot and ragged as his fingers dug into my hip. "You almost revealed your true power to the whole damn room."

I looked up into his dark eyes, my heart hammering against my ribs. "You knew? You knew what I was?"

"I knew the moment your blood touched mine last night," Zion whispered, his lips brushing my temple. "You are no omega, Emerald."

Before I could answer, a loud, frantic horn sounded from the fortress alarm towers above.

A guard rushed through the shattered doors, covered in snow and panic.

"Alpha!" the guard screamed, falling to his knees. "The northern border post has been struck! A rogue army bearing the Kirby Royal Crest is crossing the river!"

Zion's eyes narrowed into deadly slits as he looked down at me, his grip on my waist tightening until I could barely breathe.

"It seems your father's house," Zion growled softly, "just declared war on mine."