Semua Bab Luna's Last Oath: Bab 61 - Bab 70

The chamber doors had long since closed. The courtyard had emptied, leaving only the echoes of growls and the memory of sharpened stares burned into her skin. Yet Nicole felt none of it settle. It clung, restless, as though the air itself carried the arguments and accusations back with her into the narrow, dim-lit quarters she now called her own.She shut the door behind her and pressed her palms against the wood, forehead lowered until the grain bit into her skin. Her body trembled, not from weakness but from the recoil of restraint, from hours of standing her ground while the pack threatened to split like dry timber.In the silence, she heard her own pulse, steady and defiant. But under it, there was something more fragile. It was fear, perhaps, or grief. She hated to name it. Fear was something wolves scented, something they pounced on. Yet here, alone, she let it breathe.Her gaze drifted to the small table tucked against the wall. On it lay the remnants of parchment scrawled with

The chamber had never been this loud.Not even when the first accusations had been hurled at her. Not even when the council decreed her trial by combat. Not even when she bled into the stone and rose again crowned in fire and fury.This noise was different. It was fractured, guttural, uncontainable.Nicole stood at the center of it, her hands loose at her sides, her breath steady though the room itself shook like it was about to split down its spine. Eyes dragged to her, but not all in worship or even recognition. Some burned with loyalty, some seethed with resentment, and some, the most dangerous looked at her with calculation.Her entrance had cracked the silence, but now the silence was gone, replaced by chaos, and chaos had a way of showing where fault lines ran.On her left, a cluster of younger wolves pressed forward, faces flushed with defiance. She caught the sharp profile of Darius, Silas’s second, who looked like he might leap from his skin if anyone gave the word. On her ri

The courtyard was no longer humming with the unified cadence of a pack. It was splintering, voices breaking against one another like glass shattering. Some wolves paced, restless energy flicking off them in sparks. Others lingered near the stone benches, whispering sharp-edged questions that carried farther than they realized. Every movement, every sidelong glance, spoke of a balance sliding toward collapse. “She fought him like one of us,” one wolf muttered near the gate. His tone wasn’t reverent. It was calculating. “Bleeds like one of us too.” Another answered, softer, almost furtive. “And still stood when Tomas hit the ground. You saw it. That’s not weakness, it’s warning.” But the argument didn’t soothe. It only widened the gap. Elara threaded through the clusters of murmuring wolves, her hands balled into fists at her sides. Her chest was tight, every ear and eye around her prickling with doubt and hunger. She had seen Nicole rise, seen her claim power in front of them all. And

The Preparation The world smelled of iron and smoke before dawn. The forest was silent in a way it never should have been. There was no birdcall, no skitter of small prey, only the stillness of predators holding their breath. Nicole stood at the mirror, not to admire, but to memorize. The bruises along her ribs. The faint silver scar across her shoulder that never quite healed. Each mark, a tally of what had been taken from her, what she had clawed back. Behind her, Silas leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. He hadn’t spoken since the council’s decree, and the silence between them felt heavier than steel. When his voice came, low and rough, it wasn’t a plea. “They’ll aim for your throat first.” Nicole caught his reflection, the hard line of his jaw. “Let them try.”“You can’t outlast all of them.” His fists flexed once at his sides, a restless, dangerous motion. “Not without me.”She turned then, slow, deliberate. Their eyes locked, a storm colliding with a wildfire. “You forg

The courtyard hadn’t gone still for long. Tomas’s death hadn’t ended the battle..It had only lit a new fire. Wolves surged, leaders from rival factions shouting, claws bared, their challenge rolling like thunder across the stones. And through it all, every eye swung back to Nicole. She felt it. She felt the crushing gravity of their gaze, of legacy and betrayal, of the blood already spilled. Her Fury, that wild pulse of ancient fire that had nearly burned her alive once before, stirred beneath her skin. It was hot, heavy and hungry. She stepped forward into the center of the courtyard.“Enough,” she said. The word rang like steel, and silence followed.“If it’s my claim you doubt, then test it. Here. Now.”The ground itself seemed to shudder at her words. A challenge declared. Not whispered, not bartered. But demanded.The ruling wolves of the council had no choice but to formalize it. Trial by strength, trial by blood. The Alpha’s throne would be hers or not at all.The circle closed