Semua Bab Luna's Last Oath: Bab 71 - Bab 80

The courtyard smelled of iron and smoke. The kind of smell that clung to the skin, sank into the hair, lived under the fingernails long after the battle was done. Stone pavers were slick, dark with blood that shone in the guttering light of half-dead torches. Weapons lay scattered and broken where they’d been dropped. There were bent blades, splintered hafts, claws that had torn free when bodies shifted mid-strike. Nicole stood at the center of it all. Her legs shook, though she refused to let it show. Her lungs burned, dragging in air that tasted of ash and rain, but she kept her spine straight, her chin lifted. Every part of her body screamed exhaustion—cuts stung, bruises throbbed, muscles trembled from hours of strain but her eyes were clear. The Fury had finally ebbed, leaving her hollow, scraped raw inside, but it didn’t matter. The choice had been made. The duel had been fought. The Alpha’s seat, the pack itself, now lay within reach. And they were watching her. Dozens of eyes.

The forest did not forget. Blood still clung to the soil, and the trees leaned heavy with the echoes of the battle. Yet the wolves who had survived, the wolves who had chosen to kneel were already stirring, their voices a low thrum of uncertainty carried on the damp morning air. They had sworn. They had called her Alpha. But oaths made in the heat of survival tasted different when the sun crawled up and laid every scar bare. Clusters formed in the courtyard, huddled close, whispers sharp as claws. “She killed him,” one voice muttered, too low for Nicole to hear but loud enough to spread. “Fated or not, she ended him with her own hands.” Another snapped back, “And what did you want? To keep following Brian into ruin? You’d be carrion already if she hadn’t stood.” “Still,” a third said, a younger wolf, his eyes darting nervously toward the chamber where Nicole and the council still lingered. “It feels… wrong. Like the moon itself will turn on us.” Elara moved among them, listening. She

The chamber still smelled of blood and smoke. No matter how many candles were lit or how many braziers smoldered, the air would not cleanse itself of the memory of war. The council’s decree had rung like a bell across the stone walls only hours ago, but its echo lingered now like a bruise: Nicole, Alpha, not contested, not temporary. Recognized. Yet the silence that followed was heavier than any chorus of approval. Nicole sat on the edge of the long council table, fingers curling against the cold wood, her body stiff as though she had to brace herself against the weight of her own title. She did not wear a crown. There was no mantle of fur or chain of command laid across her shoulders. Only the eyes of every wolf in the territory that had followed her here and the ghosts of those who had fallen believing she would lead them.Silas stood near the far wall, half in shadow, his arms crossed but not in defiance. In retreat. She could see it, the way his jaw set hard enough to crack, the r

The walls of her chamber felt too close. Nicole paced the length of the room, the wooden boards creaking under her boots. Her body ached from the weight of the battle, but the sharper pain was inside. It was gnawing, restless, leaving no peace. Shadows seemed to breathe from the corners, whispering the doubts she had overheard on every path outside. Wolves watching. Wolves waiting. Wolves whispering and Silas. Always Silas. He leaned against the door with his arms crossed, gaze locked on her as if daring her to break first. He hadn’t spoken since they stepped inside. The silence stretched between them, taut as a bowstring. “Say it,” Nicole snapped finally, spinning to face him. “Whatever’s been sitting on your tongue since the yard. Spit it out.” His jaw tightened. “You want it plain? Fine. You’re losing them.”The words landed like claws to her chest. She sucked in a breath, fighting the instinct to bare her teeth. “You think I don’t know that? You think I can’t smell their doubt on

The morning rose muted, as though the land itself knew the weight of what was about to unfold. A mist clung to the edges of the territory, swallowing the scars of battle but not the scent. The earth still bore blood in its roots, the ashes of pyres clung to the air, and the silence was the kind that could split into howls at the smallest spark. Nicole stood at the edge of the courtyard where the oath would be taken. For days, she had worn the mantle of leadership by necessity, directing the broken, binding the fractured, forcing wolves to obey in the chaos of aftermath but today would be different. Today, it would not be necessity that bound them to her, it would be choice or at least, the performance of one.A narrow corridor of wolves opened before her as she walked forward. Some bowed their heads, their movements sharp with conviction. Others dipped reluctantly, their eyes averted but not lowered enough to hide the tension coiled in them. Nicole’s gaze swept over each one, memorizi