All Chapters of Now, The Alpha Wants Me Back: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Draven's POVShadowpeak was on fire by the time I reached it. Not by fire itself, but through the fog of battle. The sounds hit me first. Screaming. Metal on bone. It was the sound of claws on flesh, wet rips. My territory. My people. Under siege.I changed direction in mid run and pounced with all my weight on the nearest feral. We rolled on the ground as we gnashed our teeth at each other. I closed my teeth on its voice and bore down. It went limp beneath me.But there were dozens more. Maybe hundreds. They came streaming out of the forest, wearing all those metal collars and glowing runes. All moving with terrible coordination.My rogues were fighting desperately. I watched as Kade led soldiers into battle from the defensive confines behind the main lodge. Saw others, which were all over the settlement trying to defend the weaker. The elderly. The children. The wounded who were unfit for combat.It wasn’t such as these ferals were attacking randomly. They had a strategy. They were

Draven's POVThe pa message crystal in my hand turned black, but Lyra's words were clear to me still. Stay away. She had told us to back away, as she took enough power to split her in half when she confronted Thane.I had got ahead of myself ahead even before the echo had died away.My wolves followed without question. We ran through the woods in wolf form, making as good a time as our fatigued bodies would allow us. There wasn't a muscle in my body that didn't protest from the fight at Shadowpeak. Every wound pulled and bled. But I did not slow down.Lyra was alone. Confronting something larger than any one of us. And she believed she was protecting us by doing it.She had it backwards. She always had it backwards.I run through the edge of the trees, my fur just brushes past a large tree and I break out into an open space when I see another wolf. I skidded to a stop. Cassian remained in human, his own warriors behind him. He seemed as wrecked as I was. Covered in blood and ash. Twis

Cassian's POVThe Alpha lodges were tense. I played the two against each other like a diplomat in a war zone, which in both practical and personal terms I was. Each conversation was carefully choreographed. Every word carefully selected to play on certain fears.Alpha Marcus of the Western Plains was seated across from me, his look dubious. He was moderate. Open to argument but skittish about change.“To kill them is to create martyrs,” I said. “Not for the first time. This was an argument I’d been honing over dozens and dozens of conversations like this. Lyra becomes a sign of oppression. Draven is evidence that rogues have no redemption arc. You will have open revolt within months.”“Or we put things in order,” Marcus countered. “Show them that there are consequences for destroying hundreds of years in a few short hours.”“Tradition owes much to suffering,” I noted. “You heard the accounts at the first summit. The abuse. The corruption. Do you truly believe that system had a right t

Lyra's POVThe amphitheater was aghast at the tensile silence. They were stunned at my admissions of guilt. But I was not done. Not even close.“You want to punish me for revolution? I said. Voice me throughout the world. "Fine. But first, answer this question. What do you do when the system is corrupt? When the very institutions designed to safeguard you are the cause of your pain?”I walked through the arena. The chains rattled as dragged behind me, but I ignored them. Locked eyes with wolves of every rank. Made them see me. Really see me.“Omegas,” I continued, gazing back at the section where they were housed. “When your Alphas are raping and beating you, who do you share it with? To the Council who value Alpha order at all costs? To Alphas, for Alphas?”Several Omegas shifted uncomfortably. Others nodded.I turned to the Luna section. “Lunas, when you are treated like cattle for whores, only good for the bastards you make, whose protect?” That's what there is to it then, the mate

Draven's POVThe silver light exploded from Lyra as if a bomb had gone off. One second she was screaming there. The next instant, power cascaded off her in waves of such intensity that I had to shield my eyes.Every wolf in the auditorium stopped. Not by choice. God's power held them in position as if they were statues. Garrick froze partway through his lunge, hanging in space. Viktor's mouth was ajar, but nothing issued forth. Thousands of wolves that can’t travel. Unable to speak. Just frozen.Only Lyra moved. She said in the midst of it, silver light pouring out of her skin. Her eyes glowed white. Power emanated from her in waves that made the air ripple.She appeared as stunned as anyone. "I thought," she said. Her voice was layered again. Multiple tones speaking together. "I thought I gave it back. I chose mortality."The voice of the Moon Goddess resounded through the amphitheater. Not her physical presence. Only her voice drifted on the breeze."You're the one who preferred to