He planned this.” The realization didn’t come slowly. It hit all at once sharp, cold, undeniable. As I stood there, my father barely breathing at my feet, the energy still pulsing through my veins, I lifted my gaze to Rowan. And for the first time I truly saw him. Not as an Alpha. Not as a leader. But as something far worse. A man who had been waiting. For this exact moment. “You wanted this to happen,” I said, my voice quiet but steady. Around us, the hall remained frozen in the aftermath warriors too stunned to move, too uncertain to act. Even Kael, standing close behind me, hadn’t stepped forward yet. Because he felt it too. The shift. Rowan didn’t deny it. In fact he smiled. Not widely. Not mockingly. But with something darker. Something satisfying. “Yes,” he said simply. The word sent a chill down my spine. My hands clenched at my sides, the energy responding instantly, rising in sharp pulses as anger flared inside me. “You turned him into that,” I said,
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