The Challenge

POV: Rhys "I invoke the old right," Dave said, his voice ringing hard across the silent chamber. "Trial by combat. As is my privilege under pack law, when a council vote runs contested on a matter of Alpha fitness." The elder's gavel froze mid-air. A ripple of shock moved through the gallery, older council members exchanging grim, knowing glances while the younger ones simply looked stunned, unfamiliar with a law that hadn't been invoked in generations. "That right hasn't been called in this pack in over fifty years," the elder said, her voice careful now, weighing something heavier than procedure. "It hasn't been repealed either," Dave said. "The law stands. A contested vote on Alpha fitness may be settled by combat between challenger and incumbent, superseding council decision entirely." "You're certain you wish to invoke this," the elder said, something almost like reluctant respect threading beneath her wariness. "This isn't a matter that can be undone once called." "I'

Last Updated : 2026-09-30

Before the Blood

POV: Matteo "I've been putting pieces together," Rhys said, sitting across from me at the small table in our chambers, a single candle burning low between us, no council, no staff, no performance left for either of us to give. "I want to walk through it with you. Not around you. With you." "Alright," I said, pulling my chair closer, some fragile new steadiness settling between us that hadn't existed in any conversation we'd had before tonight. "My mother's letter," he said, spreading the faded pages carefully across the table. "Dave sitting with her in her final months, when my father had already withdrawn from the household. That connection goes back decades, long before either of us understood what it actually meant." "You think Dave's loyalty to your family started with her," I said slowly, following the thread. "I think it's more than loyalty," Rhys said. "I think whatever Dave felt for her, watching her suffer through a marriage she never wanted, denied even the chance to

Last Updated : 2026-09-30

Trial by Blood

POV: Matteo "Begin," the elder called, and the word cracked across the frost-covered clearing like a whip. I stood pressed against the ropes marking the circle's edge, Sofia gripping one of my hands, my brother the other, the three of us huddled together in the gray dawn light while the two men I'd spent the night with, one confessing everything, the other explaining decades of buried grief, now faced each other with blades drawn. "You don't have to do this," I whispered, uselessly, too far away for either of them to hear me, the words meant more for my own breaking heart than for anyone on that frozen ground. Dave moved first, fast, precise, years of trained combat evident in every controlled step he took across the circle. Rhys met him, blade raised, but I saw it immediately, the slight hitch in his movement, the way his ribs, still healing from the ambush weeks ago, cost him half a second he didn't have to spare. "Come on," my brother muttered beside me, his hand crushing

Last Updated : 2026-09-30

Mercy

POV: Rhys"Stop," Matteo's brother said, his hand locked around Dave's wrist, the blade frozen inches above my chest, the entire clearing suspended in a silence so complete I could hear my own ragged breathing. "This isn't the man you think you're protecting anymore, Dave. Look at what you're doing."Dave's arm trembled under his grip, torn between the momentum of the killing blow and the sudden, unbearable weight of the one person he'd built his entire betrayal around standing in front of him, begging him to stop."Let go," Dave said, his voice raw, desperate. "This is the only way I can still fix this.""There's nothing left to fix," Matteo's brother said. "Not like this. Not with his blood."The elder's voice cracked across the clearing, sharp with authority. "The trial pauses. No blow lands while a third party holds the circle. Step back, both of you, and let this resolve as the old law demands."Dave's grip loosened, slow, reluctant, and I used the opening the moment it came, rol

Last Updated : 2026-09-30

What Comes After

POV: Matteo"Drink this," I said, pressing a cup of tea into Rhys's hands where he sat propped against a mountain of pillows, three days after the trial, the worst of his wounds finally closing under Sofia's careful attention. "All of it. She said you need the fluids.""Yes, healer," he said, a faint, teasing smile pulling at the corner of his mouth, the first real lightness I'd seen from him since before the ambush weeks ago.I sat down on the edge of the bed beside him, watching him drink, the quiet of the room settling around us in a way that felt almost foreign after everything the last month had demanded from both of us. No council waiting. No summons. No secrets pressing behind either of our teeth."How are you feeling," I asked."Sore," he admitted. "Alive. Grateful, mostly, though I haven't quite let myself feel that fully yet.""Take your time with it," I said. "There's no rush anymore."He set the cup down and reached for my hand instead, his thumb tracing slow, familiar pat

Last Updated : 2026-09-30

All Chapters of Ruthless Amnesia : Chapter 31 - Chapter 35

The Challenge

Before the Blood

Trial by Blood

Mercy

What Comes After