جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 80

Merikh’s POVI slammed the door of my armored command transport open and stepped into the rain outside the border safehouse.The dark woods surrounding the cabin were completely silent."Where is she?" I demanded, turning to Vance as he pulled up behind me with four royal guard escorts.Vance stepped up to the porch, his hand resting on his sidearm.He swept the dark interior with a torch before turning back to me, his jaw tight. "The safehouse is empty, Alpha. The map table is still powered on but her personal strike team is gone. Her transport tracks lead north toward the ridge."Fury surged through my veins. I walked up to the table and looked down at the glowing display.A route had been highlighted, running twelve miles past our agreed boundary line directly into the mountain pass."She disobeyed a direct command," I growled, my hands crushing the edge of the table. "She tracked the microwave signal and took a six-man squad into Caleb's territory alone.""She was desperate to fin

Merikh's POV"Detonate the floor!" I shouted over the continuous sound of automatic fire pinning us down in the primary hall.My team stepped forward under the cover of Thomas’s suppressive fire, sticking four charges in a circular pattern across the manor’s floor.The timer hummed, glowing a white before the charges ignited.The thermite ate through six inches of solid stone in three seconds, liquefying the foundation beneath it."Stand back!" Thomas yelled, pulling two guards away from the perimeter.The center section of the floor gave way with a crash, collapsing downward into the corridor below.Plumes of acrid black smoke and dust billowed up through the gaping hole.I didn't wait for the smoke to clear. I unholstered my blade, drew my gun and dropped through the opening into the level six feet below.I landed in a low crouch on the floor.The hallway was swallowed in shadow, illuminated only by the dull red pulse of emergency lights.Three of Caleb’s elite rear guards turned to

Merikh’s POVThe rain poured over the royal palace as my command transport pulled to a halt outside the lower barracks.Behind us, six troop carriers idled as medical teams rushed out with stretchers to unload the wounded soldiers.I stepped down onto the wet ground, my coat soaked through, my jaw clenched tightly as I watched the casualty line move into the infirmary.A royal medical caretaker approached cautiously, holding a blanket around Leo's shoulders. The boy looked small and exhausted, his face smeared with dried dirt from the mountain manor collapse.He looked up at me with pale eyes, eyes that belonged entirely to Caleb.The biological reality hung between us without a word spoken.He was not my blood. He was the child of the man who had spent months trying to destroy my pack, the proof of Maya's past with my greatest enemy.I bore no malice toward the boy, he was an innocent weaponized by his father but I could not bring myself to offer warm affection."Take him to the secu

Merikh’s POVI stood over the command center, tracking the shifting deployment markers of our border battalions.The blue light cast shadows against the walls."The guards are fracturing, Alpha," Vance reported.He stood on the opposite side of the table. "Elder Bennett spent the last twelve hours circulating the official casualty lists through the lower barracks of the Third and Fourth Infantry. He is holding public vigils for the dead.He is actively framing the mountain raid as a personal vendetta executed by a foreign noble, not a military necessity. The families of the twelve fallen guards are demanding accountability, and Bennett is channeling their grief directly into political outrage against Maya.""Contain the barracks," I ordered, keeping my eyes fixed on the map. "Lock down the casualty wards. No council elder is permitted to speak to the guards units without my direct authorization. Post loyal guards at the gates. If Bennett tries to cross the perimeter again, arrest him

Maya's POVThe high judge’s gavel struck the ground sounding block three times.Elder Bennett stepped forward from the prosecution bench, holding a ledger stamped with the judicial assembly.He turned away from the witness box where Caleb still sat, directing his attention toward the defendant's ring."In light of the severe military casualties and the contested political status of the accused," Bennett announced, "the High Council offers a single, final judicial compromise to settle this matter without further bloodshed."I looked up at the throne. Merikh sat there, his eyes narrowed.Bennett unrolled the document, reading the terms aloud. "The accused, Maya, shall formally sign an act of political renunciation. She will surrender all claims to leadership in Red Leaf, renounce her position as the chosen Luna of the Capital and forfeit all diplomatic standing within our territory forever. She will be exiled to the pack immediately."He paused, letting the silence settle over the court