Chapter 98 For The Better
ARDEN
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Cade stood tall in the center of the clearing, his back straight, daring anyone to look away. Despite the guards holding me back and the crowd forming an ugly ring of judgment around him, he showed no signs of backing down. Nothing could stop him now.
I could see it in his posture–that quiet, thunderous determination. He had made a choice. He would be heard.
It broke something inside me to witness how they looked at him. The same people who had praised him before, who had bowed their heads in reverence when he passed by, and who once praised his mere existence–they were now looking at him like he was dirt beneath their shoes.
All because of a name.
I hated it. I hated the hypocrisy. How quickly people could forget everything you’ve done the moment they learned who you were not. They saw Cade stripped of a title and suddenly disregarded all the moments he had carried them, protected them, and fought for them. It was disgusting. And so very cowardly.
But he didn’t shrink. Not my
Cade.
His voice rang out, “This is for everyone. Each and all of you.”
The murmurs stilled. Even the wind hushed itself to listen.
Faces turned. Rowan was there. Elias stood tall beside his brother. Jaxon leaned against a pillar, arms crossed.
Most of the royal families lined the viewing deck, adorned in their faction colors–save for the Callahans. Whispers claimed they didn’t have a face to show, but I knew the truth. They were trying to fix what Mr. Winters had destroyed.
Cade cleared his throat. “Yes. It’s true,” he said, steady as stone. “I am not part of the royal bloodline.”
The crowd gasped. I saw a few officials clutch their pearls. They had known, but there had been no explicit confirmation.
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Chapter 98 For The Better
“So you’re an impostor!” someone shouted.
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But Cade didn’t pay them any mind. “Believe what you want,” he said. “But I won’t stand here and let the lies control the narrative any longer.”
“A little over twenty years ago,” Cade began, “The Breaking happened. What came before it was a nation ruled by one. One Great Alpha. One bloodline. Power was too concentrated, and we let it happen out of fear and tradition.”
He took a step forward. The crowd moved with him, hypnotized.
“We were all suppressed. Some more than others. And when it broke, it broke violently.”
Silence stretched long and deep. Even the most stubborn of the royal elders remained silent.
“I wasn’t there to witness it,” Cade continued, “And I am grateful for that. But I’ve lived in its aftermath. I’ve watched how, even in our attempts to rebuild something better, we’ve merely disguised the rot.”
He scanned the crowd slowly, locking eyes with each faction. “We divided into factions, not to tear apart but to make things easier. To distribute power. To hold each other accountable. We still honored the royal Alpha bloodlines. But we also made space for neutrality.”
He gestured toward the towering building behind him the marble fortress of diplomacy, where the United Factions made their decisions.
“That’s why the United Factions was formed in the first place. It was meant to be a balance. But look at us now. As time has passed, we’ve strayed. It is apparent to anyone with eyes that our nation is still far from perfect.”
I bit my lip, tears brimming in my eyes.
“We broke free from absolute power,” Cade said, his voice louder this time. “But we haven’t freed ourselves from our mindset. We still worship bloodlines. We still let names carry more weight than actions. We expect leadership from ancestry rather than ability.”
He paused, looking down for a brief moment. When he lifted his gaze again, I saw fire ignited within his eyes.
“I came from a broken family,” he said. “But the Callahans raised me as their own. They didn’t do it for political gain. They didn’t do it to earn favor. They did it because they saw something in me–and they believed in giving someone a chance.”
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He exhaled slowly. “I apologize for the lie. For the silence. But I never faked who I am. I grew up with the mindset of a True Alpha, even if I wasn’t born into one.”
The crowd fell still once more.
“Because a True Alpha,” Cade said with conviction, “is not born; a True Alpha is made. And maybe it’s time we stopped worshipping bloodlines and started honoring merit. Perhaps it’s time we remembered what Bethany Spirit stood for.”
“An Alpha is only true when he can lead to the best of his capacity–not because of the blood that runs through his veins, but because of the heart that beats in his chest.”
I clutched my own heart, stunned. I was proud and moved beyond words. Though he hadn’t seen me yet, I knew in my soul that Cade wasn’t done fighting.
The courtyard fell quiet again, silence folding over the gathered factions. Mr. Winters sighed and rose from his position in the circle, attempting to match the tone of Cade’s voice.
“What are you talking about, Cade?” he said with a forced calm that grated on my nerves. “That we should break tradition just to cater to you? Because you are different? Because you are deserving?”
His voice carried, smoothed out like practiced speeches meant to sway voters. “The royal Alpha bloodline exists for a reason,” he continued. “It is not some arbitrary lineage we uphold out of habit. These bloodlines have produced the sharpest minds, the fiercest warriors, the most exceptional abilities our nation has ever seen.”
He let his gaze sweep across the crowd, seeking nods from the elders who had yet to choose a side.
“Even Bethany Spirit,” Winters went on, “the woman you just invoked as your paragon of righteousness–even she carried Alpha blood. No, she was not royalty, but that bloodline still ran strong in her veins. That is the reality of our world.”
He turned to Cade, lips curling into a sneer. “And you…? You are not part of that bloodline. Which part even are you?”
I clenched my jaw, hands twitching at my sides. His words felt like slaps–not just to Cade, but to every single wolf who wasn’t born into some glorified legacy.
Was that all we were now? Just lesser blood, as if spirit and conviction didn’t matter?
Mr. Winters folded his arms. “As future Praetor,” he declared, voice rising, “and as the man
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who built Elite from the ground up, who molded young minds into something valuable, who gave orphans their place-”
I noticed Rowan lower his gaze at that.
“–I hereby call for a thorough review of the governing rules of Fenra,” Winters continued. “Perhaps the chaos we now face is not solely the fault of enemies or rebels. Perhaps it’s because Fenra has grown lax and disordered.”
He swept his arm out dramatically. “But I will rebuild it. I will bring structure. Strength. I will fix what’s been broken.”
My lip curled into a scornful scoff. I couldn’t believe it. He was using this moment as a stage for a campaign speech.
While smoke still curled in the North from the facility he had destroyed, while Cade stood shirtless and bare, defending himself in front of wolves who used to cheer for him.
I took a step forward, growling under my breath. “Are you serious
”
But Cade spoke before I could raise my voice. He chuckled then, surprising everyone who was listening.
Cade clicked his tongue, shaking his head. “Change Fenra for the better?” he repeated, his voice dripping with mockery. “Are you sure that’s what you’re trying to do?”
Mr. Winters narrowed his eyes. “Excuse me?”
Cade raised his phone, the screen catching the afternoon light. He pressed something on it, and within a second, Mr. Winters‘ voice filled the clearing.
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