Chapter 99
Chapter 99
Ellaine’s point of view:
The moment the vents hissed, I tasted betrayal.
A metallic tang hit the back of my throat. Wolfsbane. Subtle, but deadly. My eyes flicked toward Francesco, whose golden gaze sharpened in warning. Og bond sparked, a silent thread of alarm passing between us.
Guards moved with precision. Not uncertainty. Not hesitation.
They weren’t reacting to a disruption.
They were following a plan.
Francesco felt it too. I could see it in the slight shift of his stance, the way his hand slid protectively in front of me. But he wasn’t fast enough to stop what
came next.
My magic rose before thought could intervene. It flared through my veins like liquid moonlight, coiling around my fingers and flaring to life in silver and white. A shield of energy burst outward from my palm, catching the nearest three guards mid–lunge and hurling them back.
They crashed against marble pillars with sickening cracks.
Gasps filled the air. A few council members stood, startled. Some began shouting.
I took a breath, grounding myself. I could feel the ancient runes beneath my feet vibrating, as if the very stones of the chamber remembered what I was.
The White Wolf.
But before I could move again–before I could prepare another ward or pull Francesco closer–he shouted something I couldn’t hear.
A hand gripped my arm.
Too fast.
Not one of the guards. A healer. Or what I thought was a healer.
Something stung. My breath caught.
My head snapped toward my attacker. A syringe. Glinting glass. A heavy, viscous liquid inside.
Wolfsbane.
Not in the air. Not inhaled. Injected.
Direct to the bloodstream.
The magic around me stuttered. It faltered like a flame drowning in oil. My body screamed against the intrusion. Every cell revolted. My heart beat twice in a row–then skipped the third.
I staggered back.
My legs gave way.
“Ellaine!”
Francesco’s voice. Shattering.
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Chapter 99
He roared, a sound that made the floor tremble, but he was already choking on the wolfsbane mist. His goldreyes widened in house he has in
reach me.
I tried to raise a hand to him.
To say something.
To do anything.
But the light went out.
Darkness swallowed me whole.
Third–person omniscient:
The council chamber descended into chaos.
Francesco collapsed an instant later, face–down beside his mate. His claws raked marble, leaving gouges in the polished stone. His last conscious breath was a promise torn from his throat.
He would not forgive this.
Silence fell heavy in the aftermath.
Then voices.
Harsh. Shaken.
“What have you done?!” Councilor Viona shouted, rising to her feet. Her composure, usually flawless, had shattered into something close to fear.
Councilor Malek looked pale. His jaw clenched. “Do you understand what that Alpha will do when he wakes?”
“You’ve just declared war,” another muttered, his hand trembling against the armrest of his chair.
Elder Marsen exhaled, slowly, as though carrying a burden no one else could. “You all act as if this wasn’t inevitable. Francesco was never going to obey forever. The White Wolf? She’s a variable we can’t afford.”
“That doesn’t mean we should’ve poisoned them like traitors!” Viona hissed.
Marsen turned to her with cold eyes. “What would you have done? Waited until she burned down a city in a fit of magical grief? Waited until he crowned himself Emperor over all packs? We had a window to contain them. And we took it.”
“And now?” Malek asked, voice bitter. “When he wakes?”
Marsen said nothing.
Instead, he reached into his robe and pulled out a small crystal communicator. Ancient. Etched with runes older than the Council itself. He whispered a
name.
“Luca.”
A moment passed.
Then a door at the far end of the chamber hissed open.
And the past walked in.
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Chapter 99
Luca, rogue Alpha, entered with the relaxed grace of a predator. Tall, dressed in dark leathers, and beating a smirk that had hunted more than the council member’s nightmares. Scars ran up his throat and across his temple, but his eyes held the sharpness of a man who had survived long enough o enjoy his reputation.
He walked in as if summoned to a party.
“You called?” he drawled.
Councilor Viona recoiled. “This wasn’t part of the agreement.”
“No,” Marsen said. “This is my contingency.”
Luca examined Francesco and Ellaine with a curious tilt of his head. “Well… This is easier than I thought.”
He approached slowly, crouching beside Francesco’s body. He tapped the unconscious Alpha’s shoulder lightly,
“Still breathing. That’s good. I was worried you overdosed the bastard.”
He turned to Marsen. “I trust my payment is guaranteed?”
“If you deliver them to containment.”
Luca smirked. “Oh, I’ll do more than that. But first-”
With the flick of his wrist, a small device snapped into his hand. Not a blade. Not a dart.
A tube.
He spun, aimed, and fired.
Thwk.
The dart hit Councilor Renna in the neck. She barely made a sound before collapsing.
Thwk.
A second dart struck Councilor Darius. He tried to rise, but his legs folded.
The chamber exploded in shouts.
“What are you doing?!” Malek roared, trying to stand.
Viona drew a blade–Luca disarmed her with a flick and sent her crashing to the floor with a wolf–enhanced kick.
“What the hell is this?!” Malek cried.
Luca grinned, “Control. You people are very bad at keeping it.”
He walked past their fallen bodies, whistling a low tune, then turned to Marsen.
“Now you have a real choice, old man. Keep your deal, or lie beside them.”
Marsen stared at him. He didn’t blink.
Then, slowly, he nodded.
Luca turned to two of his rogues waiting at the door.
“Take the Luna to the transport chamber. And chain the Lycan Alpha. Silver. Double–thick. I want him waking up pissed and powerless.”
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Chapter 99
The rogues moved to obey
Luca took one last glance down at Ellaine. He crouched beside her, brushing & fock of hair from her theek,
“So much light,” he murmured. “Let’s see what happens when we drag it through darkness”
Behind him, the runes etched into the ancient stone flickered. Their glow dimmed, as if even the walls themselves recoiled from what had jud been set
in motion.
And so the White Wolf and the Lycan Alpha were taken from the cradle of their people.
Not slain.
But claimed.
And the war, long feared, now breathed with open eyes.
