The council chamber reeked of tension.
Not the kind that erupted loudly—but the quieter, more dangerous kind. The kind that passed between glances. That lived in the clenched jaws of elders and the silence between words.
Aria stood before them without flinching.
She didn’t wear her Luna robes.
She wore black—simple, sleek, without ornament—like a blade unsheathed.
Beside her stood Rannoch, unchained but shadowed by Zara, whose gaze dared anyone to move the wrong way.
At the far end of the chamber sat the high seats—five council elders, including Elder Thorne, whose expression was more thundercloud than man.
“This is an outrage,” he snapped, slamming a hand on the carved oak. “You’ve welcomed a rogue—a known enemy of the packs—into SilverCrest. Into your home. Your daughter’s home!”
“He came under my protection,” Aria said evenly. “He came with knowledge. And blood on his hands that matches the wolves hunting my child.”
“That does not make him a guardian,” Thorne spat. “It makes him a spy.”
“Enough,” said another voice.
Kael.
Every head turned.
He stepped into the chamber from the side alcove, dressed not in Alpha regalia but in training leathers, his arms still dusted with dirt from the sparring ring. He hadn’t been summoned. But he’d come anyway.
“I’ve reviewed the evidence,” he said. “The body they found last night bore Greenwood markings. The same as those from the failed nursery attack. Rannoch is the only one who’s offered names, strategy, reason.”
Thorne narrowed his eyes. “You vouch for him?”
Kael’s jaw ticked.
“I vouch for her.”
The words struck like lightning.
Aria’s heart thudded.
Kael didn’t look at her—but the weight of his presence beside her was undeniable.
“She saved this pack,” he continued. “Twice. While we debated old laws and clung to pride, she bled for our future. She made choices none of you had the spine to make.”
A silence fell so heavy it seemed to smother the air.
Aria turned to him, finally meeting his eyes.
And saw something strange in them—not just defense.
Possession.
Pride.
Jealousy.
A claim he no longer had the right to make.
“She doesn’t need your protection,” Thorne sneered. “She needs council approval to harbor a rogue.”
“I didn’t ask for approval,” Aria said sharply. “I invoked the Rite of Trial Trust.”
Gasps rippled through the room.
Thorne turned purple. “That hasn’t been used in decades—”
“It’s still law,” Kael interrupted. “And if invoked, it cannot be denied. The council may observe, but not interfere.”
“You’d let her gamble the life of her child on a traitor?”
Kael’s voice dropped.
“I’d let her make her own choices. She’s earned that right more than any of us.”
Thorne stood abruptly, fuming. “This is heresy. The prophecy—”
“The prophecy favors her,” Kael snapped, voice like ice over fire. “And you know it.”
The elder fell silent.
Across the room, Zara smirked.
Aria took a slow breath.
Kael had defended her.
Publicly.
Powerfully.
But not without motive.
She could feel it—beneath his words, beneath his posture—was that old hunger. The need to belong to her again. To be part of what she had built.
And she wasn’t sure if it comforted her or made her blood run cold.
Later, when the chamber had cleared and the verdict was postponed for “further observation,” Aria found Kael waiting just outside the chamber.
She didn’t speak.
Neither did he.
Finally, he said, “You look like her.”
She blinked. “Who?”
“Your mother.”
It was not what she expected.
“She would’ve burned the council to the ground,” Kael added. “But you… you’re patient. Cold. Strategic. That terrifies them more.”
Aria’s throat tightened. “And you?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he said, “I see what you’re becoming. And I wonder if I’ll still have a place in it.”
“You broke the bond.”
“I know.”
“You chose Evelyn.”
“I know.”
Her voice was iron. “Then don’t ask for pieces of what you shattered.”
Kael didn’t argue.
He only nodded, then turned away, his shoulders squared but heavy.
Aria watched him go.
And somewhere deep inside, something uncoiled—not love, not longing, but power.
She had faced the council.
She had tamed the rogue.
And she no longer needed the Alpha who had cast her aside.
