Chapter 3 Elders' Verdict

"Aaaakh!"

Elena's piercing scream tore through the underground clinic. Searing agony flared across her back, burning through her flesh as if boiling liquid iron were coursing beneath her pores.

"Goddess! What is happening to Sister Elena? What on earth is that mark?" Violet shrieked in absolute panic.

Covering her mouth, Violet spun around, burying herself trembling in Kael's chest.

"I am terrified, Kael," Violet whimpered, her voice shaking while crocodile tears pooled in her wide eyes.

Kael immediately pulled Violet closer against his broad chest, stroking her shoulder with tender care. "Calm down, Violet. You are completely safe with me."

Across the room, Selene remained frozen in place. Her eyes widened in absolute shock as she stared at the pulsing crimson light on Elena's back. Her heart hammered wildly against her ribs.

'That mark... this girl truly inherited it!' Selene thought, her mind racing in pure panic. 'No! Nobody must ever find out this is the legendary silver wolf mark of Eileen Callum!'

Composing her features in a split second, Selene rushed toward her husband with an expression of fabricated distress.

"Alpha, look at her back!" Selene whispered frantically, grabbing Adrian's arm. "Why is her skin emitting smoke and fire like that? Is Elena secretly practicing dark magic?"

Adrian stood paralyzed. Staring in horror at his biological daughter, the middle-aged Alpha watched her writhe in torment on the metal table.

"It hurts, Dad! Help me!" Elena screamed, her fingernails clawing against the iron sheets until her skin peeled and bled.

Sudden thermal energy from the red crescent mark erupted outward. An invisible shockwave slammed through the enclosed space, rattling heavy metal shelves violently while dozens of glass medicine bottles shattered across the stone floor.

Crash!

A stone support pillar in the back corner cracked deeply. Heavy stone fragments collapsed onto the floor, sending up a thick cloud of dust.

Right at that second, the wooden clinic doors were kicked open from outside.

Three Elders of House Veyrath rushed through the settling dust, led by Elder Marcus, followed closely by Elder Gideon and Elder Silas. They had sprinted down to the basement after feeling the violent tremor shake the main building.

"What on earth happened here? What kind of energy is this?" Elder Gideon demanded in a booming voice, scanning the ruined room.

Selene locked eyes with Elder Marcus amidst the rising dust, offering a subtle, secretive nod that carried a hidden signal only the two of them understood.

Catching the cue, Elder Marcus stepped forward with dark authority. His weathered face twisted into calculated fury as he pointed a trembling finger directly at Elena's back.

"That is a cursed mark!" Elder Marcus declared loudly.

Stunned silence fell over the room as everyone snapped their heads toward Elder Marcus.

Adrian rushed forward, his face pale as death. "What do you mean, Elder Marcus? What cursed mark is this?"

"According to our clan's oldest legends, anyone bearing that mark will bring absolute catastrophe!" Elder Marcus announced, his voice pressing heavily on the room. "That is the Mark of the Blood Moon Calamity! A female born with this mark is destined to devour the clan's life force and bring total ruin upon all of Veyrath!"

Elder Gideon gasped, his eyes widening at the glowing red crescent burning on Elena's skin.

"Wait," Elder Gideon muttered under his breath, looking visibly disturbed. "I remember hearing whispers of that dark legend during an inter-clan summit in the northern territories decades ago!"

Seeing her sinister trap falling into place, Selene dropped to her knees on the floor, weeping with dramatic sorrow. She pulled an old, faded leather scroll from her dress pocket.

"Forgive me, honorable Elders," Selene sobbed, clutching her chest in fake grief. "My late sister, Eileen, left this secret record before she died. I kept it hidden for years out of love for Elena. But now this dark omen has awakened! Elena has been secretly poisoning Violet for the past two years to destroy our entire family!"

"That is a disgusting lie!" Elena screamed with all her remaining strength from the metal table, her voice hoarse and raw with fury. "My mother never wrote such filthy words! Selene forged that scroll, Dad! Open your eyes!"

"Hold your tongue, Elena!" Selene snapped viciously, rising to her feet. "The proof is burning right on your back! You wish to destroy this entire pack!"

"I don't want to die, Dady," Violet whimpered from Kael's chest, weeping softly. "Sister Elena's curse is making my heart ache so badly."

Kael looked down at Elena on the table with cold disgust. Reaching into his suit pocket, he pulled out a black velvet box and extracted the Arveth family engagement ring.

Stepping forward, Kael faced Adrian directly.

"Uncle Adrian, I refuse to risk my life marrying an omen of destruction," Kael said coldly, his voice echoing across the room. "My engagement to Elena is officially null and void tonight."

Kael tossed the silver ring to the floor. It clinked softly against the stone, rolling until it stopped right beneath Elena's pool of blood.

Elena gasped, her heart shattering into pieces. "Kael... you call me a monster?"

Completely ignoring Elena's devastated look, Kael turned to Adrian with a resolute expression.

"Uncle, listen. To prevent the business alliance between House Arveth and House Veyrath from collapsing, let me marry Violet. I will be the one to protect Violet from now on," Kael offered without hesitation.

Adrian's eyes sparkled for a split second as the paralyzing fear of clan bankruptcy vanished from his mind.

"A truly noble choice, Kael," Selene praised quickly, looking at her husband meaningfully. "Adrian, did you hear that? Our clan is saved if Kael marries Violet! Now we only need to purge the curse inside this child's body!"

"We have no time to waste," Elder Marcus decreed with finality. "Tonight is the full moon. Drag her to the ancient altar at the peak of the hill! We must perform the Cleansing Ritual. Her blood must be purified, and her wolf spirit destroyed until nothing remains!"

Elena's eyes widened in sheer horror. "A spirit destruction ritual? No! My wolf will die! I will become a powerless human, lower than an Omega!"

"That is the price you must pay for the safety of this clan!" Elder Gideon barked.

Elena turned to her father, stretching out a trembling hand in desperate pleading.

"Dady," Elena called out in a broken whisper. "Do you truly have the heart to watch your daughter destroyed like this? Just for business and this deceitful woman?"

Adrian stood rigidly silent. Guilt hammered against his chest, but Kael's offer and the elders' unified pressure were far too profitable to pass up. Adrian turned his face toward the wall, refusing to look his biological daughter in the eye.

"Take her to the peak of the hill. Proceed with the ritual," Adrian ordered quietly, his tone devoid of warmth.

"Adrian Veyrath, you spineless coward!" Elena screamed hysterically as two large guards grabbed her arms, dragging her forcibly out of the room into the dark corridor.