Chapter 5

Layla's POV

By midday the city knew everything that had happened because my best friend and partner in chaos, Erin made sure of it.

The announcement went out across every official channel that she had contacts at, and those contacts forwarded the headline to their contacts, like a beautiful cascade of ruinous gossip.

The engagement between Layla Pearson and Kian Gravehide is dissolved effective immediately.

There was no polite explanation and no soft, PR friendly words about mutual choice. Just a clean statement, the kind that leaves no room for twisting the meaning.

Then came the pictures.

Erin timed them with surgical precision.

Four images went out. Kian and Chelsea together at the pack hospital under the sharp lights of the corridor. His hand steady on her back. Her hand brushing low across her stomach. Their heads bent close enough that they might as well have been whispering promises.

The comments tore through the feeds within minutes. Wolves didn't bother with restraint when gossip burned this hot. The screenshots spread faster than any official statement ever could have. Everyone had an opinion, and most of them were absolutely savage.

Erin called while I scrolled, her voice giddy with satisfaction.

"They're eating him alive. Do you want me to keep pushing the 'hospital visit' angle or let them run with it?"

"Let them run with it," I said with a smirk. "They'll build their own story and it'll be far worse than anything we could write."

She laughed gleefully again.

"I'll seed the right rumours to the right people anyway. He deserves every ounce of this, the rotten bastard."

She hung up before I could answer.

"That's what I love about Erin," Freja sighed happily, "Loyal, ruthless, and never backing down. Those are the kind of people we should always surround ourselves with."

By afternoon the Whitecrowns hadn't answered any of the accusations directly, they hadn't even addressed it with a statement, and the Gravehides stayed just as quiet.

That silence itself screamed louder than any denial. If they had an explanation, they would have rushed it out, but they knew as well as I did that there wasn't one. Not for this.

I didn't wait to see what their next move would be, I went ahead with mine.

The hunt had been planned for days, but now it carried a different weight that it hadn't before. My name wasn't tied to theirs anymore so this was now my feast, my hall, my mark that I would leave on the attendees. I wanted every wolf in the city to see it.

The event hall opened just after dark and the Lanterns that had been strung from the rafters threw warm light down across the stone floor. Outside, torches lined the green stretch that ran to the lake. Long tables curved in a horseshoe, stacked high with bread, meat, fruit, and wine and the scent of smoke from the roasting pits carried gently on the cold air.

Above it all hung banners stamped with a crest no one here had seen before. Black, bold, and carved in clean lines. The mark of the Deepstalker Pack.

I felt the questions in the crowd as soon as eyes landed on it. Some tried to corner me for answers and I gave them nothing but a polite smile. I poured wine and I told them to eat, happily letting the speculation twist in their mouths.

When the horns called the hunters back, the mood surged higher. Wolves spilled across the grass, dragging downed game between them. A deer bled across the stones, flanked by three young hunters with grins sharp enough to bite. Others carried pheasant, rabbit, and wild boar.

All of the fresh kills laid out under the lanterns and the wolves cut them open and bled them out, ready for the fire.

The first howl rose as the knives worked. It caught and grew until the air was full of it. Pride and.defiance. The sound of belonging.

I walked the tables slowly, letting every pair of eyes find me so that they could see Freja clearly in my eyes. Some dropped their gaze quickly and others stared too long. Either way, they knew. This wasn't the Gravehides' feast, it wasn't the Whitecrowns, it was mine.

The doors at the far end slammed open and Kian walked in with a look of fury on his face and his beta and gamma at his back. His jaw was set, his eyes dark, and his stride quick as he stormed over to where I stood, with an amused smirk plastered on my face.

Conversations snapped short as the atmosphere flipped suddenly. He cut straight down the center, ignoring everyone in his way until he stopped at the heart of the hall.

"Who gave you this," he demanded, pointing at the banners overhead. His voice carried across the stone. "Who's standing behind you and financing all of this?!"

I leaned against the head table and lifted my glass coyly.

"Careful, Kian. You sound nervous."

"Answer me." He snapped, his hands balled into fists at his sides. "You don't have the right to use that crest and you don't have the strength to stand on your own two feet. Tell me who the fuck is backing you or I'll beat it from you myself."

Murmurs rose across the hall as wolves shifted in their chairs. Some leaned closer and others edged back, moving away from the confrontation.

I laughed at his empty threats and allowed Freja to stare at him boldly from my eyes.

"It's cute that you still think your alpha's reach is big enough to touch me now," I said with a smirk, "You're a hell of a lot less important than you think you are. This isn't your hall, and this isn't your night, so leave before I'm forced to do something that will embarrass you further than you've already embarrassed yourself."

I took another sip of my wine as his mouth twisted.

"You think this saves you? That little stunt with the pictures, this charade with banners you don't own. It doesn't matter. The Mate Ceremony will still happen and you will stand beside me, you'll bow, and you'll prove you're worthy. That's the only path left for you."

I laughed loudly and wiped a fake tear from the corner of my eye.

"You're still pretending you get to decide. You're as delusional as your little side-piece."

He took a step forward, close enough that I could feel his breath on my face.

"Don't test my fucking patience Layla." He hissed and that little twinge of satisfaction rose in me that you get when you watch someone destroy their own image without even trying.

Freja surged forward and smiled, knowing full well what was coming.

She'd been restless since yesterday, waiting, clawing for some solid vengeance so, I let her out.

Our aura ripped out of us, throwing itself across the hall as wolves dropped to their knees around me, murmurs of shock falling from their lips.

Kian held his ground for a second, his teeth clenched, and his eyes twitching.

Then his knees began to bend and I could feel Freja's satisfaction.

"Beg for my forgiveness you little weasel faced arsehole!" She yelled as she laughed manically and my smirk only grew wider.

He grunted and tried to push back with his own aura but it just wasn't enough. I let a little more of our aura out and instantly his body dropped to the stone, his palms braced and his head forced down.

Gasps snapped across the crowd with curses and laughter mixed together.

I stepped forward until my shadow covered him and Freja howled her triumph inside my head. She had wanted to rip him apart, but I let her show just a fraction of her strength instead.

"Look at what you've done, Kian," I said, voice steady. "This is what happens when you disrespect a woman who would have given you the world. You betrayed me because you're weak and pathetic and now, everyone can see it for themselves."

His head lifted an inch, his face red, veins bulging and his jaw tight.

"The packs will turn on you without us behind you!" He rasped and I laughed lightly.

"Maybe they will," I shrugged, "But tonight they saw you on your knees. And they'll always remember you as the weak son of an Alpha, the Alpha heir who betrayed his chosen mate for a pathetic weak little narcissist, and then came to beg for forgiveness on his knees like a good little boy."

I held him there for a moment longer and then pulled Freja back. He collapsed sideways, gasping for air with his pride in shreds.