Chapter 3 A PACK BETRAYAL

Chapter Three

A PACK BETRAYAL

~Ignas Pov

...The Skull Pack

Voices were a storm in that hall, accusations crashing against the air like thunder. Lykon's pack stood before me, their eyes alight with anger, snarls of contempt slicing through the air like razors. My wolves stood tense at my back, hackles raised, ready to defend me. But I didn't need defending. Not yet.

"You bewitched him!" one of them snarled, stepping forward. His emerald eyes blazed with fury, his voice sharp as claws. "You used the mate bond to seduce him, to turn him against us! That's the only reason he would ever betray his pack!"

My breath caught, but I didn't show it. "I don't have to explain myself to you," I said coldly, though my voice was firm and steady while my mind went on with a storm of arguments. "And I surely don't have to justify the actions of Lykon because he has made his choice himself.”

“Choices?" another wolf laughed out, the venom in his voice. He was younger, smaller, but his rage was no less fierce. "He chose you, an enemy, over his family, his blood! He's supposed to be our Alpha! What did you promise him? What spell did you weave to make him abandon his duty?"

The wolves behind him growled in a chorus of agreement, heavy with anger.

“Watch your tone," I growled, stepping forward. The wolves behind me straightened, growls erupting to echo my chorus of warnings. "You forget who you're talking to."

He sneered, green-eyed wolf. "We certainly know who we're talking to: a heartless, power-hungry Alpha that would stoop to anything to take what's not hers!"

Words like whips, lashing across me, yet I didn't flinch. "Careful," I said, my voice lowering to deadly calm.

"Or what?" he sneered, stepping closer. "You'll kick us out? You'll fight us? You've already taken him from us-"

I moved before he could finish.

My kick hit his chest with brutal precision, and he sprawled across the floor. The hall was suddenly filled with gasps because the wolf hit the floor groaning in pain. The growls of my wolves rose deep in their throats, but I held a hand out to keep them right where they were.

I straightened, looking down at the fallen wolf. "That was a warning," I said, my voice cold as ice. "Try me again, and you'll regret it."

He scrambled up onto his feet, pale in his anger and humiliation. The other wolves behind him shifted uncomfortably. The rage in their faces was now mixed with wariness.

"Enough!

The sharp command cuts like a blade through the tension. The crowd parted, and a greyer wolf stepped forward; his hair was like silver under the firelight, his eyes as keen as steel. He moved with the quiet authority of one who had been obeyed over the years the room stilled at his presence.

“Alpha Ignis," he said, his voice cold and curt. His eyes bored into mine, cold and judging. "This argument is pointless."

I did not flinch from his stare. "Then say what you came to say and leave."

He inclined his head slightly, but there was no respect in the movement. "Very well. We've come to deliver our decision regarding Lykon.”

My heart raced in my chest, and I didn't betray the thought. "And?"

The elder never even flinched. "We no longer consider him one of us."

A ton of weight had fallen upon my chest, and for some moments, I could hardly breathe.

"What do you mean?" I brought out just above a whisper.

"You heard me," he snarled-the chill of his voice rivaling the glacier stare. "Through his actions, Lykon has proved unfaithful. His decision to hold you over his pack was the snap that broke a tie binding him to us. To this day, he is dead to us."

The silence hung heavy in the hall; the tension thick enough to choke on. Even my wolves, who'd just been ready to defend me a moment before, stood stock-still in their surprise.

"You can't do this," I said, my voice trembling with anger.

The elder's eyes hardened, and in a voice low and dead, he growled, "We can, and we have. You may tell him that if he returns to our lands, he will be treated as an enemy. If he crosses our borders, we will show him no quarter.".

His words were a blade twisted within my chest. I took a step forward, hands fists. "Does your Alpha know this?" I demanded. "Does he approve of you discarding your future leader?"

"That is none of your concern," said the elder, voice acerbic.

"It is my concern!" I exclaimed, my voice raising. "Lykon is my mate! The Moon Goddess chose him for me, and you think you can just throw him away?"

The expression on the elder's face did not change. "Your bond means nothing to us," he said. "Lykon made his choice and now must live with his actions."

"You're cowards," I said, my voice shaking with anger. "All of you. You're not worthy of him."

The elder's lips compressed, he didn't say a word. He stroked across the room to the door, his wolves hard at his heels, and he slammed it shut.

I stood there, shaking with anger and in utter disbelief. My wolves stirred restlessly behind me, their eyes full of concern, but I couldn't bring myself to turn to them.

"Alpha?" Roy's voice was soft, tentative.

I turned to him, and the look on his face broke me.

"It's my fault," I whispered, my voice shaking.

Roy frowned, stepping closer. "Ignis-

"It's my fault," I repeated, and the tears streamed down my face. "If only I hadn't let my guard down if only I weren't so weak—"

"You're not weak," Roy said firmly, his hands digging into my shoulders. "Don't ever say that. You're the strongest person I know."

"Then why does it feel like everything is falling apart?" I asked, my voice breaking. "Lykon saved me, and now his people have turned against him because of it. How am I supposed to tell him? How am I supposed to tell him he's been abandoned by the pack he was born to lead?"

Roy didn’t have an answer. He simply pulled me into a hug, his arms strong and steady around me. “You’ll find a way,” he said quietly. “You always do.”

I let myself cry for a moment, the weight of everything crashing down on me. My anger simmered beneath the surface, but the grief was stronger, overwhelming.

"I hate them," I whispered. "I hate the Moon Goddess for doing this to us. I hate Lykon's people for abandoning him. And I hate myself for not being able to fix it."

Roy didn't say a word. He just pulled me against him, letting me have my storm of emotions, rage hurt, and powerlessness.

"Roy!"

The frail serenity was disjointed by a loud shriek. A burst of entry by one of the healers, milk-white in her face, panicked eyes, made our hearts jump.

"There's an emergency!" she exclaimed with a trembling urgency in her voice.

I stepped backward from Roy as my heart was doing gymnastics inside. "What is happening?"

She did not answer, but her eyes wide with terror gestured for us to follow her.

I exchanged a look with Roy and felt dread coil my stomach. Whatever it was, I knew it couldn't be good.