He glanced at his friends—Callon, stoic and watchful; Gage, eyes alight with the promise of justice; Raphael, a storm of nerves and resolve. They had all been changed by what had come before. They had all lost, and lost again, and still had chosen to rise.
Ahead, the keep loomed—red stone against a bruised sky, a monument to a broken legacy. Nico drew in a slow breath, bracing himself for the end of one story and the beginning of another.
Nico's boots thudded on the pitted stone as he advanced into the old throne room—a decaying chamber that had once been grand, though even at its height it must have felt like a fortress for the unwanted. The Kingdom of Chaos had never pretended to be beautiful. It was carved from the shadows, built by hands that didn’t belong anywhere else.
In the gloom, Wolfgang stood tall and broad-shouldered, the old, battered crown still clinging stubbornly to his head. He was one of the few royals that still wore his, though only during official times. Apparently, this was official. At his side, Tallula—her dark eyes wide with fear and regret—clung to his sleeve, her presence a sharp contrast to her mate’s harsh pride. Around them, the room’s remaining guards shifted in nervous clusters. Even they knew something epochal was about to unfold.
Nico felt his blood pound, a slow, thunderous drum. The faces around him were his people—shifters who’d worn masks all their lives to survive, who’d hidden their true selves from the world who would never accept them. They deserved better than this. They deserved more than a king who would sacrifice their safety because he thought he knew what was best for them.
Wolfgang’s sneer was a mask of bravado, but Nico saw the flickers of doubt beneath. “You come here to judge me, mongrel?” Wolfgang spat, voice echoing off the stones. “You, who’ve never known what it is to lead—what it is to carry the weight of this kingdom alone?”
Nico’s anger flashed, hot and righteous. “I know what it is to be an outcast. To feel ashamed of what you are. I may be a shaman, but I have been a part of this kingdom and cared for the people in it. I know what it means to care deeply for those who need it and to be willing to sacrifice for them.”
Wolfgang’s lip curled. “This kingdom is built on survival. On strength. What would you know of sacrifice? Of doing what must be done—even if it costs others? We sacrifice a few for many.Thatis true sacrifice.”
Tallula’s grip on Wolfgang tightened. “Stop, please—Wolf, enough! Can’t you feel it? They’re here by Visata’s command. We can’t win?—”
Wolfgang jerked away from her. “I am king! I decide when my reign ends. I will not be dragged from my throne by other packs or by an outcast shaman whose own don’t even respect him!”
Nico’s heart twisted. All his life, he’d carried the pain of rejection, the sting of never belonging—not to Damaria, not to the humans, not to the shifters at his side and sometimes, not even the shaman council that he was a part of. And here, in the heart of Chaos, the king himself spat that same venom. It was almost poetic in its cruelty.
“Wolfgang,” Nico said, voice low and trembling with emotion, “you took the pain of the unmated—their need to belong—and you twisted it. You allowed males to hope in vain, risked our secret by involving human females that were not animi, and threatened everything we tried to build. You made us desperate. You made us dangerous. All for power that was never yours to use. You are the created, not the Creator. Your decisions are not eternal law. You foolishly thought that your will should be done without consequences.” As soon as the words had left Nico’s lips, he knew he’d pushed the king as far as he would go.
Wolfgang lunged.
He moved with the speed and savagery of a predator who knew his time had come. His shift was violent—a burst of black fur, claws, and snapping teeth. Not quite wolf, not quite panther, and not quite bear, but a mixture of all three powerful shifters. A fearsome sight. Nico met him head-on, power surging through his veins, the crown of Chaos blazing above him. The room exploded into chaos—shifters scattering, Tallula screaming, the air crackling with the scent of magic and rage.
Wolfgang’s claws raked Nico’s arm, drawing hot blood. Nico barely felt it. All he could see was the faces of the outcast children, the broken males without hope, the lost—those Wolfgang had failed, those he’d used as pawns. Fury lent him strength. He pulled on the power imbued in him as a shaman, power that had allowed him to protect the Damarians for centuries upon centuries.
Wolfgang fought like a cornered animal, but Nico fought like a king.
Their bodies crashed through the throne, splintering wood and stone. Wolfgang bit and clawed, but Nico’s resolve was unbreakable. He thought of Akira—her faith in him, the possibility of love that could be built between them. He thought of Raphael, Callon, Gage—men he’d come to respect and carefor, fighting against their own suffering and survival. He thought of every human who’d gone missing, every male who waited with hope pulsing through their veins, every secret their king carried.
Tallula’s voice rang out, desperate, pleading. “Please, Nico! Please, Visata, show mercy! We did what we thought was best—we only wanted to save our people!”
Nico’s breath came ragged. “You did it for yourselves. You let your fear make you cruel. There is justice, Tallula. But there is no mercy left for kings who feed on the weak.”
Wolfgang launched one final time, eyes wild, jaws snapping for the kill. Nico caught him mid-leap, power flaring in his hands—a gift from Visata, righteous and absolute. He slammed Wolfgang to the stone, pinning him.
Wolfgang snarled, defiant. Then his eyes widened as he seemed to see what the others already knew. Rage grew even brighter in his eyes as he stared at Nico. “You thinkyoucan be king? You, a wild, reckless, mess who can’t follow any rules but your own? You’re nothing.”
Nico’s voice was soft, full of sorrow and fury. “I may be wild, but it will always be in defense of this kingdom. I may be wild, but that untamed nature will always be directed at those who would seek to hurt this kingdom. I may be reckless but the demolition that wraps around that part of me will protect all of the Chaos members, and I may not follow conventional rules, but I will always bend to the ultimate ruler, Visata–the one who has placed me in a position for such a time as this. I will be whatever it is he asks of me, and I will do it humbly.”
He pressed his palm to Wolfgang’s chest. The old king howled as the magic ripped through him, his stolen power ripped away, his claim to the throne dissolved. In that moment, the kingdom itself seemed to sigh—a sound both mournful and relieved—as if the land had been holding its breath for centuries.The beast in him withered and he returned to the form that left him only half of what he was.
The former king slumped, broken and exhausted, then took his final breath. Tallula collapsed beside him, sobbing, clutching at his fur, at his fading strength. Nico’s vision blurred with tears—of grief, of relief, of the weight of justice dealt by hands that had once only known how to be the reckless thing Wolfgang had claimed, but would not be what helped rebuild the kingdom that Nico loved.
He looked at the shifters gathered around the wreckage. They stared at him—not with fear, but with hope. For the first time, Nico saw it reflected back: a king not born of privilege, but of pain. A king for the outcasts, the misfits, the ones who had always been told they were too much, not enough, never right. A king who would never again let his people be sacrificed for anyone’s ambition. “If you want to continue to be a member of this kingdom, the choice is yours. But know, you will follow the decrees of Visata, andthatis the law I will enforce.”
Every Kingdom of Chaos member there, those who’d no doubt been guards to Wolfgang, lowered their heads in submission. It was enough for Nico.
He stood, bloodied but unbowed, the broken crown of Chaos settled at his feet. He did not pick it up, not yet. Behind him, Raphael stepped forward, power swirling in his hands, ready to see to the rest of Visata’s justice. “I will take the place of Nico as shaman of the Kingdom of Chaos. I will enforce the laws set by the Creator, and my loyalty will lie with Him first. If you have a problem with this change, you may ask for an audience with the shaman council.”
Nico looked at Tallula, his voice gentler but still unyielding. “You will live, but you will never rule again. You will learn to serve the kingdom you tried to save, not as queen, but as one of us. That is Visata’s will—and mine.”
Tallula bowed her head, tears streaming. She didn’t speak, not that Nico expected her to. Her mate had been taken from her, and there would forever be a hole inside of her at her loss. That would be punishment enough.
Nico turned to men who’d become like brothers to him, his voice steady, his reign already begun. “It’s over. Chaos will rise from this. We will be more than survivors. We will belong.”
