“If you cannot stand with me,” I repeat, quieter now, “then go.”
Of course it’s Darran who cracks first. He lets out a short, ugly laugh, the sound brittle with wounded pride, and steps away from the line. One of the old councilors, the gray-haired bastard who never missed a chance to use my father’s memory as a ploy, sneers as he turns.
“Your father would be ashamed,” he throws at me. “Risking your pack’s future for some girl.Pathetic.”
The words land but there’s no bite. If anything, they confirm something I already know. If my father would be mortified by this, then I’m finally doing something right.
Darran’s mouth curls in a satisfied grin as he moves to stand with Talis and her little cluster of sycophants near Cathal’swhirlwind cage. His two friends fall in behind him. And then two of the pack members who cried out earlier when I cut the McNamara tie join them without a word.
I watch them all closely until they settle where they belong.
What is left in front of me is smaller, but more solid than where we started.
Mercer stands in the center, shoulders straight.
I meet his eyes, let the dominance curl around him. “Are you loyal to Pack Fallamhain?” I ask. “And to me as your Alpha?”
He does not look away. After a beat, his chin dips in deference. “Yes, Alpha. I’m loyal to you and this pack.”
I hold him in that pressure another breath, then release him with a short nod. “Then find a way to prove it.”
One by one, the others left in the line mirror him.
Eventually, the last vow leaves the lips of the final wolf before me. The councilwoman’s head stays bowed, shoulders trembling, and something in my chest finally settles. It isn’t peace—I’m not naïve enough to call it that—but it’s close enough. For the first time since I ascended as Alpha, I know where the lines are drawn. I know who stands with me because they chose to, and who walked out because the rot in them already swore allegiance somewhere else.
Dismissing them with a nod, they drift back into the crowd.
My dominance eases again, but still not fully, not enough to release them.
The wolves outside hold their positions, a silent message to McNamara and his followers that I can hold them here until I command otherwise. They won’t be escorted out of this building, or off my land, until I’m certain my lesson has settled deep.
But I’m not done yet.
Because this was never just about them.
It was always about her.
Every calculated step leading up to today—every safeguard I set, every title I stripped, every risk I knew might blow back on my head—was for one purpose. Noa. I ripped the noose off my throat. Tore apart the ugly corrupt thing Cathal looped around us. Cut out the rot his influence bred inside my own pack.
All of this to clear the path that would lead her back to the place that’s been hers since the first time I breathed her name—and to make sure she’d be safe when she finally claimed it.
My Luna. My mate. The only future that makes breathing worth the effort.
I look to her.
Still between Siggy and Seren, she stands rigid, eyes wide and wild with too much feeling. The day’s events carved into every line of her face. The shock. The hurt. The sympathy, because her heart is too kind. And a fragile kind of hope that doesn’t quite trust its own footing.She looks like someone who’s braced for the floor to give way again.
I lift my hand toward her, palm open, the invitation clear.
But the choice is still hers.
“Noa.” Her name leaves me softer than anything I’ve said today, thread with a reverence I’ll never carry for anyone else. I don’t care that the room hears it. Let them. Let them know, with a single spoken word, that this woman holds everything I am. The start and the finish of me.
Come here, sweet one. Please let me make this right.
I push the request out where only she might find it and pray she catches it.
When her lips part on a small, silent gasp, my chest tightens. And then releases just as fast.
