290 The Reckoning of the Alphas

    +8 Points

    290 The Reckoning of the Alphas

    Lucian

    We showered together-quiet, focused, no words needed. When we stepped out and dressed, I linked my father. He and Martha were ready.

    At the front of the mansion, Denis and Mark were already waiting. We climbed into the vehicles and

    headed back to headquarters.

    The crowd had grown.

    People lined the streets, still cheering. Massive screens had been set up across the za, broadcasting

    the sentencing live to every corner of the ind. The press was stationed in front of every camera. This

    wasn’t just a formality-it was the ind’s reckoning.

    Mara and I entered the hall hand in hand, the hum of whispers and drone of anticipation falling to a hush.

    My father and Martha followed behind us, then Denis and Mark. We were ushered to the high seats at the

    front.

    Mara took the seat beside me. My father sat next to Martha. Darian was already in ce, calm but alert.

    The Alpha of Southwood sat near the edge-one of the only Alphas who had remained loyal. The others?

    They were the reason we were here.

    gave Darian a small nod.

    “Bring them in,” he ordered.

    The doors opened, and the prisoners were marched into the room, shirtless and bound in silver chains

    that burned against their skin. Most of them looked broken, staring at the ground, shame written across their faces. But two of them… two wore pride like armor. Their eyes met mine without flinching.

    Fools. If they knew what wasing, they’d be begging the goddess for mercy.

    Then came ric.

    He stumbled into the hall, half-blind now-thanks to Mark-and missing an arm. There wasn’t a trace of the smug tyrant he once was. But I felt no pity. He’d earned every scar.

    On the big screens, the cameras zoomed in. The journalists focused on him, hoping for some final moment of drama. I didn’t give them theatrics. I gave them truth.

    I stood. Mara squeezed my hand before I let go, grounding me.

    I cleared my throat.

    The hall fellpletely silent.

    “ric,” I began, voice clear, steady. “We tried to fight fair. And you chose to cheat.”

    “You aligned yourself with the young Alpha of Neev, then double-crossed us the moment you realized you

     290 The Reckoning of the Alphas

    * Points

    couldn’t win the challenge. You had the option to tap out. We would have honored it. You and your allies would’ve walked away alive.”

    I looked him dead in the eye.

    “But you didn’t. You chose deceit. Again. You tried to win by force, by maniption-by hiding behind others. You gambled everything, and the goddess chose justice.”

    I let the words settle. I could feel the weight of the moment building.

    Then I turned my eyes to the line of traitorous Alphas-the ones who abandoned us in our hour of need.

    “The sentencing of ric will be handled separately,” I said coldly. “But you-each of you-betrayed your oath. You left this ind vulnerable for your own gain. You allowed a tyrant to rise again because of your

    cowardice.”

    Some bowed their heads. Others just stared.

    “Today, your punishment will reflect the weight of that betrayal.”

    And now, the reckoning would begin.

    I stood tall, my voice cutting through the silence like a de.

    “A Nighthorn is not an Alpha by ceremony,” I said. “A Nighthorn is an Alpha because every other n on this ind was born from the Mooncrest bloodline. Every Alpha here carries a diluted version of our mark. That is why thisnd is called Mooncrest Ind. That is why, when a true Nighthorn speaks, every Alpha

    Mark on this ind burns in response.”

    As I spoke, the skin over my shoulder seared with heat. My mark red, glowing faintly, and I saw the flickers of pain sh across the chained Alphas. Some shifted in their seats. Some gritted their teeth.

    “You were granted authority-not because you earned it, but because our poption grew toorge for one family to govern alone. So we let the ns form. We let you lead. That was our gift to you.

    And you used it to stab us in the back.”

    My voice dropped lower, heavier.

    “You tried to steal the Nighthorns’ birthright. You conspired with a traitor to corrupt ournd. And now, I stand here… furious. Not just because you turned your backs on us-but because good people died yesterday due to your cowardice. Warriors. Families. Innocents. Blood spilled for your ambition.”

    I paused, let itnd.

    “They had mates. Children. Parents. Friends. And you-you-chose your greed over their lives.”

    My tone hardened.

    “As Alpha of your ns, you were still bound to serve the Nighthorns. Instead, you sided with our enemy. You betrayed that oath.”

     290 The Reckoning of the Alphas

    I looked each of them in the eye, one by one.

    +8 Points

    “For that, I strike your family names from the Alpha registry. No one in your bloodline bearing an Alpha Mark will ever lead again. That line ends now.”

    Gasps rippled through the hall, but I continued, unflinching.

    “Next-your werewolf gifts will be stripped. Each of you will have a silver ring embedded into your spines. You will no longer shift. No longer heal. No longer run with your wolves. You will live as men.”

    A pause. Then the final blow.

    “And you will spend the rest of your human lives in imprisonment-with hardbor. You will break stone until your bones give out, until your backs bend, until you die with the weight of your betrayal etched into your flesh.”

    I turned toward ric without meeting his eye.

    “As for you… your fate will be decided by my father and his mate.”

    Then I sat, the silence in the hall thick as smoke.

    But one of the Alphas-the youngest of the defectors-lifted his head, painced in his voice.

    “We did nothing wrong, Alpha,” he said. “We stayed neutral. We didn’t raise arms against you. We only

    wanted to survive.”

    “That is your crime,” Mara said, rising from her seat with a voice that rang out across the hall like steel

    drawn from a sheath.

    Every head turned.

    “As lower Alphas, your duty is to protect the ind and uphold the Nighthorn lineage. That is your first responsibility. The foundation of your role. And when the moment came-you abandoned it.”

    Her eyes swept the row of chained men.

    “You had no right to defect-or to remain neutral. You deserted your Alpha in his time of need. You didn’t raise your swords, but you gave our enemy space to strike. Your inaction was your allegiance.”

    Silence.

    “Maybe the title ‘Alpha’ got into your heads. Maybe somewhere along the line, you started believing you were equals to a Nighthorn.”

    She stepped forward, her presence crackling with fury.

    “Tell me-do your marks burn?”

    No one answered.

    “Do they override others? Do they ze with the ancestral power of this ind? Can youmand another n without question? Do you feel a bond to every pack on this ind?”

     290 The Reckoning of the Alphas

    Eyes dropped. No one dared speak.

    +8 Points

    “I didn’t think so,” Mara said coldly. “You’re not Alphas. You’re over-decorated, over-privileged soldiers who

    forgot their ce. Your fathers failed to teach you what loyalty means. And that failure gave you wings.”

    She raised her chin, her voice cutting clean and sharp:

    “I’m clipping those wings today.”

    A hush fell across the hall. Even the press froze.

    “Henceforth, unless you are a Nighthorn with a burning Alpha Mark, you will no longer bear the title of

    Alpha. Anyone leading a n with an Alpha Mark will now be referred to as Beta. A permanent reminder

    that above every n-there is always a Nighthorn.”

    Gasps echoed. A few chained men flinched like her words had struck them physically.

    I stared at her, awed. I hadn’t seen it this clearly before-but she was right. The title had gone to their

    heads. They mistook borrowed power for inheritance. That ends now.

    The guards began to move. The prisoners-former “Alphas”-were led out in silence, shackled, stripped,

    and broken.

    Only one man remained.

    ric.

    My father looked to me, then slowly turned his eyes on the one-eyed traitor.

    And then-he stood.