"Planning would suggest something more nefarious. More like working together to expose the ugly lie you’ve kept hidden all this while."

It was Caspian who spoke, his tone so cold he sounded nothing like the person he had been moments ago.

Elijah turned to stare at him.

"You too?"

Disbelief flashed across his face, raw and unguarded for the briefest second. Then a harsh laugh tore from his throat. It echoed around the hall, dry and jagged, bouncing off the walls until it finally died. And when it did, every trace of humor vanished from his face.

"And what exactly did you intend to achieve with this?" he asked, his voice turning so thin and brittle in the way something fragile could snap at any moment. It was almost unsettling.

"To dethrone me? Fine. Go ahead. Try it."

He looked around the room wildly.

"Who would rule after me? You?" he pointed at Irene. Then Leon. "Or perhaps one of the rest of you, waiting like vultures for a throne that does not belong to you?"

His lips curled in disgust.

"All of you. Your greed knows no bounds. You would rather tear each other apart than live long enough to see one territory rise over the other."

"That is not the point, Elijah!" Irene shouted back, rage blazing in her eyes. "The point is you acknowledging that you were wrong for withholding the truth from us!"

"The truth?" Elijah let out another harsh laugh, but this one carried no humor at all.

Only madness.

His gaze swept the room, taking in every face turned toward him with suspicion, doubt, and accusation.

He snarled.

"The truth is that your Alpha King Angus, in his greed for power, summoned a demon. A move that destroyed him."

He jabbed a finger against his own chest, his eyes wide with fury.

"Me! He destroyed me! My dreams! My entire life! My whole future!"

No one spoke knowing what he was talking about. His inability to spawn an heir. The room had gone so still it felt as though even breathing had paused.

Elijah raged on.

"The attack left him incapacitated. Close to death. No amount of healing could save him. The Council of Elders knew that truth would bring nothing but chaos. They knew the older alphas, your greedy parents, would start circling the throne like vultures. After all, I was nothing but a pup. So they declared him dead and made me Alpha King."

He looked around the room, daring anyone to challenge him.

"Tell me then, what would you have had me do? Speak!"

A few of the sub-alphas visibly winced beneath the weight of his dominance. When no one answered, a cruel smile stretched across Elijah’s lips.

"Thought as much."

"You could have fought for your throne," Ezra finally said.

All eyes turned to him.

Ezra stood there, unyielding.

"It’s in every wolf’s blood to want more," he continued. "To rise. To dominate. To claim power. They would have come for the throne, yes. But you could have defended it. You could have proven yourself worthy of becoming King."

His voice hardened.

"But instead, you clung to it like a coward." You built your foundation on lies and doomed us all. Because Angus is alive. And he is coming for his throne."

Murmurs erupted around the hall.

Almost as if Ezra had jinxed his own luck, a voice suddenly rang from outside.

"Hey! Who are you? You’re not permitted here—" The sentence broke off into a grunt of pain and there came the unmistakable sound of a struggle.

A body slammed into the wall. There was a torrent of curses and another sharp cry. At once, every Alpha in the room went rigid.

The meeting hall, which had been vibrating with arguments and accusations just seconds ago, fell into a chilling silence so fast it was almost unnatural.

No one spoke or moved. Every wolf in the room felt it. Something was wrong.

At the far corner, Christian was already reaching for the radio attached to his belt, pressing it hard as his jaw clenched.

"What’s the situation outside?" he barked into it. "Report. Now."

But there was nothing. A dry crackle answered him.

Christian frowned and tried again, this time more forcefully. "Respond, damn it!"

Still nothing, just static.

His eyes slowly lifted and met Elijah’s from across the room. That alone said enough. Something had happened.

Christian moved immediately. He strode toward the entrance, already pulling out his gun in one smooth motion before loading it with silver bullets.

The metallic clicks echoed too loudly in the silence, each one scraping against the nerves of everyone present.

And then, they heard the approaching footsteps. Whoever it was, walked casually as if he owned the room and not stepping into a room full of alphas.

Every Alpha in the room dropped instinctively into a fighting stance. A low ripple of growls rolled through the room as their wolves pressed restlessly beneath their human skin.

Ezra said to Nancy. "Don’t worry, I’ll find a way to get you out of here."

Nancy didn’t argue. She only gave the slightest nod, holding onto him tightly.

Then the door burst open and Christian darted out with his gun raised, firing a rapid series of shots toward the figure standing beyond the doorway.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

But the bullets never landed.

A girl standing outside simply raised her hand and every single bullet froze in midair.

The room went dead still. For one suspended, impossible second, no one breathed.

Then with the flick of her wrist, she sent them flying back.

Christian’s eyes widened. He twisted, trying to dodge but wasn’t fast enough. One bullet tore into his leg and another lodged into his arm and stomach.

He let out a strangled cry and collapsed hard to the floor, his gun clattering from his hand as pain ripped through him.

The girl smirked and casually stepped aside. And that was when the real figure entered.

It was an older man. Tall, broad, and still carrying the kind of presence that made the air itself tighten around him. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

The moment Alpha King Elijah saw his face, all the color drained from his own.

And one by one, gasps rippled through the hall because they knew that face. Every last one of them.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

It was Angus Sebastian Richmond.

The former Alpha King.

And he was very much alive.