Chapter 14
721words
I crouched in the shadows, watching Ethan's forces gather in the valley below. Fifty-three wolves. Four allied Packs. All moving with military precision toward the capital.
Exactly as I remembered from my previous life.
"Are you certain about this?" Damon whispered beside me.
"Every detail," I replied, my voice steady. "He'll strike at midnight. The palace guards have been compromised. The Alpha King's chambers will be undefended."
"And you're sure he'll take the bait?"
I smiled in the darkness. "Ethan has lost everything—his Pack, his title, his future. He won't accept defeat quietly. The Alpha King's throne is his last chance at redemption, and he'll risk everything for it."
Below us, Ethan emerged from the command tent. Even from this distance, I could see the crown gleaming on his head.
"Signal the others," I said quietly.
Damon raised a silver mirror, catching the moonlight. Three flashes. The message was sent.
Phase one of the trap was in motion.
We made our way down the hillside, keeping to the shadows.
Ethan's forces advanced on the palace, confident in their superior numbers and inside information.
Information I had carefully crafted.
"The King is in his chambers," one of Ethan's lieutenants reported. "Elder Whitehawk is in the Council hall."
"Excellent," Ethan said. "Remember—no witnesses. When dawn breaks, I want the old order destroyed."
"The recording stones are active?" I whispered.
Damon nodded. Every word was being captured for the trial that would follow.
Ethan's forces reached the palace walls and scaled them with practiced ease.
We followed at a distance, using passages I'd memorized in my previous life.
The throne room was dark when we arrived. Ethan stood in the center, surveying his conquest with obvious satisfaction.
"Bring me the King's head," he commanded.
Two of his soldiers dragged in what appeared to be the Alpha King's corpse.
"And Elder Whitehawk?"
"Dead," another soldier reported. "Found him in the Council chambers, just as you predicted."
Ethan's smile was terrible to behold. "Perfect. The Alpha King is rightfully mine, as always. Summon the remaining Pack leaders. It's time they swore allegiance to their new king."
This was the moment I'd been waiting for.
I stepped out of the shadows, Damon beside me.
"Hello, Ethan," I said quietly.
He spun around, his face cycling through shock, rage, and confusion.
"Impossible," he breathed. "You should be dead. My forces had orders to—"
"To kill illusions?" I smiled. "How disappointing for you."
The "corpses" around the throne room began to stir. The "dead" Alpha King sat up, very much alive. Elder Whitehawk emerged from behind a tapestry, brushing dust from his robes.
Ethan's soldiers looked around in growing panic as more figures emerged from the shadows—loyal Pack warriors who had been waiting for this moment.
"Every single one of your allies has been working for us since the beginning."
"That's impossible," Ethan snarled. "I recruited them myself!"
"You recruited actors," Elder Whitehawk said calmly.
"The palace layout? False. The guard rotations? Fabricated. All carefully crafted lies."
Ethan staggered backward, the stolen crown slipping askew.
"But why?" he whispered.
I stepped closer, letting him see the cold satisfaction in my eyes.
"Because I wanted you to experience exactly what I felt. The moment when everything crumbled around you."
Ethan looked around the throne room—at his "allies" who were now clearly his captors, at the "dead" who were very much alive, at the crown that had never truly been his.
"Every detail," he said slowly. "Every moment of tonight... it was all planned."
"Down to the second," I confirmed.
The Alpha King stepped forward, his voice ringing with authority.
"Ethan Blackwood, you stand accused of treason, conspiracy, attempted regicide, and the attempted murder of countless innocents."
"The evidence is overwhelming," Elder Whitehawk added, gesturing to the recording stones. "Your own words condemn you."
Ethan fell to his knees as the weight of his failure crashed down upon him.
"You won," he said quietly.
"No," I replied, feeling Fenrir's power singing in my veins. "I made you destroy yourself."
"And that," I added as the guards moved to restrain him, "is the difference between revenge and justice."
The blood moon reached its zenith as Ethan was dragged away in chains.
The trap had worked perfectly.
Now came the reckoning.
