Chapter 163: To Save Her, Kill Her Wolf

Author’s POV~

"She used it exactly once, nineteen years ago, and she died that very same night," Lilith said, her voice dropping into a raspy whisper. "No one ever learned the spell after her. Not a single living witch in my coven knows how to weave that dark magic today. Everything I am telling you tonight came directly from our coven leader... so you can trust that it is the absolute, horrifying truth."

"Nineteen years," Raven repeated softly.

Every head in the stone chamber snapped toward him. His dark eyes had gone completely hollow, staring into the shadow-draped walls as if he were silently counting backward through time, step by agonizing step, and detested where the trail was leading him.

"That is Adeline’s exact age," he said, his voice dropping into a deadly, dangerous quiet.

Lilith nodded slowly, taking a shaky breath to steady herself before she continued.

"The only witch in history who mastered that curse died nineteen years ago, and the spell was bound to Adeline the precise moment she drew her first breath," Lilith revealed, the realisation settling heavy over them. "That means there is a possibility that the blood magic anchored to her soul didn’t come from an outside witch... it was placed on her by a high elder from my coven."

Silence stretched across the room

"This spell is almost always used for status, vanity, and pure deceit, my lords," Lilith murmured, her eyes dark with ancient fear. "A low-ranking wolf is buried beneath a strong fake one. A weak beta child is dressed in the illusion of a powerful alpha so a noble pack can protect its bloodline, safeguard its territory, and keep its crown. It is a curse born from greed, arrogance, and cowardice."

"But Adeline was forced into the skin of a weak, wolf omega, the lowest and most helpless place in your whole world. Nobody uses this curse to push a wolf down to the bottom. So now I am left asking myself the same question that is running through your minds right now."

She looked at each of them in turn before she said it.

"If her fake wolf is an omega, then what if there is no real wolf at all? Is it possible that she was born defective, or with no wolf, and that is why this curse was placed on her? Maybe someone was hiding her weak, lowest, wolf omega."

"No." Gwen cut her off sharply. "That is not possible. She is a lycan. I am sure of it."

The three princes exchanged a long look. Keiran was the first to speak, and his eyes had narrowed.

"What do you mean, dowager luna? How can you be so sure? Even the coven isn’t sure, so what do you know that we don’t? The witch only confirmed that there is a curse on her soul and nothing about what her real wolf might be."

"I am sure because of what happened to her body," Gwen said slowly, her cold eyes never leaving his face. "After the healing, her body threw up your blood and that means she is your shared mate, all four of you. Do you think the Moon Goddess would tie four thrones together with a girl who has no wolf?"

"The first shared mate was an alpha," Raven said, shaking his head, and his voice was rough, as if the words were being dragged out of him. "I have read the ledgers many times, grandmother. The first shared mate was an alpha chosen to be the fated mate of the four kings of the four thrones, to unite them. So there is a possibility she is a lycan, but we cannot say for sure. We cannot know anything unless her real wolf wakes up."

Keiran stood still for a moment, and then something shifted in his face, as if a piece of a puzzle had finally clicked into place.

"Wait," he said quietly. "Raven, you told us your wolf went wild the first time Adeline was brought to the second throne’s estate by the dowager luna. You said it nearly tore you apart. But how is that possible if everything we have been smelling is her fake wolf? A mask can’t make your wolf lose control. It doesn’t add up. Unless..."

"Unless there is a wolf inside her for sure," Lilith finished, and her eyes went wide. "The real one. Asleep, buried, but still alive and still calling to you. Is that what you are saying, my lord?"

Zyran stepped forward, his jaw clenched and his voice low and urgent.

"Then how do we get to her real wolf? Tell me you found something in your ledgers, Lilith. Anything. Did your coven leader give you a way? Because we cannot keep watching her suffer and just wait."

"Yes, my lord," Lilith said at last. "There is one way. But it is risky, and it may even cause her death. The only way to free her real wolf is to destroy her fake one."

"Destroy the fake wolf?" Zyran murmured, as if he hadn’t heard it right. "The omega?"

"What do you mean, it may cause her death?" Raven’s voice cracked, and he took a hard step forward, his eyes flashing with a dangerous glow. "What does breaking a mask have to do with killing her?"

Lilith lifted her head and met his furious eyes.

"This is the drawback of the curse," she said quietly. "A curse can only be placed by a witch, and the same witch is the only one who can safely take it back. If any other witch forces the curse to break by destroying the fake wolf, then the real wolf has to face the sudden shock all alone. In most cases, the real wolf is a lower level than the masked one."

"So if her real wolf is weak, or too fragile, or not strong enough to survive that sudden drawback, then she will die." Her voice broke on the last word. "And it will be the most painful death."

Keiran’s face had gone pale, and Zyran’s hand had curled into a fist so tight that his knuckles cracked. Raven stood completely still, his chest rising and falling, his dark eyes locked on nothing.

They finally had the key to her freedom, but using it meant gambling with the only thing that mattered to them. Her.

To set her true wolf free, they would have to destroy the fake one, even if the price of her truth was her very last breath. Will they risk it all?