Chapter 76: The Royal Interrogation

Author’s pov~

The air inside the Vault was thick with the scent of dark leather, expensive cologne, and heavy Lycan dominance.

Deep beneath the main structure of the Royal Lycan Academy, the Vault was an underground sanctuary crafted purely from black stone and high-end luxury.

It was a place untouched by the rest of the world, accessible only to the four princes who ruled the four dynasties.

Four plush leather couches sat in a wide circle around a glass table. On each couch sat a Lycan King, a heavy crystal glass of amber bourbon resting in their hands.

Raven sat leaning back, swirling the golden liquid in his glass. His pitch-black eyes fixed on the glass in his hand, but his mind was far away.

He took a slow sip, letting the burning alcohol slide down his throat before he spoke, his voice deep and cutting through the quiet room.

"Care to explain?" Raven asked, not bothering to lift his gaze. "Why the hell did all three throne princes show up to the RDC court?"

Zyran, who was sitting directly across from him on the left couch, rested his arm on the leather cushions. He took a sip of his bourbon and set the glass down on the obsidian coffee table with a soft clink.

"Didn’t we all agree?" Zyran replied, his sharp jaw tightening as his dark eyes locked onto Raven. "That we all will be protecting her?"

Raven let out a small, bitter scoff, his lips pulling into a flat line.

"I clearly remember that I was the only one instructed to protect her in the first place. So why did you three show up there? What was the point of making such a massive scene?"

"Raven, we all agreed on the core mandate," Zyran said, his rumbling baritone laced with authority.

"Someone out there wants her dead. We protect her—directly or indirectly. Showing up in that court sent a message to every snake in this academy that she is off-limits. It doesn’t matter who got the task. She is under the protection of all four thrones now."

Well, that was unexpected.

Blake shifted on his couch, stretching his long legs out and resting his glass on his knee. He let out a dark breath, his playful demeanour completely gone, replaced by a sharp, dangerous focus.

"Okay, okay... cut the arguing," Blake interrupted, his voice dropping into a serious register.

"Now tell me... what the fuck does the Crescent Pack have to do with Adeline? By the way those Alphas looked from the outside... they were expecting her to already be dead. They knew she was wolfless and scentless. Was it that pathetic pack who threw her out? Were they the ones who tortured her, making her physically wounded and leaving her soul so broken?"

Raven replied calmly, though his posture grew noticeably rigid.

"Yes... I think they must be the ones. From everything I’ve observed... I am almost certain they are behind her past abuse."

As the words left his mouth, Raven’s fingers tightened violently around his crystal glass.

The heavy glass groaned under the raw, suppressed strength of his grip, nearly shattering into pieces before he forced his muscles to relax.

The mere thought of anyone laying a dirty hand on her made a dark, feral rage burn deep in his chest.

Zyran leaned back, a small, dark smirk touching his sharp lips as he recalled the morning’s chaos.

"But she was defiant. Fierce as hell this morning. She made damn sure everyone in that lecture hall learned why no one should mess with her."

"She did," Raven agreed, his eyes darkening as he remembered the cold glare she had given her ex-mates.

"But she acted so rough and different the moment she saw them. She was hiding a lot of things behind that deadpan look... but from how desperately the Crescent Pack wanted her thrown out today, it is painfully clear she was cast out from that pack."

Keiran sat on the far right couch, completely silent until now.

He slowly reached for the crystal decanter and poured himself a fresh glass of bourbon, the dark liquid splashing softly against the ice.

"The Alpha twins were no one other than her mates," Keiran said, his voice deep, sharp, and cutting through the air like a cold blade.

The sentence hit the room like a physical shockwave.

Raven, Zyran, and Blake all froze instantly.

Their hands stopped moving, and their sharp, pitch-black eyes snapped toward Keiran in absolute shock.

"What?" Blake asked, his brow furrowing as he sat up straight. "What did you just say?"

Keiran took a slow, deliberate sip of his drink, his dark gaze unreadable.

"Yes. She found out about it on her eighteenth birthday. Lucas and Logan were her mates."

Raven cut him off immediately, his voice heavy with a sudden, dangerous intensity.

"How the hell do you know that, Keiran?"

Keiran met Raven’s fierce stare without flinching. "She told me."

Raven’s eyes narrowed. "Who? Adeline?"

Keiran nodded slowly. "Yes. And the twins rejected her. At the exact same time."

Zyran’s jaw dropped slightly, his eyes flashing with raw disbelief. "What? At the same time? Both of them?"

"Yes," Keiran said simply. "They broke the bond together and cast her out."

"Oh... oh," Blake murmured, rubbing his chin as he stared down at the floorboards, his mind racing as the dark puzzle finally assembled itself.

"So now the dots are connecting... Her soul and her wolf are completely broken. She was already physically wounded from years of abuse by their pack... and when her wolf finally tried to surface, fragile as it was, she got hit with a double rejection by those twin bastards. That must be the exact reason she suffered so much. Her soul and wolf wouldn’t have been able to take two bond-breaks at the same time."

Raven’s chest heaved with a low, dangerous breath as he pieced the rest together.

"They must have thrown her out of their territory right after breaking the bond, thinking she would die in the woods. They were shocked as fuck to see her standing alive in this academy under a new name. And in those woods... she must have run into my grandma. That makes total sense now."

Raven took a heavy drink, his knuckles white against the glass as a realization hit him.

"The Crescent Pack is the pack that took her in when she was young," Raven added quietly.

The other three Lycan Kings looked at him, surprised once again.

Keiran tilted his head, his dark eyebrows pulling together. "They adopted her?"

"She was adopted by the Crescent Pack?"