Chapter 233 - 0233

Kaelen POV

A deep, vicious growl vibrated through my chest, shaking the air around us. My wolf was seconds away from tearing through my ribs, taking control, and ripping Viktor’s throat out right in front of his precious Council.

Before I could do something that would trigger an all-out civil war, Darius smoothly stepped forward, his calm, measured voice cutting through the tension like a blade.

"Where is your proof that she is cursed?" he asked, crossing his arms as he looked up at the dais with cool indifference.

The smug satisfaction instantly drained from Viktor’s face. He blinked, momentarily caught off guard. "What... what do you mean, where is our proof?"

"You claimed the Council conducted an investigation," Darius pointed out, casually adjusting his cuffs. "Surely an institution as important as the High Council wouldn’t label a woman cursed simply because another man whispered something in your ear. Or did your so-called investigation consist entirely of taking the word of a bitter, disgraced Alpha?"

The twelve elders exchanged uneasy glances, their earlier confidence beginning to crack.

They hadn’t expected that question. Although Lorelei had privately confessed to me about her shadow-twin lineage, the Council clearly didn’t have a shred of actual evidence. All they had was Jaxen’s desperate, snitching mouth.

And Darius, that brilliant bastard, had just backed them into a corner. Without concrete proof, their entire accusation amounted to nothing more than high-grade slander against the woman I had chosen as my mate.

Slowly, the chaotic rage coursing through my veins began to settle under my control. My claws retracted with a soft click, but the fury remained simmering beneath my skin.

I took a slow step toward the dais, allowing my dark aura to spread through the chamber until the air grew heavy and suffocating.

"Don’t tell me," I murmured, my voice dropping into a terrifyingly quiet register, "that you summoned your King here to accuse my woman of carrying a dark curse... and you don’t even have proof?"

The words hung in the air like a blade suspended in mid-swing. Several elders shifted uneasily in their seats, their eyes darting between one another as they silently searched for someone brave enough to speak first.

Elder Alistair Thorne was the one who finally broke the silence.

"We would never!" he snapped, slamming his fist against the armrest. His blue eyes narrowed at me, blazing with offended pride. "What would we possibly gain by sabotaging a woman we barely even know?"

I tilted my head, studying him with cold, predatory interest. Alistair was the youngest of the twelve elders, forty-eight years old, with sandy-brown hair and sharp, aristocratic features. He had earned his seat through connections rather than accomplishments.

His father-in-law was a powerful Alpha, his wife was a high-society darling, and Alistair himself had never fought a battle or led a pack in his entire life. He was a man who had lived comfortably, done nothing to deserve his position, and simply married into the right circles while smiling at the right people.

And now, he sat there pretending to be deeply offended because I had dared to question him.

"I don’t know," I replied slowly, letting the mockery seep into every word. "You tell me."

I held his gaze without blinking, allowing the crushing weight of my Alpha aura to settle over him. Alistair managed to hold on for three seconds before his eyes shifted away. His jaw tightened, his fingers curling around the arms of his chair as though they were the only things keeping him upright. When he swallowed, the movement in his throat was painfully obvious.

Clearly desperate to redirect the attention away from himself, he pointed toward the shadows along the far wall.

"Alpha Jaxen," he barked, though his voice cracked slightly as he said the name. "Explain yourself. Don’t make us look foolish for standing up for the truth."

I nearly laughed.

Standing up for the truth.

These corrupt old bastards wouldn’t recognize the truth if it clawed its way down their throats. They had spent decades burying it, twisting it, and selling whatever version benefited them most to the highest bidder.

Yet now, they were sitting there pretending to be champions of justice simply because it served their agenda.

I turned my head slowly toward Jaxen, and the moment our eyes met, his entire body went rigid. His chest rose and fell rapidly, each breath coming out in short, uneven gasps. His hands were clenched tightly at his sides, his knuckles practically white, while his face had gone so pale it nearly matched the marble floor beneath him.

"Stand straight, Alpha Jaxen," I ordered, my voice cutting across the silent chamber like ice water. "If you have something to say, then say it. Don’t cower in the shadows like a coward."

A mixture of humiliation, anger, and desperation flickered across his face. For a moment, he looked like he wanted to shrink back into the darkness, but then his expression slowly changed. His jaw tightened, and he lifted his head, a disturbing sense of resolve flashing through his eyes.

"I have no reason to lie about something like this," Jaxen began, his voice steadier than I expected. "If anything, more than anyone else, I wish it wasn’t true." He paused, lowering his head as though the weight of his own words was almost too much for him to carry.

My expression darkened with every passing second, my fingers digging into my palms until the sharp sting nearly broke through my skin. I already knew exactly where this pathetic performance was heading.

"She is my mate," Jaxen continued, his voice cracking slightly on the last word.

A wave of murmurs immediately swept through the Council. Several elders leaned toward one another, whispering behind their hands, while Thomas’s lips curved into a small, satisfied smile that made my blood boil.

"I loved her," Jaxen said, and the way he delivered those words, soft and broken, almost reverent, made my stomach twist with disgust. "I loved her more than I have ever loved anyone. Even after I learned she was cursed, I was still willing to marry her. I was willing to make her my Luna."

He slowly shook his head, as though he were forcing himself to relive some unbearable memory. His eyes grew glassy, and his face twisted into an expression of carefully manufactured grief.

"I loved her so much that I kept our relationship a secret to protect her from the pack. I hid her from my family, from the elders, from everyone. I wanted to keep her safe. I wanted to protect her from the people who would have harmed her."

He paused, allowing the silence to stretch around him before a single, perfectly timed tear slipped down his cheek.

The performance was fucking masterful. If I hadn’t known the truth, if I hadn’t held Lorelei in my arms while she bled from the wounds his cruelty had inflicted, I might have almost believed him.

"But the curse..." Jaxen shook his head, his voice cracking again. "The curse was already there. It had always been there. And no matter how much I loved her, no matter how hard I tried to protect her, it still found a way to destroy everything."

I slowly turned my head toward him, watching as his face shifted from pale to completely white, as though he could already feel his carefully constructed story beginning to fall apart.

He lifted his head and looked directly at the Council, his hollow, tear-filled eyes making him look like a grieving man instead of the pathetic liar he was.

"I know it’s hard to believe. I was just like you once. I was in denial too. I refused to accept the truth because I loved her so much." His voice trembled, dripping with manufactured emotion. "But the curse brought nothing but misfortune to my pack. Our warriors fell in battle. Our children fell ill. Everyone in the Silver Fang Pack knows this. They suffered because of her."

With every word that left his mouth, I felt the veins in my arms begin to rise, dark and unnatural as they pulsed beneath my skin. My hands trembled violently at my sides, my claws pressing into my palms as I fought to keep them from tearing through my flesh.

Kill him.

Kill him.

Kill him.

The voice echoing inside my head no longer sounded like mine. It was darker, older, and far hungrier. It wanted blood. It demanded that I tear Jaxen apart piece by piece and scatter what remained of him across the pristine marble floor.

He wanted to take Lorelei away from me.

He wanted to steal the only woman I had ever loved.

He wanted to destroy the single best thing that had ever happened to my miserable life.

I should kill him. Right now. Right here, in front of these corrupt bastards.

"Are you okay?" Darius whispered urgently beside me, but I barely registered his voice.