Chapter 204: The Meeting Of Supremes — For Her

The immediate admission made several Supremes glance at one another, murmurs going around again, because Malachi had only loved two women in this world. Two rotbloods. And they were both dead.

Aren’t they???!

"Then perhaps you should be the one to convince her." Roderic added.

A faint, bitter smile touched Malachi’s mouth, and his voice cracked at that moment, "I already tried."

"And?"

"She told me exactly what she wanted."

"What?"

Malachi didn’t answer, and Cassian swallowed softly.

"What did she ask of you?" Roderic repeated impatiently.

Malachi stared at him for several seconds, then he also leaned back, "She asked me to leave everything behind."

The hall became quiet again.

"What?"

"You heard me,"

"She...asked you to leave."

"Correct."

"Your territory?" Caelan scoffed.

"Everything."

"Your title?"

"Everything." Malachi said more tightly.

"Your people?"

"Everything!!"

A few Supremes laughed under their breath because they couldn’t believe anyone would seriously ask such a thing.

"And you refused," Varek said. When Malachi didn’t say anything, he took it as a confirmation and continued, "We should always remember our responsibility!"

Something changed in Malachi’s expression, and it was so subtle that Cassian almost missed it.

Almost.

The fingers that had been resting against the table slowly curled into a fist, and Cassian looked at him carefully and whispered between the two of them, "Malachi."

Malachi didn’t look at him.

"A Supreme Alpha does not abandon his people because one woman has decided she doesn’t care about the entire realm." Caelan was saying.

Malachi’s eyes finally moved toward him, and Gideon surfaced in his eyes, "One woman?"

Caelan snapped his mouth shut.

"That’s what you still think this is?"

Nobody answered.

Malachi looked at the ancient scroll again, then at the reports and then at the twenty-five Supremes sitting around him.

And then, for the first time in so many years... something peaceful settled over his face.

"What are you doing?" Cassian whispered again.

Malachi finally looked at him, and there was no explanation in his eyes.

Only certainty.

Then he pushed his chair backwards, and the scraping sound against the stone floor immediately drew everyone’s attention even more.

Malachi stood, and then he reached up and removed the dark cloak bearing the insignia of Eclipse Crown.

He folded it once, and then he placed it on the table.

The entire room stared.

Cassian’s eyes widened, "Malachi..."

Malachi ignored him, and then he reached for the silver ring on his finger. The ring that carried the crest of Eclipse Crown.

He pulled it off too, and just stared at it for a moment. Then, he placed it beside the cloak.

Roderic slowly straightened in his chair, staring in awe, "What are you doing?"

"I am giving you the solution you have been asking for." Malachi replied calmly.

"What solution?" Caelan’s brows furrowed.

"You want the Rotblood to help you." He replied and looked around the table. "You want the attacks stopped. You want the Moonfire gone, and you want your people protected."

Cassian swallowed again.

"Then perhaps you should listen to the one person who actually knows what she wants."

"Malachi." Cassian whispered as he stood halfway out of his chair.

Malachi looked at him again, and that peaceful look made Cassian stop.

"I spent too long hurting myself over what I can’t change, and more trying to convince her that I was sorry...and that I regret it all."

"She asked me to leave everything behind." Malachi’s voice got louder again and then he turned to the other Supremes again, "I refused."

He then pushed the cloak farther across the table and added, "Not anymore."

No one moved.

No one could even breathe properly.

"I relinquish my position as Supreme Alpha of Eclipse Crown."

A sharp gasp came from somewhere across the room, and about ten Supremes shot to their feet, "You cannot be serious."

Malachi didn’t even look at them.

"My authority, my title, my seat, my claim over Eclipse Crown, every military command and every political responsibility attached to my position..." He paused, and his eyes crossed the room again, "They are no longer mine."

Roderic stared at him as though he had suddenly become a stranger, "You are abandoning an entire territory?! You cannot possibly be serious about this!"

"No." Malachi stared softly into the man’s eyes, "I’m choosing something else."

"What could possibly be worth this?"

Malachi looked toward the ancient scroll, then he looked at Cassian. And finally, his gaze moved toward the great doors of the Hall of First Oaths.

"Her."

The single word fell into the room, and nobody knew what to say anymore. The thought alone was... outrageously unbelievable. In what world does the strongest Alpha in the world do this?! All that power...all that strength...!!

"You can do whatever you want after I leave." Malachi started, and then he stepped away from the table. Then he looked at the Supremes one by one again, "You can spread the truth about Rotbloods. Tell every wolf in your territories what they actually are. Tell them they aren’t cursed. Tell them they aren’t wicked. Tell them they aren’t creatures that should be hunted." He reached the first step leading away from the table, "Or don’t."

Nobody moved.

Malachi continued, "Keep teaching your children to hate them. Keep calling them monsters. Keep pretending the old lies matter more than the truth. But when the Moonfire reaches your doors, don’t come looking for me."

"You’re choosing one Rotblood over Millions of wolves?" Alpha Lucien asked.

Malachi smiled. Like, he actually...and genuinely smiled, "Yes. Yes, I am,"

Nobody answered.

"I’m going to find her." He looked at the massive doors and walked toward it, "And I am going to stand beside her. And if she wants to watch this world burn..." He opened the doors, and the smile turned into a big-ass grin, "...then I’ll watch it burn with her."

Malachi walked out without looking back, and the doors slowly closed back on their own.

Twenty-five Supremes remained around the blackwood table, frozen where they stood or sat.

And for the first time in centuries, the Hall of First Oaths had witnessed something none of its ancient pillars had ever seen before.

A Supreme Alpha had willingly walked away from everything.

For a Rotblood.