Alpha's Ruin: He Betrayed Me, I'll Make Him Kneel

River let out a bloodcurdling snarl, clawing frantically against the barriers of their shared consciousness. "Let me out now, Rhea! Let me rip the throat from her neck!"

Rhea glared at her sister, the last of her human warmth dying as her eyes flashed a blinding, dangerous silver. "You poisoned my pup?" she asked, her voice dropping into a guttural snarl that made the vanguard wolves at the door shift their weight.

"You poisoned him?" Kaleb growled, his head snapping toward Kat. His thick brows pulled into a tight, disbelieving knot, the fire suddenly draining from his voice, leaving it flat and hollow. "You stupid woman. What exactly did you do?"

"Don’t you dare sit there and act innocent, Kaleb," Kat spat, her lip curling. She whipped her venomous gaze back to Rhea. "This is all her fault! Every single bit of it!"

"My fault?" Rhea’s voice fractured, a brutal mix of predatory fury and maternal agony tearing through her throat. "What did my innocent boy ever do to you, Kat? He was a cub!"

"You are still asking that?" Kat shot back, her tone dripping with years of stored bitterness. "Why couldn’t you just stay dead in that forest? Those two months after we thought you died, when everyone thought you were a corpse, were pure peace and happiness. But you just couldn’t stand to see me happy, could you? You just had to crawl back from the grave and ruin everything I built!"

Rhea shook her head, disgust settling into her bones. "You should have known what crossing my line would mean, Kat," she said, her voice dropping into a razor-thin whisper. "No matter what tricks you play, no matter whose bed you steal, you will never be able to live my life. You will never hold half of my achievements, and your wolf knows it."

"And that is exactly why you ended up with silver steel in your chest and slow venom in your veins!" Kat spat through clenched teeth, her eyes wide and unhinged. "And you know what, Rhea? I don’t regret a damn thing!"

"I would strongly advise you to close your jaws before the executioners are summoned to this floor," Elder Magnus cut in, his thundering voice vibrating the heavy table. "You have just confessed to the attempted slaughter of your own blood sister, and you intentionally tried to end your nephew’s life."

Kat scoffed, tossing her head back with a manic laugh. "Oh, please," she sneered. "Everyone in this room keeps talking like we truly share a pack lineage. Rhea is nothing but my half-sister, the bastard daughter of our father, which means I owe absolutely no obligation to her bastard child. I will only ever look out for myself and what is mine."

"He was my son too, Kat!" Kaleb roared, his large hands gripping the edges of his chair so hard the wood groaned. His brow furrowed in a rare display of genuine agitation. "How could you claim to love me and nearly butcher my firstborn heir?"

"Oh, spare me the lecture, Kaleb. You have more sons now. One is turning in my belly right this moment," Kat shot back, her voice laced with venomous mockery. "And stop acting like you ever gave a damn about the boy anyway. I mean, was it not you who explicitly told the guards to—"

"Silence!" Kaleb bellowed, his Alpha command slamming through the room like a physical blow, cutting her off before the words could leave her tongue.

Rhea’s eyes widened, a sickening realization dropping into her stomach like lead. She stared at her mate. "Did you—? Kaleb, did you know?"

"I am not the one currently standing on the block, am I, Rhea?" Kaleb replied smoothly, his tone snapping back into a calm, taunting register that made her blood run cold. He offered her a cruel, empty smile. "Why don’t you wait until it’s my turn on the stand to ask your questions?"

"I will drag the truth out of this room today, whether your wolf likes it or not," Rhea shot back, her fists clenching until her claws pierced her palms. She shifted her silver gaze back to her sister, her voice turning into a dark, prophetic curse.

"As for you, Kat, when your own children are torn from your grasp, when you are left howling in the dark for a scent you’ll never find again, only then will you understand the gravity of the words you just spoke."

Kat scoffed, though her hand automatically tightened over her belly. "Oh, please! If you think I will ever need an outcast’s mercy or your pathetic help, you need to think again."

A dangerous smile spread slowly across Rhea’s face, her silver eyes glinting with a lethal satisfaction. "Never say never, sister. Ah, my apologies, half-sister," she corrected, her voice dripping with soft, cutting mockery. "Barely hours ago, you were clawing at my feet. If I were you, I would choose my words very carefully."

Kat opened her mouth to spit out a venomous rebuttal, but the words died in her throat, her scent spiking with sudden, choking frustration. Rhea simply smiled, leaning back into her carved wooden chair and crossing her arms over her chest, letting the heavy silence wrap around her sister like a shroud.

"Your confession has been recorded under the laws of the First Pack, and there will be severe consequences," Elder Magnus declared, his deep baritone flat and freezing as death itself. He lifted a hand, signaling the heavy timber doors. "Take her away!"

Immediately, two massive Council enforcers stormed into the chamber, their heavy boots thudding rhythmically against the stone as they closed in on Kat. Her eyes widened, the pupils contracting with sudden, blind panic as their heavy shadows fell over her.

"Where are you taking me? Unhand me!" she shrieked, her scent turning completely sour as she began to thrash.

Rhea watched in absolute silence, her expression as unyielding as iron, as the enforcers hoisted Kat by her arms, lifting her boots right off the stone floor.

Nearby, Kaleb’s thick brows drew together in a dark display of displeasure, the muscles in his jaw tight, but his wolf remained firmly locked behind his teeth. He didn’t lift a finger to save her.

"What are you going to do to me? Kaleb, do something!" Kat screamed, her voice echoing frantically as they dragged her toward the iron-reinforced exit. She whipped her head back, her wild, tear-streaked gaze locking onto Rhea. "Rhea! Please! Help me! We carry the same blood!"

Rhea let out a cold, quiet scoff, shaking her head as she watched her sister’s frantic struggle. She didn’t utter a word.

The heavy doors slammed shut behind Kat’s fading cries, leaving the chamber blanketed in a thick, suffocating tension. Before anyone could even draw a clean breath, Elder Magnus’s voice sliced through the air once more, vibrating the very floorboards.

"Kaleb Duskbane! You are hereby called to the stand!"

Before he could even open his mouth to argue, two towering Council wards stepped silently out of the shadows, taking up rigid positions directly behind his chair. Kaleb’s eyes narrowed into fierce amber slits as he looked at the guards, then up at the unyielding expressions of the high dais.

"Is this necessary, Magnus?" he asked, attempting to force a dominant rumble into his tone.

"Move to the stand, Alpha," the elder commanded, completely ignoring his posturing as his silver-gray eyes flashed with absolute authority.

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