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

Kaleb locked eyes with the elder for a tense, silent beat. His amber gaze remained dark, heavy with defiance, but the cold, cocky smirk on his face never wavered.

"Fine," he drawled, pushing his chest out as he walked deliberately toward the wooden stand. He moved with the slow, arrogant stride of a wolf who still believed he owned the valley. "I don’t see why this Council needs to interrogate a King, but here I am."

Elder Magnus stared down at him, his thick, graying brows drawing together into a deep, thunderous frown. He didn’t offer Kaleb a single inch of diplomatic grace. "Tell us, Alpha," he began, his deep voice slicing through the thick air. "When was the exact last time you saw the boy?"

Kaleb’s jaw tightened slightly, the smirk fracturing at the edges.

In the gallery, Rhea and River both leaned forward in unison, their chests heaving as their heartbeats pounded in a frantic, suffocating sync. The scent of ozone and anticipation rose from Rhea’s skin as she waited for the strike.

But Kaleb’s lips remained sealed, his nostrils flaring as he held his tongue.

"Why isn’t the coward talking?" River growled in raw frustration, clawing at the edge of Rhea’s mind. "Force it out of him!"

"I see you would rather walk the thornier path," Elder Magnus rumbled, his voice dropping an octave until it vibrated the stone floor. "Well, you should know that your reinstatement to the throne depends entirely on two things today, Duskbane. What you say, and what you don’t say."

Kaleb’s amber eyes darted up to the dais, flashing with a sudden, lethal heat. "I do not take being threatened lightly, elder," he growled, the skin over his knuckles twitching.

"Then just answer the damn question, Alpha!" Elder Seraphine snapped, her ancient voice cracking like a whip.

Kaleb’s head snapped toward her, his large fists clenching so hard the leather of his gloves groaned. He took a slow breath, trying to smooth his volatile scent. "I can’t recall," he replied flatly.

"Lies! Foul, rotting lies!" River barked in a frenzy.

"A father who has absolutely no recollection of when he last laid eyes on his own trueborn heir," Elder Rowan murmured. He leaned back lazily in his carved chair, a mocking smile playing on his lips. "Fascinating. Truly fascinating."

"I have an entire territory of wolves to rule, Elder," Kaleb snapped back, his temper finally fraying. "I cannot be expected to keep meticulous notes on when I last checked on a dead cub."

"He’s stalling!" Rhea cut in, her voice ringing off the stone. River’s guttural undertone bled heavily into her human vocal cords, and her eyes flashed a blinding, dangerous silver. "We all know you never cared for him, Kaleb! Just answer the damn question so I can find my boy!"

"Calm your wolf, Luna," Elder Magnus warned softly, casting a steadying glance at Rhea.

She took a ragged breath and nodded, forcing her claws to retract from her palms.

Magnus whirled back onto Kaleb, his dominant aura exploding outward to pin the younger Alpha in place. "You claim the boy was dead. If that is your truth, then why is his rotting corpse not in his grave? And why did you fail to register his passing in the high pack ledger?"

Kaleb’s jaw hardened into a block of iron with each strike of the elder’s tongue. The veins in his neck bulged like thick ropes, his knuckles turning a bloodless white.

Elder Seraphine leaned over the stone rail, her silver-gray eyes blazing with a fierce, ancient light. "Why did you hide this from the Council? And why do our trackers have signed statements from witnesses reporting that the child was carried out of your packhouse alive?"

"The traitor! The spineless traitor! What the hell did he do with our blood?" River snarled, a volatile mix of maternal rage and agony tearing through Rhea’s chest.

Kaleb scoffed, taking a step back as he looked around the courtroom. "This is beginning to smell like an ambush," he sneered, his gaze flicking toward the shadows. "It looks to me like this Council called me here with a script already written. A pathetic little plan to strip me of my birthright and hand my borders over to Alpha Thorne. But rest assured, Magnus, it will not—"

"Enough! Stop deflecting!" Elder Magnus roared, slamming his massive hand onto the wooden table with a force that sounded like a breaking bone. "Answer the direct charge, Alpha! Did you remove the child from the Ironfang packhouse, or did you order his relocation?"

Kaleb met the elder’s terrifying gaze head-on, his expression turning cold, smooth, and entirely unbothered. "I did not."

"Is that the absolute truth before the ancestors?" Elder Seraphine asked, her voice deceptively calm, but carrying a dark undertone.

Kaleb shrugged his massive shoulders, tossing his head back. "I had nothing to do with the boy’s disappearance. It was all Kat and the nursery guards. You already heard her confession out there. Just leave my name out of her mess."

"If you truly know nothing," Elder Seraphine said smoothly, her eyes narrowing to razor slits. "Then why did you feel the need to dig a fake grave and bury a spring lamb instead?"

Kaleb drew a sharp breath through his nose. "I was trying to avoid exactly this," he muttered, his tone turning dismissive. "I didn’t want any unnecessary, bureaucratic questions from this Council. I just wanted to keep my pack quiet. There is no use howling over spilled milk, is there?"

"He was your pup! Your own flesh!" Rhea barked, her chair scraping violently against the floorboards as she stood, her eyes burning like twin silver stars.

"I never laid a hand on that boy, if that is what your crazy wolf is asking!" Kaleb shot back, his voice rising into a defiant, hostile roar.

"If his tongue refuses to give us the whole truth, then let us ask the person who carried out his decrees," Elder Rowan’s quiet voice cut through the shouting, instantly dropping the temperature in the room.

The other elders nodded in grim agreement. Even Rhea felt a spark of desperate hope flare in her chest.

"Bring in the former Beta!" Elder Magnus commanded.

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