"Cassian!!!"
The single word exploded across the ceremonial grounds, and the pressure that erupted from Malachi was unlike anything Della had ever felt before.
The stone beneath his feet cracked, and several nobles staggered backwards. One of the ceremonial tables split down the middle with a violent snap, and even a few younger wolves in many packs immediately dropped to one knee.
Della had never heard Malachi raise his voice before. He never needed to draw attention or to make a statement that would shake everybody.
But Cassian had mentioned... Katherine, and judging from their past conversation... Della deduced she was Malachi’s former mate.
Across from him, Cassian’s lazy smile had vanished and the silver in his eyes sharpened once more dangerously.
"Careful," Alpha Roderic muttered as he also took a cautious step back himself.
Nobody listened, because every wolf present could feel it.
It seems the moment had arrived for that war to finally start. Just one more word, and blood would follow.
"You do not speak her name," Malachi said, his voice carrying weights of danger and warning.
"And yet I just did." Cassian didn’t even look the least bit scared or anxious. Seems like the man was totally immune to Malachi’s brutal aura.
The crowd collectively sucked in a breath, and Della looked around.
Selene had gone paler than before, and even Leopold looked uneasy.
Worse, the mate bond was going absolutely insane.
Rage.
Pressure.
Something darker and older.
Something...wounded.
It rolled through Malachi in violent waves, and yet beneath it, something felt wrong too.
Very wrong about him.
Della frowned and stared at Malachi again.
Then at Cassian.
Cassian’s fingers had already turned into long claws, and even though it was almost unnoticeable, his hair had grown an inch longer and he looked a little larger than before.
His wolf was emerging, ready to attack the moment anyone moved.
Several warriors around the gathering were already shifting. She could hear their bones cracking quietly under the silence, also ready to explode into their wolf forms the moment things went south.
The atmosphere practically demanded it.
And yet, there was not a single sign from Malachi that he was also going to shift.
No actually wolf energy reeking from him.
Not a single bone trying to shift.
And now that she thought about it... Malachi had never actually growled or snarled at anyone since she met him.
The realisation hit her slowly, then it hit her all at once. Her eyes were beginning to hurt from widening so much, but she couldn’t help herself.
The tunnel.
The Moonfire walls. .
The Moonfire wolf.
The chains.
The way it had looked at Malachi.
The way Malachi had looked back.
The pain.
Moon Goddess!
The pain.
Not from the burns he had suffered, but from the wolf itself.
Every time that wolf suffered...Malachi suffered too. Every time the chains tightened...he would also weaken. It had never made a single sense to her that the Moonfire hadn’t touched him that much, but he had grown weaker and weaker like his life energy was literally being sucked out of him.
The memory slammed into her so hard she almost stopped breathing.
That wasn’t a random creature.
That wasn’t some Moonfire monster..
It was...
Della’s entire body went cold.
No.
No way.
Her gaze snapped back to Malachi. The fear he had felt that night when she had approached the wolf and touched it. The very thing she’d never questioned because she’d never known enough to question it.
There was no wolf.
Not behind his emotions.
Not behind his insane aura.
Not behind anything.
Nothing.
The strongest Alpha alive...was wolfless.
Moon Goddess!
That wolf had been his!
And somehow, he had lost it and now it was entirely dripping of Moonfire. Wolves are not supposed to be able to go near Moonfire, and yet his...was made out of one!
Della wasn’t sure she could even breathe at this point.
Across the ceremonial grounds, Malachi suddenly went still. Her emotions shot through the mate bond, even deeper than before and his eyes shifted and landed on her.
Della froze, and she felt exposed. Why was he staring at her like that? His eyes narrowed slightly, as though he was trying to reach into her head and rip the realisation straight out of it.
His stare suddenly sharpened dangerously, and that was enough for her.
He knew she knew. She knew that, too.
Then Cassian took another step forward and the ground cracked beneath his boot, "I am taking her."
The declaration shattered the moment.
"No." Malachi’s answer was immediate, and deadly.
Cassian smiled, "I wasn’t asking."
Della looked from one Alpha to the other.
Then at the terrified nobles.
The servants.
The warriors.
The guests.
If these two fought, people would die.
A lot of people.
And neither of them seemed interested in preventing it.
Plus, everyone would come to realise that Malachi had no wolf. Without a wolf, how was he even supposed to fight Cassian? Without a wolf, his superheating abilities, his super strength and everything else that made him different from humans were greatly reduced.
This wasn’t gonna end well for the Eclipse Crown Pack, and Malachi’s pride was probably on the line right now. Stopping this would make him look weak to others, look vulnerable, like he couldn’t handle the consequences.
He couldn’t!
Without thinking, Della moved toward them. Shed been sitting in one spot since she was dragged here by Selene and couldn’t move because of her bleeding ankle, yet she forced herself to stumble forward.
The crowd gasped, and before either Alpha realised what she was doing, Della had thrown herself directly between them.
She landed hard on both knees, and pain exploded through her injured leg. She seethed, grinding both teeth together while her palms slammed against the stone.
Her vision blurred too, but she stayed there.
Directly between the two most dangerous men alive.
Nobody breathed or moved in the gathering, and even the wild that had picked up seemed to stop.
Della slowly looked up, and anger flooded her veins. She glared at both of them like they were the stupidest people she’d ever met before, "If you’re both finished trying to measure whose ego is bigger..." Her voice echoed across the stunned silence, "...can someone remember I’m still being accused of treason?"
Nobody spoke, and Della pushed herself shakily upright.
Blood still stained her clothes, and her face was still swollen from where she had been slapped...Yet somehow she looked more furious than afraid.
"Kill each other if you want." She pointed at both of them fearlessly, "Go ahead."
More silence.
"You’ll save the actual perpetrators a lot of trouble." Della laughed harshly, "Then nobody will have to investigate anything, and this night would be recorded in history as the night of pure balls and stupidity, where two Supreme Alphas who were supposed to bring justice, who were supposed to enjoy a feast, decided to weigh whose balls were bigger!!"
Cassian stared at her.
Malachi stared at her.
The entire gathering stared at her.
And Della suddenly realised what she’d just done.
Moon Goddess! She had just yelled at two Supreme Alphas publicly in front of everyone.
The anger and frustration in her face a second ago, transformed into one of depression and she collapsed to the ground once again.
She was definitely going to die.
Definitely.
Absolutely.
Without question.
Instead, something unexpected happened.
Cassian barked out a laugh again, a genuine one that was able to make half of the volatile air dissipate. Even Malachi had calmed down, but he still looked like he wanted to strangle someone.
Possibly her.
Possibly Cassian.
Possibly everyone.
Then he suddenly turned his head, "Rowan."
The Beta immediately stepped forward, "Alpha."
Malachi leaned closer and whispered something into his ear. Rowan’s expression didn’t change immediately, then his eyebrow shot up very slightly.
That was...new.
The reaction vanished almost as soon as it appeared, but Della caught it.
So did Cassian.
"As you command," Rowan said, straightening.
Malachi then stepped back, and his gaze settled on Della once more while his expression had become unreadable again.
And cold.
And dangerous.
"The Iron Pits sentence is suspended." He declared.
Shock exploded through the gathering, and gasps echoed everywhere.
Selene looked horrified, and Beatrice nearly stopped breathing.
"As the evidence seems...two-sided, this matter will be investigated fully."
His gaze swept across Cornelia, then Beatrice, then Selene.
One by one.
Selene hit her nervousness perfectly, while Beatrice’s face remained buried in Leo’s chest. The only person who looked visibly nervous was Cornelia, and she subtly glanced at Selene as though that would help her.
"If I discover deception," Malachi said quietly, "I will deal with it personally."
Nobody doubted him for a second, then he looked at Rowan again, "Take her."
Rowan immediately moved toward Della, but Cassian took a step forward, "Where is she going?"
"Where no one would be able to touch her again,"
Then Rowan gently grabbed Della’s wrist, "Come on."
Della hesitated and looked back at Malachi.
"... except me," He finished.
Except him?
What was that supposed to mean?!
Rowan kept pulling her with him, but he wasn’t fast enough to make her ankle burn. Slowly, the crowd and noise disappeared...and there was only Malachi and Della.
The moment was shattered when Rowan tugged her hand again, and Della turned away as they finally walked into the castle.