Chapter 555
With a flick of my wrist, I sent the parchment sliding across the polished millennium-oak. It glided smoothly and came to rest dead center in front of Marcus.
He stared down at it, his nostrils flaring as the magic reached him.
“That,” I said, letting my voice carry to every corner of the high-ceilinged room, “is an Alpha’s Decree.”
Elder Malcolm paled, his eyes darting between the parchment and me. “Impossible. He doesn’t have the strength to invoke Pack law.”
“It is signed and bound by Dallas Marshall’s own blood seal,” I continued, watching the arrogant set of Marcus’s shoulders dissolve entirely. “And it is dated exactly three days ago.”
The silence that followed was absolute. The realization struck them like a physical blow. Dallas was not a wolfless shell rotting in a penthouse. He was lucid, his power intact, and he was actively pulling the strings from the shadows. The entire foundation of their little rebellion had just crumbled to dust beneath their feet.
Azalea POV
The silence in the Council Chamber was absolute — thick enough to choke on. I didn’t give them a single second to recover.
“By the authority of this blood seal,” I announced, my voice steady and cutting through the stale air, “I am hereby designated as the Alpha Regent of the Blackwood Pack. I speak with Dallas Marshall’s voice, and I wield his power until his return.”
Marcus’s face contorted into an ugly, desperate sneer. He slammed his hands on the millennium-oak table. “It’s a forgery! A parlor trick! A wolf poisoned by silver loses his beast. A wolfless man cannot bind magic to parchment!”
Elder Malcolm rose immediately, sensing a lifeline. “Marcus is right. The decree must be magically verified. We cannot hand the Pack to a stray on the strength of a dead wolf’s trick.”
Before I could unleash the growl rising in my Inner Wolf’s throat, the heavy oak doors of the chamber groaned open.
The air shifted.
Eleanor “Gigi” Marshall stepped in, leaning heavily on her ebony cane. Her presence filled the room — commanding and undeniable. Every Elder at the table instinctively lowered their gaze.
“You will verify nothing, Malcolm,” Gigi said, her voice gravel and steel, echoing off the high ceiling.
She limped forward, fixing her icy glare on Marcus. “I witnessed the signature. I guided the blade that drew my grandson’s blood. And I swear upon the Moon Goddess herself — Dallas’s Inner Wolf, Ragnar, is not dead. He is merely sleeping. The Alpha’s will remains absolute.”
The fight drained out of Marcus instantly. Every trace of color left his face, and he collapsed into his chair as though his strings had been brutally cut.
I seized the opening. “As my first act as Alpha Regent,” I declared, projecting my voice to every corner of the room, “Marcus Hyde, you are stripped of your seat on the High Council. For the crime of sedition, you and your bloodline are exiled from Blackwood territory, effective immediately.”
Marcus opened his mouth to protest, but I had already opened the Mind-Link. Dire Guards. Now.