Chapter 5 Chaos in the Great Hall

The moment Ivy was dragged away, the Great Hall erupted.

"Seal the exits!"

"Summon every elder!"

"Where are the witches?"

Voices crashed into each other, panic and fury twisting the air into something suffocating.

Rowan lay on the shattered marble, his chest rising in shallow, uneven breaths. Gloria Jay knelt beside him, her hands trembling as she cradled his head.

"Rowan," she whispered desperately. "Stay with me. Please."

His vision swam.

The world felt... wrong.

Silent.

Empty.

He reached inward, searching for the familiar blaze of dominance, the living heartbeat of his wolf.

There was nothing.

Only hollow stillness.

Fear sliced through him, sharp and unforgiving.

"I can't feel my power," he rasped.

Gloria froze.

Her fingers tightened against his shoulders.

Around them, the elders exchanged grim looks.

Elder Corvin straightened slowly, his ancient face carved from stone. "Then it is as we feared."

The hall fell deathly quiet.

"She has stripped him," Elder Marrek said darkly. "The omega has stolen the Alpha King's dominance."

A wave of rage surged through the nobles.

"Impossible!"

"No omega can do that!"

"She's a monster!"

"A traitor!"

Rowan struggled to sit up, his limbs shaking with unfamiliar weakness. Guards rushed to support him, but he waved them away.

"Where is she?" he demanded.

"Taken below," Corvin replied. "She is to be held until judgment is passed."

"Judgment?" Rowan snapped. "On what charge?"

"Treason," Elder Marrek said coldly. "Assault on the Alpha King. Endangerment of the realm."

"She didn't do it on purpose," Rowan growled.

Gloria shot him a sharp look. "Rowan, she nearly killed you."

"I know what I felt," he said hoarsely. "She was terrified."

Elder Corvin's eyes hardened. "Fear does not excuse catastrophe. Her existence now threatens every pack under your rule."

Rowan clenched his fists.

His hands shook.

The loss of his dominance left him exposed, vulnerable in a way he had never known.

And the pack could feel it.

He could sense their shifting loyalty, the subtle pull of uncertainty rippling outward like cracks in ice.

"We must act quickly," Marrek continued. "Word will spread. Other packs will challenge your authority."

Gloria rose to her feet, smoothing her gown. Her eyes glittered with cold resolve. "Then she must die."

Rowan's head snapped up. "No."

"She drained the Alpha King," Gloria said sharply. "She humiliated our throne. If she lives, your reign will never recover."

"She is my mate," he whispered.

The words slipped out before he could stop them.

The hall exploded.

Shock.

Outrage.

Disbelief.

Gloria staggered back a step as if struck.

"What?" she breathed.

Rowan closed his eyes briefly.

"I felt the bond," he said quietly. "I rejected it... but it was real."

Silence slammed down.

Elder Corvin stared at him, long and hard. "Then your mistake may doom us all."

Rowan opened his eyes. "What are you saying?"

"If she is your true mate," Corvin said gravely, "and she holds your dominance, then her power rivals the crown itself."

A dangerous murmur spread.

"She could command us..."

"She could rule..."

"An omega queen?"

Laughter sharp and ugly cut through the tension.

"Never," Gloria said. "She will never sit on that throne."

Her gaze burned with fury.

Rowan studied her, something cold twisting in his chest.

"You seem very certain," he said.

"I will protect this pack," Gloria replied smoothly. "From monsters."

Elder Marrek slammed his staff against the floor. "The council will convene immediately. Until then, the girl remains imprisoned."

"And then?" Rowan demanded.

Corvin's voice was merciless. "Execution."

The word struck Rowan like a blade.

"No," he said hoarsely.

"You have lost the right to overrule us," Marrek snapped. "Without your dominance, your authority is weakened."

Rowan froze.

The truth hit him brutally.

They were already testing him.

Already stripping him of power.

He clenched his jaw. "Then I challenge the council."

A collective gasp filled the hall.

"You cannot," Corvin said sharply. "Not in your condition."

"Watch me."

Rowan pushed himself to his feet, swaying slightly before regaining his balance. Every movement felt foreign, clumsy.

But his gaze was steady.

"If you execute her," he said, "you condemn the realm to civil war."

"Explain," Marrek demanded.

"She holds my dominance," Rowan said. "If she dies, it dies with her. The Alpha throne will remain empty."

The elders stiffened.

That changed everything.

No Alpha power.

No command.

No unified packs.

Chaos.

Gloria's eyes widened. "You're lying."

"I wish I were."

A heavy silence fell.

Elder Corvin exhaled slowly. "Then she becomes even more dangerous."

"She becomes essential," Rowan countered.

"Or a weapon to be destroyed before she destroys us," Marrek said.

The debate erupted, voices clashing violently.

"She must be studied!"

"She must be killed!"

"She must be controlled!"

Rowan listened, fury and helplessness knotting inside his chest.

They were talking about her as if she were a thing.

Not a person.

Not the terrified girl who had collapsed in agony on the floor.

Finally, Corvin raised his staff.

"Enough."

The hall stilled.

"We will delay execution," he announced. "For now."

Rowan's chest loosened slightly.

"But she will remain in chains," Corvin continued. "And should she display the slightest threat, the execution order will be carried out without hesitation."

Gloria's lips tightened.

Rowan closed his eyes briefly, relief and dread tangling inside him.

Far below the palace, in the cold depths of the dungeon, Ivy stirred.

Chains cut into her wrists.

Pain pulsed through every inch of her body.

Her head throbbed.

Her skin burned where the runes had flared.

She forced her eyes open, breath hitching as memory crashed down on her.

Rowan.

The power.

The fall.

Tears welled.

She curled inward, shaking.

"I didn't mean to," she whispered to the darkness.

The shadows shifted.

A soft voice answered.

"We know."

Ivy froze.

Her heart hammered.

"Who's there?" she whispered.

The air rippled.

A faint, ghostly silhouette formed before her-an ancient woman with glowing silver eyes.

"The first witch," the figure said gently. "And the last who remembers your kind."

Ivy's breath caught.

"My... kind?"

The witch knelt before her, studying her with something dangerously close to reverence.

"You are no omega, child," she whispered. "And what you have awakened will change the fate of this world."