Defying the Rogue Alpha
Chapter 189: Spotlight

Chapter 189: Spotlight

Lucas gave a firm nod.

Dennis looked between them and shrugged, then took a respectful step back from the spotlight.

Zoe turned to face the crowd, inhaling as if trying to breathe in the entire Northern region. Before her stood hundreds of people.

"People of the North," she began, eyes sweeping the crowd, "I thank you for being here today."

A few heads tilted in curiosity.

"I know that for a long time, you have lived in fear," she continued. "Put down and ignored by the king who was meant to serve you. I understand your anger, your caution, and your mistrust. And I carry them with me too. In here." She pressed her hand gently to her chest. "I am grateful to Alpha Lucas for even considering me to be your Alpha Queen. But..."

Here, she paused.

"I cannot take the throne."

A collective gasp rustled through the crowd.

Lucas blinked, turned slowly to Dennis.

Dennis raised both hands and shrugged again. "I’m just the guy she married this morning," he said out of the corner of his mouth. "I don’t get updates."

But Zoe kept going, passion glowing behind her eyes now. "I have no experience in ruling. I wasn’t trained to sit on thrones or sign decrees. I was raised in shadows, honed to be a weapon, a killing machine. And in the past few weeks, I’ve learned to love, to laugh, to hope... I want more. I want to be more. I want to work beside you, not rule above you. I want to sweat with you, eat with you, laugh with you. I want to dig into the dirt and rebuild this kingdom with my own two hands not from a throne, but from the ground up."

Lucas stared, stunned, while Ava smiled.

"But," Zoe said, "I know someone who has once raised a pack from the ground up."

Her words drifted over the crowd, tugging at the ears of skeptics.

"Someone so good," she continued, eyes scanning the quiet faces below, "that his people would lay down their lives for him without thinking twice about it."

The murmurs returned. Zoe turned her gaze to Dennis, whose posture stiffened.

"And I think," she added, a smile creeping onto her lips despite the tight knot in her gut, "without being biased...which is hard because I married the guy...he is in the best position to rule us."

"What we need now," she continued, "isn’t a sledgehammer...Which I am, by the way."

A few nervous chuckles fluttered through the crowd. Even Lucas’s lips twitched.

"No," she said, gesturing to the throne beside her. "What we need now is a gentle breeze. Something steady. Calming. Hopeful. This seat...this crown...was never meant for me."

Her hands dropped to her sides, almost in surrender, but her back remained straight.

"I’ll be whatever you all want me to be. A guard. A worker. A friend. I’ll fight beside you. I’ll sweat and bleed beside you. I just want to be among you. To right my wrongs."

She turned and looked at Dennis again. "Alpha Dennis Raventhorn will be your Alpha King. And I... I will just be his wife... until the day comes that you all find me worthy enough to be your queen."

The entire space went silent.

You could hear an eyelash fall.

Nobody saw that coming. Zoe had just handed over power.

Dennis looked at her, his mouth working silently like he was trying to form words but only managed a stunned squeak. Then, finally, he whispered, "What are you doing, Zoe?"

She turned fully to face him now, eyes shining with unshed tears that made her look less like a warrior and more like a woman trying to scrub years of blood off her hands.

Tears stung her voice as she said, "I’ve done a lot of wrongs, Dennis. I have annihilated families. I have taken lives that can never be replaced. Some of them were innocent. Some of them were just in the way."

"You were under orders," Dennis argued, frustration making his voice a little sharper than he intended. His hand squeezed hers tightly, almost as if trying to transfer his conviction into her bloodstream. "You didn’t have a choice."

Zoe’s eyes shimmered, her mouth set in a grim line. "I know... but..." She bit her lower lip, suddenly unable to speak. The words felt trapped in her throat. "But it doesn’t make it right. Not for them."

Dennis exhaled heavily, his brows furrowing with the weight of this moment. "How am I supposed to be king without my queen?"

The vulnerability in his voice cracked Zoe’s composure a little. She looked at him, her strong, beautiful, annoyingly noble husband, and felt her heart twist.

"I am your wife," she said. "But now, the people need to accept me as their queen. We’ve forced things down their throat for too long. They need to be part of the choosing this time. This is the best decision for them."

Dennis stared at her for a long beat, caught between awe and irritation. His fingers brushed her cheek briefly, as if silently pleading with her to reconsider. But he didn’t try to change her mind again. He knew better.

"As my husband, you have rights to the throne," she continued, trying to keep her voice firm even as her heart threatened to betray her resolve. "They may not accept me yet, but lead them first. I’ll earn my place in time."

Before Dennis could respond, Lucas’s voice rang out over the murmuring crowd. "Is there any member of the council in this gathering?" He sounded casual, but his eyes scanned the crowd.

For a moment, the crowd was as still as statues. Then, hesitantly, a single hand rose in the middle.

"I was," said an older man in a brown leather coat. "But the council was disbanded by King Herod."

Lucas squinted. "Yeah, well, that tracks. Herod didn’t like opinions that weren’t his own." He leaned back slightly and muttered under his breath, "Never liked the councilmen myself... bunch of snobby windbags but I’m starting to see the usefulness."