MATED TO THE SECRET ALPHA
Chapter 163: Didn’t See Her Coming

Chapter 163: Didn’t See Her Coming

Malric’s jaw clenched. The silence from the elders was deafening. Betraying nothing, they kept their eyes lowered, hands folded, but their lack of protest spoke volumes. "I don’t believe it!"

Theon took a step forward, closing the space between them. "You don’t have to believe it, Malric. But deny it all you want, the blood of the house of Vael runs through me. And unlike you, I’ve earned every drop of respect I’ve bled for."

A low growl escaped Malric’s throat, but he didn’t strike. Not yet.

"That blood you speak of," Malric sneered, "was diluted the moment your father chose to bear a bastard with no name and no worth."

"I made that name worth something," Theon snapped, his eyes flashing. "While you were drunk on your privileges, I was spilling blood on the frontlines, cleaning up your family’s failures."

Gasps rippled through the hall. One of the elders shifted uncomfortably, but still, no one spoke.

Theon glanced at them all. "You can sit there in your silence, but don’t forget, it was I who stood when the walls were falling. And it’ll be me who stands again when it crumbles. Not this, manwhore, who couldn’t even lift a finger or spend his money and manpower when rogues and monsters attacked. Is that the kind of Alpha you want? The kind who’d go to Luna Reana, winking at her and trying to seduce her?"

Malric’s face paled. That hit him hard in the guts. Women and alcohol were his weakness. He couldn’t stop no matter how hard he tried. And it was frankly not something he was proud of.

"YOU DARE...!! You fucking son of a whore!" Malric bellowed, his voice echoing off the stone walls.

Theon’s eyes blazed, his hands twitched. Not from fear, but from wanting to tear his throat out. However, he remained calm.

"Yes. I dare. Because someone has to speak the truth, and clearly, none of you have the spine to do it."

An elder cleared his throat, but Theon’s glare silenced him before a word could be spoken.

Malric’s fists clenched. The veins in his neck bulged as he struggled to control the fury boiling inside him. "You think you’re better than me?"

"I don’t think," Theon growled. "I know."

Elder Inara leaned forward, eyes narrowing with interest.

The tension was electric. It had reached a boiling point. One wrong move, one more insult, and blood would be spilled.

Just then, Elder Garrick stepped forward. "Enough, you two." He continued, "Handing the spectrum of Alpha from one family to another is more complicated than handing that of a Beta’s to another family."

Theon straightened, but his fists remained clenched at his sides. "Then say what you mean, Elder. Don’t dress it in riddles."

Garrick’s expression hardened. "What I mean is that the weight of an Alpha’s legacy is not borne lightly. The Alpha council has to be consulted. All the Alphas in the Southern Region - both the Mainland and Southern Islands, must come together to decide whether or not to change the line of succession. The Spectrum is bound by blood, yes, but also by the will of the united packs. Without their consensus, any decision made here would be seen as illegitimate."

A hush fell over the hall. Even Malric didn’t speak.

Elder Inara folded her hands in front of her. "You both claim to lead, yet you forget the essence of the Alpha’s role. Unity. Protection. Balance."

Theon’s voice was quiet, but laced with resolve. "Then call them. The Alphas. We go to them. Let them see what’s at stake."

Garrick’s eyes narrowed. "And if they don’t agree to the change?"

"Then I will make them see reason," Theon said. "Or die trying."

He wouldn’t risk the lives of this pack. That man said he must become the Alpha. Theon promised the previous Alpha that he’d put his life on the line to protect this pack. And that, he must do.

Malric’s dark chuckle broke the silence. "Spoken like a fool in love with his own ambition."

"Better that than a coward hiding behind old bloodlines," Theon shot back.

Inara raised her hand. "Enough! The council will send words. But heed this, if after the decision had been made and one of you rejects it, this council shall cast you out of the pack. You will become a rogue and roam in the woods with no pack, no family. Are we clear on that?"

...

"My brother," Malric walked into Killian’s room.

Killian was lying on the bed in the dimly lit room. His severed arm was bandaged around the shoulder. The look in his eyes was distant. Lifeless. As if they’d never shone with greed and calculations before.

Malric’s nose twitched from the stench of blood and exotic medicine that clung to the air like a thick fog. He shut the door gently behind him, his eyes sweeping over the cold room that once echoed with Killian’s plans and quiet chuckles.

"I thought I’d find you cursing and throwing a tantrum," Malric said, keeping his tone light, though the heaviness in his chest betrayed him.

Killian didn’t respond. He didn’t even blink. His gaze remained fixed on the ceiling, as if he could see through it – to the visit to the Black Moon Pack, to the moment everything changed.

Malric stepped closer, the soft creak of the wooden floor the only sound between them. "They say you were lucky to live," he said, voice lower now, rougher. "But you don’t look like you believe that."

Still no response. Only the slow rise and fall of Killian’s chest, like a man caught between two worlds.

Malric sat on the edge of the bed, lowering himself carefully, as if afraid to break whatever fragile thread was keeping his brother tethered to reality. "You were always the clever one," he murmured. "Always five steps ahead. So tell me, how the hell did we end up here?"

This time, Killian’s eyes moved. Just slightly. Toward Malric. And in that moment, the pain - raw, blinding, and bitter, cracked through the numbness.

"I didn’t see it coming," Killian whispered, his voice hoarse. "I didn’t see her coming."

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