Chapter 22: The Reckoning

Chapter 22: The Reckoning
Ivy's POV

The doors to Lucien’s office slammed open as Dorian and Hadley shoved Mira forward, her wrists bound in front of her. She stumbled but quickly regained her footing, her wide eyes darting across the room, until they landed on me.

I stood beside Lucien, steady, silent, and smiling.

It wasn’t the smile of kindness. It was the smile of someone who’d had enough, I had had enough

Mira’s lips parted slightly, and I saw it, the flicker of fear behind her pretty, poisonous face.

Good.

Lucien stepped forward, his power filling the room like wildfire. He wasn’t just an Alpha right now, he was the Alpha, ancient, cold, and untouchable. Even the air seemed to drop in temperature when he stopped just inches from Mira.

“You tried to kill a wolf I brought into this pack, a wolf I gave my protection” he said, voice low and dangerous.

“I.... I didn’t,” Mira stammered, her voice cracking under the weight of his authority. “Alpha, I would never....”

“Lies.” Lucien’s tone snapped like a whip.

She flinched.

“I’ve tolerated your games. But murder?” He leaned in slightly, eyes burning into hers. “You’re not clever enough to hide your scent, Mira. And you’re certainly not brave enough to do it without help.”

“I swear, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” she cried, but her voice quivered.

He turned away from her, facing Hadley and and Dorian. “Unbind her. Let her run.”

“What?” she gasped, shocked.

Lucien turned back to her, smile cold. “You have twenty-four hours to confess. Everything. Names. Motives. Every lie you’ve spread, every attack you’ve planned. If you don’t….” His eyes darkened, his voice brutal. “I will stake your heart and hang you at the pack gates. Your blood will be the warning carved into the wind.”

Mira opened her mouth again, but Lucien raised a hand, silencing her instantly.

“Get out of my sight.”

Hadley pushed her toward the door, and Mira glanced back at me one last time. She looked like she wanted to spit venom, but there was no venom left. Just fear.

I held her gaze until the door closed behind her.

Lucien turned toward me. “That was your plan, wasn’t it?”

I nodded. “Snakes crawl easier when they think no one’s watching.”

He let out a breath, almost amused. “Let’s see how they squirm.”

For the first time in a long while, I felt the shift, not just in the room but in the entire pack.

The wolves were beginning to understand.

I wasn’t prey.

I was the storm they should’ve never provoked.
........ 

Twenty-four hours. That was all Lucien gave her.

Just one day to confess or be staked through the heart and hung at the gates like a rabid rogue.

The entire pack was buzzing, nervous glances, hushed whispers, careful steps around me as if I were suddenly wrapped in fire and they didn’t want to get burned. But I didn’t care what they thought. Mira had tried to kill me. Someone had poisoned my bathwater with wolfsbane, and she was the one who poured it. She deserved whatever was coming to her.

But I knew she wasn’t working alone. Mira didn’t have the brain or the guts to orchestrate something like this on her own. Someone else had handed her the blade and told her where to aim it. And I needed to know who.

So I followed her.

All day, I trailed her from a distance, through the packhouse corridors, the edge of the woods, even the kitchens, where she nearly dropped an entire tray of dishes because she was so jumpy. Guilt was clawing at her. Her scent was soaked in it, thick and bitter. She was unraveling.

By the time the moon rose, Mira was twitchy and pale, constantly looking over her shoulder. And when she slipped out the back of the packhouse, I followed her without hesitation.

The night air was cold, crisp, and quiet. Only the occasional rustle of leaves or distant howl disturbed the silence. Mira kept low, sticking to the shadows along the outer border of the training grounds, her hands trembling slightly.

Then she stopped. Her breathing hitched.

From the line of trees across the field, a figure emerged, cloaked in black and moving with the easy confidence of someone who had nothing to fear.

My breath caught.

Hadley.

No.

It couldn’t be.

Hadley..... the warrior who stood beside Lucien, who trained with me, who looked at me like maybe I wasn’t a waste of space. The same woman who had nodded in approval just that morning after we sparred.

She was the one?

I pressed myself against the tree trunk, every sense focused.

Mira was already speaking, voice panicked and low. “You told me she was weak! That I’d be doing the pack a favor! Now I’m the one with a noose around my neck!”

Hadley crossed her arms, her expression unflinching. “You were supposed to be subtle. An accident. A slip during training. Wolfsbane in a cup, not dumped on her head.”

“She survived it!” Mira hissed. “Silver didn’t stop her either. Nothing works! She’s not normal.”

“Exactly,” Hadley snapped. “She’s not normal. No wolf heals from wolfsbane or silver like that. You’ve seen it. I have too. That girl is dangerous.”

“She doesn’t even have her full wolf yet!”

Hadley took a step forward, voice like frost. “And yet she survived two assassination attempts, and the pack’s starting to look at her like she’s more than just some stray. Even I can feel it, there’s something…m wrong about her.”

No. Not wrong.

Different.

Hadley wasn’t scared because I was cursed. She was scared because I was changing things. Scared because wolves were beginning to respect me. Because Lucien trusted me. Because I wasn’t just surviving, I was thriving, and threatening to upend the order she benefited from.

“I’ve protected this pack since before you were even marked,” Hadley said. “I know what needs to be done to keep us strong. And she isn’t it.”

Mira shook her head. “I won’t survive Lucien’s wrath.”

“You should’ve thought of that before you failed.”

“So you’re just going to let me die?”

“If you don’t run tonight, there’s nothing I can do.”

Mira’s eyes widened. “You said we were in this together!”

“You promised to get rid of her for me, you failed"

Hadley turned to walk away.

And that was all I needed to see.

I backed away slowly, every step measured. My heart thundered in my chest. So many things clicked into place, Hadley’s coldness, the dismissive way she looked at me when I first arrived, how Mira seemed emboldened after every private conversation with her. The training injury. The bath. All of it.

I had her.

Now I just needed to play my cards right.

Because this wasn’t just about survival anymore. It was about justice. It was about showing this pack what real strength looked like, not the kind that stabbed from the shadows, but the kind that stood in the light and refused to be broken.

And I was done running.

Let them come. Let them all come.