Chapter 196
Lynette's POV
The screaming got worse.
I watched another werewolf hit the floor. The enhanced guard didn't even hesitate—just grabbed his arm and twisted. The crack echoed through the hall.
My hands were shaking. I pressed them flat against my thighs.
Don't move. Don't react.
But God, it was hard.
A young wolf—couldn't be more than twenty—was on his knees now. Blood running from his nose. He looked up at Glenn with pure rage in his eyes.
"Limen Research!" His voice cracked. "This is deliberate. You never wanted cooperation. You just wanted—"
The guard hit him. Hard. The kid's head snapped back.
I felt my wolf surge up inside me. Every instinct screaming to move. To stop this.
Kael's hand found mine in the crowd. Squeezed once. A warning.
I squeezed back. I know. I know.
But watching this... doing nothing...
It went against everything I was.
The hall erupted around us. A Beta from the Silverstone Pack was shouting now. His face red. Veins standing out on his neck.
"We came here in good faith! And you treat us like criminals?"
"This is how you show respect to the Packs?" Another voice. Female. Shaking with fury.
More voices joined in. The crowd was turning. Fear giving way to anger.
Glenn stood on the stage. Watching. His expression was almost... satisfied.
Like this was exactly what he wanted.
My eyes narrowed. Something was wrong here.
Then I saw it.
Glenn's hand went to his neck. Just for a second. His fingers touched something under his collar—a thin metal band I hadn't noticed before.
The gesture was quick. Unconscious.
But I knew that movement. I'd seen it in captured wolves. In slaves.
The touch of someone checking their collar. Making sure it was still there. Still controlling them.
Oh.
Oh no.
Glenn wasn't in charge. He was being controlled too.
My mind raced. If Glenn was being controlled... if he was just a puppet...
Then who was pulling the strings?
Rezar.
It had to be Rezar.
He killed that enhanced guard. Made it look like me. Got Glenn to stage this whole witch hunt.
All to force me out. To make me reveal myself.
Fuck.
Glenn's voice cut through the chaos.
"ENOUGH!"
The hall went quiet. Not because people wanted to listen. Because they were afraid.
Glenn's face had changed. The careful professionalism was gone. Now he just looked... desperate. Cornered.
"You want to know the truth?" His voice shook. "Fine. You're all so eager to rebel. To resist."
He made a sharp gesture. The enhanced guards moved closer to the crowd.
"Then we'll do this the efficient way." Glenn's eyes were wild now. "If you won't cooperate... if you're all going to fight back..."
He paused. His hand touched his collar again.
"Then we kill you all. One of you is the murderer. The rest..." He laughed. It sounded broken. "The rest are just acceptable losses."
The crowd exploded. Shouting. Pushing toward the exits.
The enhanced guards blocked every door.
"Begin." Glenn's voice was barely a whisper.
But the guards heard.
They moved into the crowd.
The first wolf died fast.
The enhanced guard's fist came down on his skull. I heard the crack from across the room.
The wolf dropped. Didn't move again.
Blood pooled under his head.
Someone screamed.
Then the guards were everywhere. Grabbing people. Throwing them. Breaking bones with casual efficiency.
A woman shifted halfway—tried to fight back. The guard caught her mid-transformation. Slammed her into the floor so hard the marble cracked.
She didn't get up.
My breathing was too fast. My vision tunneling.
This wasn't an interrogation anymore. This was a massacre.
"Don't." Kael's voice in my ear. Low. Urgent. "Lynette, don't move."
I could feel him next to me. His body was rigid. Every muscle locked tight.
He was holding himself back too.
But for how much longer?
I thought about Cole's words from earlier. His warning.
"Alpha, you can't save everyone. You try, you'll just get yourself killed."
He was right. I knew he was right.
But watching this...
Another scream. A man begging. "Please—I didn't do anything—please—"
The guard didn't care. Just kept hitting.
My nails dug into my palms. Drew blood.
I could stop this. I could reveal myself. Tell them I was the one they wanted.
Maybe they'd stop. Maybe—
"You'll die," a voice whispered in my head. "And the killing won't stop. They'll just add you to the body count."
I knew that voice. It was the part of me that had survived twenty years in the North. The part that made the hard calls. That chose survival over honor.
I hated that voice.
But it was right.
Kael's grip on my wrist tightened suddenly. Hard enough to hurt.
"Lynette." His voice was rough. Strained. "Look at me."
I didn't want to. Couldn't tear my eyes away from the carnage.
"Look. At. Me."
Something in his tone made me turn.
His eyes locked on mine. Amber and fierce and absolutely certain.
"This is not your fault," he said. Each word deliberate. "You understand me? This is not on you."
"But I could—"
"No." He cut me off. "You walk out there, you die. And this?" He jerked his chin toward the guards. "This doesn't stop. They'll kill you and keep going. That's what they want. They want you to break. To give yourself up for nothing."
His hand moved from my wrist to my face. Cupped my jaw. Made me keep looking at him.
"Stay with me," he whispered. "Stay hidden. We find another way."
I wanted to argue. Wanted to pull away and do something—anything—to stop this.
But his eyes...
He was terrified. I could see it. Not of the guards. Not of the death.
He was terrified of losing me.
And that... that made me pause.
I took a breath. Forced myself to think.
Kael was right. Walking out there was suicide. And it wouldn't save anyone.
The real enemy wasn't Glenn. Wasn't even the enhanced guards.
It was whoever was controlling all of this. Whoever put that collar on Glenn. Whoever orchestrated this entire nightmare.
Rezar.
I needed to find him. Stop him.
But I couldn't do that if I was dead.
I closed my eyes. Counted to five. Let the rage settle into something colder. More useful.
When I opened them again, I felt steadier.
"Okay," I whispered back to Kael. "Okay. I know what to do."