Chapter 118 Silver Justice(2)
Jolie POV
"No." I crouch down to her level. "You don't get the easy way out. You're going to live with this. You're going to feel every moment of pain you caused, and you're going to use it."
"Use it?" She stares at me.
"To be better." I hold her gaze. "You said you'd spend your life making amends. So do it. Find the bonds you broke and try to fix them. Help the wolves you hurt, use this empathy you never had before to actually understand the damage you caused and work to repair it."
"That's not mercy." Her voice is hollow. "That's a life sentence of suffering."
"That's justice." Phoenix moves to stand beside me. "My cousin's name is cleared because everyone knows you stole it. But the people you actually hurt—they deserve more than just knowing you failed once. They deserve to see you try to fix what you broke."
"I can't fix all of it." She's shaking now. "Some of those bonds are permanently destroyed. Some of those wolves died broken."
"Then you carry that too." Luna's voice is firm. "That's what empathy means. Understanding the weight of your actions and living with it."
"You cursed me." Her voice rises. "Condemned me to."
"I gave you empathy." I cut her off. "Something you should have had all along. What you do with it now is your choice. Suffer and die, or suffer and try to make things right. Either way, you're going to feel what you made others feel."
She stares at me, something breaking in her expression. Then she bows her head.
"I'll make amends." The words are barely whisper. "I'll try. I don't know if I can fix what I broke, but I'll try."
"Then start by telling us your real name." Phoenix crosses his arms. "No more stolen identities, no more masks."
She's quiet for so long I think she won't answer. Then she speaks, voice raw.
"Morgan. Morgan Hayes. I was born in the Northern ancient Territories, cast out of my pack when I was nineteen for refusing an arranged mating. I stole my first identity six months later and never looked back."
"Morgan Hayes." I test the name. "That's who you're going to be from now on. No more dead girls' faces, no more lies."
"Morgan Hayes." She repeats it like she's learning a foreign word. "I don't even know who that is anymore."
"Then figure it out." Ryder's voice is hard. "Away from our territory. You've got five minutes to leave, and if we ever see you here again, we won't be this generous."
"Thank you." She stands on shaky legs. "I know you don't believe me, but thank you. For not killing me, for giving me a chance to try."
"Don't thank us." Luna's voice is cold. "Just do better."
We watch as Morgan Hayes—the woman who wore so many names she forgot her own—walks away. She looks back once, meets my eyes, and I see the weight of twenty-three broken bonds in her expression.
Then she's gone, disappearing into the forest.
"You think she'll actually try?" Cass asks quietly. "To make amends?"
"I think the empathy won't give her a choice." I lean against Ryder. "She'll either try to fix what she broke or the guilt will destroy her. Either way, she won't be destroying anyone else."
"Divine justice." Phoenix sounds awed. "You sentenced her to feel everything she made others feel."
"I didn't mean to." I turn to face them. "When we confronted her, I was just so angry. I wanted her to understand, to know what she'd done. I never thought my power would actually make that happen."
"It's evolving." Luna pulls up something on her tablet. "Doc's right. The silver light is getting stronger. First it was healing through touch, then empathy through touch, now apparently empathy through proximity."
"What's next?" Knox sounds worried. "Empathy through thoughts? Through territory lines?"
"I don't know." The admission scares me. "I don't know what I'm capable of anymore."
Ryder pulls me close. "We'll figure it out"
"Together." I breathe in his scent. "But right now, I need to process what just happened. I just condemned someone to feel every moment of pain they caused others. That's not small."
"No." Phoenix touches my shoulder gently. "But it's fair. She destroyed lives for money, now she has to live with understanding what that meant."
"Come on." Ryder guides me toward the bikes. "Let's go home. You can process there."
The ride back is quiet. My mind keeps replaying Morgan's face—the desperation, the genuine agony of feeling empathy for the first time in her adult life.
Back at the compound, Doc is waiting in his clinic.
"Let me check you over." He gestures to the exam table. "That kind of power use, even unintentional, might have effects."
I sit while he runs his tests. My light pulses steady but not draining like when I heal.
"Your divine power is definitely expanding." He frowns at his readings. "The empathy gift used to require touch and conscious effort. Now it seems to respond to strong emotion even without physical contact."
"Is that dangerous?" Ryder moves closer.
"Potentially." Doc sets down his equipment. "If Jolie gets angry or upset around someone, she might accidentally flood them with empathy. It could overwhelm wolves who aren't prepared for it."
"Great." I drop my head into my hands. "So I'm a walking empathy bomb now."
"You're a divine vessel learning her power." Doc's voice is gentle. "This is part of evolution. You're going to have to learn control, just like you learned to control the healing."
" Maybe we could get you help." Luna suggests.
“But first, I need to know something. That woman—Morgan—she's really going to feel that empathy forever?"
"Unless you consciously remove it, yes." Doc confirms. "Divine gifts, once given, are permanent. She'll carry that empathy for the rest of her life."
"Good." Phoenix's voice is firm from the doorway. "She deserves to feel what she made others feel. That's real justice."
"Is it?" I look at him. "Or is it just revenge dressed up as consequence?"
"Does it matter?" Mara joins Phoenix. "She destroyed lives. Now she gets to understand what that meant. I call that fair."
"So do I." Cass nods. "She had years to develop empathy naturally. She chose not to, you just forced the issue."
They're right. Morgan Hayes spent years destroying bonds without caring about the pain she caused. Now she has no choice but to care, to feel, to understand.
"Okay." I stand. "Then I'm okay with what happened. She gets to live with the weight of her choices. That's justice."
"And you get to move forward." Ryder takes my hand. "No more manipulation, no more games. Just us and the wedding to prepare for."
The wedding. My father's wedding to Celeste Whitmore.
"Speaking of which." Luna holds up her tablet. "I've got new intel on the Whitmore Pack, you are going to want to see this."
We gather in the war room—the space we use for serious pack business as Luna projects files onto the screen.
"Celeste Whitmore is twenty-five years old." She pulls up a photo of a stunning blonde with cold eyes. "Only daughter of Alpha Gregory Whitmore. Educated at prestigious pack academies, trained in combat and politics, and reportedly has never lost a negotiation."
"She sounds delightful." Ryder's voice is dry.
"She's also never shown public emotion." Luna continues. "There are hundreds of photos of her at pack events, and in every single one, her expression is blank. No joy, no anger, no fear. Nothing."
"Like a doll." I stare at the image. "Or like someone who was trained to hide everything they feel."
"Or someone who doesn't feel at all." Doc leans forward. "There are rare cases of wolves born without emotional capacity. It's considered a genetic defect."
"Or a weapon." Knox's voice is grim. "Imagine a wolf who can make decisions without emotion clouding judgment. Who can negotiate, manipulate, and destroy without ever feeling guilty."
"The perfect bride for my father." Bitterness colors my words. "Someone who won't care that he's a monster, who won't flinch at the things he does."
"There's more." Luna pulls up financial records. "The Whitmore Pack made substantial donations to Council remnants three months ago. Right before Seraphina—Morgan—showed up here."
The pieces click together. "They hired her, the Whitmores paid her to destroy my mate bond."
"Looks that way." Luna nods. "Which means this wedding isn't just about your father finding a new mate. It's about the Whitmores having access to you through family connection."
"They want to control a divine vessel." Ryder's hands clench into fists. "Through marriage alliance and proximity."
"Then we go to this wedding ready for war." I stand. "Because I'm done being manipulated, used, or controlled. If they want access to me, they're going to learn exactly what divine justice looks like."
Morgan Hayes taught me something valuable. She showed me exactly how manipulation works, how vulnerability can be weaponized, how even divine wolves can be made to doubt themselves. But she also showed me something else.
That I'm strong enough to survive it. Strong enough to face it. Strong enough to turn it back on the people who try to use it against me.
"Let's go to a wedding." I smile. "Time to show my father and his new bride exactly what they're dealing with."