Chapter 96 96
Denzel’s POV
Based on everything Alpha Gordon had told me, the coming days would determine the fate of us all.
Queen Rochelle had to be exposed, found guilty, and punished before King Jamar crowned Venessa his successor. The last thing I wanted was my wife spending her life glancing over her shoulder, waiting for a blade in the dark.
We returned to our pack, and I briefed the King on the outcome of the meeting on the unrest, the alliances forming, and the dangerous plans taking shape. I also told him what Alpha Gordon had revealed.
Jamar’s reaction was immediate and devastating.
He turned his anger inward, hating himself for not doing enough. For obeying laws that had failed him. If only he had acted differently if only he had defied the rules Danisha would still be alive.
That night, he broke.
He wept until there was nothing left, and even then, the grief didn’t loosen its grip. I knew then that he would never truly heal from losing Danisha. The belief that she was alive somewhere in the world had sustained him. Now that hope was gone, and so was the man who had survived on it.
Watching him, I knew I couldn’t tell him the truth about Venessa not yet.
If he learned his daughter was dying, that she had only six months left, I feared he would lose the will to act altogether. The truth had to wait until everything was settled.
Four days later, we prepared to return to the Lycan Kingdom.
I had already sent word to the Queen that I wished to plead my case. It took two days for her response to arrive and when it did, I knew she was savoring it.
I had angered her the last time we met, and this was her attempt to remind me of my place.
She came with demands, of course.
Money. Land. Tribute in exchange for her “protection.”
I laughed when I read it.
If only she knew her reign was already over.
We set out early in the morning, determined to reach the Lycan Kingdom on time. But circumstances had changed. The bears had blocked the route that passed through their lands, forcing us to travel through the outlands instead.
I didn’t like it but we pressed on.
The outlands were eerily silent.
There had been a time when packless wolves lived there traders, wanderers, wolves without alphas who answered directly to the Lycan King. They weren’t rogues. They were simply unaffiliated.
Now they were gone.
Most had been slaughtered. The rest had fled to packs for refuge.
We drove faster.
But not fast enough.
A massive rogue bear slammed into the side of the Jeep, sending it skidding and tumbling violently to the side.
We barely had time to react.
We escaped the wreck just as Silver Forest bandits emerged from every direction.
They weren’t many but they were more than enough.
Wolves and bears. Red eyes. A brand burned into their forearms.
The Silver Forest clan.
I ordered Venessa to stay inside the Jeep while King Jamar and I shifted. We might be Alphas powerful, commanding but these were rogues. They bowed to no throne. Even the King’s authority meant nothing to them.
We advanced and engaged them.
There were ten at first ruthless, coordinated, brutally strong.
If I had known this would happen, I would have traveled with Rayon and Devon. But bringing reinforcements would have made us appear threatening. Rochelle wouldn’t have allowed it.
King Jamar was formidable. He held his ground with terrifying strength.
We killed most of them but more poured out of the woods.
That was when I knew.
They didn’t plan for us to survive.
The King and I were exhausted. Outnumbered. Worn down.
After everything we had already endured, I doubted we would make it out alive.
Is this how we die? I thought.
Then I saw them reach for Venessa.
They opened the Jeep door
And met a grey Lycan wolf.
She wasn’t large, but I knew instantly who she was.
Nyla.
She moved like lightning.
I had never seen a wolf that fast never seen such precision, such ferocity in a body so small. She tore into them with lethal force.
Nigel and Jamar’s wolf joined her, and we pushed forward again.
Then I saw it.
A bright glow radiated from Nyla.
Every instinct screamed danger.
Is this one of the goddess’s gifts? I wondered.
The light detonated.
Every rogue near it and the reinforcements rushing in dropped dead instantly.
Nyla shifted back into Venessa and collapsed, blood streaming from her nose.
There was no time to think.
I grabbed the spare clothes from the back of the Jeep and pulled on the joggers. King Jamar lifted Venessa into the back seat, wrapped her in a blanket, then dressed quickly in joggers and a hoodie himself.
Thank the goddess it was a strong vehicle.
The windshield was cracked. The side the bear had struck was badly dented. But the engine still ran.
I started the Jeep and drove.
Hard.
We crossed into Lycan territory before any of us dared to breathe.
By then, Venessa was awake.
Neither the King nor I spoke about what we had witnessed.
But we both knew.
Something supernatural had revealed itself.
We conserved our strength and our words for Queen Rochelle.
And I could only imagine the look on her face when she saw her husband alive… and very much awake.