Chapter 182

Chapter 182
Rhea

The window was getting closer. I could see the forest beyond, dark and waiting, and I knew with absolute certainty that if he got me out there, I was gone. The bond with Kael and Jax would stretch but not break—which meant I'd feel every single thing Tyrant did to me, and they'd be helpless to stop it.

The thought sent ice through my veins, but it also lit something else. Something that had been growing in me over these months.

Rage.

Not hot, reckless fury that led to mistakes, but cold and focused and absolutely unforgiving. I'd spent six months running from this bastard, six months letting fear control me. I'd put everyone I loved in danger because I was too scared to face him. But I wasn't that terrified girl anymore. I'd survived Zenith's trials, learned to fight, awakened powers I didn't understand. I'd found two mates who'd rather die than let me go, found family in unexpected places, found strength I never knew I had.

And I was done running.

Tyrant's teeth grazed my neck, positioning over the old scar, and I felt his canines start to pierce skin. The pain was immediate and excruciating—not just physical but soul-deep, like acid poured directly onto my spirit. Through the bond, I felt Kael and Jax's answering agony, felt their desperate fury as they tried to reach me through the press of bodies.

"Stop!" Jax's roar was barely human, his wolf so close to the surface his voice came out distorted. He threw himself at the soldiers blocking his path like he had a death wish, taking a knife to the gut without flinching as he tore through them. Blood poured from a dozen wounds, but he didn't stop, couldn't stop—his mate was being claimed by another, and his wolf would rather die than allow it.

Kael had gone completely still behind cover, his pistol raised and tracking Tyrant's head, but his hands were shaking—actually shaking, this man who never showed fear. I could feel his terror through the bond, the knowledge that one wrong move, one stray bullet, and he could kill me instead. His finger was on the trigger, but he couldn't take the shot, couldn't risk it, and the helplessness was killing him.

Tyrant's teeth sank deeper, and I screamed.

The sound tore out of me raw and primal, carrying six months of fear and pain and rage in a single note that seemed to shake the building's foundations. Through the bond, Kael and Jax felt it like a physical blow—felt my agony, my terror, my desperate need for them.

And something answered.

Not them. Not my mates, though I felt them straining toward me with everything they had. No, this came from deeper inside—from where my wolf lived, from the blood that carried both Winterbourne winter and Moon Goddess blessing. From the scars Tyrant had left, which had never truly healed because his dark magic still clung to them.

The old wounds started to burn.

Not with pain this time, but with power—silver-blue light seeping from the scar tissue like liquid moonlight, spreading across my skin in patterns that looked like circuits or spell arrays. I felt it rising through me, this force I'd kept locked away, fed by every moment of fear, every tear, every nightmare that jerked me awake.

Memories crashed over me—being dragged down palace halls toward a marriage I didn't want, Tyrant's hands on me while I sobbed, the agony of his incomplete bite, the terror of running through dark forests.

But also: Alex's tight embrace when he When Alex discovered me battered and bruised, he pulled me into a tight embrace, Caspian's steady presence during the escape, Kael's quiet strength when I thought I'd break, Jax's fierce devotion even when I'd lied. The friends who stood with me when my identity was revealed, the students who fought beside me during the siege, the family who chose to support me instead of sacrificing me for politics.

All of it, every moment of pain and love and growth, came together in one crystalline realization: I wasn't that helpless girl anymore. I would never be helpless again.

"Let. Me. Go."

The command ripped out of me with a force that made the air ripple, carrying my Alpha authority amplified by something way older and more powerful. My eyes blazed pure silver—not the amber-gold of a normal wolf, but the cold light of the full moon itself. The crescent mark of the Moon Goddess appeared on my forehead in lines of liquid light.

Tyrant's body went rigid, his teeth freezing mid-bite as my command slammed into him like a truck. I felt his wolf whimpering, felt his human mind raging against the compulsion but unable to fight it. His arms loosened, the blade dropping from numb fingers to clatter on the floor, and I wrenched free with a surge of strength that sent him stumbling back.

But I wasn't done. The Winterbourne blood in my veins—the ancient magic of the Winter Wolves who'd ruled the frozen north for a thousand years—rose up to meet the Moon Goddess's blessing, and the temperature plummeted so fast that frost covered everything in seconds. The moisture in the air crystallized, and when I slammed my hand on the floor, jagged ice spears erupted from the boards like teeth.

Tyrant barely managed to leap back, his reflexes saving him from impalement by inches. But the ice kept coming, spreading across the floor in a wave that forced him toward the window. The elite soldiers tried to advance, tried to protect their prince, but the temperature drop had sapped their strength and my Alpha command still echoed through the room, making it nearly impossible for their wolves to disobey.

Then both bloodlines merged.

The silver-blue of the Moon Goddess and the gold-white of Winterbourne ice collided in my chest, and the resulting explosion sent every wolf in the room—except Kael and Jax—crashing to their knees. The mate bond protected them from the worst, though I felt them stagger. The soldiers weren't so lucky; they hit the ground hard, their wolves forced into submission by power older than their bloodlines.

The energy radiating from me became visible—silver and gold light spiraling around my body in patterns that hurt to look at, with a sound like wind chimes made of swords. Ice crystals formed in the air itself, swirling around me in a miniature blizzard that left frost on everything. I could feel my hair lifting in a wind that didn't exist physically, could see my shadow split into three that moved independently.

This was what I truly was, I realized with clarity that felt like waking up. Not a princess playing soldier, not a girl pretending to be a boy, but something between mortal and divine—a child of the Moon Goddess walking among wolves, carrying power that could reshape the world or burn it to ash.

And right now, I was going to use every bit of it to end this.

The ice wall between me and Tyrant shattered at my mental command, shards spinning through the air to form a barrier between the soldiers and their prince. Kael and Jax were on their feet instantly, moving to flank me even as blood dripped from Jax's wounds and Kael's left arm hung wrong. But they stood with me, ready to fight, ready to die if that's what it took.

They didn't need to. This fight was mine.

Tyrant stared at me with something like awe mixed with his usual rage, his wolf's instincts screaming at him to submit even as his pride refused. "What are you?" he breathed, genuine confusion breaking through for the first time. "This power... you were never like this before. You were weak, broken—"

"I was afraid," I corrected, my voice carrying tones that didn't belong to any mortal throat. The silver light in my eyes intensified until looking at me hurt. "Fear doesn't equal weakness, Tyrant. It just means I hadn't found my strength yet. But I have now. And you're about to learn what that means."

He snarled and shifted, his transformation into his massive black wolf happening between heartbeats. He was enormous—easily half again the size of a normal Alpha, his fur absorbing light like a void, his eyes burning red with madness and rage. The crown prince of Ironfang Federation, bred for war, a killer who'd never known defeat.

He launched himself at me with impossible speed, jaws wide enough to close around my entire head. I saw the killing intent in those red eyes, the absolute certainty that he'd tear me apart and mount my head beside my mates' as a warning.

I raised my hand and caught him by the throat.