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The guards swiftly obeyed Zen's command. Before we could flee, a massive wolf tackled me to the ground, pinning me down. Edward was apprehended by the guards as well.

"Chain the girl and dispose of the guy," Zen ordered.

"No!" I cried out desperately. "You can't do this! Lay a finger on Edward, and you will not even find my ashes, let alone my wolf," I warned Zen, fixing him with a dangerous stare.

Zen seemed taken aback by the intense hatred in my eyes. A lot had transpired between us since our first encounter in the pack kitchen. Despite sharing the bond of mates, we remained strangers to each other.

However, regardless of Zen's treatment of me, he had never seen such disdain in my eyes before. Perhaps, the venomous glare reflected in my eyes momentarily shook him. He clenched his fists.

"Like hell, you will get fire for that," Zen said calmly.

Claire quietly savored the drama, standing by Zen's side as he took her hand and led her towards the throne.

Excited howls erupted from our pack's wolves as the guards lifted my body onto the platform and restrained Edward once more. Meanwhile, the oracle began the rituals to separate my wolf from my body.

Desperately scanning the arena, I couldn't spot Alex anywhere. Suddenly, the chaotic atmosphere was hushed as the war drums' thunderous beat echoed through the air.

Confused glances were exchanged among the spectators as a wicked smirk adorned the lips of the official from the moon pack. Zen seemed to have completely overlooked the imminent issue before him.

However, it was a war break with the Sapphires. There was no reason for them to violate the truce. Zen stared in confusion towards the direction from which the war bell rang, the sound drawing nearer to our pack.

"Where is the man from the pack of the deceased alpha female?" Zen yelled, abruptly turning to the guards.

The corpse of the brunette suddenly vanished, along with the officials who accompanied her. They seized the opportunity to escape when Zen became distracted by the war drums.

Lights flickered in the distance, piercing the darkness of the night like thousands of fireflies. With no moon in the sky, a misty hue enveloped the entire arena.

As the clouds dispersed, a sea of wolves appeared at the edge of the pack. The spectators from the allied packs were also nowhere to be found in the arena.

There was no way the Allied forces could have attacked us without preplanning. Perhaps the conclave and the alpha female were merely distractions while they prepared to strike our pack.

Only a few foreign wolves from farming packs remained in the arena. Chaos erupted as everyone grasped the gravity of the situation and attempted to evacuate the arena simultaneously.

Our pack consisted of barely three thousand wolves, with around two thousand fighters. The allies outnumbered us tenfold, and to worsen matters, they had initiated a war against us as well.

"I can't believe they broke the alliance and attacked us," Zen muttered, rage flickering in his eyes.

A storm of thoughts raced through my mind. It was clear our pack couldn't survive this onslaught—the enemy had breached our defense line.

We had little time left. It was now or never to escape this pack with Edward. I speculated that the Sapphires were unaware of the situation. If they had joined forces with the allies, the army would be much larger.

Moreover, many packs in the alliance had conflicts with the Sapphires, making it unlikely for them to unite.

"You shouldn’t have killed the girl," the oracle said to Claire.

"What?" Claire retorted, scowling. "You think they broke the alliance over a dead body? Are you blind? They wanted this—they planned it. They killed their alpha princess to gain an advantage over us."

Turning to Zen, Claire continued, "They're rebelling against you. They want a new war commander, Zen."

"We have to act, Claire," Zen said, fists clenched. "We can't wait for them to come and kill us."

"I can help you get out of this," I interjected, grabbing everyone's attention.