Chapter 144 The Ceremony
Jolie POV
Wait. I stop halfway down the hallway, confusion flooding through me.
"What's wrong?" Ryder turns back, hand already on his weapon.
"We're..." I look around the compound, at tactical gear and weapons and maps planning the Montana raid. "We're not going to Montana right now."
"We're not?" He looks as confused as I feel.
Then memory crashes back properly, not the Montana raid. That's tomorrow night after we finish preparations. Right now—right now we're supposed to be at my father's finalized wedding.
"The ceremony." I press my hand to my forehead. "We escaped and spent all night planning and today is the actual legalized court white ceremony at Nightshade."
"You want to go back?" Ryder stares at me. "After everything that happened? After they tried to trap you, after Celeste's video, after."
"No." I cut him off. "I don't want to go back but I need to."
"Why?" Luna appears from the war room. "What possible reason could you have for returning to hostile territory?"
I sink onto the nearest chair, trying to sort through tangled thoughts and emotions."Because if I don't show up, it proves everything they said about me." The words come slowly. "That I'm weak. That I run from conflict, that I can't handle seeing my father with someone else."
"Who cares what they think?" Gio joins us. "You know the truth. We know the truth, let them believe whatever they want."
"It's not about what they believe." I try to explain. "It's about what message we send. If the Moonfire Luna can be chased away by one humiliating breakfast, how am I supposed to lead a coalition against Council facilities? How do other wolves trust me to stand firm when things get hard?"
"You're not seriously considering this." Ryder crouches in front of me. "Going back to the estate where guards tried to detain you. Where they have blessed silver and Council operatives waiting."
"I'm seriously considering it." I meet his eyes. "Because running was tactical—we extracted under threat and regrouped. But not showing up today looks like fear, it looks like they broke me."
"They did break you." He says it gently. "I felt it through our bond. What Celeste did, the edited video, the trap—it hurt you deeply."
"It did." I don't deny it. "But I'm still standing, still fighting. And I need them to see that. Need every wolf at that ceremony to understand that the Moonfire Luna doesn't stay down."
"This is a terrible idea." Luna sits across from me. "Even if we provide security, even if we plan escape routes, you'll be walking into a trap voluntarily. The Council won't pass up another chance to take you."
"Then we make sure they can't." I stand, moving to the tactical maps. "We don't go as refugees this time, we go as a show of force."
"Explain." Ryder's voice is cautious.
"The last time we were isolated—just us and a few pack members in hostile territory." I trace routes on the map. "Today we bring backup, visible backup. Enough wolves that attacking us would mean open war."
"The three allied packs." Gio realizes. "You want to bring warriors from Redwood, Silverpine, and Nightrunner."
"And rogues." I add. "However, many Doc have managed to recruit. We show up to this ceremony with wolves at our back. Make it clear that touching the Moonfire Luna means fighting an army."
"That's provocative." Phoenix warns. "Your father will see it as a threat. Council operatives will report it as aggression."
"Good." My voice hardens. "Let them see it as a threat. Let them understand that I'm not a scared runaway anymore. I'm a Luna with a coalition backing me."
"You're talking about turning the ceremony into a military demonstration." Luna studies me carefully. "That's aggressive, public, and will make enemies."
"I already have enemies." I point out. "Might as well make sure they know I have allies too."
Ryder moves to the map, studying routes and positions. I can see him running tactical scenarios, evaluating risks.
"It could work." He says finally. "If we do it right. Show of force without actual violence. Demonstrate strength without triggering open conflict."
"How?" Cass asks from the doorway. He and Knox have been listening.
"We position warriors visibly around the estate perimeter." Ryder starts planning. "Not hiding, not threatening, just present. Anyone who wants to attack Jolie has to go through armed wolves first."
"And we make sure everyone knows they're there." Luna picks up the thread. "Send formal notification to Nightshade Pack. This is the Moonfire Luna's security detail, attending at her request, completely within her rights as visiting dignitary."
"Dignitary?" I raise an eyebrow.
"You destroyed the Elder Council and rewrote Council law." She shrugs. "That makes you at least as important as any traditional alpha so you get to bring security."
"Father will never allow armed wolves on Nightshade territory." Gio shakes his head. "He'll see it as an invasion."
"Then he can refuse our attendance." I say simply. "If he wants the Moonfire Luna at his official court ceremony, he accepts her security detail. If he doesn't want her security, he doesn't get her presence, his choice."
"He'll accept." Gio says with certainty. "Because having you there matters more than security concerns. He wants to show every alpha present that he's allied with divine power through marriage , so your presence validates that."
"Even after I tried to expose his bride?" I ask.
"Especially after that." He pulls up files on his laptop. "The way the Council is spinning it, you tried to manipulate Celeste and failed. That proves their conditioning works, proves divine wolves can be controlled, your presence at the wedding reinforces that narrative."
"So I'm walking into propaganda." I realize. "They'll use my attendance as proof that I've accepted defeat."
"Unless you change the narrative." Luna leans forward. "You don't attend as defeated Luna. You attend as the wolf who destroyed the Elder Council, bringing an army to her father's ceremony because she can. You make your presence a show of power, not submission."
"How?" I'm genuinely asking now.
"Body language, positioning, timing." She starts listing. "You don't sit meekly in the back. You take a prominent position where everyone can see you. You don't dress like a refugee. You dress like a Luna who could level this whole estate if she chose. You don't react to provocations, you smile like you know something they don't."
"Because I do know something they don't." Understanding dawns. "I know Celeste defected, I know about the Montana facility. I know we're planning raids that will destroy their operations."
"Exactly." Ryder grins. "You're not attending a wedding. You're conducting reconnaissance while they think you're being humiliated."