Chapter 144 IN HONOR OF YOUR KING

Chapter 144 IN HONOR OF YOUR KING
MERRIELYNN.

Cormac was walking toward me and I couldn’t stop staring.
I tried to look him over andfind the injuries I knew had to be there. But there was so much blood covering every inch of his body that I couldn’t tell what was his and what had belonged to his father.
It coated his skin like paint. Dripped from his hair. Ran in rivulets down his chest and arms.
A guard came rushing over with a pair of pants clutched in his hands. Cormac took them without looking away from me. He pulled them on in one fluid motion, not bothering with the button, just letting them hang low on his hips.
As he moved closer to where the crowd was gathered, something changed in the air.
Like everyone suddenly remembered who he was now. What he’d just become.
One person bowed their head. Then another. Then another.
It spread through the crowd like a wave. Thousands of people bending their necks in submission. Acknowledging their new King.
Cormac walked through them like they weren’t even there. His eyes were locked on me and nothing else seemed to exist for him.
He reached me and I couldn’t hold myself together for another second.
Tears flooded my eyes so fast they immediately poured down my cheeks. He pulled me against his chest and I went willingly, crashing into him so hard I almost knocked us both over.
I didn’t care about the blood orthat it was soaking through my clothes and sticking to my skin.
“It’s over,” he said into my hair. His voice was completely wrecked. Raw and rough like he’d been screaming. “I love you. I’m here. You’re safe now.”
I sobbed into his chest.
I couldn’t stop or control it even though I knew thousands of people were watching, even though I knew this was supposed to be some kind of formal moment.
I just cried and cried, letting out everything I’d been holding in since they’d dragged me outour of his apartment yesterday.
I was absolutely certainI was going to die today.
Until he came for me.
All of it came pouring out and Cormac just held me through it. His arms were solid and warm around me. Anchoring me.
Then he looked down and saw the restraints still dangling from my wrists where the guard had only partially removed them.
His entire body went rigid. He reached down and grabbed the ropes with both hands. Then he ripped them apart like they were made of tissue paper instead of thick hemp.
The torn ends fell to the ground.
He pulled me back against his chest immediately and held me even tighter than before. Like he was trying to make up for every second I’d spent tied up and terrified.
After what felt like forever but was probably only minutes, he shifted us. Turned us around so he was facing the crowd and I was tucked safely against himwith my face still pressed into his chest.
I could feel him take a deep breath. Then his voice rang out across the square. Loud and clear and carrying that same Lycan authority his father had wielded so effortlessly.
“Everything my father told you today was a lie!"
The crowd stirred immediately.I imagined thousands of people shifting and whispering and exchanging confused looks.
“The death of my sisterwas a tragic accident,” Cormac continued. His voice was steady but I could feel the emotion underneath it. “Nothing more than that. The roads were covered in ice that nightand there was nothing anyone could have done to stop what happened. Merrielynn Fortner tried desperately to prevent theaccident because she was driving. She nearly died herself.”
His hand tightened on my shoulder. I felt his fingers press into my skin.
“My father lied to you,” Cormac said. “He needed someone to blame. Someone to punish. So he chose Merrielynn because it was easier than accepting that sometimes terrible things happen for no reason at all.”
The crowd was completely silent now, hanging on every word.
“As for the death of Valtor Bronxe,” Cormac’s voice went hard, cold as ice. “That death is on my hands. Not Merrielynn’s. I killed Valtor Bronxe.I executed him for the abduction, torture, and abuse of my mate. Crimes he committed over the course of months with the direct aid and participation of Princess Juniper of the Skai Wolves.”
Gasps rippled through the crowd like a rolling wave.
I felt Cormac’s jaw clench against the top of my head where he’d been resting his chin.
“Justice has already been delivered to Valtor Bronxe,” he said. “And justice will also be delivered to the Skai family. Effective immediately, Princess Juniper is exiled fromour realm. She will never be permitted to return. Her family will be spared, but given the choice to leave with her if they wish.”
He paused, letting the weight of those words settle over everyone.
Then he pressed a kiss to my forehead.
My hear wilted.
His lips were gentle and warm despite everything happening around us.
He slowly peeled me away from his chest. Just enough to tuck me against his side instead with his arm wrapped securely around my waist.
I could feel every eye in the square on us now.
“Alpha Bronxe,” Cormac called out. His voice carried across the entire space. “Step forward.”
The crowd shifted. People moved aside to create a path.
Valtor’s father emerged from the front row. He looked wary. His eyes kept darting between Cormac and the space behind the scaffold where the former King’s body must still be lying.
“My role in your son’s death has now been revealed,” Cormac said. His voice was formal but there was steel underneath it. “Under our laws, you have the right to seek retribution. If you wish to challenge me for taking Valtor’s life, I invite you to step forward now and make your claim.”
The entire square seemed to hold its breath.
I watched Alpha Bronxe’s face. Watched him stare at Cormac covered head to toe in blood that likely wasn’t his. Watched his eyes track to the broken railing wherehe processedexactly what Cormac had just done to his own father.
The calculation was obvious.
Cormac had just killed a King. He had torn apart a wolf with decades more experience in front of thousands of witnesses. He’d walked away from a fight that should have killed him.
Alpha Bronxe was smart enough to recognize a losing battle when he saw one.
He slowly shook his head. Then he bowed his neck in submission.
“No retribution is sought, Your Majesty,” he said. His voice carried clearly in the silence. “The matter is settled. I will mourn the death of my son in silence."
Cormac said simply, “Then we are in agreement.”
But there was reluctance running through every inch of him so potently that I could physically feel it.
And then Cormac said tightly, “The funeral arrangements will be handled by the palace. We will bury your son and mourn him with you.”
Oh Cormac.
He’d honor his best friend, even if he didn’t want to.
Reasons like that filled up the long list of why I loved him.
He turned his attention back to the crowd at large. His arm around my waist pulled me closer to his side.
“Merrielynn Fortner was sixteen years old when the accident happened,” Cormac said. His voice had shifted again. Softer now but no less commanding. “She lost her best friend that night. She was traumatized. She needed time to heal. Time to grieve.”
I could feel the emotion building in his chest where I was pressed against him.
“Instead of giving her that time,” he continued, “your former King sent her away. Exiled her to the edges of our territory where she would be forgotten. Where she would have no support. No family. No one to help her process what had happened.”
His voice got harder. “Then he executed her father. He made Otto Fortner take the blame for a crime he didn’t commit. He killed a good man and a loyal Beta. Someone who had served this pack faithfully for years.”
The crowd was so silent I could hear the wind moving through the square.
“And now, years later,” Cormac said, “after Merrielynn had finally begun to build some semblance of a life, your former King decided she needed to die. He conspired with Valtor Bronxe. He helped orchestrate her kidnapping and torture. And he brought her here today to execute her in front of all of you for crimes she never committed.”
I felt tears sliding down my cheeks again but I didn’t wipe them away.
“I promise you all now,” Cormac said, and his voice rang with absolute conviction, “I will never be that kind of King. I will not rule through fear. I will not punish the innocent. I will not sacrifice good people to serve my own narrative.”
He paused long enough to let the statement breathe.
“Our youth will be protected,” he continued. “Always. Our laws will be applied fairly. Justice will be true and honest, not twisted to serve whoever holds power. And no member of this pack will ever be punished for accidents or crimes they did not commit.”
The crowd was still completely silent but I could feel something shifting. Some kind of energy building.
“I will earn your respect through my actions,” Cormac said. “Not demand it through violence or intimidation. I will protect every member of this pack with everything I have. And I will be the King my sister would have wanted me to be.”His voice cracked slightly on that last sentence.
He took a breath to steady himself.“I will be better than my father,” he said quietly. But his voice still carried to every corner of the square. “I have to be.”
Then he slowly pulled me from his side and turned me to face the crowd. His hands settled on my shoulders, grounding me.
“And now,” he said, and I could hear the shift in his tone. Something softer that sounded almost like pride. “I want to introduce you all to someone very important.”
My heart was pounding so hard I thought everyone must be able to hear it.
“This is Merrielynn Fortner,” Cormac said. “My mate. The person who survived more than any of you know and came out the other side stronger for it.”
He paused.
“Your new Luna.”
The crowd erupted.
It wasn’t anger. It wasn’t protest or objection.
It was celebration.
People cheered and shouted congratulations and bowed their heads in respect. The sound was deafening. Overwhelming.
I stood there in complete shock with tears still streaming down my face while Cormac’s hands stayed steady on my shoulders.
He leaned down, his lips brushing against my ear.
“I told you I’d come for you,” he whispered, just for me. “I’ll always come for you.”
Then he turned me around to face him, and he kissed me right there in front of the entire realm. In front of thousands of people who were cheering and celebrating.
He kissed me like we were the only two people left in the world.
And in all truth, it felt like we were.