Chapter 274

Chapter 274
 Mia's POV

The emergency council meeting I'd called was packed with every major alpha in the region. The grand council chamber buzzed with nervous energy as pack leaders filed in, their expressions ranging from curious to hostile. When Liam entered with his remaining loyal pack members, the temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees.

"Is this a joke?" Alpha Richardson demanded, pointing at Liam. "You brought the leader of the Shadowmoon Pack here? After everything that's happened?"

"Sit down," I said, my voice carrying the full authority of the Supreme Luna. "All of you, sit down and listen."

The room fell silent, though the hostility toward Liam remained palpable.

"Yesterday, we uncovered the truth about the rogue organization that's been terrorizing our community for twenty years," I began. "The leader wasn't Liam. It was his beta, Marcus Blackwood, who has been executed for his crimes."

"Convenient," Alpha Chen muttered. "The beta takes the fall while the alpha walks free."

"Nothing about this is convenient," I snapped. "And before any of you start pointing fingers, let me remind you of something important - this entire nightmare started because of you."

The accusation hung in the air like a thunderclap.

"Twenty years ago, the Shadowmoon Pack was framed for a series of brutal attacks," I continued, my voice hard. "The evidence was circumstantial at best, but instead of conducting a thorough investigation, you all rushed to judgment. You branded an entire pack as monsters and drove them into exile."

"The evidence pointed to them," Alpha Volkov protested weakly.

"The evidence was manufactured by Marcus Blackwood," I corrected. "He admitted as much before his execution. He framed his own pack, let them suffer for crimes they didn't commit, all while building his criminal empire in the shadows."

I let that sink in before continuing. "But here's the part you all need to understand - if you had done your jobs properly twenty years ago, if you had investigated fairly instead of jumping to conclusions, Marcus would never have been able to operate unchecked for two decades. Innocent people died because of your negligence and prejudice."

The shame on their faces was evident now. Good. They deserved to feel ashamed.

"Liam and his pack spent twenty years being hunted, rejected, and treated like criminals," I said, gesturing to where Liam sat with his head held high despite the scrutiny. "They lost pack members, resources, their place in werewolf society - all for crimes they didn't commit. And what did that suffering create? It created the perfect environment for someone like Marcus to twist their pain into justification for atrocities."

"We had no way of knowing-" Alpha Richardson started.

"You had every way of knowing," I interrupted. "You chose not to look. You chose the easy answer over the right one. And now we're all paying the price for your failure."

The room was dead silent now.

"Therefore," I continued, "by the authority vested in me as Supreme Luna, I am ordering every alpha in this chamber to personally visit the Shadowmoon Pack and apologize for the injustice done to them. You will publicly acknowledge their innocence and work with me to restore their standing in the werewolf community."

"That's unprecedented," someone protested.

"So was condemning an innocent pack to twenty years of exile," I replied coldly. "You created this mess. Now you're going to help clean it up."

After several more minutes of discussion and reluctant agreement, I dismissed the council. The alphas filed out, most of them avoiding eye contact with Liam as they passed.

When the room had mostly cleared, Liam approached me. His eyes were red-rimmed from lack of sleep and grief, but there was something lighter in his expression - like a weight had been lifted.

"Thank you," he said quietly. "For believing in me when no one else would."

"I didn't do it for you," I replied, though my tone was gentle. "I did it because it was right."

"I know. That's one of the things I love most about you." He took a deep breath. "Mia, I know I've made terrible mistakes. I know I hurt you, scared you, crossed lines that shouldn't have been crossed. But I want you to know that you've been a light in my darkness. You showed me that there's still good in this world, still people worth fighting for."

My chest tightened with emotion. "Liam-"

"I'm not giving up on you," he said firmly. "I'm not going to pressure you or manipulate you or do any of the destructive things I did before. But I'm also not going to pretend I don't have feelings for you. You deserve to know that I love you, and I'll wait as long as it takes for you to figure out what you want."

Before I could respond, Xavier, Nathan, Sean, and Rolex appeared at my side.

"She's ours," Xavier said, his voice carrying an edge of warning. "Not yours, not anyone else's. Ours."

"I think that's for Mia to decide," Liam replied calmly.

"Boys," I said firmly, "can we not do this right now? We just survived a war. Can we have one day without territorial posturing?"

Liam smiled slightly. "Of course. I should get back to my pack anyway. They need me." He gave me one last meaningful look before walking away.

Once he was gone, I turned to face the brothers. "We need to talk. All of us."

"Agreed," Nathan said. "But first, there's something we need to show you."

They led me to a secure holding area where three people were being detained - the girl their cousins had brought to "help" with the investigation, and the two cousins themselves.

The sight of them made anger flare through me. These were the people who had humiliated me, made me feel worthless, convinced me that I wasn't enough for my own mates.

"We found evidence that they were working with Marcus," Sean explained. "The girl was feeding him information about our movements and our relationship with you. The cousins knew about it and facilitated the whole thing."

"Why?" I asked, staring at the three prisoners.

"Money," Xavier said disgustedly. "Marcus paid them to create chaos in our relationship, to keep us distracted and destabilized."

The girl looked defiant, but the cousins were pale with fear. They knew what they'd done, and they knew what it had cost.

"Supreme Luna," one of the cousins stammered, "we didn't know it would go this far. We thought-"

"You thought you'd make some easy money by destroying someone's life," I finished coldly.

As Supreme Luna, I had the authority to pass judgment on crimes against the werewolf community. And these three had certainly committed such crimes.

"For your crimes of conspiracy, betrayal, and facilitating the suffering of innocent werewolves," I said, my voice carrying the weight of judgment, "I strip you of your wolf spirits."

Gasps echoed through the room. Stripping someone of their wolf was the ultimate punishment, leaving them weaker than humans, unable to ever shift or heal or connect with a pack again.

"You will serve twenty years in werewolf prison," I continued, "after which you will be released as rogues - pack-less, wolf-less, and marked as criminals for the rest of your lives. You will be living reminders of what happens to those who betray their own kind."

The girl screamed as the ancient magic I invoked began to tear the wolf from her soul. The cousins fell to their knees, sobbing and begging for mercy.

But I felt nothing but cold satisfaction as I watched. These people had hurt me at my most vulnerable. They'd contributed to years of pain and suffering. And now, finally, they would pay the price.

This is my revenge. Not violence, not death, but justice. They'll live long lives knowing what they lost, what they destroyed, including themselves.

When it was done, when all three were reduced to barely-human shells, I turned to the brothers.

"Now we can talk," I said. "About everything."