Chapter 173

Chapter 173
{Lisa’s POV}

The hall had gone tense the moment Lena stepped forward. I had thought her arrival was already enough to send chills through me, but watching her being granted an audience was another wound altogether.

She carried herself like she belonged here, her stride deliberate, her chin tipped up with smug confidence. She looked at the Elders as though she had them wrapped around her little finger. Which she probably did… But I thought all of those working with or for Lucien were dead?

My stomach twisted as she opened her mouth.

“One of the top candidates has forfeited by breaking the rules,” she declared. Her voice rang out clear, carrying above the whispers that had already begun. “And I have brought proof.”

My hands balled into fists on my lap. My instincts screamed at me to stand, to shout her down, but before I could move Ronan’s hand came to rest gently on my knee. The weight of it was grounding. I turned slightly to look at him, and he shook his head once, his gaze steady and calm even though the air around him burned with restrained fury. We knew this would happen. He came prepared… but that didn't mean whatever Lena was about to say would be any less dangerous?

Sean and Colt walked and stood besides us. “So this is it, huh.”

Ronan sighed. “Indeed, it is.”

When I looked back at Lena, she was staring straight at me. Her eyes narrowed, and then flicked down to Ronan’s hand on me. For the briefest moment her composure cracked. Anger flashed in her gaze, and her lips pulled taut as if the sight alone offended her.

I almost smiled. Her jealousy gave me a strange, fleeting comfort.

It did not last.

“She is human,” Lena said abruptly.

With the way the crowd erupted. I knew there was nothing that could have prepared them for any of this. Gasps, curses, muttered exclamations surged all around me, filling the chamber like an anthem.

The Elder in the center raised his hand, there were just three of them. But he seemed like their head. 

His single action silenced the chaos instantly. His voice carried this undeniable weight of authority. “Are you certain of this claim, Lena? This is a gathering of wolves. To accuse the mate of an Alpha of being otherwise is no trivial matter.”

“I am certain. And I have proof.” Lena replied without flinching. 

Selena, who had been lingering at her side like a loyal shadow, stepped forward at that moment. She placed a folded paper into Lena’s hand. Lena strode forward and extended it to the Elder with an almost theatrical grace.

“This,” she said, “is a copy of the contract marriage between Ronan Stormrider and Lisa Hart. Her name is clearly there. She is not registered to any pack. Not a wolf. Not one of us.”

“Also,” she added. “There is a picture of the original. Found in Ronan’s own house. I believe that will remove all doubt that it is a forgery or fake. The copy was made by scanning both halves of the torn document.”

A tremor rippled through me. I had not realized I was shaking until Ronan’s arm wrapped firmly around my shoulders, pulling me closer into his side. His warmth steadied me, his scent surrounding me like a shield. I pressed into him, trying to draw strength from the calm steadiness that radiated from his frame.

But Lena was not finished.

She pulled her phone from her pocket, unlocking it with a flick of her thumb before holding it out. “And this is the original document,” she announced proudly, waving it toward the Elders.

The Elder took the phone, studying it with narrowed eyes. Murmurs flowed through the crowd again, suspicion and intrigue weaving together.

Selena stepped forward next, her voice smooth, almost rehearsed. “I was Lisa’s best friend. I knew her better than anyone. I can testify that she is not one of you. She never has been. And I am not the only one who can confirm this.”

My breath caught. I knew what was coming, but dread still knifed through me when Bryan stepped forward. He wore a self-satisfied smirk, puffing out his chest as though this was his long-awaited stage.

“My name is Bryan,” he began, his voice loud enough to carry. “I am Lisa’s ex-husband, the man she betrayed. She cheated on me, left me, and then married Ronan Stormrider. Not for love. Not for loyalty. But for power and wealth. That child she carries?” He jabbed a finger toward my stomach, his tone cruel. “It is a bastard. Not Ronan’s at all.”

The chamber exploded with sound. Outrage, disbelief, laughter, even cheers from Lucien’s side of the hall. Every sound clawed at my skin.

I moved to rise, to defend myself, but before I could even find my footing Ronan was no longer beside me.

In a blink he was across the space, standing chest to chest with Bryan. His presence filling the hall like wildfire.

“How dare you?” Ronan growled.

Bryan tried to smirk, tried to stand tall, but the color drained from his face under Ronan’s glare.

“How dare you speak of her that way? Of the mother of the child you discarded? Or did you forget how you aborted it without her knowledge?”

And before Bryan could respond, Ronan’s fist collided with his face.