Chapter 228 Chapter 228

Chapter 228 Chapter 228
Ellie

“My Queen…”

The words echoed through the courtyard, carried on the cool breeze that swept across the Alpha compound.

“…welcome home.”

For one suspended heartbeat, no one moved.

No one even seemed to breathe.

Rain dripped steadily from the edge of the council building, pattering against the cracked stone beneath our feet, but it was the only sound I could hear. Every eye in the courtyard had shifted from Malachar to me, waiting for someone to explain what none of us understood.

Queen?

The word felt foreign.

Wrong.

I wasn’t a queen.

I had been an ordinary human girl less than a year ago. I baked cookies with my mom, worried about fitting in, and had no idea werewolves even existed. Somewhere along the way, I’d become the Moon-Blessed, the mate of three Alpha brothers, and now… apparently a queen?

I shook my head slowly.

“I think you have the wrong person.”

A faint smile touched Malachar’s lips, almost as if I’d said exactly what he’d expected.

“No, Ellie. You’ve simply been told the wrong story.”

Theo took one deliberate step in front of me, his broad shoulders blocking Malachar from view.

“You’re done.”

“I’ve barely begun.”

“You’ve said enough.”

“No.” Malachar’s voice remained unnervingly calm. “You’ve spent generations believing your ancestors were heroes. They weren’t. They were survivors who rewrote history to make themselves feel righteous.”

A murmur rippled through the gathered wolves.

Marcus’s jaw tightened.

“Watch your next words carefully.”

“I have for seven hundred years.”

That answer silenced the crowd.

Seven hundred years.

The number settled over us like another storm cloud. Even Rowan’s face had gone pale, and if there was one wolf I trusted to know the truth about our history, it was him.

Malachar slowly looked around the courtyard, taking in the warriors, the elders, the frightened families huddled behind the guards.

“I’ve watched generation after generation grow up believing the same lie. I told myself it wasn’t their fault. Children only know what they’re taught.” His silver eye found mine again. “But eventually, the truth demands to be heard.”

“The truth?” Blake snapped. “You burn one of our watchtowers and expect us to believe you’re here for a history lesson?”

For the first time, Malachar’s expression hardened.

“I didn’t burn your tower.”

The confidence in his voice made something twist inside my stomach.

“If it wasn’t you…” Sebastian said quietly.

Malachar’s gaze shifted toward the ancient forest beyond the compound.

“They’re already here.”

The words had barely left his mouth when the first howl split the afternoon.

Long.

Deep.

Not one wolf.

Dozens.

Then another answered.

And another.

The sound rolled through the forest until it became impossible to tell where one howl ended and the next began.

Every warrior in the courtyard turned toward the tree line.

The air itself seemed to grow heavier.

Marcus’s voice thundered across the square.

“Battle positions! Get every civilian inside the bunkers! Move!”

The peaceful courtyard exploded into motion.

Warriors shifted as they ran, bones cracking and muscles stretching into massive wolves that bounded toward the edge of the compound. Mothers grabbed frightened children, elders hurried toward the underground shelters, and every alarm bell in the territory began ringing at once.

Theo spun toward us.

“Blake, Sebastian—protect Ellie.”

“I’m not leaving,” I argued immediately.

“I wasn’t asking.”

“I said I’m done hiding.”

“I know.”

His blue eyes locked onto mine, filled with a mixture of fear and determination.

“And that’s exactly why I need you alive.”

Another howl echoed much closer this time.

The tree line exploded with movement.

Dark wolves poured from the forest like a living tide.

There weren’t ten.

There weren’t twenty.

There were hundreds.

They raced across the open field toward the compound, their eyes glowing with unnatural silver light.

A warrior beside Marcus whispered the same thought every one of us was having.

“Moon Goddess…”

Marcus didn’t hesitate.

“Hold the line!”

The first clash came seconds later.

The sound of snarling wolves colliding shook the ground beneath my feet.

Claws tore through dirt.

Teeth snapped.

War cries mixed with agonized screams as the battle spread across the front of the compound.

I had never imagined war would sound like this.

It wasn’t glorious.

It was chaos.

Raw.

Terrifying.

A young warrior barely older than I was stumbled backward with blood running down his arm before another wolf caught him from behind. Two more rushed in to help, disappearing beneath a blur of fur and flashing teeth.

Everywhere I looked, someone was fighting for someone they loved.

“Theo!”

I shouted as one rogue lunged toward him.

He turned just in time, shifting in the same movement. His enormous white wolf crashed into the attacker, sending both of them tumbling across the soaked ground.

Blake’s wolf barreled through three rogues at once, refusing to give them a chance to reach the families still retreating toward the shelters.

Sebastian moved differently.

Quieter.

More precise.

He slipped through the battle like a shadow, dropping one enemy before they even realized he was there.

Then…

Malachar walked.

He didn’t run.

He didn’t shift.

He simply walked through the middle of the battlefield while wolves fought and died all around him.

Not a single rogue attacked him.

Not one.

It was as if they instinctively moved aside to let him pass.

His eyes never left me.

“I hoped,” he called over the sounds of battle, “that it wouldn’t come to this.”

“You call this peace?” I yelled back.

“No.”

His expression was unexpectedly sad.

“I call this inevitable.”

He lifted one hand.

The pendant beneath my shirt suddenly burned against my skin.

Pain shot through my chest.

I cried out, dropping to one knee.

“Ellie!”

Three voices shouted my name at once.

The pendant glowed so brightly beneath my shirt that the light shone through the fabric.

Images flooded my mind.

A woman with silver eyes placing the pendant around another young woman’s neck.

An ancient throne carved from white stone.

Three wolves kneeling.

Blood on marble.

Fire.

A promise.

“When darkness rises again… our daughter will finish what we could not.”

The vision vanished as quickly as it had come.

I looked up, gasping for air.

Malachar was standing much closer now.

Only a few yards separated us.

His silver eye held mine.

“You remember.”

“No…”

But even as I denied it…

I knew.

Not everything.

Not yet.

But enough to understand one horrifying truth.

This battle wasn’t beginning today.

It had begun centuries ago.

And somehow…

I had always been meant to finish it.

Malachar slowly extended his hand toward me.

“Come willingly, Ellie.”

His voice softened.

“And I swear no more wolves have to die.”

Around us, the battle raged.

Theo had just forced back three rogues.

Blake was bleeding from a deep gash across his shoulder.

Sebastian was surrounded.

Marcus roared as he threw another attacker away from the bunker entrance.

Everyone…

Everyone was fighting because of me.

Tears blurred my vision.

For the first time since this nightmare began…

I realized the decision that would change everything rested with me alone.

And whatever choice I made next…

Would decide the fate of every wolf I had come to love.