Chapter 157 Chapter 157

Chapter 157 Chapter 157
Taylor's POV

Dad arrived at the palace three days later, exactly as promised, a worn leather satchel clutched tight against his chest, his face weathered from years spent chasing shadows across the territory.

I ran to him the second he stepped through the gates, and he pulled me into a hug that felt like it had been waiting twenty years to happen.

"You're safe," he said, his voice rough with emotion.

"You're actually safe."

"I am," I said, tears streaming freely now. "You're finally home."

Mom, still weak but steady enough to sit up in a wheelchair Maria had insisted on for the reunion, watched from a few feet away, her own tears matching mine.

Dad went to her immediately, kneeling beside the chair, taking her hands gently.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered. "For everything and for all the years I missed."

"You're here now," she said, echoing the same words she'd offered me days earlier.

"That's what matters."



The relief of that reunion lasted exactly one evening before the weight of everything else came crashing back.

Dad met with the council the next morning, the severance text finally laid out fully for the first time in decades, ancient pages carefully preserved despite their age.

Hunter, Asher, Maria, and I sat in on the meeting, tension thick in the room as the council's oldest members pored over the documents.

"This confirms everything we suspected," one of the elders said finally, looking up from the pages.

"A true severance is possible. Taylor's power could be permanently separated from the covenant's ancient pull, ending the risk of anyone ever weaponizing it again."

Relief flooded through me, real and warm for the first time in longer than I could remember.

Then Dad spoke again, his voice careful, hesitant in a way that immediately worried me.

"There's something else in these records," he said slowly.

"Something I only fully understood once I finally translated the oldest sections properly."

"What is it?" the Alpha King asked, still weak from his accident but present for the meeting despite his healers' objections.

"Taylor's bloodline," Dad said, his eyes finding mine with something apologetic already written across his face.

"It doesn't simply carry a strong connection to the covenant. It descends directly from the original wolf line the entire covenant sprang from, centuries before any ruling family, before any Alpha throne existed at all."

The room went quiet.

"That doesn't sound like bad news," Hunter said slowly.

"It should be remarkable news," Dad agreed.

"Except for one detail buried in the oldest law texts alongside it." He hesitated, clearly reluctant to continue.

"An ancient pack law, established specifically to prevent exactly the kind of power concentration Kessler and Yvaine both sought. It forbids anyone from that original bloodline from mating into the ruling family."

My stomach dropped straight through the floor.

"That can't apply to her," Asher said immediately, his voice sharp with alarm. "That law is centuries old. Surely it doesn't still hold weight now."

"Old law remains binding unless formally overturned," one of the elders said gravely.

"And this particular statute was never repealed, simply forgotten, because nobody realized a bloodline like Taylor's still existed to trigger it."

"So what does that mean," I asked with, my voice shaking.

"For me, for Asher and f k any of this."

The Alpha King's expression turned grave.

"It means, as written, you are not considered fit to mate into the succession line," he said quietly.

"Not by blood, not by status. The law exists to prevent the original bloodline's power from ever merging directly with ruling authority again."

The room felt like it was closing in around me.

"This is insane," Asher said, standing fast, fury cutting sharp through his voice.

"She's not some ancient threat to be managed. She's the reason half this territory is even still standing after everything Kessler and Yvaine tried to do."

"I understand your anger," the Alpha King said gently.

"I share it, but law is law, Asher, until it's formally changed."

"Then change it," Asher said. "You're still the Alpha King. Overturn it."

"I intend to," the Alpha King said, his voice steady despite his obvious exhaustion

"As one of my final acts before formally stepping down. But overturning ancient law isn't something I can simply declare alone. The council must vote to accept the change."

"And if they refuse," I asked quietly, already dreading the answer.

"Then the law stands," the elder said simply.

"Regardless of personal feeling, regardless of everything Taylor has sacrificed for this pack."



I sat outside the council chamber afterward, numb, Asher pacing furiously beside me while Hunter sat quietly nearby, his own expression torn between anger and helpless frustration.

"This isn't fair," Asher said, stopping in front of me, kneeling down to take my hands.

"After everything you've survived, some old law written centuries ago doesn't get to decide whether we're allowed to be together."

"I know," I said, my voice hollow. "But it might, Asher. If the council refuses to overturn it."

"Then we fight it," he said fiercely. "Whatever it takes."

Hunter spoke up quietly from where he sat. "For what it's worth," he said,

"I'll stand with you both on this. Whatever's happened between the three of us, this isn't right. You've given everything to protect this pack, Taylor. Punishing you for the very bloodline that made that possible is exactly the kind of thinking Kessler and Yvaine both used to justify their own cruelty."

"Thank you," I said quietly, grateful despite everything for his steady support.

Dad found me a while later, guilt written heavy across his weathered face.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I should have found a gentler way to reveal that. I didn't realize until I was already standing in that room how much pain the truth would cause."

"It's not your fault," I said, though the ache in my chest didn't fully believe it yes

"You spent twenty years chasing answers to protect me. You couldn't have known this particular one would hurt this much."

He pulled me into a hug, and I let myself lean into it, exhausted by everything this endless year kept demanding of me.

"The council votes in three days," Maria said, joining us quietly.

"The Alpha King's already preparing his argument for overturning the law. It won't be easy. Some of the older members hold tightly to tradition, especially tradition that reinforces their own authority."

"Three days," I echoed, the number settling heavy over everything else already weighing on my chest.

Asher took my hand firmly, his eyes steady despite the fear and fury still evident beneath the surface. "Three days," he repeated.

"Then we make sure they understand exactly what kind of mistake they'd be making, choosing old fear over everything you've actually proven yourself to be."

I held onto his hand tightly, grateful for his certainty even as my own heart ached with doubt, and understood that after everything.

After Dorian, Kessler, Yvaine, and every sacrifice made along the way, my future with the person I loved most now rested in the hands of a council vote decided by people who'd never once stood beside me in any of those battles.