Chapter 4
1168 Words
Kira
The conclave was supposed to be proof of power.
So I needed their permission before I could carry out the final testing on him.
"You'll need their permission first before you can do anything"
That was what Declan said in a low hollow voice.
"But they insist that I must be okay before or pretend to be okay before the actual time address the rivals"
"But it's wrong. You're not strong enough"
I said with all honesty. But when I asked the elders they refused.
"The elders insist on it. That is what the rival packs are coming to see. An Alpha standing tall, unchallenged, his authority unbroken. So his end was near."
At that point my heart gave in. I could see the struggle in him. He was so close to death yet the only thing they wanted was a strong Alpha.
My wolf whimpered within me
They refused to help him. Instead, they watched him fall.
When the day came, I stood at the corner watching everything unfold.
It happened while he was speaking. His voice tightened first. Not with anger, but with strain.
I noticed because I was watching his breathing, not his stamina. His hand gripped the stone table too hard.
His knuckles were pale. I stepped forward without thinking. Declan shook his head at once. A warning.
Then his legs give out. The sound of his body hitting the floor echoes through the hall.
The room went silent in a way that felt wrong. Not respectful but hungry and disgusting.
Several pack members rushed forward. Others stay seated. The elders exchanged looks they didn't try to hide.
“Get back”
One of the guards snaps, pushing people away.
Declan coughs, harsh and wet. His wolf flickers at the edge of my senses, unstable and panicked. This is not exhaustion. This is collapse.
Not with my control but in the instinct of my wolf, I ran to his aid.
“Alpha”
Someone calls.
“Can you hear me?”
Declan tries to rise. He fails. His breathing stutters.
The rival Alpha steps forward before anyone invites him. He is tall, gray-haired, and confident. He smells of control and old rules.
“This is your strength?”
He asks calmly.
“You call a conclave and show us this?”
Murmurs spread through the hall.
“He’s sick,”
Someone says.
“And hiding it"
The rival Alpha replies.
“For how long?”
Eyes turn to me. I felt it then. The moment shifting. This is no longer a medical emergency. This is a challenge.
“Kira"
An elder says sharply.
“Help him.”
I kneel beside Declan. My hand hovers over his chest. I know what to do. I have known for days. The final treatment sits ready in my bag, sealed and waiting.
This is the moment fate expects me to act quietly. But I do not.
“Not yet,” I say.
The elder stiffens.
“What do you mean, not yet?”
Declan looks at me. His eyes are clear despite the pain. He understands.
“You said he was healed,”
The rival Alpha says.
“You lied to us.”
“I said he was stable,” I replied. “There’s a difference.”
The murmurs grow louder.
“Why is the Alpha of Ashford hiding illness?”
Another Alpha asks.
“What else is he hiding?”
Declan pushes himself upright enough to sit. His voice is rough when he speaks.
“Enough.”
The room quiets, but only barely.
“I allowed this,”
He says.
“Every part of it.”
An elder snaps,
"Declan, this is not the time."
“It is exactly the time,”
He answers. He looks around the hall. At the pack. At the rivals. At the elders who built him into what he became.
“I was rejected,”
He says. Gasps ripple through the room.
“The mate bond broke under my authority. I allowed it to happen. I called it necessary. I called it strength.”
Someone shouts,
“You protected the pack!”
Declan shakes his head slowly.
“I protected dominance.”
I stay silent. This is his reckoning, not mine.
“The hybrids,” he continued.
“The experiments. The forced breeding. The disappearances. I knew. I approved. I told myself fear kept order.”
The rival Alpha smiles faintly.
“And now your wolf is dying because of it.”
“Yes,”
Declan says
"Because I let fear build my power.”
An elder steps forward.
“You will stop this now. You will command silence.”
Declan looks at him.
“I won’t.”
That lands harder than his collapse.
“I step down,”
Declan says.
“As absolute Alpha.”
The hall erupts.
“That’s impossible.”
“You can’t do that.”
“The land—”
“The land will adapt,” Declan says. “It already is.”
I felt it then. A shift beneath my feet. Not violent. Careful. The mate bond tightens slightly, not from instinct, but from choice. The pressure eases.
The rival Alpha’s smile fades.
“You weaken us all,”
he says.
“No,”
Declan replies.
“I stopped pretending.”
Silence returns, thick and stunned.
I move then.
“This is your last chance,”
I tell Declan quietly.
“The treatment will change you.”
“I know,”
he says.
“It will strip forced dominance. Your wolf will fight it.”
“I know.”
“You could die.”
He meets my eyes.
“Then don’t let me submit. Anchor me.”
I take out the injector. The room tenses.
“What are you doing?”
an elder demands.
“Ending this,”
I say
The moment the treatment enters his system, Declan screams. His body arches, muscles locking. His wolf surges, panicked and furious. The dominance aura flares wildly, then fractures.
“Hold him down!”
someone shouts.
“No,” I snapped.
“Let him fight.”
I brace him with my body, steady and firm. Not forcing. Not yielding.
“Stay with me,” I say into his ear. “Breathe.”
“I can’t,”
He gasps.
“Yes, you can. You choose to.”
His heartbeat stutters. Then it slows. Then stutters again.
The wolf resists, tearing at the change. It was built on fear. On control taken, not earned.
I do not promise him anything. I do not forgive him.
I hold him because the cure requires it.
Minutes pass. Maybe more. Time blurs.
Then his body goes still.
Someone whispers.
“Is he dead?”
I press my hand to his chest.
“There,” I say. “That’s it.”
Declan breathes. Shallow, but real.
When he opens his eyes, the pressure in the room is gone.
The pack feels it. So do I. Declan lives.
But the Alpha he was does not.
- Writer
