Chapter 11 - the voice
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Chapter Eleven
The Voice
“She spoke to you.”
Ronan’s words echoed in the stunned silence.
Every Alpha on the terrace turned towards him.
The High Judge’s face had gone deathly pale.
“What did you say?” she demanded.
Ronan didn’t take his eyes off me.
“She heard the Queen.”
The Judge shook her head.
“No.”
“It’s impossible.”
“The prison is warded.”
“The Queen cannot communicate beyond it.”
“I know what I heard,” I whispered.
My voice barely sounded like my own.
“She told me to…”
I swallowed.
“…find her.”
The marble terrace erupted.
“No!”
“The seal is weakening.”
“She shouldn’t be able to reach the girl.”
The twelve Alpha Kings spoke over one another until the Judge slammed her staff against the stone.
“Enough.”
Silence fell instantly.
Her icy gaze settled on me.
“What exactly did you hear?”
“I…”
I hesitated.
Should I tell them?
Something deep inside me whispered…
No.
For the first time since all of this began, I listened to my own instincts.
“Nothing else.”
The Judge studied me for a long moment.
I had the unsettling feeling she knew I wasn’t telling the whole truth.
But she couldn’t prove it.
Finally, she stepped back.
“The hearing will continue.”
“Hearing?”
I frowned.
“What hearing?”
Rowan looked away.
My stomach sank.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
No one answered.
Again.
Anger flared through me.
“I am so tired of everyone deciding what I deserve to know!”
The wind around the terrace stirred.
A few loose leaves lifted into the air.
Ronan noticed immediately.
“So did the Judge.
Interesting.
The Moonborn’s emotions weren’t just emotions.
They affected the world around her.
The High Judge folded her hands neatly before her.
“Isla Hart.”
Her voice carried effortlessly across the terrace.
“The Alpha Council will now determine your future.”
Every instinct screamed at me to run.
“My future?”
“You are the last surviving Moonborn.”
“Your existence affects every pack.”
“Therefore…”
She paused.
“…you cannot simply choose where you wish to live.”
The words hit me harder than I expected.
“I can’t what?”
“You belong to every pack.”
Something inside me snapped.
“No.”
The single word came out stronger than I intended.
The Judge blinked.
“I beg your pardon?”
“I don’t belong to anyone.”
A murmur swept through the crowd.
The Judge remained perfectly composed.
“You misunderstand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
I took one step forward.
“I have spent twenty-four years being told who I should be.”
“Then yesterday…”
I looked directly at Kael.
“…I was publicly rejected.”
My voice shook.
“Today I’ve discovered my mother is alive.”
“Apparently I’m some mythical bloodline.”
“And now you’re telling me I belong to people I’ve never even met?”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“I’m done belonging to everyone else.”
For several long seconds…
No one spoke.
Then—
Someone clapped.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Every head turned.
Cassian.
He lowered his hands with a grin.
“I liked that speech.”
“Cassian,” the Judge warned.
“What?”
He shrugged.
“She’s right.”
“You cannot seriously—”
“I’m absolutely serious.”
He leaned back in his chair.
“Last I checked…”
“…women weren’t property.”
Several older Alphas shifted uncomfortably.
One of them muttered,
“Traditions exist for a reason.”
Cassian laughed.
“So did arranged executions.”
“We stopped doing those.”
The older Alpha glared.
Ronan remained silent.
Watching.
Listening.
Waiting.
The Judge turned to him.
“And you?”
“Do you support this?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
Instead…
He looked at me.
Not as the Moonborn.
Not as a prophecy.
Just…
Me.
Then he spoke.
“I support whatever she chooses.”
Something warm spread through my chest.
The Judge noticed.
“So.”
Her expression hardened.
“You intend to claim her.”
The entire terrace seemed to freeze.
Ronan’s answer came without hesitation.
“No.”
Confusion rippled across the gathering.
“No?”
He shook his head.
“I intend to protect her.”
“There is a difference.”
The Judge narrowed her eyes.
“You expect us to believe your interest is entirely honourable?”
Ronan’s jaw tightened.
“I loved her mother.”
“I failed to save her.”
“I will not fail her daughter.”
There wasn’t an ounce of hesitation in his voice.
No hidden meaning.
No flirtation.
Just quiet certainty.
For reasons I couldn’t explain…
It made my eyes sting.
⸻
Kael hadn’t spoken once during the hearing.
Not once.
He’d stood behind the Council, listening.
Watching.
Punishing himself.
Because every word Isla spoke…
Every tear she fought back…
Every ounce of fear she carried…
Was because of him.
He’d done this.
No prophecy.
No conspiracy.
No forged evidence changed that.
He had chosen not to trust the woman he loved.
The realisation hollowed him out.
Then…
He noticed something.
Marcus.
Hidden among the Council guards.
Only for a second.
A hood covered most of his face.
But Kael would recognise his former Beta anywhere.
Marcus smiled.
A slow…
Satisfied smile.
Then disappeared into the crowd.
Kael’s blood ran cold.
He wasn’t running anymore.
He was reporting.
To someone powerful enough to stand within the Alpha Council itself.
Someone…
Who had orchestrated everything from the very beginning.
Kael stepped forward.
“My Lady Judge.”
Every eye turned to him.
“I have evidence.”
The Judge looked annoyed.
“This is hardly the time.”
“It concerns the conspiracy against the Moonborn.”
That got everyone’s attention.
Kael’s gaze swept across the twelve Alpha Kings.
One of them.
One of the most powerful rulers in the werewolf world…
Was working with Marcus.
He could feel it.
He just didn’t know which one.
“I believe…”
His voice echoed across the silent terrace.
“…the traitor isn’t hiding outside this Council.”
He looked each Alpha directly in the eye.
“I believe they’re sitting among us.”
The silence that followed was deafening.
Then, from somewhere within the gathered crowd…
Someone laughed.
A low.
Amused.
Dangerously familiar laugh.
Ronan’s entire body went rigid.
“No…”
He whispered.
“It can’t be.”
A tall man dressed entirely in white stepped out from the crowd.
His smile was flawless.
His eyes…
Completely black.
“Hello, old friend.”
He looked directly at Ronan.
“I’ve waited a very long time for this reunion.”
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