Mated To My Bullies

Chapter 17:The Pack’s Choice

The pack members who'd once viewed her with curiosity or sympathy now looked at her with suspicion and disgust. When she was allowed out of her cell for brief walks in the courtyard, wolves would cross to the other side of the path to avoid her. Children were hurried away when she appeared. The whispers followed her everywhere.

"I heard she killed twelve wolves with her bare hands and felt nothing."

"My cousin said she seduced all four brothers in a single night using witch potions."

"They say Marcus Wells trained her to be an assassin, and now she's working her way through the Blackwood family."

It was beautiful to watch. Maya's isolation became complete as the pack turned against her. Even the servants who brought her meals began to look at her with fear and revulsion.

But the real masterstroke came during a pack meeting two weeks after the dinner disaster. The topic was pack security and the recent threats from neighboring territories. I made sure to be present, sitting beside Stephen at the high table, the perfect picture of an alpha female ready to lead.

"The Eastern Pack has been making moves toward our hunting grounds," Alpha Marcus reported. "They seem to think our recent... difficulties... have left us vulnerable."

"What kind of difficulties?" I asked innocently, though I knew exactly what he meant.

Marcus glanced uncomfortably at Stephen. "The situation with the, ah, enhanced wolf. Word has spread that our future alphas have been compromised."

The room fell silent. This was the moment I'd been building toward, the perfect opportunity to force a public declaration.

"Compromised how?" Nathan asked, his voice carefully neutral.

"Other packs are questioning your judgment," Marcus replied bluntly. "They're saying you've allowed yourselves to be influenced by dark magic, that your decision-making has been compromised by unnatural bonds."

"That's ridiculous," Karl started, but I placed a gentle hand on his arm.

"Is it, though?" I asked softly. All eyes turned to me, and I felt the familiar thrill of having a room's complete attention. "I know you all care about Maya, and I respect that loyalty. But we have to ask ourselves, is this situation helping or hurting our pack?"

"What are you saying?" Elijah asked, tension clear in his voice.

I stood slowly, allowing my natural authority to fill the room. "I'm saying that leadership requires difficult choices. Sometimes we have to put the good of the pack above our personal desires." I looked around the table, meeting each alpha's eyes. "The other packs see us as weak right now. They see our future leaders as compromised, unable to make rational decisions because of artificial influences."

"Maya isn't an artificial influence," Stephen said, but his voice lacked conviction.

"Isn't she?" I turned to face him directly. "Stephen, you nearly died because of choices you made while under her influence. Your wolf is permanently weakened. Our political alliances are strained. Our enemies are gathering at our borders. All because of one small, enhanced wolf who may not even be capable of true mate bonds."

The silence that followed was deafening. I could see the conflict in their faces, the way my words were hitting their deepest insecurities and doubts.

"What would you have us do?" Karl asked quietly.

"I would have you choose," I replied. "Choose between a dying girl who brings nothing but chaos and destruction, and a future that could strengthen this pack for generations to come."

Nathan shifted in his seat, and I saw my opening. He'd always been the most practical of the four brothers, the one most likely to see the logic in my arguments.

"Nathan," I said, turning to him with deliberate intensity. "You've researched what Marcus did to her. You know the chemical enhancement is slowly killing her. Even if we ignore all the political complications, all the threats to pack security, we still have to face the fact that she's dying. Is it really kind to prolong her suffering? To let her drag all of you down with her?"

Nathan was quiet for a long moment, his analytical mind clearly working through the implications of everything I'd said. The entire room waited for his response, and I held my breath, knowing that this moment would determine everything.

Finally, he looked up, his gray eyes meeting mine with something that might have been resignation or relief.

"Seraphina's right," he said, his voice carrying clearly through the silent room. "Maya is dying, our pack is suffering, and our enemies are gathering strength while we're distracted by an impossible situation. If we're going to lead this pack, we need to make the hard choices."

He stood, his decision made. "Seraphina Nightshade would make a better Luna than Maya Rodriguez ever could. She's strong, she's politically connected, she's trained for leadership, and she's not slowly dying from chemical enhancement. The choice is obvious."

The words hung in the air like a death sentence, and I had to fight to keep the triumph from showing on my face. Nathan Blackwood, the analytical one, the skeptical

one, had just publicly declared that I was the better choice. The game was won."