Chapter 2
1481 Words
The Will Reading
LYOLD
The heavy oak doors of the Council Chamber were closed, but they were not soundproof. Not to ears like mine.
I stood in the hallway, leaning against the wall, listening to the vultures squawk over what was left of my father’s legacy.
The air in the Pack House was old and smelled like lemon cleaner and nervous sweat. It was the smell of animals wishing the hunter had stopped paying attention.
I checked the time on my watch. Five minutes. That was how long I had given them to get comfortable.
Inside, the murmur of the pack lawyer, Mr. Ollie continued.
“...and to my wife, Ariel Silverwood, I bequeath the title of Regent,” Ollie’s voice hesitated. “She shall hold the Alpha authority in trust until the heir, Leo Silverwood, reaches the age of eighteen and presents his wolf.”
Regent.
I scoffed, a low sound that vibrated in my chest. ‘So that was the plan.’ Bypass me entirely. Hand the keys of the strongest pack in the region to a twenty-four-year-old human woman just to keep the throne warm for a child who likely couldn't even shift yet.
It was insulting. It was messy. It was exactly something my stepmother, Karen, would orchestrate.
I pushed off the wall. My boots made a heavy thud on the floorboards, but I didn't bother trying to be quiet. I wasn't an assassin today. I was a wrecking ball.
I reached the double doors. I didn't turn the handle. I lifted my boot and kicked.
CRACK.
The lock cracked. The doors flew inward, banging violently against the interior walls.
The room went dead silent.
I walked in, letting the door bounce back and settle behind me. The scene was almost funny. A long table stretched across the room. On one side sat the five Elders, looking like deer caught in headlights. At the head of the table sat Karen, her face twisted in a snarl.
And opposite her... Ariel.
She was sitting with her hands clasped tightly in her lap. She looked pale, small, and devastatingly pretty in that severe black dress. When I entered, she flinched. Good.
“Please, don’t stop on my account,” I said, my voice smooth, hiding the razor blades underneath.
I walked toward the empty chair at the foot of the table…the seat reserved for the Beta. I turned it around and straddled it, resting my arms on the backrest. “I love a good fiction reading.”
Mr. Ollie adjusted his glasses, sweat beading on his forehead.
“M-Master Lyold. This is a private reading of the Alpha’s Last Will and Testament. You have no standing here.”
“Standing?” I raised an eyebrow.
Karen slammed her hand on the table. “Get him out! Guards!”
Two pack warriors standing in the corner shifted uneasily. They looked at me, then looked at their boots. They remembered what I did to the Beta in the courtyard four years ago. They weren't going to move.
“They won’t touch me, Karen,” I said, bored. “Now, Ollie. You were saying something about a Regent?”
“The Alpha’s will is clear,” Ollie stammered, holding up the parchment. “You were disowned. Exiled from the pack four years ago. You forfeited your birthright.”
I smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. I reached into the inner pocket of my jacket and pulled out a folded, slightly crumpled piece of paper.
“See, that’s the funny thing about my father,” I said, standing up and tossing the paper down the length of the table. It slid perfectly, stopping right in front of the Head Elder. “He was arrogant. He loved the sound of his own voice so much, he forgot to write things down.”
The Elder picked it up, his hands shaking.
“What is this?” Karen hissed, snatching it from him.
“That,” I said, walking slowly around the table, “is a copy of the Pack Constitution. Article 4, Section 2. ‘An Alpha Heir can only be removed from the line of succession by a unanimous vote of the Council and a signed decree by the Alpha, witnessed by the Pack Lawkeeper.’”
I stopped behind Ariel’s chair. I could smell her scent…vanilla and fear. It was intoxicating. I resisted the urge to lean down and breathe it.
“My father shouted ‘Get out’ and ‘You are no son of mine’ very loudly,” I continued, my voice dropping to a dangerous baritone. “But he never signed the paper. He never called a vote. He was too busy covering up the mess.”
I looked at the Elders. “Which means, legally, I was never exiled. I was simply... on an extended vacation.”
“This is preposterous!” Karen shrieked, standing up. “You are a criminal! You killed your stepbrother! You killed my son, Thomas!”
The air in the room temperature dropped ten degrees.
There it was. The lie that had ruined my life. The lie that had sent me to a prison cell in the Rogue Lands while they played happy family.
“Allegedly,” I corrected softly.
“We all saw you!” Karen screamed, her face blotchy with rage. “You were standing over his body! You were covered in his blood!”
“I was covered in blood, yes,” I agreed. I turned my gaze to Ariel. She was staring at the table, her knuckles white.
I moved closer to her. The back of my thigh brushed against her shoulder. She stiffened but didn't pull away.
“But I didn't kill him, did I, Ariel?” I asked.
The room went silent again. Everyone looked at their Luna.
This was it. The moment of truth. Four years ago, I had taken the fall because my father begged me to. ‘She’s fragile, Lyold. If the pack knows she killed Thomas, even in self-defense, the Elders will execute her. Take the blame. I will clear your name later.’
I had done it. For her. Because I loved her. Because Thomas had been trying to rape her, and she had smashed a vase over his head to save herself.
But my father never cleared my name. He let me rot.
And Ariel... she had let me rot too.
“Tell them, Ariel,” I urged, my voice losing its mockery, dropping to a whisper only she could hear. “Tell them what really happened in the library that night.”
Ariel squeezed her eyes shut. A single tear escaped, tracking through her makeup.
Karen’s eyes narrowed. She looked from me to Ariel, a trace of realization…or perhaps a threat…crossing her face. “Ariel, darling,” Karen said, her voice dripping with poison. “Don’t let this monster confuse you. Tell the Council. Who killed Thomas?”
Ariel took a shaky breath. She opened her eyes, but she didn't look at me. She looked at her hands.
“You...” her voice cracked. She cleared her throat. “You were found with the body, Lyold.”
It wasn't a lie. But it wasn't the truth. It was a deflection. A refusal to clear me.
I felt something inside my chest break. It was the last tiny piece of the boy who had loved her. It snapped,dried up, and died, leaving only the cold ash of the beast.
I laughed. It was a dark, dry sound that made the hair on the Lawyer’s arms stand up.
“I see,” I said.
I leaned down, placing my hands on the arms of her chair, trapping her. I brought my face close to her ear. She was trembling violently now.
“You think you’re protecting your son,” I whispered, my lips grazing her earlobe. “You think if you keep the secret, Karen will let you play Regent. But you backed the wrong wolf, Ariel.”
I pulled back, straightening my jacket. I looked around the room, meeting the eyes of every Elder.
“I am contesting the Will,” I announced, my voice booming. “As the legal, first-born heir, I challenge the succession. Until the investigation into Thomas’s death is reopened and resolved, no new Alpha can be crowned. Which means the Pack House remains under martial law.”
I looked down at Ariel one last time. She finally looked up at me, her brown eyes swimming with panic and a silent plea I refused to acknowledge.
“I gave you a chance, Ari,” I said, my voice devoid of warmth. “Silence is a confession, sweetheart. And you just pleaded guilty.”
I turned and walked out of the room, leaving the door broken on its hinges. I didn't need to look back to know that the war had just begun.
- Writer
